FiNal DaYs At StOuT!

Brianne and Me













Andy and I having a good time at my Christmas/Graduation party














Fishing Lake Menomin with Andy after my graduation.














Big Bluegill I caught while trying to stay warm.

Tis the season...

It was very cold today and I was planning on going out ice fishing, but without a fishhouse with me here at school I decided I would stay warm inside today. I decided to make some cookies today. I made chocolate mint cookies with andes mints, peanut butter cup cookies, chocolate chip and reeses pieces cookies, and some chocolate crinkle cookies. I will post some pics later. They all came out great and I will try to save some for later, but I am guessing most will be gone thursday night at our christmas party. Now I am going to finish a take home acccounting exam and prepare for a mock trial I have this week. Less than two weeks to go!!

MN Gun Hunting From the Past

Buck on Deer Cam

Jim put out a deer cam in the area where I shot the buck last night. The camera was by one of the deer stands we hunt. We havent gotten much for good pics other than alot of does and small bucks. After I shot the buck we went and checked the camera for pics and we got these pics. The one in the dark is from 13 hours before I shot, and the one in the daylight is about an hour before I shot. It is cool to get a live shot of the deer.

Reason Why Fall is My Favorite Season!

I arrowed this big buck tonight! Jim and I spotted him and we took different routes to try to stalk him. I went around one way and saw a nice buck and a doe run away from me. I thought it was him but kept working toward where I thought he would be anyway. I spotted a big bodied deer and had to crawl to get close enough and to get to cover. I peaked over and saw the buck lift his head. I saw that he was big! He was at about 40 yards, but I didn't have a good shot. I waited and a doe past him and started running in my direction. He started to follow her as she came within 8 yards of me. I pulled back and he came passed me. I folllowed through and shot him on the move at about 8 yards. We gave him a while and found him within 100 yds of where I shot. He is a very heavy deer and is already rutted up.

Pope and Young Buck I Shot Last Year with a Bow

Good Times

This past weekend was a great weekend that I celebrated with good friends! My buddy Mike and his girlfriend Christina came over from the cities for the festivities at Stout. It was good to see them since I hadnt seen them since last spring. It was Homecoming at Stout and is the busiest weekend all year at Stout. We had a good time and I participated in my first(and last) keg race with friends and we came in second winning a bar tab for our team. Im getting to have to many friends with the name mike. In the second to last pic it is me, Mike P, My roomate Mike A, and Money Mike a college friend of ours.

I was also tagged by Em

Random Things About Me

1. I have been to the hospital more than most... stitches 4 different times(head twice,finger, foot), severed finger, knee surgery, broken thumb, heavy gauge wire impailed in ankle, lymes disease, black mold scare, etc.

2. I want to travel the world. Places I want to go are New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, Tahiti, Argentina, and many other places.

3. I was chased by a mother black bear on my bike when I was seven, and just a few years ago I was attacked by a moose while snowshoeing because of Gunny.

4. I could never give up hunting and fishing.

5. My plan is to own my own Restaurant/Resort.

6. I once had a tree fall on me.

7. I have shot 10 bucks and about that many does in the last 10 years.

Heading Home

Well, my trip-adventure to alaska has come to an end. It has been a great summer, a summer I will never forget. In the last three months I have gotten to experience alot of the kenai peninsula. I have met many great people with many lasting memories. The fishing has been awesome and I have added a few more species to list of fish I have caught. The scenery and the wildlife here are something that everyone should see for themselves. As I left for Ankorage last night I was greeted with a bbq apron that my coworkers had signed for me. Many were sad to see me go and were worried about the food they would have to eat after I left. I now have many invites to different parts of the country and I know I will be accepting some offers. Back to Mn for a fews days and then back to school for one last semester.

Road trip to Homer

Things worked out for the best as Joe, Jon, Brady, and myself happened to get the same day off. We had yet to have it happen this summer and we didnt think it would happen. Well it did, so we took a road trip to Homer on Wednesday night after we were done working. We left at the right time as we were able to see the sun setting over the volcanoes (Readout,Illiama). We had a great time in Homer and 4 of us managed to sleep in one tent. Just like many of my trips this summer there will be stories to tell later...

