Football Jones

No time to write, but I got football on the mind. I have always been a panther fan, but with Dexter Jackson and Superman now on the roster, I can no longer be just a casual fan. These Mountaineers look like they mean business, time will tell, but I think this could be another year to remember for the Black & Gold.

NC Turkeys- Public land Hunt

Turkey Track
Well, This NC outdoorsman finally got a free afternoon a few days ago. I could hardly function waiting around for the work day to end. When the time finally came, I ran home, let the good as new Brewer out for a little potty break, and then hit the woods. In the not so distant past, I had witnessed Turkeys on two occasions in a field just off of the game lands I would be hunting. I also frequently found lots of sign in the area. I could not have had higher hopes, but it was not to be. I probably walked 4 miles, calling every 150 or 200 yards give or take a little. I threw the whole book at those birds and never got a response, being this early in the season I was a little surprised. I found 2 sets of fresh tracks in separate locations, so I know the birds are around. I finished up about 7:00 pm and drove home thinking of what I might do differently next time. Maybe Saturday afternoon I will make it back out there. I have to say, the one satisfying thing about this hunt was that I made a game plan before hand and stuck with it the entire time. Usually my impatience gets the best of me and I call an audible. Even though I didn't bag a bird, this was a great experience for me, and I cant wait to get back out there.
Thanks for stopping by,

Andrew

Kayak Tuna

This image courtesy of Field and Stream

Check out this record setting Tuna caught by Matt Shepard from a kayak off of the North Carolina coast. This story is courtesy of Field and Stream . This is pretty amazing, and now I really want that Kayak

Interesting... Turkey Heart Research

Not my hand, but this is a Turkey heart.

I found this over at the NWTF website. This is pretty interesting. Thought you might want to check it out.
Attention Michigan Hunters: Have a Heart?

Field Care Tips for your Trophy Tom

Up-Close Outfitters had a great day on the South Carolina opener, here is a picture of their success.


Via the Moose Droppings blog, I found the Annie got her gun blog. Over there I found a great right up Anne has done about taking care of your turkey in the field for mounting. Here is the link,Field care tips for Wild Turkeys check out this article and the rest of her blog, tons of info over there. Anne and her husband own the Colorado Institute of Taxidermy Training, so they know their stuff.
I know I couldn't make it out yesterday, but hopefully some of you did. How did it go, BAG or BUST? I want to hear your stories and see your pictures. Leave a comment or send me an email with some of your pictures. To Daniel "Moose" over at Moose Droppings, I owe you a Thank You for finding these great resources.


Thanks for stopping by,

Andrew

Chronic Wasting Disease- The things you need to know

This is a photo of a buck with CWD courtesy of ESPN OUTDOORS from an article written a few years ago.

Daniel over at the Moose Droppings blog has just done a great short write up on Chronic Wasting Disease with some really informative links. Check it out to get up to speed on what is going on with this disease. There have been some changes made to NC law regarding CWD that hunters need to be aware of.

Turkey in downtown Raleigh?

This is not the same turkey, just a funny picture, though I cannot decide if it is real or not. This was taken from an article in the Boston Globe about Turkeys showing up in Massachusetts a few years back.

Today at Raleigh Country Club(my place of employment) there was a wild turkey spotted running across the golf course. I did not see it my self but one of the employees got a photo of it on his cell phone. It looked like a hen, but it honestly could have been a gobbler, it was not a great photo. RCC is located off of New Bern Ave about half a mile past the belt line just shy of downtown Raleigh. I was really surprised to hear of this at first. However when I began thinking about it, I suppose it isn't really all that strange. The Raleigh Green way basically comes through the golf courses back yard. That green way goes for miles and miles and provides a good amount of cushion for wildlife in an otherwise urban area. Also if you consider the amount of woods you see around a lot of the belt line and HWY 264, it really isn't that far fetched to have a turkey stroll through like it did. Apparently a nice gobbler crossed the golf course last year about this time too. Why the turkey came through today, who knows, maybe it was shot at on Youth Day last Saturday, or maybe scouting pressure pushed it out. Maybe it was looking for love(in all the wrong places,lookin for love in...) Sorry,I couldn't resist. Generally where there is one, another is not too far off, we will see. The peculiar thing about all of this is the direction he was headed. The turkey came from the New Bern Ave side of the golf course and was headed to Poole Rd via the neighboring church yard. There is nothing but houses and busy roads for several hundred yards until the woods parallel to interstate 440. This would be quite a feat if the bird managed to survive Poole Rd and all of the houses, dogs and people along the way. Hope he made it.
This gets me fired up, but unfortunately I will not be able to hunt opening day. Hopefully one afternoon next week or the following Saturday I will make it into the woods. If you make it into the woods before I do let me know how it goes. Leave a comment or shoot me an email. Until then, thanks for stopping by.

