50 More Reasons to Give Thanks

Trent Marsh shot this nice buck on the eve of Halloween this year. It was his first bow kill, and weighed 226 pounds. Field & Stream Online Editors

Ned Caveney writes, “As Field & Stream deer go this is not big, but as deer shot on this place go it is overall the best I’ve done in 17 years of hunting this closely cropped deer herd.” Field & Stream Online Editors

This photo came courtesy of Mark Bonar Jones of the United Kingdom, who writes:
“We don’t quite have the outdoor & fishing opportunities that you have over there (Our island’s too small and everywhere’s owned by someone or another…You can’t go five miles without trespassing!) Anyway, what we’ve got I try to make the most of, and last Sunday I caught my personal best pike on the fly and thought, ‘Hey, I know where I’m gonna’ send this!'”
Jones caught the 19-pounder on the River Thames near Oxfordshire. Field & Stream Online Editors

Robert E. Brown and Ernie Kroll of New York caught these two kings, weighing 45 and 35 pounds, on the last day of the season in Alaska. They were fishing on the Klutina River in the Copper River Valley. Field & Stream Online Editors

Scott Hoag shot this 11-point with his bow in Macomb County, Mich., in October. The buck had a 17-inch spread and dressed out at 182 pounds. Field & Stream Online Editors

Scott Norkey shot this 9-point with his bow in Lenawee County, Mich., on the first of November. It had a 21-inch spread and weighed 193 pounds. Field & Stream Online Editors

Brian Woosley, of Roanoke, Va., shot this 9-point buck with his muzzleloader in Campbell County. It had a 23-inch spread. Field & Stream Online Editors

Sixteen-year-old Matt Thens shot this 15-point buck with a crossbow in Allegheny County, Pa. He was hunting in the late afternoon in November. Field & Stream Online Editors

Troy with his first bow-killed deer, a 121 5/8″ gross, 116″ net Kansas buck. Field & Stream Online Editors

Eleven-year-old Madison Morin kneels with her first deer, which she killed in Cecil County, Md., this November. The 6-point buck had 19 1/2″ spread and dressed at 190 pounds. She was using an H&R; 20 gauge Ultra Slug gun and Hornady Sabot slugs. Field & Stream Online Editors

Kendall DeJonge of Omaha caught this 39-inch northern pike last August in Stephens Lake, Manitoba. He was using a #4 red and white Dardevle spoon. Field & Stream Online Editors

Dave Patterson with a 6-pound walleye, which he pulled out of Rice Lake, Ontario in October. Field & Stream Online Editors

Dan Urgo woke his son, Evan, for a Delaware youth hunt at 5 a.m., but Evan decided to sleep another hour before going. After shooting this 4-point at 9:45 AM, Evan suggested that predawn wake-up calls are unnecessary. Says Dan, “No doubt guided hunts must be nice.” Field & Stream Online Editors

Paul Boyer with his pronghorn. Field & Stream Online Editors

Luke Schranz, 12, with a northern pike. Field & Stream Online Editors

Toby Knotts, 37, with his first deer, a 9×11 whitetail that he shot in Cheney, Wash., in October. Field & Stream Online Editors

I caught and released this 15-pound, 36-inch snook while freelining mullet in the surf around Sebastian Inlet, Fla.
–Billy Eckert, Jacksonville Beach, Fla. Field & Stream Online Editors

David L. Creger of Virginia caught this 25-inch male brown trout in the South Holston River in Tennessee last December. He was using a #16 light cahill with his 5-weight flyrod. Field & Stream Online Editors

Crissy Srpinger with her first buck, a 178-pound 8-point, which she took with her muzzleloader in November. She was on an all women’s hunt with BOW (Becoming an Outdoors Woman) in Tennessee. Field & Stream Online Editors

Writes Mindy Lee,
“My husband caught what we think is a very large brown trout. He caught it in the Naugatuck River, Naugatuck, CT on Wednesday November 14, 2007. We would love your input on this fish, as we took the pictures and gave the fish to a neighbor. We only weighed it ourselves, and did not bring it in to an official weigh station. Our scale showed 19 pounds. What do you think?”
Editor’s note: The fish does appear to be a brown trout, as indicated by pale halos around the dark spots on its body, and the X-pattern that the spots form, which is characteristic of big browns. Since the fish is so large and dark and was caught in the Naugatuck River, it might be a sea-run brown. Field & Stream Online Editors

Using white bread as bait, Patrick Lobbs caught this grass carp last November at Earl Lake in Ohio. The fish weighed roughly 40 pounds and was 40 inches long. Field & Stream Online Editors

Jordan Lang, 22, of Midland, Texas, shot her first deer this November in Christoval, Texas She took the 8-point with a Browning A-bolt .25-06. Says Jordan, “All it takes is practice and patience-“it’s not just a man’s sport.” Field & Stream Online Editors

Frank Hibbs caught this 26-inch steelhead in Lake Erie. Field & Stream Online Editors

Judy Black of Lachine, Mich., shot this 400-plus-pound bear in Saskatchewan during her last 15 minutes of the hunt. Field & Stream Online Editors

