buckdandy

Hey everyone, I was on here years ago and had started my outdoor blog, then got distracted and here I am again. I can't believe my username and password were still valid. I'm planning to to fish more in 2024. My brother (joefish) and I will be down for striper fishing this spring/summer, walleye and bass too. Good to be back, looking forward to hearing some good stories. Buck D

I've been meaning to get up early one of these fine, chilly mornings and see if the gobbler's are sounding off, good news, I sat out on my back deck this a.m. and sure enough, gobble gobble! They were quite away off in the distance but it was still enough I could hear them distinctly. I've been seeing about forty or so earlier this spring and the last couple of weeks I've been seeing smaller bunches so I think they're splitting up and about ready to get it on. I went for a walk last night and did some shed hunting for an hour or two and saw lots of sign, scratching and so on, some scat where they have been roosting at night, so I'm getting pumped up. I've also been seeing more birds on my drive to work in the mornings. I made a few casts in the pond yesterday evening and caught a couple of bass, crappie haven't been biting so good around here yet, don't know why, maybe its been to cold yet? I'm going to hit it this weekend hard and try and get some for dinner, may float the river as well, we'll see. If it drys up long enough I'm going to put in some food plots as well, I'm all set up now, just bought a new old tractor at auction last week, a 79' AC 7000, 100 hp, diesel, cab, heat, air, good tires, one owner, well maintained for $6K, a steal! Good for me! Well, thats it for now, I'll write more when I have more to write about, cheers.

I, too, have been looking to upgrade into a newer boat. I have looked at Trackers, G3, Fisher, and Lowe's, and for the type of fishing I do, mainly bass, crappie, walleye, catfish, in smaller lakes and rivers, I like the Tracker PT 175's, or 190's. I haven't ruled out anything though, I'm looking for the best deal I can find. I am looking for aluminum due to the fact that I fish a lot of tree filled lakes and shallow rivers where the aluminum will work best. If I was fishing big water I'd be more inclined to go with a fiberglass boat. So basically for my two cents worth, I say it depends on where you fish, what you fish for, and how deep in debt you want to go.

I finally got the opportunity to go shed hunting on Sunday, so me and my trusty trail buddy Joefish went to the woods to see what we could find. We saw a lot of deer on the hoof, and after walking for about 3 hours I found my second matched pair of antlers. They were still attached to the deer, however, it was dead. I believe it was from natural causes due to the fact that I didn't find any bullets or broadheads by the carcass, but it could have been a hunter kill. I will again attempt to post some pics of it, probably won't have any luck because I am IT challenged. I felt bad once again because Joefish had walked within 20 or 30 yards of it without seeing it, same thing happened last year, oh well, he'll have plenty of chances this year as he will have more time than I will to go out and look. Its just a fluke anyway, it was laying in the trail right in front of me and he was walking behind. I stopped and turned around and said I found one, he couldn't see it with me blocking the trail, so I let him look around before stepping aside and pointing it out! haha. The deer still have their headgear on, at least some of them, we saw a nice eight point and another one we couldn't tell what it was. I couldn't remove the head because I didn't have any tools with me so I'll have to go back and get it, hope the squirrels don't eat it before I get back there. Anyway, that is my story and I'll have more adventures to share later.

