North Dakota 2009

The beginning of sept. found me along with 4 other guys from Wisconsin on a trip to the badlands of North Dakota in search of Mule deer and maybe a whitetail or two. The trip went great except when we ran into a hatch of some type of bug that literally made it dangerous to drive in for lack of vision. We hit our destination around 230 am Mountain time. We never did go to bed that night we got our stuff ready and were out glassing by a little after sun up. We seen some deer that morning and actually were able to glass a real good Mulie on what we are positive was private land. After heading back for a quick nap and lunch we all headed out in some different areas, Jerod and I bivy hunted an area he had found the year before. I put the stalk on a bedded buck but couldn't get any closer than 100 yards to him before he busted. We hunted hard in some tough weather conditions extreme heat and one nasty rain storm made for some tough maneuvering. In the end we went 3 for 5 which is pretty decent with archery equip. I had my chances but I just couldn't seal the deal. I learned a ton on that hunt and can't wait to get back next fall.

Now it's time to hunt midwest whitetails, I have been out a few times already and have my sights on a buck I call swamp thing, his core area is in a funnel with two swamps and my food plot, it is going to take patience but I am confident he will mess up a little closer to the rut. Until then I am just going to hunt nice and easy and let him make the next move, there is a lot of season left and I am going to enjoy every minute I can.

More pictures

I did mange to get a quick picture of a good eleven point buck and a real nice 135 inch 8 point, I have been watching these two guys on a somewhat of a regular basis. Sept. 19 th can't get here fast enough.

D Day 2009

It's unbelievable that I will be kicking off the 2009 hunting season in less than 20 days now. I am very excited to be heading to the Badlands of North Dakota for my very first time. This will be a Bivy style hunt which will have us carrying everything on our backs for the majority of the 7 day hunt. To get ready I have been shooting my bow at some pretty long ranges and most recently I have began the task of what to bring and what not to bring. Light is good when you are in the backcountry. And counting ounces is the name of the game. Hopefully it isn't 100 degrees everyday we are out there but I am expecting some very hot conditions. Wish all of us at Back 40 Outdoors luck.

Back 40 Outdoors

For those of you who don't already know I am involved with a website called www.backfortyoutdoors.com/blog we have recently changed the website around and are currently adding content as we speak. I encourage all of you to visit the site and let us know what you think. We also are sponsoring the DIY forum at http://www.sagecreekoutfitters.com/ we are going to have a ton of videos some of them are hunts we have filmed but more importantly a lot of tips and techniques that we all like to use. Come and check us out. The picture I added doesn't have anything to do with my post but it is a picture from an area in Wis. that I hunt and beings that the hunting season is oh so close I felt it appropriate to share.

Finally !!!

Well it finally happened, I have had my cameras out for almost two months and I had yet to get a decent buck on film. Well I checked one of my cameras last Friday night and I got a good one. He is a solid bodied buck with a nice spread to boot. I need him to put some inches on his tines and when he does he will be a shooter for sure. Every day we get closer to the archery season, I don't think I have ever been as ready as I am this year hopefully all the hard work will pay off.

On a side note I had a comment on my last post that asked if we ate those ugly looking Gar up here. The answer to that is yes we do. You would all be surprised on how they taste, it is a tougher meat but not any tougher than shrimp or lobster, the wife loved it and she is a very picky eater. So if you ever get the chance to try some gar give it a shot. As for the carp no those we use for fertilizer it's to bad we can't find a better use for them because we have plenty.

Food Plot Updates

It is going in to the Fourth of July weekend boy that's hard to believe, where did the time go? My favorite two food plots have been in the ground now for 5-6 weeks and another was planted one week ago ( Brassicas) every thing is looking good and seeing the pics from my CuddeBacks it doesn't look like we have any shortage of Does and fawns and the occasional young buck. Another month or so and we should start getting some pics of good bucks. Stay tuned to see how it all turns out later this summer.

GAR!!!!

Long Nose gar? if you would have asked me about them last year I wouldn't have had much to say, ask me what I think now and I have lots to say. After spending a day on the lake with good friend Forrest Robeck and Team Full Barrel Bowfishing Team (Keith and Tyler) I can definitely say that gar are one of my favorite fish. Just the look alone is awesome, now mix in there speed, stealth, and great camouflage they are the ultimate predator in the lakes they inhabit. As you all know I love to shoot carp with a bow but when the offer came up to go on a gar hunt I have to say I was a little worried. I knew I could hit carp but gar? These little critters are a fourth of the size of a carp. But after 15 minutes being on the lake I had my first one in the boat. Forrest struck first when we trolled up to a spawning group, there were fish everywhere and Forrest capitalized on a nice 4-5 pound fish. Seeing all the tails coming out of the water when they are spawning is a really cool sight. In the end we had a total of 16 gar. It was steady enough shooting to keep you busy. But that was only part 1 of a two part hunt, after shooting all day we left the lake and headed for a different honey hole to shoot carp and buffalo at night. We got on the lake around 10:00 and we were in for the long haul. We loaded the boat on the trailer around 5:30am and headed back east. We ended up with 96 fish total for the day/night. I figured we were on the boat roughly 17 1/2 hours, that is a good shift of shooting fish. Once again I have thank Keith Imholt and Tyler for letting us tag along. These boys have it going on when it comes to putting fish in the boat, Keith has a great set up and loves seeing other people get the shooting in. Thanks once again.

