Big Sky New Years Trip 2008/2009

Sunday, Dec. 28th
This year we were blessed once again to be able to take a ski trip out west to Big Sky, Montana. The trip consisted of five couples; Pat and Beth Cleary, Derek and Karlene Griggs, Gerald and Sara Undem, Mark and Christine Anderson, and Heather and myself.

We drove out in two cars, grouped together were the Griggs and Undems in one car and the Cleary's and Oppels in the other car. Mark and Christine flew out from Chicago two days later. We left on Sunday, Dec. 28th at about 5 pm. We drove to Jamestown that evening and stayed in a Super 8 that Sara had got a special price on due to a call in deal for the Summer 2008 Olympics where Super 8 was giving away rooms for $8.88!

Monday, Dec. 29th
We got up early the next day and drove the rest of the way to Bozeman, all told about 15 hours of driving from Minneapolis, where we bought groceries before driving up to our rented house in the meadows at Big Sky. We got there around 8 pm and did some unpacking before we ran to a liquor store to stock up. We had coney's for dinner and all went to bed pretty early so we were fresh for the morning powder.

Tuesday, Dec. 30th
We started out skiing the greens on Andesite Mountain which was actually a little tough due to a crust on top of the powder. I think most of us managed to fall at least once on our first run. Things got better as the day went along and the snow softened up. We only took a break for a packed lunch. For the afternoon we split up. Heather, Pat, and I skied the bowl on Lone Mountain a number of times. That was basically the end of skiing day one.

We all went back and enjoyed a well earned hot tub and sauna. We went out to dinner at our favorite pizza and wings joint called Milkies. Delicious as always!

Group picture from Milkies.

The girls being goofy, hey wait a second...that was my bed!

Mark and Christine arrived that evening after dealing with some delays back in Chicago. We had a few drinks and rearranged the rooms to make way for an air mattress that Mark and Christine were using to sleep on. After falling asleep for about 10 minutes we were awoken to hear a loud hiss of air as the air mattress burst from a hole caused by a warm baseboard. Oops! We rearranged again so that only one person had to sleep on the floor that night.

Wednesday, Dec. 31st
New Years Eve we were up early again and got out on the mountain at rope drop. We skied until lunch before taking an hour break. We all skied the bowl a number of times before Heather, Pat and I decided it would be a good day to take the tram up to the peak and then ski down the double black Liberty Bowl. Strangely the lines weren't very long and we got up there in no time. We stepped out of the tram area and quickly realized why there was no line. The peak had a consistent 50 to 60 mph wind consisting of blowing ice chips! It felt like we were being sand blasted! Heather had all she could do to keep from blowing right off the top. We quickly decided to take the tram back down instead of skiing. After aborting that trip the three of us joined up with Mark and the rest called it a day. We skied down some interesting runs we hadn't experienced before and finished around the normal mountain close of 4 pm.

Once back to the house we took a hot tub and started prepping for a steak and shrimp feast. The steaks consisted of beef and caribou. The caribou steaks were provided by Pat from a hunting trip he did a few months earlier up in Canada. The dinner turned out excellent! We finished the night drinking and playing games. Most all made it to midnight, minus Heather of course who took a little nap!

Thursday, Jan. 1st
New Years day started out a little slow for most folks. Mark and I got out pretty early and decided to go skiing again. We went immediately to the bowl and skied it a bunch of times which was probably the best skiing he and I had during the entire 4 days of skiing because the powder was deep and no one was out there. They must have all been sleeping it off! We skied most of the day. While we were doing that, Derek, Karlene, Pat, Beth, Heather, and Christine went to the wildlife center at Yellowstone. Gerald and Sara stayed around the mountain doing some shopping and checking out some of the local establishments.

Pics of wildlife. We also saw moose, elk, deer, antelope, buffalo, rabbits, hawks, and a couple of golden eagles.



