The puppies are going to help me celebrate post #200 of the second edition of The Daily Limit! Actually these two punks were born just over a year ago and were 8 weeks old and waiting to go to their new homes when I snapped this photo.

I’ve really enjoyed the last 9 months or so. I’ve met some interesting new people: fellow bloggers, hunters, the occasional meat head… This blog has also changed the way I go afield for the better. I carry my camera everywhere I go now. I try to think of a good way to document anything that might be interesting. Now as I go back over some of the photos and posts it brings back pleasant memories:
I think about how much I enjoyed this classic goose hunt.

Or how hard my heart was pounding when this buck turned and walked my way.

I smile to myself every time someone ends up at my website because they googled, “K-State Sucks” (it sure does!).

Or how much fun it was to bowfish with The Old Man in a flood.

I wouldn’t have even had my camera with me to take this picture if not for the blog.

Or this one.

And how can I not mention the stunningly ignorant insults hurled my way when I dared question the ethics of killing penned animals!

Or the pronghorn hunt that actually led to the start of this blog.

Or the post that paved the way for the next 199.

Actually I’ve had fun just going back looking for links to these old posts. I’m thankful to those of you who check in regularly and even more grateful for those of you who contribute by giving me your thoughts or sending me pictures of your outdoor adventures. Keep them coming, and please let me know what you think in the future.

I’ve written a couple of stories on this already, (here and here) but there’s more sad news from Tred Barta. Long time friend and show co-host Dan Harrison has released another letter this time revealing that Tred has been diagnosed with Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia, a rare type of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

Tred is now in the process of going through Chemo treatments and will be returning to rehab soon after. For Tred and Anni this is life-changing and life challenging. Tred is not poor by any means but how can anybody prepare themselves for this type of disaster? To equip his house to be handy-capped accessible will be close to $100,000 dollars. I have posted a couple of messages from his wife Anni so you can see what they are going through.

“We just found out today that Tred has full blown Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia, a rare but very treatable form of lymphoma. The aggressiveness and sudden onset leads us to believe that it may be the cause of the paralysis and perhaps even reversible over time. We have been moved to Porter Hospital where Tred’s cell phone works just fine and we will be there for 5 days for plasma pheresis and chemo. This again has kept me from getting a letter out but I promise tomorrow, now that the discovery is done. FINALLY!!!!!! love, ANNI”

“Hi Dan, The damage signals on Tred’s spine are progressing, moving up to his neck now. We are basically starting from scratch now, trying to come up with the correct diagnosis. We have EVERYBODIES attention now, and they are all over us with tests in every quadrant. The good news is that if they can find the cause soon and find a solution, possibly some of the damage could be reversed. Yes, I am way too busy. I am struggling to put together a synopsis of where Tred is right now medically. I absolutely would love to rely on you to manage all the posts and keep an eye on the threads. However, I don’t have enough time to follow the streams but if you can please print them out if possible, for reading as time allows. If you see something especially good or valuable, timely of course forward it to my email or call me. Thank you so much Dan, you are such a good friend!”

“We are trying to put together a fund raising effort for all of his medical and new living equipment needs. They will probably amount to around $100,000 can you believe it. Anyway, if you would send a letter to friends and also pass along to me any websites that you think would be good. Here is the info: Donations can be made in Tred’s name to The Vail Valley Charitable Fund, which is a 501(c)3 charity, and funds are tax deductable. Their address is: PO Box 1275, Avon, CO 81620, or call 970-845-6339 or pay by credit card on line at www.vvcf.org Be sure to mention that it is for Tred. You may also make deposits to Wells Fargo Bank, Tred Barta medical fund. Routing #102000076, acct # 8990772827.

Read the rest here.

I headed out East of town Saturday morning hoping to return with at least one of a handful of interesting guns that were going to be auctioned. A nice custom 10/22 by Clark with a fluted heavy barrel was my real goal but I was also interested in a heavy barreled 700 in .223 and a couple Model 12s. Unfortunately each gun went for more than I thought they were worth, a couple even going for way too much (an 1100 for nearly $800.00!).

But all was not lost. Thousands or rounds of various ammo went after the guns. After the centerfire stuff was gone most of the buyers lost interest and I ended up with 20 boxes of various shotgun shells for $4.00 apiece. So when I got home I turned my office into a sorting station…

About half the shells were hot 2 3/4″ 4s 5s and 6s. The only real choice for pheasants. The other half was a smattering of 2 3/4″ steel 2s and 3″ goose loads. I’ll certainly burn through those with no problem. But I also ended up with 4 individual 3″ lead #4 buck. Any idea what to do with them? Maybe I should toss one in my turkey vest for coyotes?

I’m a PADI certified diver but I admit it’s not really my thing. Of course if I thought I could find elk racks underwater I might dive more often. That’s exactly what Jeff Bosek did on a dive in 2007. The local museum estimated their age at between 2,000-12,000 years old. It’s not some little raghorn either.

Check out this story here.

From the “Wow what a Surprise” file:

A three year investigation by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service involving the illegal importation of white-tailed deer into South Carolina has lead to the indictment of individuals in multiple states.

