My friend Tim spent the last thirty days pursuing whitetail deer at his ranch in southern Minnesota. He never was able to connect with the animal he wanted during the bow season, but caught up with this one during the gun season.
Congratulations on a quality buck Tim.
Wow. This dandy was taken by a 15 year old during the October 2009 youth hunt in Wisconsin. I understand there to be a lot of misinformation on the internet including where it was shot in Wisconsin. Check out this Williams Buck link for the real story. Be sure to click on the next button at the top of the page and you will be able to see all three pictures and read the whole accurate story (at least I believe it to be accurate).
The picture below is of the buck and the youth who shot it. I actually received a picture of a different animal with a person purported to be the boy's father. The message claimed that is was the Williams buck.
In your dreams you might have a 500 acre ranch just outside of Golden, Colorado. I know I have one in my dreams. And, my neighbor Eddie has one for reals.
Eddie has a 6x6 that scored 362 on his wall that he shot a few years ago. Generally, they do pretty well. I've posted pictures of his bobcat and mountain lions on this blog in the past. This time he had a banner year even for his crew.
Eddie, who is on the right, is sitting on his big and heavy 6 x 7. The "little guy" on the left is a 6 x 6 bigger than any elk I've ever shot. Take a look at the photo below to see how far apart these two big guys died.
Lest you think this is all about getting lucky, each of these big bulls were killed with a single shot from 400 yards. Eddie saw both of them and his buddy didn't see the second bull. Eddie waited as long as he could for his friend to locate the second bull, but eventually had to shoot. When that bull went down, the second bull stepped out and was taken with a single shot from his hunting partner.
Believe it or not, it gets better. The third guy in their hunting party had shot a nice 6 x 6 four days earlier. As it turned out, the only one who had shot an elk until these two were shot ended up with the smallest of the three. Oh that bad luck.....the smallest 6 x 6.
I mentioned in my last post that I was going to do some Yasso 800s as part of my speed work. Today was the day I ran my first Yasso's.
As part of today's workout I wanted to do some speed work and run a total of 7 or 8 miles. I managed to do three Yasso 800s and a total of 8 miles.
So, if you're wondering, a Yasso 800 is two laps around a standard quarter mile track in a predetermined amount of time with the same amount of time spent doing a recovery jog before the next 800 starts again. The amount of time is based on the marathon goal. So, if you are planning on a 4 hour marathon, you run the 800s in 4 minutes and do a 4 minute recovery jog. If you are planning on a 3 hour 15 minute marathon, you run the 800s in 3 minutes 15 seconds and do a 4 minute recovery jog. Make sense. Just turn your hours and minutes into minutes and seconds and you're all set. Ultimately, the idea is to work up to doing 10 Yasso 800s at your goal and that is supposed to predict your ability to make your marathon time.
Whew, that was a long explanation. Google Yasso if you want to learn more. Anyway, I did three in 3 minutes 15 seconds each with that same time spent in a recovery jog. If you do the math, that is a 6 minute 30 second mile pace. It felt like a good speed workout. What I liked best about it was that it was a faster pace than I ever run except when I run 5k races. It has never made any sense to me that I expect to run better 5k's while never running close to that pace. And if I don't run better 5k's, then my marathon prediction time never gets better......
I guess we will just have to see if these workouts are helpful. To be honest, the research I've done suggests that Yasso 800s are mostly used to predict marathon times and they don't do it all that accurately. Hmmmm. Well, they do allow me to run faster sometimes and that's a good thing. I do sometimes feel the need for speed and these should at least satisfy that urge.
Check out Bart Yasso's website. He is a beast. Also, you can check out a link to Yasso 800s. This is also part of his website.
Summer time is just not my running time. There were weeks this summer where my mile count did not reach double digits. I think there was one week where I ran a little over three miles. Huh, three miles. And I call myself a runner.
The good news is that I have been running 13 to 19 miles a week for a while now and this week, drum roll please, I have trotted along for over 25 miles. I actually ran 5 out of the last 7 days. Woo hoooo! I think I can make a good argument that I am back on track.
And, my calendar tells me just in time if I'm going to use a 6 month training program. The Boston Marathon is almost exactly 6 months away. I'm running Boston! I like saying that and writing it.
I'm looking forward to doing a little more variety in my speed work this time. I'm going to keep my mile repeats because they really work. And, I'm also going to run some 5k races as a gage of my speed. But, I'm also going to do some Yasso 800's and maybe some 400's, too.
Ultimately I'd like to run a 5k under 20 minutes again, but I'm going to need to do some speed work that is geared toward that to be successful. As for a marathon goal, I'm not ready to decide. I've been so focused on qualifying for Boston over the last couple of years, I'm just not sure what I want to shoot for this year. I do know that I don't want to show up for Boston not ready to run well. Rather that means I 'm going to try to run a 3 hour 15 minute marathon or a 3 hour and 50 minute marathon, I don't know.
