I've got to say, I don't think I've ever had a season with so many firsts. I suppose it started with an evening of bowfishing in South Texas with Cutis Kellar and Charlie Lamb. In a few hours I connected on my first shad, spotted gar and mullet (not the Billy Ray Cyrus type).
At some point during the night I spotted a head out of the water to my right and swung toward it, starting to draw. That's when I noticed it was a gator swimming next to the boat...my first live gator sighting. A little while later Curtis decided I needed a closer look at one. After a few photos we released the gator unharmed.
That night we'd gone out to find alligator gar, which were being extremely elusive. So we decided to burn the next evening hog hunting by moonlight. At about a quarter after eleven I took my first wild hog, which we recovered the next morning.
Of course, we took some time out for a little stump shooting around Curtis' property. The snakes were kind enough to stay the heck away from us too. Then again, maybe they just knew Charlie had a bow in his hand and decided to play it safe.
A couple months later, good friend and hunting partner Dave Shumway and I headed to Canada to hunt moose and whatever else was in season. He'd been up there several times before, but this was my first trip to Northwest Ontario. What a beautiful area. I could have spend the entire two weeks just looking through the viewfinder of my camera, but there were animals to get after.
A couple days into the hunt I connected on my first ruffed grouse....
...which was followed up by my first spruce grouse.
It didn't take too long before I came across my first bear and wolf tracks.
About a week into the hunt I had my first up close encounter with a pair of bear cubs. My guide and I were standing on a minnow trapper's trail when the little fuzzballs came busting through the bush right up to us. No pictures though. We didn't know where the sow was and figured it best to get out of the area before she decided to introduce herself.
Maybe a week and a half into the hunt a bull I'd passed up a marginal shot on 5 days earlier offered his broadside chest at ten yards. I sent my arrow through both his lungs. 89 yards later I walked up and hung my tag on my first bull moose.
Ted Peters, my guide, is holding his homemade call...a steel bean can with a shoestring in the bottom. Watching him use that can to bring the bull in was something I'll never forget.
Over the next few months I managed to put some venison in the freezer and even made a few attempts at goose hunting with a bow. I never so much as drew on one of those birds, but I'm definately making plans to add that to my list of firsts for the next season. If nothing else, it'll sure be fun trying.
Topic: Lets see your 2006 in Review. (Read 6143 times)