Well, before you read this you should know this isn' t a fishing or hunting story. I just got back from a trip to California to see my sister and we we're discussing how I came up with the name Buck Dandy. Buck Dandy originated when Joefish (as known here on OAF) and I started videotaping our outdoor adventures about fifteen years ago. We were trying to come up with some alias's and we chose Buck and Luke, last names came later. Now wherever we go and start talking about fishing and hunting we refer to ourselves as Buck and Luke, kinda hokey, I know. Now my sister, who lives in California, knows about this site and logs on to our blogs and reads about what we've been doing, and she is giving me grief because she was back over Thanksgiving and I didn't write about our duck hunting adventures while she was here. So I'll tell you about my trip to California to see her. We flew into Ontario, CA and drove to Palm Springs out in the desert where she lives. We got in late so we had a few drinks, stayed up late reliving old memories, and called it a night. The next day we took the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway to the top of San Gorgonio, it is one of only two revolving aerial trams which allows you to see 360* views as you go up the mountain. The other is in Switzerland. We spent the day in Palm Springs and then went up to Pioneertown to a restaurant and bar called Pappy & Harriett's, there were two live bands that night and it was a lot of fun. The next day we drove up to Big Bear Lake and toured the town of Big Bear, spent the day there and went back to PS. On Sunday we watched the Daytona 500, what a downer, the race I mean, and had a small gathering with friends, ate, drank and made merry. I love southern California but what I noticed is that there isn't a lot of wild creatures to see like there is here in Missouri. There is plenty of "wild" life to experience though. I thought about checking out some of the lakes that are nearby, well known for the lunker bass you can catch, up to 20+ lbs in some of the reservoirs, but will save that for the next trip out there. So in case she logs on here and checks this out, I wanted to write this and appease her and I'll promise that the next time she comes back I'll write about the hunting adventures we have. So until then, stay tuned and I'll be back with more from the outdoors featuring Buck and Luke!! aka Joefish!

Sounds like branding is going to have to be brought back into the culture of cattle ranching, that way they can't sell them as easy. Of course they could be stealing them to start their own herd, but if it is meth related they don't have the time, patience, or ability to raise them, they want fast money. Unless they are selling them to unscrupulous cattlemen who will buy stolen cattle at discount prices. You could implant one or two of your cattle with a chip they use for lost pets like dogs, that way if they steal one with the chip you can locate them. With the price of cattle these days it might be worth looking into.

Okay, you can all relax now, our invasion of S. Mo is over! We came, we saw, we kicked some trout butt! It was a much needed respite from N. Mo as we descended on Taneycomo over the weekend to start the year out with some trout fishing. My Dad, Joefish, and myself were happy to boat several nice trout over two days of fishing at Taney and breaking the winter blues. I'm sure Joefish will post some pics in the future. Went to the pothole both nights with no luck, lost a couple nice rapala's to the rocks though, an acceptable sacrifice to the cause. We're planning another trip down soon, hopefully at the peak of the walleye spawn! I didn't realize it was still duck season down there, saw lots of ducks and heard a lot of shooting, next year I might come down to do some late season hunting. Its supposed to warm up here for a few days so I plan on doing some ice fishing now that my rods are rigged and ready to fish, I will let you know how I fare. Till then, tight lines everybody. Buck.

Okay, another slow day at the office. I don't know about the rest of you but I am having a banner duck season. My Dad and I have been slamming ducks for the last two weeks. My Dad, at age 75, has been hunting ducks for over 60 years, and is still out there banging away at more ducks than he's seen since the 70's. He's contributing it to three factors; 1) cold weather up north has pushed ducks down earlier this year than previous years, 2) due to all the rain this spring and fall farmers were late planting and late harvesting so they haven't had a chance to disc up the cornfields, 3) with all the rain this year there is a lot of water (not that there hasn't been water in the past). Since getting my buck tag filled opening day I've been hitting the cornfields with Dad and we've been seeing hundreds if not thousands of ducks flying the river. It reminds me of when I was a kid tagging along with him and Joefish, you'd see string after string of ducks coming up and down the river. We went out two weeks ago Sunday and lay down in a cornfield, no layout blinds for us hardcore duckslayers, and put up "spinner", our only decoy, and waited.....I'd watched about 2-300 landing in the field the night before, and just as soon as I'd told him it was time for them to show, there they were. They circled about two or three times and were calling like mad, we watched them set their wings and come soaring down to the decoy and I said, "Take em'!" and sat up and started shooting. Realizing something was amiss after the ducks vacated the area, I looked over at Dad and he was just laying there. I said, "Why didn't you shoot?" He replied, "I couldn't sit up!" So much for laying on the ground, eh! The next morning I went out before work in the dark and spooked a few hundred off a little slew, hurriedly I set out a half dozen decoys and sat down to wait. Ten minutes later they started coming back, at 6:30 or so I started shooting, I had twelve shells, at 7:10 I was back in the truck with my limit of drakes! Yeah, I know, twelve shots, four mallards, what can I say, I was excited! I was only 15 minutes late for work! Since then we've been out a dozen times and had mallards coming in every time. We've since left the water alone and used it for a refuge, we stick to hunting the cornfields because they are so predictable, on bright sunny days its from 7:00 to 9:30 and 4:15 til shooting time ends, on cloudy days its the same in the morning but action in the afternoon starts at about 3:15, they go get a drink around 4:00 and come back at 4:30. Clockwork. Joefish is still after a big buck, however, he went with us one day and the action was non stop. We've been mixing it up hitting different cornfields, sitting in the wide open with no blinds its amazing that the ducks still come in, I mean were sitting still as a post, but c'mon, its almost better than a blind, except for comfort. I want to get Dad a layout blind for Christmas but by then the season will be over, and who knows if it will be as good next year? I hope the ducks stay around for another few weeks til season closes because I like spending time in the duck fields with my Dad, its like I was a kid again, except now its him that gets cold and wants to go home, haha, naw, just kidding, he's a tough old bird!

