Big Year of Birds

I finally found the password to this blog! It has been a long time. We have been challenged this year, with the Jorgensen family, to see who can spot the most birds. I think we are for sure losing, but we are having a great time. We are going to keep this list on this blog, since it is all about the outdoor adventure. I hope this inspires you to go out with your families and see how many birds you spot!
1. Sandhill Crane
2. American Robin
3. American Kestral
4. Black-billed Magpie
5. Mallard
6. Ring-Neck Pheasant
7. Bald Eagle
8. Redtail Hawk
9. Northern Harrier
10. American Crow
11. Barrow's Goldeneye
12. Canada Goose
13. Great Blue Heron
14. Eurasian Collared Dove
15. Western Meadowlark
16. Dark-eyed Junco
17. European Starling
18. Pine Siskin
19. Common Merganser Male and Female
20. Gadwall
21. California Gull
22. Mountain Blue Bird
23. House Sparrow
24. Northern Flicker
25. Song Sparrow
26. Belted Kingfisher
27. House Finch
28. Killdeer
29. Western Kingbird
30. Long billed Curlew
31. Red-Winged Blackbird
32. Raven
33. White Faced Ibis
34. Barn Swallow
35.Ospray
36. Western Grebe
37. Morning Dove
38. Western Screech Owl
39. American Goldfinch
40. Bullocks Oriole
41. American White Pelican
42. Chipping Sparrow
43. MacGillvrays Warbler
44. Turkey Vulture
45. Black Chinned Hummingbird
46. Cedar Waxwing
47. Hammonds Flycatcher
48. Yellow Headed Blackbird
49. Western Tanager
50. Brown Headed Cowbird
51. Hairy Woodpecker
52. Gambles Quail

Pheasant Hunting

Dan and Monica went duck hunting and didn't get anything, but I got a picture of Dan with his bow.  He called a mallard in but his arrow fell off his bow, so he missed it.  He got upset that I didn't have my gun in my hands.  It was freezing and we maybe saw three, at most, birds fly over.  It was a lame day, but we just enjoyed  chillin' out in the blind. 

 Dan has been pheasant hunting a few times lately.  Once with Sam and the other with my brother and his friends.  He shot this pheasant with Sam and got a jackrabbit while he was with my brother.  He's had fun getting out and trying new places and attempting to hunt with dogs.  He dreams of having a hunting dog someday, but I don't want one. We'll see what happens over the years and see if he's still dead set on a hunting dog. 

Pretty soon we'll be ready for ice fishing!

All The Great Hunting

Dan's  a little busy with school, so the girl gets to do all the blogging for him.  I'll try to make it as manly as possible.

This was the cloudy day on the 8th of October, and Dan went out hunting after or before school, I don't remember.

That night he brings home this HUGE goose.

The next day was my first time going out to the duck blind and Dan had already been 4 times! He is loving the duck hunt this year.  I shot some shells, but didn't hit anything.  We had some mallards come in low and Dan and Sam each got one.  They called in some geese and Sam got a shot off at one.  It slowing descended to the ground and had to go through a few fields to finally get it.  Here's Sam with his price goose.

That day, they brought home one goose and two hen mallards.

Dan had a great idea of going out on the 12th and sleeping over in his car.  He shot his first drake of his life and he was pretty excited.  I've never shot a drake mallard, so this was cool.  Sam and I drove out that night to take him pizza for dinner and some hot chocolate. 

The next day he brought home a hen pintail (I think that's what it is!) He can correct it if he'd like.  There have been so many birds and types this season that I can't keep them all straight.

On the 15th, I was able to go out to the blind.  Sam went to work later in the day, so all three of us made a day out of it.  Dan had left out the decoys over night trying to get something to stay.  Among the goose decoys that morning, there was a goose in the mix of the nine decoys.  Sam just talked to it the whole time.  We had 20 minutes to wait until shooting time and I had the first shot.  I pulled up and shot and killed it with one shot.  My first goose ever and it was a great morning.  That was all we went home with, but Sam had to get to work, so we didn't spend a lot of time out there. 

On the 16th we were at my brothers, and we went hunting that morning on some private property. Wow the ducks down there are something fierce!  They sound like airplanes coming across the sky.  It was the coolest sound ever.  I only shot two shells the whole day.  I think I was a little dumbfounded and just wanted to take it all in.  Dan and my bro took down quite the variety.  They shot wigeon (drake and hen), green wing teal, cinnamon teal, and a mallard.  It was an awesome day. You can see their spread on the lawn.

Here's a close up of the drake wigeon.  He's a cool looking duck. 

As far as other adventures, over the weekend Dan and Sam went out in a rubber raft to try hunting the river.  They were unsuccessful there, but did see some wood ducks.  They went to the pond that night and each shot one.  I believe Sam shot a mallard drake and Dan shot a mix of something.  It was a nasty smelling black duck that was a cross of a hen mallard and something.  We didn't eat the meat because it smelled so bad. 

We are headed out in the morning, thus why I'm updating now.  I'll just forget more details because tomorrow will just add more to the brain.

