Fish-Hawk.Net

The melting snow is an exciting early welcoming of Spring, but its always a bit sad to see the conclusion of another season in the woods. Here's a few highlights from the past season.

Things always begin with bear season in Sept. We start baiting our sites in late June and have them ready for opener. This year we had Birdee return for another bear hunt and she surprised us at the airport pick up with RJ in tow. Birdee shot a young boar with her xbow and I took his brother with my .303 to complete our first ever double header hunt.
I wanted to fill a second of my 3 personal tags and close up my bear sites, so I snared a nice boar.
Onto deer season. With 2 tags in my pocket, the first goal is always to put some meat in the freezer. We self regulate ourselves at the camp and dont shoot doe's, so I said the first deer with a horn on it's head was going down....and I was a man of my word. lol

We had a nice selection of bucks around the camp this year, so I was fussy with trying to fill my second tag. I passed a lot of smaller bucks during the season and was content waiting for a big one. At the end of the season, I had a decent buck in front of me and decided to tag out on him.
I had a personal loss after the bear/deer seasons ended this year. My uncle, who was more of a father to me, but was also my hunting mentor/partner and best friend....lost his battle with liver cancer and we had to say good bye. This will leave a big hole in my life and things in the woods just wont be the same without him. Even in poor health, he managed to get a nice bear this past season and a deer with the xbow. The morning tracking job for his deer was his last trip to the woods.
My trapping season opens in late Oct, so that keeps me busy right up until now. Yesterday, I took my 2017/18 hides to the NAFA buyer. I snapped a quick pick of some of my favorite fur. Excluded from the pic were the bears, raccoons, beaver, muskrat, mink, otter, squirrel and skunk. Fun year on the trapline.
Another season is done, but like I said....it's the start of new one already. And the fun never stops.

oh...and I forgot one highlight thats always a great day. We host a group of youth at the camp every year for a competitive squirrel hunt, shooting competition and wild game feed. It's such a fun day with the kids and we had our first female champ this year.
The CWTF always supports the event and we cant say thanks enough to them and to all the mentors that help with the day and the kids.

Thanks for sharing with us Mark. I hope to be in that season recap next year!

RJ

Wow --that is quite the life your living out East
Love the FUR picture !!

Love these updates, cool stuff!

Sorry to hear about your uncle that's tough.

The annual kids tourney is just icing on the cake. I would have loved to have a chance to partake in something like that as a kid. Good on you guys to get the young ones out there and to teach them the fun and responsibilities of being a hunter. Gold!!

Oh ya and nice bears, bucks and furs all around. Looks like a lot of work but also looks like it's a labour of love to ya.

Just got a chance to go over the post. Great season for sure. We had a great hunting season last year and gearing up again for this upcoming one. Finally enjoying some BBQ'd venison too.