Introduction.

[GobbleFarmer]

(Is this in the right section???) Hey everybody, I am probably expected to tell yall a little bit about myself, so here it is. I live on a small dairy goat farm in NC, we also have a bunch of chickens, a few geese, a duck and I have my turkeys. I LOVE to hunt, fish and trap. I am able to hunt whitetails, wild turkey, coyotes and small game with new opportunities emerging every year! My biggest dream is to live where the elk are and to pursue them every year in the sport we call hunting. But starting small right now that dream is to see or even hear one in person. I must admit 3 years ago I didn't really know what an elk was and hadn't hunted anything before. Now elk are my favorite animal and I cant get enough TV, videos or reading of them to satisfy my thirst. I just hope that when I am old enough to hunt them, the libs haven't gotten their nasty noses into the hunting arena so badly that it's impossible to hunt anymore. Most kids say this but my reason is different-I wish I could grow up faster.

[WapitiTalk1]

An official Elknut welcome to you mister. Nice intro and glad to have you on board!

[ElkNut1]

Yes sir, glad you stopped by, feel free to ask anything you'd like bud! Glad to have you here! You will love elk hunting! (grin)

ElkNut1

[GobbleFarmer]

Thanks guys, and Elknut I plan too!

[Indian Summer]

GF... I say this all the time and I'll repeat it again: Don't just live your life dreaming, live your dreams! I went from being a kid in Pittsburgh who was lucky to have a place to hunt deer.... to being an elk outfitter in Montana and killing bulls up and down the west side of Wyoming. I guess that's an extreme version but you can certainly plan and do an elk hunt and be successful.

In the meantime... we have elk up here in Pennsylvania. It's a great place to see and listen to them. There are MONSTER bulls too. You could be in elk country in a 10 hour drive from NC. It's beautiful up there. Great place to camp and good fishing too. The nice thing about doing something like that... and I have been there... is once you spend some time around them you won't be so mind boggled when the time comes that you're standing there with a license in your pack and a bow or gun in your hand. Before I ever hunted elk I had times where I was pinned down by bulls. In between several of them keeping a tree between us worrying that they were going to shishkabob my with their 350 inch antlers. By the time I was hunting them I was comfortable around them which made a big difference. Come on up!

Welcome aboard!

[Lefty]

Many of my greatest adventuress happened between 13 -18 so take advantage of being young
Nothing wrong with going in high gear,, but know the direction your going.

[GobbleFarmer]

That's nicely worded Indian Summer, and that would be so cool but I am just learning to drive my neighbors truck on private property, and with ENDLESS work to do here on the farm. Leaving for a trip to do something that I would like to do, would be impossible with my family. Which means I am a lot further than 10 hours away . From what I understand there are a few elk here in NC (if the "red wolves" haven't eaten them all) but in the mountains, which is inaccessible to me as I must walk every where I go. On another note, have you ever had a bull that wanted or attempted to shishkabob you?

Lefty: These last few years have been most enjoyable and certainly adventurous. We have lived in a neighborhood before and at the time was fine, but now looking back was terrible. I know where I want my life to go and it's definitely not backwards, and I am trying to get there but it's very hard. So for now I have my turkeys at the house with the studliest tom I ever have seen that's why his name is Mr. studly. And when I can get away from the house it's some nice cat's in one pond or decent largemouth in another.

Here is a good question: whats everybody's favorite freshwater fish to catch?

[Charina]

Spring run Chinook. Does that count? They are in fresh water when fishing for them! Aside from that, it's a tossup between fly fishing trout wading in streams, or heavy hardware on largemouths from a boat. Catfish are way low on my priority list.

I remember being young some 30 years ago. Oh to be young again and have the grand dreams to pursue! I was always pushing to get into things earlier than most anyone else. Got my falconry license just weeks after the legal age to get one (14).

Too bad you don't have the time and funds to hop on a plane and head west this fall. Heck, I could use a young set of ears to be my hearing aids and tell me where the bugles are coming from! My 18yo won't be hunting with me this fall, and none of the other teens are interested.

Elk are sure fun to hunt, even if it is difficult. But, living so far from major elk populations, it can sure get expensive to do so. It's going to take a lot of penny saving to get it done. You'll come out way ahead if you can find someone with at least a rudimentary amount of experience to go with the first couple times out. It will drastically shorten the amount of time it takes to get the feel for what it takes to be successful.

[GobbleFarmer]

Nope has to live in freshwater, what kind of trout would that be though? I don't eat the catfish they are too cool, but in that pond they are the largest fish. They are super fun to fight with on 4 lb line.

That's so cool I have always loved falconry, never pursued it though.

That would be awesome but you hit the nail on the head with time and funds, it's a shame your kids don't want to hunt with you.

edit:The trout and largemouth do count, I should have said that before.

[Indian Summer]

The only bulls I've ever had get aggressive even though they knew I was a human were ones who wanted more apples. But that was back in the 80s. They outlawed feeding the elk in Pa so they are skittish of people now, like they should be.

Favorite freshwater fish: To eat, walleyes. For fun, Muskies!

[Charina]

what kind of trout would that be though?

Rainbow, cutthroat, browns, brooke, they all are present in the waterways here in Utah. Later this week I'll be in the Sierras in California chasing some native golden trout.

[GobbleFarmer]

Indian Summer: Is that a muskie, it looks similar to a northern pike. It is probably good that feeding elk is illegal, but i am glad that baiting deer is legal in NC.

Charina: That is awesome that you have so many different kinds around there, do you have a favorite in the eating department?

[Charina]

I only occasionally keep trout to eat. The family prefers the yellow perch, walleye, and burbot - so those always come home with me. If I'm going to target fish for eating, I prefer to go after kokanee (landlocked sockeye). But I don't get out after them too often.

I didn't mention the lake trout (a char, like the eastern brook), tiger trout and splake (both hybrids of lake trout and brookies) that are in many of the lakes here as well. Lots and lots of trout to choose from. A few golden trout and artic grayling in some high elevation lakes.

Ice fishing is a blast, but I don't supposed you get to do much of that in NC! Below is the haul from a 3 year old this last January from about 2 hours of ice fishing. Non-stop action. We tossed a lot back down the hole as they were smaller. (yellow perch, rainbows, and a splake)

20150110.jpg (261.53 KiB) Viewed 4364 times

[GobbleFarmer]

Whoa that is super cool, I had no idea there were that many kinds of trout and you can catch arctic greyling too! Do you mind if I ask what state you live in, I may have to come visit, for, like, the rest of my life . Not much ice fishing here it is greatly frowned upon if one walks out on 1 1/2 to 2 inch ice, and that's a "harsh" winter here.

[Charina]

Utah. Other western states are similar.

[GobbleFarmer]

OK thanks. I didn't realize that Utah got cold enough to go ice fishing. I cant get over that a 3 yr old caught all of those fish , thats crazy!