Terry Beeson

Well, there was this guy... see... a few years ago... a friend... not me... that had a buck come out on him that had very stunted antlers. It was a mature buck but had a larger base with 8 inches with nub forks... very stunted... Well I.... I mean my friend... wanted to take him out of the gene pool. So he wound up in the freezer. I don't recommend that, but if I were in a hunting club I would vote to take legal bucks with basket racks out of the pool... Maybe limit it to a certain number per season. For me, yes I would "waste" a tag on one like that if it meant a better chance of a trophy down the road.

Hey Cardiac... I'm thinking of taking up roller blading as a form of exercise... and doing it on a treadmill...

Phil, I would think good management for trophy bucks might include taking legal bucks with narrow racks out of the gene pool as a good practice. Do they not stay narrow and pass this gene on to their offspring? Sounds like a good place to spend a hunting trip.

Other than ordering a medium burger and getting well done, sounds like you had a good experience. But I know a lot of places will not cook burgers to order anymore because of E.Coli scares. Yeah, I'm curious about the aquarium myself...

Wow... I gave you advice and you took it? Brave fellow you are indeed... Good to hear from you... Hope to see you NYD!!!

OK... I get as many short strikes and misses as anyone else and I am working on the problem. But I may be able to shed a bit of light on the situation from the discussions I've had with some very knowledgeable gentlemen in the fly fishing game... You MAY be "over setting" the hook when you feel a take. I spent the first 40 years of my life bass fishing and crappie fishing and the biggest problem with the transition from one to the other was getting the "feel" of the strike and reaction to it. For bass, you usually make a bone jarring "jerk" that will almost cause you to fall over backwards and out of the boat. With Crappie, you gently put pressure on the line just enough to bring the hook through that paper mouth. BIG difference... I know I would miss a lot of each type when I was first starting back fishing for one type - I would miss bass after only crappie fishing for a while and miss crappie after only bass fishing for a while. Now... with trout there is a "happy medium" that you have to get use to. Trout do not have the tough mouth of a Largemouth, but they do have a bit tougher mouth than a "Papermouth" Crappie. You CAN tear the lips off a trout and I've seen evidence of this with fish I've caught... Not necessarily that I have torn them, but have caught trout with half a lip missing. Many times we tend to over-set and actually pull the fly out of the fish's mouth. Remember - the fish has sucked the fly into his mouth. If you pull too hard and fast, you will simply pull it out of his mouth. Think about setting that hook hard... How far would the fly move if you did not have a take? Two or three feet or more? Well, that's two or three feet (or more) away from the fish. Look at a trout's mouth... Imagine a fly inside it. How far would you have to "move" the fly/hook before it would be out of his mouth? Not very far... An inch or two... But you do have to take into consideration line slack and the fact that they are suspended in water. In other words, you will have to move the rod tip a foot or so to get a set on the fish. Have you ever readied yourself for a backcast and bring the rod tip up only to find some pressure on the other end that just happened to be a trout? If you have, you probably didn't realize that you probably, actually made the perfect set on that fish. A steady rise of the rod tip - deliberate but not bone jarring. As one "guru" put it to me, the fish feels the pressure and instinctively turns away and down. This sets the hook firm in the corner of the mouth. The real trick is to get the hook set and then get pressure on the fish without overdoing it... Not an easy task, really... Some guys prefer the "strip set" to the rod set. I know Michael Kyle is fond of that type of hook set and I want to shadow him some time to get a better idea how it's done. I can't seem to get the strip set to work for me. But I know it does work if done right. Actually, getting the hook set right seems to be very much like getting a good fly cast or golf swing. Once you "master" it, you wonder how you did it wrong all these years...

Rusty, Does the power cord plug into the monitor or is it hard wired? I would suggest getting a new cord if it plugs in... If it is hard wired, I would take it to a Dell shop and get it fixed...

No I haven't been eaten by the squid... But I started my new job at Sisters of Mecy (St John's) Monday. That along with going to school full time at OTC has me covered up. Sure is going to cut MORE into my fishing and hunting this year. But I gotta do what I gotta do... One thing for sure... I'm SOOOOOO glad to be out of manufacturing. Thanks for the thoughts, prayers, emails, and messages. Just keep praying that this turns into permanent employment instead of the temporary thing. If I can get that done and sell my house in Jonesboro, I'll be lookin' good!!!

I resemble that remark!! KingFisher - google "Amos 'n' Andy" for the "Ruby Begonia" reference...

Sorry to hear about your wife's BIL and our prayers are with him. Good advice! I check my stand a week or two before archery season (ladder stand - homemade - well built) and take "baby steps" until I'm very confident. This year I found a couple of problems that could have had not so good results if I had waited until an hour before sunrise on opening day to try it out. Good advice is to check out ALL your equipment a week or two before you head to the woods the first time... and periodically all season. I've got another ladder stand (store-bought) that I'm planning to move soon. You can bet there will be some updates to it before setting it in its new home...

