IA Born

Bump. Coues tags are out. Who needs a solid Coues rifle??

Sorry, just now seeing this. Haven't really logged in for some time. Feel free to PM with any specific details. This was our first time there and we spent much of it on Caye Caulker. Take plenty of cash is my biggest suggestion. Most places, even on Caye Caulker, take credit cards, but some places are cash only. There is a bank with an ATM on the island, but then you're getting the international charges for the ATM fee. Everywhere takes US dollars, so that makes it easier. Do your research on tours. Everyone has a boat and will take you snorkeling, but you may end up in a boat with 10+ other people. The snorkeling/spearfishing guide that came highly recommended had a 4-person minimum, so when my wife decided she didn't want to snorkel Hol Chan Marine Reserve, we couldn't book through him. After seeing my daughter's pics of the solo trip she did, I highly recommend going with a reputable snorkeling guide to Hol Chan. Bliss Beach on the north half of Caye Caulker is worth the trip and I recommend taking the boat shuttle all the way, otherwise, you're looking at a long walk or a moderate bike ride. They Mayan Ruins tours at Altun Ha, just outside of Belize City were cool and the history is amazing. Definitely take high-quality bug juice. Don't go in June/July. It hot as balls there and full of mosquitoes, even on Caye Caulker. Our next trip will be a winter trip and we're considering a wildlife/birding tour on the mainland, in addition to back to Caye Caulker. Lobster Season starts July 1 and ends Feb 28, so if you're after fresh lobster, that's my recommendation for when to go.

We are hosting a classroom Hunter Education class in Flagstaff. There are currently 19/40 signed up. It starts next Thursday, July 18. All information, including dates, times, locations, and lead instructor contact info (its not me this time) is in the link: https://www.register-ed.com/events/view/213707 I will be helping organize things, but another instructor is the lead instructor for this class. We will not be taking online students for the field day on Sunday because we don't have enough instructors to maintain the required student-instructor ratio per AGFD policy. Saturday's session will be outside, weather permitting, at the ramada across from the Flagstaff Archers Range on Ft. Tuthill County Park. BBQ lunch (burgers and hot dogs) will be provided for lunch on Saturday to all participants.

Awesome! Looking forward to teaching her. We have an extremely fun instructor group, so she'll have fun. We have two amazing female instructors, and I have a hunting daughter, so the girls in the class get extra attention and help. I'm not the lead instructor, but holler if you need anything. I can recommend the good eating spots around town, too.

5 spots left. Class starts tomorrow.

6 spots left for the class that starts this Thursday

I think Jeff now has a better understanding of my obsession with topwater anything! I grew up on farm ponds in Iowa and those are some of my absolute best memories. I found out one of the family farm ponds I used to hit (my dad's mom's sister/ her husband) is still in the family and I can fish it anytime I want. I'm working on my return trip just for that. My buddy, Jeff, was cracking me up. He was mad because he caught that crappie. I was giving him heck because I'm just about the fishing and could really care less what I catch. I finally convinced myself I need to get panfish poppers, but I've also been tempted to go with the worm/bobber like my extremely youthful days just to have nonstop action. To be fair, Jeff hasn't been fishing as long or as seriously as I have, so he hasn't entirely reached the point of "its not about the fish".

I just got back from a long weekend in Iowa seeing family that I haven't seen in a long time. Long story short, my aunt (dad's oldest of his two younger sisters) has cancer again after 22 years of remission and, because of the treatment level last time, can't have treatment this time. As she says "I'm ready to go be with Jesus and my Buddy.". Her husband, my Uncle Bud, passed away 10 years ago this October. She asked me to come back and see her down in Pleasantville before things get bad with the cancer. I stayed at my best friend's house with his family in West DesMoines the whole time. He and I have known each other since we were 2 years old. We started at the babysitter together (my great aunt/grandma's sister), wen to preschool, elementary, junior high, high school, and college together. All the perks of growing up in small town in Iowa. After visiting my aunt and a handful of other family members from my dad's side, Jeff and I took off to a local farm pond he has access to near Winterset. Of course, I had to take my fly rod back with me. We hit the pond Friday night and Saturday. I caught two bass Friday night on poppers. The first one was my favorite because it was a popper tied up by my son, Jacob. I ended up losing that in a tree (placed a new order with Jacob on the drive home), tied on a store-bought popper, and caught a second bass. Jeff didn't want to try the fly rod, so he was hitting his spin gear. He caught a nice black crappie and "future champion" bass on a weedless spoon/grubtail combo before I convinced him to switch to topwater action with a floating Rapala. Jeff: "topwater never works here!". Me: "Bass are bass, no matter the pond, and topwater always works in the evening. Trust me." He switched and landed a 4-lb beautiful largemouth. We went back Saturday for a couple of hours before dinner with his family and we each caught a "future champion" on topwater. He is now going to expand his topwater arsenal and we're working on our next adventure. I wish I knew why these pictures upload wonky/upside down/sideways, but at least his Friday night pond monster is normal. I'm also realizing I need to convince my wife to let me get a 7-wt fly rod/reel for bass. Fingers crossed on that one I'm hoping to not have to tell her my 8wt bonefish rod will work for bass so I can get the 7wt! First bass of the trip, on a popper tied by Jacob Jeff's first bass of the trip, on a weedless spoon/grubtail combo. Jeff's pond beast on topwater. She pulled off two tail dances before being landed. My last fish, on a topwater Rapala Saturday night.