As I was reading some of my earlier blogs I realized that I needed to point out that the matched sheds I found last March were the sheds from the buck I killed last week. The difference is truly amazing, I don't know if it was the wet year we had with lots of rain, the food plots of white clover I planted, or the antler restrictions which we are benefiting from, but the buck grew about 40 inches from last year to this year. Maybe it is the result of all three in combination, again I'm not sure, whatever the reason, let me say it works! I'm going to continue to plant food plots, only harvest mature deer, kill all the does I have tags for, and continue to manage my measly hundred acres for big deer. I am a believer that you don't have to have thousands of acres of fenced habitat to grow big whitetails. My neighbors are a mismatch as well, some hunt little, some hunt everything that walks, but I am continuing to see bigger deer and I am convinced that it is due to managing for whitetails. Something else I didn't mention in my previous blog, because I was to involved in telling my buck story, is that we have built another pond on the farm. This one is the biggest yet, can't decide whether to stock it on our own or do it through the state? Will have to consult Joefish on that one. Still haven't got my buck pics uploaded yet, but I will......until next time.....cheers. P.S. I'm to challenged to upload photos so if you want to check out the pic of my buck see Joefish's blog, hes got a pic posted!

Okay, I've been really busy between work and hunting so I haven't posted much recently. You've read about my elk hunt so no need to recap that. I've been bowhunting as much as possible but with the warm weather and all haven't seen a lot of shooter bucks. Joefish has taken some awesome pics on his trail camera though. I put up some new stands and I have been seeing a couple of really nice bucks on the farm this year. I saw a really nice buck in the headlights a couple weeks ago, debated on telling Joefish where I saw it but eventually broke down and told him! I know, I know, when you see a big buck you should keep it to yourself, but hey, he's my brother! The night before the season opener Joefish was debating on where to sit the next morning when he saw this buck in his headlights! He even got to look at him through binoculars! That made up his mind, he called me that night and told me he was definately hunting on the farm! Soooo.... opening day arrives and finds us in our stands on that cold and windy morning. We all sat until about 9:30, went to the house for coffee and to warm up and then went back out. We did this all day, only coming out of our stands to warm up and have a cup of java. In the afternoon I got on stand at about 2:00 and didn't see any action til about 4:45, two does and a little buck, but then.....coming out of the treeline about 80 yards away was the big boy I've been seeing all summer. BAM! (pause) BAM! (pause) BAM! HE'S DOWN! Yes, it took me three shots, although I hit him twice, I didn't want him getting away. I called Joefish and gave him the codewords, Big Buck Down! When I got to him there was no ground shrinkage, my biggest so far, sixteen points, typical 6x5 with a lot of stickers around his bases. When I got him back to the house I realized I had his sheds from last yearas well as two awesome trail cam shots of him this summer, so all in all I can honestly say that this is a buck with history and I am glad that we (joefish and I) got him and not a neighbor or someone else. The really cool thing is....he is not the biggest buck on the farm, he's probably third in line for the hierarchy! Maybe I'll run the big one out to Joefish and we'll post the pics here for your viewing pleasure. I'll try and attach the pics now, I scored him at 168 gross, 154 3/8 net? I'm no official measurer by any means but I'm pretty close. Good luck to you all and Happy Holidays! Okay, sorry, I'll have to get Joefish to download the pics, I had trouble with my computer last week and must have deleted the photos, sorry for the hype and no show on the pics. I will get them posted. Promise!