More fish

We have been hitting it hard for the last week or so, the spawn is on and that is when you have to be out there. It makes for some tired days but it is well worth it. We have been getting some decent footage so once it is all over we can throw a video together for the website. I am up to around over 250 fish between me and whoever I am with. We had a very good night on Sunday into Monday shooting close to a hundred fish.

Night Bowfishing

Well we are into our second week of night bowfishing here in MN. The weather has not been steady at all and every time the fish start to get "spawny" the weather shuts them right down. Don't get me wrong we have filled a few barrels of fish and have had a blast doing it but we are still waiting for that crazy time of year when you can't reel your line in fast enough. Keep checking in as I will be uploading more photos as we get them.

Turkey Recap 2009

Well I would love to be able to say that I called in a nice big Tom and put a well placed arrow in him but that is not the case. I can't say that I didn't try my hardest though, I am convinced that turkey hunting is one of the tougher hunts you can do, up at 3 am and in MN you can hunt till sunset so that puts you right around 830 pm this time of year. It isn't the physical part of it just the lack of sleep, after seven days of it you can't wait for the season to end and the weather where do I begin? I love this state but honestly the weather can change on a dime on Saturday morning I had 3 layers of Under Armour on with temps in the mid 30's and winds in the upper 20's it wasn't warm but I knew it wouldn't last, by Wednesday I woke up to 72 degrees and winds that blew a steady 45-53 MPH all day long and by noon the temps were in the mid 90's you have to love it. I definitely had my opportunities but just couldn't seal the deal but I had a blast trying. The only picture I really have is of the load you have to carry around when trying to hunt these buggers with a bow plus camera equipment it makes a guy wonder how much work a turkey is worth? The other picture is from a recent carp shoot only a week and a half till we can shoot at night can't wait.

Food Plots 09 part1

Well I have been busy putting in my food plots for the spring, Turkey hunting starts tommorrow for me, hopefully I can get an arrow in one. I will keep you posted, sorry about the length of the video on the food plots I had a lot to say.

Badlands Packs

I have been using Badlands Packs now for 6 years. Over these six years I have found that they are one of the toughest packs on the market. Not only do they fit like a pack should by putting the weight of your load on your hips not your back these things are nearly indestructible. And if you do succeed in destroying one you will very happy with Badlands unconditional warranty. I have been asked to pass on this video for everyone to see how much weight you can actually put in your badlands! Check out the video on the side bar of my page under badlands 2200.

Deadly Combination

Well turkey season is getting closer and I felt the push to get everything in order. Most importantly making sure my equipment is dead on. We all hear it all the time you owe it to the animal this is very true but you also owe it to yourself, no one goes hunting and expects to miss, we have all done it but that doesn't mean we like it. I just received my 2009 Quest HPS( high performance solocam) man this bow is going to be a killer. I had them paint it all black for one reason because it looks cool, I have killed tons of animals with a camo bow now I am going to try it with a black one. I have nicknamed my bow Black Death. I am also shooting the new Duravane Fusions these little buggers are flying awesome. I am getting solid groups as far as I can shoot with field tips and broadheads. Put some Montec cs on the ends of my arrows and I have a feeling I am going to be deep frying some turkey before I know it.

Dads turkey hunting season

Hunting turkeys is somewhat of a new thing for our family, we have been able to hunt them for the past 8 years in our area so in the spectrum of things I would not consider us to be experts by any means. My Dad ( Kurt) has had really good luck racking up 6 birds in Seven years of hunting them. Those are great odds considering the first few years we had a very small population of turkeys. Dad has opted to use a muzzle loading shotgun the last 6 years and I don't believe he will ever go back to a modern shotgun. This season dad and my grandpa (Andy) hunted hard but when the weather doesn't cooperate usually the turkeys don't either. They did manage to call a few birds up but they just wouldn't come out of the brush which happens a lot when you are hunting turkeys in the woods instead of on field edges. My one day off for the week happened to be during dads season so we made an attempt to fill that tag, I called two beautiful toms in but again they just wouldn't come out of the brush Dad did take a shot but I think that a sapling took most of the Beebe's and not the turkey. I would have most definitely also taken the shot. Even though dad didn't get one, there is something about hunting turkeys that drives me crazy, and being able to share it with family makes it even better.

