One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Feather

Have you seen that new fad in the hair-styling world? The one where they use feathers as hair extensions?

Well those special feathers are typically used to tie flies, so hairdressers everywhere have recently been raiding fly shops and have bought them all out. Simple economics says that when demand is high and supply is low prices sky-rocket, and such has been the case in this instance. I had a bunch of these feathers that I bought for $40 dollars years ago, and I just sold them on eBay for $315.00.

I took that money and bought, among other things, a new training collar for my new hunting companion.

Speaking of my new little pup, she's not so little anymore.

She has a ton of energy but I've been trying to put it to good use.

It's hard to own a puppy. If it's not your shoe it's something else.

A couple of months ago she and Rudy found this in our backyard.

I thought the whole "play dead" thing was just a myth. Turns out it's true. I took this picture, came back outside after I showed my wife, and it had crawled away. Hopefully never to return.

Chapter Two

October 1st - Chapter 2 from Dan Felix on Vimeo.

I don't mind the killing part of hunting when you actually get to use the animal you kill. But it makes me sick inside to wound them. Thankfully I really don't think this deer will die. He'll have a sore muscle for a little while, but deer are resilient as evidenced by the bigger buck that limped by that morning with a leg that had obviously been broken for awhile. Probably hit by a car. Sad.

What a day. What a hunt. I'm glad I passed up those little bucks and does on opening morning, and who knows what I have in store for me the rest of the hunt. Stay tuned.

Opening Day 2011

Here is a video about some of what I've been up to lately. It's 16 minutes long so put it in full screen mode and grab a coke and some popcorn.

Opening Day 2011 Video from Dan Felix

It was one of the best opening mornings I've ever had. Two days later while sneaking into my stand I ran right into the bigger buck at only 15 yards away. He and I had a short staring contest before he blew his nose at me and took off. I was worried that I scared him out of the county, but I checked my trail camera yesterday and found him again. He's a small buck, but I take what I can get on public land, and he's the biggest I've found.

And he wasn't alone in the woods that night:

An Update

Yeah it's been awhile since I've posted. Trying to complete a master's degree and a PhD in four and a half years hasn't left me a lot of free time. But just because I've felt too busy to post on the ol' blog doesn't mean I've felt too busy to get out and play. Here are a few quick pics of some happenings from the last few months.

My buddy and I found this deer in December on some private land the last day of muzzleloader season. He is a 10-point (five points on each side), and scores 161 B&C. I think the temperature was in the single digits that day. It was awesome but I'm still waiting to get a big guy like this with my bow.

In January I bought a hunting dog.

A ten week old Brittany from a breeder in northern Nebraska. Her official name is something like "NE Cornhusker's Lil' Miss Macilou" but we just call her Maci. Here she is on the long ride to her new home:

Puppies sure have a lot of energy, and she always wants all the attention.

She has a really instinctive point. Hopefully I'll be able to train her well enough that she'll be able to match up to her potential. I think she and I are going to shoot a lot of birds in the coming years.

Even after I've moved away from Nebraska I'm planning on bringing Maci back each year to point me a few ringnecks.

I also hunted ducks in Utah over Christmas break again. I only shot one this time but I had a lot of fun, which is the reason I go.

And finally, for those who care, here's 80ish seconds of footage of some good bucks I saw in 2010 but never got close enough for a shot.