Dan's sister got a nice buck and so did his dad, so great job!  We'll try to get those on here too.  I don't have those pictures on my laptop.

Happy Hunting! Sorry it probably wasn't manly enough.

Saturday, September 25 2010, Dan and a bunch of friends from Ogden and Salt Lake area, Clint, Rob, and Mike, went hunting chukars, huns, and sharptails out in Howell Valley, Utah just west of Tremonton.  We were hunting on a UDWR Walk-In Access Property and had a blast.  We ended up getting 13 chukars, 0 huns, 2 sharptails, a jackrabbit or two, and a couple feral pigeons.  There were lots of sharptails for the taking, but the rest of us had to watch Clint take his limit because we had not gotten tags.  Next year we all may have to get some of those sharptail permits.  

We ran into one group of chukars first thing, sitting on a rocky dam, and we got 6.  Then we hiked all the way to the top and got into another covey and got another 7 before the day was through.  I ended up getting only two chukars because I seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Thats hunting though.  We never did see any Huns, which I was looking forward to because I had never hunted them.  We ended up having a great day, with some good memories.  I would like to thank all the guys for inviting me along.

This next picture is of an unidentified flying object :)

I was hoping to get a better look at this bird.  It was out in the grassland pastures adjacent to the marsh pond I hunt.  My guess is that it may be a juvenile pheasant, because I saw a bunch of those the day after this picture was taken.

And last but not least, the opener of the the 2010 waterfowl season, October 2, was a great success in our eyes, even though we will forever be known as the Hen Slayers.  Dan, Sam, and Dan's brother Kevin, went out for the opener to the beloved duck blind.  It was a fun day full of too many missed shots, interesting events, and great fun!  We killed only 4 hen mallards and 1 hen pintail for the day.  We tried a few geese that were at least 50 yards, many ducks at the same distances, but we just we not good enough shots I guess.

We were very hopeful when we sat at our pond until 7:30 a.m., shooting time, with about a dozen mallards and wigeons to keep us occupied.  The problem was, they all left by 7:15.  Smart birds!

After 7:30, everything was scared to death of getting near the ground.  We could not get anything to decoy, so it was a struggle to get what we got.  If it would not have been for Kevin, shooting 3 ducks at long distance, we may not have gotten these.  We had a great day, and we want to thank Kevin for coming up to hang out with us for the weekend.

Dan's Deer and Arrows

I figured I would post a better picture of Dan's deer antlers.  Here's his spike he shot this archery season.

He also spent time with my (Monica) dad learning how to fletch arrows.  They made a whole weekend of it.  Here are the flu flu arrows.

More Duck Blind Renovations

Saturday afternoon, Sam and I went out to the duck blind to work on some finishing touches for the blind.  We took out some green and tan camo spray paint from walmart and covered up the shiny boards.  We also cut out notches in the front shelf to lean our shotguns and bows up against.  Yes, i said bows.  We are going to attempt to take waterfowl with an arrow this year. It should be fun.  You can see one bow leaning up on the left side of the picture.  We also installed a storage box in the back of the blind that we can lock up some decoys, as well as our daily hunting log to reduce the carrying load each time we go out.  I think it turned out awesome, don't you?

We also decided to stay out and see how many ducks came in to the pond.  It is such a relaxing way to end the day.  Here is one of the better videos of some of the mallards and northern shovelers that came in earlier in the evening.  There was about 25 ducks total last night, but most of them were after it was too dark to photograph.  Stay tuned for more in the weeks to come.

Archery Deer Hunt Success

Here is a buck that I was able to bag this year sitting at a waterhole during the general archery hunt in Northern Utah.  I know it is small, but I was going for some meat.  It was my last night to hunt, it was getting dark, and out of nowhere, this little guy decides he wants a drink.  He walked broadside at about 14 yards, and I stuck him right in the front shoulder. I was shooting my old Hoyt Gamegetter II bow using a sportsman warehouse carbon arrow fitted with 125 grain muzzy broadheads.  I know it wasn't the greatest shot, but he left a great blood trail down the canyon and died about 20 yards from the road.  Piece a cake for me.  I had a great hunt that night with my father and brother; a trip we will always remember.

-Dan

Another Duck Blind Picture

Here is another picture of the duck blind before all the cattails were up.  You can see some of the structural components we used.

Homemade Duck Blind

This year for our waterfowl hunt, we decided to construct a duck blind. So Dan and Sam engineered and constructed this amazing duck blind for the upcoming waterfowl season.  Using some old pieces of lumber laying around, and some other basic pieces of hardware, we were able to make a sturdy blind that had a platform about 4 inches above the water.  We engineered it so it could be taken apart in pieces, hauled by two people, and constructed on site.  Once on site and constructed, we transplanted some natural cattail vegetation around it, and we had ducks on the pond that night.  It took a couple of nights of work, and a day to take it out to the pond, but we are excited for opening day, October 2, 2010.  So far, there has been high numbers of ducks on our pond compared to past years, so that makes us even more excited.  Like everyone says, scout out your hunting spots before the hunt so you don't waste your time at a dump.