Southern Utah Hunt and Fish

Navajo Lake Spring Fishing

2013-05-06T19:40:00.000-07:00

Spring is an amazing season in Southern Utah! OK, maybe apart from the weather that will change daily as Mother Nature just can't seem to make up her mind. While shed gathering and turkey hunting are popular draws to the area, ice-off fishing reigns as king when it comes to spring time outdoor activities in Utah's mountains.

While we often hear of the early success on lakes such as Fish Lake, Otter Creek, Minersville, and Panguitch Lake, Navajo Lake is rarely if ever included on that list. This year is one of those years when it is easy to get written off. A rupture of the dike that crosses the basin drained a large amount of water off a couple of years ago, which was followed by drought years that left little water in the lake over the winter. With the introduction of splake however, fish have been able to hold over through the low water years providing excellent spring fishing opportunities. Check out this report from DWR fisheries biologist Mike Hadley:

Dale Hepworth of Cedar City holds a

24-inch splake that he recently caught from

shore at Navajo Lake.

The ice has come off Navajo Lake east of Cedar City in southern Utah. Access is good and, yes, there is some water left. In fact, the water level is rising about two inches per day thanks to snow melt. Over the weekend Richard Hepworth, Stan Beckstrom, and others reported fast fishing for splake. Lots of fish in the 16- to 20-inch range are being caught, as well as a few exceeding five pounds. This is the simplest form of fishing you can do. All you need is a rod, a hook, and a few night crawlers. First, use the night crawlers to catch a couple of Utah chubs. Then, cut the chubs into golf ball-size pieces and use those for bait. When fishing for splake in the spring look for deep areas in the lake that transition into warm, shallow areas (this is where the chubs are hanging out). Hook the pieces of chub meat (called “cut bait”) on a large hook (size 4 or bigger), making sure to pierce the skin so that the bait stays on the hook. The bait should provide enough weight to cast with; if you feel like you need to cast further, add a sliding weight so the fish doesn’t feel resistance when it picks up the bait. Throw out your bait and wait. Move your bait a little occasionally as splake will frequently bite after they see movement. If you don’t get any bites, move to another spot. This technique can work well at any lake that contains predatory trout, including splake, tiger, brown, or Bear Lake cutthroat trout. The best fishing at Navajo Lake is right now: you only have a few weeks before splake will get tough to catch. Look for the rainbow trout fishing to pick up around Memorial Day.

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources fish biologist Stan Beckstrom shows off a big splake, estimated at over five pounds, that he recently caught from shore at Navajo Lake

With fish like that I hope I can make it up to Navajo Lake very soon! If you happen to make it there be sure to send us some pics!

With our shed photo contest coming to a close, stay tuned as we will soon be posting the winners of our amazing prizes! The photos are just going into the judging phase now, I can't wait to see our winners. Thanks to all that entered.

Shed Hunting Contest Update

2013-04-22T11:05:00.000-07:00

Good Monday friends, if there is such a thing! Of course there is, it's all a matter of perspective. I know we haven't had a new post in a few days, but please bear with us as finals are underway, and we are also in the process of trying to track down a good tom turkey for my grandpa. Today we were oh so close to ending the hunt! You learn from your mistakes, and I think we have a great plan in place now to seal the deal!

It's been a while since we have shared updates on the contest, so today we have several pictures from photos that have been submitted to the contest. With just a little over a week to go, we are coming down to the wire! In addition to the photo contest prizes available, be sure to watch our Facebook page as we look to have a little viewer voting on the photos to help us give away one of the prizes! But for now, enjoy these photos of success sent in by a few of our viewers!

CLICK ON THE CONTESTS TAB AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE FOR INFORMATION ON HOW TO ENTER THE CONTEST!

Spenser Owens sends us these nice shots. This guy is having a great year, and has by far more photos entered than anyone else in our contest!

Nice ATL

Check out this haul by Spenser Ownes and Mike Marshall

Talk about variety!

Here's a couple courtesy of Derrick Barnson.

Charlie Morgan sends us these shots.

Phil Nielson shares this great photo of a sweet shed picked up by this young man.

Jason Charge sends us these shots. Nice haul!

2013 Otter Creek Gill Netting

2013-04-13T20:53:00.003-07:00

Otter Creek is no doubt a favorite to many in southern Utah, irregardless if you are an ice fisherman, fly fisherman, or if you are hitting the water from shore or from a boat. This lake has long been known for growing some monster rainbow and brown trout! Just this week Mike Hadley (fisheries biologist with the Utah DWR) ventured out on the lake to take a look at how the fishery is fairing for this spring. As has been the trend for the past few years, the news is good! Take a look at what Mike has to say:

Otter Creek Reservoir Trend Net Survey – April 11, 2013

During the annual trend net survey at Otter Creek Reservoir on April 11, 2013, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources found an exciting variety of fish species. As always, lots of fat and healthy rainbow trout between 12 and 20 inches were observed. Although Utah chubs were abundant in the catch, the rainbows still appear to be doing great thanks to good water levels in recent years. We also caught several cutthroat trout, a few small wipers, and two nice smallmouth bass. But the highlight of the day were three large brown trout, measuring 21 to 27 inches and weighing 5 to 8 pounds. Although browns are not regularly stocked in the reservoir, they are stocked in the tributaries and it appears that a few are making into the reservoir and are growing to large size by eating Utah chubs. An 11-pound brown trout was caught during the 2012 trend net survey. Based on these results, we plan to stock more brown trout in the reservoir in the future when excess fish are available from the state hatcheries. Shore fishing is good to excellent right now at Otter Creek Reservoir. This could be a great year of fishing, as long as the water level doesn’t get too low in the summer. Look for trout to move back out to open water and trolling success to pick up during May. Smallmouth bass should start getting active and aggressive at about the same time.

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources fish biologist Mike Hadley shows off a 27-inch, 8-pound brown trout caught during the trend net survey at Otter Creek Reservoir on April 11, 2013.

Otter Creek State Park manager Lance Eliason with a nice rainbow trout caught and released during the trend net survey at Otter Creek Reservoir on April 11, 2013.

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources aquatic invasive species biologist Nic Braithewaite shows off a couple of two- and three-pound smallmouth bass caught and released during the trend net survey at Otter Creek Reservoir on April 11, 2013.

Otter Creek State Park manager Lance Eliason with a 10-inch wiper caught during the trend net survey at Otter Creek Reservoir on April 11, 2013.

Wilderness Athlete, Wrap up of my 28 Day Challenge

2013-04-10T14:03:00.000-07:00

I want to emphasize that this is one of the most personal posts that I have ever written. This is something fairly difficult for me, mostly to my pride, but I am striving to show background into why I am doing this diet, in hopes that I can honestly portray my feelings to my readers of why this is important to me. Please bear with me!

Time sure flies by, today is the 28th and final day of my 28 day challenge. Before I share with you my results of this incredible program, I wish to provide you a little background of why I really chose to reach out to Wilderness Athlete about partnering with them to try the 28 day challenge, and to highlight it on this blog. I know this is a little off of what is normal for SUH&F, but I have come to realize that more of us than ever are concerned about good nutrition, and being in shape for not only the hunt, but for life in general. My number 1 goal: if I can motivate 1 person to get up and put a plan into action on better fitness and nutrition, then I have been successful with these posts over the last 4 weeks. This has in no way been solely intended to support a sponsor. I hope you see that reflect in my words today.

Over the past 4 years as much as I may have tried to hide it and brush it off, I have known I am overweight. Not morbidly obese by any means, but at least a fluctuating 10-20 pounds over the 220 pounds I should be, at the least. It's something that is pretty impossible to hide from in my profession. As a wildland firefighter, top notch fitness is a must, and is highly expected of a crew lead as one of my jobs is to motivate the crew to PT (physical exercise) hard each day. While I have little trouble keeping up when it comes to hiking into a fire, working a chainsaw all day, or swinging a tool, it gets harder each year to keep up with the college aged folks we hire when it comes to running, speed hiking, and a real physical workout. I do my best, and feel like I push myself, but a couple of weeks of lost PT here and there always seem to set me back.

The "before" photo. Not the best but the tight shirt says a lot.

My other problem that was obvious; I love food. The problem is I do not eat right. As stated before, I don't graze much. I'm not saying I hork down cookies and candy, my trouble is I'm a meat and potatoes guy. Not a good balance, and again, I like food, I know I have been over eating, eating too late, and not choosing healthy. My other big problem is soda. It's not like I'm a guy that downs a couple of 44 ounce drinks a day, maybe a 32 ouncer though. The big problem here is the imbalance in what I should be eating.

The first wake-up call came last year as I prepared to have my gall-bladder removed. The doctor in his matter-of-fact way told me that I really didn't need more than a 6 month or so supply of fat, and I was sitting on 2 years worth. Ouch! Well, good news is you loose that quick after surgery. Bad news is the next 2 months were busy, but not the good physical kind of busy, so it nearly all came back. The other wake up call with this was that my blood pressure was approaching the higher end of normal. Not cause for alarm, but obviously an indicator that I needed to change things now before it became a problem.

The lowest blow came this summer. I was becoming more self conscious about how bad I was getting anyway, so it wasn't like I wasn't expecting it. On our crew not much is sacred! We joke and laugh a lot, if there is a chink in your armor someone most likely will find it. You have to be able to take what you dish out. So, after I jumped ahead in the score one day one of my crew members said something I didn't entirely catch at first, and I could tell he didn't want to repeat it. After a little heated "persuasion" it came out. He joked (please excuse me if this offends you) that the seat belt tight against my shirt made me look like "one of those tiny pregnant girls with a big belly and little boobs". This is hard to share and admit, but he was right. I can't tell you how hearing that felt, and if you are reading this I hope you do not feel bad about saying it, I'm over it, and I probably needed to hear it. I'll be honest, at that point I wanted to crawl in a hole and give up. What did everyone else think of me? In a world where perfection is focused on so heavily, what kind of first impression was I giving, especially in my profession?

Well I can answer that. As I was more aware of myself, and traveled to other fires that year it was easy to see. Doubt, lack of inclusion, and even looks of disgust. Keep in mind, we are only talking 10-15 pounds off of where the doc said I should be. To reaffirm the negativity, others in the fire organization that I considered good friends had begun to talk and ridicule, and still are, most of which was not said to my face. OK, none of it was. I can't begin to tell you how much of a low I hit as close friends and co-workers, those I look up to and admire, started in on it. People always think it never gets back to the source, I'm here to tell you it does, and the pain is indescribable as you would think those would be the folks to lift you up and offer advice or support. I can see why people that struggle with weight often slip into depression and just give up on loosing the weight, as the support network disappears and you also begin to give up on yourself.

Through the winter this weighed on me heavily. One thing I will say though is that nothing has driven me more in my life than people saying I can't do something. I have a fairly good record of proving the idea that I "can't" wrong. So I made my goals to work out and eat better. Before starting Wilderness Athlete I had maintained a weight at or just near 230 all winter, better than past winters for some time.

So I heard about Wilderness Athlete, and other people's success with it. My brother was my final selling point, as he told me how coach Poulsen could get anyone in shape, and Wilderness Athlete came from him. He helped produce Brian Urlacher, what does that say? It speaks for itself! Review after review, more good, more positive. But the cost worried me. This is where I approached WA about trying the 28 day challenge and sharing what I have shared as I gave the program my all. I feel good about saying over the past 28 days I have done just that. But I think I have definitely received more of the benefits from it.

So, I set a lofty goal of 220 pounds after the 28 days, realizing that 225 has always been a wall to me. Well, I powered right through that wall, like I never imagined I could do:

221.6! Well, it's a pound and a half short of my goal, but it's still a surprise to me! That's an average of 3 pounds per week, and nearly 12 pounds in all! What isn't shown her is that I'm down nearly another 2", bringing the total lost in inches to 9 1/2"! Keep in mind, some people get shocked at that number, that is from a combined tally of several different measurements (chest, waist, hips, upper thigh, lower thigh, calf, biceps, forearm). While it's not enough to be getting tons of comments, I can feel it, and I can see it. Am I there yet? No, I still have a ways to go on the stomach and chest. In fact, due to mostly running and hiking most of it has came off of my legs, hips, and stomach, not much in the upper body.

A ways to go, but much better!

Is this a wonder weight loss product? In my mind no, not really. It's not a magic pill that makes you loose weight. This is about nutrition, the results are up to you. But I can say, I have never lost that much weight in that short of amount of time by exercise alone. Most importantly is the way I feel. Dieting is hard, it's hard to stick to, it's hard to fight the cravings, it's hard to fight the pain of exercise, and it's hard to fight a busy schedule in life. Life itself has been my greatest challenge, finding time to get it all done. It has taken a bit of sacrifice, extra hours up at night doing homework, a supportive wife encouraging me along the way, but it has all paid off. I'm looking forward to kicking off 1 more 28 day challenge this week! Everything arrived last night, just in time!

