What Is This Fish?
One issue not in question - it's a real nice fish.
Early in our Research and Development program in Southern Chile, one of our guides, Garrett Sullivan, caught this exceptional fish.
We took some shots and released it, thinking “man, that was an awesome brown”.
When we got home, we sent some pictures around to a bunch of folks, and maybe half of them responded saying “great fish, but that’s not a brown – that’s clearly an Atlantic salmon.”
Looks like a salmon here, doesn\'t it?
Over the past couple of years we’ve had a lot of people weigh in on the topic, and opinions seem to be pretty split. We’ve also thought in the past about running polls on our blog, so we figured now’s the time – we’ll let the collective wisdom of the internet identify this fish!
Red spots - brown. Maxillary vs eye - brown. Patchy spots on back - Atlantic. Head shape - Atlantic. Right?
What do you think it is? Leave us a comment.
Rhino Hunt
White Rhino Cow Management Hunt
$ 2950.00 per inch
$ 460.00 per day min 5 day hunt
The White Rhino, through much effort by hunters and conservationists has increased in numbers sufficiently to once again be hunted in South Africa. The Black Rhino (Diceros bicomis) has not made such a successful comeback and is still highly protected. The White Rhino or square-lipped rhino is much larger than the Black or hook-lipped rhino weighing in at as much as two and one-half tons. He has a broader and longer head and a prominent hump in the shoulder region. The White Rhino is an exclusive grazer, social in nature and relatively docile except when mating or protecting their young. The Rhino can live as long as 40 years. The smaller Black Rhino can be identified by his smaller, shorter head and rounder ears; he has a distinct prehensile or hooked upper lip. He is an exclusive browser. The Black Rhino weighs in at just about a ton and can be much more aggressive than his cousin the White Rhino. He has been known to charge without provocation.
This is the cow that will be hunted
Both species and both sexes carry two continuously growing dense hair like horns. Dominant breeding bulls can be very territorial. Possessed of extremely good hearing and a well-developed sense of smell, their eyesight is poor making them fairly easy to approach from downwind if your stalk is done slowly and quietly.
This member of the Big Five has very thick skin thus larger caliber rifles with well-constructed bullets are the order of the day. Solids would always be a good choice for their excellent penetration but remember to be cognizant of what is behind your target, as this type bullet will often exit. Once again look to the PH for guidance.
MyNature – Animal Track App
MyNature – Is your digital guide to animal tracks and wildlife in the palm of your hand for iphone or ipod 3.0 or higher.
A couple of weeks ago Rick at Whitetail Woods wrote about MyNature and because I think it’s a great app, I thought I would write about it here as well.
I loved to explain how it all works but it is much easier to watch the video.
What a great tool to have when out in the field or spending a day out in the woods with your kids teaching them about nature.
And if it was designed specifically for The Hunter’s Wife – I’d love for it to say…
“Fresh bear track – you better hightail it out of there – NOW!”
“And don’t climb a tree – bears climb trees.”
Rumor has it that soon MyNature app will be available on other phones as well. I have a Blackberry so I will have to wait until then.
Blog: MyNature Blog with updates and tips.
Download: The app is priced at $6.99 – download MyNature app.
Interview: My good friends at Outdoors With Dan Small radio did an interview with Jeff Greco from MyNature.
Have a great day all … and happy animal tracking. And hightailing it out of there.
Huge 419″ New Mexico Bull Elk
Larry Knowlton and his 419 Gross New Mexico bull elk
“I can’t tell you how many ghost stories, false leads and over-exaggerated elk we chased for the past 5 months, but in the end I think it was all worth it! [The Outfitter] had originally located this bull in early November, and spent weeks of their time trying to get this bull for Larry. At 3:30pm on Saturday, after a 4.5 hr climb to get to this bull that lived in the worst place I have ever seen in my entire life.”
Mr. Knowlton shot a 419″ gross 7×8 with 64″ of mass, 54″ beams and a whole lotta tines. At 430 yards his first shot was just over his back, but shots 2 & 3 were perfect and a few seconds later the bull was down. They actually had him figured at 403″ – 406″, but he was so massive that they under-judged a bit. Because of the huge mass they though his beams were shorter than what they actually are. The main frame is 388″, with 31″ of extras, for a total 419″ gross.
Look at the mass on this huge New Mexico bull elk
Product Review: Gerber E-Z Open Knife
A few months ago, Rick Young of Rick Young Outdoors sent me one of his E-Z Open knives to review. It was after the hunting season, so I wasn’t sure that I would be able to use it until next spring. I did do some mountain lion hunting, but we never caught a good one. Things were looking bad for the review, but on our way to a Christmas party I got a badger. I decided that this would be a good enough test for the knife, plus I could make a cool hat for my kids.
The E-Z Open knife was invented and field tested by professional hunter Rick Young. The E-Z Open Metolius is 9” long and made from 440A Stainless Steel with a firmly embedded composite ball for guiding the blade between the animal skin and muscle structure.