Well, if time flew on that last entry it literally skipped a few months this time. I just got back from CO after a week hunting elk with a bow. If you want to stop reading now you can, I didn't get one. My bro and I went out for the last week of the bow season and gave it the old college try. To make a long story short, the first weekend we had bulls all around us, it was raining and cold and they were bugling like mad. I had five close encounters, within 60 yards, two ragheads and three nice bulls, one very large! Couldn't make an ethical shot on any, had a chance to wound a couple, but just can't do that. The rest of the week was dead, they stopped bugling, went on a couple death marches and never saw a single sign. We did get into some at the end of the week but never close enough to see if there were any shooter bulls in the bunch. Walked my butt off, lost ten pounds, and came home tired, discouraged, and footsore. Work this week hasn't been to much to brag on either. If wishes were horses and I'd of had a muzzleloader I'd have had my choice of bulls. I haven't lost hope yet, though, I had several deer in my front yard this morning, that cheered me up. I'll be looking to bag a buck this weekend. Hope all goes well with that. Hope anyone else who spent the time, money, and energy to go out West after the mighty elusive wapiti had better luck than I did. Cheers. Buck.

Well, time sure flies when your having fun.....sorry I haven't posted anything in a couple months....like anyone's actually reading this anyway! Turkey season wasn't to bad this year, my group harvested several nice birds. I bagged a jake, it was my only option. However, we saw a lot of nice tom's just couldn't put any lead in their heads. I've been fishing a little bit, nothing compared to last year though. Caught some nice crappies, some bass and a few channels the weekend before last at a farm pond in the area. With all the rain we've been having it has been a trial to get out and go. I have been seeing some nice bucks of an evening, the racks are well formed already. I've got my food plots planted and they are seeing some action, haven't set out my cameras yet but plan on doing so next week. My folks are selling one of our farms and some of my best hunting to a neighbor, it really sucks, but life goes on. I'll be depressed for a few years but I'll snap out of it. It has been in my family all my life and having them sell it is worse than selling my children, if I had any. But it is theirs to do with as they wish so I'm going to shut up and live with it. I'm sure there are others out there who have experienced the same thing, I have to remove all my stands by the end of July. I don't want to end on a sad note so..... oh well, I can't think of anything happy right now so eff it. Talk to ya later!

Joefish, I knew you couldn't wait to put those pics up!! Glad I'm such a great photographer! Hope you don't mind if I give away the info! That fish was caught in NWMO at Lake Viking, by my masterangling brother Joefish! I had to rush to the scene and witness it for myself! What a catch! My buddies and I were almost as excited as Joefish! Not hardly! We tipped a beer and celebrated a grand catch, and always the conservationist he released it! I'm not sure I could have done it, I would have had to officially weight it and then have a party and eat the sucker! When he called me I was about to watch a movie, he said he'd call me when he landed it, 2 hours later no call, so I called him, he was still fighting it! 8 lb test no wonder, by the time I showed up on the scene he had landed it! Great Job Bro! Buck

My bro' Joefish, called me Sunday night and told me he had a "log" hooked and was fighting it as we spoke. He said he'd call me back when he got it landed. I watched all of "Good Luck Chuck" went to the store to get some beer, called him and he was still in the process of landing it. My friends and I had to check this out so we grabbed a gaf and headed out to see this monster fish. Before we could get to the lake he called back and said he had landed the big flathead! He had originally estimated its weight at 30lbs, however when we got on the scene and checked it out it was more like 50!!! Although we didn't have scales we all estimated it to be over 50, I'm say ing 52-54lbs, based on measurements. Length 45", Girth 27", and width of head 9.5", its the biggest flathead I've ever seen caught on a rod and reel with 8 lb test! He fought the thing for over 2 1/2 hours! I'm sure he's already posted pics for everyone to see, what an accomplishment, hes been waiting his whole life to catch a fish that big out of our local lake. So heres to my bro' on a great catch! Cheers big ears! Now I've got a goal, beat that!! Ha, not likely for me!

