Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

December 24, 2008

Things were very busy around the Lindsoe household again this year. The boys played as many sports as they could possibly squash into one year, and me with my bustling home business, Lori = with her career and community involvement, plus being field general of the Linds= oe household, and the arrival of a new, now five month old puppy, named Dakota= .

The boys spent four weeks last summer with grandpa and grandma Rial and Thelma in Minnesota. They went to a hockey cam= p in Willmar, met two members of the Minnesota Wild, and fished as much as they could.

Keagan remains the consummate young outdoorsm= an, always thinking about hunting or fishing in some manner 24/7, twelve months= out of the year. He caught our family’s largest walleye to date, a 32R= 21; 13.25 pound monster. He hunted about 40-50 times with me this year and fish= ed almost that much, we sure had a blast. He’ll be able to hunt next yea= r as we hear about that almost daily. In the summer he played baseball, fished, = and found two new summer passions, shooting carp with his bow and arrow, and go= lf. He is contemplating football next year, but isn’t sure because it wou= ld interfere with his hunting season.

Conner too loves the outdoors, just not with = as much as big brother or dad, but is growing into it. Conner hunted with me a= bout 15-20 times this year, and like his brother, learned many things while enjo= ying the great outdoors. One was learning to walk quietly like an animal, playing the wind, and always staying aware of your surroundings. A good quality to = have when hunting in Montana, where sometimes it’s the hunter becoming the hunted. Conner had the hot hand this summer walleye fishing. While not catc= hing the big one (he was the previous family record holder with an 11 pound wall= eye) he routinely caught walleyes like he was lowering his rod into a bucket ful= l of them. We ended up catching about 280 walleyes this summer.

The tremendous growth of my home business has been a wonderful surprise in these troubling economic times. The growth is largely due to a fantastic website designed by my new friend Mark Henckel, = of Park City, its called headwatersseatcovers.com. I love working from my home= and feel truly blessed being able to spend so much time with my family. As you = all probably know I hunted and fished as much as I could, spending numerous day= s in the field, enjoying every minute of Montana’s splendor. This season’s tally, I arrow= ed an antelope buck and a whitetail deer with my bow, adding a deer and a cow elk= to the freezer with my rifle.

Lori is very busy with her job, not to mention being the Lindsoe family field general (a full time job in itself). She spe= nds two evenings per week ferrying the boys to Bozeman for hockey practice while I’m working in the shop until late. She downed her first antelope buck this season, a dandy 14 incher. She came close to getting her first elk this year three times but couldn’t quite close the deal, maybe next year. = She is still a committee member of Three Forks Youth Task Force, involved in fundraising for activities, while providing a safe environment for the kids= of Three Forks. As a husband, I could not have asked for a better wife, and as= a friend, she’s my best friend.

Dakota is going to be a smart one, as she has= been retrieving and following simple commands for quite some time now. She peste= rs poor five year old Remington unmercifully, but for the most part, she’= ;s a good pup.

As a family, we’d like to wish you the = best of the holiday seasons and a great year ahead in 2009.-Paul

December 11, 2008

3D"WR-2008-Elk-Bob-&-I.j=

Don’t think you can get two big cow= elk into the back

of a Chevy Trailblazer? Think again. Quartered up, they’ll fit easy.

This is the kind of elk photo you get when you leave

the camera at home, dang it.

I just got out of the shower from my morning’s hunt. So much for taking a leisurely drive to the state land for a morning hunt with my friend Bob. We did hunt the state land taking two small walks. &n= bsp; We decided to stop in and get our permission slip for next Tuesday and Wednesday on our way home. We talked to the hunt coordinator an= d he told us he knew of a property that had some elk on it earlier this morning = and we could go after them today. Bob and I looked at each other wi= th huge grins. After 25 years of hunting with him, I knew what he = was going to say. We both collectively said, “Yes,!” and did it fairly enthusiastically I might add, especially for a couple of gimp= ed up old farts like us. He told us that the public ground had a 3= to 1 ratio over the private ground on elk killed in the extended season, and t= hey have only killed 12 so far on the private. We remai= ned optimistic and shook Tom, the hunt coordinator’s hand once more and h= it the road.

With permission slip in hand and butterflies of anticipation in our stomachs, we both felt giddy. We have been elk hunting together for a quarte= r of a century and knew if he put us on a property holding elk we would take all= day if needed to make a great stalk and have it pay off. Our first = stop was to the ranch house and talk to the rancher. We saw the elk = on the way to the ranch house and caught the rancher just leaving his place.&n= bsp; We told him where we saw the elk and he told us it was a bigger bunch that split in two. Just before getting in the Trailblazer I tho= ught to ask him a final question. “Where do you think they will head”? Bob and I figured out long ago to listen very carefully to the advice of the ranchers, and ask them precise questions abo= ut the game movements and habits, they know. He said “= That lead cow will want to take them elk back up into the mountains”. The herd was 1500 yards away, way out in the flats, following along a creek bottom with very sparse vegetation, pretty m= uch, no way of stalking out to them. “Were do you think = they will cross?” I asked. He said “I would go down past= the gravel pit and wait”.