A friend of mine told me he was talking to an MDC biologist recently and talking about the lack of acorns due to the freeze. Well, the biologist said to remember that the red oaks made acorns LAST year for this year's crop... In other words, there might not be any white oak acorns, but should be plenty of red oak acorns. Well, sure enough, last time I was at the farm, it sounded like rain under the red oaks and the deer were feasting on them. They were ignoring corn feeders... They go nuts for acorns...

OK... you guys are just trying to rook him into being a squid snack so you can fish... Welcome to the forum, KingFish.... Do da name Ruby Begonia ring a bell? (OK all you trivia folks... We'll age a few of us with that one...)

Great news for sure!! All the glory to God for a good report! Now get ready for a lifetime addiction to fly fishing...

I've actually used Zip-Loc bags in the past for a quick fix. This is a much more reliable version of that idea... Good find, Dano...

You didn't get John to tie you up a green butt at Conclave?

Want me to guess? Tragic day... my one regret in life is that I did not attend one of their concerts before this... Several have tried, but their ain't NOBODY can replace Ronnie...

Welcome to the forum Woodman... looking forward to seeing some of your work...

John, Dorber all the way!!! www.dorber.com

That's why Michael and I blast our radios while gearing up, then shut them off when we start down the steps... weeds out the other fishermen to give us full access to Taney...

Marketing words... Sage divides their rod lines into three categories - Premium, Specialty, and Value... Sounds much better than "Expensive, Pricey, and Cheep" doesn't it? To me, a Loomis rod at $285 would be considered "affordable" when compared to their $5-600 rods. I certainly don't have an extra $285 laying around the house. Heck, I'd be hard pressed to come up with $2.85 right now... But, looking at this Loomis line of rods makes me consider casting one down the line.

Dang Ducky... did you bring a couple of fish back with you from Alaska and put 'em in Taney? Sounds like the bigguns are making their way up to our neck of the woods!!

Uh... the best time would be the time that the buck is coming through... OK... OK... more seriously... Bucks will go through a "transition" in the next couple of weeks. Going from concentration on eating acorns to making rubs and scrapes to picking up drunk does in a local bar... They will be running rub lines and checking scrapes, but it will be difficult at best to determine when. Seems they change their schedules around now due to several factors - weather, moon, eating habits, fighting off other bucks, and a few does teasing him and trying to rook him into a relationship that will change once she has him trapped resulting in his not being able to drink beer with other bucks, being chewed out for even LOOKING at another doe, and re-arranging his buck pad with new furniture, flowery wallpaper, and frilly bedroom furnishings and ultimately cost him his gonads, home, car, bank account, and half his income over the rest of his life... Oh... back to the question... One thing to consider is proximity of these lines to feeding and bedding areas. This could give you some indication of when you might see them. Get a good topo map or aerial photo. GoogleEarth is a good hunting tool... The best bet for intercepting these bucks would be to get in your stand early and prepare for a long drawn out wait. Even then, they may be nocturnal and you won't see them at all. However, my best guess would be early morning or late afternoon.

You must fear the Giant Maneating Taneycomo Killer Squid. He lives in the waters of Taneycomo and dines on scuds, rainbows, browns, and the occasional night fishermen. He is attracted to the smell of waders, cigar or cigarette smoke, chicken feathers, and squirrel or rabbit fur. He is especially attracted to the smell of methane gas produced after eating chili dogs, BBQ, anything from Taco Bell, or sea horses. Sea horse gas is a REAL attractant. He loves the sight of lights hovering above the water's surface at about 3-5 feet. Red light will trigger an silent but aggresive attack. White light only serves to make him stalk you more carefully. He is quite stealthy and will attack without prior warning. While nobody has ever gotten a close enough look to see just how big he is and survived, the few who have escaped his attacks have reported hearing strange noises and seeing a pair of eyes - red, green, or blue depending on weather conditions - just prior to escaping to the parking lot. He has the ability to sound like a heron squawking, a beaver tail slapping the water, or a bobcat, deer, possum, armadillo, or other creature walking down the bank. He comes out on most nights, but seems to get very hungry when the sky is dark (new moon or cloudy) and even hungrier during a fog. The only thing that has proven to be any kind of fore-warning of an impending GMETKS attack is a bat flying around your head. It is believed that the bats work in tandem to give the squid a lock on the location of his intended target. All I can say is that if you are fishing at night and you feel something slimy start working around your ankles, God have mercy on your soul!!!!

With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound He pulls the spitting high tension wires down Helpless fishermen at outlet 2 Scream bug-eyed as he looks in on you He picks up Leonard's van and he throws it back down As he wades through the Big Hole toward the center of Pointe Royale Oh, no... They say he's got to go... Oh no Squid-zilla Oh, no... There goes Taneycomo... Oh no Squid-zilla

WOW.... 'nuff said....