The Outdoor Fever

New Short Film "This Town"

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Elder) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 22:13:00 +0000

Here is our latest short film entitled "This Town". We made this short while spending some time in Breckenridge, Colorado. Hope you enjoy...

"PULL"

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Elder) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 15:08:00 +0000

Here is our latest short film entitled "PULL". Hope you enjoy...

Last Days of Duck Season

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Elder) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:05:00 +0000

The waterfowl season this year really flew by. We were only able to hunt about five times, but every hunt turned out great. This past Sunday was the last day of duck season in Kansas and because of our schedules we were only able to hunt Thursday and Friday. Because of the wind, we decided it would be best if we hunted geese on thursday. The unfavorable warm weather made the hunting a little tougher, but we were able to knock down about 7 geese and a few ducks. We didn't limit out but still had a great time. Unfortunately that morning, I set out for the blind with everything I needed except for one bag. The bag that happened to have my camera in it. The next day we went after ducks. We were joined by one of my good friends, Scott. This was his first duck hunt and we were hoping that the ducks would work so he could get a few shots off. The weather was a still a little warm but it didn't take long for the ducks to start funneling in to the decoys. Within a couple of hours we had shot 22 ducks and Scott was able to kill his first green head along with a few other mallards. It was an excellent hunt and a great way to end the season.

(Joe and Mitch picking up decoys)

(Chris wrapping one up)

(Perfect Form)

(Scott's First Limit)

Local Legends Marinades

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Elder) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:01:00 +0000

A while back I was asked to test out some marinades for a company called Local Legends. Local Legends have several different types of marinades specifically made for wild game, but but also have some that can be used on other farm raised meat as well. I was pretty excited to try these out. However, all of my closest friends and family can tell you that I am not exactly an expert chef, but I was willing to give it my best shot. The first marinade that we tried was their Nature Made marinade.

This marinade is made to go with farm raised animals such as beef, pork, chicken etc. At the time, I didn't have any deer meat left in the freezer, so we decided to try this out on some grass fed beef steaks. We put the steaks in a bowl with poured the marinade over them.

After letting the marinade soak in the fridge for a few hours, it was time to put them on the grill. Just from the smell alone, I could tell that they were going to taste great. While the steaks were cooking, we cut up some sweet potatoes to make sweet potato fries.

After a few minutes on the grill, the steaks were ready to come off and be served.

It made for a wonderful meal and the steak was excellent! It had a real good flavor without being overwhelming. That to me is very important, since I like to still be able to taste the natural meat a little bit. However, I'm sure the longer you let the meat soak in the marinade the stronger the flavor might be. One of the things that I noticed on the bottle was that a small portion of profits from the sales of their marinades goes to support conservation.

I thought this was really cool and was excited to see that Local Legends is doing their part when it comes to conservation. Overall, I thought the marinade was great. In fact, it was better than I was expecting. If you get a chance, I highly recommend trying them out. You won't regret it.

First Ducks of the Season

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Elder) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 23:37:00 +0000

My dad and I were lucky enough to go on our first duck hunt of the year. It was definitely a success. We were absolutely covered up with mallards and limited out in about an hour. We had a great time and can't wait to get back out there and do it again...

Success for Dad

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Elder) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 21:27:00 +0000

Our hunting season in Kansas has been tough, to say the least. Unusually warm weather mixed with a weak rut has made our encounters with mature bucks few and far between. However, there were a few bucks that we had our eyes on before the season started. None of which were big scoring deer, but were very mature bucks. One of the bucks disappeared shortly after shedding it's velvet. One of the other bucks is still around and we are still getting pictures of him, but he keeps giving me the slip. Another buck is one that I nicknamed "Tank" because of his enormous body size. He was a very old deer that was probably going down hill.