Alrighty then, its finally Friday and I'm getting to go home early from work. I've got a fishing trip all set up for tomorrow I just hope the rain and wind hold off long enough for me to wet a line. Haven't decided where we're going yet? My buddy Willie Nelson and I are going to try out his new boat! Since were from up North I'm debating on where to go. He usually defers to my wealth of knowledge in determining which lakes to fish and when. I'm after Walleye! I'd like to run down to fish Stockton but that is about a two and a half hour drive for us and he won't want to do that, so I think I'm going to try and talk him into running over to Long Branch near Macon. They've stocked millions of Walleye over the last ten to fifteen years and should have a nice population by now. I have to remind myself to buy my fishing license, BUY FISHING LICENSE! I'm going to put the trap in the creek tonight and see if I can catch some chubs, if not I'll have to use worms w/ jigs and/or crankbaits. Thank GOD that spring has finally sprung and great fishing is on the way. The Midwest has got to be the jewel of the USA when it comes to fishin', huntin', and outdoor recreation in general. Our new state motto should be "We've got it all"! Keep that information to yourself though, we don't want anybody moving in on our territory! It's crowded enough as it is. Well, I'll let you know how I do tomorrow, until then this is Buck Dandy saying, if you ain't huntin' or fishin' or exploring the unknown outdoors, then you're makin' my day by leaving it all to me"!

Well, I asked for it and here it is, a mucky, muddy, miserable, March! Oh, its not that bad, we've had a few nice days with warm weather and lots of wind. I've been crappie fishin' and shed huntin' and have had better luck shed hunting. So far I'm six sheds in five trips out with one complete set. I've found three sheds which have been small eights. One tall spike and a set which was a 5x4. I fixed my 4 wheeler, had a throttle adjustment cable which was unhooked and had to put it back on, so now I'm fully mobile and able to cover more ground. I don't know if I'm just lucky or if I've learned to look in the right places, or if it is the antler restrictions implemented by the MDC, but I've found more this year than any year previously. Finding a matched set is like getting a bonus buck tag free of charge! I am already getting excited over my elk hunting trip for 2008. My group is having our annual elk meeting to discuss our gameplan this Sunday. My brother and I are going to apply for New Mexico this year, our fallback is Colorado. Muzzleloader or Bow, it doesn't matter to us, we plan on laying something down in 08. Sorry to hear about all the rain some of you are getting down in SoMo, I'm sure its effing up the fishing. Well, enough for today. Talk to you later, until next time, keep your lines wet and your powder dry!

Went shed hunting on Saturday with my dad, we covered a lot of country but didn't have any luck. Found a bunch of sign, the trails really stand out in the snow. Deer have mostly been concentrating on cut corn fields, as far as I can tell. Went ice fishing on sunday the 24th, hit three ponds and caught a fish at each, then we hit another one and I cleaned up pretty good. I caught seven or eight bass and two really nice crappies, caught most of them on white hair jig tipped with crappie nibbles, the others on red, white, and chartreuse hair jig tipped with crappie nibbles. Ice was 12-14" thick on most ponds. Got tired of drilling holes pretty fast. Nothing tastes better in February than a fresh bunch of fillets.

