Top_Heavy's World

I was lucky enough to make the trip again this year with my younger brother and my father to the land of Smallmouth! We fish several rivers that flow into the great lakes and as usual, the fishing was very good. The water was high, actually out of it's banks, but we managed to catch almost 30 bass over 19" in 1 1/2 days of play. The best bass was under 22" but not by much, and fell to a copper willow bladed spinner bait in shad pattern. Wacky worms and tube jigs were good, but the bite was best on spinnerbaits. Husky jerks in copper or firetiger were ok, but lacked consistancy.
The bass were just off the nest and in post spawn mode with some of the big females pretty beat up from tending. We would have stayed the full day on Saturday and part of Sunday, but the dams were open and the river was still rising with huge West winds. I will try to get some pics of the big fish up soon, my father and I caught a double on fish over 20", the picture is as awesome as that is rare!

This month is a big part of hunting prep, tags are drawn and thus plans will be made. I have applied all over, so the year should be incredible! I will be here much more often as I share the growing excitement for the 09 season!

I have written at some length about many bows this spring. I shot dozens of different bows and several manufacturers in hopes of getting true hands on experience and knowledge of the archery world. I am still amazed at how many people have commented on those comparisons. Thank you all for reading and keeping up with my works, that is very flattering, but keep in mind that this is a nonbiased opinion from a guy who looks at equipment as a tool, not a status symbol. I don't care about the color, name or gimmicks, I care about the real world arena of hunting. I have taken 20 to 35 deer per year with a bow for many years in a row and I am looking for the best killing tool out there. I mean no "brand junky" offense by a negative review, I just found flaws in the bow and I pointed them out. I don't care what year bows were made in, I compared everything to find the best. I have taken deer with a bottom end bow from Walmart and the cheapest arrows, heads and sights possible, they all work, I am able now to afford what I want... the best!

I will not apologize, an opinion can't be wrong, I just ask you to see what I have done and the reasons why. Please stay in touch and share your feelings, but a couple of you could learn a lot if you would keep an open mind.

I have become so busy at work I can't even keep up here, this journal and story area has become a weekly rush of what I have done last week... for that I am sorry, as hunting season gets closer I will briing back the stories and the more detailed plans on what I have been doing.

I applied for a tag in Kansas this year, I have a friend with land whom will allow me to harvest any mature 9 point or less deer this year. We have been working on lots of projects including cleaning up the land, fence and garbage clean up and lots of needed time on the farm.

I have had a friends bow for a couple of months and I got the timing right on it, the cable needed a few twists and we reset the peep, D loop, fall away rest string, and I added a sight, stabilizer and fine tuning to the bow. I fletched a dozen arrows for him and picked up several accessories that I feel help with the joy of shooting and the overall quality of the time. I am still amazed at the fact that he shot well over 100 arrows in one afternoon at 70#... when he hasn't shot a bow in almost 2 years! Not only was that physically amazing to me, but out to 80 yards he was able to keep less than 8" groups. I would like to think that much of that was due to my set up and effort, but that would be a big stretch. When a guy can shoot, he can just flat out SHOOT!

Alfalfa is planted, almost 1/2 acre tilled and seeded on one of my urban properties! I can't wait to see the deer population with the only plots in the entire area. I know guys willl be complaining about not seeing deer this fall, as they will be on my property... for a couple of days, then they will be in my truck!

The fishing has been good, my brother has been killing the gills on our pond and my father is doing well on bass in the evenings. Andy just got back from Rainy Lake and they hammered the pike, a few walleye and smallmouth bass. The ice went out about 2 weeks ago, so the bite is on. It was 19 cold degrees on Sat morning and he had to brush 1/2" of snow off of the boat, but the fishing was good 2 of the 3 days.

I am trying a big patch of grapes as a food plot this year. I have been watching them come from great distances to eat at the vines, so I will be planting this long weekend and we shall see what happens!

Keep checking in, the old Matt will be back soon!

Just when I think I am back in control of time, energy and money, the world get even more demanding! I must say we are lucky, we are very busy and I am still hiring new employees. Work is about to hit the normal feverish pitch of mid summer and the prep work is staggering. Long days turn into long eveings as I have crews running day and night! My support staff is getting trained and it will soon be less of a one "me" show.

Turkey hunting was good this year, 3 hunts for 3 birds, 2 for me and 1 for Jody. I will admit that I have taken Doug out twice and he is unable to connect. I got 2 birds inside of 15 yards, but new hunter issues arose and both escaped with out a shot fired. I am not sure if he has time to try again

Food plots are killed and I will have time to till on Wednesday, it is getting late, but alfalfa and oats will be fine as long as it stays moist... we have had lots of rain, so I am being a little sarcastic on that one.

Andy picked up his new 2050 Ranger with a 225 pro SS motor... wow, that is a boat. Should be lots of stories created in that over the next few years, and now I have 2 of his boats in my garages... he wondered why I attached 6, now he understands!

