Reader Snapshots: May 2006

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I just wanted to send in a picture of the mountain goat I took in British Columbia last year with my good friend and guide Allen Tew of Chilanko Forks Outfitters. Al had been watching this goat with a rifle hunter for a week and he was never in the right spot for a clean shot. After the rifle hunter had packed and left for home, Al asked me on my last day if I wanted to try a stalk. Well to make a long story short, we got to within 200 yards of the billy, but either because I can’t shoot a gun or the gun being dropped out of the boat before the hike, I missed 6 times and ran out of rounds. Fortunately I had brought along my bow, so I grabbed it and took off at a dead run, straight down the hill and straight back up, to get to were he had stopped. With no strength left because of my mad dash it took every thing I had to pull my bow back at 40 yards. I killed him with my second shot. If I had more time I would tell you about taking the pictures, running out of day light, running back up the mountain for my back pack, almost breaking my neck, hiking off the mountain in the dark, passing out twice, plus many many other scary but exciting adventures on our way back to camp. Thank you Al for getting me off that mountain.
–Shane Yearian Field & Stream Online Editors

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The happy kid in the picture is my son John, who is 12. The bird is his first turkey, a sharp-spurred eastern gobbler he killed on April 8 during Iowa’s three-day youth season. It was already starting to get light (my fault) on Saturday morning as we snuck into a small woodlot where we heard a bird gobbling. We sat side by side with our backs to a soft maple. The turkey gobbled half a dozen times from the limb, then flew down and went silent. I called. Nothing. A few minutes later I called again. No answer. Then John whispered calmly, “I see him.-Â¿ I turned to look, expecting to see a gobbler walking or strutting off in the woods somewhere. Instead, the first turkey John ever laid eyes on was 50 yards away and closing at a run, beard swaying, long legs carrying it toward us as fast as a turkey can go. There was no time to give instructions other than “take the safety off.-Â¿ The turkey crossed in front of us at 25 yards. I yelped. The bird skidded to a stop and put his head up. I said “Shoot him.-Â¿ There was a boom and John’s shout of triumph. We had been sitting for all of 15 minutes. I have not seen a turkey run that hard to the gun since my own first bird 20 years ago. That turkey, like John’s, hopped off the branch, clamped its beak shut and sprinted to me. It only took a few minutes for the bird to run from on the roost to in range, but in that time, my springs changed forever. John insisted we have turkey for Easter dinner. We’re drying the fan and he wants the spurs strung so he can wear them around his neck. Early indications are he’s hooked for life. He’ll have many, many years to learn that turkeys hardly ever come running when called.
–Philip Bourjailly, Shotguns Columnist Field & Stream Online Editors

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Hi, I’m Clayton Jones (13-years old) of Junction City, Oregon. This was the first salmon I have ever caught. It’s a 47-pound chinook, and I caught it at the mouth of the Siuslaw River in Florence, Oregon while trolling cutplug herring. The Fish and Game department said it was 5-years old and was wild. Field & Stream Online Editors

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Who needs rainbows when you have Arkansas browns? Caught in February “somewhere in Arkansas”.
–Bob Sherrill Field & Stream Online Editors

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Dear Sirs,
My son Christian passed his hunting test in 2004 at the age of 17. Last year he joined me for a roebuck hunt near our hometown of Bingen, Germany. I was hunting in the forest, while Christian was sitting on a tree stand close to the village of Waldalgesheim. I heard him shooting but he missed the deer. He was very sad about that, and went to the range and prooved to me that it was neither his ability to shoot my Ruger .30/06, nor problems with the gun itself, but just buckfever. At the evening of May 11th this year, he joined me again, and went again on that same treestand, looking for “his” deer. A few does passed his place, and then finally his deer came into his sight. This time the luck was on my son’s side. I cannot remember any other pictures showing my son this happy before the hunt. This proved to me that supporting my son on his way to become a hunter was the right decision. Hunting will always be a major link between him and me.
–Hans J. Henrich, Bingen at the Rhine River, Germany Field & Stream Online Editors