Well, that’s what we did. We watched them from behind the cover= of a large hill by the gravel pit, and after about a half an hour I saw the le= ad cow head our direction and was in the hay field that lay in front of us. Problem was they were angling to our left, so we backed down and moved around the hill and to the left and made our move. &nb= sp; I was looking at the elk herd through the grass when I broke the number one rule of hunting the sage brush country in Montana, I “knelt down with= out looking” and “EEEEE” right into a huge patch of prickly p= ear cactus. It feels like an electric shock to the affected a= rea, and then you look down noticing that most have broke off and are now moving= in a subterranean manner under your pants to further the agitation. Not to be outdone, my other knee found a small= er but equally as effective prickly pear. Now with both knees full of prickly pear I felt like a first timer greenhorn on the prairie, th= at was until I saw the elk closing the distance even more.

I whi= pped out may range finder and ranged a few spots. At their angle they were going to pass by us at 400-425 yards out there. We both we= re prone using shooting sticks so we were ready. I know what you a= re saying, “that’s is a long poke”, and it is. The high powered rifles we carry these days will make the shot, if you can. Feeling confident we could make the shots, we picked out two separate mature cows and let fly. The number of shots we ended up taking far exceeded any number we had previously taken in previous years. After the first shots we could tell we had hit = our two elk, just not critically yet. After a few more dispatching shots our elk lay on the ground before us. The best part was this: we had permission to drive out to our animals and load them up. They fell separated by 75 yards, so we pulled Bob’s e= lk down to mine. With the Trailblazer parked next to them we made = good time skinning and quartering the elk, taking us an hour and a half. &n= bsp;

I can= now get to the business of shooting some ducks, geese, pheasants, and maybe a f= all turkey before the seasons close.

Janua= ry I’ll break out my ice auger, all 18 ice fishing rods, fish finders, f= ish house, ATV, and underwater camera and go ice fishing. Yippee!!!

Paul<= o:p>

November 28, 2008

3DWR-2008-Mule-deer-buck.jpg=

Keagan called in this little buck on the = last day, last five minutes; he’ll be tasty on the dinner table.

<= /o:p>

Still= no elk in the freezer, but thanks to a three-week season extension in Southwestern Montana to December 21, I still have a chance. Here are the sto= ries that got us to this point, hope you have a few minutes. Sorry for taking so long to = make a journal entry, I’ve been so busy with the business, kids in sports, a= nd a hunting season offering numerous different species.

My biggest goal for the hunting season was to get my wife Lori her first elk. She drew a special cow elk tag for the Elkhorn Mountain Ra= nge. A short 30-40 minute drive from our house gets us into the start of the very sizeable hunting area. In this area a special tag is needed to shoot a branch antlered bull or a cow, so the only bull elk I could shoot is a spike, but Lori could shoot a spike or a cow. They only give out 125 of what we call “Big Bull Tags,” but give out several hundred cow tags. You will see plenty of Branch bulls and a few monster bulls if you spend any amount of t= ime in the Elkhorn’s.

Openi= ng day was fairly uneventful for Lori and I. My oldest son Keagan = took a small walk with my friend Bob and saw one of the giants the Elkhorn’= ;s are noted for. Keagan said it got bigger the closer it got and = at 200 yards he said he stopped for a short pose before heading onward. Opening day for the general rifle season always starts on= the fourth Sunday of October. I stayed in my pickup camper while Bob took Lori and Keagan home to Three Forks. The next day I saw a small branch antlered bull bedded about 250 yards from me on my way to expl= ore a new area to me. The area was excellent, plenty of sign and se= mi easy access.

The n= ext weekend I had Lori and the boys on a ridge looking into the new area. With still 15 minutes before shooting light, I saw some e= lk feeding in a clearing at the top of the mountain in the new area. &nbs= p; So down the hill we went, parked the truck, gently closed the doors and hea= ded up the hill. No more than 200 yards from the truck we heard a thunderous bugle from a bull elk. This was weird, because the b= ulls seldom bugle after the rifle shots of opening day, they remind them of us.<= o:p>

