Since the motor runs very well I think I will try the idle screw option. Thank you for the idea as I had not thought of attempting this.

Thank you for the information, that is how I was hoping.

What are the rules around a person taking a kid hunting? I am going to be taking my cousins 14 year old kid hunting this season and would like to be able to help him all season (until he gets a bird) but I do not want to get in trouble hunting in a season I do not have a license for. Is this going to be an issue or have they thought of this. Not sure who would know on this.

Happy hunting.

I guess I know the answer to this question, looks like I will just catch a buzz on this trip.

Very exciting stuff. I will try and post a few pictures of the fall.

It’s a lot of fun. I really enjoy tying some flies on a cold winter night dreaming about spring. Speaking of, might have to do that tonight.

The little research I have done looked positive. I have held one and it seemed just a touch flimsy but Savage’s seem so rock solid that I guess I assumed it would be great. What have you heard? I don’t actually know anyone with one yet. Don’t really want to purchase one and not get ammo for the next six months which seems like a possibility right now.

In the end, just do what makes you happy. If you want to go up and enjoy the group and fish I see nothing but great. Maybe just pointing the new guys in the group to your hunting spots and seeing them shoot nice deer will be enough to make you happy. I think once you have a son up there it will all change again. Good luck with everything and thanks for sharing the story as I think this tends to affect some of us.

I had something very similar going on with fishing the last couple of years for me. I really wanted to give up the sport after it was my favorite thing over the rest of my life. I had a big fancy boat and all the trimings. What I figured out was I need to change things up, make things more simple and on my own. I got rid of the new boat, quit getting so upset if I had a bad day or trip. Also, I got into fly fishing for pike and musky with a good buddy. The last two years have been the funniest fishing of my life. We make most of our tackle (leaders and flies) which is really cool and we eliminated all technology (no graphs, boat motors, etc). I guess we went to the KISS method (keep it simple stupid) and since it is new and exciting and such a low success is expected we have an absolute blast and it has made me appreciate all fishing more. I don’t know if any of this would apply to you and hunting but maybe. Or maybe you would just rather fish, nothing wrong with that.

I have not tried a new transducer as I don’t have anyone close that has the same unit. I did a little research on this problem and it sounds like it is fairly common.

Battery is strong (brand new).

For some reason the gunflint lodge I am pulling up is up on the canadian border not the north shore of lake superior. Still looks really cool.

I have actually spent a fair amount of time with a buddy last year doing this also. We even managed 4 musky last year with the largest being a 40″ fish. Really the funniest time I have ever had fishing, but you are right in that casting those heavy flies is tough. One thing we have noticed is that the nicer lighter 10 wt rods we used actually ended up breaking over some of the trips we went on. The cheaper heavier rods are harder to cast maybe but held up a lot better. I would be happy to share what we have learned so far via PM and exchange information that way.

I would be very careful of going with a buddy without a license in Minnesota. When I was a junior in high school my good buddy drew a turkey tag and I didn’t. I went with him and helped him call a little (neither of us knew anything about turkey hunting). My buddy shot a turkey and on our way to town we talked to the game warden. We were pretty jazzed up about getting a turkey and told him the story. He listened and asked questions and then wrote me a ticket for guiding without a license in the state of Minnesota. Obviously I was not aware of this rule. He said that in Minnesota you can only watch and not assist in any way without a license. Keep it in mind.

I only have one connection from the battery to the unit, I am planning on taking it in tomorrow to see what it tests out as. It looks like the battery is fairly old (I bought the boat last year) so I may just replace regardless. I will post back on what comes of it.

It is the starting battery, I will bring it in tomorrow and get it checked out. What’s weird is the battery seems to hold a charge very well but we will see what comes out of it.

You are right Rootski, my apologies. For leaders we used a 20 pound mono from fly line to a 10 inch section of Knot 2 Kinky 25 pound. This was attached to a small snap (seems to be the only way to tie this line) and worked great with no bite offs. We have tried heavy fluorcarbon but it has been bitten off a few times.