We all love to hunt and kill bucks with huge antlers but it can be just as trying and exciting to hunt an old, wise whitetail that has made it though his fair share of hunting seasons by outsmarting us humans. However, on December 2nd my dad got the best of Tank. It was one of the colder afternoons that we had had so far this season and Dad was in a stand that we new could produce a good buck if the weather was cold enough to get them on their feet early. We were getting a lot of pictures of Tank near this stand but all of them were at night. However, Dad thought he might get a shot at him b/c of weather. After getting in the stand, it didn't take long before he started seeing does. After 5 or 6 does passed by his stand, he noticed a big bodied deer coming up the trail. Immediately he grabbed his bow, hoping it was a big buck. The buck got closer and closer. Dad eventually realized that it was Tank and got ready to take a shot. The buck made his way to 15 yards, Dad drew his bow and sent an arrow flying. The buck went crashing through the trees and disappeared out of sight. Dad knew it was a good shot but decided to go back to the house so that we could recover him together. It was beginning to rain, so we went out quickly incase it would turn into a long tracking job. It wasn't. The buck made it barely 100 yards from the stand. We were both ecstatic to have taken such an old buck.

Gear List:

-Bowtech Destroyer

-Ramcat Broadheads

-Sitka Gear

-Ameristep Treestands

-Seemz Technology

-Mystery Ranch Packs

2011 Arkansas Black Bear Hunt Short Film

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Elder) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:12:00 +0000

We had an extremely exciting and short bear season in Arkansas. Sarah and I began baiting about ten days before the season opened and the bears were hitting the baits right off the bat. We knew it was probably going to be a good season but also knew that the acorns were close to falling. Leading up to opening day, we heard a lot of people say that the acorns dropped and the bears had stopped hitting their bait. For some reason, that was not the case at our bait sites. We were getting hit every day. Opening day couldn't come soon enough. We were praying that the acorns hadn't dropped. Here is a short film we made about our experience bear hunting this year. We named it "The Payoff" because it feels like the biggest reward when you kill an animal that you have worked so hard for. Even though the actual hunt didn't last all that long, there is a lot of work when it comes to bear hunting. From finding and getting to a remote location, to constantly running baits. Hope you enjoy it...

Gear List:

Ameristep Non-Typical Treestands
Seemz Technology
Bowtech Destroyer 340
Limbsaver accessories
Ramcat Broadheads
Sitka Gear
Mystery Ranch Packs - Dragonslayer

Season Opener

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Elder) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 18:45:00 +0000

The summer flew by pretty quick and the opening day in Kansas got here before we knew it. We were in the stand on Monday, which was opening day. Unfortunately, there were no bucks to be seen. Sarah and I hunted through wednesday. We took turns hunting and filming. We saw five bucks, none of which were older than 2 1/2. Although we didn't kill or even see a mature buck, it felt great to be in a treestand. Our attention will now be focused on bear baiting. The bear season opens up on October 1st in Arkansas and we hope to have a big black bear on the ground that first weekend. Here are some photos from our hunt this past week...

FLETCH

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Elder) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 01:57:00 +0000

Here is a short film that we made the other night about fletching some arrows. We wanted to test out our new lens and this is what we came up with. Hope you enjoy...

2011 Nebraska Turkey Hunt Video

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Elder) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 14:57:00 +0000

Here is the video from our turkey hunt in Nebraska, Hope you like it...

June Update

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Elder) — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 17:46:00 +0000

It's been a while since I last blogged, so I thought I would give a little update of some of the things that have been going on...

6-10: Wrecked while mountain biking, fractured my arm.

6-11: Left for week-long family vacation in Florida.

6-20: Finally got around to testing some marinades from "Local Legends."

6-26: Finished editing the video from our Nebraska Turkey hunt.

Memorial Day Mountain Biking at Syllamo

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Elder) — Tue, 31 May 2011 15:10:00 +0000

First of all, I hope everyone had a fun and safe weekend. It was really nice to have an extra day to mess around. We decided that we wanted to go try a mountain bike trail that we just heard of, Syllamo Mountain Bike Trail. It actually a trail system that consists of 5 different trails. It was recently added as one of the 51 "epic" trails in North America by the International Mountain Bike Association. Located outside of Blanchard Springs, the trail is nestled amidst the Ozark National Forest next the the Buffalo River. The trail that we chose to try for our first time out there was the "Bad Branch" loop. It's a 12 mile trail and is rated for beginners. We quickly learned that we are beginners and not as good as we thought. It was a little tough but really fun, and we will be going back. Here are some photos from our trip...

