Manitoba, Canada

2 weeks ago a few of us went archery hunting in Manitoba,Canada for whitetail deer. this was my first "guided hunt" but the other were veterans. the hunting was warm and sunny, not my ideal hunting setup. i was expecting to see deer allover the place come first light, but to my surprise they were laying low due to hot weather. the coyote population was out of control in that area, i can see you doing a coyote only hunt there and having a blast, i seen at least 4 a Day without even calling. well after 4 days of hunting this bruiser stepped into my lane and gave me a nice shot. 38 yard recovery, this guy was pushing 320+ pounds, 8 point and 150 class. it was worth the trip!

manitoba!

Me and a bubby are deer hunting in manitoba this fall, its my first guided trip. im excited and nervous at the same time, theres alot to get ready with. I took my new Hoyt bow to the range to sight it in ,  i started at 15 yds then 40yds. here is a pic at 40yds, im happy with the results. my comfort zone is 30 yds, but i need to practice at further distance incase a monster comes to visit.

big carp

this is a old picture of my friend from the early 70's. we were fishing pennypack creek in philadelphia when my friend dean hooked this beast. after getting it close to the bank i jumped in and tried to net it, the fish was only half way in the net, and when i lifted it up the net tore open. i then grabed the fish and thru it on the bank. we grabbed a wagon and took it home, channel 6 tv did a small interview with my buddy. the carp was 37lbs and 37" long. i was told it was state record for that year.sorry the pic is in bad shape.

we went to paradise trout ponds in potter county on memorial weekend with the kids, it was a "flyrod only" weekend. the boys had a blast catching there first trout on a fly. some of the trout caught we so big my little trout net was to small. ill be heading back late summer. some say its cheating, i say its a good time. its good practice on the fly.

1st season trout

A few nice bows from branch valley club.

shad fishing delaware

i went fishing with friend/guide steve kollar on the delaware for shad, as you can see the weather was perfect. steve said the bite was on the day before, but that always changes, thats fishing. we went out for 4 hours and boated 5 and 1 smallie. overall it was great for me since i never caught a shad before. i brought my flyrod along incase we were killing them but that never happened. next trip stripers!

determination!

http://news.yahoo.com/video/sports-15749645/paralympic-archer-fires-arrows-with-teeth-28599860.html

trail cam

i put a trail camera to scout out a new prospect archery spot for deer. well after a few days it looks like there is some action at this spot, i hope it stays that way for next year!

Atv riding snow shoe pa.

a few of the crew from pennridge ATV club got together for a weekend and rode snow shoe rails to trails and  bloody skillet (sproul forest) last weekend. we found a house to rent just off the trail so we didn't have to trailer quad to trail, that was great. starting off Friday with a 35 mile night ride till 11pm in ssrt. Saturday we hooked up with more riders and did a 70 mile ride to bloody skillet. that was a long day for the sport quad crossing the creeks, especially if you fall in! mother nature gave us 4" fresh snow on Saturday to play inn, Sunday was not as nice. woke up to a breezy 0 degrees, that turned us back in. hope to get out again, maybe whiskey springs soon.

somerset ny fly show

me and jimmy went to fly show in somerset ny and it was packed. lots of vendors,reps and top shelf tyers. my favorite tyers there are john collins,pat cohen,eric stroup and of course george maciag. talked to a few lodges in the west branch area, "curly" from dream catcher got my attention on its nice cabins on the waterfront and grindstone outfitters from canada. justin from allen reels was there with new hardware, finally got to meet him . i have a few allen reels, good quality for the money. tracey stroup sold me on fishing center pa streams, i hope to hook up with there outfit for a few days. here are a few pics of the day.

tracey stroup/stroup fly fishing

justin from allen reels

pat cohen/superfly

john collins

european mount archery season 2011

My European mount from archery season was completed by K&K taxidermy in Perkasie, Kevin did a great job. This is my best buck to date with bow and I couldn’t be happier. This bucks rack is not perfect but is real wide with little kicker on bottom making him a 8pt. this guy was taken on a Mathews Q2 bow, gold tip 5575 carbons and muzzy MX4 broadheads. I’m getting ready for next year already. I just sold my bow on eBay to get up to date on the latest hardware. I purchased a Hoyt Vector 32” from Dan neebe”s in furlong, hoping to pick it up this weekend. Ill give a post once I get it home.

somerset,nj fly show

this weekend(fri-sun) is the largest fly fishing show in the world. casting demo's, all the reps and tons of product. if you been waiting to get a new rod, reel or some tying material this may be the place to get it. its one giant fly shop. i hope to see some great tyers there, pat cohen, john collins and teacher george maciag. im busy saturday but will get there sunday with buddy jim to see whats going on.

cassie's triple crown

triple crown

 above is a link to my friends daughters hunting accomplishments from the 2010 pa hunting season.

friends deer

 greg

 cassie

 donnie

 rick

frank

UV light

if you Tye fly and like using UV lights for your epoxy, here is a cheaper alternative. the smaller lights was included in a glue purchase from loon and if used to cure glue. if you want to purchase a larger light they run around $30. i have pictured a UV light purchased from eBay costing $6 free shipping. I'm not sure how long it will last but it is bright, solid and works great now. good buy.

private property!

last weekend i had some time to do alittle late season deer hunting since i had an extra doe tag. i hunted in my local spot using xbow in my tree stand. i had around 10 deer come in at 7:30am, all were knowing i was around. a few of them were being cautious and were looking up at me, there older does are smart. finally one gave me a broad side shot at 30 yards, bang. they ran off, while looking back at what just had happened. i have them 1.5 hours and began following the blood trail, it was sparse at first but got getter as i went on. finally the blood  trail went to the property line and i stopped there since the abutting properties were posted. so i went home and went to my sons basketball game, getting back to woods at 3pm. to find out who's property it was. doing the wright thing i knocked on the property owners door and told him i shot a deer and it was on his property and if he would mind if i went in his woods to claim my deer. he said he would mind and for me to stay off the property, no hunters are welcome here on the property. i told him it would only be a few minutes, still no. i pleaded that it was a waste of a kill and it was just going to waste and he just didn't care. he told me hunters would drive his property without his permission and they ruined it for all. even thought i respectfully asked if i could go on his property , that still was not good enough and he still was stern with his decisionand to me he was bitter towards hunters. my son standing next to me the whole time was really comfused why someone would not let us get our deer, nor him go with us to get it. what a way to end my 2011 deer season.