So what did I do this week to loose 3 more pounds? Well, I upped everything basically. Work was more demanding this week, lots of hiking, and even a full day of dragging a drip torch and carrying a pack as we were out burning. That was a huge plus to get away from the desk. I added another 1/2 mile to my runs, which I am doing every-other day. I basically had 1 day in 9 days since my last post that I did not work out. If I wasn't running, I was at the gym. At work I tried to find the hard way everywhere to exert more energy. The great thing is that I'm starting to get rid of the pain in the legs to where I think if I wanted to I could run every day. The pain is the big reason I go for every other day.

Again, sorry about the before and after shots! I'm not going to take a bunch of photos with my shirt off. It will look like an albino was in a Tijuana knife fight! Scary stuff!

The other side of that is nutrition. I didn't have a shake for every meal. Again, the "Lean Loss" is doing it's job, I don't feel the need to eat all the time. When I do, it's smaller portions, less starch, no sugar, less salt, and not eating after 7 PM. When I eat, I stop when I start feeling full, I don't power through it like I used to. I go to bed a little hungry, and that's what we should be doing to prevent our bodies from storing it at night. This sounds like I didn't even use the products, but they have their place, and I love them. Let me break them down:

Hydrate and Recover/Energy and Focus:
These items are amazing! I mix the 2 in the AM as soon as I'm up, creating the "Blaze: Within minutes I'm feeling the energy, and that laziness of the morning and not wanting to workout is gone. This is what is providing the energy and the drive for the day. I love the vitamin boost, the energy, and the taste. There is no crash by the way. I do throw down another Hydrate and Recover at lunch, to keep the fire burning, and to fill the stomach so I won't fill the need to eat as much. I throw one in here and there after or before workouts, or maybe when I'm studying late at night to keep the energy going. When I am done with the hardcore diet I'll keep these 2 products going anyway, the benefits are awesome. What a replacement for soda, doing my body wonders and I love the taste. Cutting soda has been big in this process! What a blend to promote energy, and to take care of your joints and muscles! Keeps me focused and alter all day!

Meal Replacement Shakes: I've only sampled strawberry and chocolate, I think I'm preferring the strawberry! I love these shakes, I leave out a bit of water to make them thicker, and make up for it by drinking a bit more water after. I have one in the morning, 15 minutes after the blaze, and I mix things up depending on meals from there. Sometimes it's lunch, or if I had a bigger lunch I make it dinner. The flexibility of this program is what I love. Just remember, no eating after 7 PM! In the morning I mix in the Green Fusion. Vitamin packed, this takes care of the "grazing" problem to a large extent. All of your veggie and fruits required daily in a small scoop. That being said, I am doing better on eating the greens I like throughout the day and with meals as well.

Lean Life and Multi-vitamin: I take 2 Lean Life with the morning blaze, and 1 before lunch with the Hydrate and Recover. They provide a great source of nutrients as well, but most importantly controls that appetite. I know the multivitamins are doing the job! Two of these in the morning helps me feel great all day, and helps fight off what ails ya for sure!

So again, to those that are a little afraid to try WA due to cost or just because it's "another one of those diet schemes", Wilderness Athlete is far from! Look at the cost and your regular grocery bill, I can attest to the fact that I am not spending more. Most of our regular food bill has went to just buying for the kids. I'm also using leaner meats, more elk, more deer, more chicken. Our costs for groceries this month shrunk considerably, offsetting the cost of the WA products. But the only way you will know is to try. I'm not going to sit here and promise you it will work, the most important component to the formula is YOU! Before you try it I would suggest making up your mind to commit to a physical workout plan that raises the bar each week. It will work if you prepare yourself and commit, and follow Mark Poulsen's directions to a T.

Looking to just get in a little better shape, or condition for the hunts? Then there's not much to it, 28 days and your normal, active routine will help you immensely, but just imagine what it will do if you raise the bar as well!

This shirt is looking a lot better than last year!

Now, I imagine some of you are saying "well, it's easy for you! I can't do what you are doing". Let me tell you something, it is by no means easy for me. This is a bit hard to talk about as well, I don't reveal this very often, again as I wonder what people I work with will think. To begin with, I have had knee trouble since I was about 20, I fight that pain, that is nothing new. It makes running very difficult at times. A more correct diagnostic of having IT Band syndrome (this is the easy term, ITBS for short) has helped me treat it properly. Basically the IT band muscles on the outside of the knee become inflamed and it hurts pretty bad. A cortisone shot and a set of stretches now helps this. My largest challenge, however lies in a past injury. In early October of 2007 I was severely injured when an ATV flipped over backwards and landed on me. The result was a skull fracture, broken nose, several broken ribs, and a compression fracture to my L1 vertebrae. After a week in the hospital I spent 5 months in a "turtle shell", along with a long road of physical therapy. While it was never a question of if I would walk or not, there question was there about career choice. I pushed myself through the pain to get back into doing what I love. Then I gained the weight. Why? Partly because I do feel limited in what I can do before the accident. This is where proper nutrition becomes more vital to me. Sure I can run, but I don't see myself running distance races by any means. I live with the pain daily. There's not much to do about it, I mostly keep it to myself, heck, my wife would be surprised to read this. Working out quite often hurts! The more I do it often, the better the pain management, but there are the days where I just don't want to do it. My point: if I can muddle through the pain I really feel like anyone can. I'm nothing special, if you reach down inside you can find the motivation to change, even if it's making a negative in a positive as in my case.

In the end, I don't want to hit my goals just to prove my critics wrong to boost my pride. I'm doing this for me, I want better for myself. In hindsight, through the hurtful words and pain, I'm glad I have heard what has been said, it has been the motivator. I'm not going to be the kind of person to go confront others on it, or be bitter about it. What's done is done, I'll make it my positive. But after experience such I would urge others that if you truly are a friend, reach out and offer that support and advice if you see someone struggling. I hope that above all I have accomplished this today.

We all need help now and then. If I can do it, you can. Wilderness Athlete has been a great motivation, a great support and guide in getting it done, and I urge you to at the least give it a try. Personally, if you plan, commit, and give it your all you will be impressed. I want to thank everyone at Wilderness Athlete for giving me the opportunity to work with you, and I look forward to continuing to support you as you have me. I also look forward to continued use of WA products! I can't wait to try more of their products as I condition for hunts this fall!

By the Way, did I mention their Spring Training package? A great bundle, at a great price!

If you want to test the waters at a lower price, try out the 10 day challenge!

Upper Enterprise Reservoir Gill Net Survey

2013-04-06T18:39:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone is having a great weekend! I am spending my time working, helping to supervise a tree planting contract and earning a little much needed overtime pay. I'm out in the mountains hiking each day, so I will not complain! Due to the long hours and spending my spare time this week on pinewood derby cars, baseball practice, and homework, I readily welcome another gill netting report from Mike Hadley, fisheries biologist with the southern region of the Utah DWR. The Enterprise reservoirs look like a great destination according to his report. Check out the report, and a few amazing photos of some of the fish sampled. As always, thanks Mike for the report, and for contributing this information to our readers. Now let's hear from Mike:

Upper Enterprise Reservoir Trend Net Survey – April 3, 2013

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and US Forest Service personnel observed lots of fat, healthy rainbow trout during a trend net survey at Upper Enterprise Reservoir in southwest Utah. Most rainbows were between 12 and 14 inches, but a number of 15- to 16-inch fish were also caught. The largest trout we saw measured 20 inches and weighed 3 pounds – a real treat at Enterprise. We also found several smallmouth bass, including two bruisers that weighed in at 3.2 and 4.4 pounds. Shore fishing for trout is very good right now with any technique and should remain fair to good throughout the year. Look for bass fishing to pick up in May.

Dixie National Forest fish biologist Mike Golden shows off a 20-inch, 3-pound rainbow trout caught and released during the trend net survey at Upper Enterprise Reservoir on April 3, 2013.

Dixie National Forest wildlife biologist Devin Johnson (left) and fish biologist Mike Golden (right) show off 3- and 4-pound smallmouth bass caught and released during the trend net survey at Upper Enterprise Reservoir on April 3, 2013.

Minersville Gill Netting Results

2013-04-04T22:28:00.002-07:00

Mike Hadley is at it again! I have been waiting for a couple of months now for the ice to break so we could again here Mike's reports on fish conditions in southern Utah waters. This week he sends us a report of Minersville Reservoir, and we will have a report of Enterprise Reservoir to post soon. It looks like this spring fishing will be good for Minersville. Check out his report:

During the annual trend net survey at Minersville Reservoir near Beaver, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources biologists observed lots of healthy rainbow trout from 12 to 20 inches. The largest rainbow caught measured 24 inches and weighed 5.5 lbs. We also saw a few nice smallmouth bass and a couple small wipers. Fishing for rainbow trout from shore is good to excellent right now with nymphs and streamers. Trout fishing remained good throughout the summer last year – this year could be just as good. Look for bass and wiper fishing to pick up in May and June.

What a great lake t visit to catch a unique variety of fish! It is good to see Minersville again producing big fish and providing excellent fishing opportunities! Take a look at these photos from the sampling, and stay tuned as tomorrow night we feature the results of Enterprise Reservoir.

Natalie Brewster-Wilson, Southern Region Office Manager for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, shows off a 24-inch, 5.5-pound rainbow trout caught and released during the annual trend net survey at Minersville Reservoir on April 2, 2013.

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources fish biologist Mike Hadley holds a couple 3-pound smallmouth bass caught and released during the annual trend net survey at Minersville Reservoir on April 2, 2013.

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources intern Jens Swensen shows off a couple 13- and 14-inch wipers caught during the annual trend net survey at Minersville Reservoir on April 2, 2013.

Wilderness Athlete, Week 2 in the Books

2013-04-01T21:44:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to find the perfect word to sum up my feelings on Wilderness Athlete so far, I think I'll go with Incredible for this week! Take a look at that scale:

Down another 2 pounds this week! I was hoping for a bit more, but I realize I am hitting that 225 pound wall that I have been fearing since the beginning. That being said, I am feeling very good about chipping my way through it this week. I don't think I will be destroying it in one big shot, heck, that's not a healthy way to loose weight anyhow. I do have confidence that with just about 2 weeks to go I will be getting very close to that goal of 220!

While 2 pounds doesn't seem like much, the inches gone paints the real picture. I'm down another 3.5" this week, for a total of 7 3/4" over the duration of the program! I'm feeling great, still tons of energy, no hunger pains, and I'm feeling great all around. Let me break the week down again, from our last post:

Friday-Sunday: What a weekend! We took Wilderness Athlete on the road to Lake Powell, where we enjoyed a great weekend of fishing for striped bass! I was a little hesitant to keep with it down there, as I thought I would need a lot more fuel in the tank for 3 days of daylight till dark fishing. Well, I stuck to the program fairly well, just a little extra morning and afternoon snack, other than that I held to it well. The one downfall was breaking coach Paulsen's rule of not eating after 7 PM, which was tough by the time we got back to camp to eat dinner each night after filleting between 40-60 fish each day! It was a great trip, and I'm glad I had the complete 28 day challenge kit with me to fuel the experience!

Monday: I hit the gym for another chest and arms workout in the early morning. I usually struggle with motivation a bit when I work out in the early hours, but with some "Hydrate and Recover" to power me I actually increased my weights 10 pounds from last week and pushed through a great workout!

Awesome sunset during the run!

Tuesday: To be honest, it took some motivation to get out and run! I got home late from a meeting, but after a lunch that was a little more than it probably should have been, I talked myself into a run out the Alvey Wash south of my house again. Still fighting a sinus infection, I had my mind set that I would be lucky to get in 3 miles. A mile-and-a-half out, started feeling the "Hydrate and Recover" doing it's work (along with the ibuprofen). I had a little self-pep talk about not getting big results without big effort, and a little pain. So, I stretched it out to 4 1/2 miles. This isn't a big increase from the 4 I have been running, but it was enough to feel it the rest of the week!

Wednesday: Of course was basketball night again; another solid 2 hours of full court ball. It was a rough start on the aching knees and shins from yesterday's run, but after a bit I was able to kick it into high gear.

Thursday: Another workout at the gym, this time focused on abs and core. This is the day I weighed myself in at 225.2.

Friday: We hit the hills for anther day of shed hunting. A few trips up and down one nasty peak, one of our favorite spots and man, the legs were like Jello! Top this off with a few episodes of pulling my wife's ATV out of snow drifts and I think it was a great day of burning lots of calories.

Saturday and Sunday: With the Easter weekend I toned things down a bit, just a lot of good time in the outdoors with family! It's hard to control yourself on a diet when everyone is together for a good dutch oven/BBQ, but I feel like I restrained myself fairly well!

Great running partner!

I still can't say enough about my mornings! Starting off with a "blaze" (combo of Energy and Focus along with Hydrate and Recover), this mix of Mango-Bango and Berry flavor give me a huge energy boost to begin the day. I follow that up 15 minutes later by a shake infused with "Green Fusion" and I find that I am more awake, alert, and energized throughout the mornings, whether I'm up at 5 AM or 7 AM, I am pretty solid until lunch time. It's sure helped me be more productive during that 10-12 stretch where I usually seem to run out of gas in the mornings!