Facebook Founder Kills to Eat!

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Elder) — Thu, 26 May 2011 20:45:00 +0000

Here is an article that I found very interesting. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, has decided that he is going to kill everything that he eats. Being a hunter, I thought this was pretty cool. He says he is doing this to remind himself to be thankful for the food he eats. Most hunters can totally relate to this. Atleast for me, it's a different and almost spiritual experience cooking and eating meat that came from an animal I killed. Here is the article.

Arkansas Bear & Buck Journal Video

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Elder) — Thu, 19 May 2011 14:35:00 +0000

Here is a video put together by my buddy Clay Newcomb. Clay is the founder of the Arkansas Black Bear Association and publisher/editor of the Arkansas Bear and Buck Journal. This video describes what the journal is about and talks about some of the articles that can be found in this year's spring issue. You can also get more info at the website ARBEAR.org.

Outdoorzy Hunting

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Elder) — Wed, 18 May 2011 01:04:00 +0000

I was approached a couple of months ago, and asked if I would be interested in writing for a new website that was starting up. The new website is up and running and looks really good. It's called Outdoorzy Hunting, and will soon be full of really good articles and lots of activity. I wrote my first article on Whitetail Deer Supplements. You can check it out by clicking here at Outdoorzy Hunting. Feel free to comment on the site or back here on my blog. We would love to hear what you think of the new Outdoorzy website and my 1st article for them.

One Weekend in Nebraska

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Elder) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 14:55:00 +0000

DAY 1:

Last Friday Dad, Sarah and myself pulled out of the driveway at about 5 AM heading north. We were completely loaded down with hunting gear, video equipment and food for a few days. Arnold, Nebraska was our final destination and we were looking at a long drive ahead. The drive would take us approximately 10.5 hrs. As we approached Lincoln, NE, we were welcomed with temps in the low 30s and hard snow. The weather was supposed to get better through the weekend but I have to be honest, I was a little nervous. I began to wonder if the clothes that we packed were going to be warm enough. None the less, we were extremely excited about having the chance to each take our first Merriam. We arrived at the place we were staying at about

3:30 or 4 and waited for our guide to show up. He was coming in from Wyoming and was slowed down by closed roads due to the sudden snow fall. Our guide, Doug from Table Mountain Outfitters, arrived 1 1/2 hours later and we were off to check out the spots we would be hunting. This wouldn't be a typical guided hunt, as Doug would just show us the land we could hunt and let us go at it. As we were driving down the road, checking on the places we were going to hunt, we saw a bunch of about 30 turkeys maybe 10-15 of them were mature toms. This got us really excited and Doug said "ya, that's a good bunch, but the other day we counted 94 toms on this property." Of course I thought it sounded a little far fetched , but either way there was a nice bunch of toms heading right for the roosting trees. Needless to say, I knew where I was going in the morning.

Day 2:

Saturday morning came early with a wake up call at 4:30 but the excitement made it easy to get up and going. We drove out to our spot and started getting all of our gear together. The temps were in the mid 20s and we were crunching frost all the way in.

Since this was our first time hunting here, we really weren't sure where to set up. As we were getting closer to what we thought was the roost, we heard a soft YELP, YELP, YELP. We were close, so we set up the Avian X decoy and hunkered down next to a brush pile. As the sun started to creep up and it got a little lighter, the gobbles were going off like crazy. The noise was comparable to being stuck in the middle of a thunderstorm. It was constant yelping and

gobbling for at least 1/2 hour. It finally got light enough to be able to see the birds in the trees and there must have been at least 50 toms and who knows how many hens. Trust me, I would not believe it either if I hadn't have been there. There was a group of about 20 trees and they were absolutely full of turkeys. The fly down was really intense. We were about 150 yards from the actual roost but because there were so many flying down, it sounded like they were right on top of us. I called like crazy but it was pretty much useless as there were so many hens. It was the loudest turkey hunting morning that I've ever experienced. After about and hour the turkey started to make their way away from the roost and we decided to move a little bit and try to catch a tom without a hen.

