Frank's outdoors...

Dear despondent readers, my lack of posting has driven you away, and I apologize. So much going on these days, that I forget to post. Actually, I spend more of my "spare" time reading other bloggers instead of maintaining my own! Anyway, I have been on 3 excellent hunts this year, and come away with plenty of game. The first was 2nd week of deer season (rifle) in Texas, and my father-in-law (FNL) and I went back to Llano. I shot a nice 9-pt with real tall tines, a doe, and 2 hogs. My FNL shot a real nice 8-pter as well. It was perfect Texas November weather 45-60 degrees, and the rut was FULL ON! I got some great video of 2 bucks rattling antlers. It was awesome. The next hunt was at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge just oustide of Austwell, TX. My cousin and I went and did everything we could to setup in prime deer country... its a public hunt, you go out and scout, find your place, put up your tripod or whatever, and you hunt for 2 days. We were in a sweet spot. As

Well, we came, we saw, and we were conquered. We had a great time, alas, we didn't not see or kill any birds. There wasn't much track to speak of as the ground was real dry and hard. We did see some track, but not much. We only saw one small place where the birds could dust. We hunted hard for 2 long days, and at the close of the second evening, heard a hen yelping off in the distance. Only thing we can figure is the toms were all henned up. They didn't talk from the roost, and they sure didn't talk when they hit the ground. The property in Lufkin was pretty, and we'd a sworn we were going to tear it up, but hey, you win some you lose some. Now, we did run into some hogs on the second evening on our way out to get some grub... some VERY large'ns... Over 20 hogs in all. I tried to get across the road to snap a few pics, and this is the "best" photo of all, albeit dark. We will try again.

Hey all, I know it has been a while, but my family has been dealing with some very serious issues. It involves cancer, and that is all I really want to say about it. Anyway, enough apologies... I am excited about my upcoming turkey hunt! I need to get out in the woods and breathe some woodland air. I have been practicing my box call, slate call, and started tinkering with the reed call. I just don't have confidence in those reed calls yet. I can't consistently get the sound I want. I can't purr yet with it either. Granted, I honestly haven't worked on it as much as I should have before heading into the woods, and it would free up my hands for my other gear and whatnot, but confidence is a huge issue in the woods. My cousin Tom has been practicing his reeds, too, and I am counting on him bringin me a big ol' bird! If anyone has advice on the the reed calls... other than practice, practice, practice! Please let me know!

Hello hunting fans, its been a while, but I have something to report. I recently won an ebay auction for a Turkey hunt in Lufkin, TX. The man who sold me the hunt is allowing me to bring a guest for free, who is allowed to hunt and shoot with me. We are going to be hunting on 3000 acres of piney woods Texas. Prime habitat for the Eastern gobbler, and maybe a Rio if we are lucky, but I think we are a little too far east to get any Rio action. Anyway, I am pumped, and my cousin Tom will be joining me on this adventure. We are allowed to shoot a gobbler each and 2 hogs. So, I guess that means I need to pack some slugs or buckshot for the hogs just in case... My uncle suggested going out to the National Wild Turkey Federation web site to brush up on my calling skills , and I think it will help our success immensely. I have all the calls, decoys, camouflage, and XXX Full choke tube. All I need now is the tom to walk out!

I have always considered myself a pretty healthy individual, and maintained myself physically for the most part. However, since my daughter was born almost a year ago, I can't remember the last training type of thing I have done. I am terribly out of shape, and am going to do something about it. 3 years ago from this January, I lined up and ran my first and only marathon! It was hard, but the training was rewarding and physically beneficial. I trained with a group called Team in Training and raised money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It was an awesome experience! My point of all this is I am getting back into shape. Somehow, someway... Your thoughts on how to get back into shape, and force it into my routine would be appreciated.

I don't think I mentioned this before, but I got my Summit Viper X5 climbing treestand for Christmas from my wife and mother. I have assembled it, and gotten everything ready, and can't wait to use it this coming season when I get on my first lease as an independent hunter. All of my hunts in the past have been with someone, family or friend. Partly, due to my confidence in being able to clean and prepare any game that I harvest. This season alone I have harvested and cleaned a few deer with little or no help. Its not hard, but it does take practice. So, I have enough confidence to go out on my own. Back to the stand, it is a piece of work, and VERY light! It is a cable climber, as opposed to the old blade style that really damaged the tree (however, I have used one of the old blade styles before a long time ago, and that thing wasn't slidin off that tree, not so sure about the cable). Side note: The Summit stand came with a DVD to watch how to assemble and use the

Monday and Tuesday were more successful than this weekend. Finally we got to hunt the Lake Houston WMA for does/spikes. Monday evening, after the initial orientation on how things work, the rangers take each person to the assigned blind. My blind was on a long power line that stretched from Peach Creek all the way to the San Jacinto River (approx. a 7 mile stretch) . There was thick woods on both sides of the power line, and the opening was approx. 60yds. The rangers drop you off at 2pm on Monday to start the hunt and pickup at 6ish (actually got to me at 6:25pm) . It was mild out, around 65-70 degrees. There were tracks EVERYWHERE as I walked to my blind. We were allowed to feed, so I spread a bag of corn along the path in front of my blind, more on this later . So, I watch and watch from 2 until about 5:45, when a doe peaks her head out at about 150 yds down the line. She and a yearling walk out to my corn. Soon, another skittish doe walks out. The other doe and yearling

Ok, this weekend was VERY successful. While on my Christmas vacation, my FIL got us in on a hunt at Gaines Ranch in Jackson, LA, just north of Baton Rouge about 30 minutes. Anyway, we went there for Friday-Sunday this weekend. It is a truly beautiful property with food plots and such, and only a few hunters (including the Gaines family). David Gaines is a wonderful host, and very generous. Anyway, we hunted 2 days, and I shot nice 120# spike. We were basically management hunting, as no bucks were showing their faces. Mr. Gaines had a bunch of doe tags to unload, but the deer were just scarce to be seen. The trees were decemated by the hurricanes and none of the trees had any foliage. The winter acorn drop occurred way to early, and the deer had plenty of things to eat in the deep woods besides the food plots provided. We still had a wonderful time. The spike I shot

Well, I am back from Florida, and we had a wonderful Chrismas and New Years. Pretty moderate temperatures ranging from 50's to 70's. Quite nice! We went fishing on Tuesday the 27th. We used a guide named Buddy Dortch out of Panama City Beach, FL and he is awesome! We used him this summer to get on some snapper, grouper, and mackerel and he was great! He also has an 18' skiff that he took us into the bay this year. So we head out of PCB and make our way across St. Andrews Bay. There is an electric plant discharge that puts warm water back into the bay system, and naturally its warmer and the fish flock to the area. It was catch and release in this area, but man, it was worth it! We were using a red jig head with a white plastic grub tail. We caught 50+ trout in less than an hour! I saw several large sting rays in less than a 2 feet of water. It was quite a catching experience (which is what we were paying for). After the catching frenzy, we headed out to places w