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I’m a military instructor pilot, stationed at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi. My job keeps me very busy, so I don’t have a lot of time to get outside. However, fishing is one of my favorite pastimes, so when I do get a few minutes I like to throw in a line or two. On one of the local lakes in the area I caught this monster spotted bass weighing over 7 pounds (on my dinky little not-so-reliable scale).¿¿Most people will tell you that a big spotted bass is one between 3 and 4 pounds. The Mississippi state record is 8 pounds, 3 ounces, caught back in 1975. I don’t assume people catch them this close to the record all that often. I was using 8-pound-test line, and when I attempted to pull this fish out of the water, my line immediately snapped and I had to dive right into the shallows of the lake to grab it and keep it from escaping. Boy, was it worth it! In the end, I felt it best to release this fish, but I felt that you and many of the readers might enjoy the photos.
–Jason Rubenstein Field & Stream Online Editors

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My husband and I took our 9-year-old daughter Lexy Havlock fishing in a row boat in the Kalamazoo River in Galesburg, Michigan and she caught this huge 33-inch northern pike weighing 8-1/2 pounds.
–KrisAnn Havlock. Field & Stream Online Editors

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My son Hunter and I with a couple of nice seven pound male walleyes caught on Rapalas in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
–Rexam Sussex Field & Stream Online Editors

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This is a picture of my 4-year-old son Morgan’s¿¿first bass. We were fishing at a pond at the Fairfield Resort in New Bern, North Carolina in March. His little casts were barely making it into the water, which had a lot of thick algae around the edges. But that was enough to hook this fish with a black salamander. He got so excited he nearly dropped the rod and I had to keep¿¿him from¿¿falling into the water. I helped him¿¿land the fish and another vacationer volunteered to take this picture. Needless to say Morgan is hooked and now we spend a lot of afternoons fishing in the Catawba River which runs behind our home.
–Mike Craft Field & Stream Online Editors

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This is 7-year-old James Smith with his first turkey, taken during North Carolina’s first “youth only” hunt on April 1. It weighed 23 pounds, and had a 10-inch beard and 1-inch spurs. Still can’t get grin off his face.
–Darris Smith Field & Stream Online Editors

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My name is Mike Prange and I caught this flathead catfish on April 22 out of Lake Pepin, near Lake City, Minnesota. My brother-in-law and I were jigging for walleyes when this fish bit. It took me well over an hour to land on my light-action pole and 6-pound-test monofilament. This is the largest fish I have ever caught so it was very exciting.
–Mike Prange Field & Stream Online Editors

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Daniel Neuburger is 8 years old, from Katonah, New York. He shot this 22-pound gobbler while hunting with his grandfather about 1 1/2 hours outside of Shawnee, Kansas during that state’s special youth hunting weekend (April 8 and 9). It was Daniel’s first hunt ever. We believe he had some help with the actual shot, but both Grandad and Daniel had a great time!
–Cheryl Neuburger Field & Stream Online Editors

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On a business trip from Wyoming I was working on the Island of Lanai’i in Hawaii. Armed with my pack rod and and a modifed spoon some friends took me on a fishing trip to one of the island’s seculed beaches for the day. I took this Ulua on 10-pound line and¿¿it took¿¿several minutes to get it back to shore. Catching this monster was a little different than the normal trout that are found in my home waters (Snake and Green rivers). This catch was the talk of the town and all of the locals who have been fishing these waters all of their lives have never caught one of this size and were amzed by it. Life is good
–Nic Nash Field & Stream Online Editors

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Dear: Field & Stream: My 9-year-old son Brandon subscribes to your magazine and I thought I would send you a picture of a largemouth bass he caught over spring break in Lake Havasu, Arizona on April 13, 2006. The fish’s length was 19 3/4 inches; weight was 5 pounds, 8 ounces; girth was 14 inches We own a vacation condo in Parker, Arizona and Brandon fishes from dawn to dusk every day when we visit. His dream is to be a bass pro fisherman one day and when he is not fishing he is reading about fishing or watching TV shows about fishing tournaments. One of his dreams is to enter a tournament on a real bass pro fishing boat.
–Jamie Lynn Holzhauer Field & Stream Online Editors

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Dear Field & Stream,
I wanted to send you this photo of a trophy largemouth bass that I caught on April 20. The fish weighted 14 pounds and was 30 inches long. I caught him on a Zoom Smoke Purple worm. This catch was a thrill of a lifetime. I reside in Windermere, Fla and I caught the bass on the Butler Chain of Lakes.
John M. Corrigan Field & Stream Online Editors