2008 Recap

After just returning from my first outing of 2009, it's time for me to recap my past year in the outdoors. The biggest thing I noticed is, much to my dismay, I spent not nearly enough time hunting and fishing this past year. Since 2003, on average, I spent 33 days and 156 hours doing what I love most. This past year, only 22 days and 123 hours. There are a number of factors that influenced this - all out of my control. The first was weather - I can name at least 2 waterfowling trips, the opener of deer season, a saltwater charter in FL, a bowhunt, and 2 December ice fishing trips that I wasn't able to make due to inclement weather. Second, with two young children at home, one of whom is now getting involved with activities, I'm finding the quick "I'm going hunting tomorrow" trips a thing of the past. I need to plan further in advance, and maybe make less, but longer, trips. Hopefully in a few more years, I'll be able to take the little ones with.

Ice Fishing - GOOD

Ice fishing was one exception to my lack of outdoors participation. In the past 5 years, there was only one year I hardwater angled more than 2008. In my 61 hours of ice fishing this past year, which I spent targeting walleys for 35 hours, perch for 19 hours and pike for 7 hours, we iced 237 fish of which 129 were walleyes and 81 were perch. That is my best ever walleye season, and the best perch season for me since 2003 (although, many of the perch were small - caught on Matejcek Dam, 2003 was a banner year on Devils Lake). In fact, I only fished Devils Lake one day this past season (I'm a perch fanatic, but since they've been down I've began exploring other lakes even though I grew up near the shores of Devils and know it well). I fished 2 new lakes in 2008 on the ice - Matecjek (twice, including a tournament that was fun) and Homme Dam. I also returned to Lake of the Woods, and made our always phenomenal (I'm dreaming about it every day - and it's now only 36 days away) trip to the Northwest Angle. For 2009, I've made one trip to Lake of the Woods, have a 3-day trip again planned to the Northwest Angle, am planning a 3-day trip to Upper Red Lake (which I've never fished) and would like to try Devils Lake with my brother, running-and-gunning for perch, at least once.

Summer Fishing-Good

I didn't spend a lot of time fishing this summer, but that was overshadowed by the fact that I caught the biggest walleye of my life in June on Creel Bay of Devils Lake, ND out of my brother's boat, slip-bobbering in the trees - a fat 27" walleye that I would estimate to be between 7 and 8 pounds (my biggest walleye before that was only 5 pounds - which I'm constantly reminded of in my circle of friends that know how many hundreds, maybe even thousands of days I've fished in my life). I also took my daughter fishing again, and made some memories.

Waterfowl Hunting - Below Average

This is the one area of my outdoor time that has dropped dramatically. 5 years ago, I was the biggest waterfowling nut you could find - spending well over a dozen days in the field, logging thousands (that's no exaggeration) of miles scouting for birds, creating huge maps of certain areas in the Spring to keep track of what crops were there, going days on end with 2-3 hours of sleep, spending every spare dime (and hiding a few from the wife) I could find on amassing more decoys - then better decoys, and living for those cupped wings into the spread. As our family has grown (and I've gotten older), putting in 4 hours of scouting, getting up in the wee hours of the morning to setup decoys week after week, with only about a 2-3 hour hunt to follow all that prep work, my time as a waterfowler and passion for it has dropped. If I get two days to go hunting in the Fall, I'm going to try to spend as much time as possible hunting - waterfowling requires so much prep time and scouting in relation to how much time you actually hunt (I'm a field decoy hunter - not a water hunter for the most part) that I have decided to cut back on it. I only got out one time this year - I had a blast, and we got a few birds. I know that had we had one of those fantastic mornings, I'd have been out doing it again - those "limit in a couple hours" days where you just sit there with a full bag and take pictures of birds coming in are what waterfowlers live for - I had a day like that in 2007, maybe I'll get one next year. All that being said, my brother and I have decided to make a multi-day trip to Saskatchewan, Canada in the Fall of 2009 to hunt birds with no distractions - just him and me and our fanatacism for finding the perfect field. It should be fun, and it will guarantee that I'll get in some more time doing what he and I do best, and what first introduced us to hunting - chasing snow geese. I can't wait.

Upland Hunting

For the second straight year I did not hunt pheasants. I did get a contact and access to some private land near Mott, ND and hope to make a trip out there next fall with "ND Goon" (see his blog link on this page) and his dog, along with a few other friends. I really love pheasant hunting, but haven't made time for it - it's just SO busy in the fall with bowhunting, waterfowling, fishing, and upland all open at the same time. I really hope to get out in 2009, in fact I'm going to promise myself that I will. In fact, my wife has indicated that she'd be interested in pheasant hunting so maybe in the next year or two (definitely NOT the same trip that a few buddies and I make together) she and I can have our first hunt together.

Bowhunting - Below Average

I put in a lot, and I mean A LOT, of time scouting around my house this year (within 5-15 miles of it, anyways) and located some nice bucks - but just couldn't obtain landowner permission. Thus, I was forced to hunt the farm only, which is 70 miles away, and I only got out to bowhunt 4 times. I also got a rifle tag this year, so I didn't hunt with a bow during the rut as I spent a lot of time in November trying to pin-down a particular whitetail monster with my rifle. Next year, I hope to be more successful - bowhunting and ice fishing are my 2 favorite outdoor recreations, so I know I'll spend the time scouting - just hopefully I can close the deal in 2009.

Deer Hunting (Rifle) - AVERAGE

I found a specific buck and targeted him over 6 hunts in freezing temperatures, before finally giving up and tagging a decent 4x4. Overall, this season was poor at for our group (although from what I saw on the Internet, it was very good for people overall), with no GREAT deer taken (my niece’s 9-pointer was probably the nicest), 2 of us took management bucks, and one ate his tag (albeit plenty of opportunites for decent bucks, this guy only shoots taxidermy work). This also likely marks the end for a while for me and whitetail hunting at the farm as my brother and I begin applying for mule deer tags in western ND (he went this year and loved it) so I will begin whitetail hunting in a new unit with my brother and Dad (just like old times, too bad that unit doesn't have near the quality whitetails that we have at the farm). I'll be doing this because of the way the ND lottery system works - you get a 1st choice and a 2nd choice. If you don't get your 1st choice, you get "preference points" and a better chance next year at your 1st choice. The unit that the farm is in doesn't have a lot of tags (I only get a buck tag 50% of the year with it as my 1st choice), but the unit that part of my farm is in (with less deer) has a much higher success rate, i.e., I may be able to build up mule deer preference points while still drawing a whitetail buck tag in that unit.

Overall, 2008 was still a good year - hundreds of walleyes - including my best ever, a decent whitetail buck, a few ducks and geese, and great memories. However, I'm really hoping for a banner 2009 with new opportunities on an ice fishing trip to Upper Red Lake, a snow goose hunt in Canada, the challenge of whitetail hunting in a new unit along with the hopes of a western ND mule deer hunt, and the possibility (3 years of preference points now) of drawing a western ND antelope tag. I hope everyone that reads this appreciates these opportunities as much as I do.