Bayous and Big Fish

'Possum Whisperer

2009-03-15T10:47:00.002-05:00

Around here, seeing oppossums is not an uncommon thing. We have a ton of them, in all varieties of color and size. From jet black to snow white. Another not uncommon thing is for one of us (father or I) to go grab us one and hold him up for Mrs. Karee to see. But the other night a little oppossum came up to the porch, and I thought it would be fun to catch the little fella'. So I sneaked out there, but he saw me. He ran into the corner and trapped himself! All that was left was to grab his tail from behind. But he was wagging his tail, so it took a few tries to get a hold on the tail. Once I got it, I thought he would not be able to climb up and grab me (all the other bigger opposums could not). I waited while my dad took the picture, but my oppossum grabbed his tail and pulled himself up, causing me to drop him. He hit the ground with a thud but was unharmed. Thats a night around here!

No Squirrels, No Nap

2009-02-22T15:30:00.010-06:00

I've been wanting to go out to my grandfather's camp and look around for some time, but it's been deer season. Now that it ended we decided to go out and look around, while doing a little squirrel hunting. So we packed our stuff, and headed over to the camp.

We took advantage of our time out to test a new magnesium alloy frame .38 special. It was a very fun little gun, though slightly hard to hit with, having a ultralight frame, and virtually no barrel. And we checked our Savage .17, and at one point we sighted it in and got a 4 shot group all touching. Needless to say, that is a very accurate round. So after all that, we decided to go on and hunt.

Once we got there we split up, me going to the left, my dad to the right. We were looking for deer, turkey, or squirrel sign. We were hunting a very well wooded area, with a creek running through it. As I was walking, I kept seeing a lot of scrapes, tracks, and trails. On every sand bank I came on, I saw it just covered in deer and opossum tracks. I saw some rubs on several trees, and I saw a large Broadhead Skink, which was kind of cool. My dad found an old deer bone that had been chewed on by mice and rats. The only thing I never saw was a squirrel, which was what I was actually hunting for.

I saw a deer trail coming down a big hill, so I decided to follow it up, to see if I saw something interesting. I saw some more scrapes, but that was about it. So after looking around a while, I decided to head back down, and I didn't feel like walking down it, so I sat down and slid down the hill, where I met up with my dad.

After we left the woods we put all our stuff in the car, and got ready to leave. I was tired and my dad was tired, so I tried to make him drive, but he made me.
He said that I had been able to take naps in the car for fifteen years, so he was taking the next fifteen.

Of Mice and Teen-agers

2009-01-23T00:01:00.001-06:00

I was outside and saw my cat acting very weird. I called my dad out, and we went to see what was going on. The cat was chasing a small mouse. I scared the cat off and tried to catch the mouse, which was hard. I took a few dives, but he kept slipping out of my hand. Then my dad came out with a Maglight so I could see him.

I finally chased it up our cleaning table and let it calm down, to where I could grab it. I put my hands in front of him, and he hopped right on. He climbed up my arm, and nestled into my neck. Then I started walking back inside, with him sitting in my hair.

I took him inside so we could look at him and check him for wounds. We didn't see any, but we did notice that he is a deer mouse. I personally think it's a very cool mouse, and I don't see them much. You can tell what they are by their large eyes, and big ears.

We took the pictures and I played with him some. He is amazingly tamed down! What a cool animal. A wild mouse that lets me hold him in my hand, and now he's a star!

www.danahersoutdoors.com

Now I Can Drive!

2009-01-18T12:16:00.002-06:00

I've been ready to get my learner's permit for a while now. Because when I get my permit, that means I'm only 6 months from being able to drive on my own. I've also been wanting it because I love driving. I've been racing around on go-karts and 4-wheelers for years, and a car was always the step up. I turned fifteen on Friday, and as soon as school was out, I headed to the Highway Patrol office.

As we pulled up, I could not help but think that I had forgotten all the stuff I had looked over. We walked in and I started feeling calmer. I grabbed my number and walked up to the only person that was open. I filled out all the stuff and the lady told me to go to station 5, and to take my time answering the questions. I got in there, nervous at the time, and picked up the phone. I listened to my first question... and I answered it right. I was thinking, "Hey I know this stuff!". So I just kept popping off answers, and I had no clue on three of them.