Rick Murphy with this first muley, which he shot during the September muzzleloader season in Eagle County, Colo. Field & Stream Online Editors

Nine-year-old Chantz Ryan Whitt of Florence, Texas, shot this 14-point buck in Real County this November. The deer was 5 years old and had a 24-inch spread. Field & Stream Online Editors

Last December, Tom Vaught of Indianapolis bagged this webbed buck, appropriately named “Ice Scraper,” in Jefferson County, Ind. Field & Stream Online Editors

Austin Arden, 21, with his first buck with a bow, an 8-point, which he shot in Marion County, Texas. Field & Stream Online Editors

Bob Kizer, of Capron, Ill., shot this 15-pointer in Cass County earlier this November. The buck had an 18-inch spread. Field & Stream Online Editors

Eleven-year-old Megan White of Blythedale, Mo., with her first deer, a 9-point buck. Says Megan’s aunt Valerie Hoofer, “Who says you can’t wear pink and still hunt?” Field & Stream Online Editors

Fifteen-year-old Dallyn Anderson of Aurora, Colo., with her first mule deer. Field & Stream Online Editors

Brandon Anderson of Aurora, Ind., has been hunting for 2 years. Here he poses with his very first coyote. Field & Stream Online Editors

Sariah Sparks, age 3 of Logan, Utah, with her first fish. Field & Stream Online Editors

On an early September evening, Charles Parker caught this 46-inch musky off a fishing pier on Lake Namakagon in northern Wisconsin. He was using a Shumway Hot Head spinnderbait, and released the fish unharmed after snapping this picture. Field & Stream Online Editors

William Thompson with his first bow kill, a 10-point buck he took in October on his family’s property in Illinois. Writes Thompson, “No doubt he was responding to my estrous lure. I stuck him with a 12-yard shot. He ran about 30 yards and crashed into a dry creek bed. He is almost perfect.” The buck field-dressed at over 210 pounds, and Thompson estimates him at 160 or more inches. Field & Stream Online Editors

On the morning of November 9th, Jay Cody shot this 175-pound buck, his largest whitetail by bow. He was hunting near his brother’s house in western New York. Field & Stream Online Editors

“After hunting our shack property for 18 years, my dad Duane Undeland of Aurora, Minn., finally shot a true trophy whitetail–a large 9-pointer with excellent mass and tine length. It’s estimated to be a 140- to 150-class buck. He shot it on opening day of the Minnesota rifle season, Nov. 3, 2007 at about 7:30 AM.”
-“Aaron M. Undeland Field & Stream Online Editors

John Cheesebrow is 22 years old and only started bow hunting last year. This is his first buck with a bow, which he shot at 25 yards in country north of the Twin Cities. Field & Stream Online Editors

Fourteen-year-old Rechelle Coonde, of Arizona, with her first mule deer buck. She shot the deer at a little over 200 yards with her .243. Her grandpa Ruben Conde Sr., 70, was serving as her guide. Field & Stream Online Editors

Ruben Conde Sr. also guided his daughter-in-law Wendy Conde to this massive 4×4. It was the last day of Wendy’s hunt, and she took the deer with her Remington 7mm magnum at 145 yards. Field & Stream Online Editors

Darrell Steele and son Eli with a southeast Oklahoma 9-pointer. The buck had a 19 Â¿Â¿-inch spread was taken with a muzzleloader. Field & Stream Online Editors

Eleven-year-old Sergio with his first chum salmon, which he hooked on a K-15 Kwikfish on the Lower Skykomish River in Washington this November. Field & Stream Online Editors

Levi Banks with his first deer with a bow in his second year hunting. Minutes after killing the buck, he saw a much larger 8-point go by. Says Banks, “I don’t regret it for a second, though-“I had a good clean shot at a decent first bow buck.” Field & Stream Online Editors

Tyler shot this big double drop tine earlier this fall, west of Gardiner Dam in Saskatchewan. Field & Stream Online Editors

Jim Cousins with a big muley he shot in South Dakota on November 10, opening day. Field & Stream Online Editors

“Finally, clarity in the face of rumor, innuendo, and wives’ tales. Gerald Almy and Scott Bestul did a fine job of laying out what happens, when and why for the whitetail rut (November 2007 issue). I started bow hunting 3 years ago. I’ve since seen things you just don’t see during gun season but simply couldn’t make the wide variety of behaviors make sense. Now I get it… I think. You don’t “hunt the rut” so much as the week or so prior to the rut. November 10 was a magic day in central Panora, Iowa.”
–Robert Martin, Panora, IA Field & Stream Online Editors

Bill and Kathy Jennings, their son Brandon Jennings, and his friend Devin Valdez, caught literally hundreds of fish while at Clear Lake, Calif., most between 3-6 pounds. Field & Stream Online Editors

Tristan Galvan with a bass he caught near his father’s house in Montgomery, Texas. Field & Stream Online Editors

Andrew Stanley, 11, holds his first bird, a quail hen, which he shot on his first hunt. He was out with his father, David, on a private reserve east of Kansas City, Mo. Field & Stream Online Editors

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50 More Reasons to Give Thanks

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