Hunt Lake Manitoba Narrows

Jimmy Bellows, the All-America Junior shotgun wizard from Encino, California, is the 1963 World All-Gauge Skeet Championship. The 16-year-old high school student fired 250 straight in the main event and 200 straight in a hair-raising shoot-off to defeat five other. After the smoke had cleared away, Tom Heffron, brilliant Groton, New York, sharpshooter, finished in second place, followed by Marvin Hambrick, San Pablo, California; John Matchette, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Bob Thiefels, Pontiac, Michigan; and Lt. Col. Frank Knapp, Salina, Kansas. Bellows was awarded the Sports Afield All-Gauge trophy by Alex Kerr, president of the National Skeet Shooting Association. The shoot was held under the able jurisdiction of the Rochester-Brooks Gun Club and club president Dr. E.R. Wray at Fairport, New York, in August. Mrs. Daphne Muchnic of Atchison, Kansas, broke 248 out of 250 to take the Women’s championship. D. Lee Braun, San Mateo, California, and Barney Hartman, Ottawa, Ontario, wound up co-champs in the Professional race after they had broken 400 straight birds. Andy Lard, Stockton, California, carried off the Sub-Senior trophy when he shot 248 out of 250, while Larry Smith, Birmingham, Michigan, ace, shattered 247 out of 250 to win the Senior title. Winner of the Veterans event was Bob Bogie of Loon Lake, New York, who scored 246 out of 250. Ed Scherer, Waukesha, Wisconsin, and John Matchette were victorious in the Two-Man All-Gauge team race when they registered 499 out of 500. Ken Pendergras of Jacksonville, Florida, ground out 99 out of 100 in the regular race and 100 straight in the extra events to capture the all-important Champion of Champions race which was shot with the four guns. The Sub-Junior event was won by 13-year-old Johnny Davis Jr. of Columbia, South Carolina, who broke 96 out of 100. Rochester’s Linda Ann Sucher, 13, was the winner of the Junior Ladies’ race when she busted 91 out of 100. California won the Five-Man-Team  championship with 1243 out of 1250. Members of the team were Jimmy Bellows, Andy Laird, Marvin Hambrick, Bill Rogers and Jimmy Hooker. All-Gauge Class winners were: John Matchette (Class AA) 250 out of 250; Bill Stock, York, Pennsylvania, (Class A) 249 out of 250; Forbes McLeod, Lancaster, New Brunswick, Canada, (Class B) 249 out 250; Gene Wojcik, Golden, New York, (Class D) 239 out of 250; D.A. Risch, Sharon, Massachusetts, (Class E) 238 out of 250.

Al Shuley, 57-year-old plastics manufacturer from Roselle, Illinois, who already had the Eastern Open Championship tucked under his belt, took his second shotgun title of the week when he blasted out 98 out of 100 to win the .410 crown. He had tied Jimmy Bellows and Ed Scherer in the main event, but beat them in the shoof-off. Kathleen Dinning, Ruxton, Maryland, was the victor in the Women’s race when she scored 94 out of 100. Fred Missildine, Sea Island, Georgia, shot 96 out of 100 to take the Professional honors. California won the Five-Man-Team battle, and Matchette and Ed Scherer the Two-Man duel. Al and young Bob Shuley had tied the Milwaukeans, but went down in the shoot-off.

Winner and champion of the 28-gauge title race was Judge Ed Lee of Norwich, New York, who has been shooting top scores since Hector was a pup. The judge broke 100 straight, then won the shoot-off from Marv Hambrick (second place) and six others. Kathleen Mc Ginn, Houston, Texas, who had won the Western Open, was high gun in the Women’s 28-gauge with a big 99 out of 100. Barney Hartman scored 100 straight to pace the Professional field. Two-Man Team winners were R.B. Reay and Jack Johnson, both of San Antonio, Texas, who shot 199 out of 200. The Five-Man-Team title went to California.

