Sportsman's Blog

This past Saturday Minnesota opened the waterfowl season with a special hunt for youth 15 years and younger.   It’s a great way to introduce kids to the outdoors and for the adults to mentor them in the finer points of waterfowl hunting.

Again this year my friend, Todd Rost, took his daughter and several other kids out to a local marsh in southern Minnesota.   There’s really not much story to tell other than several of the youth shot their very first ducks resulting in many smiley faces.   The main goal was to promote safe gun handling, develop a conservation mindset and to foster what hopefully will become a life-long passion by starting the youth early in life.

Check out the pictures and perhaps develop some inspiration to introduce a youngster to the outdoors.   They’re depending on you to make it happen!

All photos courtesy of Todd Rost.

©2012 Jim Braaten. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction without Prior Permission.

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On this Memorial Day 2012, I want to pause from the usual outdoors discussion and focus on something even more important to each of our lives—OUR FREEDOM.  Truly, that hidden duck marsh, the rolling grasslands filled with pheasants or the lake beaming with hungry panfish would mean nothing to us but for the sacrifice of the many brave men and women who have served this country so honorably over the years.

Today, I want to focus on some music that you may not be aware turns 150 years old next month.   Most of us refer to the music as TAPS, but it’s also known around the world on U.S. military bases as “Day is Done.”   Indeed, before the 24–musical notes was ever played at a funeral the song grew in popularity as an American Civil War bugle call to signify it’s time to call it a day.   Time to “extinguish the lights” (campfires) and prepare for a new day upcoming.   It was sounded by both Union and Confederate sides.

For more on the history of TAPS, please view this short video:

Personally, I was first touched by TAPS back in 2003 at the funeral of my good friend and Veteran, Jack Holmes.   It was a cold, blustery December day as I stood graveside with hundreds of other mourners about to say goodbye for the final time.   The color guard shot their three volleys (21–gun salute), then someone reached over and pressed the “play” button on a boom box to play a cassette recording of TAPS.

At the time the whole ceremony was emotional, but it just seemed sort of odd to hear TAPS come from an electronic player.   Years later, I learned how live buglers are in short supply making it a necessity in many circumstances to play TAPS in this manner.   Many of us feel all veterans who have displayed the colors of our armed services deserve much better than a taped recording of our national song of remembrance.   They deserve a live bugler.

It had been over 30 years since I last played a trumpet in high school.   Even at that, my old band instructor, Gary Skundberg, would likely be the first to admit that I was “mediocre at best” when it came to my brass-playing music skills.   Still, I decided earlier this year to purchase a new bugle and to eventually donate my time and skills in the playing of TAPS for military funerals when the need arises.

Here is a quick video I put together of me practicing TAPS in my back yard.   I attempt to practice daily in order to stay polished for when I am called upon to help honor a true hero at the moment they are being laid to rest. 

Many of us TAPS buglers feel that these musical notes, even if played imperfectly sounded from the heart, is still far better than a perfect rendition being played by a device using batteries.   Quite honestly, the most famous sounding of TAPS was likely at President John F. Kennedy’s funeral and the TAPS bugler in that situation had a broken note just six notes in to the sounding.   Rather than appearing as a mistake, it just emphasized the deep, raw emotions evoked by the playing of TAPS.

On this Memorial Day 2012, I plan to travel to several area cemeteries and sound TAPS as my personal recognition to friends and family who have served this country so proud and made tremendous sacrifices allowing us the lives we live today.   Memorial Day is not just a long weekend or a national BBQ day…it is a day we remember and give thanks to our Veterans who have been laid to their final rest.

I certainly understand that TAPS will never appear on your iTunes play lists or on your favorite TV musical talent show.   But I do hope when you hear TAPS sounded it stirs the emotions deep inside you to remember why many of you are sitting relaxing and enjoying yet another day away from work.

God Bless all of our military personnel both past and present.   And when people approach a TAPS bugler to say thanks once the horn has gone silent…our response is always “it was my honor to have had this opportunity.”

©2012 Jim Braaten. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction without Prior Permission.