With each passing week I can honestly say that my approval of Wilderness Athlete continues to grow. I have had a few of you ask if I have to say that due to advertising and partnership with WA. Well, the answer is no, I don't have to say that. In fact, I would never brag a product up just because I have a deal with a business. Our reviews here have always been 100% that, a review, not a supportive statement as a part of a deal. If you are serious about shedding some pounds in a healthy way you have got to give Wilderness Athlete a shot. You will love the results, and how you feel.

I hope that if you have any questions about the products or programs that you will leave a comment, an email, or hit me up on Facebook. I will do my best to answer those questions, or get you pointed in the direction to get the answers. This 28 day program is just a sample of the many nutritional products available from Wilderness Athlete, check out their page for more great items! I can't wait for my next order, as I check out some new flavors as I continue down this awesome journey.

Lake Powell Striper Fishing

2013-03-27T12:00:00.003-07:00

Every once and a while the opportunity comes along to take that once in a great while trip that you know you will remember for the rest of your life. I seem to miss out on a lot of those when it comes to fishing because I am gone so much in the summer. It also seems like a lot of those stories that you hear also occur very far from home. It is a rare gem of an opportunity to find such an amazing experience close to home.

Back in December my good friend Randy Dickinson hit me up about going fishing for striped bass in Lake Powell (we refer to striped bass as "stripers" just so you understand). I have always heard friends talk about how amazing the fishing can be at Lake Powell in the spring. I have heard many tales of dozens of fish being caught in a short amount of time if you can locate a good boil. However, going in March would mean there would not be any boils. The fish are in a pre-spawn state, coming out of winter dormancy to eat all they can before the spawn. This meant we would have to target them in deeper water, which could be a challenge. I also know how the weather in southern Utah can be during the spring. I hoped for good conditions to come!

We spoke over the phone several times over a 2 month period as we prepared for our trip. Things worked out where we could take our oldest boys, Braden and Hunter with us. So we embarked for Panguitch early Friday morning, March 22nd. I had been hearing great reports from anglers at the lake, stating fishing was great near the dam. I was hoping it would hold up! We met up with Randy in Panguitch, jumped in with him there, and set out for Wahweap bay, on the Arizona side of the lake.

VIDEO:

A quick stop in Page for groceries for the weekend, then we were at the marina unloading. The day was perfect, in the 60s with a slight breeze. A guide at the boat ramp confirmed fishing was amazing at the dam still. So we changed plans on heading to Antelope and Navajo canyons, opting to see what the dam was like instead. We were greeted there by several boats, and Wayne Gustaveson with the Utah DWR, who was just leaving, but instructed us to tie up at the security barrier as fishing was hot there. We maneuvered into a spot, and began to fish. Things started out slow, but after making adjustments Hunter was catching fish left and right, followed by Randy. A few minutes later I caught my first striper ever, followed by Braden a bit later. We made a reposition as another boat left, then were were into a fishing frenzy! Every cast seemed to produce fish, more fish, and bigger fish! For 3 hours we laughed, hooped, and hollered as we caught fish left and right. Adding to the fun we were getting to know the folks in the boats around us, cheering each other on and having one heck of a good time. About 3 hours later we had 2 coolers and the bottom of the boat filled, and the kids were saying they were exhausted from all of the reeling in of big fish all afternoon. So we set back to shore, the work of filleting 44 fish still ahead of us!

Wahweap has an excellent fish cleaning station, where over the next 2 hours we took care of our fish. Then it was off to find a campsite in the nearby campground, and on to Green Haven for ice, more bait, and an ice cream. Back at camp we set up before the predicted cold front and strong winds arrived, then it was hobo dinners, brats, and good laughs by the fire until bedtime.

Saturday greeted us with strong winds and cold temperatures. We took a cruise down to our spot on the lake where it was obvious we would not be able to safely tie off. I pulled up a forecast on my phone that indicated that winds would calm after the front passed, so we took the boat into the marina, where we hung out at the store for a couple of hours. Heading back to our spot, we discovered perfect conditions and we also had the area to ourselves for a while! Immediately we were back into the fish! Today's catch was 53 kept with somewhere between 15-25 released that we had no room for. So after another frenzy, we set back to the marina to fillet 53 fish. The evening was perfect as great weather settled back in, more good food by the fire, more good laughs and jokes as we celebrated another fine day on the water!

On our last day we decided we would give the largemouth and smallmouth a try. We knew it still was not quite time for them to become active, but we wanted to try for some variety. A few hours of different tactics and trolling were unsuccessful, so we took a little shore excursion over to Sand Hill to let the kids stretch their legs. In the past couple of years you would have been able to boat to this spot, but it is now high and dry. Before we called it a day we were going back to the dam for one more round. We filled the last cooler, and the bottom of the boat 1 more time, leaving with 2 coolers of fillets and a cooler of fish not taken care of yet.

As we packed things up, the boys were teary eyed at the thought of going home. They had a blast reeling in big fish and cruising the lake; they wanted more. I have to say, I think the dads were just as sad to go, even if we did not show it. However I was looking forward to a hot shower and a nice bed!

I will say, I was hoping for more video but it was nearly impossible with all the fish we were catching to hold the camera and help the kids with fish. I also apologize for some of the shakiness of the video due to the waves and the craziness of what was going on!

If you are wanting to get in on this amazing fishing I suggest you hurry! As I stated, this is not normal boil fishing. Talking with a few folks since, I have found that this is a rare event for Lake Powell that only happens during low water events. The lake has dropped sharply over the last year, most marinas and cutoffs now being above water. The lake has not seen this low of a level since 2007. On these years where there is a sharp drop, the stripers will come out of the canyons early in search for food and for whatever reason they will congregate along the west wall in the dam's fore bay. Starvation is forcing the fish into this, and local biologists will tell you that you are doing the fishery a great favor if you will keep all of the stripers that you catch. There is no limit on striped bass in Lake Powell, so fish away! If you are from Utah, no need to buy an Arizona fishing license. Simply purchase a $3 reciprocal fishing stamp from Arizona to fish their water on Lake Powell as well. Keep all the fish you can and enjoy fish tacos year round!

Fishing was easy, simply fish that west wall at a depth between 20-70 feet. Start at 20 and if nothing keep letting it down until you find the fish. Buy a bunch of anchovies; you will need them for bait and for chum. Cut up some pieces, toss them around you, then bait a hook (no need for big lures, just a hook) with anchovies and the rest is easy. Jigging a bit seems to help, the small waves were doing it for us this weekend. We caught very few fish (less than 10) under 20"! Most fish averaged 4-5 pounds, with a few closer to 7-8 pounds! It is nothing to catch over 50 fish in a short time span. Don't feel like crowding will pressure the fish! Every day we had 5-6 boats around us in close proximity in that corner (again, close enough we could all chat!) and the fishing never slowed! It actually added to the experience as we talked and laughed with everyone.

A report from today tells of the same great conditions, but don't put off the trip! This event is usually short lived as the fish go into the spawn and scatter back out in the canyons.

A big thanks to Rusty Lures, as we took along a nice sample of gear that I recently purchased from their site! What a great sponsor, and what a great source of everything you need for great warm water fishing! You will find everything you need for warm water fishing here!

I want to thank Randy and Hunter Dickinson for taking us along, driving us, and for getting us around on their boat! I look forward to next time with great friends and good times. I also want to thank my son Braden for going along for the weekend. He has had a rough bout with fishing lately, and it took some persuasion, but I think this weekend has really brought him back to a love of fishing. It was great time spent with my son, time I will cherish forever!

Check out Wayne's Words for up to date reports and Lake Powell info!

"Cat Country" 3 Cats...2 Days!

2013-03-25T21:05:00.001-07:00

What an amazing weekend! We are just returning from an amazing fishing trip to Lake Powell, a weekend that I will never forget! It's going to take a few days to get all of the photos, video, and a story compiled to share with you, but in the meantime we have a real treat! Kelly Cox over at i-videowildlife shared this great video with me and gave the go ahead to share it with our viewers. If you have not checked out his website yet, you really need to do so! You will find it full of hunting video, photos, and stories that are worth your time for sure. As Kelly puts it, "Feed your obsession!". I would like to thank Kelly for sharing this with us. Be sure to check out the site, and drop by to give his Facebook page a like as well to stay updated on the content of the site, and to connect with the great sponsors they have over there.

Now, sit back and enjoy this great video of mountain lion hunting at its best, as Kelly works hard to get you a great video while trying to fill his lion tag as well. We hope you enjoy it, and all that i-videowildlife has to offer as well! A great site, and great people!

This video was uploaded from the i-videowildlife YouTube channel. Be sure to check out all of the great hunting videos available on this channel! http://www.youtube.com/user/ivideowildlife

Cooper Tires, "My Everyday Road Trip" Contest

2013-03-22T01:00:00.001-07:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cooper Tire for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

It's that time of year for many of us, tax returns are in and it's time to put off buying a set of tires! For myself, I'm needing to get this done soon! In fact, I'm surprised I made it through the winter, I probably should have replaced already. You can bet I need to do it before the mountain roads become accessible, and I really start putting the miles on my truck!

I happen to be a BIG fan of Cooper Tire! In fact, Cooper is about the only brand of tire that I have had on my vehicles, dating back to when I was 16. I currently have ran with their ST, STT, and ATR model tires. It's the ST I need to replace on my truck now, and I look forward to placing another great set of Coopers on my truck soon!

Cooper is kicking off spring in style this year with their Cooper Tire's My Every Day Road Trip Contest! In addition to a new set of tires, how can you go wrong with a gift card to use for $5,000 in gas to fuel your road trips this summer? Man oh man, that would really open doors for me on vacation possibilities with the high gas prices we are faced with!

Cooper wants to hear about your "Every Day Road Trips"! Whether ordinary trips to the grocery store or extraordinary memories, like a newborn’s first car ride home, Cooper Tire is commemorating life’s every day road trips with an exciting opportunity to earn an entire year of free gas during the “My Every Day Road Trip” contest. Running March 1 through March 29, fans of Cooper Tire’s Facebook page can share their not-so- everyday road trip stories by submitting video, written stories or photos.

“Cooper tires are crafted for life’s every day road trips and we’ve long heard from dedicated fans about their daily journeys. We’re excited to create an open forum for people to share their stories,” said Hal Gardner, Cooper Tire’s Vice President of Marketing Communications and Market Intelligence.

So how do you enter the contest? Simply enter a story, photo, or video between now and March 29th that highlights your "not so every day road trip". Be sure to highlight how Cooper tires got you there, or added to the experience. The photos, stories, and videos will be judged by this, and by your originality, creativity, and passion for Cooper tires. Submit your content to the Cooper Tires Facebook page.

The top written story will win a $100 gift card to use toward gas for one week while the highest rated photo entry will receive a $500 gift card to use toward gas for one month.

The top five video finalists will each win a new set of four Cooper tires and advance to the final phase of the competition. In the final phase, Cooper Tire Facebook fans will be encouraged to vote for their favorite Every Day Road Trip video, to help determine the final winner. The video with the combined highest score and most votes will be awarded a gift card for $5,000 toward gas for one year to fuel their daily drive.

How about an opportunity to win based just on voting? Cooper Tire is also offering its fans a chance to win a Road Trip Kit just for voting during the My Every Day Road Trip sweepstakes. Beginning April 15, fans can vote for their top video to help determine the overall Cooper Tire Facebook video winner. For each vote (one per day), fans will automatically receive an entry to win a Road Trip Kit. The prize pack includes several items to keep them on-the-go, including a $100 Cooper Tire auto service voucher, a $50 gas card, $50 iTunes gift card and Cooper gear. So many ways to win, you really need to get in on this one!

Visit Cooper Tire’s Facebook page for complete contest and sweepstakes rules and submission guidelines.

Cooper Tire has been outfitting our vehicles for nearly 100 years! Cooper is committed to quality and affordability, and you will find a tire to fit your every need; truck, car, trailer, heavy-duty, check Cooper Tire out, they will have the tire for you!

Wilderness Athlete, Week 1 Results

2013-03-21T20:55:00.001-07:00

All I can say is WOW!

I'm down 4 pounds in 1 week and to be honest I didn't feel like I was hitting it that hard to get these results! Including the weight loss, I have also lost a total of 4 1/4 inches, from measurements at my chest, waist, hips, upper thigh, lower thigh, and calf. let's just say I was in enough shock that I had to check a second scale to be sure, and the results were confirmed!

So, you know the daily routine that I have been following from my last post. The routine has stayed basically the same. I have opted out of quite a few lunches to go with a meal replacement shake. I haven't snacked much in the mornings and afternoons still as I really haven't felt the urge to. The only real tweaking I have done is with the "blaze" drink (the combination of the "Hydrate and Recover" along with the "Energy and Focus"). Mornings when I am dragging I will mix the blaze up then. If I feel pretty good in the morning I will just drink a hydrate and recover and have my blaze before lunch instead. I feel like the results have been great through flexing this around. Also, I have taken advantage of the hydrate and recover quite often; after workouts, during a hike, during sheet rocking when I have felt myself getting drained, and crazy enough, before study time when I typically get dragged down a bit. It's a great pick me up! The blaze is still doing the job without the crash as well.