I got everything right, except three, and I skipped one. When I came out, I gave my mom a worried look, like I had failed it. She looked back at me, looking worried too. Then I broke out a big ole grin! I had passed my test, first try! I was so glad to have it finally over as I walked up to the lady at the desk. I talked to her for a bit, while I filled out my papers. Then I went over to the camera, got my picture taken, and got my card printed out. On the way home, I drove on the interstate, which was..... interesting? I really don't like 18-wheelers.

I got home safe and sound. I didn't wreck or even come close. Well, that was my experience of the day I got my permit!

Casting Your Own Bullets

2009-01-11T13:40:00.008-06:00

My dad and I like to target shoot.... a lot. We generally shoot a Ruger GP100 with .38 wad-cutters in it, but we also sight in other guns. And since we already reload most of what we shoot, we decided to go ahead and cast our own wad-cutters.

We started out by getting a bucket of old wheel weights from a friend who owns a tire shop close by. Then we melted them down and cleaned out the dirt from them. That was kind of cool, because the lead looks like water. It's so thin you can move the ladle through it like water, literally. Also, the little aluminum clips will float in the lead once it melts. Then we poured the clean lead into an old muffin pan, making perfect muffin sized ingots. These muffins probably don't taste so good though....

Once they cool, we stack them up and use them as we need them. When we start getting low, we grab a few ingots and melt them down. Then we get a lead ladle, and clean out any more impurities we find. Then we pour the hot lead into a wad-cutter mold. It takes a few tries to get the mold warm, but then we get perfect bullets almost every time. The first couple have gaps or don't even fill up all the way. But after that it runs very smoothly. In a short time, we made enough bullets for a year or two. I really like making our own bullets, because at that point it's less than a few cents a shot. It's actually cheaper than shooting a .22!

Casting bullets can be very complex, we just keep it simple and cheap since we're only using them for shooting practice.

Just be careful. The lead is hot and will burn you. Wear glasses to protect your eyes and long
gloves to protect your hands and make sure you do this with your dad or another adult.

www.danahersoutdoors.com

Doe Fever

2009-01-01T14:05:00.002-06:00

I was hunting at my grandfather's deer camp. On a food plot, on the top of a ridge. Good day, little chilly, nice breeze; Great afternoon to bust a deer. I went out pretty early, so I could get the most time out there possible. I had everything set up perfect, I could get a clean shot off with out making any noise. I was set.

It started getting darker and I could just feel it; a big deer was going to walk out. Sure enough it did! I got down on the rifle, so as to make the best possible shot. I was about to shoot when..... I jerked. She acted like I had maybe hit her. My dad and I started searching the plot for blood a little while later. Where I thought she was, no blood or anything. So we started searching around.... and we found a huge gush of it! I was so happy... until I started thinking. My deer was much further back. So we looked around a little more and we found a blood trail. We followed it a short way, to the edge of the plot. There, we found a pile of deer guts. Someone apparently field dressed his deer, and left the guts there. NICE..... So I officially missed the deer. Oh well, Ill get it next time.

A Day in the Woods...

2008-12-14T10:46:00.002-06:00

Camp Whackabigun

2008-11-27T12:05:00.003-06:00

At Camp Whackabigun which is on Waxahatchie Street in Yazoo County, there are multiple four-wheelers. Two of which work! Somehow we figured out that the only two that work are the brand new Rubicon and Ranger. It's odd that there are two other fairly new bikes and both of them the batteries are fried. We figured that out after multiple jump starts and riding in the freezing cold.

After we got all the bikes situated (kind of) we got to cooking dinner. We cooked up some steaks and green beans and potatoes. It was excellent and we wolfed it down. We hung around a fire and talked with our friends Scott and Chuck then went back inside. The Grudge happened to be on so we stayed up and watched that. Kind of an odd movie..... and a complete waste of our time.

We got up early and headed out (on the working bikes) to the stands. My dad and I thought we had an idea of where to go.... we soon came up on Scott's bike (the other working one) which was supposed to be extremely far away from us.... WHOOPS! Guess we kind of took a wrong turn. So we were totally lost and just headed to the nearest stands we had driven by. My dad on a long thin field and me on a tiny one surrounded by awesome woods. We saw several deer, just never really got shots.

This place has awesome deer, so big that the minimum size you can shoot is eight points...and it has to be eight big points. We'll be back out there soon to help Chuck with his doe and big deer problem.