-Andrew

Coyotes.... Coming soon to the woods near you?

I put these pictures up on another post a few months ago. This is a coyote trapped on a friends land in Forsyth county a little while ago. I generally dont think these animals are a threat to humans. This one was hurt and cornered.

While I was in High Point Yesterday visiting family, a friend of mine called to tell me about his coyote encounter. He hunts on a farm in north Raleigh that backs up to Interstate 540. My in-laws live in a neighborhood about 1.5 miles away from there with lots of people and pets. Yesterday, my friend was out at the farm working on his food plots. He had finished up his work for the day and was riding around the property with his dog Bennett in his camo gator. He saw motion off to the side and thought it was a deer so he stopped. He sat there for a minute until he saw movement again, this time he could tell it wasn't a deer and it was walking towards the gator. When it got close enough he realized it was a coyote and they had a stare down for about 10 minutes. The coyote apparently couldn't figure out what it was looking at. Then Bennett, an extremely small white English Setter jumped out of the gator. Mike said immediately the coyote charged with a full head of steam, when Mike jumped out of the gator it stopped and ran off in the other direction really fast. However within 10 seconds Mike happened to turn around and saw the same, or possibly another coyote stalking Bennett from behind. He turned and took a step towards the coyote now at 20 yards and it instantly fled not to be seen again.Although they are not very big most of the time, Coyotes are known to be pet killers, no doubt it could have its way with Bennett who weighs in at around 30 lbs.The Eastern Coyote which inhabits our area usually weighs between 30 and 50 lbs and stands on average 20-24 inches at the shoulders. Northern Coyotes tend to be larger. It is a good thing that it seemed to still exhibit a fear of humans but this is not the first story I have heard like this, and recently these sorts of encounters are becoming the norm. I have had a few encounters with Coyotes, but only in the western part of the state, and none of them where threatening to me. What, if any action should be taken to control these wild dogs? I know for a fact I am going to start hunting them since there is no closed season for coyotes in our state. Look for more info on this topic soon, I want to research this problem a little more. Do a quick google search of Coyotes in your area and see what comes up, you might be surprised.

-Andrew

Weekend in review

Just a few images of the destruction brought on by the tornado that ripped through High Point last week. Images courtesy of WGHP FOX 8 NEWS

