antelope hunt

Antelope hunting with the kids

I spent exactly one day antelope hunting with my kids. I had a buck and doe tag and my area was a two hour drive from Cheyenne. Emily stayed home and so it was just me and the kids. If you are not picky about the size of antelope, then you can usually fill your tage within a matter of a few hours. It was a blast having the kids with me and Isaac took a lot of pictures. Antelope is an acquired taste, but I have learned to take care of the meat properly and enjoy the organic meat.(fed no hormones, antibiotics, lived a life of dignity, etc.)

One night we left our nice big tent and bivouacked at 11,600 feet. Jason had a small tent, but I just had my bivy sack. I barely stayed warm enough through the night. We didn't have a fire that night, and I must say the stars at that altitude were amazing.

Colorado Elk Hunt

I just finished an interesting trip. My friend Jason, does this high altitude archery elk hunt every year in Colorado. Southwestern Colorado, 60 miles from Durango. He has been asking me every year to come with him. Basically we have an outfitter drop us off after a 3 hour horse ride straight up into this basin. He has a nice big tent with a stove inside. We hunted for 7 days. Did i mention the base camp is at 11,000 feet. It only took 3 days for me to catch my breath, and then I felt good. By the 7th day, I felt strong and the lungs felt excellent. When I got home, I noticed that I lost 9 pounds. We had many close encounters with large bull elk, but it is very difficult to get an elk to come close enough for a bow and arrow. I had a great time, but will not do this hunt again.

Crab feast

I have never eaten that many crab legs before, but they tasted so good, that I couldn't stop with just one. As you can see from the pictures, I was not the only one in a feeding frenzy.

Alaska 2012

One day out on the ocean, we checked Andy's crab pots(he hadn't checked them in 30 days). He has 2 pots and one was totally empty, but the other had 16 healthy crabs. It was funny watching Andy and CJ get them from the trap to the cooler without getting pinched.

Alaska 2012

I had a great time over labor day visiting Andy and his family. CJ met me there and we enjoyed hanging out together and fishing. The fishing was slower this year, but the silvers were larger. Some of the pictures are foggy due to the rain on the camera lens, but you can still see enough.

Green River

Green River with family

I turned 40 last week and was not looking forward to it. Emily agreed to come fishing with me for father's day and my 40th birthday. My only present I wanted was for her to row the boat and not complain. We spent 3 nights at the flaming gorge lodge and floated the Green River 3 days straight. The fishing was slow, but having my family with me in that beautiful spot was wonderful. The weather was warm and the kids had a great time. Isaac just likes to play in the water, Sophia loves running the rapids, Savannah loves to fish, and Emily just likes to read a book. I loved it all. Emily didn't even complain, and I think she actually liked the river. If the fishing was better, it would have been perfect.

Sans sunlight

I have noticed that fishing guides have started wearing wraps around their faces to battle the constant UV rays hitting them from direct sunlight and reflected off the water. I bought one of these wraps and wore it fish

ing. I looked dumb, but it did work. As you can see from the picture, it might be an improvement in my looks because it hides my face.

Green River Fishing

This is the 5th year of my May trek to the Green River with my high school friends. This year it was only Dan Meeks and me. After calling several fly shops over there I was reassured that the Spring Flood would not occur during our visit. We floated the river Thursday and Friday, and then they started the flood. We decided to fish the upper Green river in Wyoming. We didn't catch a large number of fish, but the size made up for this and also I finally floated a new section of the river that contained class 3 rapids. This was very exiciting in a drift boat.

Emily is scuba certified!

This is older news, but in March during our trip to the Cayman Islands, Emily finished her open water scuba certification. She and her friend Mindi finished the course and did a great job. I am prould of Emily because she was scared to do several of the tests(like removing you mask when you are 60 feet down and putting it back on and clearing it) and etc..

Backpacking Trip

Emily and her friends spent part of the weekend in Breckenridge, Colorado so that left me alone with the kids. Because of the unusually warm weather I decided to take the kids backpacking. I wanted to get away from the crowds of people and the high mountains are still covered in snow, so I settled on Laramie Peak. I spent a lot of time hiking there 2 years ago during an elk hunt and enjoyed the topography and scenery. The drive took 40 miles of dirt road, so even though the hike in was short, it was still remote. We had a great, warm evening together and no bears bothered us(I saw 2 during my hunting trip in this area). Jecca was with us, but doesn't bark, so she would not scare off any bears. The next morning we enjoyed a hike down the canyon and caught many fish in the stream. We even found an old cabin that hadn't seen any use for 100 years. The kids enjoyed it and I think we'll do some more trips this summer.

Spring Adventures

I haven't written for a while. I have had an exciting Spring so far. Rock climbing in February at Joshua Tree, rock climbing in Zion National park in March, scuba diving in Grand Cayman in March, fly fishing with my dad on the Green River, fly fishing with friends on the North Platte, fly fishing the Big Horn River in Montana. Now that I write all this down, it does seem like quite a lot. It has been great now that I think about it. We have had a dry and warm Spring here in Wyoming and I have taken advantage of this. I will try and keep up on adventures from now on. (I know there is 3 pictures of me with fish, but they are all different rivers)