Now, here's a breakdown of my daily and workout activities over the past week:

Friday was spent at home, getting a head start on homework for the next week, then back to hanging sheetrock during the afternoon. The whole day was active and busy, however I did not do any real workout.

Saturday was a chance to finally get out with the family! We spent an active morning riding ATVs, looking for a herd of elk and enjoying new country. The challenging terrain we rode was also accompanied by a few snow drifts that we had to fight through and dig out of! Returning home, I tilled the garden and hung more sheetrock in the basement. I actually thought it would be kind of a restful day, but honestly I feel like the Wilderness Athlete is giving me so much energy and good feeling that I can't stand to sit still!

Sunday was a lazy day, other than finishing a bit of sheetrock to complete 1 room. The day was spent relaxing with family, and catching up on homework again. I found myself again knocked down a bit by the sinus infection I have been fighting as well.

Monday was a day spent in the office at work. With the return of good weather, I took myself out for a 4 mile run in the Alvey Wash area south of town. This run is great, going out away from town, making it so there is no possible shortcut to return home! It was a challenge with the sinus infection, and having not run for quite a while, but I was able to complete the run in about 45 minutes.

Tuesday the office was killing me (maybe getting restless due to the energy again)! So, in the afternoon I headed out for the hills to shed hunt a bit. I spent about 4-5 hours hiking the hills, probably only about 3 miles worth or so, but the terrain provided a great workout, just enough to help alleviate some of the soreness from yesterday's run.

Nothing like a run through this amazing scenery!

Wednesday I hit the hills for another day of shed hunting with my 5 year old son. We spent most of the day (from about 9 AM to 4 PM hiking around looking for sheds. While it was a lot of hike, stop, glass, and resting, along with waiting for my wandering son to catch up, looking back I'm guessing we covered about 4-5 miles, zig-zagging through the hills. It was great time spent, and again I was feeling the soreness return to my legs. This wasn't enough to stop me from going to play another 2 solid hours of basketball though! The legs felt like jelly when I returned home at about 10:15 PM!

Thursday it was time to get back to the gym, the legs have had it for a day or two! So I focused my workout on a fast paced chest, abs, and arms workout routine. This consisted of machine weights, push-ups, and crunches. It was a great workout, I'm still feeling it!

This weekend will be active, but a 3 day fishing trip will limit time to actually work out. However, I plan to take my Wilderness Athlete along and continue holding strong to the program! Four pounds was a lot towards my goal of dropping to 220! If I keep this pace up I will hit my goal in 28 days for sure! I'm trying not to get too excited, I have always had trouble getting under 225 and I know I will really have to step my workouts up next week to push through that barrier to my goal. With only being 10 days into my 28 day challenge I do remain very optimistic though!

2013 Shed Photo Contest Update

2013-03-20T22:11:00.001-07:00

My first ATL of the year!

Shed season is obviously into full swing! I look forward to opening Facebook and the email every evening to check out the pictures that are pouring in. The best is yet to come as the snow retreats and allows us access, and the elk have only begun to drop! We wanted to take an opportunity tonight to show off a few of these great finds that have been entered in the contest so far.

Are you unfamiliar with our contest? Simply submit photos of your shed hunting outings by email to suhuntandfish@gmail.com OR post them to our Facebook page to enter www.facebook.com/suhuntandfish. If you don't have Facebook it's OK, email those photos, we will add them to the album there, and you will still be entered.

We have a great basket of prizes from our sponsors! Prizes such as a pair of Vortex Diamondback 10x42 binoculars, a Magpul sling from our friends at Dixie Gunworx, a $50 gift card to the Phone Skope store, and a Garmin Rhino GPS from us here at SUH&F! More prizes may be added, so make sure you check our contest page for updates. We only ask if you do have Facebook to like each of these sponsor's Facebook pages to be eligible for their prize. Contest ends April 30th, so there's plenty of time to get in. Remember, it doesn't have to be a picture of a shed antler, it can also just be pictures from your outing!

A little bit better idea of this shed's size, as Ashlynn holds it.

I have been able to get out a couple of times this week myself, and finally found my first decent brown deer antler of the season, however I was unable to match him up. I might go give it another shot next week. My son, Jackson and I tried to pair him up today, but only managed a few old whites. It was still enough to keep him excited during a long hike!

Check out these other great photos from viewers, and be sure to enter yours as well. Good luck to you all!

We are headed for striper fishing at Lake Powell this weekend, and hope to have a great report, tips, photos, and video for you. Everyone have a great weekend!

My son Jackson with one of his finds on the day:

These two photos are submitted by Brooke Brunson:

Shane Shakespear sends us this sweet ATL, one of the most unique I have ever seen! This shed sits in a natural "pond" in a rock, the water is about 8" deep! This rock/pond is also about 6 feet off of the ground!

These last photos were entered by Brandon Jennings. Looks like it was a great day in the hills!

Camo Phone Cases

2013-03-18T08:21:00.001-07:00

Good morning all, I want to take a few minutes to introduce you to a new line of phone cases I just found that I believe you would all be interested in! A couple of weeks ago "Fuse PlusYou" hit me up about showcasing their line of camo phone cases here on our site. They sent me a case to try out, which I placed on my new iphone 5 and have been using for about a week now. Let me give you a quick rundown on my thoughts,

I headed over to http://www.fuseplusyou.com/camo-phone-cases-s/1941.htm to look specifically at the camo phone cases to make my selection. I was first impressed by the prices. I am used to seeing phone cases in the $40-50 range, however I found the case I was most pulled to listed for only $25! So I chose the Mossy Oak camo case, which arrived just 4 days later.

I am very impressed with the simplicity of the case! My last case, called a "Body Glove" was initially great, but soon the joints in the case broke and the entire thing fell apart. The Fuse case is simple, the phone just snaps right into the case, easy on and easy off. No needing a coin or anything like that to take it off of your phone. The case itself is a very durable plastic that protests the back and sides of the phone well, along with the camera. Pair this up with a screen protector and your phone looks good and is protected well.

Fuse Plus You has a very good variety of phone cases at very affordable prices. If camo isn't your thing, check out their site for other options that may fit your liking better.

Fuse Plus You is offering a special discount for our readers! For 10% off of your item, be sure to use promo code SUH&F. This applies not just to camo cases, but to any case of your choice! A big thanks for Fuse for sharing their products with us, and for hooking our viewers up with the discount!

Wilderness Athlete, Kicking Off the 28 Day Challenge

2013-03-14T18:51:00.002-07:00

About a week ago I had the privilege of welcoming Wilderness Athlete to our list of sponsors, as well as introducing them to you. If you missed our first post giving an overview of what Wilderness Athlete is all about, you can follow this link to catch up: http://www.suhuntandfish.com/2013/02/wilderness-athlete.html. At that time I was also excited to announce that I would be stepping up to the plate to take their 28 day challenge. Well, I received my products a little over a week ago, but postponed starting until this week due to spending a week in the office, and eating out of restaurants as I was out of town that week. I want to be able to give this program 100%, so I held off until this week to get started. Here I am in just my 3rd day, and while results are still a ways off, I want to share my thoughts on the products so far to kick things off.

So I actually started Tuesday, as Monday I was back in the office and to lunch with my friends. I feel like I am following the plan fairly well so far, apart from a couple of trips to lunch where I hope I didn't over do it. But I will say, one thing I like about the program is that it's not a hunger program! It actually encourages a decent breakfast, lean protein lunch, and again a lean protein dinner. The key is cutting the sugars, fats, and processed foods. So here's a little breakdown of my routine with the 28 day challenge.

Hydrate and Recover!

Upon waking up, I mix up a drink dubbed "the blaze" by wildland firefighters. A quick side note here, another reason I love the program is that not only was it developed for the "Wilderness Athlete", but it also has had great success with wildland firefighters as well. The best of both worlds for me! Anyway, the blaze consists of a mixture of the "Hydrate and Recover" powder and the "Energy and Focus" powder, along with a couple of "Lean Life" pills. The blaze is great for revitalizing the body with energy, and the pills act as hunger control. The blaze is packed with vitamins and minerals, and I love the taste. I also love the taste of the Hydrate and Recover on it's own, which is great to use before, during, or after a workout. I will say, the blaze in the morning, and another in the afternoon provide me plenty of energy without the crash. It's only been 3 days, but I've had a lot of late nights, early mornings, and a time change to deal with. The energy boost is obvious, I'm loving the drink!

About 15 minutes after my morning blaze, I mix up a "Meal Replacement and Recovery" shake, and add in a scoop of the "Green Fusion". OK, honestly, the Green Fusion smells like alfa-alfa cubes to me and I was skeptical mixing it in with the shake, but I did it as I want the results of this full serving of daily fruits and veggies. The first shake didn't sit well with my taste buds, but I have to tell you, after this morning's shake I found myself wanting more. The taste has grown on me and I like it quite a bit. I'm a picky eater, so I hope that tells you something. I also take my 2 multivitamins, and I'm on my way for the morning.

I haven't done so well with a snack at all mid-morning as suggested (fruits and veggies), in fact I've had no snack at all. To be honest I rarely find myslef hungry before noon, which is odd for me. I think the Lean Life pills are doing the job quite well.

About 15 minutes before lunch it's another Lean Life pill, and another blaze (or just the Hydrate and Recover). The program allows for you to tweak things. Some mornings I only do a Hydrate and Recover (plus the shake), then a blaze at lunch. Lunch at home is something light, a little brown rice, chicken, some lean protein source, or maybe a replacement meal shake if I'm in a hurry. This week, with meetings and such I have went out to lunch and have eaten plenty. So, I tweak things a bit, having a meal replacement shake instead of dinner.

Again, the mid-afternoon snack has not been necessary for me as I have not had the urge to eat!

Dinner time calls for 12-16 ounces of water before I eat, no starches for dinner. Again, a lean protein source is recommended, and wild game is a great one so bring on the deer or elk! No snacking after 7:00 is a must, and again in 3 days I haven't had the urge as I usually do!

Again, it's only been 3 days, but I like the path I'm on and it hasn't been that hard at all! I've recently tried the Herbalife diet, and while I love the shakes, I had experienced frequent food cravings and hunger, as well as ups and downs in energy that I found it hard to control. My 3 days of Wilderness Athlete have given me more energy than I've had in a long time, no crashes, and lots of motivation! It's been hard with the time change and work priorities to get up early to work out, but after I get the Hydrate and Recover (or a blaze) into me, I feel like I'm raring to go!

So here's where I start off. This morning I finally got to a scale and I'm weighing in at 232. That's not horrible for 6'4", but I should at least be down around 220. This has been a hard weight for me to hit the past few years. I can get 225, but struggle for more before bouncing back up, often to as high as 240-245! Yes, super embarrassing to admit that! I have a list of measurements and next week we will see how those are comparing to this week, as well as the weight.

Here's how my workouts have broken down this week. I started Tuesday, and honestly with work was unable to hit the gym, take a run, or anything. I did a bit of lifting of steel pipe for about 30 minutes, other than that and packing a few boxes up stairs the day was kind of a wash. Wednesday was a very long, tiring day in the office and seat of a truck, but I was able to end the night on a good note, 2 hours of pretty intense basketball. It was a great workout! Today I hit the weights at the fitness center for 50 minutes, focusing on chest and abs through machine weights, crunches, and push-ups. I'm feeling the 50 minutes of it today, especially after basketball tonight. Tomorrow, I plan at least a 3 mile run (hopefully more if I can control the cough from the cold I've had) and Saturday will be hiking! I hope for good results next week!

So what's my goal? Well, I was shooting for 220, but after seeing the scale at 232 today I want to see me dip under the 220 mark in a month's time, even if it is only 219! It's a lofty goal, and I hope the weather and work cooperate to allow me to reach it! One thing I will mention about the 28 day challenge, it doesn't call for strenuous workouts, just an "active lifestyle"! A solid workout program can be a real challenge for many of us with work, kids, sports, church and community activities, and so much more. If I can stay active, work out 100% when I can (and strive to do it 5-6 days a week), and stick to the plan above I should see great things.

So, I'll be reporting my results, but I will say you aren't going to see the normal half-naked before and after photos that you usually see from things like this. I will try to get photos, but until things change a bit it won't be very revealing! Nobody wants to see all of this right now (if ever!). I looke forward to sharing more of Wilderness Athlete with you! Thanks for the support.

Be sure to check out Wilderness Athlete by clicking on their logo in the right sidebar to link to their website. You will also find Wilderness Athlete on Facebook.

Arizona Shed Trip, and Photo Contest Entries

2013-03-11T21:35:00.001-07:00

Hello there friends, how are you enjoying this spring weather? While many of us are making plans it seems like Mother Nature is bound and determined to show us who is really in control, reminding us that spring time in the west is very brutal and unpredictable!

Well, I'm fairly ashamed to report how my Arizona shed trip went. I know many have been asking for details, and I have held off, not just to shame, but to a busy return to work as well. So, let me break the trip down for you through this photo series!