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Unfortunately, at the very last moment, I was not able to make my annual trek north for the Minnesota Fishing Opener this past Saturday.   The boat was packed, supplies were all organized, the family was all primed to go…but, alas, it was not meant to be.   As I have previously chronicled in this blog…my mother is currently in her waning days of life and we had to make the tough decision that it just wasn’t prudent to be 5–hours away (at Fish Camp) during this moment in time.

That being said, several of the other guys in my group did make the trek to Bemidji, Minnesota staying at the Finn-n-Feather Resort.   Here’s their weekend in pictures.   Enjoy!

(All photos courtesy of Todd Rost)

Perhaps now you better understand why missing the Minnesota Fishing Opener is not something I plan to do next year or any year thereafter.

©2012 Jim Braaten. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction without Prior Permission.

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Several weeks back I informed you in this blog how I had placed my mother into hospice (end-of-life) care and how I would likely be stepping away from regular blogging for a while during this process.   Several of you have reached out to me asking how things are going, so I will just give a brief summary.

Quite honestly, two months ago when I place my mother into hospice, my brother and I both agreed by all accounts she wouldn’t last long.   She had simply reached a point in her life where she wanted things to be over.   Being nursing home bound and requiring staff to feed, bathe, and do all of the day-to-day life needs simply caused her to lose her will to thrive at the age of 85.

I must say the process of watching a loved one creep toward their last breath is not very easy.   At times it is downright heartbreaking, at other times it is emotionally and physically draining, yet, with everything going on it has also been a period where I have done some deep introspection about death.   Heck, for that matter…maybe it would be more appropriate to say about life.

Those of us who are sportsmen often deal with death.   We take the lives of the game or fish we pursue, we sometimes have to make the excruciating decision to put our canine partners down.   Hell, if you’ve made it to middle age you may have already said “goodbye” to several hunting and fishing partners who have passed on.

Death is not easy.   It is also not predictable.   Yet, watching my mother inch toward “better days ahead” in a spiritual sense has certainly given me a greater appreciation for my life.   During the process I’ve learned as much about myself as I have about her wonderful time spent on earth.

Over the course of the past several weeks I’ve taken my time to grieve.   We’ve said all the “goodbyes” and “I Love You’s” a person would expect to hear from a caring family.   I’ve tried to spend as much time at her bedside as is feasible, yet carrying on with the other important facets of life—like family and work.

Indeed, my mind lately has been distracted and distant much of the time.   As important as blogging is to me…other priorities had taken on greater importance to my life at this moment in time.   I know most of you understand.

However, with all of this said…I’m reaching a point where I need to regain control of my life and attempt to bring it back into balance.   So much of my life has been “on hold” during the past several months anticipating something that isn’t quite happening at the pace I once expected it would.   To some extent, it is time to move on with my life.

In ten days the 2012 Minnesota Fishing Opener kicks off and I had considered breaking tradition and not going this year on my normal 5–hour trek from home.   Not the case.   As I have done all previous years in this blog, I plan to go and write about my experiences on the water during this special annual fishing weekend.

My mother, well…she continues to get weaker and hardly eats or drinks.   She has many more bad days than she experiences any good days.   From hour to hour I don’t know what to expect from her as her health and mental state fluctuates quite unpredictably.

In closing, I want to thank all of you for expressing your concern and your prayers.   My family appreciates everything and is strengthened by such heartfelt generosity.   On a bright note, I’m here to tell you I’m attempting to get back into the swing of posting regular pieces to this blog.   I hope you’ll cut me some slack and understanding if it doesn’t happen…but that is my intent.

Be strong & courageous.  Do not be terrified or discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go. -Josh. 1:9

Jim Braaten

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During my lifetime I’ve been witness to many despicable, deplorable acts perpetrated by one person onto another.   We all know nature can be cruel and relentless, but I contend that some within our Homo sapiens population have seemingly failed to get the memo on evolution.

Perhaps nothing better exemplifies my point than an experience I had about 15 years ago while working ambulance.   As I recall, we were dispatched to a residence of a person suffering severe panic attacks that were endangering her life.   In a nutshell, we discovered a 30–something year old woman who had been a sex slave to her neighbor for the past several years.   The woman, who had a teenage son, endured acts and behavior I simply cannot describe within this blog.  It was gut-wrenching…and tore my heart out more than you can imagine.