Ken Sedlecky, the “mighty mite” from Baldwin, Michigan, took the 20-gauge National Championship. The 22-year-old sporting goods dealer broke 100 straight to tie with eight others. Eddie Tuvo, a tough little shot from Quebec, took second place, and Floyd E. Scott of North Wilbraham, Massachusetts, wound up with the AA trophy. Kathleen Mc Ginn smothered 99 out of 100 to win the Women’s event.

www.huntlakemanitobanarrows.com

Winnipeg Ford Escape Quotes Internet
Manitoba Ford Dealers

Jimmy Hunter, Reno, Nevada, (Junior) 197 out of 200; Grace Bachhuber, Mayville, Wisconsin, (Women) 194 out of 200; Paul Smith, Lakewood, Colorado, (Pro) 198 out of 200; Art Holm, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Introductory Veterans) 98 out of 100.

All-American Johnny Sternberger of Trotwood, Ohio, won his first major GAH victory when he shattered 200 straight, then 125 straight, to take the Introductory Crown in a shoot-off with six others. Pete Souba of Minneapolis, Minnesota, placed second; Dan Olrich won third place and the AA Class trophy.

Other winners were: Mrs. Van Marker, Versailles, Ohio, (Women) 192 out of 200; Joe Hancock, Wichita, Kansas, (Junior) 198 out of 200; Jimmy Columbo, Omaha, Nebraska, (Sub-Junior) 195 out of 200. Winner of Veterans race for 70 year-olds and better was Adolph Nelson, the 73 year-old Detroit, Michigan, marathon artist who has shot more registered targets than any man dead or living. Nelson, who has fired at more than a quarter of a million 16-yard registered clays, shot 99 out of 100 to win.

More winners: Bard and Eulalie Higgins, Duluth, Minnesota, (Husband and Wife) 387 out of 400; Mrs. Van Marker, (Women’s Vets) 99 out of 100; Bard and Jimmy Higgins, (Parent and Son) 398 out of 100. The famous brother duo, the Berlet Boys from Wapakoneta, Ohio, again triumphed in the Brother and Brother race when they shot 396 out of 400. When we asked Dave if the heavy rain bothered his shooting, he said, “We’re just a couple of farmers. We don’t know enough to come in out of the rain.”

Then big Dan Orlich, the former Green Bay Packers football star, banged out 100 straight to take the Champion of Champions race for the third straight time. But Olrich had to beat state champion Sonnie Rich of Greenville, Mississippi, and Don Mackerman of Newton, Iowa, in a three-way shoot-off. Jimmy Hunter won the Junior Champ of Champs contest with 99 out of 100, and Punkin Flock of Miami, Florida, headed the Women’s field when she registered 198 out of 200.

C.E. Barnhart, who had a big week at the Grand, taking two of the three major shotgun titles, won the coveted Class AA championship when he broke 200 straight in the main event and 175 without a miss in the shoot-off to beat two Iowans, Don Mackerman of Newton (second) and Bob Martin of Cedar Rapids. Ken Kleckner of Riverdale, Illinois, won Class A with 200 straight. Seventeen-year-old Dick Polcyn of Rusell, Kansas, took B Class with 198 out of 200. The C Class winner was Dale Mount of Columbus, Ohio, who shot 197 out o 200. Ed Platske of Milwaukee grabbed D Class when he scored 195 out of 200. Sonnie Rich was the victor in the Zone Champ of Champs competition with 99 out of 100, and Freddy Missildine, the famed skeet shooter from Sea Island, Georgia, was the winner of the Professional event when he broke 200 straight, then beat Tom Frye in the shoot-off. Young Tommy Dunn of Joliet, Illinois, broke 199 of 200 to pace the Illinois team, which captured the Five-Man-State-Team race with 987 out of 1000. Other members were Gary Stafford, Harry Skalsky, Gus Wesley and Forrest Woods. Larry Gravestock, the 25-year-old Amarillo, Texas, sporting goods dealer, became the second amateur to break 100 straight doubles at the Grand American. Larry won the Special race with this score. Merle Kemmerly, the Bossier City, Louisiana, night club owner, broke 100 three years ago.

