Did you take your kids fishing this year? My kids are all grown up with kids of their own now. And I think grandkids are the most fun because of course I can spoil them and send them back home. Really though, I absolutely love my kids and my grandkids, so much so that I take them fishing about as often as I can.
This all started back when I was a kid and like many of you we went fishing with one or both of our parents or maybe a grandparent or other family mem
Father’s Day came this year and as usual I missed my Father. He’s been gone for a few years now and something always happens on that day that makes me shed a tear remembering the times we had. And this year was no exception. I always remember hunting and fishing, of course but this year I thought of working on pole barns with him and pouring concrete. He introduced me to this neat little tool, when I was sixteen years old called the Jackhammer.
My job was to break up and clean out the
We played cops and robbers the other day. My son set it up with his wife and included two of his three boys, ages four and two as the cops, (a two month old cop just wouldn’t work). The call came in about 1530 hours of an armed robbery of cookies at Sissy’s house.
We arrived at the scene with the boys dressed in their kaki’s and polo’s sporting badges and notepads. The victim was interviewed and foam dart bullets were seized as evidence. A description of the perps was taken down a
Back about 1973 or so Kansas opened a season for snagging Paddlefish, or Spoonbill as we call them, on the Neosho River. My Dad and I enjoyed many an outing to Chetopa to snag below the dam beginning with the 1973 season and on until his death. I remember going with some friends who also got the snagging bug and they were all good times. I still go occasionally and have had the pleasure of sharing the seasons with my three sons.
Sometime prior to that season Mom, Dad and I had taken
Once in a while a man does something that, at the time seems perfectly harmless. Then in retrospect he realizes the extent of the damage caused by that now not so innocent act.
I have fished five times in the last two weeks and have only a Crappie and three Trout to show for it. I fear I committed a mortal sin when I...washed my fishing rag. Woe, woe, woe is me.
This morning while again catching nada I looked down at the right time and saw the mother of all Kansas trout breach the s
Back in the day as a Sheriff's Department Detective one of my jobs was as a sniper. Now don't go getting excited, It never really amounted to much, thankfully. I spent a lot of time punching holes in paper and was called to a few situations which resulted in deployment and then peaceful surrender.
The most noteworthy call came one hot summer day from the local stockyards. The owner called the Sheriff's office to ask for a sharp shooter to cull a Black Angus bull that had gotten loose an
I recently traveled to Branson with my wife and some others from our church. We attended a conference at the Hilton and stayed there for three nights. Wow, what a place. We had a large room overlooking the Landing, the scenic railway train and of course, the lake. I managed to sneak off and do some fishing during the times when the meetings did not include me. I only caught eighteen trout during the few times got out but as usual with me I had fun anyway.
I ventured to the dam right a
This evening I had the chance to head to the creek. It is spring, despite what the weather seems to say about it and that means White Bass. (Sand Bass for those with an accent).
I arrived about two hours before dark thinking this water is too much like chocolate milk to catch fish, but fish have to eat so I stayed. I managed to catch about fifteen Whites before it got dark and, I had a good time doing it.
The real fun was in my head of course, remembering the times I brought my da
The phone call came just after dark one evening. The voice on the other end was a familiar one saying he had a little boy that wanted to tell me something. It was the special Kansas youth Deer season and I knew what was coming. A few seconds later I heard the excited voice of my seven year old great nephew, Gryffin telling me he had just taken his very first buck. He went on telling me how big he was, how far away he was, what gun he used and then dropped the bomb. “Uncle Kelly we can’t find
Another great day in the woods came to a close this evening. I went deer hunting... again, with my son Steve and a couple of friends. We started off in the middle of a mile section surrounded by cedar trees mostly. If you have ever hunted amongst the Cedars you'll know what I mean when I say it's the ultimate corn maze.
Steve and I spotted some deer in a cut bean field so we glassed them a bit ...from a hilltop. As daylight overcame them they began to mosey to the Cedars, but we were alrea
Hey, do you want to go on a wild hog hunt in Texas no less? The call came in late November and as Bryan spoke with his Sergeant visions of wild hairy beasts with long tusks filled their heads. They agreed on inviting a few more of their fellow officers and soon the plan was in motion. The guys spent the month of December looking forward to and planning for their first pig hunt. Well, their first as a group anyway. Bryan had killed a pig just after high school graduation but that seemed like
I went fishing the other day. I took Marlan and Gary with me as they are two very good fishing buddies, and it was the least I could do. We fished the trout pit south of McCune and had a blast. Now by blast I mean we caught fish, of course but more than that we connected again as friends.
Now don’t go getting all girly and mushy on me, just hear me out. This work, work, work lifestyle we all lead can wear on a person from time to time and because of that once in a while we need some
went to the Deer woods today. I didn’t buy my tags early enough to hunt the daylight hour but, being the early riser that I am I went none the less, after lunch. This was my first day out this year so naturally, no Deer. I mainly went to check out my ground blind, which in this case is a fancy term for a clump of trees in the middle of which, I stand and hunt.
The trees were still in the same place as were the Deer, which was not that same place so I amused myself redefining my hunting terr
I went trout fishing the other day. Actually fourteen of us fished for four days on Lake Taneycomo near Branson, Missouri. This was our twenty-fifth year for this trip and the usual suspects showed up, kids, brothers and friends.
We floated the lake in an array of boats catching trout, we polished some props in the gravel, we ran out of gas but surprisingly no one went in the water. One night we watched a Ferret cruise the dock looking for a meal and saw an Otter swimming the outside lo
My wife, Linnet’s father, Harvey Gaither passed away this past Tuesday from his third bout with cancer. He was a real trooper, as they say in dealing with it. He kept his composure and his sense of humor and spoke of it very frankly. When the time came he had everything in order he could have thought of and was surrounded by family. That seems to be all there is to say, on the surface.
During the days afterward the outpouring of love and support from friends and family was overwhelming
I went to a funeral today. It was not a normal funeral as one would think of as normal but rather something like I had never experienced before. This man was a veteran of the Vietnam War. He was just ten years older than I and had passed away in a nursing home. I was there because a friend had invited me to come along and basically keep him company.
I obliged him and we met shortly before 9:00AM and headed for the Ft. Scott National Cemetery. If you’ve never been there, it is quite a pl
So gun season has dawned and the Deer are, by now what one would call SKITTISH. I awoke at the crack of TOO DANG to discover it was 61 degrees outside. I immediately switched from long johns and sweat shirts to the more seasonal Hawaiian shirt and shorts.
I still had a Doe tag so I went out with my son Steve, who still had a buck tag this morning to a new place. I was in there on the previous Thursday and saw a mess of Does so I figured there must be a buck around somewhere...not. Not eve
My Dads Deer rifle was a Ruger RL in 257 Roberts. He accurized it himself and, boy could he drive tacks with it. Then one day he got the itch to improve it again. We took it to an old friend of his named Marion Reed who lived along Butler Creek near Bartlesville, Oklahoma, a gunsmith of no small talent. He had it a week and viola a 257 Ackley Improved. 117 grain bullets now flew at 3100 fps. He charged $100.00 because he had to make the cutting tools first.
Marion Reed did a lot of work fo