We only made it about 50 yards when we saw a head poking over the hill. We dropped down, I set up the decoy and crawled to the nearest brush pile. Luckily they hadn't seen us, so I began calling. At this point, I was really trying to call to the hens and try to get them to bring a tom close enough for a shot. They were getting closer and after about 1/2 an hour of exchanging yelps with several hens, there was atleast 30 toms in full strut and at least 50 hens on the
hillside only about 80 yards away. It was taking them forever to make their way down the hill and I was wondering if we were ever going to get a shot. All of a sudden, I heard some drumming behind me and I knew he was REAL close. I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye, it was a mature tom in full strut heading straight for the decoy. I tried to remain as still as possible as he passed withing 5 yards of us. I waited until he got a few yards within the decoy and with my heart pounding, I was able to muster up a few soft clucks. He raised his head and without hesitation I squeezed the trigger. I had killed my first Merriam turkey!

Day 3:

Dad did not have as good of luck as I did the first morning, so we decided to go back to the spot where I killed my bird. He would set up on one side of the roost with Sarah and I on the other. Since the birds went both ways after the fly down the day before, this seemed like a pretty good idea. We headed out and got to our spots just in time. The birds were gobbling just as we were getting set up. The temperatures had risen and the toms were really fired up on the roost. The birds began to fly down and we watched a lot of toms strutting around and breeding hens. After about an hour of this we heard BANG............BANG! Two gunshots. I leaned over to Sarah and said Dad missed. The shots pretty much scared everything off but we decided to sit and wait for a little bit because we assumed that he missed. 15 minutes later I hear a whistle. I knew it was Dad, so I got up to go talk to him and maybe come up with our next move. As I was walking toward him I said "did you miss?", he responded "I didn't miss". I thought to myself "What?" As I got closer I could see something laying on the ground. Not one bird but Two! He had a group of about 4 toms come in and shot one bird then shot another as it was running off. Not Bad. We located a few different toms and tried to put some stalks on them but nothing seemed to work out just right. So we headed back in for lunch and a quick nap. After getting rested up and our bellies full, we drove back out to the hunting grounds. This time it was just Sarah and I. Dad got another tag and went out with Doug for the afternoon. Well we ended up chasing a few gobblers for a couple hours, either got busted or couldn't pull them away from hens. As it got later, we knew that the birds would be making their way back to the roost. We decided we would try to cut them off about a 1/4 of a mile before they got there.

We set up near another brush pile and waited, but it wasn't too long before we heard a gobble. I did a little bit of calling but I knew that they were headed our way. It seemed like it was taking them forever and we were getting impatient, but the gobbles were getting closer and closer. Finally, I could see a fan start to pop over the hill, then another and another. There were a lot of toms in this group and I knew it was just a matter of time before they saw the decoy and
came into range. There were at least 5-6 toms that we could see about 100 yards away but they were taking forever and the camera light was getting low. I wondered if we were going to get a shot at one. Then out of no where, a nice tom started walking real fast right to the decoy from about 15 yards to my left. It took me by surprise a little bit. The bird started to loop around in front of us on it's way to the decoy. Before he could get there, I hit him with a couple clucks and that was the end of him.

This was absolutely the best turkey hunt that I've ever been on. I have never seen so many turkeys at one place in my life. If you get a chance to go hunt Nebraska for turkeys, I highly recommend it. If you decide you might want to, check out Table Mountain Outfitters because they sure can put you on the birds. There were 3 other hunters along with Dad and I, and we ended up killing 9 birds in two days. Oh yeah, Dad ended up shooting a really nice Merriam on that last afternoon as well. He killed 3 birds in one day, and I almost forgot to mention that it was birthday that day. Not bad birthday if you ask me. We had an unbelievable trip and got some awesome footage. We should have the video up on here shortly. Thanks for reading.

Watch Your Step!

