Toyomafia - The Clubhouse. 151.880

I definitely spend my fair share of time in the field. Some of my best hunts I didn't kill anything. Just enjoying nature and it's beauty. There is an experience or learning moment everytime you go out. Just have to be looking for it. It's definitely a passion.

 

Birds of prey are fun to watch. Everytime I see a smaller bird pestering a bird of prey I watch closely. Never know what you're going to see. Usually the bird of prey is just annoyed and keeps flying off. Other times it fights back. The aerial acrobats of birds is something else.

 

Lots of lake stuff comes to mind - Like you mentioned, seeing a bald eagle fishing here in AZ was awesome - managed to get a pics of that.



We’ve also seen a mountain lion getting a drink from the edge of the lake when we were on our boat - that was amazing and terrifying considering we were camped a few miles down stream.

One time we saw a mule deer out swimming so far in the lake my buddy on his wakeboard was able to cut out and get on the other side of it…

Being out in the middle of nowhere and watching an unexpected SpaceX launch was pretty cool too. Of course the pic doesn’t do it justice.

 

A little doe swam across a river once when we were drifting for steelhead. It was very cold. She got to shore, climbed the bank and just stood there, not moving. Thought she might have froze!

 

Hawk Owl nailed a Grouse. Lucky and had the camera.

 

I could got into detail on this, but would probably land the ban hammer on myself. Let’s just say I’ve had more than one encounter with people that thought they were “far enough” off the trail

 

Yes. Local friend down here. @boldegraphics

 

That is another friend @unkwn8 on the gram

 

Bigfoot.

 

it wasn't in arkansas about 5 years ago was it?

 

Nope, honestly, it happens about 1-2 times a year at work. I’ve caught plenty just in the parking lot. Had one incident this year where a wife caught her husband with another woman. I got involved to only to make sure it didn’t go bad with someone getting hurt

 

ok gotcha. the guy that came up on us joined in. super nice guy. I just assumed it was another Andy

 

Bettie Page was famously both a pinup girl and a bit out there.

 

The most dangerous animal of all.

 

Not saying I'm old, but they DID allow smoking in my high school for two out of my four years there. Might have been the years I attended, might have been the red on our necks...

 

One Tough Turkey

When I was 11 I was at my MaMa ToTo’s and PaPa O.A.’s house to stay the weekend and do some hunting.
There was this huge buck that had been making daily trips to a salt lick we had off one of our green fields.
Early that morning I set out with a 12g, some buck shot and some lunch.
I knew the trail well and sat in my spot not far from the daily tracks.
I sat and waited patiently.
After a couple of hours I hadn’t seen nothing but squirrels.
Getting frustrated in waiting I decided to at least get a couple of squirrels.
I switched over to the 6 lead shot.
As I sit, I hear walking.
Oh crap! Is that the deer?
As I listen, I realize it’s something on two legs.
Is someone on our property?
I’m ready for anything.
Then I see it... the biggest gobbler I’d ever seen.
This guy looked like a hog walking, he was so damn big.
I don’t move. He doesn’t see me!
I quietly raise the shotgun.
Boom!
Nothing but feathers.
Wooo hooo!
Got em!

wait, he’s moving!
The damn turkey stands up, looks around and begins to slowly run in a circle.
Dammit! Blast him again!
Boom!
Nothing but feathers.
Oh yeah, he’s done!

Wait! He’s moving again and sounds pissed.

I hear this loud whoosh whoosh... the damn turkey starts running again and flapping its wings.
It takes flight!
What?!?!

He flies about 20’ up and lands on a branch.

Again!
Boom!
Nothing but feathers.
He hits the ground.
I got em now!
Not a sound.

As I walk to the bird I go ahead and reload with the buckshot.
About 6-7 steps from the bird, it jumps up and starts gobbling all crazy and takes off running at full speed.

What the hell?!?

Hear you go you stupid bird, try this!
Boom!
Boom!
Buckshot twice!
Nothing but feathers and a weird gobbled gurgle.

Screw that bird!
That’ll teach you!

Start heading towards the bird... again.

I shit you not!
The damn turkey jumps up, starts running and takes flight.

What the holy hell?!?!

He flies over the ridge out of sight.

