This outdoor journal was written to preserve my memories and friendships made in the field. I received my first gun, a Remington youth-model, pump-action shotgun, when I was ten years old which ignited my passion for wild outdoor adventures. I hope that you enjoy a few of my favorite hiking, hunting and fishing stories from over the years.
We've practiced shooting our rifles. We've field tested our gear. We've packed our clothes. We've studied the weather report. We've discussed the hunting strategy. This has been our story for the past twelve months. I came back from West Texas last year and immediately began planing my next trip. The desert mountains had found a place in my heart. We set out this year with a group of four hunters, Dylan, David, Doug and myself. Our trip took us over 1,000 miles to a mule deer camp outside of El Paso. We had intentions of hunting trophy mule deer bucks and exotic aoudad rams. I packed my video equipment to capture the experience. Day one started early, around 5 AM, and you could feel the anticipation in everyone's voice. The camp was filled with the smell of coffee and breakfast burritos. We loaded our rifles and gear then headed our into the desert mountains. The weather was perfect. The daytime high was in the low 50's while the overnight low was in the low 40's. We spotted several young bucks and does the first day. We must have spotted 40 animals. Unfortunately, no mature, shooter bucks. Exhausted, we sit down at the camp to one of Bossie's restaurant quality meals. 4AM rolls around and everyone wakes to the sound of 40 MPH winds and a temperature that had fallen into the low 20's. This would prove to be the most challenging day of hunting that we would experience. We hoped the colder temperatures would initiate some rut activity but the high winds kept the deer bedded most of the day. We saw very few animals while we struggled to stay warm. The concern was building as we closed Day 2 without a kill.
The sun rose on Day 3 and it was cold. The wind was calm and the temperature had dropped. I went with David and Ken as we drove through the canyons in search of a shooter deer. At first light we spotted a good buck. We got set up on the deer but it was out of range before David could make a shot. Instantly we knew it was going to be a good day. Thirty minutes pass and we spot a deer named "El Burro" or The Donkey. He was named The Donkey because he was a very old deer that had a huge gut. His huge gut made him lethargic, much like a donkey. We spotted this buck at 130 yards. I put the cross hairs on his shoulder and squeezed the trigger. My Remmington model 700 rang out and my hand-loaded Berger VLDs found their mark. He didn't take one step. I dropped my first mule deer! Day 3 didn't end there. We drove to another part of the 65,000 acre property that was known to hold aoudad. Aoudad, formally known as Barbary Sheep, are native to the continent of Africa and are considered a nuisance in West Texas. It was now 11 AM and we had to make a decision - drive back to the camp and eat lunch of go after some rams that our guide had spotted at 1,000 yds. Of course, we decided to go after the rams. We drove as fast as we could through the desert to close the range and then the fireworks began. Dylan shot, I shot, I shot again and down went two aoudad. We spent the next few hours celebrating the hunt and hiking to retrieve the trophies.
The next day began as I drove to a wildlife check station to have my deer checked for Chronic Wasting Disease. This is a misfolded protein that infects deer's neural tissues and can wipe out an entire deer populations. There isn't much known about the disease but the wildlife biologists do know that it is not transmittable to humans. On my way to the check station, I get a call. Dylan has dropped his first buck. He shot him at 330 yards. I met him and we took both deer to the check station. We took the opportunity to follow an age-old tradition and put face paint on Dylan when we got back.
It's the time of the year when most sportsmen make their way from the woods to the water. I've enjoyed all types of summer-time fishing but nothing compares to fishing offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Gulf of Mexico waters that are located off the coast of Alabama are known as the world capital of red snapper fishing. Red snapper are one of the most popular fish to catch in the Gulf of Mexico. This is mostly due to the fact that they are so tasty. The current red snapper record in the state of Alabama was caught in 2002 and weighed 44 lbs 12 oz. I've never seen a snapper that weighed over 30 lbs and I can't imagine the endurance it would take to get a fish like that in the boat. Although, my brother was able to successfully land a 29 pounder in 2012. We all thought he was joking when he was struggling to keep the rod upright. It only took 15 minutes of intense fighting for everyone on the boat to realize that he had something huge on the line. This is still the largest red snapper that was caught on the Fairwater II docked at Zeke's Landing.