Seventeen year-old Jimmy De Filippi of Oglesby, Illinois, a member of my 1963 Sports Afield All-America Junior Trap Team, caused somewhat of a furor when he shattered 99 out of 100 to win the world Doubles championship. Dick Baldwin, Danbury, Connecticut, took the Professional championship when he fired 98 out of 100; and Judith Allison of Elgin, Illinois, was the top gun in the women’s event with 88 out of 100. Wayne Rowland, a fine shot from Garden City, Kansas, winner of the Kansas State Championship, was victorious in the Vandalia Open Handicap when he scored 99 out of 100 from 23 yards. Bob Diefenderfer, 36, of Reading, Pennsylvania, climaxed a great session of shooting when he won the important High-Over-All championship. The hard-shooting Keystone gunner broke 971 out of 1000. Other HOA winners were: Sheila Egan of Mount Vernon, New York, (Women) 935 out of 1000; Jimmy De Filippi, 968 out of 1000; Fred Missildine, (Pro) 953 out of 1000. Lt. Col. Hank Copsey, Colorado Springs, Colorado, headed the All-Around field when he finished with 391 out of 400. Others: Wanna Elliott, Columbus, Ohio, (Women) 371 out of 400; Kent Stauffer (Junior) 380 out of 400; Don Flewelling, (Pro) 385 out of 400.

www.huntlakemanitobanarrows.com

Comfort Inn Winnipeg

Winnipeg Canada

Our wandering camping minstrel begins his most recent adventure in the littoral rain forests of British Columbia and fulfills a lifetime dream.

Day before yesterday, I received an unusually nice, eight-page letter from a reader and fellow sportsman – a doctor who has kindly followed most of my hunting tales. In it he asked, “John, how in the world do you get the ideas for these trips, and how do you locate and decide on different areas?” There is no set rule that I follow, but just for once you might possible be interested in how this particular assignment was conceived and executed. It has roots reaching nearly 40 years into the past, and it was recently brought to fulfillment by the understanding and generosity of my boss, Ted Kesting, the Editor of Sports Afield. This was a span of many years, even decades, with my late Dad.

www.huntlakemanitobanarrows.com

Comfort Inn Winnipeg

Winnipeg Manitoba

He explained that he had decided our hunt should be held near Lima, Montana, because his biologist friend had told him that was the place. We made a date for the trip. Then I dropped the phone and looked for Lima on the map.

Lima turned out to be a small dot ‘way over in the southwestern part of the state, practically under the Continental Divide that separates Montana from Idaho. It’s a little railroad town on U.S. 91.

While waiting for Gene’s hunting date, I made the long shot for my trophy on Bangtail Ridge near Clyde Park. For a couple of days I shadowed a  good one that hung out in a brushy canyon on Brackett Creek, not far from Bangtail. I got two glimpses of him, once as he stopped on a distant ridge to look me over and once when he crawled past in heavy brush. Don’t let them tell you that mulies never sneak. This one did.

Jack Ward of Livingston finally got him. I told Jack where to take up a stand while I shook down the little canyon; and on the way to his post Jack jumped the buck, which evidently had anticipated our move and was moving out ahead of schedule. Jack’s .270 stopped him on a dead run as he topped a knob; and when Jack called me  on a little walkie-talkie to report, I loudly attributed his success to luck. Jack said it was scientific marksmanship, and in his case I suspect he’s right.

The deer weighed better than 200 pounds dressed, although the rack wasn’t remarkable. By that time I figured Gene Decker really had the dope on the rut. The following Friday night I steered cautiously over icy streets to his Bozeman home, fearing weather might prevent our 250-mile trip to Lima.

Gene was in fine fettle. “Don’t worry about a thing,” he beamed. “I have weather reports for every inch of the way. We’ll run out of ice ten miles out of Bozeman; and if you follow my directions, it’ll be dry roads nearly all of the way to Lima.”

He was right in every detail. We were in Lima by bedtime, even though we stopped frequently for Gene to make contact with various authorities of his acquaintance. He stopped once and got some maps.  “With this thorough preparation, getting my buck is merely a formality,” he said.

At Lima we stayed at a railroad hotel and had ham and eggs in a local lunchroom at six the next morning. The temperature got down near zero during the night. Gene got out his maps and started giving me directions. We turned off the highway at Dell, and from there on the landmarks included such spots as Tonsillitis Gulch, Caboose Canyon and Muddy Hole Basin. We headed for Grassy Top Mountain, and from the map which he occasionally allowed me to glance at, I figured we were going to hunt in the Tendoy Range, within about eight miles of the Idaho border.

Unfortunately I had gotten my radar turned around during the night, and north is still south when I approach Lima. I bogged down in the snow when I drove up a draw with a little patch of pines at the upper end. Gene said we’d better put on chains, but I didn’t pay much attention because I was watching 20 or so mule deer trotting out of the pines. Finally I came back to earth, realized I was stuck and got out the chains.

