Epic Bachelor Party Ideas

My friend is getting married next spring and my other friend and I are in charge of planning the bachelor party.  Tonight I am driving down to Oklahoma City to come up with a date and ideas for the bachelor party. 

This will be one of the last of my close friends to get married, for the first time, so we are wanting to do something epic.  We are going to try to plan a long weekend trip.

My friend doesn't drink so a 3 day bender is out of the question.

We are thinking that a trip somewhere to do something is what is in order.  But what, and where?

The few ideas we have tossed around so far is driving down to the Gulf in Texas and get a charter to go fishing.  Most of us love to fish and none of us have been fishing in the Ocean.  It will be warmer there in February/March.

We are also considered going to colorado and renting a cabin or condo to go skiing.  We would prefer to go fly fishing but at that time of the year it will be more sensable to go skiing.

There is also an option to get a cabin closer to us, but at that time of year there is not much that I can think of for us to do.  A couple years ago we rented a cabin and a boat at Lake of the Ozarks and had a great time boating and swimming.  This will be a little early in the year for that.  We are looking at doing something that will be as appealing as that was.

Vegas is a traditional big bachelor party experience, and I know several of us want to go there anyway, but the cost may be too high for some of our friends.  We could see about staying at a closer hotel and casino in Oklahoma or Kansas.

The three of us will be together this weekend.  We seem to always come up with new and exciting ideas when we are together.  Who knows when or where we will end up.  I guarantee you, it will be epic.

If you can think of any epic bachelor party ideas leave a comment. 

Thinking About Selling My Boat

The area I live in is pretty poor for fishing or boating.  Both of the larger lakes within an hour and a half drive are way low, to the point you cannot get a boat on them this fall.  The smaller lakes and ponds are really low as well. 

I was only able to get my boat out on 2 occasion's this last year.  I'm starting to wonder if it is worth having a boat here. 

It has crossed my mind to take my boat up north to Dad's or down South to Oklahoma City.  Both are quite a ways away though.  I bought a camper and would love to be able to go camping and fishing this spring and summer, but there is nowhere close to do that.  It's at least a 2 1/2 hour drive to get to anywhere that has enough water.

Dad is thinking of buying a pontoon for when we go up there to fish and camp with them so I won't need my boat up there anyway. 

Really, a smaller boat that I can throw on top of the explorer would be more of what I need around here unless Canton lake fills up this spring.  I'm tired of paying 100's of dollars every year, to keep a boat, hoping that Canton will be usable. 

We just aren't getting any moisture to keep the few lakes we have full.

I decided that I am not going to be fishing the BFL's this year so I can do some more camping with my family.  It would be great to have my boat when we do that, but then we need a second pulling vehicle.  The cost of that is also driving me to think of selling.

It may be time to sell my boat.  Maybe things will change by spring.  If not, I will haul my boat up North to my parents to sell it.  They live around a lot of good fishing and I think I could get more money out of it and a quicker sell.

Deer Jerky

Living out in the middle of nowhere, I stock up on a lot of food when we do go shopping with the exception of meat.  I usually have a freezer full of meat.  There is always a decent supply of fish and deer meat.  I have never been deer hunting to shoot a deer, but I usually get a deer from somebody that wants to go out hunting but does not want to clean the deer.  We get some beef from different people that are butchering a cow and need to clean out their old stock. 

Needless to say, I end up with a good amount of meat and some of it needs to be used up pretty quickly.  I have found a way to quickly use up my old meat so it does not go to waste.  I can either grind it up into burger, or turn it into jerky.

This weekend I opted for the latter and made 2 batches of jerky.  I started the first batch Friday night.  I grabbed an old roast we had just gotten from somebody.  I sliced it up and trimmed off the fat.  I then placed it into one of my favorite jerky marinades that consists of water, viniger, salsa, oyster sauce, liquid smoke, season salt, barbecue seasoning, garlic salt, chili powder, onion powder, and pepper.  I add a lot of seasonings and salts. 

