14 days to 2008 Rifle Season

Hoping that another one of these monsters is roaming the woods of Franklin Lake this year.

Franklin Lake Turkeys

Aqua Socializer ~ Ice Edition

The build began just before Christmas. Bill, Dan, Mickey and I were able to sneak out to the garage and start converting an old camper in to what would soon become the Aqua Socailizer ~ Ice Edition. The build went pretty quickly from then on. We had Julias come over to help with the floor and framing the walls to make sure we got that part right. Kate was out of town visiting my parents in AZ, so I pretty much moved in with Bill & Mary. Between Bill, Dan and I, we put in long hours and had it ready for the ice in just a couple of weeks.

Jonnie's Infamous PPIS - Pink Panty Ice Shanty

IceFest 2005 - PPIS

A couple of shots from IceFest 2005 in the PPIS, always a good time.

Sam The Dog kept a close eye on the holes, when he could keep his eyes open.

Duck Opener

Proof That We Actually Fish at IceFest

A couple of fish taken over the past few years of IceFest, an annual event held at Sontag's on Seven. Can pretty much count on -40 degree weather for this event.

Sybil Lake 23" Walleye - July 2007

Not a bad fish, for my 2nd walleye out of Sybil lake.

Spring on Sybil - 14" Crappies

Couldn't hardly wait for spring of 2008. We had closed on our new place on Sybil lake late in the fall of 2007, and had heard stories of great spring crappie fishing right along the shoreline that we had just bought. Sure enough, come spring, I was finding 14" slab crappies right off the end of the dock. Doesn't get much better than that.

2007 Rifle Season - Year #5

Year #5 (Chad, Jon, Steve, Zach, Josh)

Nothing but bucks in 2007. Chad took this nice mature 8pt up in the high country.

2006 Rifle Season - Year #4

Year #4 (Jon, Josh, Zach, Chad, Steve)

Big buck award goes to Jonnie in 2006, we had to hunt pretty hard to come up with anything in 06. Balmy weather all weekend, and we weren't seeing anything on the move. Took a trip over to some of Chuck's land near Vergas and set up a drive. Jonnie took post on the property line, and took what appeared to be a nice 8pt on the run as it headed for cover deeper in the woods. Unfotunately, Jonnie was only looking at this buck from his good side, he had a broken/un-developed antler on the other side.

2005 Rifle Season - Year #3

Year #3 (Jon, Josh, Zach, Chad, Steve)

Trophy hunt for Josh. We had heard about a real nice buck roaming the area, and sure enough, he came in by Josh's stand. One of the most impressive deer I have ever seen taken from the area. Mature 14pt with massive beams.

2004 Rifle Season - Year #2

Year #2 (Josh, Jon, Zach, Chad, Steve)

Added Chad to the group this year.

Zach took a nice 10pt w/ the shotgun.

2003 Rifle Season - Year #1

Year #1 (Josh, Jon, Zach, Steve)

Woke up to -16 deg weather on opening morning w/ snow on the ground. Deer were definately on the move in full rut.

Within 30 mins of opener, I had 3-8pt's on the ground, all within 50 yards of the stand built earlier that summer. Had to do some begging for buck tags at that point.

Jonnie got on the board pretty quickly as well, with a nice long shot across an open field, he happend to see a deer crossing the field as we were dressing out the 3 bucks. After opening morning we had 4 hanging.

Later that afternoon, we headed back to the stands, I never had a chance to get out of my truck. I dropped Zach and Jonnie off to walk to their stands, and no sooner than I put the truck in reverse, Zach had already taken a shot and had another doe on the ground. As Zach and I walked up to look at it, we heard Jonnie fire as well, making it 6.

Josh came down with the flu (legit) and missed opening day all together, but we got him out in the stand Sunday afternoon, within a half hour, he had his doe brining us up to a total of 7, which is when we called it quits for season #1.

Fun drive home with 28 legs sticking out of the back of the truck.