“Forget that bunch,” Gene said briskly. “Nothing but junk antlers.”

“We saw a lot of bucks that day. Some of the bigger ones had harems of a dozen or so does. The country is made up of steep, sagebrush-covered ridges with patches of timber in the canyons. There were several inches of snow.

We’d near the top a ridge and get out to walk the last few yards. If there was some good hunting country visible, we’d walk it out. Generally we’d see deer somewhere on distant slopes or popping up in the sage near at hand.

With me nervously urging him to “look again” at all the big ones, Gene rejected most of the bucks with a single glance. Some he commented on. “Wow!” he’d say. “Look at the prongs on that one.

www.huntlakemanitobanarrows.com

Fort Mc Murray Albera Used Truck Dealer

Auto Dealers Pitt Meadows BC

Midtown Ford Blog

“Gee-one in each direction, Mr. Thoms,” I said. “That’s good shooting.” “That’s good polin’, honey,” he said. “All tuckered out?” “No, sir,” I said, “I like it. Let’s go again.” I shoved us into the next patch of rice.

But Pops pays her no mind when she carries on like this. “Our forefathers gunned the elusive rail in the very same marshes that Marshall Thoms is taking us to,” continued my Pops. “Your forefathers might have,” Mom said. “Mine were working hard at something constructive for their families instead of chasing around playing Nature Boys with guns and such.”

“You mean, Pops, I’m going with you?” I said to sort of change the mood of things; also to make sure I heard Pops rightly. “It’s a fine sport for a young lady,” said my Pops, especially when she has an old hand to instruct her in the finer points.”

“You mean Mr. Thoms?” I asked. “He means himself,” said Mom, “as always. Furthermore, George, what makes this railbird business so ladylike in contrast to the other nonsense you’ve taken Lois on? I suppose this Thoms character guzzles his liquor from a sterling silver flask or talks bad language only in French?” “Now, Mom,” said Pops. “Don’t start now-ing me, George,” Mom said. “I think it’s about time I put my foot down about some of the things you get Lois into and the people she meets up with, thanks to your lack of judgment. We’re trying to bring her up like a girl, you know.”

“I know,” said Pops, shaking his head kind of sadly. “Gosh, Mom,” I came in real fast, “I love going to places with Pops and meeting his friends and learning all Pops can teach me.”

“I’m sure you do,” said Mom. “In no time he’ll have you an expert in drinking directly from the bottle.” “Now, Mom,” said Pops, “have I ever?” “No, not yet, but it won’t be long,” she replied. “Tell us about railbirds, Pops,” I said to change the subject.

“Gladly,” said Pops. “Listen carefully, and I’ll give you the lowdown on three varieties of rail we’re likely to meet up with.” “I’ll go and turn on the TV,”said Mom. “It’s time for To Tell the Truth and I prefer to see lying done with finesse.”

“The railbird,” said my Pops extra loud, so he could compete with Bud Collyer and the contestants, “is a shorebird.” “That’s ’cause it lives on the shore, eh, Pops?” I said, to encourage him. Pops shook his head again. “You get more like your mother every day,” he said. “Please don’t interrupt.”

“Sorry, Pops,” I said. “The three types of rail we will encounter,” Pops went on, “are, in descending order of size, the clapper, the Virginia and the sora. The sora…”

I couldn’t resist saying, “Which is the smallest, eh, Pops?’ “Which is the smallest. It’s not much bigger than a sparrow.” “Pretty tough to hit, I’ll bet, eh, Pops?” “It would be if you weren’t coached by an expert who knows their ways.”

“And that’s you,” I said proudly. “You’re damned right,” said Pops emphatically. “What’s that, George?” said Mom. “Nothing, dear” said Pops. “Better pay attention to your program, so you don’t miss anything.”

From where I was sitting, I could see the TV screen out of the corner of my eye. There were three ladies, all claiming to be wrestlers. “The real one’s the one on the left,” Pops shouted to Mom. “It always is.”