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Elder) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 19:11:00 +0000

People all across the country are stepping over logs, crossing creeks, walking through tall grass, and sitting up next to trees, all in hopes of getting a shot at a big Tom turkey. After a long winter, most hunters can't wait for spring to arrive. The woods fill with the sounds of gobbling turkeys, but with spring also comes snakes. The temperatures are really starting to heat up and the snakes are out and moving around. Both of these photos were taken this weekend while turkey hunting. This snake was not poisonous, but seeing him made me pay more attention to where I was stepping. So remember, be careful out there. Watch where you're walking and always check before you set up and try to kill that Longbeard.

New Sitka Gear for 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Elder) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 02:59:00 +0000

Sitka has put the lineup of their new products up on their website. I have to say, I'm pretty excited about the stuff they are putting out this year. From the new "Merino Base Layers" to the "Incinerator Muff", this new stuff is really raising the bar when it comes to hunting clothes. Sitka Gear makes excellent products but can be a little pricey. I'll be honest, there is some stuff that I can't afford, but the products that I can afford have proven to be the best I have ever worn. Like a lot of stuff, I guess you get what you pay for. Here is a link to the new products coming out this year from Sitka Gear.

Opening Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Elder) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 00:34:00 +0000

We made the drive up on Friday for the opening of archery season in Kansas. We were really excited and had high hopes because the weather was supposed to be perfect. Well the weather cooperated, but the birds didn't. We hunted hard Friday afternoon, all day Saturday and Sunday morning. We had a lot of close calls and there was one bird that I probably should've killed, but we just couldn't quite close the deal. It was a little frustrating but we had a lot of fun. It felt really good to actually get out and hunt. Plus, there's hardly anything cooler than hearing the woods wake up in the morning, especially when there's a fired up gobbler roosted nearby. It is still early and the Toms were definitely "henned up". One afternoon we witnessed a huge tom in full strut, and he had good reason to be strutting. He was surrounded by about 15 hens. A world champion caller might be able to pull him off of those hens, but not this guy. Nevertheless, it was a pretty cool thing watch. We always have a great time and will be going back this weekend, if not sooner.

Avian X Decoy

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Elder) — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 18:08:00 +0000

This year we decided to splurge a little bit and invest in a couple of new decoys. The decoys that we bought are called the Avian X decoys and are made by Zink Calls. A couple of months ago was the first time that I had really heard of the Avian X decoys. I first noticed them in a magazine and right away they looked like the most life-like decoys that I had seen (besides a taxidermy mounted decoy). They call these decoys L.C.D., which stands for "Lifelike Collapsible Decoy". There is no doubt that they are lifelike. In order to get the decoy to a life-like state you first have to inflate it by mouth (which isn't as bad as it sounds, maybe ten deep breaths), then close the air valve and set the decoy in the shower under hot water for ten minutes. This process loosens up the exterior rubber shell. The material that these are made of remind of the old rubber balls used in gym class. You know, the heavier ones that you could always throw pretty hard. I really like this material, because being an "inflatable" decoy it is important to have a durable shell. You can deflate the decoy to carry in your turkey vest, but it also comes with a bag for carrying it if you don't want to deflate it. So far I have been pretty impressed by the decoys and plan on using them in the field this weekend. Hopefully with great success. Here is a little promo video of the decoys...

Wild Turkey Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Elder) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 13:59:00 +0000

Turkey season is right around the corner and you might be thinking of some ways to cook up your birds. Here is a recipe that we recently tried and it turned out to be excellent. In the past, I had really only ever fried wild turkey breasts and wanted to find a good recipe for grilling them (trying to watch my figure). I came accross this recipe on Field and Stream's website. It looked simple enough for us to handle and consisted of stuff that we either had at the house or could pick up at the local grocery store. We are pretty amateur when it comes to cooking, so we needed something easy and I like stuff that doesn't take too long. We are what I like to call "spontaneous cooks", not much on planning. We usually say "hmmm, that sounds good. I think we'll try to cook that today" and then were off to the store. That's what's good about this recipe, you don't have to plan way in advance. Here are the ingredients....