We we= re 80-100 yards from the herd, but still couldn’t see them through the trees. They eventually saw us and took off up the hill. &n= bsp; I knew it couldn’t have been the same bunch I saw near the ridge, they were too far away from the last spot I saw them. We continued a= t a steady pace up the mountain with me constantly reminding the boys to watch what they are stepping on, be quiet, don’t fall behind, a= nd etc. We finally broke through the trees into the open. Soon we were still hunting the edge looking for the elk on the ridge, when Lori said “Elk, elk right there.” T= here the elk herd of about 10-12 stood looking down at us, not really knowing wh= at we were. We made a little maneuver to get into a better shooting lane and Lori readied for her 175-200 yard shot. Keagan was then over my shoulder saying “Dad, three spikes in the herd too.” Holy cow! Excitement was pouring out of me. I already had her cow and my spike mentally in the freezer,= all we had to do was make a couple shots. After huffing and puffing= up the hill everyone was breathing hard, myself included. Oh well, ladies first Lori, and kaboom, she shoots. The elk stood for a split second and moved off. We didn’t hear the impact or = see a wounded animal in the bunch and but not wanting to shoot two cow elk, Lori didn’t shoot again. I was looking to shoot at one of the three spikes but they were surrounded by the cows. I stopped th= em with a cow call one more time, but still no clear shot at the spikes for me. We went to the ridge to look for her elk, or blood, or something, but found nothing. All lathered up we all began remo= ving layers. There I sat in my high tech under shirt when Keagan says “Dad, spike right there.” And sure enough, at 250-3= 00 yards there was a spike now fast walking at an angle away from us. &nb= sp; There I sat, out of my orange vest, gun off to my side. Needles= s to say by the time I got my orange on and my gun in hand, the elk disappeared = over the ridge followed by three shots from someone on the other side, he got him. We headed out of there that day at 9:30 a.m. with smiles on everyone’s faces for we truly had a dandy of an elk hunting morning.&= nbsp;

The f= ollowing day, you guessed it, same spot same time, and I’ll be darned, there t= hey were. This time they were running down from the top of the hill= and we needed to intercept them on their way down. This time it was just Lori and I. I positioned us in a saddle I had found with l= ots of crossing tracks in it. Sure enough, here they came, two cows, one big, one small, trotting right in front of us. I cow called= and stopped them at 35-40 yards right in front of us, but just behind a little Juniper. An experienced hunter would have found a spot to shoot through as it was pretty sparse, but she had never been in such a situation before and we never talked about it. I just stood there with my fingers in my ear saying “Shoot em, shoot em”. They eventually took off at a trot and never stopped again. She later told me that when the elk were standing in front of her all she could see w= as hair. Is that close enough? LOL

We had one more golden opportunity on the last weekend. In a different area, the week before, I tracked down two monster bulls to 40 yards again in the timber and the one was a real dandy. His # 4 tine was as big around as a baseball bat and as long, he had to be pushing 350 inches or better, but no cows or spikes this time.

We we= nt to this different area, put the wind in our face and looked to intercept so= me elk working their way up through the timber. Shortly I found tr= acks and followed them to herd of four branch bulls and two cows. Af= ter we first saw them they got nervous and started walking. I stopp= ed them with a cow call and began to look the small herd over and saw horns everywhere. I was nervous to call the shot and she was having trouble identifying the cows. It was low light and they were slightly hidden by some brush. Keagan sees a clear cow and tells mom. I hold her off because I don’t see her and don’= ;t want a big bull disaster. They move off and Keagan was right on= the mark. Little bugger got his eyes tested recently in school and = he has better than 20/20 vision, holy mackerel. He sees better with his eyes than I do with the binos.

I sto= pped the elk herd one more time at 200 yards, top of the hill for another whole minute. One stands alone, broadside, off to the right, we= ll away from the others, and I thought it was a small bull. Once a= gain Keagan sees cow, daddy sees bull, but Keaggie is right again and the cow wa= lks away from Lori’s dreams and our freezer. My two boys got = to see several hundred elk, antelope, and deer this hunting season from Septem= ber to the end of November, what a gas.

The l= ast evening of the general season Keagan used “The Can” to call a t= wo point muley buck from 1000 yards to 50 yards, right in front of my rifle. Keagan said “Hey some meat is better than no meat = dad, you better shoot him” and with 5 minutes of shooting light left, I sh= ot him. We enjoyed the jerky from that deer today.

We all had a ton of fun chasing elk in the Elkhorn Mountains this fall. The stories I told are only of a few highlights from the many t= rips this fall into the mountains.

We saw elk on almost every trip and it seems every trip we saw something unique, b= e it the cool green moss covered trees Lori pointed out last weekend, or seeing a giant bull elk. I’ll have to say that despite my physical limitations, elk are still my favorite thing to hunt.

Which brings me to right now. The extended elk season has 15 days lef= t in it. Conditions are still poor on the public hunting grounds for= the most part. Low snow, moderate temperatures, and limited private land access are contributing to a low harvest rates on some of Montana̵= 7;s over populated elk areas. Hunters are not killing much at all in the extended season so far.

The o= dds are against us. I don’t care. I’m still going until I get one.

