have wanted to fish the Atlantics in the St. Mary’s for some time, but it’s just far enough up there that it always strikes me as foolish when for a little more effort and time, one could go to Quebec.
You may not have to go that far to catch an Atlantic Salmon. South Dakota GF&P is looking into planting Atlantic’s in Oahe? They sent a questionnaire out to fisherman to get some feedback awhile back.
I have been running a 1999 Opti 135 on my 1800 Lund Fisherman and have had no problems. It has been a great running motor and starts right up even after sitting awhile during the winter. Make sure you have plenty of cranking amps in your battery to turn the Opti over for starting.
The one thing that all hunting dog trainers will agree on is that you can never put the prey drive into a hunting dog. They are either born with it or will not have. Your best chances are going with dogs that have been bred for those traits.
The other thing to remember is that pointing dogs in particular are athletes and require daily exercise. If they don’t have this release they will find it other ways, and usually in a negative way.
Another important aspect of early training is socializing i.e. exposing them to people, experiences and situations. with proper socializing you will have a bold, confident dog, that can function as a family pet and a hunting partner.
Most people do not understand how dogs learn and respond to training. First and foremost you need to be the pack leader, if not the dog will assume that role. When you watch Caesar, on Nat Geo 9 out of 10 dogs he has to deal with, the owners are weak pack leaders.
I was told by one breeder that GSP don’t make good family dogs. Nothing can be further from the truth. They can make excellent indoor dogs, mine know its time to go to work (pure enjoyment for them) when the hunting gear comes out and we head for the pickup.
I have also noticed this same thing with my Paddle Tails Plastics, and like you they were not exposed to the sun for any length of time. It seems to be the chartreuse color that fades the worst. I threw some out this year, but like you said they are not cheap and this should not be happening!
Very nicely done, fish of that quality are rare on the Missouri River anymore. Is it just me, but are the tails on those fish huge, especially picture #4?
There was a post a couple of weeks ago about fishing Lake Winnipeg through the ice. Lots of recommendations on colors and types of lures. Trolling spoons and Live Target baits seemed to be the best bets. Check it out. Best tip was to make sure you are prepared for every thing that can happen!
I don’t think there will be any problem finding UL Ripping Raps this year. Scheels in Sioux Falls had a whole rack of them in all sizes. Prices were not in the $5.00 range though.
I have thrown some of my best pocket knives into the wastebasket at airport security.
That is what happened to my last pocket knife a couple of weeks ago. When I went to empty my pockets at the security check, there it was! Fortunately it was a cheap pocket knife, but I just bought it to replace the one that I had lost. Now I’m getting a new one for Christmas.
It is also 46F in Central South Dakota this morning, however the winds are suppose to crank up, with gusts over 40 mph.
Blame it on El Nino! The weather forecasters are predicting a warmer than normal winter in the Dakotas! I have a feeling ice fishing on the Missouri River impoundments will be limited at best. Oh well, the boats can still hit the open water.
X2 Fishthumper, plus the headache I get from it sucking all the oxygen out of your shack and leaving CO2 behind, especially a small shack.
When I go out fishing I am usually out for 14-17 hours at a time, and I need a unit that will have enough battery to get me through that long of a day. What kind of battery life are you guys seeing out of these units?
I have the LX9 which is same unit as the LX7 but with the camera. You will not get anywhere near 14 hours of battery life. I will not even get 8 hours of battery and that is without using the camera. If you plan on fishing this long you will need a spare battery.
X2, my uncle passed from lymphoma 25 years ago, and they are doing the same treatment as back than, burn you with radiation and poison you with chemicals. The treatment is almost worst than what it is suppose to cure, with all kinds of side effects. We are still losing way to many family members, friends and acquaintances to this terrible disease.
It is not easy getting a shot at a coyote from a tree stand with archery equipment, so way to get it done. I saw coyotes almost every morning from one stand last year and could never get a shot at one, you can never fool their nose!
I have been asking this question for years? What happened to the Hungarian Partridge? Asked Game Biologists and have never received a good answer. In the 70’s they were common in Eastern SD, and you could count on bumping a couple of coveys a day and by the 90’s they had all but disappeared. The NW corner of SD still has Hungarian Partridge and that is the last place that I saw a couple of decent size flocks of the birds. A friend of mine ran into a covey of birds grouse hunting west of Pierre this fall and managed to bag a couple of Huns. I never see them anymore in central SD, they were a fun bird to hunt and good table fare. I would like to see how my GSP would handle them. Western ND and Montana are the last strongholds for the Huns that I am aware of at this time.
Find a good quality puppy food that works for your dog. There are a lot of options.
X2, do yourself and the pup a favor by feeding a high quality large breed puppy food for the first year. I don’t know about preventing shedding but the puppy will have a shiny coat, and the ingredients promote growth and intelligence.