“Sure it is,” said Mom, as the Middle lady stood up. “You haven’t been right since the show started. Get back to your railbirds and leave me enjoy my program.” “Railbirds,” said Pops to me, “have  a strange flight pattern. Pay strict attention, Lois, because knowing this secret will mean the difference between a full game bag and an empty one.”

“Okay, Pops,” I said.

Then Pops went on to explain how these little birds would be feeding on the wild rice as we poled our boat through at high tide. If our boat got up enough speed, the birds would rise up in front of us. If not, they would merely move ahead of the boat, keeping out of sight.

“And if they rise?” I asked.

“Let ‘en have it!” said Pops with a sweep of his hand, knocking his beer glass on the floor. “Get a rag from the kitchen, George,” said Mom without glancing up from the TV. “And be sure to pick up every sliver of glass. Lois and the dog walk around here barefoot, you know.”

“I thought the dog wore gloves, ” said Pops at 5:30 a.m. the next Saturday and we would meet Mr. Thoms at the mouth of the Housatonic River, where he had his special poling boat. I was very excited, and it was difficult to get to sleep as early as 8 p.m. so we could get up that early. Pops was snoring away by 8:05.

Next morning, however, he didn’t even open an eye when the alarm went off, though it blasted me right out of bed. I had to shake him several times.

“Those cheap alarm clocks never work,” said Pops as he staggered to the bathroom. “Get dressed fast, Lois, and wear something light because it’ll be warm, even for September. I’m wearing bathing trunks and sneakers.”

“Yessir,” I said.

We gulped a cup of coffee and soon were out on the road heading toward the mouth of the Housatonic. I held my 20-gauge gun between my knees and Pops had his 12-gauge on the back seat. Ten minutes after we left, a red streak began to show in the seat.

“We’re just about on time,” said Pops.

“Won’t it be light before we get there?” I asked him.

“Doesn’t matter,” said my Pops, again proving he’s one of the world’s true sportsmen. “It’s the tide that counts. We’ve got to be out on that marsh, ready to shoot, one hour before high tide, and that’ll be about 6:45 a.m.

“Why’s that Pops?” I asked.

“So Mr. Thoms and I can push the rail boat. I told you we need high water or it won’t move fast enough.”

“And the birds’ll just move in front of you, right, Pops?” I said, remembering.

www.huntlakemanitobanarrows.com

Long Stay Hotel Winnipeg

CraigsList Vancouver Used Trucks

Midtown Ford Blog

Over the summer, precipitation was heavy and inflows into Lake Winnipeg increased dramatically. Manitoba Hydro’s control facility at Jenpeg has been at maximum discharge since July 1. Lake levels would have been up to 60 cm (2 feet) higher going into the October storm without this extra discharge over the summer.

Despite the increased outflow capacity, Lake Winnipeg was about 48 cm (1.6 feet) above the long-term average for this time of year simply because more precipitation fell and flowed into the lake than could flow out of it.

Over the last seven years, Manitoba has experienced some of the wettest years on record.

www.huntlakemanitobanarrows.com

Choice Hotel Suites Winnipeg

Furnasmans

Eagle Ridge GM Mobi

In October 2010, a wind storm caused flooding and property damage in low-lying areas of Lake Winnipeg’s south basin. Record-setting low barometric pressure in our province, and the accompanying extreme winds, resulted in the strongest storm ever recorded in the Midwest.

People looked to Manitoba Hydro, asking how we determine and manage lake levels.

www.huntlakemanitobanarrows.com

Winnipeg Manitoba

Choice Hotels Winnipeg

Hundreds of polar bears were spotted on the west coast of Hudson Bay earlier this week, waiting for ice that is almost a month late forming.

But a fierce storm in the region Thursday has temperatures dropping and ice forming, which could be good news for the bears if the weather stays colder. “It’s just howling,” Luc Desjardins, of the Canadian Ice Service, says of the storm that could change the fortunes of the hungry bears.

Until the storm hit, record-breaking conditions in the western Arctic this fall had kept the ice at bay. Temperatures up to 14 C above normal in one Arctic region in November prevented the formation of ice, which was almost a month behind schedule as of Monday, says Desjardins. He says the ice cover was the lowest since 1971, covering just 1.5 per cent of the sea, compared to the average of 20 per cent by mid-November.

Polar bears need sea ice to hunt for seals and other marine mammals. And after slim pickings on land in the summer, they are ready to get back on the ice come fall.

