Posted in Big game hunting, Deer hunting, Endangered species, Land Ownership, Ranch Management, Wildlife habitat, blacktail deer, deer, family, hunting heritage, outdoors, wildlife conservation, wildlife management on February 25, 2008 | No Comments »
This morning, as I read the story in the Tri-Valley Herald (www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald) about the Koopman Ranch and how the county’s ranching heritage is threatened, I couldn’t help but think that something very important was missing.
Yes, agriculture is dwindling in Alameda County and ranches are disappearing along with wildlife habitat, but often forgotten is the [...]
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During our trip to South Africa, we spent four days at Nagala Tented Safaris and we had numerous encounters with the king of beasts, both male and female. On one occasion we followed a male lion at night and watched him roar from about 15 yards away. A lion roar is a spectacular event when that close. [...]
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During 2003, thinking it was a good time to buy a property to suit my own investment needs, I scoured the multiple listing service for an attractive buying opportunity. On one occasion, I found a property that seemed to be listed below market value.
The property listed was advertised to be a 32-acre site with [...]
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MDF President and CEO, Mile Moretti and his wife, Julie, will be in attendance at our March 14 event this year. Miles has now been on board for a couple years and we are seeing good results based upon his efforts. Come to the banquet and take time to say hello, he’s very approachable and [...]
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The mule deer is one of the most difficult species to take with bow and arrow. Large bucks are often incredibly wary and know how to travel using the terrain and other deer to their safety advantage.
One of the advantages of archery hunting is that during the early season these big bucks will often be [...]
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(Caption: Tom Campbell with the wet boar. Click to enlarge.)
The water was cold and my bare feet were barely touching the slime mud on the pond bottom. Somewhere beneath or beside me was a 200-pound boar that had sunk beneath the chocolate-brown water of the stock pond.
I was surprised that the pond was so deep. [...]
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Sometimes good things sneak up on you like sunny-day November mallards. When you go to the marsh on those sunny November days, you don’t expect much. You know the odds of taking home more than a bird or two are slim. But for some reason, unknown to you, the ducks arrive in numbers. The drake’s [...]
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(Click to enlarge)
While we were in South Africa last summer, the lilac breasted roller bird was with us constantly. It was first mentioned by our guide at Kruger National Park. Then we observed it in the Limpopo Province while I was hunting.
I attempted to photograph the roller bird on several occations, but lighting issues and failure [...]
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A fellow named Jaime Carpenter shot this boar. Jaime was from the South Bay and had been out late the night before. I wasn’t sure if he’d stay awake long enough to shoot this boar.
The boar and another small boar (say a 200 pounder) were following some sows and apparently they were receptive. The small [...]
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Posted in family on February 5, 2008 | No Comments »
We met at the ranch-road gate, the traditional meeting spot for the cast and blast outing - five fathers, five sons and three hosts. The greetings were warm and friendly with strong handshakes from the fathers and limp ones from their young sons who seemed to wonder if they were worthy of such manly treatment. The cast [...]
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