I have an old Redfield 2-7x32 scope that I'm willing to give to a youth who needs something to get them started or needs a good plinking scope for a .22LR. Its been in my family for years. It came on a 1970s Rem 700 BDL 300WM that my dad bought from a cousin in Chicago when I was probably 10 or 12. I pulled it several years ago and mounted it on my .22 rifle, where its sat for longer than I can remember. Its obviously long enough ago that I didn't understand over-torqueing ring screws. I clamped those suckers down and never thought twice. Despite my best efforts to crush the tube, the scope is still in great shape for glass and adjustments. I recently finally upgraded the scope on my .22 and don't need this one. It probably isn't worth a whole lot, so I'd love to give this to a youth who needs something to get started or to plink with. It includes the Butler Creek caps, and I can even throw in some new rings that didn't work on my rifle, but came with the new scope I bought as a package deal. If the buyer wants to pay for shipping, great. If not, fine, as long as it doesn't cost me an arm and a leg. I'm out of town middle of next week, so it may take me a minute or three to find a box and ship it, but I'll do my best to respond as soon as possible and get it shipped as soon as possible. I'm just setting realistic expectations, so I don't end up on someone's "this guy's a jackwagon seller" list.

That was quick! Scope should be (hopefully) shipped out by this weekend.

TTT

bump

That's awesome!!! Great bird with great hooks! I can't wait to tell Jacob!

My son, Jacob, has decided to take his love of turkey hunting and turkey calls, and fly fishing, and make it a side hustle. In the past, he's made turkey calls and tied flies for donations to help raise money for his various adventures (GCY river trips, TKD black belt promotions, etc.). Now he is stepping into the world of making turkey calls (pot calls) and tying flies to help him earn spending money. Jacob has kicked around the idea for a couple of years, but now he's committing to it. If you're interested, you can reach out to me or I can put you in touch with him directly. He's building his Instagram page, so please check that out and give him a follow @Wooldridge_Calls. He currently has one call for sale and has one posted he made for me showing their effectiveness. We're working with him on fair pricing to be competitive and still make money without being greedy. He's 2 weeks from turning 16 and learning that aspect with our guidance. He has access to various wood types for both pots and strikers and can make the calling surface and sound board slate, glass, copper, aluminum. He can work with you on a design or come up with one on his own. Jacob's pot calls are all I carry now when I'm turkey hunting and I always go for his flies first when I'm fly fishing. I've never been disappointed. Below are some pics of his earlier pot calls and some flies he's tied. He hasn't gotten any fly pics up on his IG page, but he's planning to shortly. Thanks for considering. Pot Calls Sound.mp4

Not gonna lie. Same!

This isn't actually a new thing, unfortunately, When I was in grad school at UTEP 1997-1999, we were warned not to hike that hill. Its a very obvious peak right outside El Paso and was popular for locals to go on "pilgrimages" of sorts to see the holy site up there. It was made very clear back in 1997 that it was extremely unsafe up there due to the cartel activity. To be clear, I'm not justifying anything, just pointing out its not a new thing at all.