We knew the weather report looked a bit bleak, but the trusty ol' National Weather Service was predicting mainly rain for the area we targeted, with little to no accumulation at the elevation we planned on shed hunting. So, through the rain we proceeded to Kanab, and looking south we decided we would be alright. Actually, the storm seemed to be breaking a bit. As we began our short climb to our destination, the weather rapidly deteriorated, however.

Look at the open ground! It's not that bad, just a little rain, right?

This was less than 10 minutes later...

Needless to say, setting up camp was an interesting chore! It did break a bit for us though, that's not very much snow!

The real storm moved as we were standing around the fire that nigh. Surely it would let up soon!

But...

Things looked a bit different when we woke up that morning!

Needless to say we weren't in a hurry to get going the first morning as the snow continued to fall! Finally, about noon it broke and our boots were quickly laying down tracks on a nearby ridge that has proved successful in the past. What was about 4 inches in our camp was a bit more where we hiked. While we were in the deer, it proved nearly impossible to find bone in tall brush and deep snow. SO, we regrouped and headed to a lucky spot from last year, lower elevation where we would find less snow, less ground cover, and more deer. Sure enough, there were more deer, but the sheds were either still not there, or proved to be difficult to find in the 2 inches of snow there. Discouraged, but not out of ambition, desire, or optimism, we returned to camp feeling sure that when the sun would finally shine through tomorrow our success would be great!


Getting a plan put together!

The next morning, we broke camp and headed a few miles away to a spot that had also been good in the past, where we knew we would find less snow. The few vehicles we saw braving the snow and mud was an indication that maybe our grounds were picked over already. Shed hunting is getting very popular, and the secret spots are few and far between now. We were seeking isolation from the crowds, and our friend Ryan had a good idea where to find it! So we headed out for some redemption! The clearing skies made for some amazing scenery for the day!

In no time we were in more deer than we had seen the entire trip! Good sized tracks and a few small bucks holding on gave us hope. However, we returned to the truck tired, frustrated, Zach throwing a snowball to symbolize his "throwing in the towel". Arizona had won this time, the snow still proving to be too difficult for us to overcome.

Was it a wasted trip? By no means! This will go down as one of my favorites for sure! The weather made things a bit inconvenient and uncomfortable at times, but I will always cherish the amazing country we roamed, and for sure the stories and laughs shared around the campfire. From the trouble we used to get into, work stories, stories of family and friends, and (since we are being honest) women past and present, and of course, the stories of hunting that we have no doubt retold countless times. They never get old, and I'll never forget the good times spent with good friends. Thanks so much Mike, Zach, Spenser, and Ryan for making it a great trip to remember, and I look forward to our next trip to this beautiful piece of country where we will get another shot at redemption!

Shed hunting is a great experience, some would call us crazy, but there is a great thrill and reward to finding those awesome sheds from the ones that made it another year. It gives us hope for the next hunt, and provides some puzzlement and amazement as we find sheds from bucks and bulls that we may have never even knew existed in an area. Photos are really starting to light up email, texts, and social media lately.

Have you noticed our shed contest? Check out the details on the "contests" tab at the top of the page! You can also check out the eligible photos in the contest on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/suhuntandfish under the "2013 Shed Photo Contest" album. Here are a couple of our first entries! Be sure to submit your photos, you have until the end of April to get them in to us! Great prizes await, be sure to click on the "contests" tab for prize details. More great prizes are being added often. Thanks to Spenser Owens and Jonie Barton for the following photos, and good luck to all this shed season!

Phone Skope

2013-03-04T12:03:00.001-08:00

What a great month we have had in picking up new, amazing sponsors! I would like to introduce you to our newest sponsor, Phone Skope!

The Phone Skope is an exciting new product that is going to change the way we photo and video wildlife. Those that have followed the blog here know that I love digiscoping (digiscoping is taking photography or videos through a camera adapted to work with your spotting scope or binoculars). I have a couple of different kinds of camera adapters, but I find that I do not always have my camcorder, or nice camera with me due to no space, or rough country or conditions that I don't want to carry that equipment into. I also find some of the best moments I want to capture is simply during travel, at work, or other times when I don't have all of my gear with me. So what happens then? You see me frustrated trying to zoom in on something with my iphone camera! Enter the Phone Skope!

I may not always have my spotting scope or camera with me, but most often I do have the phone and a pair of binoculars with me, two items much more convenient to carry! Cameras built into our phones exhibit amazing quality these days, but obviously lack in zoom capability. How about an adapter so small it can fit in your pocket? Custom fit to your phone, and to your optics, the Phone Skope adapter is highly effective at converting your camera phone into a high tech digiscoping tool! Simply click your phone into the case, and slide the setup over your eye piece on your optics, Phone Skope does the rest. The camera will be ready to take in the entire field of view of your optics, the custom adapter centering the camera in the eye piece, no adjustment required! Now you are ready to take amazing photos through this simple, light weight set up.

Phone Skope features adapters that are universal for smaller optics, such as riflescopes and binoculars, and adapters specifically for spotting scope models.

Talk about custom, you can also get your Phone Skope adapter in a variety of colors and even camo patterns. Be sure to check out their website http://www.phoneskope.com/ to see the full range of options. Remember, they have a setup for almost every smart phone and optics type. You will not be disappointed! Visit the site for more specifics on adapter components, even video clips to demonstrate how it all works.

I am excited to receive my own Phone Skope within the next week or two (as soon as I can get to a store to upgrade my phone first) and then to hit the field with this awesome piece of gear to gather some amazing photos! It should be a blast to use out shed hunting and turkey hunting this spring!

For our readers: More details to come, but Phone Skope will be hooking us up with a $50 gift certificate to the Phone Skope store! This $50 could be yours, about all you need to walk away with your own Phone Skope! Depending on the model, Phone Skopes run between about $50 to $70. Stay tuned for more details when we officially announce where this will fit into our shed hunting photo contest!

Again, a big thanks and welcome aboard to Phone Skope! Glad to have another great product and company backing our site!

Wilderness Athlete

2013-02-28T10:08:00.001-08:00

We would like to welcome our newest sponsor and partner, Wilderness Athlete! In case you haven't already notices, their logo now appears in our right sidebar, where you will find it linked to their website. We are excited about this new sponsor, as we seek to find ways to diversify our website to more than just hunting and fishing. Physical fitness and well being is a highly necessary component to all outdoor activity, and we really feel that Wilderness Athlete will get us started down a road where we can combine physical fitness, exercise, and nutrition into our content. So, just what is Wilderness Athlete?

well, let's back up to about 6 months ago. I had first seen Wilderness Athlete on Facebook, as they followed our page there, and commented a few times on content. Quite honestly I didn't know much about it, other than it looked like another one of those meal replacement weight loss programs, and I was already trying the Herbalife diet which seemed similar. I had fairly good results with that diet, until a tighter winter budget and a bit of laziness set in this winter. So I really didn't give it much more thought than that until New Years.

At a family get together, my brother, Brett Madsen asked me what I knew about Wilderness Athlete. I told him what I knew from Facebook, and how I had seen other hunters such as Kristy Titus, and Kelly over at i-Video Wildlife had been using it and seemed to like the results. Brett informed me that the guy that kind of started it all was Mark Paulsen, who was Brett's strength and conditioning coach when he played football at the University of New Mexico. Now Wilderness Athlete had my attention. Brett said that coach Paulsen's weight loss and conditioning plans were amazing, and encouraged me to look into it. I'm still not sure if that was a "hint" towards my condition, or if he was trying to help me out here on the blog! Anyway, he suggested that I talk to Mark and see if we could work something out with Wilderness Athlete.

Well, considering I needed to loose at least 10 pounds, 20 optimally, I sent an email to them to see that we could work out. The outcome, I'm going to be doing their 28 day challenge and recording my results in exchange for some sponsorship! More to come on that in a bit.

Again, what is Wilderness Athlete? I have found out that it is much more that just a weight loss program. This is a nutritional program. It's not just about loosing weight, although this 28 day challenge will accomplish that. It's about taking care of your body. One product that is highly touted in the outdoor community right now is the Hydrate and Recover product. It focuses on getting vital nutrients, vitamins, and minerals back into your system to boost energy and metabolism. From Mark Paulson (from the WA website):

The 28 Day Challenge is about providing people with solid nutrition,” said Mark Paulsen, the Founder of Wilderness Athlete and the Strength and Conditioning Coach for the University of New Mexico. “Exercising is extremely important when you want to lose weight but eating the proper diet is crucial. Our 28 Day Challenge promotes a healthy diet by providing supplements and meal replacement products that offer sound nutrition. Combine these products with exercise and people can quickly lose weight.” From the great tasting Meal Replacement Shakes, the Multi-Vitamins that contain the vitamins and minerals a person needs, the Green Infusion’s 6 servings of fruits and vegetables, to the Hydrate & Recovery and the Energy & Focus drinks, this system contains everything a person needs to start eating right. This is the first step in living a healthier lifestyle.

This is a very complete package, everything needed (except exercise of course) to condition your body! What I am excited to be hearing that if you follow Paulsen's plan, this product will provide you plenty of energy throughout the day, something that I have found other products to be lacking in. I also like the idea of the green fusion supplement when we talk nutrition. Guys, you can ask my family and friends, I don's eat a lot of fruits and veggies. Truth is I don't graze much at all. I can stay away from sugars and junk, but I love meat and pastas! I don't have a very good nutritional balance and I know it. I look at this 28 day challenge package; meal replacements, hydrate and recover, green fusion, lean life (for the weight loss) and the multi vitamin, this is a very complete package for great nutrition. The energy and focus drink is also there to provide that energy that I can't seem to find in other weight loss programs. This no-crash formula is not only intended to provide energy, but also contains vitamins and carotenes that aid in rebuilding damaged tissues, and acts as a natural anti-inflammatory your your joints and muscles.

This is just a handful of the many products available. You will also find Joint Advantage, a product to help with cartilage, joint flexibility, and blood flow to those joints, Altitude Advantage to help you condition for those high altitudes, Omega 3 Fish Oil, Pre-Workout, Protein Plus and more. Also be sure to check out the great looking apparel available there. I can't wait to sport this fine looking hat they sent me as well!

These products are especially tailored for the outdoor athlete; hunters, fishermen, hikers, bikers, firefighters, and just all around athletes as well. Mark Paulsen is not only an experienced coach and trainer, but also an avid outdoors man. He developed these products with you in mind. I see the successful athletes that came out of the UNM football program and I can't help but think a lot of time and expertise has gone into fine tuning these products for great outcomes. I mean, he trained guys that went onto the NFL like Brain Urlacher. Amazing!

I look forward to starting my 28 day challenge on March 11th. I'll be holding off until I can give it 100% for 28 days, and with sitting in meetings all next week I didn't think now is the time. This isn't easy for me; I admit I am not in the best shape right now, and I am uncomfortable sharing pictures of myself and the scale results. I have committed to doing this though, not just for Wilderness Athlete, not just for the blog, but mainly for myself as I need to get in better shape and take care of my nutrition. So, I will be posting once a week during the 28 days on my progress. I realize there may be some "whoas" or even some laughs, but that's OK. We have great viewers and as a friend pointed out, our fans are probably one of the best support groups a guy can ask for.

Be sure to head on over to Wilderness Athlete's web page to see all they have to offer, and check out more about the company. I'll try to highlight the individual products I am using as we go along as well, and I'll share some exercises, cooking (recipes and tips) and more with you as well.

Thanks again to Wilderness Athlete in sponsoring SUH&F! We are excited to have you aboard!

Getting Back in Stride After a Crazy February

2013-02-25T20:56:00.001-08:00

I know it has been a good week since you have seen a post from me. I apologize, the last couple of weeks have been very crazy and stressful. Just over a week ago, I was devastated to hear that a co-worker, and one of my best friends had passed away. Willie and I worked together as Wildland Firefighters over the last 4 years. He also contributed quite frequently to the blog here, and he was a part of a close circle of friends that I consider my "pro-staff", if were are professional enough to call ourselves that now. Willie had been a part of a few fishing trips and shed hunting adventures, times I will never forget! We will miss him as we prepare to head to Arizona in two weeks, and well, every time we go into the hills, or I strap my fire pack on and head out on the line. I know we will have more adventures to come. For now, here is one of my favorite pictures of Willie, and one of the most recent I have of him. He told me often of his trips to Otter Creek Reservoir ice fishing this winter, I could just never arrange the schedule to meet up with him. This was one of his best trips this winter, where he and his son were able to pull in several nice rainbows.

I want to dedicate this outdoor and hunting season to your memory buddy! I hope you feel free to tag along with the boys and I in all we do in the outdoors this year. Rest well my friend, and God speed!

Who's getting excited for shed season? It's been a long time coming it seems. This point of the winter can be tough in finding material to write about, and I look forward to the photos and stories to share. Ice fishing gets tough in late season, and after a few months I am ready (and needing) to get some boot tracks on the ground! Well, as you know, we have been out a few times, as others have as well. It's so very close now, and maybe in full swing where you are. Check out these photos we snapped on Friday of a few bucks still packing! Please excuse the pictures, we had a little troube with the low light.

