Must Have Outdoors

Needless to say I wasn’t sad at all leaving cold snowy Missouri for the 70 degree weather of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Katie and I were headed to the SHOT Show, the mecca of outdoor industry retail shows. The SHOT show is a gathering of pretty much every company in the outdoor industry. Each company has their own booth where they feature new products and dealers come by and make their orders for the year. Media was also allowed to go around to look at the new products, and Katie and I were excited to get a first look at some of the “Must Have” products for 2011.

The rolling prairies and being able to see for miles made me feel like a fish out of water the first day of the hunt. Katie and I were hunting at Antler Ridge Lodge near Hamill, South Dakota.

The first day of the hunt we set up our pop-up blind near a grove of trees where the turkeys had been roosting. At first light a group of 11 turkeys flew down and started heading our way, but a Mule Deer doe and fawn came running in and scared the turkeys away. On day two we set up in the same are only to watch about 100 turkeys feeding and strutting in an abandoned home stead. With the wide open country and the turkeys up on a ridge, we knew there would be no way to get to them. After the turkeys left the old home site we set up our pop up blind by an old shed hoping for the same activity the following morning.

It happens to me every year, bow season starts in the still humid month of September in Missouri. I , like so many hunter head out opening day…..and sweat.

My desire to hunt keeps me in the wood when my logic tells me to go home because the big bucks won’t be out during the day. I hadn’t had any success for the first month of the season. In Missouri we were in the middle of a long dry spell, and on the last Sunday in October I headed out to a water hole I had dug out a few years ago. When it’s warm and dry, it’s usually the only water around.

On March 5^th Katie and I traveled to Clinton, Missouri to attend the Truman Lake Chapter Quail and Upland Wildlife Federation Banquet.

Katie’s brother Matt was on the committee that set up the well organized event. The evening was filled with good food, an auction, raffles and prizes. QUWF is a new organization committed to improving habitat for not only quail, but all types of upland wildlife. Even though Katie and I didn’t win any of the raffles, we still had a great time supporting an exciting new organization. Check out their website at www.quwf.net, or you can be a fan of QUWF on Facebook. Andrew Howard

“Grandma, I caught a catfish,” and other shouts of excitement could be heard all around at the first youth fishing day at Clarence Cannon National Wildlife Refuge.

Katie and I got the pleasure to help out at this event, baiting hooks, removing caught fish, and giving some lessons on how to make a cast. The event started at 10:00 am on Saturday May 22, and it didn’t take long for the kids to start pulling in some nice catches. The pond was stocked with Catfish and Bluegill donated by the Missouri Department of Conservation and purchased by the Refuge. Each youth got to keep five of the fish that they caught to take home and eat. “We are really excited about the turnout,” said Refuge Manager, Jason Wilson. We hope everyone had a good time, and we hope to do more activities like this in the future.” Besides fishing, attendees could color and make their own buttons, do some finger painting and learn more about fishing and what animals live on a refuge. I was really glad to see the Refuge put on an event like this. I had worked on the Refuge for over a year as my first job out of college. The Staff at Clarence Cannon are committed to improving habitat for the thousands of migratory birds and resident species that frequent the refuge every year. The also promote public interaction through events like the fishing day, classroom talks, and field trips. I was really glad to get to be a part of this event, and can’t wait to volunteer for next years fishing day and any other events the refuge holds. To learn more about Clarence Cannon National Wildlife System and other National Wildlife Refuges, go to http://www.fws.gov/midwest/GreatRiver/cannon.html. - Andrew Howard

On Friday, June 11^th Katie and I went to my Alma Mater, Elsberry Elementary School. The teacher knew that I was an avid outdoorsman and had work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,

so she asked me to talk to the third grade summer school class about foxes. The class had been reading the story The Incredible Mr. Fox, and she wanted to have the class learn more about foxes. I brought with me my mounted Gray Fox, and a tanned Red and Gray Fox hide. Needless to say I had the children’s attention when I brought the mounted fox in. I first explained to the class about the two different types of foxes found in Missouri. I went through where the foxes lived, what they ate, how big their litters are, and other features about the foxes. After going over all the details of the foxes and hearing several stories from the classes about their fox sighting experiences, we packed up and headed home. I had a great time sharing my knowledge and passion for the outdoors with the class. From the looks on their faces and their overall excitement, I think they had a good time and learned a little something too. - Andrew

I knew we were heading farther North, when the temperature steadily dropped. By the time we got to Ashland WI, it was 60 degrees.