Everything is bigger in Alaska

Here are some older pictures of a King Salmon I caught a few weeks ago it is a 43 inch fish that weighed close to 50 pounds. The bear behind me is about 25 yds away and I am at ground level with the bear. A few days back I slaughtered sockeye salmon on our beach here on the kenai river with my fly rod. One fish managed to spool me, so I just put on some new floating fly line. 2day is my day off, so I might have to give it a try again later.

What would Alaska be without some brown bears?

Yesturday I went to our remote bear camp that is across the cook inlet from the kenai peninsula. I went with some clients and because of weather and fog our flight didnt go out for 3 hours. We were finally in the air a little after 3pm. The flight in the bush plane was interesting especially when we were over the ocean and we hit fog that was from the ocean up. I was in the front and I couldnt see past the plane or anywhere for that matter. The pilot relied on his instruments and his gps, but no radar on these little planes..kinda freaky going through the fog! Well we crossed the huge bay and hugged the coastline until we landed at the camp about an hour after taking off. While flying along the coastline the scenery was great and I could see grizzlies along the coast.

After the clients were orientated we walked behind camp to the meadow to view the bears. We climbed a platform and there were big brown bears everywhere feeding on the grasses. There were 31 bears that included 2 sows with triplets, sows with yearlings, adolescent bears, boars of all sizes, and even a grizz that was as white as a polar bear. The bears ranged from 15 yards to 400 yds away also. The largest boars probably weighed over a thousand pounds. They would chase each other through the stream and the mothers would feed near us or away from the boars, because boars will try to kill the cubs. After dinner we went out again and viewed the bears from a state park trail about 500 yds from camp. Here we had a Mother and here very small triplets feed about 20 yds away, and there were many more at about a 100 or more yards. The bears acted like we were never there and just went about their business. The cubs would make begging noises when they were hungry and mom wouldnt let them nurse. The yearlings were playing around and one of them got hurt and limbed for the rest of the time. I will have better pics later when I get some from a guest. They had multi-thousand $ cameras that were able to zoom in and take great pics of the bears.

After we got back and the clients went about their business hanging out with each other behind the electric fences, I went to the kitchen cabin and hung out with my fellow staffers were I heard some pretty good stories and encounters they have had with the bears in the past. Through the live of this camp(15 years or so) no one has been attacked. There has been encounters where they have had to yell at the bears, but only once has a warning shot had to be fired by the guide I was with.

After viewing the bears many times last night and today we were to fly back to kenai and then back to the lodge. Weather was very bad with fog and winds. We almost got stuck out at bear camp for an extra day. I wouldnt have minded for I would have had another day off, but new clients were scheduled and it would have created a mess later for them. Well the planes finally came and picked us up and we flew even more blind on the way back. I was glad to be back on the ground, other than I had to work tonight. I worked my ass off as we had the most clients we have had this year and because the head chef hadnt prepped barely anything for dinner...go figure. Well I wont go there, but i was very annoyed!

Catching some "butts"

A few days ago I got to go out on the cook inlet in search of halibut. We hit a set back a few miles down the road from fishcamp...flat tire on the boat trailer! We had a spare, but the jack wouldnt fit under the trailer and the lugnuts holding the spare to the trailer were different from the lugs on tires. We only had a lug wrench that fit the actual tires. We had to wait for Kent to bring us a jack and lug wrench that would actually fit. Once me and John finally got the tired changed we headed for deep creek about an hour behind and now we no longer had a spare tire. We did well and I even managed to land a 40 pounder! I caught 4 or 5 fish and my arms were burned out. It is a real workout reeling in these fish out of a hundred feet of water with the tidal currents and the three pound weight used to get the bait down to the bottom. The seas were flat and Jeff a client from Georgia still managed to get seasick. It was a nice day, but clouds were covering the volcanoes..so no pics of them. My roomate John was the deckhand and jim was the skipper. For those of you that dont know ceviche is a type of salsa that contains fish. The fish is cured in lime juice for a few hours then is mixed with pablano peppers, onions, olive oil, vinegar, cilantro, salt, pepper. It was tasty and was a good late night snack for a few of us at camp. The next day I made some fresh ceviche' with some of the halibut I caught. Now 2morrow I am heading for bear camp to see some brown bears. They average 20 bears a day, so seeing a brown bear up close shouldnt be a problem. The flight on the bush plane should be interesting and should be able to see alot.