I am seeing a few photos of browns on Facebook from all over the country! The good news is that I did see a buck tonight that looks as if he has just dropped. So, tomorrow afternoon it's on, as good weather and a friend to go along with means a few hours of pounding the ground in search of some antler! Even if it's not brown, check out this white found by my friend Clayton Carter! Not a bad find for early on in the shed season!

Remember as you hit the field to submit your photos for our shed contest! You could win a pair of Vortex binos, a Magpul sling from Dixie GunWorx, or a Garmin Rino GPS from us! Enter your photos by email at suhuntandfish@gmail.com or post them to our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/suhuntandfish. You have until the end of April, plenty of time to get at it during not only the deer, but the elk shed season as well! We hope to add more prizes from other sponsors before the close of the contest as well! Check out the details on the prizes on our "contests" page.

Finally, we gave Fish Lake a try today since the weather was cooperating. The Fish Calendar also forecast a 100% day, I mean, who can pass on that? So, we hit the road at 5:30 AM, and after some time spent digging the truck out of a snow drift (don't try the south cutoff road from U-24) we arrived at the lake at 8:30 AM. We tried the north end this time, on the advice of a few people. Setting up in 20' of water we had no trouble catching a dozen perch to use as bait, it actually only took as about 30 minutes to get the perch. Moving around we had trouble locating anything else on the fish finder. We pulled in a few rainbows and 1 splake in about 45' of water, from various depths. Moving out to 90' I was able to hook up with a couple of what I felt were nice macs, but I was unable to land the fish. Setting our poles only 15-20' under the ice however, we were able to catch several nice rainbows and small lake trout. On the day we had only 1 splake. I'm not sure what we are doing wrong there this year, as we have never had trouble catching them at all in years past. We will be making another trip there on Saturday with a group of youth to see if we can get this "funk" I'm in figured out!

President's Day Outing

2013-02-18T23:05:00.001-08:00

Today we decided to take advantage of the day off of work and school to get out and enjoy the good weather together before the next snow storm rolls in this week. Although we had a lot of things that we should have stayed home to do, the combination of a couple of very busy weeks, the time spent studying/working towards 12 credits this semester, and the tragic loss of a close friend and co-worker this weekend, we knew it was probably best to get outdoors to unwind and get our minds off of things. It was long overdue! What a great day spent with the wife, kids, and the dog.

We decided to head to a favorite shed hunting spot in hopes of finding some "brown on the ground". We have been watching a herd of nice bucks in this area all winter, along with a couple of really good muleys. This is also a spot that has paid off for me very well in past years, and although I know a lot of bucks were still packing, maybe, just maybe I would have similar luck as last year. An early trip yielded an amazing 5-point set just a short distance from the truck. After a rough morning of dealing with more phone calls and messages about my friend, I was finally able to put the phone away for a bit and get out of town.

As we left the pavement and started down a dirt road, it was no time at all and we were spotting deer, including this nice 4-point!

Although we were stoked to get a good look at this buck, and some video, this is not what we came for. I hate to get in among the deer before they drop, first of all, because I don't want to push them out before they drop, and second, I hate to pressure them this time of year when the winter feed is about gone, and they are really giving it their all to survive. This wasn't quite the spot we were heading to anyway. So, we made our plans and made a wide swing to stay away from them We did jump a few more small bucks, still all packing head gear!

As we were getting into deer, I thought maybe it was time to turn to a new area, where I was fairly sure the deer had moved out of the week prior. So we shifted our search to this new bench and began to grid. The sign confirmed that while a few deer lingered, most had moved on. After nearly 2 miles things were looking bleak, so we decided to turn back. Just as we approached the truck I looked down and nearly stepped on our find for the day. It still had a bit of blood on the base.

Well, it's not much, but the season has to start somewhere I guess. I have high hopes that a planned trip in 2 weeks will turn out big! It just amazes me that a big buck can be carrying antler still, and a buck as small as this was already shed, at least on one side. Oh well, it was great to get out and about on such a nice day.

It was an excellent opportunity to get my future TV show host on the camera! I heard Dallin telling his bothers about the day, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to let him sum up our experience of shed hunting for the day. Looks like he needs a bit of practice, but it's probably better than Dad can do!

On the way home, my very observant 5 year old pointed out a road that I had promised to take the family down once the weather got better, the area is called Spencer Flat. Jackson had been eager to see the area, since I spoke of the "Moqui Marbles" that covered the area's sand dunes and sand stone features. Well, it was a good day, so why not? We turned south from the highway into the desert country south/southeast of Escalante.

I have been wanting to take the family to a awesome feature known as the "Cosmic Ashtray", but today we would not have enough light to make the nearly 5 mile hike. That's a story for another day that we hope to share within a couple of months as we try to showcase more of the awesome country around our home. So, we settled for a ride into what was new country for the family, and explored the Moqui marble deposits. The kids were amazed as they sorted through the piles upon piles of these unique rocks located on the surface of sandstone and even in the sand of the dunes. From little "BB marbles" as Jackson called them, to the flying saucer looking ones, huge ones, doubles, and more the kids had a blast discovering all they could. We even found a few that had been cracked, revealing the multiple colors of sand frozen within the hard shell.

Moqui marbles are actually iron oxide concretions, created by changes in chemical compositions within Navajo Sandstone during the weathering process (can you tell one of those 12 credits is Geology?). They are also commonly called "sand bombs" due to the sand contained within the hard shell. The name Moqui marble comes from the Hopi term Moqui (meaning "the dead"), as pertaining to the ancient Moqui Indians (Anasazi tribes) that inhabited the area. As a kid I was told that the name came from the idea that these Indians played marbles with these natural marbles. Enough for the geology lesson, the short story is I was fascinated with these rocks as a kids and can remember buckets full of them at people's houses around town. Today however, with the designation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument it is now illegal to collect these rocks. Heck, it probably was when I was a kid anyway, we just didn't know it back then. So after a fun while of hiking and playing with rocks in a massive sandbox, the kids returned their toys to the sand and we headed for home. It was a perfect day, even if we only had a 2-point antler to show for it.

So, we will weather another storm this week it looks like, and another busy weekend to come. Hopefully, we start to see more photos roll in for our shed photo contest once these guys decide to start to drop! March and April will be fun no doubt! We look forward to seeing your pics!

Dixie GunWorx

2013-02-16T09:14:00.005-08:00

We would like to welcome aboard our newest sponsor to SUH&F, Dixie GunWorx! We are excited to have Dixie GunWorks as a sponsor, as it brings more diversity to our outdoor network, our first firearms dealer, gunsmith, and customizing business to be associated with. We have high hopes that our viewers will share that excitement as we bring Dixie GunWorx into our family. We will be sharing their updates on our Facebook page, as well as here on the blog. We also have one more exciting announcement about this partnership at the end of this post, so be sure to read on through! First, let me tell you a little bit about the company.

From their website (from "About Us"):

Dixie GunWorx had its start at none other than a family get-together. Along with the normal talk of sports, family matters, and the usual, it was brought up that there was no good gunsmith in the Southern Utah area; no where you could go to have all your needs taken care of in one location. It was then that Chris Michel, a man trained by the Department of Defense and Energy and who had been tearing guns apart for as long as he could remember, had the idea for Dixie GunWorx, a gunsmithing store that focuses on meeting the needs of Southern Utah.

After the shop opened in 2010, several gun stores and pawn shops in the St. George area immediately contracted with us to help us meet your gunsmithing needs. Since then, Dixie GunWorx has grown in size, services, and partners to better serve our customers. We can now modify, buy, sell, trade, find, fix, or transfer firearms using our extensive network of dealers and manufacturers.
As a company founded on meeting the needs of customers in Southern Utah, our goal is simple: we are here to provide the best products and services to our customers at the lowest possible price. We take great pride in our customers’ satisfaction. If you’re not happy then we aren’t happy. Satisfaction is guaranteed!

So if you are looking for that all in 1 stop when it comes to firearm purchase, customization, or supplies, be sure to hit up the boys at Dixie GunWorx! For those repairs, you are going to find quality gunsmithing by some of the best in the business! Also be sure to check out not only tactical firearm customization, but services such as Cerakote finishing, and talking with the boys they are also looking into other firearm stock hydro dipping features to come! I am hoping that when I get a new shotgun for my wife I will be able to take it down to them to get the stock dipped in the "Muddy Girl Camo" design, which the boys told me they are looking into getting setup to be able to do!

You will love Cerakote as well! Be sure to check out the Dixie Gunworx website where you will see projects that they have completed! Great looking stuff for sure.

The best way to keep yourself up to date is by following Dixie GunWrox on Facebook! Head on over there and give their page a like to keep up to speed on new products, ammo shipments and specials in the store, gunsmithing and customizing photos, giveaways, and so much more! This company is gaining a lot of popularity quickly on Facebook right now, be sure to check them out! Be sure to tell them that Southern Utah Hunt and Fish sent ya!

Now the exciting news, Dixie GunWorx is excited to join in on sponsoring a prize for our "Shed Photo" contest! How about a Magpul MS3 sling?

This sling is great for your tactical rifles, and is a nearly $50 value! To be eligible to win this prize in our photo contest, be sure to like their Facebook page! We will continue to share with you updates and more about Dixie GunWorx on our Facebook page as well.

Again, we are excited to have Dixie GunWorx with us, thank you guys so much for partnering with us as we look forward to expanding our network and sharing your amazing, high quality work with our readers! For our readers, you will also notice their logo in our right sidebar, which is linked to their website for a convenient way to navigate to their page when you need to.

A Quick Ice Fishing Stop With My Son

2013-02-13T08:44:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy week, and I want to start off by apologizing for a lack of posts over the weekend. Between family commitments and homework (12 credits online, what was I thinking!) it has been a busy weekend. I was able to put some boot tracks on the ground towards the end of last week, and it looks like we are still a week or 2 away from the bucks dropping their antlers down in my area. A few browns have been reported, but most have been small, and the bucks still appear to be packing from what I have seen.

Have you checked out our shed photo contest yet? We have a couple of great prizes, and that list is growing! Stay tuned this week as we look to add another great sponsor to our list, along with another prize to add to the pot for the shed contest! We are excited to pick up this newest sponsor, which adds a little diversity to our sponsors! As we finalize things with this sponsor we will get information posted here about them and the new prize!

Yesterday I made a trip north to take a couple of ATVs to the shop for repair. My youngest son, Jackson (he is 5) has been begging me for a few days to take him ice fishing. I will have to say, when it comes to the outdoors Jackson is the most enthused and desirous to get out and fish out of all my kids. The weekend brought bad weather and poor travel conditions, so I made arrangements to drop the bikes off early so that we could get in some fishing on the way home.

I had no trouble getting the little guy out of bed at 5:30 AM! We loaded up and picked up my grandpa, then hit the road for Richfield. After completing our tasks and getting some breakfast, we headed back south towards Otter Creek Reservoir. Otter Creek has had a great ice fishing season this year, and though we have talked about going there several times, things always seem to get in our way. Today would be a short trip as we needed to get home in time for a basketball game, but it would still be worth it. We were anxious to see if we could tie into one of those fat, football-shaped rainbow trout that folks were talking about!

We decided to fish a point near the middle of the lake where only one other person was fishing. The ice looked real good, in recent weeks the shoreline had been melting, but the sub-zero temperatures for the last 4 or 5 days had again formed ice along the edge. We geared up, and eased out. The shore ice was obviously thinner for about 2-5 feet of distance, but it did hold us, cracking and settling slightly. Once on the ice we found ice varying from 14-16" in thickness. We drilled a few holes and started fishing in about 8-10' of water. Grandpa was quick to hook up with the first fish of the day, shortly followed by fish for myself and then Jackson. We thought we had a good thing going, but fishing quickly turned slow. The highlight for sure was Jackson receiving a tail slap to the face as he tried to pose with one of his catches for the camera! I wish I would have had the video camera rolling on that one instead of the still shot.

We were able to land a few more fish, not a horrible day for just 3 hours of fishing, but not the best either. I'm beginning to be a big believer in the "Fishing Calendar app" on my iphone this year, which said it was only a 26% day. We have noticed this year, if it says it's bad, it is, and when it's good, fishing is great. Maybe I need to look into it more and come up with a post on it! Anyway, we did catch some great fish, probably 2-3 pounds. Most importantly, Jackson had a blast, we told some good stories, shared some laughs, and had a great drive home, even spotting a few large groups of deer. A day well spent for sure! The only thing that would have topped it off would have been a stop by the Antimony Merc for a burger, but time was against us this day!

As the days grow longer, and the temperatures rise, the ice will probably leave the lake near the end of the month. Get out to Otter Creek while you can! Spring fishing just after ice off can also be amazing at Otter Creek, from a boat or from shore. Be sure to add it to your list this spring.

As far as technique, we were again using various colors of paddle bugs, tipped with shrimp or meal worm, shrimp working best. They seemed to hit it better still fishing instead of jigging. This link talks a little more about the gear we use and the techniques that work well for me: http://www.suhuntandfish.com/2013/01/ice-fishing-101.html

Justin Christensen 2012 Archery Elk

2013-02-08T21:02:00.001-08:00

2012 Limited Entry Archery Elk Hunt on the Boulder Mountain

By Justin Christensen

I sat up in our home made ground blind and looked out through the pine boughs to see a giant bull dropping into the wallow! In an instant he was consumed by the mud and water. All I could see sticking out of the mud was his ears and this GIANT set of antlers!!