Chilly Day Chili

2008-11-21T17:19:00.004-06:00

I tell you what, on a chilly day there is nothing better than a good ole' pot of chili to warm you up! And using venison is my favorite part. Using a pound of meat from the deer I had shot along with two more pounds of ground beef, we added some great flavor. Our friend Mr. Al was visiting from south Louisiana and he tried to make Miss Karee's Chili. It was great. Here is the recipe.

Miss Karee’s Chili

3 lbs. ground beef (we like to use 1 lb. venison chunks with 2 lbs. ground venison or beef)

2 onions chopped

1 green bell pepper chopped

2 Tb. spoons minced garlic (or more)

1 15 oz can kidney beans (do NOT drain)

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes (do NOT drain)

1 6 oz can tomato paste

¼ cup Worcestershire sauce

2 Tb. spoons chili powder

¼ teaspoon cayenne

Brown meat in stock pot, drain fat, add all ingredients and simmer for about 45 minutes or more, stirring occasionally.

A Real Country Breakfast

2008-11-02T09:52:00.007-06:00

I was invited to go to a hunt with my dad and grandpa, but I had a band competition on the day they were going. So I had to miss the hunting trip but my dad and grandpa were still able to go. They had a great trip and got a bunch.

My dad and I decided to cook some for breakfast, and seeing how Miss Karee was out of town, we could eat them the real way! (She does not like squirrel, because they're so cute and fuzzy I guess, unless we tell her it is duck or something not cute and fuzzy) It was a great breakfast, having pan-fried squirrel, mixed with a country gravy slathered over French bread. We would have put it over biscuits but we had some French bread that needed to be eaten.

Talk about messy! They had bones in them so we could not use a fork, which meant we had to chow down into thick and messy gravy. It was excellent, especially the bread mixed with squirrel and really good gravy!

While I was finishing my breakfast, my dad was in the kitchen and saw a squirrel outside the window...if he only knew what was going on just a few feet away!

www.danahersoutdoors.com

Bumps in the Night

2008-10-13T11:02:00.009-05:00

Whenever I was younger, I would sleep in my tree house sometimes. There would always be strange noises and I would wonder what they were. But now that we bought a trailcam, I have a good idea what those noises are! We have gotten pictures of multiple opossums at a time, neighbors' cats, our cats, armadillos, raccoons and deer! Just think, with all that activity going on at night, it's no wonder that there is so much racket!

Hummingbirds Head South

2008-10-13T10:50:00.003-05:00

This is some information my great-aunt Celeste sent me after she read my hummingbird blog a few weeks ago. Turns out, she teaches ornithology at the University of South Alabama, so we asked her about the little birds.

"Hummers have been banded and some found to live up to 8 yrs - the general scope of science agrees that on average they live 4 or 5 yrs. From coastal areas most migrate across the Gulf to the Yucatan and S. America although a few follow the coast, rather than flying across the Gulf.

In banding hummers - if I puff very gently on the breast to ruffle the feathers I see tiny globules of fat next the skin. This fat is reserve energy for the long migration flight.

You may be seeing more than the usual number of hummers because their food supply (nectar from flowers) along the coast was severely diminished by Ike - thus they remain inland instead of "staging" along the immediate coastal areas. Staging means they congregate and wait for conditions to be right, preferably a tail wind, for the long flight across the Gulf.

Hummers spend the winter where there is food supply including but not limited to nectar. Hummers also consume a large number of tiny insects.

You may know the tongue is not a straw - it is tool for "lapping" up nectar or sugar water.

I predict your numbers will be less every day and by mid-Oct most will have gone south. If you leave a feeder or two up during cold months you might get a western hummer like a Rufous or Black Chinned - but 99% of Rubies go south for the winter.

Do not put food coloring in the feeder water - 1 part sugar to 4 parts water and no coloring."

And she was right, it's mid-October now and all the hummingbirds are gone.

Mowing Your Water?

2008-10-13T10:17:00.004-05:00

Another cool story from the trip with Capt. Sonny Schindler! After that great trip we went back to the lodge to clean the fish. When we got out we heard this strange noise but didn't think anything of it.

We kind of sat around waiting for Sonny to come back. And waited. And waited. We were starting to wonder what was taking him so long when he pulled up. He parked his boat, then got out. Then he started telling us how he stopped and talked to a neighbor who was working on his mower. (where the odd noises came from) The neighbor told Sonny how his son was mowing the yard, went right off the bulkhead and into the water. Apparently, the grass in one spot grows up to where you can't see where your going and by the time you notice... SPLASH!! The best part was the dad told Sonny "Seems like he woulda' learned after the first time!"