The hotel we stayed at sat on Lake Superior’s shores; the scenery was amazing. We had traveled up for the Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers (AGLOW) Conference. The week was spent meeting new people, and learning more about outdoor media, meeting different tourism groups, and learning about new products. Katie and I set in on different seminars and learned a lot. My favorite event of the conference was the shooting day. Several companies

products from Browning Camping. We headed north and drove across Missouri and most of Nebraska. We enjoyed the changing scenery as we left Missouri. Our first campsite was on the Niobrara River in Northern Nebraska. Weather reports gave us warnings of severe thunderstorms and tornado watches, but we survived the night and headed out early to Badlands National Park in South Dakota. The scenery is amazing, but Katie was more impressed with the thousands of hay bales we saw on the way up.

We reached the badlands and were amazed with what the Almighty had created. If you are ever in the area, I strongly suggest visiting the park. That afternoon we headed to our next destination, Custer State Park. We were happy to see clean campgrounds with even cleaner restroom and shower facilities. The entire park is very well maintained and has a great family atmosphere. We set up camp and enjoyed some food by the campfire.

The next morning we headed to see Mount Rushmore but our progress was slowed down by some of the parks Buffalo herd. It was awesome seeing these amazing animals so close and took some pictures and continued on. Mount Rushmore is truly incredible. What those workers were able to create with the technology they had is a testament to their craftsmanship.

Touring Custer State park was next on or agenda and the park had excellent roads and hiking trails to enjoy wildlife and habitat the park offers. That evening brought rain but we stayed high and dry in our Browning Camping tent.

The next day we headed to Winner, SD to the farm I pheasant hunt at every year to check on the farm. By the looks of the crop and how many pheasants we saw, it should be a good pheasant season this year. That night we camped on the west side of South Dakota and enjoyed seeing a movie in the local small town of Platte. After a 10 hour drive the next day we made it home safely. The trip was fast and fun, check out pictures from the trip on our Facebook fan page.

  - Andrew

On Monday February 15^th Katie and I headed to Dothan, Alabama to visit Wes Morgan of M3 Productions to film the pilot of the show.

It was a busy few days of filming and talking about the direction for the show and how we want it to be. The weather was beautiful, (much better than snow). Needless to say it was a productive trip, and we left with a great experience under our belts, and I also came back with 25 pounds of crawdads!!

Wow, what a year we had for deer hunting! This was by far the best deer season we have ever had on my family farm in Missouri.

The opening day started off with me shooting a decent 8-point. Now normally I would pass on a deer like this but he was limping really badly and in a fight with another buck he was knocked to the ground and couldn’t get up. So I made the ethical decision to take the deer. Also on opening day my brother in-law’s brother killed a super tall eight point. The following evening my uncle killed an 11 point buck that gross scored 164. Needless to say we had a great opening weekend but the second week of the season would just get better. My dad killed a mature eight point with a seven inch drop tine. The first drop tine buck ever taken off our farm. The second Saturday of the season I took Katie to the same blind my dad killed his deer from and she killed a 10 point buck that scored 144! We are finally seeing our Quality Deer Management practices show up. Passing small bucks, shooting does and providing a year round food source with food plots, I can’t wait to see what deer season 2010 will be like! - Andrew

I’ve come a long way from playing with toys and taking naps in the deer blind. Since I was very young, all I’ve wanted to do was be outside and enjoy nature. My summers were spent collecting frogs, turtles and anything else I could keep in an aquarium. The fall time I would tag along with my dad deer, duck and squirrel hunting. When I got older every moment I could spare was in the woods. Before school, after school, and on the weekends I was all about hunting deer and duck were what I mostly went after in Missouri, but one of my favorite hunts was opening weekend of pheasant hunting in South Dakota. Nothing beats the sounds of pheasants busting out of thick cover. In 2004 the family went on a Safari to South Africa where my dad and I hunted plains game. This was probably one of the most amazing experiences in my life. On any day we saw zebra, kudu, impala, monkeys and warthogs. I think about the experience almost daily and cannot wait for the day I get to return. Through trial and error I have learned and seen a lot when hunting, and each time I go hunting I cannot wait for what that experience will teach me next.