One other thought, is a 7 year dog is in the tail end of their prime hunting years. Most hard core bird hunters would be starting another dog when their dog was 7 or 8 so the new dog would be ready to take over the heavy lifting. Not say older dogs can’t continue to hunt but you need to hunt them an hour or two and rest them between hunts.
I have always started with puppies since it is easier to establish the alpha position right from the start. I would not expect an adult dog to listen to a stranger, the question is would she obey the current owner? If not the dog has had no obedience, or yard training, and you would have to start from scratch. If the dog has never been hunted than at least she has not picked up any bad habits in the field, so in my opinion this is good. From what you described the dog has probably been chained or kenneled and as soon as she gets a little freedom she will take advantage of it. The one thing all trainers will agree is that you cannot put the prey drive into a dog, and it sounds like this dog does have it by chasing sparrows. Bottom line this dog would be a challenge for an inexperienced trainer. If you have an experienced friend at dog training or a trusted professional trainer you could have the dog evaluated before taking possession. Captain Musky is correct when he describes GSP’s they are high energy and need to be exercised. I was told by one GSP breeder that they don’t make good family dogs, needless to say I did not but a pup from him, he is totally wrong ours have always been hunters, good citizens and family pets. This is the breed for me hunting pheasants and prairie grouse.
It sounds like you had a very good hunt and beat the odds with two out of three filling an archery elk tag and the third person with shot opportunities. An over the counter tag and DIY hunt is even more impressive!
You can’t go wrong with the Ultra Rest drop away, and like the Whisker Biscuit your arrow can’t fall off the rest. Most of my friends are shooting the Ultra. Your accuracy will improve with a drop away, especially if you are shooting longer distances.
You are correct on the proper introduction of a new dog to gunfire. The old adage is, “it is far easier to properly introduce your dog to gun fire than it is to cure gun shyness” I can speak from experience here. The temperament of each dog is different, I could tell right of the bat that my current GSP if she was not properly introduced to gunfire it could be a disaster. She is the first dog that I have owned that does not pay any attention to thunderstorms. I would recommend that if you plan to train your own bird dog to purchase a good training CD for pointers, I purchased Perfection Kennels, Perfect Start video, but there are many others. They would go through step by step on the procedures that you would need to follow. Most training videos that I have seen, you need to have your dog introduced to birds and like you said “Bird Crazy”, and than incorporate gun fire with birds. I prefer to use pigeons and raise my own, Birmingham rollers, but you can use other breeds or catch feral pigeons. They are easy to raise and keep and don’t eat much food. Some trainers use blank pistols, but I start with the small cap guns and work slowly up from there to a .410, 20 gauge and finally a 12. At any point you notice any signs of apprehension or fear you will need to back up and start from scratch. If you are uncomfortable with this you may want to hire a professional dog trainer, which can be a good investment to get your dog started on the right track. There have been way to many hunting dogs ruined by just taking them out hunting with a group of hunters and start blasting 12 gauges over there heads with flushing birds, a recipe for disaster.
Congratulations on your new endeavor, and wonder if you will pick up that southern accent? Anyway I hope you will report back on your New Mexico elk hunt, I believe it was in the Gila Unit. I will be leaving September 1 for my SD, once in a life time archery elk hunting adventure after 24 years of applying.
Way to dry here again this spring. It is looking like another bust this year. Second year in a row! Enjoy what you have!
Congratulations, Sounds like you should have some turkey hunting addicts in the future. Turkey hunting has always been one of my son’s favorite outdoor pursuits!
Chamberlain, SD we received .20! After a dry fall, and dry winter we need moisture bad or it will be a drought year with plenty of wildfires, which have already started this spring.
Finding a good FA is tough if you don’t have a lot of money to invest.
I was never comfortable with someone giving out “free financial planning”, but they make there living selling you their insurance and investments, makes it difficult to believe they have your best interest in mind. A “Fee Only Financial Planner”, is the best route to go they do not sell you anything and do comprehensive financial planning. But they are not cheap, you need a sizable portfolio and are not easy to locate. As with anything involving financial planning you need to do your homework and be comfortable the planner puts your fiduciary interests first.
Thanks HRG, I will give that a try!
I have a head scratcher? I plugged my 2002 Nissan Frontier to my boat trailer and nothing works. I than hooked it up to my 2 year old aluminum trailer and all the lights work. I than plug my 2013 Ford F150 to the boat trailer and all of the lights work? For some reason either the plug on the Nissan or the trailer does not make a connection. Should I replace the plug on the boat trailer?
Oh I get it. I am in Florida, its safe to have a TV get together.
You could always plan a IDO Florida get together, say about January of next Year? 
