So I headed south for three days of hunting and what an experience it was. It was beyond fun to connect with my uncle whose dry sense of humor had both of us laughing all weekend. We hiked long and far, which both of us enjoy regardless of the hunt but it proved to be the right decision as we found birds. I’ll never forget hearing that first Tom gobble in a small canyon, making my ears ring and my heart skip a beat. Although we saw some birds the two stalks I put on them didn’t end like I had planned, the last one being a roosted bird that spotted me from a mile away and even though I got close enough to get 2 shots off while he flew away he was on to me from a ways out. Saw some great country, some good spots for deer that I’d like to revisit and more than anything I got a good education in turkey hunting.

With the fever to still get a bird, I teamed up with a friend who’s buddy had seen nearly 40 birds in a little canyon in the southern region (I promised not to tell) and who within 15 minutes of arrival had a bird. So we set out for said location and after a boondoggle of directions, private land between us and forest service land we decided that the only way to get there was the hard way so we hiked about 3 miles over ridges and across a couple of valleys to “the spot”.

When we got there, nothing but silence, no tracks and no turkey turds. We were a little dejected. There was a guzzler down valley about 1/4 mile so we went to check it out and found nothing again. Just as we were wondering if we’d hiked all that way for nothing – GOBBLE-GOBBLE! After high fives and dancing like a couple of drunken soldiers (quietly of course), we started up canyon and wouldn’t you know it in our effort to get around into a spot we passed the turkey and it passed us.

When we realized our error we set up and gave a call. The turkey came back and unfortunately I had sat in a spot that limited my view if he came into one certain spot….and yep, he came into that spot. I wasn’t going to take a shot through a sage brush so I painfully let him go on by. He saw me when I moved a bit and started to “blip, blip, blip” which I can only assume is the distress sound.

After making our way up canyon we heard him gobble twice but opted to take a nap under a tree on some soft grass. 2 1/2 hours later we woke up and were ready to roll. A quick hike up a ridge and circling back towards the water we heard him gobble again and made haste. Just as we got near the water we got a glimpse of him headed away so we paralleled him for a bit and set up under a juniper. I heard him gobble and thought we had gone too far over. So I gave a call on the slate and he responded immediately.

After 2-3 min I gave a prrrrr on the slate and he was headed in hot, gobbled so loud I thought he was in my back pocket. At the last minute I adjusted my position to be able to cover more range and I’m glad I did cause seconds later I saw movement behind a juniper just a bit to the right of center. I thought he’d come right out into the open but he stalled after coming out into the open, looked right at us, started to “blip, blip” and began to turn around. I knew it was my chance so I pulled the trigger. Head shot meant he went straight down and flapped a couple of times and it was over.

The 3 mile hike back to the truck had me thinking if it’s worth the hike, the number of days hunting, the heat, the….of course it was! Hiking that far helped get us away from anyone else (didn’t see another hunter or anyone) and got us into a bird that was responsive to calls, unlike in the Pine Valley area where they would run away from calling.

What a great experience, a challenging animal and an even more enjoyable hunt than I’ve had in a while. Thanks to all who in the past have shared their stories and insights which helped me on this my first of many turkey hunts.

9″ beard

His tail feathers were munched in the middle – I can only assume from a close call with a coyote? As the tom was gobbling and we were moving in for the kill we spotted 3 coyotes headed our direction as well. After taking the bird we called in a coyote but missed a clean 75 yard shot. Bummer.

1″ spur, but the other spur was a stubby little black thing that you can see in the image.

Lastly, the meat was great. I marinated the breasts in Zesty Italian dressing for 24 hours and then put it on the BBQ. Aside from being a little chewy compared to Thanksgiving Turkey, it was delicious. Even my wife and kids enjoyed it.

This video is of me describing how it went down.

Being a forecaster is a coveted role by many but the numbers dwindle quickly as the “many” soon realize the pay doesn’t really stack up, the hours are terrible (unless you think being up at 5am to send out updates is glamorous) and the annual hunt for a summer job can get old after a season or two.

I suspect it takes a certain quality of person, a certain character to make a successful career at being an avalanche forecaster. I’m grateful for the work they do and support them each year with a little bit of my hard earned money. I recommend you do the same.

My reason for posting this was not to guilt you into donating to a great organization, but to share a piece of today’s report that behind the low pay, the long hours and the summer job searches is a passion at the core of each forecaster.

Each day here in northern Utah the Utah Avalanche Center releases the daily Avalanche Advisory for all areas of the state.

Aside from the daily update of snow conditions, reliable weather and avalanche conditions, I really enjoy reading the little insights, quips, comments and once in a while a line or two that gives an insight into passion that the forecasters have for a life in the mountains.

Today’s report from Drew Hardesty had something in there that the quick reader/skimmer may have missed. Drew has passion for the mountains and I’m glad he shared it in today’s report:

There are those moments in life when you’re outside with good friends, or even alone, and you realize something has changed. The sun shines more brightly, the colors are more vibrant, the powder snow bottomless. It’s like a momentary glimpse of a rainbow after a just after a hard rain – and everyone looks at one another with smiles – and nothing needs to be said. We mark our lives by days like these. This was yesterday in the Wasatch.

Thanks Drew.