We got back and did the normal hot tub to loosen up the stiff muscles. We all had some drinks, played some games and generally relaxed. Uncle Donald's spaghetti was the menu for the night, Heather did a great job and all enjoyed the meal. We went to bed reasonably early that night so we could enjoy the last day of skiing.

Friday, Jan. 2nd
We were all up early the next day and got out to the mountain at 9 am. Lone Mountain was closed due to slide potential so everyone was skiing Andesite Mountain. We ended up skiing the entire morning on Andesite since the swift current lift up Lone Mountain didn't open up until the afternoon. I had one hiccup around 11am while going down a black diamond mogul run with Pat and Mark. I was carrying a bit of speed and tried to stop my momentum at the base of a mogul when my ski slipped on some ice. As my knee flexed I felt an all too familiar pop with a shooting pain up my leg. I knew right away that I tore a ligament in my knee. I managed to ski the rest of the way down to the lift putting my weight on my good knee while being protected from other skiers by Pat and Mark. When we got to the bottom of the run Heather and Beth were waiting for us. Heather unknowing made an all too accurate statement of "that run must have hurt a bit". We rode up the lift again since the chalet was at the base of the other mountain and the only way to get there was to ride up and ski down to it. My plan was to ski down the next run on one leg but I changed my tune when realizing I would have to skate ski a bit to get to the main medical area. So instead I stopped at a small medical area at the top of Andesite and checked in with the ski patrol. I was hoping that I could get a ride down on a snowmobile, however, due to liability reasons they had to follow procedure and immobilize me on an emergency sled. I was so embarrassed and of course I think someone got a photo! Fortunately, I don't have a copy of it so it isn't going to be posted here!

That ended Heather's and my day of skiing. The good news is that it happened on the last day instead of the first. I have since found out that it was a torn ACL which I will be having surgery for on Feb. 5th. This is the second time I have torn the ACL in that knee. Yuck.

Everyone was back to the house by about 5 pm. We had happy hour, game time, and a dinner of Mexican fiesta to round out the evening. We got to bed early that night as well since we had to get up the next morning early in order to pack and get on the road.

Saturday, Jan. 3rd
The next morning went smoothly with time to take some group photos before getting on the road at 9 am. Mark and Christine spent one more night in Bozeman before flying out Sunday morning. The rest of us drove most of the day getting back to Jamestown around 9 pm. A quick dinner and then night number two at the Super 8.

Group photo before we headed home. L to R - Derek, Karlene, Gerald, Sara, Christian, Heather, Christine, Mark, Beth, and Pat.

Sunday, Jan. 4th
We got up early the next morning and drove the final leg into Minneapolis arriving about noon.

All had a great trip and hope to do it again next year. I think it is a testament to friendship when 10 people can be in close quarters for a week with no issues! Big Sky 2009/2010 here we come. Only 12 more months of counting down!

2008 Deer Opener

Deer opener is a sacred tradition in many Minnesota families. This is definitely the case with our hunting crew. This opener we had 11 guys staying at the shack. Bob, Phil, Dale, Todd, Ron, Chad, Matt, Sherm, Jerome, Gerry, and me. Missing this year was David due to illness. Because of this the mood of the shack was sudated.

Most everyone arrived by about 8pm on Friday night, got settled in and had a sauna. For dinner we had cheeseburgers. A little cards were played and everyone got to bed pretty early since we needed to get up at 5.

We all got out to our stands around 6:45 or so the next morning. We stayed out until about 11:30. After opening morning we had 1 deer, Chad shot a 4 corn. We had a cheese potatoe soup and sandwich lunch provided by Bob.

A few people went over and visited David. The rest went out to their stands for the afternoon. At about 4pm a bunch of shots rang out. After the dust had settled and we got back to the shack we found that Todd had a doe; Bob had two bucks, an 8 pointer and a spike; and I had a doe. We went and got atvs and headed back into the woods to field dress and pick up our deer. After taking care of the deer and getting them on the pole we settled in for the night and had a sauna.