On Friday I just had to take Brewer out to do some shed hunting. It had been three weeks since he hurt his foot and all signs told me he was ready to go. Well he jumped a deer up as soon as we got into the woods and was gone for a while. I was really worried and nearly horse after calling and whistling to him for sometime. I think it was a combination of him being so restless and a little rusty that made him run off. A couple I had run into earlier found him not far from me roaming the woods. He hurt his foot again in a different spot(just a scrape,nothing serious) and is now out of commission for even longer. Steffi was thrilled with me, and I didnt even get to shed hunt because he ran off. When I got him back we called it a day. I have got to do something to break him of chasing deer. At first it was funny, now it is potentially dangerous. I think I will have to go the E Collar route. That is the only thing I can think of that will solve this problem. Great, another expensive must have on my hunting list! I will let you know what happens with that. As for now, Brewer is on house arrest once again. Way to go Dad!
Saturday a friend of ours got married in Raleigh. Steffi was in the wedding so she was busy all day. My friend Keith's wife was in the wedding also, we saw this as a prime opportunity to go wet a line. Keith has a 14 ft jon boat with a trolling motor, fish finder and swivel seats with backs. If you have ever spent any time on a jon boat without comfortable seats you understand how nice those are. We didn't get to head out until lunch time.We had about 3 hours to burn so we planned to fish the local Wake Forest reservoir. By the time we picked up some minnows and got to the lake it was pretty warm. We were bobber fishing about 2 feet deep with 2 small split shots half way between bobber and hook. We mostly worked the cover along the shoreline. Keith caught a couple small large mouth right out of the gates and I followed shortly after with a small white bass. We spent the next hour or so getting skunked and then we found the crappie hole we had been looking for. We caught 8 crappie total. Keith accidentally dropped one back into the water and 2 or 3 others got off the hook right at the boat.So it was a pretty good hole. I must say it had been quite some time since I had been fishing, and it showed. It took an hour or more for me to get back a little touch and precision with my casts. I must have gotten hung up 15 times. I was actually a little embarrassed. (talking to my self, PULL IT TOGETHER) Oh well, what can ya do. Thanks for your patients Keith. There were several great photo opportunities but Steffi had the camera with her for bridesmaid stuff. I am trying to get her to buy a new camera so I can have her old one and eliminate this problem of sharing. Other then that, this little excursion was great, it could not have been a nicer day to be on the water. The wind blew just enough to keep us comfortable and we caught something. This has me really wanting to spend more money. A few years back a friend of my family GAVE me a 15ft aluminum v-hull fishing boat with a trailer, trolling motor and 4.5 hp outboard. It has been parked at my parents house ever since I got it. I have not taken her out on the maiden voyage yet because she needs a little TLC that I haven't been able to give her. Well the time has come. Saturday was just too much fun not to go back out again really soon, why not start getting my boat in ship shape, it is perfect for small reservoirs like the one we fished. I wasn't able to tow it back with me to Raleigh this weekend, but hopefully it won't be much longer. Look for some pictures soon, I will show you step by step what all I do to it. In the mean time, its almost Turkey Time, so if your not fishing, you should be getting ready to tomahawk Mr Tom, In other news, Steffi and I had just finished watching a movie the other night and just happened to turn on the news. When we did they were covering the tornado that had just ripped through High Point. My parents house was about 1 mile out of the path of the twister. I saw the wreckage and destruction first hand today since we visited family for Easter. Unbelievable. Pictures cannot describe what it was like in person. I saw one 2 story house that was now only 1 story with no sign of the upper half to be found. The house literally 20ft beside of that house was not touched, not even a shingle came off. There were many other instances like this, really strange? One house was literally split in two pieces, the roof and attic from one side was on the ground upside down and the other side still attached. It was a chilling and ominous feeling to see the literal path of the tornado. I hope everyone can pick up the pieces and get back to normal soon.
On a much lighter note, It was like Christmas for me at my parents house this weekend. I finally picked up all of my fishing doodads from dads garage and he gave me his old shop vac(he bought a new one) and his driver(Ping G5). I needed a driver desperately seeing as how mine was made in 1998( Titleist 975D) and is the size of most people 5 woods these days. Any who, cant wait to get out on the links and swing the new driver a little, and I am thrilled about the shop vac. I am so sick and tired of feeding the stinking timed vacuum quarters. What an anxiety attack trying to get all the dirt out before that thing cuts off.
Thanks for stoppin by,



