Opening Day Rifle Season - November 22nd

Dad and I hunted on Claude Davidsons at Beech Run along with Jeff's crew. We hunted a warm first day, coming off a very bright full moon, after a brutal winter that had the ground snow covered from December till March, along with a winding down rutt only to find no shots to be taken. We saw a doe each, I am quite sure it was the same doe that just walked by both of us. I heard the fewest number of shots for any first morning ever. No shots were fired anywhere close to us. Not on Angels, Claudes, Ball's, Mocks, or anywhere close at all.

No Takers - November 21st

Brad and I loaded his boat on the New River behind Richmonds store and fished jig-n-pigs from 1:30pm till 4:30 with no hits, no runs and no erros. We fished all the way around both sides. We fished the bolder rocks, deep ledges, and rocky points with no luck at all. The weather was nice and sunny in the 60 degree range at midday.

Preseason Scout Day - November 19th

Dad and I went up to the farm up Beech Run and scouted around some today. I killed 2 grey squacks with the .22 Savage and missed one more fox. I saw 7 deer and some good sign around the Madams Creek high wall. I kicked out a spot to hunt on Monday and headed home.

Trout Fest Part II - November 11th, 2010

We had so much fun last time that we just had to go back before the fishing got tougher. Brad and I fished from 9am till 2pm catchig 43 and 48 each. The water was 2 foot lower and gin clear. We caught most of our fish on spinners. We tried to get them to bite a fly, but they weren't having it. We couldn't even get them to rise. I caught 2 bigger fish in our 91 total fish. One was 20 inches and one was 22inches. I suspect the larger fish was the same one Nathan caught the trip before. It came from the same spot and had the same spotting pattern. Both were citation fish. Today was the only time I can remeber trout fishing in warm sunny weather, usually it's cold, cloudy, raining/snowing, and miserable.

Trout Fest - November 5th, 2010

On a day where you wouldn't have believed it even if you had been there Nathan, Brad, and I headed out for some fall trout fishing. We got cold and at times wet weather with low clear water. Nathan had the  best day catching a 24 inch ~ 5 lbs. rainbow as well as a 20 inch ~ 4 lbs. Brad and I didn't catch anything over 2lbs. But everybody had out of this word numbers. Nathan fished roughly 5 hours and landed 63 fish. Brad and I each fished 7 hours and caught 101 fish each for a total fish count of 265. Brad and I each wanted to stay and try to get that century mark, because you may never get that opportunity again. As a group we caugt  roughly 13.9 fish per fisherman per hour not counting the 30 minute lunch break we took. The average fish size was down from last year but obviosly the numbers were up. It was the kinda day you have dreams about and remember for a long time to come. Once those fish get some more pressure and some higher water they won't be so easy to catch. The bulk of our fish came off of crappie jigs with the rest on spinners. The jigs made catch and release easier on both us and the trout.

White Oak Mountain Lake - November 1st

Joe & I fished White Oak Mountain Lake from 11am till 2pm. The lake was about 20 feet down below normal. I caught 2 LMB's and lost one more. Joe hooked 2 and lost a nice sized walleye. We spent a lot of our time traveling on foot trying to figure the layout.

Six More - October 28th, 2010

Dad and I headed back to Little Creek. I killed 6 greys by 9am and looked around for a fall turkey without success. Steve Meadows did kill one on the National Forrest side  across from me. I saw no fox squrriels or deer.

Spot and Stalk Turkeys Almost - October 27th

On a very windy and rainy day, Dad and I headed to Pipestem to try and turkey hunt. We only hunted for 2 hours. I worked a lap around the field with my 870. At the very end of the field I spotted 4 gobblers about  450 yards away crossing in the woods on the left. I dropped back short of the horse pen, crossed the field, and started aggressively working my way up the left wood line toward the turkeys. I covered a lot of ground quickly then started slowing down when I was getting close to where I last saw them. The wind slowed for just a moment and I heard some movement in the hollow below me to my left. I eased over to the edge and saw a doe spook. As the deer ran around to the left, she also spooked the 4 turkeys to the right. I threw a shot to try and split them up which I did. However they wouldn't talk to me after I split them up. I had no chance to call one back up. The gobblers seemed content to go their separate ways. They way this played out had the doe not been there to spook the turkeys my plan would have worked to perfection and I would have most likely been left with an east 30 yard shot down the hill on the lead bird.