To get a read on the population, a helicopter survey was done Monday by conservation groups, Manitoba Conservation, and the York Factory First Nation Resource Management Board. The spotters counted 333 polar bears prowling the Manitoba coast of Hudson Bay.

Pete Ewins, an Arctic specialist for the World Wildlife Fund which helped co-ordinate the survey, says several “skinny bears” ended up in the “bear jail” in Churchill, Man., in September after scrounging for food where they were not welcome.

But the bears spotted in the survey appeared in “reasonably good condition,” says Ewins. They were mostly males, as females with cubs tend to steer clear of the males and travel inland.

“It is not a catastrophe about to happen tomorrow,” Ewins says of ice delay. “But the longer the ice is in returning, the more bears are going to be in very weak condition when they actually make it out on the sea ice.”

The “enduring concern,” he says, is that late ice in Hudson Bay is an increasingly common phenomenon that’s linked to climate change.

http://www.windsorstar.com/Bears+hungry+waiting/3853035/story.html

www.huntlakemanitobanarrows.com

Winnipeg Power Vac Services Duct Cleaning

Coqutlam Auto Repair Shop

Could a bumper crop of snow geese be in the offing for waterfowl hunters this year?

Dr. Robert “Rocky” Rockwell, a biology professor at City University of New York and one of North America’s leading authorities on snow geese, thinks so. Rockwell says the summer nesting season in the subarctic region of La Perouse Bay in northern Manitoba was “spectacular.”

“This is a huge production year,” says Rockwell, who was concerned about nesting success after last year’s dismal production. “This was the most bizarrely wet year I’ve ever seen up there. The birds nested 9 or 10 days earlier than normal, and as a result nest success was very high.”

Translation: Goose hunters are staring down the barrel of

what could be a banner fall flight.

“Predicting hunting can be a fool’s errand, and I never like to do it, but the upcoming season appears to be shaping up awfully well,” says Delta Waterfowl President Rob Olson.

“My message to goose hunters is this: get ready. The migration could be packed with young-of-the-year birds.”

Rockwell agrees. He says high nest success means lots of juveniles will be making the flight south.

“We’re talking about juvenile to adult ratios of 1.5 to 1,” says Rockwell, “which means those puppies are going to be sucked right into decoy spreads. Harvest always goes up when you have a high juvenile-to-adult ratio, so I think there’s good opportunity and I think it’s going to be early, because geese are already moving south.”

Rockwell says snow and Ross’ geese are foraging heavily on berries inland from the Hudson Bay coast. Thousands are currently south of the normal La Perouse Bay breeding range near the Broad River and are staging all the way to the Ontario/Manitoba border.

The eastern arctic is also looking good, says Dr. Jim Leafloor, a research scientist for Environment Canada who just returned from a banding program on Baffin Island.

“We’re expecting good production on Baffin, for all species, not just snows,” says Leafloor. “On South Hamption Island it’s the same deal, so the eastern arctic seems to be doing well this year.”

It’s a slightly different story in the central arctic. The migratory bird sanctuary at Karrak Lake south of Queen Maud Gulf is the breeding ground for 10 to 15 percent of the mid-continent snow goose population.

“Production of young at Karrak Lake has declined in the last four years,” says Dr. Ray Alisauskas, a research scientist with Environment Canada who’s been studying the colony since 1991. “There was later-than-average nesting due to delayed snow melt  and delays in nutrient storage, stemming from reduced food availability because of very high densities of geese on subarctic feeding areas.”While nesting productivity is down, Alisauskas says overall populations of both snow and Ross’ geese remain very high. The number of nesting geese at Karrak Lake has grown from 400,000 to more than a million in less than 10 years. A recent assessment found survival rates have not declined since 1989, even with concerted efforts to reduce the population through liberalized hunting regulations and a special spring conservation hunt.

“This harvest is showing that it’s sustainable,” says Alisauskas. “These birds are so resilient. You see video in the spring and you say, ‘Wow these birds are getting pounded quite hard,’ but when you look at the estimates of survival, they haven’t changed in the last 20 years.”

Olson says their sublime taste hasn’t changed in 20 years, either. Delta’s president isn’t a preacher, but he has become an evangelist for snow geese, which he says are among the most underrated waterfowl species for the pot. In fact, he insists they’re among the best.