Side note: Dad was able to capitalize on a coyote that thought he was going to have an easy meal of our Montana Decoys.

Work Work Work

Man its been hectic around the Oravetz household, I am currently working a Refuel Outage at the Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant which keeps me more than busy. Ashley definitely doesn't have any spare time either working a full time job and taking care of Miley, who just celebrated her 1st birthday on sunday is by far not a relaxing duty. With all of that going on I haven't had much time to get in the woods, we have been getting hit with snow and cold for the last 5 months but I think we are finally going to start warming up a bit. I have seen a few birds strutting so that gets me all giddy inside, I have a while yet before my season but it will be here before I know it. Good luck to everyone chasing the thunder chicken this spring.

What's Your Goal

I hate this time of year, we are still a long ways from deer season and I personally have a good 2 1/2 months until turkey season. Sure we go out and look for sheds but we just got another 4 inches of snow on Saturday and we have a chance for a good amount on Thursday so it will be a while until I really hit the trails. This is the time of the year we should all be sitting down and writing out our goals for the next season. Being involved with sports most of my youth I was taught to always have a goal for the season, this follows so true with hunting. Now when setting your goals we have to be realistic, not that there is anything wrong with dreaming, life wouldn't be near as fun if we all couldn't dream a little. But setting obtainable goals is very important because we don't want to set ourselves up for failure. If you have never harvested a deer with a bow obviously you wouldn't set your goal at shooting a 150 inch animal. I think you get the picture. I myself will be heading to the Badlands the first week of September chasing Mulies and Whitetails, my goal right now is to get into better shape and shoot everyday. The shooting is no problem I already shoot at least 15-20 arrows a night in the basement and once it gets nice out I will really do some yard work. The working out part is the tough one working long hours and having a little one running around it can be tough, but it has to be done. I was able to talk with Cameron Hanes a little at the ATA this past winter and this man is hardcore. He is a very intense individual and takes everything to the extreme, he is a great guy to talk to. He wrote a book called The Back Country Bowhunter it is a must read for anyone who wants to take hunting to the next level.

Scouting 09

Well the weather finally broke for us here in the Midwest, it has been a balmy mid 20's to lower 30's for the better part of the week which feels great after being bombarded by sub zero weather for what seems like forever. Eric and I were itching to get out and look for some antlers and check to see where the deer have been hiding. I was actually pretty surprised I thought that we were going to find a "yarded up" area where all the deer had been hanging out because of the large amount of snow and cold weather but it seems that the deer did just fine. I t was definitely still hard getting around if you got off the trails. I think we are going to resume searching after we get a good thaw and lose the majority of the snow. I was able to find the remains of a 3.5 year old, man i would have liked to see what this guy could have turned into. This is just part of being a wild animal. I don't think people understand how hard these bucks run themselves down during the rut, it takes a lot to get back in condition for a long winter and unfortunately this one didn't make it. I am thankful though that I was able to find him, I haven't seen this deer before but I heard about a nice 10 point living in the area where I found him it most definitely could be him.

Ice Fishing

Well there isn't a whole lot to do in central MN in the depths of winter except to go find some frozen water and drop a line or two. I haven't been fishing near as much as usual this winter probably due to the fact that it has been extremely cold. In sub zero temps the fish don't even like to bite to much. The times I have been out we catch some fish but nothing super. It still doesn't matter though it is just fun getting on the lake and enjoying company with your friends. I enjoy talking about the past hunting seasons and what went right and what went wrong. Trying to figure out where we should put in food plots in the spring and all of that good stuff. Hopefully we get some type of warm up and it cranks the fish up a bit. I will keep trying till the ice go's out.

ATA 09

Man where does the time go? I swear that I was just writing my very first post on blogger called ATA 08. Well lets just say things are looking good in the archery world. Working the G5 and Quest booth doesn't give a guy much time to walk around, which is a good thing or I have a feeling my wallet would be even thinner than it is. I shot a few new bows on the market and depending on what your looking for I do believe there is something for everybody. I met a ton of cool new people and caught up with a few guys and gals I don't get a chance to talk to on a regular basis. G5's booth was rockin all week long right along with the quest booth. I have to say that quests new bow line says bow hunter all over it. Even the Bone Collectors themselves swung by the booth a few times and brought along a buddy by the name of Blake Shelton. I have to say that Blake is about as down to earth as they come and has no problem talking hunting. If you have not seen the new Bone Collectors TV show you better get on the bus because it is what hunting is all about. You can check the times on http://www.michaelwaddell.com/ . Be sure to check out all the new G5 products at your local archery shop also. I love the ATA but hate it at the same time, every year afterwards I just get jacked right back up for the hunting season when I know I have a few months before old tom turkey will start gobbling again. I have a feeling that I am going to be making a trip south after some long beards one of these years.