Deer, Elk, Hunting, Muskie, Walleye, Florida Keys....

Deer, Elk, Hunting, Muskie, Walleye, Fish Stocking, Florida Keys, Copper Wire, Illinois Basketball, Big Waves and Wind, and a big buck laughing at me and my grandpa. Throw all that together and jumble it all around and you will get a sneak peak into my thoughts, brain, dreams, nightmares, and hectic last week of lake management for the year! Its done, its all over, its behind me now! All that sits between me and the Florida Keys is a short night of sleep, a stuffed mini van ride to St. Louis, a 3 hour flight into a new time zone, a mini van rental in Miami, miles and miles of bridges, and bada bing bada boom- Marathon Key for two weeks!

Basically I worked (or watched basketball or went hunting) every single minute of the last week trying to get everything done for the year. Monday evening we stripped $584 worth of scrap copper wire for some spending cash for the trip. Brook and the kids were helping too. It was fun. Tuesday-Thursday we delivered 7,200 walleye, 390 muskies, 2850 yellow perch, 300 crappies, 110 hybrid bluegills, 400 albino catfish, 200 lbs of jumbo rainbow trout (4-8 lbers!) and 48 big northern pike to many clients from champaign to congreville to washburn to victoria to canton to cuba and pretty much every city in between. I didnt sleep much, but did plenty of daydreaming (I think that counts?)

Here are the only pics I was able to snap during that marathon:

I also had a friend from Georgia in town deer hunting. Here is a text message I got from him while he was in the stand one morning: Zoom n center of pic. This 2 year old 8 pt bedded down 19 yds from me. I passed when he got up, but then I realized how bad he was hurt. He bedded again just out of range. A 3 year old not as wide 8 pt brought 2 does right by him. He got up and walked away.

I pray for a big buck but even more satisfied if He returns this guy to me. Doubt he can make it thru harsh winter and feel he was presented to me. I will not pass him again. Great am 7 bucks thus far. Thanks!

Next email was from a client in Fulton County. His cousin shot this thick buck:

Here is a pic of that bucks dad or grandpa! Strikingly similar eh?

Another client just got back from Elk hunting in Colorado. Here a few of his words and some pics from their trip! "Rand and I just finished the best time of our lives!! We both filled our Elk tags!! and spent the rest of the trip looking for bear. We were blessed, it was very magical."

Then I neglected all of my office work, responsibilities, etc and took my grandpa out deer hunting this morning up in Henry, IL. We had 5 does and a BIG buck coming right in to our decoy at 8:30 am but we made a bit too much noise during the excitement and one of the does busted us. She ran off and the big buck followed her before grandpa was able to pull the trigger. The other deer were just confused, but we didn't much care for them.

Sticking with the theme of neglecting all of my responsibilities before this trip, I spent the rest of the afternoon watching college basketball, changing diapers, and pretty much laying around for the first time in a looong time! I even fell asleep on the floor for about an hour while I was watching the kids. I think people call that taking a nap, but falling asleep on the floor just wasnt quite as prestigious or comfortable as I would imagine a real nap feeling like.

Anyhow I will be blogging a few times while down in the keys, hopefully I will have some fish pictures to post! Until then I hope your minnow bucket and belly stays full......Or Until then Fish On. or Until next time God Bless and Merry Christmas...... Or best wishes and fishes? They tell me I need a sign off for my articles for the outdoor magazines but I can't quite seem to come up with anything that fits? Any suggestions would be much appreciated.