That was the beginning of the greatest day I have had elk hunting. It all started back in the early part of the year. As the deadline drew near for the for the 2012 Utah hunts I was still undecided on where to put in for my favorite species, elk. Everything about hunting elk turns my crank! I had been lucky enough to draw for limited entry elk twice and have harvested two more great bull’s on open bull areas. I drew a permit in 1992 in the Bookcliffs and in 2005 I drew a limited entry rifle tag on the Boulder Mountain.

So the decision was a big deal for me. I didn’t want to wait 20 years to draw but I also wanted to hunt in an area that I knew had the potential to harvest a whopper of a bull. After hunting the Boulder Mountain Unit in 2005 I knew that this would be my top choice and that I would try for an archery tag. I had been talking to my dad about which unit he was going to put in for. He didn’t feel that his 5 bonus points were enough to draw a Boulder tag. A few days before the deadline my oldest daughter, who was 18 at the time, asked me where I thought she should put in for elk. I told her that we should put in together. I told her that it would lower her chances of drawing because I had only one point to her 5, but if we did it would be a blast hunting together. So I applied for the archery tag with my daughter not expecting to draw.

As the date got closer for the draw results to come out my anticipation grew. I was visiting my parents and we were discussing the draw. I found out that my dad had also put in for the Boulder unit. My dad had checked his account and it had not been hit with any withdraws. I asked them if I could check my card account and noticed a withdraw for $560.00. At first I couldn’t figure out what that could have been and I was starting to panic when I realized I had drawn another elk tag!!!

I immediately called my daughter and we celebrated! Two tags in 7 years!! My dad couldn’t believe it. He was excited and disappointed at the same time. His disappointment didn’t last long though, he found out he also drew an elk tag a few days later.

Now the work would begin. Three tags and all of them archery. I had just taken a job offer in Escalante and had moved there. That would make it easier to go scouting and hopefully find a bull that I would like to chase come the hunt. I told my dad not to worry and that I would do the scouting so he could save his time for the hunt.

I could not wait for the snow to melt so I could get on the mountain. The first of June found us on the mountain checking some of the places that I knew held elk. We set up some trail cameras and couldn’t wait to see what was coming in. On the 12th of June I got the first of many pictures of big bulls. There were two bull’s that caught my eye and I was very excited to see how they would develop. My daughter quickly named them, Thing One and Thing Two, due to them being almost identical. They both were already out to their 5th and 6th tines. Both of them had inline extras but on opposite sides. I was only able to get one more set of pictures of these two bulls on June 26th.

Thing 1 and thing 2

Over the next few months and many trips on the mountain I was ready to for the hunt to open. I had decided to just hunt the first few days and save my time for later when the elk would be bugling. My dad was planning on staying the whole hunt. One week before the opener found us hanging tree stands on the spot where we had seen Thing one and Thing two. There had been at least 5 other big bulls visiting this spot. My daughter was unable to come up the opening weekend and my dad wanted to sit with me on my number one spot. We decided the night before that if the two big ones came in who would get the shot.

Opening morning found us sitting in our stands waiting for Thing one and Thing two to show up. The morning started off great with some does and fawns coming right in but that was all the excitement for the day. We stayed in the tree until after dark. Sunday morning was pretty much the same. Around 6:00 pm I spotted antlers coming through the trees and whispered back to my dad letting him know what was coming. I knew right away that this was not a bull I was interested in. The nice 6x6 came in to 17 yards and hung out for about 10 minutes. We whispered back and forth estimating what we thought he would score. He then moved out to 42 yards and stood there for almost an hour. My dad decided to pass on this bull. Then he moved back in to 17 yards for 5 more minutes before leaving the same way he came in. What a great time in the tree and I got to share it with my dad!!

I headed home and I sent my dad into another area that had a few good bulls coming in. He spent the next week in that spot chasing big bulls but was unable to connect on anything. I headed back on the mountain the first of September planning on staying until the hunt was over. After arriving on the mountain and talking with my dad, I was a little disappointed. The elk were being quiet and had stopped coming into my tree stand sites. The next few days found us covering lots of country and chasing every bugle we heard hopping to catch up to a big bull but things just wouldn’t come together.

We decided to try and sit a wallow due to the bulls not being very vocal. In our travels we had found a spot that looked promising so we built us a ground blind in some pine trees. The blind was awesome! Only 30 yards to the wallow. It could easily hold two people comfortably and provided great cover for a shot. We sat in our blind the rest of that day and the next with no luck. We hadn’t heard even one bugle so we decided to split up and I would go check some of the cameras I had out to see if the elk were visiting these other spots. One of the camera’s showed that there had been some nice 6x6 bulls visiting every other day. That night it was decided that dad would go sit the spot where the bulls were coming in and I would go to a spot where it had been productive earlier in the hunt.

The next morning found me listening to a bull bugling right next to were I had parked the truck. As I was getting ready I discovered that I had left my range finder in camp. I decided to go after this bull anyway but he just slowly moved away and then quit bugling. While trying to coax this bull in I did manage to call in another hunter. At that point and with the elk being quiet I decided to return to camp, have a good breakfast and decide where to go from there.

After a big breakfast of Blueberry pancakes and eggs I decided to grab a good book and return to the ground blind for the afternoon. I arrived in the blind around 10:30, quickly got everything ready and settled in for the afternoon. Around 1:00 I moved to a spot in the blind where the sun was shining to try and warm up. As I was laying there I heard a faint elk bugle. I sat up and waited to hear it again but nothing. Around 2:00, as I was laying there in the sun, I heard footsteps. I sat up and looked through the pine bows that made up are blind to see a giant bull dropping into the wallow! In an instant he was consumed by the mud and water. All I could see sticking out of the mud was his ears and this GIANT set of antlers!!

Instinct kicked in as I grabbed for my rangefinder. After trying to get a reading through the limbs and not getting anything I realized I already knew the distance and I just needed to calm down! I reached for my bow and slowly stood up. The bull had just gotten up out of the wallow as I drew back. He was standing, slightly quartering away, at 35 yards when the Bowtech Invasion kicked loose a 450 grain Easton Axis tipped with a 1 3/4" cut Grim Reaper.

The next few seconds went by in slow motion! I watched the arrow impact behind the front shoulder with a "Whack!!" that I will never forget! The bull just flinched! He stepped slightly to his right and I saw the arrow fall out! I couldn’t believe it! It didn’t pass all the way through and out the other side! He then staggered to his right and went down. He hadn’t gone 10 feet and was down!! I had just killed a monster bull!! I ran out of the blind to get a closer look! I got up next to him and couldn’t believe what had just happened. I was quickly adding up tine lengths in my head. I figured his shortest tine in the first 4 was at least 18 inches with 50 plus main beams and great mass! I couldn’t believe it!!!

I must have ran back and forth to and from the blind 5 times not knowing what to do first so I grabbed my cell phone and headed for camp. I couldn’t wait to tell someone!! My dad was going to flip! I ran as fast as I could back to the 4 wheeler, drove like a maniac back to camp and when my dad’s truck wasn’t there I just kept going. I headed out across the top towards my dad. I hit a spot where I had cell service so I stopped to call my wife. She didn’t answer. My daughter that had a tag was working so I called her. No answer!! I called my other daughter and she answered! I told her that I had just killed a giant bull that I thought would be close to the 380 mark! She got very excited and told her co-worker and good friend of mine, Kaedon Murdock. They said they would be on their way!! I had her call another friend of mine from town to see if he wanted to come up and I was off to get my dad!

I arrived at the spot where my dad was hunting, ran as fast as I could into the area and then hurried as quiet as possible the last 100 yards. I snuck right in on him and got his attention. I explained what had happened and he just sat there and looked at me! He didn’t believe me! When I finally was able to convince him that I had killed a giant bull his first words were, “You killed him in my spot?"

He took what seemed like forever to get out of the tree! I replayed the whole events of the morning up until the bull going down as we walked out of the area and back to the truck. I couldn’t go fast enough back to camp. I couldn’t wait to share this great bull with my dad. He was with me when I got my first big bull in the Bookcliffs, my last big bull on the Boulder and now my greatest bull!!

We were just about to head down to the bull when my daughter, Jaquel came racing into camp with my good friend Kaeden. They had flew up the mountain to come and help. She told me that another one of my good friends, Terry would be up as soon as he could and his friend Reed from Loa would meet him in camp. As we were getting close to the area where the bull was laying my daughter Jaquel couldn’t take the anticipation any longer. She took off on the run down into the meadow where he was laying. As we came into the meadow she was standing by the bull, holding his antlers up with a huge smile on her face!

The hour or so that followed was chaos! . We were standing there admiring this great animal and bull started bugling right above us on the hill and my dad had left his bow in camp. It started raining. None of us could focus. The bull bugled for about 15 minutes. as we were trying to figure out the best way to get my bull out of there. Terry and Reed arrived and we were able to get the bull loaded up and back to camp. In all of the excitement I was unable to get the pictures I would have liked. I was able to get one with my dad and daughter and a few with my friends.

We were able to get the elk back to camp whole and in no time at all we had him caped out and cut up. Kaedon had fresh steaks and potatoes cooking on the Camp Chef. Everything finished up at about the same time so we all washed up and had a great dinner! I cannot thank my friends enough for their help that afternoon! You can never have enough help when it comes to a big bull on the ground. Thank you dad for being there and sharing the hunt with me.

My dad and daughter were able to have a few close calls but were unable to connect. Next time it’s your turn and I hope I can be there to share it with you!!

Written by Justin Christensen, Photography by Justin Christensen

We shared a photo of this bull back in October here on the blog, and have been anxiously waiting for the rest of the story! Justin has put a lot of time into this piece, we hope you all enjoy it, and we want to thank Justin for sharing it right here on SUH&F! Justin's bull ended up scoring 376 5/8. What an accomplishment!

Trail Camera 101

2013-02-06T21:22:00.000-08:00

Trail cameras are really catching on in the west, and I have had many of our friends from other areas of the country ask me how we use them out here in the west. This is a response to those questions, as well as a little info for you from the west about camera setup, and even a couple of my favorite models.

Planning on hunting in the west? Trail cameras aren’t just for food plots anymore. Here are a few tips and reasons why trail cameras can be vital to a successful hunt in remote areas out west.

It’s a dilemma of many of us every fall, you have finally drawn that coveted tag that you have spent years applying for, and now your boots are on the ground in the hunting unit. Problem is you only have a couple of days of scouting before you get right into hunting. If you are fortunate to have a guide, no worries, you will be taken care of. If you are like me, entering the area on a “do it yourself” hunt, you have your work cut out for you. The only option you may have is prying information from locals, which is a risky game. You may find a very honest response, or you may be pointed to an area with informant’s intent to keep you as far away from a trophy as possible.

Even in the mountains right out the backdoor of my house, I struggle with this dilemma. Being a wildland firefighter, my life gets busy very quickly in May, and doesn’t ease up until September or maybe even November in a year like we had this year. This really puts a damper on my plans to get out and scout during the summer. In fact, I skipped out on a couple of fires in Idaho this year just to be able to go on an elk hunt, basically heading out to hunt right from work, with no time to scout. We still had a very successful hunt, all thanks to our trail cameras.

This bull scoring over 400" was discovered by a trail cam, and later harvested by a good friend of mine.

Trail cameras have been popular on game ranches for years, especially when it comes to whitetail hunting in the Midwest and South. I came across my first trail camera in the mountains of Utah about 7 or 8 years ago, and at the time I was convinced that it had to be owned by the state Division of Wildlife, as the cameras were so expensive most of us couldn’t afford them. I was surprised to find out a few weeks later it belonged to another hunter I know, as he teased me about being in his hunting grounds! The craze has really spread and caught on all over the West, along with it the selection of cameras as well. Naturally, I had to get in on the action, as everyone was raving about how it was helping their hunting success.

So, I bought my first camera, and placed it on one of my favorite elk wallows and deer watering holes. Going back to check the camera, I was very disappointed! Good news is it only took a couple of seasons to figure out where I had went wrong, and now the investment is paying off big time! Here are a few tips and tricks, a little “trail camera 101”.

Before going too far, let me caution that a trail camera doesn’t usually bring me success in the spot of the camera. More than anything I will just catch photos of the animals passing through. It at least helps you know that a good animal (or maybe nothing) is in the area. I myself have never harvested an animal on a camera location, and know very few people who have, even on a heavily used water hole.

Choosing a trail camera: This used to be fairly easy; there were only a couple I could afford! Now you will find dozens, if not hundreds of makes and models. So where do you begin now? This is where it is really up to you. Above all, how much do you want to spend? Cameras range in price from $50 to over $500. As the price goes up, you will find more features available to your disposal. Probably one of the most important items to consider, where are you placing the camera? In the open, more range is a plus, but more range is not always good, such as in more closed timber or brush. We will talk more about that in a minute. Do you want night pictures, or only day? Different models also allow you more options such as video modes, customizing how many photos per minute are taken, and how many photos per sequence. Picture quality (megapixel) and battery life are also important considerations. You are also going to need an SD card to store those great shots for you.

