May 18th is the last day for California Archers and Youths to bag a turkey.  The general shotgun season ended Sunday, May 4th, but bowhunters and licensed youths under the age of 16 have an additional 14 days to fill their 3 bearded bird season limit.  Hunters can bag only one bird per day in California. 

The next chance for California Hunters will be a brief 2 week season, with a one bird limit in November. 

In Marin County around the middle of the day, I heard multiple gobbles from the ridgetops, so the birds are still talking.   If the toms are getting your goat, tage some tongue in cheek advice from our friend Phillip at the Hog Blog…after all he is a “profeshunul”, as he puts it. 

These Toms were not shy strutting just outside of Petaluma.   I actually had to stop to let them cross the road. 

I’m keeping an eye on a group of blacktail bucks, watching them grow through the spring.  Don’t ask where…., Cause I ain’t tellin’…

Check out the growth in the last 3 weeks…

April 23rd 2008

 I call this one “Stub” .  His right antler is misformed.  He is the lookout. 

This is “E.G.” short for Eyeguards.  I think he is already 16 inches wide.

May 8th, 2008

There are three bucks in the bachelor group.  Stub is on the left, and E.G. is the furthest right.

Look at the growth “E.G.” has put on!  Any guesses on width?

From the Sitka Gear Website “about Sitka Gear”Founded by Jason Hairston and Jonathan Hart in 2005 Sitka Mountain Gear™ was an idea spawned by necessity. Having just climbed 3000 vertical feet in the dark, with intermittent snow flurries and driving sleet, we hunkered down behind a gnarled White bark Pine to get some reprieve from the elements and a little food in our bellies. Cold and wet with sweat from our climb, we knew we didn’t need to be this uncomfortable in our gear. So, on that September morning, at timberline, surrounded by bugling bulls, we decided to create a company to fulfill this need. Utilizing our personal experiences in mountaineering, we set out to design clothes built to tackle mountains.

This Christmas I received a Sitka Summit zip neck shirt and Mountain pants from my family.  I finally had the opportunity to give them a try on our turkey hunt in April. 

The Summit Shirt is a base layer shirt that is perfect for most of our California early seasons by itself. If additional layering is needed, it may be combined with the insulating layers of the Mountain shirt, Timberline Vest or 90% jacket. It works to manage moisture by pulling it off of the skin, but with a looser fit than you might experience with a compression product like Under Armour. The Summit shirt is treated with an anti microbial product to reduce the “funk” that high exertion hunting and other active tasks might create after a couple of days in camp.

I found the Summit Zip neck T to be ideally suited for my training runs along the coast in 40-60 degree weather. It was a nice balance of breath-ability, and sweat management. I’ve worn it under a wool shirt for lower intensity chores, in the 30’s and 40’s with good results. and it will get the nod when bow season opens this Summer as well.

The mountain pants fit well with two way stretch, and an articulated (pleated) knee that reveals its self when you bend down to check out a track the first time. The material is quiet, and rugged, but holds up to brush amazingly well for its light weight. I would liken the fit to that of a pair of relaxed fit Wranglers. No slop in the thigh with a low rise to stay out of your pack belts way.

If you are like me and are tired of your shirt tails coming untucked during physical activity, you will love the somewhat tacky rubberized strip on the inside of the waist band of the pants. No matter what you do, it holds your shirt tails in without cinching your belt so tight that it digs into your hip bones.

The dew that morning beaded up and rolled off easily which makes me think that these pants will do well in high country cloud bursts. The Sitka tests have even proven that the material will dry in about 20 minutes. It is nice knowing also that my sweat won’t be soaked up to chill me later like cotton would.

This pant is going to get serious use in the upcoming fall seasons. Just add a good wool or synthetic base layer below for temps in the 50’s to 30’s and I think it can’t be beat.

You can find Sitka Gear at a number of online retailers, as well as many of your local outdoor shops. I have seen it in numerous archery shops in California, and even Sportsman’s Warehouse has pieces to get your hands on. The new line for 2008 will be appearing in June so keep you eyes peeled for the latest and greatest from Sitka Gear

Monday- After taking an “archery-induced” break from training, I made a conscious effort to get back on my regular training schedule.  Even though I had gotten up at 4:00 am to deliver Doug to the airport shuttle, I managed to get out on the road that evening and put in 4.5 miles in 40 minutes.  It felt real good to stretch my legs and breath hard.  I slept real well that night!

Tuesday - Ran a shorter than usual Tuesday run.  4.5 miles in 45 minutes.  Still feeling a little peaked. 

Thursday -Track practice was a little more intense this week.  We stretched the high intensity interval to 4 minutes with a 2 minute rest time.  After 4 of those sets i was ready to call it a night.  Still I managed to keep a 8 min mile pace during the Hi intensity portion.  Call it 3 miles worth of running.

Saturday-Ran at China Camp State park on the Shoreline trail.  It was nice running under the oaks with a breeze coming off of San Pablo Bay.  One thing about trail running, is that you have to really pay attention to wear each step is landing.  I’d say that it increases the dificulty of a run by 10%.  Add to that watching out for mountain bikes, and a 3 hour run is a HECK of a workout.  I was in the low 9:00 minute times for the first 10 miles, but on the return trip I found myself walking more.  I accompanied a fellow Rock and Roll trainee for the last 2.0 miles, and it kept me running, rather than just walking it in.  I figure I got 16 miles in.  I sure felt the additional soreness in my abs from maneuvering on the uneven trail. 

Weekly total : 28 miles

2 Weeks to Rock & Roll Marathon.  Next Saturday is my Longest Training Run of the Year!

Well this Sunday, I won’t be out turkey hunting or at an archery shoot.  Nope, I reckon I’ll be having breakfast with my Mom, wife and family at the local Mother’s Day breakfast put on by the Two Rock Presbyterian Church.  

