On a trip to the ranch, Rob came upon these two badgers fighting in the middle of the road. They were so busy fighting that they paid no attention to him as he approached. Unfortunately they wouldn’t hold still long enough for a clear photo, but he did get a few photos like the one [...]
Archive for December, 2008
Badger Fight
Posted in outdoors, photography, wildlife, tagged badgers on December 31, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Fishing at Joe’s Salmon Lodge, British Columbia
Posted in Salmon fishing, fishing, fishing guides, float plane/seaplane, halibut fishing, outdoors, travel, tagged Salmon fishing on December 31, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The lodge is tucked away in an Island Cove just off the coast of northern BC and seaward of the inland passage. Although protected and calm, it’s only about a mile run to the surf and maybe 10 miles to actual deep water fishing for halibut.
Each group of two fishermen received use of a 16 [...]
Flying in the Grumman Goose to Joe’s Salmon Lodge in BC
Posted in Salmon fishing, float plane/seaplane, tagged Alaska travel, seaplane/float plane on December 31, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Joe’s Salmon Lodge in northern British Columbia is a fun place to fish for salmon. I purchased a trip for two at our MDF banquet a few years back and took my brother along. Our dates were in early July and we fished for about three days.
The trip is an interesting adventure, traveling on three different [...]
A Hunter’s Christmas
Posted in Big game hunting, Deer hunting, Duck hunting, family, tagged Christmas shopping, hunting during the hoidays, life of a hunter on December 24, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Val at Christmas.
One of the great things I enjoy about Christmas is giving and receiving, particularly with my hunting friends. Shopping is so much fun when shopping for my brother, Rob, and my cousin Wes, who are part of the hunting community.
And, shopping is so much easier when you know the medium. On a recent [...]
A Great Year for Goose Hunting
Posted in Hunting, goose, outdoors, photography, waterfowl, wildlife conservation, tagged Goose hunting on December 19, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Whitefront White-front geese (specs) covered the sand hills at our delta club when we arrived.
It wasn’t long before they were airborne.
White front, snow, Aleutian and cackling geese are swarming the Delta. With the goose limit at a record 8 – of which four can be white fronts, our goose hunting has been excellent and it looks [...]
Lola Dioji Shines
Posted in Hunting, dog training, goose, hunting dogs, tagged dogs, huntng dogs, retrievers on December 18, 2008 | 1 Comment »
The morning’s hunt had started slow, but now I had an Aleutian goose down and Lola was after it. I decided to give it a finishing shot. The first attempt didn’t do the job so I fired again. The goose slowed and Lola had it in her grasp.
She hauled it ashore and I was impressed. [...]
Pheasants on the Public Areas
Posted in Wildlife habitat, hunting public areas, pheasant, wildlife conservation, wildlife management, tagged pheasants, publc huntng areas on December 15, 2008 | 2 Comments »
I’ve never believed that the public huntng areas were a great pheasant hunting resource. However, the records do show that many public areas have been a reliable source of pheasants. Gray Lodge, Sacramento Wildlife Refuge, Delevan and Colusa to name a few.
The most enjoyable pheasant hunting I can recall on a public area was at Lower [...]
More on the California Pheasant Crash
Posted in Farm Management, Hunting, Ranch Management, Wildlife habitat, hunting public areas, pheasant, wildlife conservation, wildlife management, tagged Managing land for pheasants, pheasants on December 12, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Ed Smith has a long history with pheasants and he is one of the most knowledgeable people in the country when it comes to producing pheasants. We spoke by phone today and he commented on the current pheasant decline.
According to Ed, the spring of 2008 was the driest on record and the record goes back [...]
The Pheasant Crash
Posted in California Delta, Farm Management, Hunting, Ranch Management, Wildlife habitat, pheasant, wildlife conservation, wildlife management, tagged pheasant hunting, pheasants, managing for pheasant production on December 11, 2008 | 5 Comments »
A comment on my post about the weekend hunting asked my opinion on why there are no pheasants in the Central Valley. The question is very appropriate and to say that the pheasant population has declined dramatically is an understatement.
Pheasants are survivors. They live in diverse habitats and under good conditions they thrive in California [...]
East Bay Tule Elk
Posted in Hunting, elk, outdoors, photography, tule elk, tagged photographing tule elk, tule elk on December 9, 2008 | 2 Comments »
The rut is long over and the bulls of San Antonio Reservoir have banded together for the winter. We often see them on the ridges near our ranch.
The bulls are shy, but they will hang around for a few minutes before they disappear over the ridge. We found this bull herd last week and they [...]