Move Your Boat

2008-10-07T17:09:00.010-05:00

The dock we fished out of was Bayou Caddy and when we were leaving it was dark so we couldn't really see anything except a few missing planks Capt. Sonny Schindler warned us about. When we got back from a great day of fishing with Sonny, we noticed what damage had really been caused. This area was still recovering from Katrina when Gustav hit, and it left a big mess afterward.

There were sunken boats, boats half on docks, and boats hanging off into the water from land. The one that stuck out most was a big head-boat that was picked up and set right back down on a couple pilings that smashed right through her hull. After we loaded our boat up and were driving out, we realized how bad it was. There were boats on trailers on boats and just all kinds of mess. There were piles of debris along side the road, and even more boats.

If there is a hurricane coming with a 40 foot surge like Katrina or a just a 9 foot surge like Gustav, you probably need to move your boat somewhere else, like Tennessee.

Needle Fish

2008-10-07T16:43:00.007-05:00

Here's a cool little fish. The needle fish!! On the trip with Sonny Schindler we had a cool little experience. Sonny's rod moved like it was hit, but then when he reeled in he didn't feel much. We couldn't figure out what it was, because he could feel something, but it was not fighting at all. As it got closer we realized that it was a needle fish, a fish that looked just like a mini gar.

It has very sharp teeth, really slim body, little fins, I mean it is exactly like a gar, just really small. But he pulled it in and it was just holding on to the line... kind of odd. We were trying to figure out why it was still holding on instead of letting go out over the water. It was all tangled up in the line, and could not spin himself back around. So we let him get some pictures then he was on his way. (click on the pictures and you can see the line wrapped around his mouth) Well here's his picture, hoped you found this experience interesting like I did.

'Possum Cam

2008-09-21T13:06:00.011-05:00

We know we have opossums in our yard. We also know that trail cams will pick up small critters, such as a opossum. So we put a trail cam out along with a bowl of cat food and... sure enough at 5 in the morning we had a little furry visitor, a white faced opposum, but not the same one from the Princess and the Opossum story.

The first night we put it out we got a picture of a single rain drop, which looked like a floating, glowing orb, and was pretty cool. But the second night we got a good picture of a opossum, which hung around for a pretty good while. We got opossum after opossum and then finally we got a picture of a deer one night. It was a year and a half old doe eating grass. I wonder why the flash does not scare the animals off? But, here are the pictures we got.

I'll keep posting backyard wildlife as I get them on camera.

www.dan ahersoutdoors.com

Picking the Perfect Tree

2008-09-21T10:42:00.010-05:00

I was nervous climbing that tree, really nervous. I was only being held on by two little whimpy- looking cables, that could probably lift an eighteen wheeler, but they still looked small. I was using a climbing tree stand, for the first time. All my life I have hunted on the ground, boxes or in a tree stand, but never out of a climber. It was spooky... but I quickly figured out how to work the seemingly complicated piece of equipment, and was on my way up.

I was clearing out a spot for my climber, and gaps in the tree for shooting lanes. I was setting up right over a acorn-covered food plot, with a deer trails leading in and out. My dad and I had spent about an hour looking for the right spot, and we had found it. It was a fairly long food plot that was only about a twenty-five-yard shot straight across and thirty or so in the far corner; easy stuff. There was already a box on this plot but it was not positioned how I needed it and I could not use a bow out of it. So we went and bought a great climber (which only ran us $115) and set it up.

As I was hanging out of the rather small stand to
cut down limbs, I felt certain that those weak looking cables I mentioned earlier would snap in half, causing me to plummet to my death... or at least a few nice bruises. But fortunately I made it through the event with no mishaps and I'm ready for archery season.

www.danahersoutdoors.com

Anyone Hungry?

2008-09-21T09:36:00.010-05:00

I looked out the window and noticed that our
hummingbird feeders were empty, so being the nice guy that I am, I decided to fill them back up. I went out and got the feeders, filled them up,
and as I was putting them back up I was attacked by the birds. So I said hey why not just stand here and see if they will actually eat, and so I stood there and waited. A few seconds later, they started swarming the feeders.