We are hosting an in-person classroom Hunter Ed class in Flagstaff Feb 8-11. I set it up three weeks ago and only one kid has registered so far. Class will be 6-8pm Feb 9 and 10, 8am-5pm Feb 11, and the field day will be 9am-1pm Feb 12. Classroom portions will be at the Flagstaff AGFD office and the field day will be at the NAZ Shooting Range. 100% attendance for all portions is mandatory. NAZ NWTF and the local AMDO group will be providing pizza lunch on Saturday, Feb 11. All firearms and ammunition will be provided. Preference is for kids who need the class to hunt; however, we encourage parents to take the class with their younger kids. As of this morning, there are 17 seats left. Thursday, February 8, 2024 6:00pm - 8:00pm Friday, February 9, 2024 6:00pm - 8:00pm Saturday, February 10, 2024 8:00am - 5:00pm Sunday, February 11, 2024 9:00am - 1:00pm Full transparency: we set the class schedule up based on local instructor availability and local (Flagstaff, Williams, Parks, Bellmont, etc.) kids' availability. We've found that drawing a class out 2 hours at a time over 3 weeks gets old and information retention is not great, leading to lower success/passing rates. Saturday can be a long day, but we break it up by rotating stations with the AGFD room split with a divider and rotate between each side, pulse the lobby so kids aren't sitting in the same seat all day. Throw in plenty of breaks, an hour lunch with a test review, and plenty of jokes, and the day flies by. The kids get plenty of time and opportunities to blow off steam and pent-up silliness and wiggles. On top of that, we rarely, if ever, go until 5 pm. We will not be accepting online students into the field day for this class. We do not have enough instructors to maintain the required instructor:student ratio and keep everyone safe. Our Flagstaff instructor group will be hosting several online field days this spring-fall for those students who took the online course and need a field day. https://www.register-ed.com/events/view/206214

It's me. I'm the contact point person to reach out to for Hunter Education classes in Flagstaff. We're looking at another class July 18-21.

Seriously, dude? I was going to go $255. $265?

Jeff Knorr, Jeff Knorr Construction (https://www.jkc-inc.com/about-us-jkc-inc-in-flagstaff-az) is solid, so is Mike Furr Construction (https://mikefurrconstruction.com/). I'd have to dig for the other names I've worked with/dealt with here in town that I'd feel good recommending. Mike Furr did our loft addition several years ago and got us a quote for another back room addition a couple of years ago. You won't go wrong with either one in town I will tell you, though, that most contractors are booked out about a year, maybe more. That could have changed, but be prepared for that answer. Mike Furr wasn't booked out that far in advance, but the cost of lumber and concrete at the time made our addition cost-prohibitive, so we passed.

Thanks! That's one of the best compliments Jacob can get! I'm a diaphragm and pot call guy. My diaphragm is always my go-to, especially for when they are coming in close if I'm calling for myself. I use my pot calls just as much, especially if I'm working them into range. I love to use my diaphragm and pot calls simultaneously to sound like two different hens. Its very much a rub your head/pat your stomach thing, but it got easier with practice. Every since my son started making calls, I only carry his. I have 4 or 5 of his in my vest now, including slates with different wood, frosted glass, and copper calling surfaces. I don't carry a box call anymore because I can't use one worth a crap. My daughter learned to use one from an awesome box call guy and she makes fun of me when I use mine because of how horrible she says I sound.

Taking my SIL to the airport Wednesday afternoon (3/13). I can bring the rifle and reloading stuff with me for anyone interested.

Peregrine falcons reach up to 200mph in their dives, but they aren't considered land animals. That category is for animals that are pedal (bipedal or quadrapedal) in motion. As a long-time studier of evolutionary biology, I can confirm that the pronghorn antelope is, in fact, the 2nd fastest land animal in North America. The fastest land animal in North America is the person ball-pointing while running to the bathroom! Sorry, I couldn't help that one. I'll sit in timeout now.

All I'm going to say is that I'm glad I wasn't taking a drink when I read this...

The only time we've used BB guns in Flagstaff in my 10 years as an instructor was one online field day that we made a last-minute switch to do the field day indoors at AGFD office in Flagstaff. It was a crazy 2-foot snowstorm in January, so we administered the final test in one half of the conference room and had a "range" set in the other half of the room. Otherwise, we've never done anything but have them shoot .22s. I know that when it gets too hot or is raining, the instructor group will use BB guns at Ben Avery if they need to stay indoors. IHEA allows it simply because all we're looking for is safe firearm handling and making sure the kids follow TAB+1. We can do that with a BB gun just as easy with a .22. I'll be perfectly honest and say that I've had multiple conversations with parents about the need to work on firearm safety with their kids. I've been a part of failing kids from the class because they pointed a firearm at me during the walkthrough exercises. Granted, they were either unloaded or dummy/non-functional firearms, but the idea is the same with TAB+1 and firearm safety and we tell them upfront that safety is paramount and they can be failed/asked to retake the class for unsafe actions.