According to documents filed in the District Court of the Southern District of Ohio, individuals from South Carolina conspired with individuals from Ohio and elsewhere to illegally import 54 white-tailed deer into South Carolina in late 2005.

According to John Frampton, S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) director, “This case involved a conspiracy to import deer by falsifying records associated with the purchase and shipment of deer which ultimately led to deer being illegally imported in to the state. South Carolina law prohibits the importation of deer without a permit and since the case involved interstate commerce it resulted in a Federal Lacey Act violation as well.”

According to court records, James Schaffer of Charleston conspired with Danny L. Parrott of Kimbolton, Ohio, and other unnamed individuals, to transport deer to South Carolina on several occasions in late 2005. About $70,000 were paid for the deer which went to Graham’s Turnout Hunt Co., a deer hunting service catering to hunters from South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, which is located in Bamberg County and owned by Schaffer.

Deer originated from a number of states including at least one state known to harbor Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), said Charles Ruth, Deer/Turkey Project supervisor with DNR. “Fortunately, the deer were not released into the wild, but rather, they were released into several enclosures including one in excess of 500 acres.”

Read the rest here.

Once again, not hunting. Sad, pathetic, illegal, and not hunting. The need to kill big animals without working for them has once again proven an irresistible temptation to those already predisposed to struggle with ethics. Huh, who woulda guessed?

I’ve played soccer my whole life. I’m one of the few Americans that are following the National Team as they play their way towards the 2010 World Cup in South Africa (I hope to attend). Today was the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup against the best team in the world, Spain. The US picked up a solid goal early in the game and then played incredible defense for the rest of the game, adding a counter attack goal midway through the second half. After losing the first two games in round robin play and getting throttled a few weeks ago by Costa Rica it’s good to see the US play well. Spain had not been defeated in its last 15 games. Now it would be nice if people took notice of the finals on Sunday at 2:25 EST on ESPN2.

Just a photo I snapped on last month’s bear hunt:

The wife’s brother had this big idea to go to the Royals game for Father’s Day. Ok, not an obviously terrible idea except:
- It was a 1:00pm day game
- It’s June 21 in Eastern Kansas
- On average, it’s like 183 degrees on June 21 in Eastern Kansas
- The Royals really suck
- It was against the Cardinals who always fill the stadium with their idiot fans
- Royals “manager” Trey Hillman publicly stated that he would pitch to Albert Pujols as some type of manliness-pain threshold-test

Of course you know what happened. The 7 months pregnant wife was uncomfortable in the 98 degrees with 75% humidity and no shade. We left in the 5th. Better yet, Pujols had 2 homers, 6 RBIs and NO WALKS. Apparently Trey won by losing? Happy Father’s Day btw!

So this evening I was checking up on my favorite baseball writer’s blog to see if he had any gems about the 3-0 series we just lost in comically bad fashion. I found this post:

*Brilliant reader Jeff brings up a completely unrelated point that I actually spent a great deal of time thinking about Thursday night. With the score tied in the top of the ninth, with Cleveland’s Kerry Wood pitching, Royals manager Trey Hillman decided to pinch-hit for first batter Tony Pena Jr. Well, it only makes sense. You need to do whatever you can to get your leadoff hitter on base in the ninth.

But here’s what Trey did: He pinch hit Luis Hernandez. For those of you that don’t know: Luis Hernandez can’t hit. No, I’m serious, he can’t hit. Best I can tell, you couldn’t pick Luis Hernandez out of a lineup filled with Tony Penas. Hernandez is a lifetime .246/.292/.316 hitter … in the MINOR LEAGUES. To be fair to him, Luis Hernandez never claimed the ability to hit, he (like Tony Pena) is a good defensive shortstop and his value is as a late inning defensive replacement and day-game-after-a-night-game stand-in. There are worse things.

This is the man Trey Hillman decided to use as a pinch hitter to lead off the ninth inning with a tie score. Trey did this even though he had Mike Jacobs and Mark Teahen on the bench, both left-handed hitters, both a million times better than Luis Hernandez and both (as Jeff pointed out) hit home runs off of Kerry Wood just a couple of weeks earlier in the Royals stunning ninth inning comeback. I stared at the television blankly, like I was looking at one of those magic eye puzzles and I couldn’t see the sailboat.

My friend Joel Goldberg was filling in for the hoarse Ryan Lefebvre as TV announcer, and so it was left to him to try to explain this mystery — it was like asking a Coca Cola employee from another department to explain the strategies behind New Coke. I thought Joel tried hard: He suggested that Trey was probably “saving” Teahen (and, presumably, Jacobs) for a situation when they might drive in a run.

Here’s the whole piece.

So I think this makes the 16th consecutive year I’ve been to this lake. We’ve dealt with 3 owners and about 10 different arrangements of transportation and management. This year’s adventure included landing a small private plane on this abandoned airstrip so we could get picked up by the float plane. Beavers had apparently decided to build a dam that backed up water on one end of the runway… not good…

Fortunately our two expert pilots managed to make yet another wonderful landing and within a couple of hours we were fishing.

(more…)

Apparently some researchers at the Wildlife Conservation Society have tracked a wolverine into Northern Colorado. This marks the first time an animal has been confirmed in 90 years!

Read the rest here.