It was interesting to see the little birds up so close, because you can see their tongues getting water and everything involved in them drinking. They fought and I could feel the wind off them... for such little birds they move a lot of air. I
called my dad to come take some pictures and
here they are. Just click on them for the full size
image.
www.danahersou tdoors.com

Notes from 9th Grade

2008-09-14T14:01:00.004-05:00

The excitement of being back in school wore off fairly quickly. Now it's just a plain old day to day routine. During the summer I spent all day out in the woods exploring or something. Now I spend almost all my time working, studying and doing homework. I hardly have time to shoot my bow or go outside now. The recent hurricanes haven't helped much either.

But, there's a lot of stuff coming up, like next week I'm going up to my grandfather's camp to put up a deer stand. I also have a fishing trip coming up with Capt. Matt Tusa of Shore Thing Charters. We've heard that Tusa is Italian for ''catches lots of fish'' or something like that. I'm also looking forward to hunting with my friends Jim and Chuck at Camp Whackabigun right on the Big Black River, where there's a deer behind every tree. I'm serious, I have never been out there and not seen a deer. I killed my first deer there with a rifle there and my second one with a pistol. The 357 hand loads that we made stopped that deer dead in his tracks, so to speak. Now I need to find some time to get some shooting in with my rifle and pistol.

I have a few goals this year, one being kill a squirrel with my 22 pistol. I think that if I prop it up on something I could do it. I also want to get a rabbit with my bow since my dad has done it before. That would be really cool. I think that this will end up being a pretty good year.

www.danahersoutdoors.com

Shore Thing Charters On Board

2008-09-11T16:02:00.003-05:00

Just got this email from Capt. Sonny Schindler at Shore Thing Charters on the Coast. Looks like the fishing is great. The pictures are of Capt. Matt Tusa (He's got the yellow visor) and I think the other fisherman is John Marquez.

Check out Shore Thing Charters' site. I have fished with Capt. Sonny once and it was great! There is a link on my homepage and there is one at the bottom of Sonny's email.

Shore Thing Fishing Charters is still running strong, but these storms have made the past few weeks a tad bit tough. All our family and friends are fine, but lets be honest, we want to fish! The boats are more than fine and the lodge is ready.
Myself, Capt Matt and John "Fish Head" Marquez made a day of it today in the LA Marsh. Yes there is debris in the water. We waited till first light to leave and we still "bumped" a few things.FYI the marsh looks fine. Looked for the 5 to 10 forecast all day but got slammed with a steady 15 knts all day. No matter, we had the dream team and none of us had fished in a long time. Decided to redfish with the dirty water and high tide. Spent all day from 3 mile to 9 mile checking ponds and drains. Only managed 2 reds(one release) and 1 flounder. At 1 in the pm we decided to head in. On the way in we found one drain on the "inside" of the marsh loaded with diving birds and jumbo shrimp. We all made the call to stick it out. After an hour an half of skull dragging trout we put 57 keeper trout in the box. No one stopped fishing, it was like we had a mission. I was so happy the shrimp, trout, birds and marsh were all working in our favour.We used plastics for the reds and trout, color did not matter at all. All is well folks and the fish are hungry, are you? Let this next one get out of the way and lets have some fun. www.shorethingcharters.com

www.danahersoutdoors.com

Katrina and Gustav

2008-08-30T20:50:00.009-05:00

With Hurricane Gustav on the way, people are heading up to higher land. My friend from Metairie is already up, along with his kids. We hung out with him for a while because I don't get to see him often. Also my family from St. Martin, New Orleans, and Slidell are coming up to stay with us.

For the past few weeks we have filled up tanks and checked the generator to be sure everything is in order in the event that it gets bad up here. The family is bringing a little food, but we have enough of a stockpile to hold over a small army for a few weeks. Ok, so now we have to check over everything to be sure. We have boat batteries charged and set up to charge cell phones, gas stocked up for the family, and plenty of food. That seems to be about it.

I noticed that everyone in Katrina Cottages and FEMA trailers are being evacuated. I find it kind of ironic that they are being forced to evacuate when the Katrina Cottages are supposed to be built to withstand a hurricane. It feels kind of like it did before Katrina hit and I was here waiting for them to arrive, thinking nothing would really happen.

When Katrina hit, the power went out, but we ate good. We weren't going to let any wild game spoil so we cleaned out the freezer. We had marinated duck breast, deer back-strap, shrimp, and a lot of other good food. We ended up having good meals and spending time with family that we normally don't spend.