Bob a= nd I are going out tomorrow to check on a little honey hole on some state land we know of before work. This state property borders a bunch of ran= ches that we saw elk on a few days ago. As a matter of fact, Bob and= I have permission to hunt all those ranches next Tuesday and Wednesday. Sounds exciting doesn’t it. Fun ye= s, exciting no. Low temps for Monday are -25 below zero with a hig= h of -10 below. Nonetheless, we are old veterans of late season cow hunts of the frigid past. We = can do it. We just look different these days than we do from our slend= er, more youthful past. We’ll be bundled up in white camo loo= king like a couple of beat up, limping, 50 year old versions of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man with guns. Come to think of it, that is pretty cool. What a great way to spend a morning playing hooky from work. A one hour drive with coffee and a best friend of 25 year= s, going to hunt elk for a couple of hours, then returning to work the rest of= the day.

Hopef= ully the cold temps and more snow will help fill my freezer with elk meat and I = can get on to the next season, ice fishing.

Best holiday wishes to all, and god bless our troops. Find a soldier= and thank him for the freedom you enjoy every minute of your life.

Paul

November 1, 2008

Today= was a day of no elk, but Lori and I had a tremendous time spending day hunting = with the boys.

It started out with a vehicle parked at the spot I wanted to go into so we dro= ve past and looked back and spotted elk ¾ of a mile above that area. I decided we would park and have a go at it. = We got about 300 yards from the truck when we heard an elk bugle of all things. Following the elk music up the hill we found ourselves 60-75 yards from mewing cows and the bugling bull. I cow called= and the bull answered me when we were walking up the hill. I did so= to help us sound like elk, but it probably focused their attention on us and t= hey blew out. Oh well, keep going, we still have that other herd we= saw farther up, so up we went.

I was= on cruise control and not watching uphill to my left when Lori said “Elk, Elk, Elk” They were 200-225 yards directly up hill. But after trying to keep up with me Lori was very winded and seemingly too rushed to make a good shot. We didn’t hear it hit, but thank goodness she did not want to shoot again and end up with two cows. She had several opportunities to shoot again but wisely chose to pass. I on the other hand had my safety off three times on two spikes in the herd, but they never presented = me with a clear shot away from the cows, or stopped.

We we= nt up to look for blood or the animal and found neither. Whi= le we sat basking in the moment Keagan spotted another spike just about 300 yards. There I sat steamed up, out of my orange, then scrambling into my orange, down to belly, just in time to hear Keagan say “He we= nt over the ridge”. Less than one minute later, boom wop, bo= om wop, boom miss! Keagan and walked over to see a guy walking up = the hill looking. He stopped and let out a war whoop, he shot that spike. Oh well, back to the truck. We sent Lori and Conner down the left side of the ridge into the valley where the elk ran in= to and Keagan and I we walked the ridge. We went to where I ran in= to elk on Monday and bumped another bunch of elk but this time they went to the right, followed by more booms and war whoops. =

A gre= at time was had by all, even without a kill, although we darn near had two elk today. I bet you can guess where we’ll be tomorrow mornin= g. – Paul

October 12, 2008

3D"Web-ready-Lori's-2008-Buc=

Opening day of the 2008 antelope rifle season.

Lori’s first buck, a nice 14-incher we called “Thin Horn.”

As you can see, the snow was falling and the wind was blowing. &nb= sp; We put the herd of 80-100 antelope to bed the night before we knew approximatly where to find them the next day, or at least we thought so. We headed out into the darkn= ess about 15 minutes before shooting light. We left the boys back in the truck, they didn’t want to hunt in a white out blizzard, go figure.

Very soon after her guide, me, spotted the first shapes in the hay field and said “there is antelope right there and they are moving towards us”. Down to our hands and knees = we went, then on our bellies, slithering through 4-6 inches of snow for 100 yards. At the end of our great stalk Lori said “Are you sure those are antelope, they look like cattle?” A closer= look, and dang, they are cattle. After telling her she made a great practice stalk we soon found the = real antelope further out in the hay field, and they were moving in our direction. The problem = was so were the cattle. We positioned ourselves at the edge of the hay field and decided we were going= to wait them out because the field was very flat, making a stalk super tough.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> After a few moments it became clear that the cattle, thinking we were a food source providing rancher, we= re going to cut us off from a shot. &nbs= p; Time for a bold move so we popped up and headed into the field.