We had Uncle Donald's spaghetti for dinner, played some cards, and went to bed.

The next morning we weren't as enthused about going out since it had been really cold the previous day. But for the most part we all headed out. By lunch time no more deer had been shot and no one was much interested in hunting for the afternoon. We had sloppy joes for lunch, I used Carol's recipe to make them.

Todd, Dale, and I headed in to town as David's health was failing fast and he was moved to a hospice house in Duluth. We saw David and visited with family and then headed back to the cities.

On Tuesday the next week I brought Heather to the airport for a work trip to New Jersey. I went to work and received a call from Dale telling me that David had passed away that morning. At this point Heather was still in the air but I called and left her a message to call me when she landed. I talked to her later that day and told her the bad news. She did what she needed to do in New Jersey and came back a day early.

We headed for Duluth on Thursday afternoon so that we could be with family. The visitation was Friday night and the funeral was on Saturday. The turnout was great as David had touched so many lives. He will be sorely missed.

We will be headed back to the hunting shack this weekend not so much for the hunting but more for the friendship and the fact that David would expect us to be no where but there. It's just the right place to be. Now the healing can begin.

South Dakota Pheasant Opener 2008

Our annual South Dakota Pheasant trip has come to pass yet again. Participants included Todd, Bob, Sherm, Willy, Steve, Jim, Don, Rich, Jack, and myself. We sadly missed Dale and David due to David's health. We also missed Abby as she had to be put down during the off season. Dogs present were Don's two shorthairs, Max, and Baylen. Watson is now retired and since David wasn't there Robbie and Izzy didn't make the trip.

Todd and I took off after work on Friday and made it out to the farm around 10pm. The guys had ribs for dinner and were kind enough to save us some. Of course we then stayed up until about 2am drinking and talking. You have got to love the season starting time of noon!

The first day of the season started off with beautiful weather. We ate breakfast in Colome so we could visit with sweet Linda. We hunted the normal places and did quite well. We finished hunting by around 5:30 with our daily limit. After cleaning the birds and taking care of the dogs we cleaned up and had appetizers and a lasagna dinner. Another late night of drinking, cards, and b.s.

Day two turned out just like day one except we had breakfast at the farm and a steak dinner.

Day three was the highlight of my trip. Baylen finally started to get some points in! I was so proud. We worked two draws with just him and he nailed at least six solid points with birds getting up when we approached. He found some crips and numerous dead birds. I couldn't have been happier. Everyone kept telling me that it was just a matter of seeing more birds and being exposed to these situations but you can never be certain. Now we will be focusing more on retrieving bird to hand. We finished the night having a tator tot hot dish with Duane the farm owner. We always enjoy spending time with Duane and were glad we got more time to develop that relationship.

Day four broke to spitting rain, wind, and cold temps. Todd hunted for an hour or so and then headed back to the cities. We hunted out the day and only got 7 of our 30 bird daily limit. This brought our trip total to 97 pheasants of a possible 120. Willy and Steve took off for Chandler, MN after cleaning up and a hamburger dinner. They planned on hunting the next day in Chandler and then finishing the trip home to Alborn. This was the only night we went to bed early.

Day five started off at 6am. We packed up and got on the road at 7:10. It rained the whole way home. We got into Brooklyn Park about 3pm where Bob and Sherm were kind enough to drop me off as they continued their trip home.

It was another fun trip filled with camaraderie and cherished moments. Hopefully next year we'll have the whole crew together again!

Here is a picture of this years group.

Truck Bed Lights

I'm not quite sure where I got the idea to add some under rail truck bed lights. Perhaps it was all those times when I have been fumbling around in the back of my truck in the dark because of hunting trips or camping trips.

Trucks have a built in cargo light at the top back edge of the cab but if you have a toneau cover or a topper this doesn't help at all. So I took it upon myself to remedy this situation.

