Day Two....

Upon waking just before 5 am, I feel well rested....well, sort of...I mean even more so than any other morning...oh that's right, I went to bed before midnight this time. I feel awesome albeit a bit groggy....my body is not sure what to do with more than 4 hours of sleep. I begin the layering process and walk downstairs to greet my dad...he is chipper and wide awake as usual, working on his breakfast of champions... ramen noodles. I grab a schwill of coffee (this is a new thing for me) and rummage through my mom's cupboards for a morning snack other than soup...my layers are starting to suffocate me so I grab the last bits and walk out onto the porch to finish dressing. My dad comes out behind me and we walk the short distance to the barn where he has turned on the kerosene heater and warmed the place up. This is no ordinary barn. My dad converted a section of the barn to an insulated whiskey bar coupled with tools, workbenches, chairs, well let's just say it is a cool place...think of your fly tying mess of a desk but instead of feathers they have been replaced with ammo, guns, whiskey (well maybe that is on your desk too), cups, beer cans, and nails.

Dad and I have what we think is an incredible plan to sit in a perfect site for deer on the upper field. It is like deciding what run you will fish first thing in the morning, weighing in where fish have been caught, the river levels, choosing the fly to seek and destroy....We have chosen to hunt together this morning and I am thrilled to be hunting at my dad's side... picking up hunting tips...having an extra set of eyes on the field. We roll up into our spot and today is even colder than yesterday. I threw on my patagucci down jacket this morning to combat the cold and shoved myself into grandpa's coveralls again. Rummaging through the shed I found a rabbit fur hat and now feel confident I can stay warmer....My dad threw me an old wool blanket for extra measure.
Before we get into position, I have a great idea to slowly walk my way towards our chosen spot, hopefully driving up the buck I ran into the previous morning. So I trudge over the hill to the corner of the field and wait a few minutes for light to peek over the treetops.

As I round a huge clump of thorn bushes, I hear my buck. Rustling around on the other side of the thorn bushes. Could it be him again? He stops and snorts and I am certain he is mine. My heart is exploding through my ears and the anticipation of seeing him thrills me...as he again defiantly walks away from me into the woods belonging to the neighboring farm. Optimism prevails as I consider he may come back over the fence line if I stay still and quiet. Fat chance. He snorts and stomps his way out of my hearing....I salute the buck for living another day and say a little prayer about my name on his head... I dive into the field of thorns and work my way around the hillside to my pops. I see no other signs of life and take my place beside Dad.
Having much concern and paranoia that I am not hunting well, I feel relief to sit beside grand master hunter Dad. I am hoping to extract the secrets of sitting still and absorb the luck of being a deer magnet. He just got a ten pointer the other day (five for all us westerners) which is a healthy buck for these parts.
We are both freezing. We are whispering. My dad is standing then sitting. Now he stands again. This hunting stuff isn't so difficult it seems.

(nice pumpkin head dad)
We waited an incredibly long time before we saw or heard anything this morning. Perserverance kicks in and I am thinking about those steelhead days where you begin to wonder if you are just flogging water....is there really anything in there?
Well I am intently watching the field to my left as Dad eyes the right side when I see a twitch of ears in the thicket down below that definitely was not there before. The heart starts racing as I slowly fumble the binoculars to my eyes and confirm it is in fact a doe. Still not doe day.



I watch her amble over into the pines munching on the old blackberries still clinging on and slip into the darkness of the underbrush. I contemplate the three times I had open perfect shots at her. And anyway, I am not sure I really want to kill a doe. My dad asks me if I am sexist...ha ha, I say of course. I really like to release the females, I wish my clients felt the same way about salmon and would consent to only kill bucks. I mean is it not humane to leave women and children? That is unless it is a Jack in which case we all know it's time is up if it grabs my hook. I wonder if I will be so lucky with the next deer that walks in my field of vision. Of course not.

He bounds out of the lower forest fifteen feet from where the doe popped up and sticks his head behind a bush. Really? I pull out the binoculars and call on the eyes of the eagle to help confirm the gender. No clue. Somehow the deer managed to stick its head in the sand and walk around so I had no chance to determine the gender. It follows the exact path of the doe and I have now fully convinced myself it is a buck. I just can not confirm it, so I watch this beautiful animal disappear into the darkness of the pines as well, never seeing its head. Unbelievable.
Their brains must be like steelhead, ever evasive, lucky as hell.

Long Time Gone

I am not really sure where to start....I am suffering from mental dysfunction brought on by a few bottles of wine shared with a wonderful friend I have not seen in a year...and I have had pretty much an amazing month of adventure....hunting steelhead, hunting deer, traveling, laughing with friends and family and it is not over yet....so I don't know where to begin...
Usually when I pick up a magazine I either flip to exactly the article I want to read, or I thumb through it from the back to the front? Why I do this is incredibly unclear and well, everything right now is a bit foggy, so I was thinking I may just kind of start from yesterday and slowly work my way backwards....back down to my parent's farm, then back across the midwest to Oregon and back up into northern Canada.
Currently I just drove from Baltimore, MD to Washington DC and am propped up in my good buddies'home office. This is the most plush position to be typing. I am going to sweeten the deal with a beer in 2 flat.
There.
I can't think of a more perfect choice than this Newcastle Brown Ale at this moment.
Although I could very well go for a black and blue...