For flies, my buddies had some really nice looking flies of all sorts and colors tied up. The problem was with the cold water the fish were only interested in slow moving darker colored flies. I did best with a double bunny leech (I think that was what it was called), it had a red bottom and a black top. I fished with a floating fly line in 8 wt, the other two used 8 wt sinking lines. I liked the floating line because I was fishing fairly slow in pretty shallow water. It will be fun to try some of the more agressive flies that were tied up during the summer.

Last pictures, I will try and post the rest of the pictures on a different site and link to them. The camera that we used is great but creates some huge jpegs.

Thank you BK for the help, here are a couple more pics.

Thank you for the fast response

Thanks for the info, I think I will try getting the carb’s cleaned first because the battery seems really strong. Good luck everyone.

Thanks guys, I am going to test drive a couple tonight and wanted some real world ideas beforehand. The 23 mpg would be a little nicer than the 11 i get right now.

Living smack dab in the middle of Farm country and working part time for a large (roughly 5,000 acre) farmer I think I can add a couple of things to this conversation. First off, I hate seeing all the tile that is going in right now. As we talk the farmers I help are having 4 new farms tiled and more planned yet for just this year. What bothers me the most as a hunter and outdoorsman is that we are helping to make this happen. Right now the reason so much farm tile is being put in (besides record profits in farming) is that this is the highest tax deduction the farmer can get per dollar spent. So basically we are giving tax credit to drain down more and more wetlands and low spots and marginal farm ground (hint where wildlife live) to help push a larger and larger corn crop. I know as the world population grows we will see a higher demand for corn but I hate seeing my little honey holes for pheasants pushed over or tiled through and then turned into more crop ground. Sorry if this is long winded but obviously this is a sensitive subject and I could go on for hours on this.

Be very careful burning Walnut, the smoke and shavings are dangerous to breath in.

A sand county almanac by Aldo Leopold is a must read, also pick up the Horn of the Hunter by Robert Ruark. Great read, The Horn of the Hunter is set in Africa back in the 50’s i believe, fun as heck to hear what a safaria was like back then. Sand County Almanac may be one of the greatest conservation books ever written.

I will think of some others…

Thanks guys for the help.

You beat me to it, return asap. This is very rare I believe.

Wow, lets offer some advice instead of ripping on someone for asking a question. I thought that was the whole reason for this site was to ask questions. My pearl feel free to IM me any gun related questions you have and I will do my best to help you out. If you are looking for a handgun for Bear (which is his legal right) you will want to go with something in a revolver probably a 357 or larger. I could have swore I read that in some states you need a backup gun if you are bear hunting (alaska maybe but don’t quote me on this one) so there should be alot of help on this. On the ar 15, there are literally hundreds of guns out there for in all shapes and sizes from long range prairie dog machines to close range collabible stock self defense weapons. In alot of areas this may not make the most sense as a self defense gun but where I live with no neighbors around to worry about hitting with a stray round it would be something to consider (although the 12 gauge recommendation is probably a better choice but that is your choice). I welcome you over to a card carrying member of the second amendment and enjoy, shooting is a great past time, if you are first getting into all thise I would recommend getting someone to walk you through the guns because just like alot of things they are very dangerous if used improperly.

Well we ended out hunting and it was a big mistake (hopefully every one can learn from my error). Ten minutes in my dog went through a brushy area and started yelping to beat the band. We had to carry him out of the field as he will not put any wait on his front leg and I will be taking him to the vet tomorrow morning to see what is going on.

I feel really bad but I guess all a guy can do is learn from him mistake.

Good luck to everyone.

My roommate from college is a vet and I just told him over the phone what was going on, he said it sounds like a pulled muscle and he should be good but i am a little scared since it came back. I think I am going to hunt him as it seems like not much.