That night I had dreams about tasting the jerky.  The next morning I put the strips on the dehydrator and let it do it's job.  A few hours later the jerky was done and it was great.  That night, I sliced up a hind quarter of a deer to do the same thing.  This time I let it marinade for a couple days.  Last night I made 2 batches out of the hind quarter.  It was not quite as flavorful as the beef since I had sliced it a little thicker, but it still got the nod of approval from my 6 year old. 

He had gotten into the beef jerky the other night and ate a whole zip lock bag full.  I had shared a lot of it with other people and had not gotten to eat a lot myself, so I was a little dissapointed because it was really good.  Last night when I went to put the meat on the dehydrator I realized I had not taken the beef jerky off one of the racks.  I still had a zip lock bag of beef jerky.  I hid it from the kids.  They can munch on the deer jerky.

I have another hind quarter to cut up tonight that my brother in law gave me to make into jerky, as long as he gets some. 

Another reason I started this jerky making marathon is to clean out some larger meat out of the freezer to make room for another deer.  Dad's neighbor has a tag to fill and does not want to clean the deer so he is going to shoot one, tag it, and give it to me.  As soon as he shoots it, I will make a trip up North to skin it, process it and bring it back.  A deer is definately worth 8 hours of drive time.

Since I shared the jerky with others, some of them are asking me if I want more meat to turn into jerky.  Who am I to say no? 

The Gun Itch

It's been about a year since I purchased my 9mm.  Now I'm getting the itch to purchase a new gun.  Right now I'm not sure what I want.  I will be looking for something in the 350.00 or less range. 

A shotgun would be very useful.  I would want a side by side or an over under if I do that.  It would also have to be a slightly older gun.  I like the detailing in the wood and the look of older guns.

I am also interested in a rifle.  There's not any size or style in particular.  I already have a .22 but if I found the right one I would even buy another of those.  If I get a .22 it would be a cool looking lever action or a pump action.  I do want a wood stock and not a synthetic stock.  It may or may not be used for hunting. 

My third option would be a bow for deer hunting.  I haven't looked into this too much.  There are a lot of options out there now and all of the bows I have looked at look like toys compared to the bows I used to use up to '97.  I'm sure any of them would be better than what I used then.

The purchase will not be this year unless I find an individual close that is selling. 

Right now I'm in saving mode to pay of the last of my debt.  Once I have my truck paid off then I will think about purchasing something after I have saved for it.  At that time I may start looking at spending a little more and purchasing something special. 

Last weekend I went pheasant hunting with Dad in Northwest Kansas.  I didn't even get to fire a shot through his new 12 guage as we didn't see a pheasant after walking through about 6 miles of fields.  I did see a lot of big bucks, coyotes and a bobcat.

Having a gun in my hands felt good.  I was hoping that Dad would let me carry the Ithaca side by side I bought him, but he apparently likes that one too.  It got me to thinking that I need to get more of my own guns.

A few years ago I was content to not have a gun in the house.  I left all my guns at Dad's.  Now, I would like to have a few more guns of the bigger variety to play around with.

A Year Off

There is still time left, but I think that I am not going to fish tournaments next year.

There are a few reasons, but one really important reason.  The baby.  It is also expensive for me to travel as far as I do to fish as a co-angler.  A lot of the time I book hotels, eat out, drive around, etc. 

I also want to spend more time outdoors with my family.  I only took my boys out fishing a few times this year.  That's unacceptable.  I should be taking them out as much as they want to go when I have the time to go.  With the purchase of the camper we should have more opportunities to go out.  We won't have to worry as much about the wind, the heat and the rain.  If we ever get any of that rain stuff. 

I won't have to take time off work for tournaments, I can use my time off for a family vacation.

I will miss tournament fishing and the chance to to win something for doing something I love.  Maybe next year I'll jump back into it. 

I have been considering doing 1 big tournament next year.  Maybe a Stren Series tournament. 

This is just the beginning of winter and I can always change my mind.  Right now I'm leaning towards a year off. 