10-12 3-ounce Turkey Breast Steaks (we used one breast and cut them into about 9-10 equal sized pieces)

1 tbsp. Kosher Salt

1/2 tsp. Pepper

3 cloves of Garlic, crushed and peeled (Use only 2 cloves if you don't like strong garlic)

1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Toss the turkey in a mixture of the Salt, Pepper, Garlic and Olive Oil. Cover and Chill for 1-2 hours (we only chilled it for 45 min-1 hour).

Pre-heat grill to Medium-High. Remove turkey from fridge and let marinate at room temperature for 20 min. Remove turkey from marinade and place on grill. Grill on each side for 3-4 minutes or until cooked through.

After grilling the turkey, we rolled some asparagus in the marinade and placed it on the grill for a couple of minutes. We also served it with some dinner rolls and an iceburg wedge with blue cheese dressing. Although, I haven't tried many different ways to eat wild turkey, this is definitely one of the best. Good Luck this turkey season!

It's Saturday, Take a Hike...

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Elder) — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 22:01:00 +0000

With it becoming more spring-like outside, Sarah and I decided to put some household chores aside and go for a hike. We are lucky enough to live very close to Devil's Den State Park, which has some excellent hiking trails. Today we actually decided to do the "Devil's Den" trail.

The trail is marked in yellow...

This is a trail that both of us have done many times in the past but still enjoy. I can remember taking field trips to the park back when we were in school. It seems like almost every year we would take a science field trip to go hiking on the trails and check out the caves. Devil's Den has some awesome caves; however, they were closed to the public today. Not really sure why. Nevertheless, the hiking was awesome and it sure was nice to get out of the house and enjoy some beautiful weather. Here are some photos from our hike...

Here I am at the opening to one the the caves. There was a wire gate blocking the entrance about ten feet in...

Another Cave...

A Waterfall...

Seems like I'm always trying to catch something. This time it was a salamander. It got away...

Spring is Here...

And with Spring comes the Spring Breakers. The campsites were full. Here are some of the campers checking out the dam...

This concludes our Saturday at Devil's Den. Hope you enjoyed the photos. We sure enjoyed the hike and will surely be heading back out there soon.

White River Fiasco

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Elder) — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:31:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, my dad and I made the 2 hr drive over to Cotter, AR to do some trout fishing on the White River. We arrived at about 8:00 am in hopes of catching lots of fish. However, our day would not turn out quite as planned. We launched our boat and began drifting down stream.

Within about 10 minutes, we realized that it was actually a lot colder than we expected it to be. This was not going to slow us down though. We started off with a few warm up casts just to get the feel back. Now I'll be the first to admit that I am not an expert fisherman by any means. Sometimes it feels like I spend more time being hung up or trying to fix bird nests in my lines than actually fishing. So naturally it takes me a little while to get warmed up. However, this is not something I share with my dad. After only about 5 minutes, I heard him say "Got One".

It was a nice little rainbow, nothing spectacular, but we knew right then that the fishing was going to be good. We continued to drift down the river, having to warm our hands in our pockets in between casts. A few minutes later, I see dad set the hook out of the corner of my eye. He caught another nice little rainbow. Like I said, It takes me a little while to get warmed up. I always say, "it's just nice being out there, it's not always about how many fish you catch". The scenery was beautiful with slightly overcast skys. The water was cold and crystal clear. It was at a really good level for fishing, not too high and not too low.

As we drifted down towards the better spots, dad had caught a couple and I hadn't gotten a bite. But that's ok, because we were making our ways to the "honey holes".

Before I knew it, I had a bite! I could tell right off the bat that it was a pretty good one. As it got closer, I could tell it was a brown trout. I have caught a few browns before, but nothing really all that big. We decided to use the net to get him in since we were fishing such a light test on our lines.

It was a beautiful fish with really nice coloring. To some people it might not seem like such a big fish, but it was the biggest brown trout that I have ever caught. It also felt good to finally get my name on the board.