As Wells Fargo (a bank that I have an account with) joined the other financial institutions in holding out their hands to accept some of my and your hard earned money, they figured it was time for a trip to Vegas and where else to stay but at the TOP, the Wynn. After the news broke they ended up canceling the rooms, but it begs the bigger question: When will the opulence stop? (that’s rhetorical)

Capitalism, socialism, whatever floats your boat, the disconnect going on in America today is on the magnitude of one of its finer geographical formations, the Grand Canyon. There are many interesting stories out there to pick from, but one that intrigued me most this past week was the Wells Fargo fiasco. Wells, like most offered, took the Federal Reserve handout to the tune of $25 billion+ with more to follow no doubt. This money comes directly from present and future tax payers no matter which printing press is used. When a whistle blower (read previous employee who enjoyed such junkets her entire tenure) pointed out the obvious, something not hidden or masked in anyway, that Wells was planning a typical annual junket at the most expensive hotels in the lower 48 (Steve Wynn’s latest properties in Vegas), it got the Washington folks thinking just a bit, which can be a miracle within itself at times.

If most tax payers, i.e. even successful entrepreneurs, would never consider $400 per night for a hotel room, particularly in a town where many acceptable rooms can be had for less than $100 per night….why should a company needing government subsidization plan a junket (with all the fixins) at such a hotel? I speak for many small business owners who have always pondered who could possibly justify such travel expenses in their business P&L statement. It is one thing to see some heiress or oil sheik peruse the Wynn lobby, but 1000 bank employees?

This is where we have landed in the land of excess, opulence and irresponsibility. I for one am betting on Wells to easily make it through this period, if for one simple fact….I trust Uncle Sam simply can’t and won’t let this behemoth fall. Wells has yet to write down its California portfolio accurately, smartly waiting out the demise of Bank of America and other competitors as they fight for shareholder survival. Every time a competitor stumbles, Wells picks up pure gold: depositors. This is a game in that the last man standing will reap the benefits of its fallen brethren. So the fact that Wells thought they could simply go ahead with such a junket after taking a 25 billion dollar handout comes as no surprise. Let’s face it, the press is not very savvy in reporting this stuff anymore. If only the infamous and sarcastic Hunter Thompson had his typewriter plugged in today.

Instead, exposure of how the “haves” are sticking it to the “have nots” is being exposed by ex-employees (of which there are a growing number), who are playing out their jealous rages as they are now tossed in with the rest of us booking our rooms at the Holiday Inn Express.

The desire by too many of us (I say us because we all are part of this mess we call an economy) to have more than enough has led to too many not having enough to maintain the abundance they were so proud of, despite their reality of not enough.

Now they want to be bailed out of scarcity, because it is someone else fault.

I’ve bolded below what could have very well been a prophetic statement, written back when the DOW was well over 10K and 20K was talked about.

You should know that this was written as a profile of a company that makes stuff, albeit good stuff.

In an economy of abundance, there is enough. Not too much. Not too little. Enough. Most important, there is enough time for the things that matter: relationships, delicious food, art, games and rest. Many of us in the United States live in what is thought to be abundance, with plenty all around us, but it is only an illusion, not the real thing. The economy we live in is marked by “not enough.” We once asked the owner of a successful business if he had enough money and he replied, “Don’t you understand? There is never enough.”

We don’t have enough money, and we also don’t have enough time. We don’t have enough energy, solitude or peace. We are the world’s richest country, yet our quality of life ranks 14th in the world. As Eric Hoffer, a mid-20th century philosopher, put it, “You can never get enough of what you don’t really need to make you happy.” And while we work harder and harder to get more of what we donʼt need, we lay waste to the natural world. Dr. Peter Senge, author and MIT lecturer, says, “We are sleepwalking into disaster, going faster and faster to get to where no one wants to be.”

We might call this economy, the one we live in, the economy of scarcity. Lest you think the economy of abundance is gone with the old Chumash, consider Europe. Europeans still buy only a few well-made clothes and keep them for many years. Their houses and apartments tend to be smaller than ours; they rely on public transportation, and small, efficient home appliances and cars. Europeans enjoy a 25 percent higher quality of life than Americans (while we consume 75 percent more than they do). Or, look at the people of Bhutan, whose king insists on measuring “gross national happiness.”

Any person or nation can grow fatter and fatter, richer and richer, sleepwalking toward disaster. Or we can choose to remain lean and quick, wealthy in beauty and time and, that word that inspired our forefathers, wealthy in happiness.

Camofire.com is a one-deal-a-day website selling hunting gear at insane prices. While this business model was made popular by WOOT a lot of these types of retail websites have appeared over the past couple of years, but few to none in the hunting world.

It’s been a really fun ride so far and we’ve just begun. I’ve learned a lot so far but here are two realizations:

1. I really enjoy being in business with people like Mark – a friend I can trust and someone I would choose to work with and for.  No sense in spending your life working with people you’d rather not be around.

2. I’ve once again become entrenched in the world of hunting which I’ve been away from for a few years and one that for me holds many, many good memories from growing up.  Takes me back to my roots.

Sure would appreciate any help we can get in passing along the word about Camofire.  Some day you can say, “Yea, I know that guy Kendall Card.  I told all my friends about his site the first week.”

Gotta dream big, right?

Helmets are for your head honey, not to accessorise your backpack!

Tucking the helmet in your backpack? C’mon! If you’re going to lug it around, might as well toss it on your melon. Right?

Either that’s a Kevlar reinforced Aunt Jemima do-rag on her melon or she’s not as cool as she could be with a pink helmet on. Your call.

I sure am. That’s why I’m here (Plurk.com) more and more.

Check me out on Plurk.com 

Seems to me that the #3 rated best town in the country wouldn’t be the type of place for gang shootings. And since when did “towns” have a university, 2 freeways, a small airport, urban sprawl and a few dozen traffic lights? Come to think of it, that sounds a lot like Heber.

Just a bit of irony that these two things were on the front page together, not to mention the word “town” is used to describe Ogden.