I guess I'll make that decision over the coming months.
My friend Brian took a very nice whitetail outside of Clayton, WI on October 7th, 2009. It has a total of 10 points and really nice mass. I also love the character of the rack which is shown off better in the second picture.
Is that thing a bruiser or what? Talk about a quality deer management buck. This is the kind of animal that food plots help produce, and for the hunter, food plots hold these big bucks in the area. We have tried QDM without food plots and with food plots and after planting whitetail specific plots the difference has been significant.
Congratulations on a really nice buck Brian!
A friend of mine, Courtney Olson, bagged this beautiful Bighorn a few days ago. Below are his notes from the hunt. As he notes, his hunt will air on the Outdoor Channellate next summer. Congratulations Courtney.
Pre-season scouting, research, help from friends before and during the hunt (you know who you are) and some plain old good luck = a Colorado Bighorn Ram for Court. See attached.
For those interested, from the Colorado Division of Wildlife check-in:
Left Horn: ¾ curl 30 7/8” length 15 1/8” base
Right Horn: Full curl 34 1/8” length 15 1/8” base
Spread: 20 4/8
Growth Rings: 9 (Ram estimated to be 10 years old)
Taken on 9/23/09
Unit: #32 (Near Georgetown/Empire, CO)
Shot Distance: Close. 45 yards with severe downhill angle in heavy timber and snowstorm.
Weather during hunt: blizzard conditions for most of the hunt with very limited visibility.
Score: I am not sure... and it generally does not really matter much to me. I am usually not one to measure my animals but I will compute it and the taxidermist will probably give me some idea. A trophy in my mind no matter what the score! If you are interested in the score I will let you know in the future.
More to follow as I receive additional photos from my On Your Own Adventures friends (Randy & Troy) who joined me to chronicle the hunt for Randy’s On Your Own Adventures tv show. If you are interested in self-guided hunting on public land, watch for this hunt as one of the episodes next July-Sept time period on Outdoor Channel. Caveat: no laughing or cheap shots at my on-camera skills (or lack thereof)! Hopefully the editors are kind to me. Wait until you see the footage of the sheep and the weather/scenery..that really was more the story of this hunt. One of the toughest hunts I have ever done because this was self-guided, on public land (with significant competition from other hunters) with intense weather conditions. A wonderful memory for me.
Take a moment to read the story below and then check out the pictures after. Wow! Talk about exciting. The story and pics are courtesy of Fred McClanahan.
Time: 8:55 a.m. --- Saturday, September 5, 2009
A 6x6 bull walked toward another herd of elk at Sheep Lakes in Horseshoe Park.
The herd bull was wary as he had many cow and calves gathered in his harem.
There were several spikes still allowed in the group too.
The intruder waded into the water after a cow as the herd bull moved his way.
It looked like the first bull (on right) had trouble moving around and was stuck in the mud so the herd bull charged.
Both bulls fought most of the time underwater and had trouble coming up for air since neither would give up.
After about a minute of a very competitive battle, the bulls separated.
As the bull on the right started to leave the water, the herd bull charged again, but the other bull countered with a charge.
With pond grasses still on the herd bull's antlers, both bulls kept posturing toward each other on dry land.
Both bulls bugle at the edge of the pond before the intruder retreated.
It was then back to work for the herd bull --- herding cows and chasing spikes.
Even the ducks in the pond caught some of his wrath and anger.
In all the years I've watched and photographed elk, this is the earliest in the rut I've ever seen this kind of action and behavior.
Fred McClanahan was there and took these photo’s. Fred is a professional Photographer.
Thanks Fred. Great, great pics.
When I write about high mountain fishing, I'm generally talking about a hiking trip that involves fishing. In this case, you can drive up for a day or car camp for a night. This trip is all about easy access.
Saturday my son Mitchell and I fly fished the South Fork of the South Platte River along Weston Pass. Weston Pass Road is several miles south of Fairplay on Hwy 285 and the pass is 16 miles west. The first two thirds of the drive is through an area of private land. You have reached the general area when you reach the well marked Rich Creek Trail Head.
Let me be clear: I don't believe there is any chance of catching a big fish. And, you won't actually be fishing the creek for the most part. What you will find, from this point to just below the pass, is a series of beaver ponds. The lower ponds tend to hold brook trout and the upper ponds hold cutthroat.
These small ponds hold bunches of fish that can be hard to catch in some of the ponds and easy in others. We found that the cutthroats are a little less skittish and more aggressive. This is a great trip for a beginner fly fisherman or young kids. Try fishing on top with an ant pattern or adams. Drop an gray emerger behind it.
Enjoy.