Lots of mushrooms, 20 lbs for Jody and over 5 for me, strange, I haven't eaten a single one this year.

I am about 220lbs, down from 230 at the peak of a bulk cycle. Unsure of the max strength yet, afraid of injuries so I will try my first max session at the end of June. February is coming quickly and my goals still stand... 400lb bench with sub 8% body fat on my 40th birthday!

I finally sent off the check for my New Mexico antelope hunt, I will be hunting with West Tex New Mex outfitters again this year. Mid August will find me in Lincoln County with a bow in my hand.

June will confirm an elk hunt... New Mexico drawings are held then and I have my fingers crossed. Private land archery sounds like my kind of late September!

The pond is thriving, fish are almost crazy easy right now, gills, bass and crappie. Spring is awesome!

Life is good, busy as can be but good. I will get pictures on here this week.... sorry

I won't lie and try to make it sound all glorious, it was miserable out there...
Jody and I hunt together when ever possible, we both have property to hunt, we both work for eachother's success and the least common part, we don't have competition between us. That seems to be a huge part of the people I spend personal time with. It is a pure pleasure to spend time with people whom you can do things with and not feel guilt or worry about how things turn out. We have had great seasons and some "bust" seasons, but they are all memorable with old Jody. Jody is a serious "Bar Room Olympics" contender, he is very talented at darts, volleyball, golf and may other activities that I used to enjoy when I drank heavily... don't get me wrong, some people probably find these activities enjoyable with out being drunk, I just find them very boring. Jody's schedule allowed only Sunday afternoon to hunt for the entire season. Most people would find that too challenging and stressfull, and when you add in the facts that it was raining, it was a low pressure system, it was afternoon, and the wind was howling at 20mph with gusts to 35.... OK, it was a little rough. I wasn't going to let him down so I took him to "THE" spot. I know my properties well and I have an oak ridge that borders an alfalfa field and is a prime roost location for many of the turkeys on a large farm in Southern Iowa.

I knew the weather factors would prevent much if not all the gobbling, and if I got a bird to sound off, the wind would have made it impossible to hear it or judge distance, so a cut and run approach was out of the question. I laid out my plan as we donned our camo and we started off. I should have been more careful in our approach, we tried to watch the sheltered sides of the fields as we walked in, but as I crested a slight rise, I busted 3 big toms. They scattered to the S with lots of putts and clucks. They did land on our side of the river, so I was confident that they would work back up to the roost we were approaching. The dissappointment of busting the toms was equal to the excitement of knowing they were relating to the timber where we guessed. Hustling to our chosen clump of locust trees, we set out a full flock of 5 decoys. The wind was a little less behind the big oaks, but it took extra sticks and clumps of grass to keep the decs from blowiing over or spinning on their stakes.
I randomly called on a slate call and a diaphram call while Jody used another slate call. We did get a tom to gobble on a series of cutts, so the excitement was on. The tom came through the roost trees and up the steep bluff below me. He gobbled again at 50 yards and went into strut at 10 yards. I squeezed the trigger on the old 10 guage and ... he went out of strut and started located my figure from swinging the gun. I squeezed again... he did the usuall 0 to 30 in 3 steps and I pulled my right glove off thinking the cloth was preventing the trigger from moving. I squeezed again as he dropped over the ridge edge and the gun was silent. Sheepishly I unloaded the gun and let the chamber slam shut. I pulled the trigger and the action worked perfectly and I was rewarded with a loud CLICK. I cycled the action and slowly slid the action closed as I had this morning, I pulled the trigger and got the same results I had while the big tom was in close. At least I know what was wrong. I reloaded and got back into position. The ground was so soft that my butt cheecks easily found the 4" depressions from the previous hour.
"Turkeys", almost a hiss, but I knew what he said. There were 2 jakes and 2 hens about 35 yards out on Jody's side. I slowly turned to see them and they were all focused on the decoy sitting with it's tail straight in the air. The wind had blown it over and now we were busted. The small group quickly vacated the field. I went out and fixed the decoy and cut some more cover for Jody in case that was the problem as well.
The big gobble surprised both of us. I was doing a series of excited cutts and he answered half way through the sequence. 10 seconds later he was 30 yards out and soon flopping on the ground! I knew the birds would be moving towards the roust, so we just sat still. 10 minutes later a string of 3 toms and a jake bobbled their way up the hill on my side. I wasn't in perfect position, but when they went into strut at 20 yards, I rolled to my knee hip and shot the biggest one. 2 big toms and two happy hunters. We got up to examine our birds. Jody's was heavier and his spurs were 1/8"+ longer than mine, but both birds sported a douple beard! I was talking to Dave Reisner, who has taken many multiple bearded birds, about this phenomenon, and about how I have never killed one or had anyone with me who killed one. What are the odds of killing 2 in one hunt?! This is my blog, so we will only show the pics of me, I will put you in the 4th season pics (if we get lucky)!

Both birds had long 2nd beards and over 1" spurs, a great trophy for anyone and even more special when it happens like this!