I say "finally", but actually we had only been fishing for about 20 minutes. After taking a few pictures, I let the fish go and got ready to catch some more. We continued to drift down river from where we launched. I caught another smaller brown and a small rainbow. Dad caught a few more rainbows. I think we had caught 7 total at this point. Pretty good fishing for the first 45 minutes or so. We were coming up on a pretty good spot, so Dad wanted to start the motor and re-position the boat. He started the boat, we got in a good position and he turned the motor off. The next thing I heard was "KAPLUNK" then "OH NO!" Those are not the things you want to hear when you are out on boat about a mile down stream from where you launched. I turned around and said "What Was That?" The look on his face was of utter disbelief and disgust. Then he said "I just dropped the key in the water". He said "My hands were so cold, I guess I accidently pulled the key out". Don't ask me why the key wasn't attached by a string or even why it didn't have a little floatie hooked on it. I don't know why. I thought no big deal, we'll just get a tow from another boat. The only problem was, we were the only boat on the river that day. I take that back, we did see an older gentleman and his wife in a canoe, but its not like they could help any. We decided to drop the battery powered trolling motor in the water to see if it could take us back up stream. However, the current was just strong enough to keep us moving at a pace of about 1 MPD (Miles Per Day). We each grabbed a paddle and started digging in. A couple hours and four exhausted arms later, we finally made it to the ramp. It was one of those things that you just really never expect to happen, but it did. At least we caught some nice fish and it was kind of an adventure. Even though my shoulders were pretty sore the next day, we did have a lot of fun. I can't wait to go back but I will make sure that the key is tied to the boat this time.

2011 Colorado Vacation

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Elder) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 20:25:00 +0000

We were fortunate enough to be able to take a trip to Colorado Last week and do some skiing and snowboarding. We stayed at Breckenridge, where we hit the slopes for 3 days. One the 4th day, we made the short drive to Copper Mountain. This was both Sarah's and my first time at Copper. The snow was as good as I have ever seen it and the weather was awesome. Overall, we had a great vacation. Here are some photos from our trip...

Sarah and I on the mountain...

On the Lift...A little frost on the beard...

Some photos taken in the town of Frisco on the way to Copper...

Here are some random mountain scenery shots...

Scent Control

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Elder) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 00:02:00 +0000

We've all heard about the importance of scent free hunting. Some hunters go all out when it comes to hunting scent control and some think it's a waist of time. I am not one of those people. I truly believe that human scent can be controlled and needs to be controlled when hunting for big game. When it comes to scent elimination products, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I've tried them all because I haven't. However, I have tried A LOT of them and found some that work better than others. This past year I was able to use a scent elimination system that some of you might have heard of, Seemz Technology. When I first started using Seemz, I expected it to work about as well as some of the other products that I had used because I had not yet found a product that really stood out among it's competitors. Well, Seemz absolutely blew me away. After just a few days spent in the field, I knew just how good these scent elimination products worked. I am definitely a hunter who pays close attention to wind direction and I still think it is absolutely imperative that you try to only hunt the wind. But like most things, the wind is never certain and can change instantly. For some reason, this year it seemed like the wind was extra swirly. Almost every time I was out there, the wind shifted. I can't tell you how many times I leaned over to Sarah and said "we're about to get busted". Seemz proved me wrong again and again. My Dad and I were fortunate enough to take two great bucks in Kansas this year, both with the help of Seemz. The buck that I shot came in directly down wind and I can honestly say that I don't think I would have killed that deer without the help of Seemz scent eliminator products.

Seemz offers a variety of products, from hunting soap and shampoo to detergents and scent elimination spray. I use all of these products during my pre-hunt routine. The Seemz Technology website is pretty cool too and has some excellent information. They also like to give away free hunting gear on the website, so be sure to take a look. Seemz also offers a great field staff hunting program that allows hunters to get involved in the industry and become a part of the Seemz family. You might be one of those hunters who have had great success not using scent elimination products or maybe you haven't had success with other products. Whatever it is, I really think Seemz is worth a try. Because when you have do have a giant buck in front of you, why take the chance. Don't you want to be sure that you covered all of your bases. In my opinion, Seemz make the best scent elimination products in the business, and I won't go into the woods without it. If you are a serious hunter, I strongly recommend taking a look at their website and the products they have to offer. It really is great stuff.