“I don’t know where the propaganda started, but the myth that snow geese are inedible is just that—a myth,” he said. “I think they’re absolutely delicious—certainly not winged liver, as some have suggested— and I challenge hunters this year to prepare these succulent birds for their friends and family. They won’t be disappointed.”

http://www.ammoland.com/2010/09/01/snow-goose-production/

www.huntlakemanitobanarrows.com

Surrey BC Canada Auto Finance

I’m generally asked four or five times a week, “Where do you hunt?”

Hunters and fishermen never divulge their honey holes — it has taken them far too much time to acquire hunting or fishing privileges, and they’re not about to share them.

I’ve sent dozens of hunters to Medicine Lodge, Kan. through the years. Pheasant hunters will starve to death there before they run across a pheasant. The really good things to come out of the Medicine Lodge area are the treaty with the Comanche Native Americans and Martina McBride of country music fame.

Hunting anything, anywhere is by invitation only, and you must take a blood oath not to return with anyone else and also to forget where you’ve been. However, with old age and retirement having weakened me, I’m going to share with you the Mecca for upland bird hunting in the entire United States — “Highway 83.”

From Manitoba, Canada all the way to Laredo, Texas, more upland game birds fly across “83” than the total number of promises you’ve heard during this election season.

Winner, S.D., claims to be the pheasant hunting capital of the world — it’s just a little east of “83.”

Valentine, Neb., is about an hour southwest of Winner. I’ve taken many grouse around Valentine thanks to Glenn Clasen. I visited with Glenn at the Comfort Inn where he works. We also had a nice visit after Mass at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Platteville. Glenn directed us right to some of our best grouse hunting.

If you decide to grouse hunt there and stay at the Comfort Inn, tell the manager, Anne Clark, that I sent you. She takes good care of us.

Further south on “83” is North Platte, Neb. Just northeast of North Platte is Broken Bow, where you’ll find a combination of pheasants and grouse. Hunt the irrigation pivots.

Continuing south to McCook, Neb., again right on “83,” you may be in the best pheasant hunting part of the Cornhusker state. We visited St. Catherine Catholic Church near there in Indianola, Neb. Many, many corn pivots to hunt around there. At times, the bobwhite quail get in the way of my pheasant hunting.

About 60 miles south of McCook, just a bit off “83,” is Leoville, Kan., and the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. We’ve been to a wedding and Mass there a few times. All you’ll find there is the church and about four other buildings, but Leoville is surrounded by some really good dryland upland bird hunting.

Oakley, Kan., is at the intersection of Interstate 70 and “83.” St. Joseph Catholic Church is a good place to take a break on your way to hunt quail, prairie chickens and turkey in the Flint Hills.

Forty-five miles south of Oakley, you’ll run through Scott City, Kan. Scott City is the home of another St. Joe’s, but it is also home to several feed yards. Feed yards mean row crops; corn and milo, miles and miles of row crops. Row crops are also great feed and cover for upland birds.

Another 35 miles south on “83,” you will be at our home away from home, Garden City, Kan. I’ve run into St. Dominic in my hunting clothes just as the priest was starting Mass.

Liberal, Kan., is almost to the Oklahoma border. Liberal boasts a beautiful St. Anthony’s parish along with Dorothy’s home at 567 Yellow Brick Road. The pheasant hunting is best out toward Meade where you can also visit the Dalton Gang’s hideout. I could barely squeeze through the getaway tunnel.

Once you hit the panhandle of Oklahoma and then Texas, you’re better off hunting quail. I’ve heard that South Texas is home to the nation’s best quail populations this year.

I have come to one conclusion after visiting all of these wonderful communities over the past three to four decades: the ladies must be better shots than the guys! The vocalists in every one of those churches has been a female; the guys are still out hunting trying to fill their bag limits.

And for those of you that are wondering — yes, I did neglect to mention my favorite churches along Highway 83.

Jim Vanek is a longtime hunter (though you couldn’t tell that by this article) who lives with his family in Greeley.

http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20101008/OUTDOORS/101009763/1037&parentprofile=1010

www.huntlakemanitobanarrows.com

Winnipeg Manitoba  Mainstay Hotels

Eagle Ridge GM Mobi

Surrey BC GM Dealer