This year was not unlike the years past. I was able to take a deep sea fishing trip out of Zeke's landing with my dad and my brothers, Joseph and Garrett. This was our first trip on the Class Act and we were excited to start reeling in the fish. We had motored out about 20 miles when we stopped at our first reef. Alabama has the largest artificial reef program in the United States that spans over 1,030 square miles. Needless to say, there are no shortages of good fishing spots off the coast of Alabama. Next, the captain squawked over the loudspeaker that we could start fishing. We dropped our cigar minnows and cut bait down through the water column towards the bottom-dwelling red snappers. Snapper are not only prized sport fish but a favorite target for sea predators like sharks. For this reason, the larger red snapper will be higher in the water column and the smaller fish will be deeper, taking more cover on the reef or structure. We caught our limit of snapper and headed to "trolling alley". Trolling alley is what the local fishermen call a series of submerged concrete pillars. These concrete pillars hold bait fish and provide a perfect ambush scenario for open water predatory fish. We had enough time to make 4 passes through trolling alley and were able to catch 2 king mackerel. We headed back to the dock with an ice chest full of fish.
July 27, 2016 Emerald Isle, North Carolina I was fortunate enough to take two deep sea fishing trips this summer. The second being a near-shore trip with Teezher Charters. I was excited to be able to fish in the Atlantic ocean for the first time. The day started early when Louis, Hunter, Parker and myself met Captain Bobby at the dock. We loaded the boat and headed out.
We didn't make it past the marina when we stopped to catch bait. Captain Bobby threw the cast net net and tossed hundreds of finger mullet into the back of the boat. We picked 25 of the largest fish to use as bait and threw the rest back. We then ran down the intracoastal waterway and though the breakwater in route to the the first fishing spot. The first fishing spot was a submerged rock about 8 miles offshore. We were going to be fishing with light tackle for king mackerel. Light tackle fishing is a finesse form of fishing that allows the bait fish to have little to no resistance from the fishing tackle. This limited resistance allows the fish to swim freely and appear more natural. We set 4 lines, 3 baits on the surface and one bait at 20 ft. on the down rigger. We caught several small sharks on the down rigger before we hooked our fish king mackerel. The first king swiped the surface bait that was closest to the boat and began tearing line out of the reel. We fought the fish for a few minutes before we got him in the boat. We landed 2 ten-pound kingfish and headed back to the marina. This was more than enough meat to grill and feed all of the families that were on vacation. We grilled all of the fish that night and had fish tacos which ended up being one of the best meals we had all week.
January 9, 2016 Baton Rouge, Louisiana & Beaumont, Texas The science of reloading is as old as shooting itself. Reloading can be beneficial for several different reasons including increasing the precision of a cartridge while lowering the cost per round.
I recently started loading my own ammunition in an effort to increase my long range precision. I've always been interested in long range shooting proficiency but it became a necessity after I booked my first West Texas mule deer hunt in the fall of 2015. The guide for my upcoming (2016) West Texas hunt prefers that the hunting party be comfortable and proficient at shooting up to 500 yards. At 500 yards, there are only a few factors that affect the trajectory of the bullet, mainly, bullet drop and wind speed.
For the past 10 years, I have shot 130 grain Winchester Ballistic Silvertips out of my Remmingington model 700 .270 with great success. I took the last of my silvertips to the range today in order to get a baseline grouping. I wanted to have a factory-loaded group at 500 yards so that I could compare the results with the customer loaded ammunition. There was a decent left-to-right cross wind at the range today which pushed all of my shots off-center. The grouping measured 7" from the farthest points. I am hoping to get a grouping below 5" with my new custom ammo.
My first cartridge that I chose to load was a 140 grain Berger Very Low Drag (VLD) hunting bullet loaded in .270 Remmington brass and Alliant reloader 17 powder. The Berger VLD bullet is a jacketed bullet whose design reduces the effect of wind drift by 27% at 500 yards over the silvertips. The 140 grain bullet has a longer length that allows for increased spin stability at longer distances. I was also able to increase my muzzle velocity by 50 fps while staying below the manufacturer's recommended maximum chamber pressure. The increases in long range bullet stability and muzzle velocity should provide for a much more potent hunting load for my hunting trip later this year.
Day 3 didn't end there. We drove to another part of the 65,000 acre property that was known to hold aoudad. Aoudad, formally known as Barbary Sheep, are native to the continent of Africa and are considered a nuisance in West Texas. It was now 11 AM and we had to make a decision - drive back to the camp and eat lunch of go after some rams that our guide had spotted at 1,000 yds. Of course, we decided to go after the rams. We drove as fast as we could through the desert to close the range and then the fireworks began. Dylan shot, I shot, I shot again and down went two aoudad. We spent the next few hours celebrating the hunt and hiking to retrieve the trophies.