The next best thing to shooting a buck is finding matching sheds. Well, had to get out of the house on Monday so me & joefish went shed hunting. It was one cool day, windchill was 10* but guess who found his first set of matching antlers? Yeah, Me! My brother put a pic of them on his blog, Joefish, a decent 5x4 which needs to grow another year. Found them in a CRP field close to a creek on the south side (sunny) where there is a natural wind break and bedding area. They hadn't been there long, maybe a few days. Going to try again this weekend. Its always a rush to find sheds on your first day out, hadn't looked for maybe 45 minutes and bam! there they were right next to each other. And last week I complained about nothing to do, said sheds hadn't dropped yet, i was wrong..

I know this is short notice but I thought I'd let everyone know about this. The Gallatin Men's Club, a non profit group, is having its annual "Testicle Festival" (as seen on David Letterman) this weekend on Saturday at the Southside Tavern in Gallatin, MO. Gallatin is about an hours drive north of Kansas City. Anyone in the area is invited to attend. They start serving them up at 4:30 pm and keep serving until they're all gone. They have memorial t-shirts with a new slogan for each year. This years slogan is "The Original Sac Lunch", shirts are $20/each with all the proceeds donated back into the community for youth projects and other worthy causes. The all you can eat dinner is $10/each and that is Turkey Fries, french fries, baked beans, and cole slaw. This is the 6th year for the event. It is a real good time if you're looking for something different to do. If you would like a t-shirt you can respond to this with your info and I'll do my best to accomodate. They may be limited on supplies. The shirts have a pocket in the front, with the Mens' Club Bull holding his balls and on the back it has the slogan. They are grey t's with blue lettering. Thats all for now, have a good un'.

Is it just me or does everyone else experience the winter blues when the hunting season ends and its to darn cold to get out and do any serious fishing? Here it is the middle of Feb. already and I'm about to go nuts due to inactivity. I don't hunt rabbits, ponds and lakes are frozen over, bucks aren't dropping their sheds yet, its 5* outside and the windchill is -10* and all I seem to be able to do is sit my fat butt in my La-z-boy and watch reruns of my favorite hunting shows. I know, I can answer my own question, get a hobby, I could be tying flies, reloading shells, fletching arrows, painting wildlife, and any other number of things to pass the time. I'm a lazy SOAB. I have to say though, I bring it upon myself, its the price I have to pay to remain free and have the ability to do what I want when I want. This winter is hanging in there unlike winters past. I'm going to suck it up and get out this weekend to try some ice fishing. I'll keep you posted.

Upadate on ice fishing, Joefish and I went to a pond Sunday and caught a crappie and a bass, yeah, drilled eight holes and only two had fish in them. ha. Weather was nice, overcast and 50*, the local lake we fish has been producing bass and crappie pretty regularly, though. Going to give the ponds a rest and concentrate on the lake for now. Having most luck using red and white jigs tipped with crappie nibs. Tight lines everyone.

My Dad, brother and I like to come down and fish Taneycomo in the day for trout and Powersite tailwater in the evenings for walleye. The last trip we made was in late Feb. or early March of last year, I think? I've killed some brain cells since then. In your wise and knowledgeable opinions, what time of year is the best time to hook onto some walleye? Have boat will travel. Thanks for all your input.

As an accessory by association with hand fishermen in North Mo I can say that the most my group has taken in any given season in lbs. is probably on average around 100 to 200 lbs/season. That is gross weight. Once in a while we get a fish in the 20-60 lb range if its a good year. Yes we do keep all the fish we catch, however, we do eat them so we're not wasting any. I don't handfish because I like it necessarily but I do it for the excitement and commeradery. I, like Joefish, have spent many an hour sitting on the bank with rod and reel at hand and struggled to catch a cold. My biggest catfish on rod and reel in the Grand River is 18lbs. However I don't think that noodlers are causing shortages of catfish, but I don't know everything. Every time the river rises it should bring an influx of cats from the Big Mo or Ole Miss. My take is legalize it in impoundments and leave the rivers alone. Fish at your own risk. Its more fun that way.

I'm thinkin' thats a long drive in foul weather just to catch a fish. And it is my B-day on Monday. Would rather go ice fishin' up in Spirit Lake at Okoboji and party MBO with some Iowa heifers. How bout dat?