Why did she do it?   To protect her son from criminal prosecution.   Turns out the son had broken into the neighbor’s home and stole some items that were fairly petty in the whole scheme of things.   To prevent the neighbor from reporting the son and pressing criminal charges…the woman chose instead to endure a living hell, that, at times, even involved being locked in a closet for days on end.

So, why do I bring this up?   I want to give you some perspective.   When I speak of acts and words that I find utterly repulsive and beyond the bounds of our typical community standards, I know about what I speak.   I’ve experienced it first-hand.

Maybe it shouldn’t come as a complete shock that in recent weeks I’ve been feeling those same sickening sentiments about a series of comments that posters have tried to make to this blog.   You see, some folks allegedly from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) have viciously attacked my good friend, Michele Leqve, whom I first wrote about in the blog back almost six years ago.   Michele is credited as being the first woman to ever shoot a polar bear with a bow.   And because I defended her in my previous blog post…I also became subject to their relentless attacks.

Check out a small sampling of excerpts from the comments these people have tried to make (but were not approved for complete publication) on this blog:

“…disgusting pervertion of womanhood … i hope someone shoots her with a bow and arrow just after she’s been run to exhaustion….”

and this one:

“I’ll be impressed when the Bitch can shoot all you FUCKTARDS making you extinct.”

and

“… I hope you all have the experience of being hunted down and shot one day.”

Indeed, dozens of PETA-supporting folks tried to comment, but almost without exception their words were crude, repulsive and totally devoid of decency in attempting to make an argument debating their point of view.   Instead, these folks chose to use vulgar language and prove to me once and for all how they represent the pure hypocrisy of what they profess to be.

After all, how can a person ever truly believe in the ethical treatment of animals when they can’t even display common courtesy to their own kind.   Seriously, I can accept and tolerate the fact not everyone views hunting the exact same way as I do.   Yet, it appears the typical PETA member can show no tolerance in return.   I can even appreciate they might feel strongly the way they do…but when they cross the line and attempt to post such absolute garbage on my blog site they have just wasted those few minutes of their life and exposed a big flaw in their human character.

My friend, Michele, has been harassed to the point she had to change her e-mail and her cell phone number to avoid all the vicious threats.   I might point out that back in 2006 when Michele killed her polar bear she was on a legal hunt and the meat from the animal was taken and used by her Nunavut Eskimo guides.  Today, her trophy mount remains on display at a major sporting goods store in Canada for thousands to see.

I began this blog post describing how the perceived threats of one person can be so powerful it ultimately devastated the life of another person who was susceptible to such behavior.   In reality, I personally find it difficult to draw a distinction in my mind between the low-life person who would make threats to achieve any desired result—whether it be in an attempt to stop hunting by intimidation or to bargain for silence on filing a criminal report in exchange for perverse sexual pleasures.

Sometimes people are just downright mean and impossible to understand.  That pretty much describes my sentiments towards many who supposedly embrace the actions and behaviors behind the PETA organization.

©2012 Jim Braaten. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction without Prior Permission.

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3 Adults + 4 Children + A Saturday afternoon in the woodshop = 24 assorted wood duck and bluebird houses.   Check it out:

©2012 Jim Braaten. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction without Prior Permission.

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Day one of SHOT Show is now complete and quite honestly what struck me most was the sheer number of people in attendance this year. When the show is over I’ll be surprised if some new attendance record isn’t set with over 60,000 show attendees, 2,000+ media types and not to mention the staff working the over 1,600 vendor booths.

Another surprise, at least by my cursory observation so far, is the fact there is no one new product that really “jumped out at me” so far. Now that’s certainly not to say there isn’t lots of new stuff being offered at the show…but from what I am seeing many of the so-called new products being touted have minor design improvements, etc. I just didn’t see that new gear or gadget that offered that “gotta have it” appeal.

On a different note, I did overhear lots of business deals going down and it seemed the retailers in attendance appeared to be quite upbeat about the economy. That’s certainly a positive sign for all of us. Along those same lines…and as much as I hate to say it, the recent Arizona shooting seems to have stirred an increased interest in certain gun sales as the immenent threat of lawmakers introducing more gun control laws appears to be looming on the horizon once again.