The first 100 yards of the stalk was bent over walking, followed by another 100 of hands and knees, and the = last 100 were on our bellies. Knowing we had snow to hunt in, I put Lori and I in snow camo (she t= ook it off for the photos) plus our orange, but the only thing they could see w= ere two white hats and shoulders, tiny bit of orange. We made a terriffic stalk co= ming to 200 yards from the herd, now split into two bunches feeding, unaware of = our presence. We started af= ter Biggie, the herd buck, but after crawling towards him we became visible to = the other herd on our left and saw Thin Horn in the bunch. After seeing he was going to provide her with the best shot, she decided to take him. It took a few minutes for him to w= alk clear from the does which was great because she had time to calm herself and make a great shoulder shot putting him down on the spot. Her new .243 Remington youth model worked well, I couldn’t believe the damage caused from the little 100 grain bullet, quite devastating. &nbs= p; We headed back and grabbed the boys and the game cart and went to retrieve the buck and take photos. <= /span>

I sat and looked at my boys hav= ing a “Lindsoe snow day” out in that alfalfa field. Not inside playing video gam= es, sledding, making snowmen, or throwing snowballs outside. My boys are at home in= the wilds of Montana, pursuing wild game and experiencing nature every week of their lives with their parents. Man, I feel lucky.- Paul =

October 4, 2008

3DWR-2008--Paul-Bob-Keagan-2=

2008 Montana waterfowl opening day. From left, Paul, Keagan/Scout, and my waterfowl partner of 24 years, Bob Harrington.

We had a great shoot despite not scouting the area first. I was a little worried too because Bob and I have a saying “Set up where the ducks want to be, not where we want them to be”. Plan A was to hunt a decent = flock of Canada geese in a stubble field, that was until the rancher worked the f= ield and the birds moved on. Plan B, is a sweet little spot that I found while trout fishing with Keagan on t= he Jefferson River this summer. I didn’t know what to e= xpect, but was hoping to come home with a couple ducks.

We ended up with 8 ducks of a m= ixed bag including 4 mallards, 2 gadwalls, and 2 green-winged teal. We only missed on one volley= each early on in the morning, so we both shot well. Keagan age 11, is ready to s= tart hunting next year as Montana has a 12 year old minimum age for youth hunters. He has been go= ing with me hunting since he was 3 years old, and has 8 years of hunting experi= ence under his belt. The kid= is a true die-hard and let me tell you guys, his better than 20/20 vision sees better than I do with my binoculars, and his hears more than I ever will. Bob and I had a great morning talking about gun safety, dog handling, shooting, calling, decoy placement, and everything else asscociated with waterfowl hunting. After todays shoot we decide= d a return trip tommorrow was in order with more cloudy weather and some wind in the forecast. I think a whitetail deer hunt, or an elk hunt tommorrow evening is just what I need to clear my head before starti= ng another huge work week. =

Do you have a tough time eating ducks or geese, or like eating them and want to try another recipe, try this one, Corned Duck or Goose

Mix together:

5 Tbsp Morton Tender Quick meat cure in the blue bag=

1Tbsp ground black pepper

1tsp paprika

1tsp ground bay leaves

1 tsp allspice

½ tsp garlic powder

Directions: Rub dry mixt= ure into the meat and let sit refridgerated in a plastic bag for 5 days per inc= h of thickness.

Cook as you would a corned beef meal with cabbage, potatos, and carrots. It is unbelive= ably good, my favorite way to eat waterfowl.

“Thank You Very Much” to my customers and supporters for a= ll the business, referals, and t= he kind words.

God bless our troops - Paul

September 26, 2008

3DWeb-Ready-Little-Cooper-bu=

Finally, I sealed the deal on t= his 10” antelope buck while playing hookey from work Thursday morning. After spending so much time antelope hunting this season and not elk & deer hunting, I finally deci= ded to take the first legal antelope that comes in. Unfortunatly for this young = guy, he was the first one to water that day. The shot was less than spect= acular as my arrow deflected in the tall grass that stood between us. It was 10-12 minutes into sh= ooting light and it was still pretty= dark, too dark to see any colors on my pins. It was my first sit at this = site and I had not taken into account the weeds that stood between me and my qua= rry, my bad. None the less t= he arrow hit him far back but he only made it 10 feet before falling over. Antelope jerky, and meat for= the freezer.

I’m going elk hunting tommorrow morning and going after whitetail in the evening. What a dilema, 30 minutes any direction from my house I can be hunting elk, I just need to pick a spot. I don’t like grizzly b= ears or wolves, so I don’t hunt the areas with high densities of either animal, but I can’t say I hunt where they are not because both can be found darn dear anywhere in Montana you find elk.

Good luck hunting!!! - Paul

September 18, 2008

What to do, I’ve so many decisions. Its this poi= nt of the hunting season when my hunting gets in the way of my hunting. I Still haven’t punche= d a tag yet and work has gone competely bonkers. My antelope blind is just a = six minute drive, but I’ve so much to do in the shop I haven’t made= it out there since last weekend. Also, this weekend is typically a good one for bugling bull elk and I still haven’t made plans to go anywhere, what a loser. My friend while bow hu= nting our river bottom area saw the monster whitetail buck I was after last year. I saw him at suns= et on the last day of the rifle season last year, I was hoping he made it through= the winter. I still havent = hunted whitetails yet. Another friend of mine was hunting elk in one of my areas and missed a big black be= ar with his bow at twenty five yards. &n= bsp; I guess the big bruin took him by surprise, and thinking he was the usual 125-150 pounder, he shot over it. I’m telling you, if yo= u live in Montana and go for it hunting like I do, it will drive you nuts deciding where to go and what to hunt.