I think Katrina changed us..... forever.

How Not to Cook Crabs

2008-08-28T00:01:00.001-05:00

Here's a pretty funny video that shows you exactly how to cook crabs....not!

Cooking Crabs for the First Time

www.danahersoutdoors.com

Cheap Coastal Crabbing

2008-08-23T11:20:00.008-05:00

If you live near salt or brackish water, an easy and inexpensive way to have fun is crabbing. I don't know how other states are, but here in Mississippi there are piers everywhere on the coast, great for dropping nets over the side.

For fifteen dollars you can get all the nets you need and they last for a couple of years. Chicken necks are the most common bait used and for a dollar or two you can get enough bait for a full day, or more, at a local grocery store. In Mississippi, the only license you need is a fishing license, which is only a few dollars.

The last crab trip I was on I saw all kinds of coastal birds, king rail, clapper rail, and some type of egret I have never seen. It was a fun trip, we met a few people, and didn't spend a whole bunch. Not only is it fun, it is extremely affordable and easy.

www.danahersoutdoors.com

Simple Saltwater Fishing

2008-08-18T16:52:00.013-05:00

As I pulled my shrimp up and let it drop down again...WHOOOOM!! I got hit hard, and I pulled right back. It was a pretty short fight, but I ended up with a small red. We all thought it was a white trout by the color of it then we saw the spot on his tail.

Just a few hours before, we had woken up to a very stormy-looking morning. We went to Denny's to get some breakfast while we waited to see if it would rain. It only sprinkled so we decided to go ahead and get out there. When we got there we saw that a boat was a little..... underwater. We were watching a shrimp boat sink with people trying to save it by pumping the water out. There was nothing we could do so we decided to stay out of the way. We launched a small jon boat and fished a jetty right off the shore with shrimp we bought from a dock nearby.

Once we were out there fishing it was great, cloud cover, gentle breeze everything you would want. There were fish swirling all around us and we caught several of them. My dad started yelling that he got a flounder. He started to pull it in and as it got close I saw a big thin stingray-ish tail swing up. He pulled it up and sure enough it was a stingray, that was not very happy about getting stuck. We cut the line before anyone was stabbed with his barb. I looked over and noticed the shrimp boat was back up straight, and everyone seemed to have calmed down a little. Then as I was watching I heard my uncle Lance start yelling that he got a big fish. I looked over and the rod was seriously bent over, then he pulled the fish in. It was a good eating-size black drum, with really pretty stripes (as you can see in the above picture).

After the excitement the fishing pretty much died. We decided it was time to go home, seeing as how we had been out for hours now. So we left our spot and headed the hundred yards back to the dock. I really liked this trip because you could do it with only a jig head and a few dollars worth of shrimp, and have a blast!! If you want, you can use a plastic cocahoe minnow under a popping cork, redfish and speckled trout will both hit it. It's a great trip that I enjoyed a lot and shows that even if you don't have a big boat or a box filled with special tackle you can still catch fish in saltwater.

www.danahersoutdoors.com

Back in School

2008-08-18T08:34:00.002-05:00

As I walked in the doors at my school it reminded me that my summer had been WWAAYY too short. The first day back I realized that one of my closest friends would not be back this year, he had moved to some new home-schooling thing. I also noticed another of my closest friends had a big ole earring, which was surprising to everyone. All of my friends seemed to look older, and more muscular. I thought it was strange I didn’t see more new kids.

I noticed that the school looked a little smaller, like it had gotten shorter. I hung out in the back of the library like I always do, with the same friends I have been hanging out with since forever ago. We talked about what we had done all summer, and I was not the only one that barely skated, only two out of our group skated a lot.

I went to first period, Spanish, and had a pretty good time. Spanish seems like a fun subject so far. The rest of my classes all seem fun too, especially geometry. It's a subject you have to imagine everything, because it’s hard to really show what infinity is. I'm not happy to be back in school, but I think it will be a fun year.

Ready to Bust Some Birds

2008-08-14T11:11:00.000-05:00

I have been looking forward to dove season for a while, because last year I didn't get to hunt them. The year before we hunted a good bit and I did very well.