It’s a tradition that goes back to as far as I can remember.  We eat Abelskivers (ABLE-SKEEVERS), a Danish pastry similar to the French beignet (BEN-YAY). For the authentic experience, a special cast iron pan with hemispherical indentations in the bottom is filled with batter and after cooking for a while the cake is flipped and it finished cooking with its recognizable round shape.

Top it with powdered sugar, syrup and/or jam and you have a breakfast to remember.

You can also make them in the oven at 350 degrees, using a muffin pan.

ABELSKIVER
 from COOKS.COM
2 c. buttermilk
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs
2 tbsp. sugar

Beat egg yolks; add sugar, salt and milk. Add the remaining ingredients that have been sifted together. Last, fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.
Place small amount of liquid shortening in each cup of pan. Fill 2/3 full. Cook until bubbly; turn carefully and finish baking other side. Optional, may put a dab of applesauce in the middle of each.

My turkey hunting partner Cal sure made a superb shot on this tom in April.  After an unsuccessful morning hunt in the foothills of the Sierras, he drove home to Marin County and managed to get into the birds.  Problem was that this tom was henned up out of range.  Or so he thought. 

Cal Shoots a Spot Hogg “seven deadly pins” sight and has pins out to 80 yards.  That Switchback is just plain deadly in his hands.  He sent a Slick Trick broadhead through that birds neck, breaking it and dropping it in his tracks.  A mutual friend of ours saw the whole thing unfold and still can’t believe it.   

Congrats to Cal and his second turkey of 2008.

“Adversity introduces man to himself” Anonymous

It was printed on a bookmark sent to me from a friend who is fighting Parkinson’s, and it made me smile.  Not because I want to wish adversity on anyone, but because I identified with the statement.  It seems that when we are faced with a dire situation physically, financially, or emotionally, when we look back on that experience we recognize qualities we didn’t know we had.  Sometimes it is a good quality such as being steady and resourceful under pressure.  Sometimes we see our faults and we can work to correct our quick temper or pessimistic tendancies.

Perhaps that is why humans find ways to challenge themselves physically, or mentally.  We desire to push our limits and see just who we are when things aren’t in our favor.  I know that pushing myself in training will only pay off in the future.  It makes the discomfort, whether at mile 20 in a marathon, or day 6 of a backcountry hunt, more bearable, because I have felt this before, and I survived.

Use this quote when the going gets tough, cause I know you are tough, and you will get going…

Here are some pictures taken by Doug Moore, my Alaskan archery connection.

Hold the cursor over the pictures for captions.

I finally was able to liberate some photos from my phone.  Let me introduce Doug from Alaska!

After dropping so many points the days prior, I shot the last 20 targets of the shoot with an intensity that I had seldom felt in a competition.  Looking back at the scores, that day, I had an average score per target of 20.85. Compare that to 19.96 and 19.64 the days prior.   

When we reached target 40, it was a feeling of relief to pound a perfect 22 on the tiny spots of the 16 yard target.  I finished with a 1407 out of 1540.  Near the bottom of my class, but a valuable learning experience nonetheless. 

For the entire list of final scores in the NFAA National championship marked 3-d tournament CLICK HERE 

For the Western Classic Trail Shoot results Click HERE

I had a chance to meet up with some friends from Utah and Oregon and was able to capture a picture on the last day.

From Left to right, Ben, Emily, myself, Leslie, and Tom.

That’s what it is all about.

I was proud that the group I shot with had an outstanding showing.   

Dave Bengston won the Men’s Senior Pro division, (with a 1519 out of 1540). 

Bill Morehead came in 4th in the Trail Shoot in Men’s Bowhunter Freestyle A, with a 1494.  A score of 1523 won that class.  (It is a new course record).

Another early morning and another hearty breakfast.  With the two longest targets behind us we all looked forward to mid-range targets.  We were well warmed up when we came to the 73 yard moose target.  I managed to hit the orange on my second shot. 

The long distance disadvantage of the Bowhunter freestyle shooter:

The freestyle compound bow shooter has the luxury of being able to adjust his or her sight to hold the aiming point dead on what they want to hit at any distance. For us pin shooters in the bowhunter classes, we are limited to 5 fixed reference points.  For my setup that is five pins, each pin is set for 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 yards from top to bottom.  For target distances in between and beyond those points we have to calculate a holdover, or gap two pins.   For a 73 yard shot i have to hold my 60 yard pin above the target and find another visual reference to aim at.  This is called “stacking pins”

By the time we reached the 50 yard Dall sheep target, I felt in my groove.  my hold was steady, and I held my yellow pin on the orange spot and it was as steady as any shot I’d shot all day.  Problem was the yellow pin is my 40 yard pin, and my shot missed the entire animal, and landed in the backstop.  on the next shot, I corrected my hold and drilled the orange for a humbling 11 on the target.

Four targets later I stood in front of a  55 yard downhill shot and the nock broke upon my release.  The bow made a loud “POP” and my arrow fell about 30 feet from the bow.  It might not have been as humiliating had I not been in front of a number of nationally renowned shooters.  My first arrow on the next target went low, and I realized my peep had moved from the half dry -fire the target before.  We moved it back to it’s proper place, and I drilled an 11. 

The rest of the day I battled self doubt and made a good showing dropping a point or two but not making egregious errors. 

I finished the day with 990 points, and the knowledge that I had the skill to be well over 1000 if I got the mental portion of the archery game mastered.  I left over 30 points on the table by not paying attention.  It was a valuable lesson.