I stand there jaw dropped trying to figure out what just happened.

Turkey gone.

well shit.


.

3 weeks later... yes, 3 weeks later.
I’m back at my MaMa ToTo’s.
One of their neighbors showed up wanting to show my PaPa O.A. The oddest thing.
Earlier that morning he killed a huge turkey.
When cleaning the bird, he found something odd.
The turkey was full of 6 lead and buckshot!

I decided at that point that that was hands down the toughest bird in the woods.

 

I was in Clay County Texas, which touches the Red River, in a bow stand for a morning hunt. The tree the seat was strapped to was at the top of an easy exit to a long, steep draw, and in a cove at the corner of a big field, and it was the best spot for deer on the whole lease. It was late November, extra cool but not cold, and I've never been good at getting up before dawn; so I was a little droopy-eyed. The sky was perfectly clear, and the moon had set, so the sky was full of stars. In Texas, legal shooting hours are 30 minutes before sunrise and 30 minutes after sunset, and I knew I was climbing in a full hour before I could draw the bowstring.

About 10 minutes after settling in, the sky began to blush, but I was sleepy enough not to realize it was too early. It got a little brighter, and then a little more, and seemed like the typical red sunrise you'd get on a cloudy morning. Again, too sleepy to realize it shouldn't have been that red. It got a smidge brighter, and I realized I was looking straight east into the field, but the light was coming out of the north. I looked at my watch and confirmed it was too early. I sat there maybe 5 minutes trying to listen for some noise, to see smoke, or any other indication of a fire; but there was nothing but silence and crisp still air.

The leaves of the live oak I was sitting in, and the skeletons of pecans and cottonwoods around it, were dense enough to the north of me that I really couldn't see anything about the light other than the red glow. I crawled down out of the stand and walked into the middle of the field to get an unobstructed view, probably ruining my hunt. I stood there looking at it until it disappeared with the sunrise. It was an aurora.

 

So cool!
When in Finland we saw a red aurora.
It looked just like that. Like the woods were on fire.
Apparently, according to the locals, they’re fairly rare.

 

Seen a few green ones as a kid in BC, but never a red one.

 

There's two kinds of people. One can tell 6 complete stories in under 250 words. The other takes 350 just to tell one.

 

Remember Yard Darts before they sissified them? My sister accidentally hit me in the head with one when I was 5. Missed my eye by about 1/4 inch.

 

Nice! I love Mossberg shotguns. My Maverick has 20,000+ rounds through it and runs flawlessly.

 

I saw a hummingbird land and take a shit. Apparently it takes a lot of concentration.

 

Do you think she's hunting for her pants?

 

I've had loons steal fish off my hook as well as circle the boat waiting for us to release a fish so they could have an easy meal. I've also had an osprey hover overhead as I was playing a fish. Evertime the fish came to the surface, the osprey would dive but pull out about 5 feet from the water. He hung around for a while after the fish was released, but I guess that fish went deep because the bird never dove again near us.

I once got to watch two huge bull moose have a shoving match no more than 10 yards from where I was sitting. Both bulls would have probably made the record books. Fortunately for them, the area we were in was draw only for moose and neither my friend or I had a tag. We just got to watch for 15 minutes or so.

I've been playing an Arctic grayling in a pool only to have a 5lb bull trout come out and take a swipe at it in the shallows. I released the grayling, switched to a bunny leech pattern, swung it through the pool and hooked that bull trout.

I watched a bunch of crows harassing an eagle along a river once. It was pretty cool seeing them dive bomb the eagle and at the last second the eagle woud barrel roll, slashing at the incoming crow with his talons. This went on for probably a half hour as the eagle cruised the river looking for salmon. He finally tagged one of the crows and they got the message, moving on to bully someone else.

 

The most amazing thing I ever saw was in a Barnes and Noble, so unfortunately I’ll have to wait for the “indoors” topic.

Edit: Coolest thing I ever saw outdoors was when my buddy shanked a golf ball into the water directly in front of the tee box and killed a duck.

 

Yes, but never played.

 

Last week I sat and watched 3 hummingbirds swarm a feeder for close to an hour. I thought: 'any other bird feeder would have tons of bird shit under it, I've never seen a hummingbird shit'. I'm glad someone has.