TORN

No fishing for me. It seems that if I am not in a tournament I don't get to go fishing anymore. It doesn't help that the closest lake is over an hour away and the water is too low to put a boat in. Even if I could there are islands that are right beneath the surface all over the lake. The islands make the lake a wonderful place to fish when the water is up but when it's down it seems to be really dangerous. I still want to get my boat out 1 more time this year to try to burn as much gas off as I can. Even with gas treatment I hate to have gas sitting in the boat over the winter. It will be getting really cold really soon so I need to act quickly. This weekend I need to go shopping for Thanksgiving. I will be out of town next weekend for Thanksgiving. The following weekend the water may be frozen! Is it time to go ahead and winterize the boat, or should I heat the garage? We have had a great fall and I have not gotten to take advantage of it. In February I will be having a baby. It may be time to sell the boat. Na! How will I get out of the house if I do that? I am thinking of taking a break from tournaments next year. That is a hard decision as that is when I get most of my fishing in. On the other hand it will be hard for my wife to watch 3 kids. Maybe we can camp with our new popup a little next year if I don't have tournaments every month. It comes down to me being the father I want to be or the fisherman I want to be and right now my kids are winning. If I don't fish the BFL next year maybe I could fish 1 bigger 3 day tournament. I will have to do some thinking the next couple months. I really love fishing tournaments.

Day 2 Red River BFL Regional

I woke up for day 2 around 4:00.  The bed was extremely comfortable and I did not want to get out of up.  It was chilly outside, around 42 degrees.

I loaded up everything out of the room and took off for the launch ramp to meet up with my partner.  We were both there really early, considering we were in the last flight.  It was nice to get out on the water before the rest of the competition arrived.  I would much rather sit out on the water and have the truck parked, than wait forever in a line then fight for a parking spot.

My partner for day 2 was a ways back after day 1 too, so he said we were going to swing for the fences and fish all day for bigger bass.  We punched mats of hyacinths and flipped reeds.  It was a slow tedious process and by noon I still had not had a bite, besides a few short fish I caught doing something else every once in a while.

My partner had 3 decent sized bass so I knew we were in the right area.  He even set the hook one time and had hooked an alligator.  The gator was covered with grass so my boater didn't see what he had.  He still thought he had the tournament winning bass.  I said, "Don't reach your hand down there, that's a gator."  He saw his tail then.  My partner then said, "I'm getting my hook back."  He got it back.  I'm just glad he did with the gator outside the boat.

With no previous experience punching, I wasn't having any luck.  I decided to try something a little different than my partner was doing.  I grabbed a heavy shaky head and flipped it into the reeds.  Quite a few flips later I saw my line move a little and I set the hook.  I had my first keeper around 12:30. 

Over the next couple hours I ended up catching 3 more keepers this way.  My partner hadn't caught any during this time.   He did hook into big snakehead and thought he had the tournament winning fish again, but was disappointed as he swung the fish towards the boat.  All of my fish were a little smaller around 13 to 14 inches.  We were starting to put a good pattern together but were running out of time.

My partner got his final 2 fish, then I saw my line move.  I set the hook.  Snap.  The fish didn't move towards me much like the others had when I set the hook.  That was with 30 minutes left in the tournament.  We had to make a run back towards the ramp then.

I had timed the ride out, so I knew we would have a few minutes to fish a little closer to the ramp.  He pulled off to some rocks that he said he knew some keepers were at.  He caught one and was able to cull a little.  Then I felt the tap tap and set the hook.  Snap.  I was really snapping the rod back but my line should not be breaking from that. 

We pulled into weigh in with 1 minute remaining.  We were the last boat to arrive.  My partner really wanted me to get that last bass.  I weighed in my 4 fish for 4 pounds 15 oz. to finish 77th place overall.  There were 143 boats so I finished smack in the middle of the pack.

I drew 2 of the best partners for fishing this trip.  I had a lot of fun fishing with them.  They showed me some new ways to fish, made sure I was able to cast to some good spots, and were super nice guys.  I hope I run into them again some day.

I took off for home after the tournament and drove a different route so I could bypass Dallas.  That evening I left Louisiana, drove through Arkansas, Texas and got half way through Oklahoma.  I almost hit a deer at 80 mph on turnpike.  That scared the  heeby jeebies out of me so I stopped a the first hotel I saw and got a room for the night after being up for 20 hours and driving for 7.

The next day I had 4 hours drive to get the rest of the way home.  That section is a drive I make often so it seemed like another 7 hours.