One of the most helpful tools I found was the great reviews at http://www.trailcampro.com. This site has reviews on about every trail camera on the market, and they are easy to browse through, as well as easy to understand. You will find that the reviews are completely unbiased, as the site does not promote any particular make of trail camera. Let’s talk about a few more considerations to think of before choosing a camera.

Camera placement: First things first, what are you hunting? For mule deer I have much more success with my cameras on trails to water than on water itself, unless it is a dry year. For elk, wallows are almost always best, or the trails into those wallows. Look at the sign in your site. My best results to date were where I placed a camera just off of water where 3 main game trails converged. I had the camera on the water for a short time, but did much better on the trails. I think this was due to the critters watering in different locations each time, but obviously using one of the 3 trails every time. Mount the camera to the tree of choice, fire it up, and take a few photos of yourself. Make sure you have it secured to the proper height and angle. Also, check with the division of wildlife and land agency (Forest Service, BLM, state, etc.) to ensure that you can use cameras. For example, in Utah you cannot use a trail camera 1 week prior to a hunt. At this time the Forest Service has no restrictions, but some land management agencies are talking about implementing regulations to trail cameras, and even talking about having individuals register their equipment. When you check your camera, be ready for some surprises, especially with elk! I have tons of shots of eyeballs, tongues, and antlers as these guys like to lick, rake, and adjust my cameras for me. The more secure the better. This summer a curious bull had no trouble moving one of my cameras a short distance for me. I’m glad I found it in 1 piece!

My camera collection is small, under a dozen in comparison to friends that have dozens of them. I add to it each year, scattering them out as if not to place all my eggs in 1 basket. As the year progresses, I pull my less effective cameras, and place them around others that are paying off. Scatter them out, try a variety of cover types, elevations, and water sources.

Vegetation: This is where a camera’s sensitivity really comes into play. I have a Wildgame Innovations camera that took great photos in one particular spot. However, when I placed a Moultrie camera in the same spot the next year, I had 200 pictures of trees when I checked it 2 weeks later. Pay close attention to your camera’s range! If it has a 30’ range, make sure there is nothing in that range (branches, bushes, flowing water) that can set the camera off. I had to move the Moultrie to more open ground, and use different tactics than the trails to water.

Seasonality: You will find that starting out early in the year you will be met with great success in getting great pictures. It never fails that I will quickly get onto great bucks and bulls. A lot of the time, the bucks will move on as temperatures climb, however elk seem to stay pretty consistent, up until about a week before the first hunt! It never fails for deer and elk; once the velvet starts to come off, everything changes. Patterns change, new animals show up, and the ones you were after flat out leave. In fact, the 2 best bulls we were watching this year up and vanished about a month before the rifle hunt. One of these bulls was taken not far from where the camera was. He moved about a half mile away and stayed there for that month. These cameras won’t always put you onto a trophy, but at least they can help narrow down the search! Another worry in the West is free grazing cattle on public land. Two years ago one of my best spots was taken over by cattle, and 100 elk photos a day turned to 200 cattle photos, with no elk at all. The more remote a location, the better you are to escape this problem. Also, don’t be surprised to see predators frequent your camera. If the prey is there, so is the predator. Use caution checking your cameras, I see more bear and cougar when I check trail cameras than any other time in the hills!

Security: It is really unfortunate that we are talking about this. Every year I hear stories of people loosing hundreds of dollars on stolen trail cameras. There are ways to protect your investment. Security boxes provide security from theft, as well as from animals. Yes, I have seen what a bear can do to a camera, not pretty! These boxes are very affordable, and simply allow you to screw lag bolts from inside the box into the tree. The camera sits in the box, and you simply shut the lid and lock the box. You can also attach a cable lock around the setup for added security. Check out bestgamecamera, they have a wide selection for various cameras: http://www.bestgamecamera.com/categories/Accessories/Security-Boxes/. Remember, you will need a box that custom fits your camera, in order to fit to your camera’s lens location.

So, what do I use? In closed timber and brush I prefer my Wildgame Innovations “Red 6” camera, with a 30’ range. This camera can be found under $100 and is very simple to operate. It has given me spectacular shots in close quarters, where I have worried about trees setting it off. Check out my full review of this camera: http://www.suhuntandfish.com/2012/07/product-review-wildgame-innovations-red.html.

For more open country, and great night photos, I love my Moultrie “GameSpy M100”. At about $150, this camera has many more features than the Red 6, such as video, shot sequence, greater range, and better infrared photos. Check out my review: http://www.suhuntandfish.com/2012/08/product-review-moultrie-gamespy-m100.html. Both of these cameras are great on the battery life, a plus for me as it is often over a month between checking cameras.

Now you are ready, happy shopping! You are going to love it! I get just as excited checking cameras throughout the summer as heading into the field to hunt. It is also a thrill to see the change in your trophy throughout the year as the antlers grow and the velvet is shed. You will find that it turns more into a hobby than simply scouting. Whatever you benefit from it, enjoy, and good luck finding that next trophy!

2013 Panguitch Lake Ice Fishing Derby

2013-02-04T21:30:00.001-08:00

As I have for the past 3 years, I have been looking forward to this past weekend for weeks now! Three years ago we held the first ever Panguitch Lake ice fishing derby as a benefit for the Wildland Firefighter Foundation (WFF). This first derby was a small gathering of mainly local wildland firefighters of the southern Utah area, along with a few family members. Last year, we saw the number of participants grow quite a bit more, however most of the participants were still fairly local. This year was impressive, we had participants from various parts of central and southern Utah, as well as a small group all the way up from Las Vegas, Nevada as well! It has been amazing to see this event grow each year, in such a short amount of time.

With the added growth of the derby has also came the added sponsorship to it as well. This year the participants were greeted at weigh in by an impressive stack of prizes donated to the cause by Cal-Ranch and Ace Hardware (both located in Cedar City), the St. George Sportsman's Warehouse, Shed Inc. in Panguitch, and donations as well by Steve Barker, Brian Burbridge, firefighting leaders from the US Forest Service, and Bill Roach, the Color-Country Interagency Dispatch Manager. A big thanks goes out to these businesses and individuals, as all of the prizes were again donated, allowing 100 percent of the entry fees and raffle ticket donations to go directly back to the WFF.

What a great day for fishing! The event was kicked off at 8:30 by event organizer Brian Burbridge welcoming all participants and volunteers to the event. After a warm welcome, Heather Talley from the Utah DWR presented information on fish identification and the regulations regarding the slot limit on Panguitch Lake (all cutthroat and tiger trout between 15-22" must be immediately released). With this, the large group dispersed and the fishing began.

I was fortunate to have made it home from Boise, Idaho the night before, as I had doubts at one time that I could make it to the derby. Arriving home, I was thrilled to find that my oldest boy, Braden wanted to get up early to join my grandpa and I for the day. Braden hasn't had the best of luck when it comes to ice fishing yet, I always seem to take him on the worst days! As 5:30 rolled around, he wasn't so eager, but still wanting to go. At the lake, Marvin, Braden and I had a tough decision to make; fish near friends, or escape the crowds. We chose to escape the crowds in hopes of better fishing. Fishing was initially pretty good, but in no time at all we found ourselves getting crowded out! So, we moved further down the lake, again gaining isolation, and quickly got back into the fish again.

Fishing was fairly steady until about noon when it really began to slow. Braden was able to hook and bring in 4 really nice cutthroats, ranging from 16-18", all of which had to be returned. My kids really like to be the ones to pick up the fish and let them go, so he had no hesitation to do so. Later, as I explained how winning the derby went, he however became very concerned that we had really screwed up and should have kept the fish! It was an excellent opportunity to teach my boy about fishing regulations, and how the slot limit has really increased the quantity of nice fish available to catch, and were it not for this we would be catching a ton of 12" fish instead of a bunch of 18" fish. He liked the idea of that! However, the mind of a 9 year old prevailed, and when the fishing slowed he wandered a 50 acre area trying to entertain himself. Kids will be kids.

As the hours wore on we were met by fellow fisherman Dave Dodds, who informed us that he had an 18" rainbow that he was feeling good about. The way fishing was going for us, I knew the bar had been set and we either needed a bigger slot limit breaker, or a larger rainbow than his. As we continued to fish each fish seemed to get a bit bigger; 17", then 18, then 19, all cutthroats that we had to release. Fishing was great for sure, lots of quality fish, but not what we needed. Brian Burbridge then came cruising by reporting that the 18" fish by Dodds may win, but he also had heard of Kyle Gunn catching something good. As he pulled away I realized we had little time to make it happen, but we were in the fish, it was a matter of time.

With an hour to go, I finally hooked into what I knew was the best fish I had caught all day, right off of the bottom in 12 feet of water. Pulling the fish out I was confident that I finally had that 22" fish I could keep. Pulling the tape out that hope quickly sank to despair as the tape showed just over 20". Squeezing the tail, doing everything we could to stretch him out we could not get better than 21 inches! Not quite enough so we turned him back. Just a couple more 18 inchers is all we would get for the day, it was time to weigh in empty handed.

I was asked to help with the weigh in, so I set up a station on the tail gate to get started, anxious to see Dodds' and Gunn's fish that would win it. Then Scott Stucki of Delta, Utah stepped up with the first fish, a football of a rainbow trout that was no doubt over 18 inches long. I placed the fish on the tape and he hit 20" on the mark. This would be tough to beat. As fish after fish came in, we had a pretty tight race for second and third places, with a bunch of fish in the 16-18" range, but none came close to Scott's 20 inch rainbow! Scott was able to hold that spot on the top, choosing as his prize a YETI cooler, followed by Dave Dodds with his 18 3/4" rainbow, and Kyle Gunn with his 18 1/2" rainbow. Dave took home a Camp Chef outdoor oven, and Kyle took a Humminbird fish finder.

The awarding of the prizes was capped off by a long list of raffle prizes; some lucky participants walking away with some great consolation prizes including; turkey call and decoy, dutch ovens, ice fishing rods, spinning rod, apparel, and much more. The WFF also contributed hats, stickers, and more in support of the event. All totaled, the event brought in just over $2,000 that will go directly into the Wildland Firefighter Foundation fund, for families of fallen wildland firefighters! This is what it was all about, a great group of people united for a great cause. On behalf of organizers Brian Burbridge, Steve Barker, myself, and as well as all of the fire management staff of the Dixie National Forest, Color Country District BLM, National Park Service, and Utah Division of Fire Forestry and State Lands, a big thank you to all of those that participated in the derby, and thanks as well to those who could not make it but still donated to the cause. Of course, a big thanks to Bill Roach who not only donated prizes, but also donated his time as our cook again this year. Next year you owe it to yourself to come up and get yourself a bowl of Bill's amazing homemade chili! I look forward to next year, keep it on your radar as it looks to be bigger and better once again!

Each year dozens of wildland firefighter's lives are taken by various causes as brave men and women fight fires in extreme conditions across our nation, fighting to protect our communities and natural resources. This loss has devastating effects on the families they leave behind. The WFF was formed in hopes of providing support to families who have lost loved ones on the fireline. Each year the WFF is able to contribute funds to those families in an effort to provide support in their time of need. Please check out the Wildland Firefighter Foundation to learn more about their mission, and to also see what you can do to help out those families in need.

If you are interested in fishing Panguitch Lake, check out this post on what the lake has to offer: http://www.suhuntandfish.com/2012/05/panguitch-lake-gill-net-survey.html

As for ice fishing conditions and a report of what was working for us, click on the "fishing reports" tab at the top of the page for information on this lake, and others in the Southern Utah area.

Photography courtesy of Steve Barker

Steve Barker, 2012 Season Hunting Video

2013-01-28T20:18:00.001-08:00

Greetings from cold and snowy Boise! I hope everyone is well and getting excited about spring turkey hunts, as well as shed antler hunting. Additionally, I hope all of you hunting Utah this year (or hoping to) are getting excited about the application period which opens this Friday, February 1st! Visit www.wildlife.utah.gov and click on the big game tag to access the hunting guidebook, as well as to buy licenses and to apply online.

Speaking of getting excited about hunting, my good friend Steve Barker sent me a short video that he put together highlighting the 2012 hunting season for Steve and his hunting buddies. If you missed it last winter, Steve contributed a post where he explained the fun and how-to of creating your own hunting video, http://www.suhuntandfish.com/2012/01/hunting-video.html. Going back to hunting applications, Steve also submitted this great post about planning out your hunting activities, and how a little research an planning can have a lot to do with you being successful in hunting more often. Check out the post: http://www.suhuntandfish.com/2012/01/youll-run-out-of-time-before-you-run.html

I was excited when Steve called to say he had another video for us, and I will have to say that this one one-ups the video from last year in my mind! Excellent graphics and effects, and just great times makes this one awesome video. We hope you enjoy it, and thanks again Steve for sharing it with all of us at SUH&F!

Follow this link to view the video in excellent HD format: http://vimeo.com/58261967