One more thing. I guess I now have a great s= tart as a dog rancher. Many = of the people on my block (I live in town) have numerous cats, more than four or f= ive, I call them cat ranchers. I already have a great bird dog, a female black lab named Remmington, Remi for short. She has great pa= pers is very smart and has a great demeanor. To make a short story long, = I put seat covers on a truck for a friend as a gift and he was insistant that I h= ave the pick of the littler from one of his champion papered labs. I kept saying no, until he b= rought her over last night and we fell in love with her. I was going to get another d= og before Remi got too old, I just didn’t plan on it being so soon. If anyone wants a lab, let m= e know and I’ll get you my friends contact info. You’ll see one of his awesome dogs on TV and in field trials no doubt, he’s a yellow lab named Pappy. My friend said P= appy is for sale by the new owner for 5,000 dollars, yikes. - Paul

September 14, 2008

Friday I hunted the morning in = the antelope waterhole blind and only saw the four bucks we call Biggee, Thin H= orn, Stubby, and Junior. All= were crusing the ridges for does. It was hilaious. They looked like the local boys hanging out at the pizza place, gas station, and school parking lot. All= were trying to act tough, running up to each other, running back to the others scrape zones and roughing up the other buck’s scrape lines. 80 yards was the closest buc= k, Thin Horn, he’s at least 13-14”, but real skinny and tiny prongs. And then dang, I had to go to work. Geez, I was only = gone for four hours and you would have thought I was gone for a week with the ph= one messages and e-mails. M= aybe I should feel bad for not making seat covers and goofing off, but I don’= ;t ‘cause I’m a hunting fanatic.

We couldn’t sit the water= hole Saturday morning due to the wrong wind so we went to stalking three nice antelope bucks in my other area, all were over 14” and two had really nice prongs. We watched= the longest antelope buck battle I’ve ever seen, about two or more minute= s of non-stop pushing, I was exausted just watching it. We sneaked up to 125 yards f= rom one of the spunky bucks with does after a 150 yard belly crawl in rattlesna= ke country. Keagan popped = up the little buck decoy and the buck took his does a couple hundred yards away. We made two other unsucessfu= l stalk attempts, then headed for the antelope blind after noticing the wind had changed for the better. On the way in we noticed Junior, the smallest of the four bucks cruising the waterhole area. Once he= was out of sight we sneaked into the blind. Within a few minutes he was = in view, making scrapes about 250 yards out. After saying I was going to = pass him up about five times in an hour, he strarted making his way to the water. He was on a miss= ion, and so was I it now seemed, I decided to take him if he kept coming and I h= ad a clean shot at him. He bee-lined his way to us, he was 40 yards to my left, I sat bow in hand, rel= ease on the string, calming myself down and going through my shot sequence in my head, He needed t= o keep walking the path to the waterhole and then………, oops, somethings wrong, the wind changed and turned and walked away. After the buck spooked the wind con= tinued to change from bad to worse, and with no antelope in sight, we snuck out. Keagan thinks its for the be= tter, and I’ll now end up shooting one of the larger bucks. Keagan thought about me last= year with two days left in the deer season last fall I shot a small muley buck, = and later saw two very nice whitetail bucks in range the last two days. Who knows, maybe the little = bugger is right, I hope so.

No luck Sunday. We saw Junior and Stubby from 200 = away, and no others until the wind changed and we left. - Paul<= /p>

September 11, 2008

God bless the people that lost their lives on 9-11 and the lives lost since.

Thanks to all branches of our military for giving us what some take for granted, freedom.

God Bless America!

September 9, 2008

3D"WRKeagan-&-Conner-4-2=

Here is my boys three years ago at 8 & 6 years old practicing stal= king elk in the spring while turkey hunting with me. The elk are 80 yards away.

What a fun weekend! We closed the di= stance to 125-150 yards on 80 head of elk on Saturday, but could get no closer. We watched the herd as they = fed out of sight, all the while the bulls were bugling, and we got to see two b= ulls sparring for about a minute. &n= bsp; That hunt is a short morning hunt, bushwhacking the elk as they move= out of the hay fields and into their bedding area. That left us with most of Sa= turday to hunt antelope or deer. We chose to go after antelope in the waterhole blind. After getting up at 4:= 00 am I was very tired and dozed off. I awoke and saw my guide Keagan who was supposed to be keeping watch, was also sleeping. I sa= t up and looked out the blind and saw three antelope does heading away from the waterhole at 200 yards. We wondered if they watered and heard us snoring.<= /span>

Sunda= y we bumped the elk an hour before shooting light from very close and didn’= ;t see any the rest of the morning. &nbs= p; It rained heavy after 9:00 am and I decided the antelope could get d= rink in any of the zillions of puddles created by the rain, and I didn’t w= ant to get soaked and caked with mud stalking mule deer.