My dad and I hunted mostly but my grandfather came one time and had a blast. That particular hunt was a great one because we came back and grilled birds for Miss Karee and my grandparents, and just had a huge meal. I have pretty much only had fun experiences hunting doves, like one trip I decided to go GI Joe style and put soot all over my arms and face, and put leaves in my hat.

One trip we limited out and we always came home with at least a few, which added up pretty quick. This year my dad and I hope to do a good bit of hunting. Maybe get some new stories to tell, and build up the dove population in our freezer.

With dove hunting coming up, I'm getting pretty excited. I feel like this year will be a good year all around.

www.danahersoutdoors.com

Here to Stay!

2008-08-09T12:12:00.005-05:00

For the first 8 months or so it was kind of a trial basis, just to see if we had time to put stories up and to see if people would come to the site and read them. And it worked out, so we bought the domain name, and redesigned the site.

We gather more and more readers every day. In fact it's done so well, we now have real advertisers. We only wanted to get advertisers that we really like, like B'n'M Crappie poles and the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science.

I'm really happy to have B'n'M on the site because we have been using their rods for years, in fact, we probably 15 different rods from them, and a bunch of their reels, too. For crappie and bream fishing, you can't beat B'n'M. They have a cool site with fishing tips and their latest stuff.
http://www.bnmpoles.com/

I'm glad we have the Museum of Natural Science advertising with me because they always have cool exhibits. Every summer they have a huge snake program, which is always fun. They also have huge aquariums that are filled with all sorts of fish and turtles. In the back they have a swamp area that has alligators that is really cool. You could easily spend hours walking around and looking, even if you have been there a bunch of times like me. If you have never been, it is definitely worth the trip to Jackson. http://museum.mdwfp.com/

So check these guys out and keep coming to the site. We've got a lot of new stories coming up this year.

www.danahersoutdoors.com

End of Summer

2008-08-01T11:23:00.005-05:00

Have you ever noticed that it seems like every time you wanna go fish it rains?? That's how it's been around here. My dad and I were going to go fish on the creek today but it rained, and is supposed to rain the rest of the day. That's how it's been every day I was not busy for two weeks.

To me it seems like I'm going to have trouble putting up new stories because summer is almost over, which means I'll be back in school and have to study. I mean, it's like I just got done with final exams, and now I'm about to go back?! But even though the summer seemed short, I fished a lot, met some great people and had a great time. Hopefully we'll get in a few more fishing trips before hunting season.

The good thing is that with summer coming to a close, I'm that much closer to October! And you know what that means.... cool weather and a fishing trip with Capt. Sonny Schindler in the marsh! My dad and I have been saving up money and were ready to go!

www.danahersoutdoors.com

It takes a village to raise a bird

2008-07-31T13:45:00.007-05:00

My dad and I saw this extremely bright yellow bird squawking up a storm, so we took some pictures of it. We thought it was mad but couldn't figure out why. So we went inside and looked it up and it turned out to be a scarlet tanager.

After a while we decided to go look around outside (the bird was still squawking). What we found was a baby tanager...in a cat's mouth. We got the bird and took it inside and put it in a box with a towel to sit on. As soon as we were done I went outside and just happened to find another one just about to be pounced on by one of our many yellow kittens. So I brought him inside too.

Neither one could really fly, so we decided to go catch some crickets to feed them. We brought the crickets in and the little baby birds would gobble them down in seconds. Then we would go get more and it was like no matter how much we fed them, they wanted another serving. After at least a dozen they seemed full.

The next day my dad bought a half tube of crickets. The crickets didn't last long because the birds were eating over 20 times a day. Some of the meals were dry cat food soaked in water, they liked that, too.

My dad and stepmother had to take turns feeding them because I went to visit my aunt in Tennessee. While I was gone, the smaller bird died, but the bigger one was doing great...my dad bought another half tube of crickets. My grandfather even had to pitch in and help while my dad and Miss Karee were gone one day.

The day before I got back my dad decided the bird was flying well enough to let him go. Then he called and told me about how the little bird had eaten a whole tube of crickets, and you gotta think, these birds are only two inches tall and they demolished over 100 of crickets plus the cat food....... that's quite an appetite.

When I got home, we walked outside and we could hear the little tanager chirping, then we saw the mother fly out of a tree, grab a bug and head towards the baby. A week later and she still found him. We were glad, it was her turn to feed him again.

www.danahersoutdoors.com

The Princess and the Opossum

2008-07-30T00:01:00.003-05:00

It was time to eat dinner when the phone rang. It was my step-mother, Miss Karee, saying she couldn't come eat because she was being held hostage at her office by a opossum (they will do that, ya know).

