Doe from a Skybox - November 24 th

Dad and I hunted War Ridge with Danny today. I took the Winchester Model .70 my grandpa gave me. I hunted the middle box that's about 40 feet in air over the middle section of fields. Danny missed a doe with his flint lock due to a "leafy beach tree" he assassinated instead. I had not seen any deer by 10am when I saw 3 does run out in the field about 165 yards out. They ran towards the fence and I shot the biggest one right before she jumped over the fence back into the woods.She fell down hopped back over the fence and ran about 80 yards before she crashed out again down the ridge. It was the first deer I had ever killed with the gun my grandad gave me.

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.

Mudcats and Turkey Talk - October 23rd, 2010

On opening day of fall turkey season Brad and I headed up to Bluestone lake. We fished and listened. Then listened some more. The bites was tough. We heard some turkeys and called back to them several times but they never would speak up again to where we could get them located and go after them. We did see several squrriels and four deer. Brad caught a mudcat and I caught 4 smallmouths. All of our fish came off of a jig-n-pig.  We fished and hunted from 7am till 12pm. I don't know were the large mouth have went to on bluestone lake.                                                                                                                                    

Little Creek Greys - October 22nd, 2010

Dad and I went to little creek on a clear cold morning. I killed 6 while missing 1 by 9:30. On our way out we saw a man fishing from the Anthony Creek bridge. It was the same near def man we gave our squrriels to last year. We stopped and asked if he wanted some squrriels. He said, "I would love some". So again for the 2nd year in a row we gave him a fresh mess of squacks and off we went to Jim's drive in for lunch. A unique end to an fun day at one of my favorite places.

The Great Bear Sighting - October 19th, 2010

Dad and I hunted the Fair Chance Hunt Club at Pipestem, WV.  I saw 8  and killed 3 all greys before it got really windy at around 10am. I had Dad drop me off at the bottom hunting and exploring my way back to the top. I stopped on a bench half way to the top to take a rest for short while. While watching to greys I looked at the end of the bench and saw a huge black bear. At first I though it was somebody's escapee cow. He even stood up on his back feet and ate some grapes. The bear walked all the way across the bench to within 20 yards of me. I began to realize that it was on a path to walk right by me. I got scared and stood up. The bear saw me and took off.  It was the biggest bear I have every seen. I really must start carrying my camera with me in the woods. That bear would have made an awsome pic.

Little Creek Hunt Club Trip 1 - October 18th

Dad and I hunted little creek on a cool fall day. They were timbering Dad's lower wood lot. I killed 6 greys and Dad killed 4*. All greys. I saw some turkeys, although had they been in season I couldn't have gotten a shot off at them. I also heard some more turkeys. I saw some deer sign up high. I even saw some bear sign.

It Just Gets Tough - October 13th, 2010

I  met up with Greg at 9am and we fished Bluestone till 3pm, catching only 5 and getting very few bites. I caught 1 and Greg caught 4. All the fish we caught were smallies except for one spot. We got very few bites. The conditons were ideal and we were the only bass boat working on the lake.

Opening Day - October 9th, 2010

 With Dad still recovering from pneumonia, Joe & I hunted at Pipestem on the first day of squrriels season. I killed 6 by 9:30 with the 870 (1 fox and 5 grey) on the left side of the fields below the cell tower. Joe spent his day hunting with a .22  trying to kill an all black fox squrriel he saw run into a den tree. He never did get a shot at it however. I saw no deer and Joe saw 8 does. The tucker boys were hunting on the end and had only killed one by 9am.

Buggs Isalnd Final Day 3 - October 4th

  All 3 boats spent he final day on Bluestone Creek and it was our best day. Greg and Todd Caught 16 before noon, We caught 25 fish by 3pm. Jason and JD caught 27 before they left to head home. The wind proved to be a real obstacle, but also made for some good fishing that afternoon by pushing shad in the lauch cove at Bluestone Creek. Brad caught a couple above average sized bass on rocky points and I caught my first walleye. We used jig-n pigs, spinnerbaits, and cranks. Every rocky wind blown point we came to we caught fish off of. It was a pretty fun day of fish. I just wish I had more days to fish before heading home. I will be back in the fall again.

Buggs Express Day 2 - October 3rd

  We spent this day struggling on Rudd's creek(although we did catch a few fish on rocky branch of Rudds) early and doing a little better back on Grassy Creek. I caught a chain pickeriel and lost a nice fish early on in the day. We ended up with 19 fish and many good sized keepers. Greg, Todd, JD, and Jason spent the whole day on Rudds and ended with 16 and 22 fish per boat.

Buggs Island Express Day 1 - October 2nd

  Brad and I arrived at Longwood launch ramp and go to fishing at about 11am. We had left Hinton at 5am. We only had 3 days to fish instead of a week and this was my first trip to Buggs in the fall. The water temps were in the mid 60's with air temps in the 50 to 60's. Instead of the usual 304 water levels we were at 296 but on the rise from heavy rains last week. Todd and Greg had went down a day earlier and caught some fish in Essex branch of Grassy Creek so thats were we headed off to. We caught 14 bass and lost at least 14 more. Most fish came off of shakey but a few off of a jig-n-pig. I lost 2 large fish, one broke me off and one got hung up in a tree. We also caught a few fish in Little Beaver creek. Greg and Todd fished Rudds creek and cautght over 20. While Jason and JD caught 15 off of Grassy Creek points with a late start.

Bass and Lots O Grass - September 29th

                                    - loads and loads of grass. 

  Caught 6 bass and a perch from 2 to 6pm. All but 2 fish came off of a jig and a pig (Strike King Halloween). The other two came off of a Lucky Craft Moonsalt citrus shad. I caught smallmouth, spots, and LMB. The grass died and was floating everywhere. I couldn't even fish Bullfalls due the countless pods of floating dead grass. I missed several other bites.

Back to Work on Bluestone - September 24th

Greg and I fished Bluestone from 6 till 12 in his Triton. Things were slow. We caught a couple off the pit bank, we each missed a fish in the grass below bertha, and there were a few active smallies at bullfalls. I ended up with 5 fish and Greg had 2 and that included a redeye each. Cranks, jig-n pig and a fluke all caught fish. The lake level was still up nice with water temps in the mid to upper 60's.