I hav= e a lot of options this weekend. It is supposed to warm so the antelope blind might be the ticket, pl= us I need to get a couple of them in the freezer so I can concentrate on elk, de= er, and upland birds.

September 1, 2008

A lot of things can change on a ranch in Montana in a short time. &nb= sp; Such is the case on the property that my antelope waterhole blind sits. The ranch that si= ts above waterhole blind on the irregation ditch shut down their water during their hay and wheat cutting last week and gave my guys the water. Great for the ranchers for t= he added moisture, but bad for me because the antelope could get water 200 yar= ds before they get to the waterhole blind.&nb= sp;

Needless to say, the antelope got t= heir water in the irrigation ditch as I expected 200 yards away and milled aroun= d a bit before leaving, but we still had a great day Saturday, watching 80 ante= lope within 100 yards for an hour and a half. The closest bunch of antelop= e were two does and their fawns at 18 yards, and again, not wanting to leave any f= awns motherless for the coyotes, I passed the shot. We had five mule deer that s= pent several minutes grazing within 1-10 yards of the blind including a fawn nea= rly peered into the blind a mere one yard away. Sunday only two small antelope bucks showed up at long range along with a big coyote at 100 yards that I couldn’t call in. Later we went looking for our antelope and noticed the rancher up the irregation ditch turned his water on and my short stop ditch should soon dry up. <= /p>

We had the wrong wind today for= the antelope blind, plus it was raining, and we had the ditch with water to con= tend with so we decided to go to the mountains for the opener of the grouse seas= on and scout for elk next weekend. Things worked out well today = as we found one covey of Blue grouse and I ended up shooting my limit. Right now we are headed out = to try our luck stalking antelope with the ideal wet/quiet conditions and work up = our appetite for fresh blue grouse in cream sauce.

Oh yeah, we did see elk too, 40= -50 head, including seeing a small five point bull chasing a cow and we had sno= w in the high country today where we were hunting and Helena got two inches overnight. – Paul<= /o:p>

August 25, 2008

The h= ay field setup wasn’t working so I asked permission from the neighboring landowner who has the antelope watering hole.<= /span>

Keagan and I sat in the antelope blind next to the waterhole Saturday and Sunday, Conner wanted to sleep in both days. We didn’t see anythi= ng Saturday, but Sunday we were watching 30-35 antelope from 10:30-12:00. It was hilarious too because I was over heating and had stripped off my boots, long johns, and shirt and was in the process of getting re-dressed when Keagan says “Dad, antelope right there and they’re coming in”, yikes.

Keagan took about 20 minutes of video footage from very close range and had a ton = of fun doing so. I passed on several does with fawns and four to f= ive bucks from 8-12” after seeing three larger bucks a little farther out= . The antelope were at the longer side of my comfortable range as= was the closest animal was 38 yards.

Today= I moved the blind to the other side of the water hole so now we’ll be a= bout 20-25 yards from the sweet spot with the sun at our backs and the predomina= te wind still in our face. This has to be the perfect water hole t= oo because there’s a foot and a half of thick pond grass sticking up so their heads are buried when they are drinking, perfect for drawing the bow undetected. The kids are back in school Wednesday, and after re-setting the blind I’ll let it sit until this weekend and hit it ha= rd, or should I say, sit it hard. - Paul

August 15, 2008

Keagan and Conner with last years archery antelope doe I shot from 17 yards

Opening day of the Antelope Arc= hery Season in Montana was today and it was just me and my two sons Conner and Keagan (both too young to hunt). We saw 150-175 antelop= e this morning, about 40 were bucks, nothing super impressive except one 14” plus buck that caught our attention. = In the area with the big buck the antelope don’t get need to g= et water at a waterhole this time of year, instead they find plenty of water in the low spots and wheel lines of the alfalfa field, so spot and stalk is the program. We saw the big= buck run a smaller buck off and hoped for a chance to decoy him, but not today as he proceeded to walk farther into to the field and bedded with no possible approach. As we c= ircled back and got another look at the bedded antelope, we noticed running deer o= n the far edge of the field, proceeded by a coyote in hot pursuit, cat and mouse style for over a mile. = Our farmer by then was in the field cutting his crop and the antelope headed out into a flat as a pancake area with no possible approach. We decided to check out the = other property we have permission for only 10 miles away and saw 25 antelope out = of a herd of 75 in bow range of the area I was going to set my Double Bull blind. After watching t= he antelope mill around in my little spot for a half an hour we chased them out simply by walking in and placed my blind at the intersection of the fences, field, and goats. We have to = get in the blind tomorrow and Sunday in the dark which puts us up at 4:00 am and i= n the blind by 4:45. Usually = it would be no problem, in bed by 9:00 pm sleeping by 10:00, but those darned olympics are keeping me up after midnight. Antelope dreams tonigh= t for sure. =