I picked up wiring, a switch, a fuse holder, a 3/8 inch light rope and some light rope holders. It took a few days and a few misteps or stupidity on my part but I am very happy with the results.

What do you think?

Duck Hunting 2008

This years North Dakota duck hunt was quite a success. Trip participants included rookie Zach Graves, Todd Mell, and myself.

Todd and I left the Twin Cities at 4:30 am after a late night on Friday due to a family wedding. Zach left Duluth at about the same time. We met in Grand Forks, ND and then continued on to the farm arriving around noon.

We quickly set up, met the new farm owners, ate lunch and then headed out to find some ducks. Long story short we ended up shooting our limit plus 5 ducks that we made ramaki out of. We even ended up getting a couple of geese which thrilled Zach because he was hoping he would get a chance to shoot some.

The weather was windy and wet for the most part but those elements got the ducks moving. We ended up shooting Gadwall, Mallards, Teal (blue and green wing), and Wigeon.

Baylen had never been asked to retrieve ducks and considering he did a great job. He found at least 6 ducks we would have lost and even chased down two ducks that got into the water after being hit. He didn't retrieve them to hand but he at least got them to quit running. He kind of just put a paw on there heads and pushed them down into the mud. If they kept moving he would grab them by the wing and flip them around a bit. All and all I was pleased but as always we still have some work to do.





All seemed to have a good time and hopefully we'll be back for another year.

Grouse Hunting 2008

Sorry it has been so long since I last posted but as the world is want to do we have been rather busy as of late. Between Heather starting up masters classes for the fall, work, hockey, and hunting life has been a little hectic.

Baylen and I have been experiencing our best year to date as he continues to improve. It seems to me that most dogs start hitting their stride once they have had about 3 years of experience. Baylen will be 2 on Dec. 1st.

Him and I definitely have room for improvement but it is neat to see how far we have come. For example, I have been grouse hunting for about 4 years and in that amount of time I shot only 4 grouse. This year after 3 weekends we have 8 birds under our belts.

Baylen is getting off the trail more, has started to find the birds for me after I shoot them, and recently has started pointing a few. He is also beginning to retrieve the birds, however, he only does this when he sees me coming. I have a sneaking suspicion that he is picking them up because he wants to show ownership. None the less I am content and excited that even with my limited training experience he is turning out to be a good hunting dog. There is definitely something to be said for good breeding!

Here is a picture of the two of us with 4 birds we shot a week ago.

I will post more hopefully in the near future as Todd, Zach, and I are going duck hunting in North Dakota this coming weekend.

BWCAW - South Hegman

Recently Heather and I decided it was time to yet again haul as much as we could carry into the Boundary Waters for a few days of communing with nature.

We have both been into the BWCAW several times before but never where we had to lead the group so this presented us with an opportunity to take charge, perhaps I should say responsibility, and act like the adults we claim to be.

We chose South Hegman as this is a lake we have gone to before and this is a reasonably easy lake to get into. To take away that advantage we decided to bring Baylen with us. Neither one of us had ever been to the Boundary Waters with a dog and of course Baylen had never been camping before either.

We planned the trip for about a month, this included reserving a permit, figuring out menu, and what items that we needed to pack.

We got everything packed up the night before and then headed up to Hermantown on the night of July 30th. We stayed at Heather's parents house that night.

Thursday morning we left early and got to Ely around 9 am to pick up our permit. The DNR now has a beautiful new permit center across the street from the previous location. After picking up our permit we drove North on the Echo trail to the parking lot for South Hegman. Of course before we had even finished unloading the car Baylen had already plopped himself down in a nice mud hole. We ran into a group coming out who had stayed on the campsite we were hoping to get, always a good sign!

For those of you who have not stayed in the BWCAW you only reserve entry points on certain days, you can't reserve a specific campsite and therefore you sometimes have to look around a bit and you might not get the best location.

