Signing Off

Taking a short sabbatical

At least from the video side of my hunts.
I carried a video camera with me for the first time
on a hunt back in 1990.  I was hunting the edge of
a corn field and parked my truck on the opposite
side of the field and rested the camera on the roof
pointed at my stand location.  That was a long time ago.

A few years later I started nailing 2 boards together to
make a shelf, nail it to a tree and rest a vhs camera on
it pointed in my direction.  Here is the camera that I
used back then.

A few years later around 2000 I got a new smaller
"Digital" camera and made my first tree mounted
camera arm.  It was a mirror mount arm for a truck
which I welded a screw in tree step to on one end,
and a bolted a spottint scope mount that I had to the
other end which is where the camera mounted to.
The cool thing about this was it had an adjustuble
length feature to extend the length of the pole which
if you look at the picture below you can see where
I welded a box end wrench to loosen and tighten
the nut.

In 2008 I believe it was when I bought a store bought
version camera arm which made all the differance in the world.
I thought I was a Pro at that point.

In all the years of my filming I used 3 different camera, which the
last one I used I had 3 or 4 different ones of the same model.

The moral to this story is that I have been videoing my

hunts for a long time, and I decided that this year I am walking

into the woods with-out a video camera.  So here is a video,

maybe my last video with clips from the past 2012/2013 season.

But dot worry I will still be updating my blog/webpage/facebook.

So please enjoy may last video, its been a hoot making them.

A True Legend passed away yesterday.

Rob Davis is a name know by many in the archery world of Maryland. In a nutshell, he played an active part in getting a separate "Archery Season", and before anyone knew it was fun, he invented the book on Bowfishing.  His entire life was surrounded around the stick and string, but he was a true pioneer in the sport of bowfishing.  A Maryland Bowhunters Society Hall-Of-Famer, inducted in 2007 at the age that most of us dream to get near he shared his knowledge with anyone that would simply ask it of him.  I had the privilege of boarding his Carolina Skiff one July day to shoot southern rays, and it was an experience I will never forget.  I shot my first ray that day, but more importantly I received way more knowledge and respect than I could have imagined.  Maryland and the Archery Society have truly lost an Ambassador to our sport.  And as many words that can be spoken of Rob, just as many can be told of his dear wife Betty Lou. She is the dear sweat lady that you usually meet first when pulling up his driveway.  My prayers go out to her, and their family. 

This is a picture of myself Rob, and friend Dennis Bradford.  He knows Rob better than most.

Rob published a book called FAFFY, ( Flinging Arrows For Fifty Years ) which to my knowledge is still available.  I encourage you to buy and read it. It is an in depth look at the life of Rob Davis in his own words. To my knowledge it can still be purchased here: FAFFY

Here is a picture of his book with a few personal letters from him that ironically I knew I had a treasure when I received them and saved them both.

Vacation Time

The wife and I took last week off and went to Hatteras Island.  We stayed in a nice little house in Salvo which is just south of Rodanthe.  This year we also took my Mother along who really enjoyed herself. The ride down was especially long thanks to an overload of traffic on 95, but once we got there I forgot all about it.  Here we are crossing the Oregon Inlet Bridge.

Once we got settled in, Donna and I did the celebratory shot of Tequila.

We had a great view from the top deck of the Ocean and Dunes.

I started surf fishing with the hopes of catching a shark or something with some size but the first couple days only yielded a croaker and a clearnose skate. I would end up catching about 10 skates and a few more croakers.

I went and fished under a bridge and caught some cutbait (spot) and a few for the pan.

That night I went back down to surf fish and BAM!!!!!!!!!! 
I caught my first shark.  I know, its a small one but I was fired up.  I caught my first shark a 12" sandshark.

I actually did catch another one the next day, a 24" dogfish shark but I didn't have a camera, but Donna was there and saw it.

I went down to the bridge again and caught some more croakers and spot for bait and the pan the next morning.

I decided instead of throwing away the waste I would go down to the beach in the rain and feed the gulls.  They appreciated it very much.

There is a ship wreck, or some kind of boat part sticking up out of the surf that Donna got a picture of. It is  part of the paddle wheel from the ship "Pocahontas" which wrecked during the Burnside Expidition during the Civil War.  Kind of a cool sight to see.

It was a fun trip, and I can't wait to get back down again.  Now do we go the Colorado next year, or back to the beach.  I know what Donna's vote is......

Here are a few more random pictures.