Season Shot (this is NOT a joke!)

While checking out Dave Barry's website I came across a link to Season Shot - Ammo with Flavor in Dave's 2007 Holiday Gift Guide. These guys have apparently figured out that it is a lot easier to shoot and cook a pheasant/quail/duck with super compressed "seasonings".

I'm guessing salt is a key ingredient, but I don't know. The seasoned shot shells aren't for sale yet, and there's no published date when they will be. Still, this sounds like a great idea to me, for many reasons - no shot to extract from the bird, less pollution, and hopefully a less expensive shot shell. I'll keep my eyes on this and let you know when they announce availability of their seasoned ammo.

The Colorado Deadline for the 2008 Big Game Draw is April 1

No fooling, the deadline is April 1. I’m still trying to figure out if I’ll make the hajj to Steamboat (Unit 14) or just stay close to home (and a warm bed) and hunt out the back door. Each option has its advantages. If I go to Steamboat I’m in the woods with the guys for about a week. No extra chores to deal with. No white lies to tell the kids when they ask why they can’t get up at 4:00am to go hunting with me. Lots of downtime and plenty of social time. If I stay home and hunt in the back yard (my house is bordered on three sides by the National Forest) I get to sleep in a comfy, warm bed every night after I take a hot shower. If the weather goes to heck I can throw my clothes in the dryer and start each day with clean gear. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

When it is all said and done, know this – there’s at least six more weeks of winter left, turkey hunting starts in four weeks, and applications for next fall’s big game hunting are due in about two weeks. Aren’t you glad you have me around to remind you about all this?

Can You Say "I'm lonely!" in Turkey?

The start of the spring turkey hunting season is just around the corner. The official starting date is April 12th. I applied for a preference point and got one. My plan is to accumulate enough points to apply for a spring hunt along the South Platte River. That’s where the turkey hunting is a little easier (there’s more turkey’s living there) and a little warmer. Hence the need for more than one preference point to draw a tag for that area. In the mean time I’ll continue to stalk the elusive “ghost of the woods” up here in Gilpin and Boulder counties.

Between the national forest, the state wildlife area, and access to some private property, I figure I’ve got a 1 in a 20 chance of seeing a bird, let alone shooting one. Like elk hunting during the rut, turkey hunting in the spring has some unique characteristics. The male turkeys (you can’t hunt the females – go figure) are “lonely”, if you know what I mean. Theoretically all you have to do is make a realistic sound of a lonely female turkey and all the eligible bachelors will come running to the dinner table. The hard part for me is making the realistic sound of a lonely female demanding attention. How do imitate turkey talk for “get over here and take out the trash!” or “are you done playing poker yet?!” or “what are you making me for dinner tonight!”

Skiing Snackers (off topic)

This column has moved to http://drewschlussel.blogspot.com

Get Your Kids Outside Now!

I grew up at a time when stickball, tag, riding your bike, and fishing still had the upper hand on video games. This was when Pong and Atari were popular, but not popular enough to keep kids inside during daylight hours. If the sun was out, so were my friends and I. I can only remember one or two times when I reluctantly went to bed before the sun went down, missing the final inning of a championship wiffleball game and holding a grudge with my Mom for days. I guess I was lucky to grow up in a neighborhood where there was a lot of other kids to play with, trees to climb, and creeks to fish in.

Imagine my surprise when the following email was forwarded to me from Aaron Storms:

“The Boulder Trout Unlimited folks will sponsor [pay for] one kid to go participate in this week-long camp [the 2008 Colorado Trout Unlimited Youth Conservation & Flyfishing Camp], and they've had problems finding ONE kid to do it! So, I'm sending these details along to all of you, in hopes that between us we could come up with a few possible candidates. To submit candidate(s) for sponsorship by Boulder Flycasters, contact Paul Prentiss [at] peprentiss@earthlink.net [or by] phone (303.444.0270). Deadline for application is March 30.”

I found more information about the camp in the original Colorado Trout Unlimited (CTU) press release:

“Camp classes will include: principles of ecology, hydrogeology, aquatic vertebrate and invertebrate sampling, hydrology, trout behavior, trout stream entomology, the biology of pollution, acid deposition, and politics of conservation and human effects on the Rocky Mountains. In addition, the camp will include hands-on classes such as fly tying, fly casting, streamside ethics, angling literature, streamside botany, wader safety and survival, and the evolution of an angler. Students will also participate in a watershed project to repair habitat in a nearby stream. The River Conservation and Fly Fishing Youth Camp includes faculty from various environmental fields and state agencies such as the Colorado Division of Wildlife, Department of Environmental Protection and National Forest Service.”

Sign me up! If only I were 14 again, I’d be hand delivering the application essay to the President of CTU and sitting on his doorstep until I knew I’d been accepted. I’m having a hard time believing that not one kid has shown any interest in this amazing opportunity to learn about aquatic biology, environmental conservation, and fly fishing! What the heck is going on!! Something is wrong here. Is it television? Video games? The internet? What has changed so much in just a couple of generations that kids are more inclined to spend their time inside instead of outside? I know that I can’t just blame the kids – they follow their parents. Their Fathers and Mothers are their role models. If we ride the couch too much, guess what, they’re more than happy to sit right beside us munching on the popcorn and pretzels too. That has got to change.

I’m now convinced, more than ever, that I’ve got to limit my time in front of the television and spend more time outside with the kids. If they, and their friends, don’t develop an appreciation for the natural world, I worry that the next generation of conservationists and sportsmen will be even more limited than the last. (By the way, I feel that there is a strong connection between fisherman/hunters and conservationism; maybe more so than the connection between so called “tree huggers” and conservationism. More about debate that in a future article, I promise.)

If you have a teenager (14-18) that has even the slightest interest in aquatic biology, environmental conservation, and flyfishing, please consider applying for this sponsorship. Even if they don’t know what flyfishing is, please consider applying – they’ll learn how to flyfish as part of the program. After talking to David Nickum, the Executive Director of CTU, I can can tell you it is an experience that will be remembered for a lifetime.

More information about the Colorado Trout Unlimited Youth Conservation & Flyfishing Camp is available at http://www.boulderflycasters.org/ (click Youth Education on the right-hand side). Links to the Boulder Flycasters, Colorado Trout Unlimited, Trout Unlimited, and more of my barely edible writing can be found at rookieelkhunter.blogspot.com.

This week's Links

• Boulder Flycasters
• Colorado Trout Unlimited (CTU)
• Trout Unlimited (TU)
• TU's Youth Education material
  

Hell Freezes Over: Elk Calling Article in the New York Times

In today's New York Times (Feb 27th, 2008) there is an article about the elk calling competition in Reno, Nevada at the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation's 2008 Elk Camp. I don't believe it! Since when do New Yorkers give a rats ass about elk calling, or anything with the word "elk" in it. Amazing. Guess I need to start training the kids for the 2012 Elk Camp...