As a result of that news we hurried up and got through the 90 rod portage to the lake. Nothing eventful through that exchange and we were able to launch the boat with any issues.

So to help you picture this we were in a 17 ft aluminum canoe with three large packs, one small pack, fishing poles, dog, paddles, and life jackets. This first canoe ride was test number one for Baylen because you can quickly ruin a trip by rolling the canoe over with all of your gear loaded.


We debated a bit on whether or not to stay with our original plans of staying on South Hegman or moving farther into to Little Bass Lake. I made an executive decision that the original plan was sound so we continued to the campsite that had just been abandoned. We were not disappointed as this is truly the best campsite on the lake.

We setup camp and had our firewood gathered by about 1 pm. We then spent the rest of the afternoon doing odds and ends like splitting firewood, putting up clothes lines, filtering drinking water, reading, and napping. Baylen of course spent the afternoon swimming and shaking water all over us. He was particularly pleased to be camping where he could live in the outdoors! We think he did at least 500 laps of the campsite in the first few hours.

Thursday night we had boyscout stew over the campfire, always a favorite. Later on that night we had some smores and turned in early as the sky clouded over making it tough to see the stars. Test number two for Baylen was sleeping in a tent. I laid out a towel in the corner and he was so happy to be in the tent that he promptly went over and curled into a ball on his towel trying to show us that he would be a perfect little angel. He was snoring before Heather and I even started to read!







Friday morning awoke to a clear blue sky. I made Heather coffee and we had oatmeal for breakfast. After cleaning dishes we decided to try test number three, taking a day trip to another lake for fishing, in my opinion the hardest test of all. We loaded up the fishing equipment, a day pack, and Baylen into the canoe and off we went!

We did a short 5 rod portage into North Hegman and a longer 150 rod portage into Little Bass Lake. Once to Little Bass we decided to fish, now this is why I consider this the hardest test of all. Picture Heather fishing in the front of the boat, Baylen and I fishing in the back of the boat. There is a lot going on, I'm controlling and propelling the canoe, keeping Baylen in check, taking off fish for Heather (to her credit she tried and was successful at taking off some of her own fish, good skill to have) and taking off my own fish. We were amazed that Baylen stayed calm through all of this! We had little luck before lunch and eventually found an empty campsite and ate some lunch before taking a nap in the sun. After lunch I changed our lures to an old standby of a jig with a grub tail. This helped us meet with much more success. By the end of a few hours more we had caught and released several large mouth bass.



We realized it was getting a bit late so we decided to head home and unfortunately had to bypass our favorite blueberry picking grounds. We got back to our campsite around 6 pm and made campfire pizzas, learned from Ron and Jerome a few years back, over the grill. As expected they were delicious.

That night we turned in at dusk due to tiredness and the howls of a pack of wolves, especially because we weren't sure about the dynamics of wolves regarding people and dogs. The night turned out to be uneventful and again Baylen was snoring before Heather and I finished our game of cribbage. Of course this time Baylen was curled up between us instead of on his blanket! We didn't sleep that well that night due to keeping an ear open to all outside noises.

Saturday morning broke to a beautiful lake with fog hanging on the water. Again I made coffee for Heather and we had oatmeal for breakfast. The days plans consisted of heading out fishing on South Hegman so that we could have a fish dinner that night. We got out reasonably early and caught several small mouth bass. The most exciting moment came after Heather took a fish off her hook and it fell into the bottom of the canoe and flopped around. Baylen wanted so badly to run up to the front of the canoe to help her! We caught a few keepers but in the end didn't keep them because we decided to cut our trip one night short since wolves tend to be territorial and we wanted to get a little more sleep.


We packed up around 4 pm and got out to the car around 5 pm without any incidents. Of course right before we left the parking lot Baylen again laid down in the same mud puddle.

We had a great time and will not hesitate to go into the BWCAW again and we will definitely not hesitate to take Baylen with us again as he passed all tests with flying colors!