August 1, 2008

I love it when the seasons chan= ge, change from fishing to hunting that is. Time to park the boat and get ready for the up and coming archery antelope, deer, elk, and bear seasons, along with the upland bird season. That’s just the hunting seasons that open from now until the first part of September. October has waterfowl = and pheasant shotgunning, antelope, deer, and elk with the rifle. And if your real lucky and d= raw one of the big three, Bighorn Sheep, Rocky Mountain Goat, or a Moose tag th= at can really re-shape your season. &nbs= p; So much to hunt, so little time. After five and a half months= of hunting I’m pretty tuckered out at the end. I hunt weekday morning= s and evenings before and after work, and almost every weekend from September to = the second week of January. Without a weekend off in between, we stow the hunting gear and break= out the ice fishing gear, relishing another change of season.=

It’s a problem living and hunting in Montana, a good problem. &= nbsp; There is so much to hunt, your hunting gets in the way of your hunting. Some guys like= to specialize in one thing, or a few things when it comes to hunting. Not me, I love to do it all,= and I do my best to hunt everything, every fall.

This weekend will be spent at B= ig Sky Archery and at the local 3-D range. Also, we have to get Lori an= d the boys a new youth model hunting rifle, something small, perhaps a 243. Lori was fortunate enough to= draw a local antelope doe, and a cow elk tag. She is looking to bag her fi= rst elk this year. She has had a = few shots in the previous years, but has yet to connect. I’ll have fun guiding = her to an elk with the boys, considering I saw numerous cow ellk in her area last = year (I didn’t have a cow tag). &nbs= p; The closest cow was six yards away, the next closest one was eleven yards.

July 28, 2008

The friend who was going to pull my boat up to the lake showed up to let me kno= w he couldn’t go. Unfortunate troubles with his water at home = left him going to the hardware store instead of fishing. Keagan and I were up so we decided to go scouting again this morning after last night’s foray.

Last night, we scouted one of my hu= nting areas five miles south of town. We saw two nice mul= ey bucks in velvet, loads of does, three small whitetail bucks, about 50 antel= ope including two sparring bucks. This morning we saw t= wo different muley bucks in another area, and saw two nice sized herds of antelope, about 100-125 total.

The antelope have used the same two trails in crossing the fence to the alfalfa fields for years on the propert= y, but there is no cover at all and I didn’t have a blind, which is until now. I don’t know who is more excited about setting up our blind right next to the trails, Keagan or me. Conner will go for sure and love it, he just has a little less gusto than his older brother. -- Paul

July 26, 2008

3D"Dad-&-Conner-web-read=

It’s almost August and the waters are gett= ing warmer and fish are spreading out and heading deeper. I've had to weed through the dinks= to get to the larger fish in the last few years. The big ones are, as everyone knows, few and far between these days on Canyon Ferry Reservoir, at least f= or most of us.

We didn't do all that well Friday night and Satu= rday morning, 13 total from 12-15 inches. We caught half on slow death, half on cranks. Fifteen or 20 years ago, if I had caught 10-12 walleyes in eight ho= urs of fishing, I would have thought I had pretty good fishing. I guess we're spoiled thinking a dozen fish in eight hours isn't that good. -- Paul<= /o:p>

July 17, 2008

3DWeb-Ready-Keagans-32-inche=

Weekends are for fishing, right? And if you’ve got a family, it’s only right and fair that you take everyone in the family along.<= o:p>

The Lindsoe family has been doing a lot of that lately. Our favorite destinat= ion is Canyon Ferry Reservoir, just 50 or so miles away. We load the camper. Pack plenty of food. And then Lori, Keagan, Conner and = I head there on Friday evenings and fish the weekends away.

Walleye fishing has been a bit streaky, but oh t= hose streaks! You’ll fish for several hours with nary a bite and then in the next hour, everybody is havi= ng fun hooking walleyes. Many ar= e too small to keep, but we always seem to catch enough for dinner and every once= in a while, you catch a real eye-popper!.

The latest one was a 32-incher that Keagan caught and released. It was spectacular. How did we catch it? Let’s just say we w= orked a night crawler slowly to make it deadly. AND A BIG THANKS TO MUSTAD & THE WALLEYE PROS FOR INVENTING THE SLOW DEATH HOOKS!!!!!!!!!!!= !. – Paul