I am currently up in the city as a mid-vacation break from spending time with the family and visiting my dear old friends that live in the nation's capital. My family has a farm about three or four hours south of here down in Virginia. It is where I grew up...
My pops and I have been hunting for the last few days in our upper field on the farm. Every morning we drive up to the top of the mountain and he boots me out before sunrise and sends me to find a good spot to view the lower part of the upper field:

DAY ONE-
Day One and I am dressed in every layer I have ever bought for steelhead fishing plus a super stylish coverall get up that my grandpa used to wear. Add a short little orange bolera and a sweet orange hat, and watch out runway.
But I am not out here for looks, so I sling the sexy new rifle my dad bought for me to use:

Yeah, that's right. My dad who doesn't believe in buying things for his children..."it builds moral character and work ethic if you work for what you get"... bought a rifle for me to use while deer hunting this year. So instead of the SKS I used last year, this year I am sporting a sexy new Remington 243. Light, accurate, and powerful little weapon. And mind you, I relate to my dad very well on this note, as with fly rods, reels, and tying materials it is with guns, you can NEVER have enough. EVER.
So stumbling through the dark and thorny field with a headlamp, I curse the 6 foot thorn branch that is grabbing onto my leg and won't let go, as I glance up I see two shining bulbs....is that? oh yeah, deer in the headlamp.
It is staring right at me as I hold it in my weak headlamp light. Neither one of us is moving. Suddenly realizing that I have at least 15 minutes until legal shooting light, I begin to wonder how long a deer can stand staring into the light. Then I am praying that this big animal in front of me ten yards is a buck....because today is buck day, not the doe opener yet, two more days before that happens.
I know that a deer can stand staring into a light for five whole minutes at least...because at five minutes, it snorted (great, its a buck) and proudly walked away. Yup, walked away into the dark as I stood there helpless, disappointed, and thoroughly excited about the run in.
I go through a full minute of wondering what to do and feeling completely clueless before I begin trudging through thickets to find a good viewing spot. My dad warned me that I may have to move again once it gets light, so I choose a small cedar to lean up against that sits atop a knoll and gives me a view of both left, right, and the woods below me. As sunrise begins to peek over the ridge, my imagination quickly jumps into overdrive and I swear I am surrounded by deer like Santa Claus at the mall.

Light blushes across the horizon and once my eyes adjust I realize I am in fact not surrounded by deer, not really by anything except thorn bushes...I slowly look around and see a better vantage point about 20 feet above me, so after waiting a bit, I move slowly up the hill. My new spot is awesome. Tucked behind some thorn bushes and up against a tree I am confident the deer gods will shine on me.
But now I am freezing. Its freaking cold. I think about whether I get this cold steelhead fishing....hmmm, I can't remember actually....pretty sure I do, so why does this seem colder than standing in freezing cold water hunting fish?
My body is shutting down I think and my eyelids are drooping....I wonder if this is what happens right before you die of hypothermia, your breath becomes shallow and you fall asleep before your body goes rigid and frozen....I am not sure what I did for three hours to keep myself awake...imagined deer, searched for them with painful slowness, thought about seeing one, thought about steelhead, thought about buying a new rod, the 13'9" Loop Multi that I need, then I consented to let my lids droop permanently for just a few minutes....now before you go judging me falling asleep on the hunt, you should know a thing or two about my dad. He parties. period. He keeps me up late drinking bourbon and beer and wakes me early to hunt. Come to think of it, this is really no different from steelhead camp. More on that later.
So I catch a bit of shut eye and wake to my dad standing fifteen feet from me saying
"You ain't gonna shoot a deer sleeping"
as a white tail bounds into the woods off to my left.
Great.
My dad is very kind about me sleeping on the job, as he knows damn well he is the reason for me being overtired. And he also knows damn well that the guys back at the barn are going to give me the largest ration of shit for falling asleep so he doesn't have to say a word.
Upon arrival back at the barn two of the guys have deer already hanging and skinned and the shoveling of shit my way begins.
Several schwills of W.L. Weller get put away, beers come out, and everyone is laughing and telling stories....from today's hunt, to last year's hunt, to stories about other hunts....and of course giving me a ration of shit that I earned.

That is Gene on the four wheeler, and that is my dad in the background. If you are wondering about what he is holding, you are right.
This is the middle part of the farm:

Day Two tomorrow.

Fly Fisher Girls

Kateri and Hannah rock the waters in upper BC.

Fly Away

Salmon on the Cob

That's what the bears think anyway...

Landscape Shot

In Your Face

Hooked Up.

I pray that this is me in BC at this moment.

The Circle of Life.

Maybe you find this disgusting, but I think it is beautiful. The sockeye giving its life to feed the ecosystem...amazing.

Heading North.

I can't stand it, I am heading north....not to Alaska, but almost-close. So in hopes that many fish will come my way and at least good times, here is a ridiculous self portrait with a beautiful rainbow.

Revolutionizing my Steelhead Fishing....

by buying a camper...

My life really is not complete without a camper. I need a room on wheels.

Extended the wiring...(it works like a charm!)


So here I go up north...

Somewhere Dwight Schrewt is drooling....