Well, as we are now into 2011 here are some highlights of 2010.
After all the snow and cold weather was gone the turkeys started to get fired up around mid March. Last year was the first time my son (Luke) would be old enough to turkey hunt. Missouri has an early youth season that is 2 weeks prior to the regular season and it lasts only 2 days. After getting some practice in I decided that I was only going to let him shoot out to about 20 yards. I didn’t want to take the chance of wounding a bird with a longer shot.
The first morning of the youth season in April, we had 5 different mature toms out in front of us just out of range. Just a few minutes later another tom showed up only he was headed to us. He got just about 25 yards and stopped. I asked Luke if he thought he could make the shot and he said “yes”. The picture below is the result.
24 pounds and a 10.5" beard. Not bad for the first one!
I only got to hunt the first week of the regular turkey season due to a bass tournament on Kentucky Lake. I did however harvest a good turkey during that week. I would have posted a pic but can’t seem to find it.
That bass tournament on Kentucky Lake was May 1 & 2. Maybe you remember all the flooding that happened in Kentucky during that time. Well guess what, thats right, we were right in the middle of it. I had never been there before and had no idea what to expect. The first day on the water I gained a new respect for that lake, thats when the front started to move in. The wind caused some UNBELIEVABLE waves. About every other wave I hit came over the front of the boat. I was soaking wet and pumping out water as fast as the bilge pump would go, and then it got worse. The second day I took the boat to Blood River and tried it where it wasn’t so windy. Not much luck there. The third day was just a bit better but still windy and very choppy on the water. My partner and I decided to head to thru the canal and fish on Barkley lake where it had more wind protection. We found a good pattern and some good fish. The next day was day 1 of our tournament. That night the rain started and didn’t stop.
Day 1 started spending from 12am to 2am in a storm shelter because the tornado sirens were going off. We got to the ramp in the rain,lightning and wind. It was probably the worst conditions to be on the water. The wind and waves were even worse than anything I could have imagined. We did end up finding some fish but only after getting beat up pretty good.
Here are some pics of Kentucky lake when we got there.
Beautiful isn't it?
This is what it looks like at the end of the first day of the tournament.
Just a little water...
Here is what it looked like the next morning.
At least the rain stopped.
Day 2 on the water was much calmer. We had no problem finding fish even though most of the stuff we found the days before was now about 10′ under water. The problem was that we couldn’t find many quality fish. It was still fun and I we qualified to go again this year. I hope the weather is much better.
Once we got home we started out regular season tournament off on a good note with a 3rd place finish. The second tournament we got another 3rd place finish. The third tournament we finished in 2nd place. The 4th and 5th tournaments were much worse. I don’t know what happened but we couldn’t get any fish into the boat. We did end up in 3rd place on the overall points race for the year.
Then comes the Missouri Regional Tournament. I spent several days on the water prior to the tournament an felt that I was onto a good pattern. My partner came in the night before and we got all set up for the next days tournament. We did catch em! Even better than we hoped.
Here is a pic of our 3rd Place finish in the Missouri Regional.
My son (Luke) and I fished a local open benefit tournament in July and we Finished 2nd. He was pretty proud of himself for catching some good fish.
Most of the spring summer and Fall was spent on the water so I didn’t get to bow hunt much during the early season. The Youth Rifle deer season came and Luke was really excited. We seen alot of deer and he got a couple of shots but couldn’t connect. I told him we would try again during the regular November season. After I got mine we did go out again and chase after his. Here is a pic of mine.
Luke and I put in countless hours hunting for him a good Buck. We were able to get on 3 really nice bucks but never was able to get a good shot. One was just a little to far away and for another it was just to dark for him to find him in the scope and the third just wouldn’t stop walking. Luke is a pretty good shot but he’s only 7 years old and needs things to be just right to feel comfortable shooting. Missouri has a late youth season that was Jan 1&2 of 2011. He decided that he would like to harvest a doe or a buck whichever gave him a good shot. On the very last evening we finally got the shot at a doe. We were not sure about the quality of the shot so we marked the blood trail that night and decided to follow up in the morning. Once we got there the first thing I seen was a couple of coyotes, not a good sign. Yep, you guessed it. The coyotes got her that night. Luke was quite upset about that but I told him sometimes that happens.
I did however see something last year that I had never seen before and may never again. Here is a pic.
I saw her several times last summer but haven’t seen her since.
Albino deer
All in all 2010 was a good year for everyone here, and I hope everyone else had a good 2010 also. Here’s to a good 2011!