We have had a lot of opossums but this one was determined. When she came out he was more interested in the Purina Cat Chow than he was in her, and was not planning to leave.

I went over there and tried to get him to leave with a broom, then we engaged in broom poking and getting hissed at. I went back inside and told my dad to try, and he got the same results. So after about 30 minutes of epic combat, we decided to just take his picture and leave him alone. (Okay, it may have been a little shorter but you get the point.)

I think it was really funny because watching my dad sort of reminded me about the fairy tales of the prince saving the princess in the tower from the dragon. Maybe this wasn't quite so dramatic but the thought still came up, and I had a good laugh about it.

www.danahersoutdoors.com

Bird House Ssssurprise

2008-07-27T06:15:00.000-05:00

It was time to clean out the birdhouse, because all that was left of the bluebird family were the pine needles and egg shells they left behind..... or so I thought.

When I went to clean out the house I opened the little back-door and.... saw a big ol' snake!! Right in my face. It scared the MESS out of me. I sure wasn't expecting that! After a short time I went back to see that the snake was still curled up in there, which didn't seem all that comfortable to me.

I went and got my dad and told him to come look at the bird house. When he came out he just started laughing. It was a big gray ratsnake, about 4 feet long. When I finally got him to come out of the birdhouse, I played with him the rest of the afternoon and took some pictures of him.

I think its pretty cool that I can find snakes around my house, the most common being the gray ratsnake. And that they keep the mouse population under control. I always enjoy seeing snakes and this one was really sweet. But, I had to let him go so I released him on a nearby fence row. Hopefully, he is still out there making dinner out of rodents.

Beginner's Luck

2008-07-24T10:30:00.005-05:00

I was aiming at my first duck and I felt really confident in the shot... BOOM!! I saw the duck drop, but what was strange was that I saw another duck close by drop her head too. It took me a few seconds to realize that I had just shot and killed two ducks.

I was aiming for the head because they were in water and the spread had reached the other duck, too. At nine years old, I was really proud of myself until I realized that they were about twenty yards out floating in ice cold water.

With no dog and the water being deeper than my dad's waders, well, needless to say we did not get the ducks that day. On the way home, we decided to go back the next morning and literally fish the ducks out. (it was near freezing, so we didn't worry about the ducks spoiling)

We came back with a rod and reel with a topwater plug, and threw at the ducks until my dad hooked one. He reeled it in and we started on the next one, which eventually we got out too. What an interesting idea, catching ducks with a rod... a new sport?? Who knows?

It was a great trip, and with a two woody limit in Mississippi, I had limited out on my first real duck hunt in one shot. Definitely one of those times I'd rather be lucky than good.

www.danahersoutdoors.com

Instant Mashed Potatoes

2008-07-21T10:00:00.003-05:00

The 17 HMR is a very fun round to shoot. Its not too expensive so you can go out and just shoot random stuff, which is exactly what I did. I went shooting with a college friend of my dad's, Randy, who lives nearby.

We got a sack of potatoes, and set them up. I started with the first clip to check and make sure the gun was still on target, but my first shot was shaky. So I set up again, steady this time, and took the shot. Potato mush flew everywhere and I heard Randy behind me laughing up a storm. So I had 4 more shots and guess what, four more potatoes blew up and went to potato heaven. Once I was done, we went to check what it did, the explosive power of this round is insane! It was blowing potatoes clean in half, well not clean, actually pretty messy.

This round also works well on apples, tomatoes, water jugs, coke cans, rabbits, squirrels, and coyotes. If you get a chance, try one out...its a whole lot more than shooting a .22 at paper targets!

www.danahersoutdoors.com

Just Getting Started

2008-07-17T14:30:00.000-05:00

I'm a little new at this blog thing so just bear with me until I figure it all out.

I decided to start doing a blog so I can give you a little something to read more often than a full story. Because I write about things I actually go and do it takes time in between stories, thats where the blog comes in.

I can write about anything I'm interested in and also things that I did in the past. I hunt or fish as often as I can, I am a blackbelt in HanMuDo (a Korean martial art) I like guns, bows, knives and hopefully I always have an interesting thing to write about. So keep coming back every so often and I'll have something new up for ya.

www.danahersoutdoors.com