-Andrew

Lets talk a little football

I know I know, it is so early for college football talk. I just have not gotten into the March Madness this year. It has nothing to do with who is playing, I just haven't been into basketball this year. In any case, I always have college football on the brain, more specifically, Appalachian State Football. With season ticket sales opening up today for the Black & Gold Nation, it feels like a great opportunity to talk a little football. I am excited about the upcoming season for several reasons.
1. Some new faces on the coaching staff. I loved all of our old coaches, but I am really excited to see what these new guys can bring to the program. Bob McClain from Tulsa will take over Offensive Line duties, he replaces Shawn Elliot who left for South Carolina. I think Coach Elliot did a great job with our O-line guys, look for no drop off with Coach McClain.
Coach Scot Sloan comes to us from Riverside Military Academy. He replaces Defensive Coordinator John Wiley, who left for East Carolina. Coach Sloan will be Defensive Backs coach, Coach Dale Jones will move up to DC from Linebackers Coach. I really look forward to seeing what Coach Sloan has to offer. He brings years of coaching experience on the college level. I am also really excited to see Coach Jones at the DC position, he has already eliminated the Bandit Linebacker position and put a strong side linebacker in its place. Coach Wiley did a great job over the years but I really feel a fresh look to the ASU defense will do good things.
I am perhaps most excited about our new Strength and Conditioning Coach, Mike Kent. When Coach Dillman left earlier this fall, I found my self worried he would be very hard to replace. The intensity, motivation and work ethic he brought to our program was unbelievable. Enter Mike Kent, Coach Kent may actually be over qualified for this job. I think the only reason he took it is because he loves ASU and wanted to be back in Boone. Coach Kent has spent many years moving up in the world of college athletics at some really BIG TIME schools including Kansas State, Pittsburgh and Louisville. Before all that he spent 9 years at ASU as Strength Coach. I am thrilled to have this guy back on our home turf. Coach Dillman did amazing things with our athletes, but if there is a person that can take our guys to the next level, it is Coach Kent.

2. Though we lost the Greatest APP of all time #14, we have 2 really solid options to take over the offensive reigns in Jamal Jackson and DeAndre Presley. Both I feel have similar abilities. Jackson may be a bit more durable at 6-3 190. But Presley 5-11 170 has the game experience. It should be a battle to the finish to see who gets the job this fall. I will spend time on our offense more later. Some expect to see a dropoff in offensive performance next year. I havent convinced my self of that just yet with the guys we have returning(we will be just fine) but in any case, this leads me to #3.

3. Defense, in 2005 and 2006 our defense was ridiculously rock solid. Remember the days of #44 & #97 wreaking havoc in the back field, and #47 ball hawkin all day long. Bobby Lamb and UNI remember Hunter and Murrell for sure. Will we ever have another Corey Lynch, tough to say. Looking at this coming year on the defensive side of the ball, we have some great talent returning and some new comers who are sure to WOW you. Guys Like Mark Legree, DJ Smith, Dominique McDuffie, Troy Sanders, Michael Frazier, Justin Wray, Ed Gainey and Jeremy Kimbrough will be our resident Head Hunters. Others like Bobby Bozzo, Demery Brewer, Jabari Fletcher, Lanston Tanyi, Tony Robertson and Gordy Witte along with new JUCO transfer Chris Aiken will power the front line. I know I have left some guys out, but the point is, this could be a phenomenal season defensively for the Black & Gold. The guys listed in the first group are all very fast, physical players who will be aggressive and opportunistic. The guys in the second group have another year under their belt and all signs indicate great expectations for this group as well. Look for the Veterans like Fletcher, Robertson and Bozzo to play with a chip on their shoulder, and look out for Chris Aiken. Weighing in at 6-1 310 he just might be the real deal. Aiken spent 5 years in the army and served 2 tours in Iraq before going to Blinn College in Texas for 2 years and transferring to ASU. He is a man.

All in all, we have a lot to look forward to next year. I think we will see a fresh new face to the APP's Defense that will be really exciting to watch. Lots of hard hits and turnovers coming your way soon. Offensively one really cant worry too much with guys like Devon Moore, Cedric Baker, Devin Radford, Brian Quick, Travaris Cadet, Matt Cline, Ben Jorden and hopefully Coco Hillary returning, along with the much anticipated entrance of guys like Rod Chisholm, Andrew Peacock and Tony Washington. Besides, who doesn't get excited about a team coached by Jerry Moore, in my opinion there isnt a finer coach in the country. I just couldn't resist talking a little APP Football. Since no one is here to talk with me, I wrote it out. I am sure there will be plenty more to come. Check out the splash page at GOASU.COM. See you at the ROCK.

GO APPS