By cutting from the inside outward in long continuous cuts, the tool ensures clean cuts and eliminates problems with opening the entrails during field dressing. Here are my thoughts:
Ease of Use: 
Super easy to use. ‘Nuf said.
Functionality:
The knife performed exactly as it was supposed to. The ball on the end, although it looks kind of goofy, keeps the blade from getting into the guts and opened up the badger just like a zipper. Mutch better than traditional hook knives.
Is it Practical? 
It is practical for most situations, although I don’t believe that I would keep one in my day pack if I was on a strenuous hunt such as archery elk. In that case it would be an extra knife and not a neccesity. That isn’t to say that I wouldn’t keep it in my truck though. If I was hunting on a stand, I would definately take it along.
* That said, check out the 2-Blade Folding Metolius EZ Open & Skinner
Will My Buddies Make Fun of Me?
They might at first, because like I said before, it kind of looks weird with that ball on the end. Once they use it though, the jokes will be over.
TOTAL SCORE: 
If you’re in the market for a good knife, check out: www.rickyoungoutdoors.com.
Illinois Whitetail Success
There are weeks where everything in the woods seems to come to life. This happens twice a year, once with the first warm day of spring and the other the peak of the rut. Everything seemed to come together the week of Nov 15, 2009.
Steve Lewellen and his son Rusty have hunted whitetails in Illinois before but never seen the magical days of the November rut. The bucks were on their feet and moving throughout the entire day, and they had set a goal of only shooting a buck if it was over 150. That goal was tested over and over again as numerous deer over the 140 mark came by their stand.
At last light on the second night of the hunt Rusty shot a 14 point. The buck scored just over 153″. This was further proof that both Rusty and Steve had made the right decision to hold out for a big buck.
Steve proceeded to hunt daylight to dark, passing on 15 different deer over 140 but not quite 150. Steve also saw 2 bucks well over 150 but just not within bow range. It never did come together for Steve but he had intense action the entire time he was in the stand for 4 straight days.
Although he didn’t get his buck, Steve’s comment to sum up his hunt was “action packed”. That is exactly what Illinois is in the November rut, action packed and something whitetail hunters should experience at least once.
Check out this incredible Southern Illinois Whitetail hunt if you would like more information.
Monster Utah Mule Deer
I couldn’t resist posting these pics of this awesome Utah mule deer. I figured it would help fuel that fire until deer season. These pictures were taken on the Ute Reservation near Vernal Utah. Wish I had more info than that… but I don’t. Enjoy.
Successful Wolf Hunters
Quite a few of my friends got their wolves in Idaho’s first wolf season last fall. I went wolf hunting a few times, but came up short. One friend of mine got his wolf by North fork Idaho on the 31st of Oct. There was another wolf killed in the same spot the day before and more have been spotted since. There is no shortage.
Enjoy the pics.
Dry Out Your Gear
Yeah, you’re gonna need to dry that gear out.
Today’s Universal Fly Fishing Tip is one that most anglers know, but few actually follow through on. After a day or a week or fishing, make sure you dry out your gear well.
Gear that gets stored wet gets nasty. Waders stink, rod socks mildew, flies rust and backing turns black. When you’re done with your fishing session, make sure you get all your gear dry.
That means…
- Hang up your waders inside out so any sweaty condensation dries out. Go to the extra effort of pulling your stocking feet inside out – they’ll get really nasty otherwise.
- Take your rod socks of of their tubes and unroll them.
- Hang up your raincoat and take everything out of its pockets.
- Set out your wading boots.
- Open up your fly boxes. If you’ve got a bunch of matted down flies all crammed in there together (say with marabou or bunny fur), spread them out.
- Take the covers off your reels.
- Unzip the pockets on boat bags, hip packs, etc.
- Open up any waterproof cases (like that Pelican case for your camera) that might have gotten a tiny bit of moisture in them – those cases keep water in as well as they keep it out.
- Do your laundry right now, you slob
Sage Click Reels
Simple is good.
In lots of trout fishing situations, you don’t need a drag system that’s capable of stopping a locomotive. There, we said it!
Slapping a mega-reel on a lightweight trout rod isn’t going to result in an outfit that’s well-balanced. And really, you don’t need all that technology most of the time.
If you’re targeting trout that are less than gigantic, the drag on your reel really needs to do two things well.
- Engage easily and allow line to peel off the reel smoothly, protecting light tippets.
- Keep your reel from backlashing on a fast run.
For small- to moderate-sized trout and lightweight rods, one of the reels that we think you should check out is the Sage Click.
Here’s why we like Sage Click reels.
- They’re lightweight.
- They’re really simple and the clicker drag is super smooth.
- They retain one really important element of modern reel design – a very large arbor. This allows for fast line pickup and less memory when your line and leader come off the reel.
We fished the Sage Click III with a 7 foot 4 weight on some tiny water in Southern Chile last week, and we loved it. The outfit balanced great and the drag did an excellent job, even on some fish that were quite a bit bigger than expected. Nothing wrong with that.