I can’t say I really heard this topic as a major concern, in fact, the only discussion I heard about it was at the NRA booth. Still, when I got back to the hotel room after the show the local Las Vegas news had a big story on it and took advantage of sending their cameras out to the SHOT Show for the visual support.

So, you might say where is the reporting on all the new guns? Good point. I’ll be the first to admit my shortcomings when it comes to finding all the new guns/gear and then running back to my hotel room or the press room to discuss the findings. I suggest if you want some good reporting to check out my buddy, Richard Johnson, who does a great job blogging over at: http://www.GunsHolstersandGear.com. When it comes to the shooting stuff Richard and his crew are on top of things.

Well, in a few minutes I am off to Day Two (which also happens to be my final full day at the show). I leave for home tomorrow which is sad to cut the SHOT Show short, but when you come in early for Media Day at the Range you have to make some sacrifices.

Something a bit fun, tonight I’ll be attending the Sportsman Channel’s big awards gala and reporting on their viewer choice awards while it is happening. Watch my Twitter account for the categories and winners as soon as they are announced. I’ll be “tweeting” from http://www.Twitter.com/jim7226.

Copyright 2011 Jim Braaten. All Rights Reserved. No Duplication Allowed.

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When the only picture you get from your trail camera is something like this?

Actually, I’m pretty sure I know what deer is PARTIALLY pictured here, but still why can’t they just cooperate a bit more by walking directly in front of the camera without being such teases?

Oh, and for those of you who think deer are scared off when a trail camera goes flash…here’s proof this doe didn’t seem to mind.   She stuck her nose right into the picture.   Not just once…but twice!

Only 7 seconds apart.

As this deer casually walks away you have to wonder what is going through its mind.

During 2008 I have taken close to 600 deer pictures with my trail cameras and based on my experience if you are buying infrared cameras to eliminate the flash for fear of scaring the deer…it’s a waste of money.   On the other hand, if you buy infrared just to get more enhanced nighttime shots it probably is a good investment.

Just a couple of final thoughts on what I have learned from the trail cameras this spring/summer/early fall.   Almost all of the bucks I have captured have been moving quickly.   You can tell by the fact the pictures more often than not show motion blur.   As a hunter, this tells me that a nice buck is not going to lolly-gag near my stand when it moves through.   I need to be ready for a shot at a moments notice, if I want to score on a buck.

I’ve also learned that the bucks seem to stay clear of the well worn trails running directly on the clearcut.   Instead, when I see buck action they appear to be cutting across the clearcut.   Often times the bucks have popped out from behind the camera only to make a brief appearance in the more open areas.   On my land, at least, the bucks definitely use different trails than the does…trails that seem to keep them under cover a bit more.   Just my two cents.

How have others done with their trail cameras this year?

2008 Jim Braaten. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction without Prior Permission.

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For me, when I put down the shotgun and try to relax in “other ways” my next greatest recreational passion in life is hockey.   In particular, MINNESOTA WILD hockey.   As a season ticket holder I try to get to as many games as I can and watch almost all of the away games on TV.   If I wasn’t blogging about the outdoors…I would probably be blogging about the boys wearing Iron Range Red and Forest Green trying to finally bring the Stanley Cup to Minnesota.

So, beyond the outdoors…what’s your next biggest recreational passion in life? [leave a comment below]

2008 Jim Braaten. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction without Prior Permission.

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Greetings!   Sorry for my continuing absence from this blog.   It’s not that I’ve lost interest or have forgotten about things outdoorsy…nope, instead I am finding it very difficult on a daily basis to find time to do everything I want to accomplish in my life right now.   In large part this is due to having a 7–week old baby in my care.   WOW!   Did I underestimate just how much of a time commitment having a baby in the household would be.   Still, it is a marvelous time in my life right now…and one that I feel certainly blessed to be experiencing.

In the meantime, I want to thank my loyal readers for their patience and understanding.   Someday…hopefully very soon as I miss it, too…I hope to be back blogging on a much more regular basis.   Here’s hoping that all of you are having a wonderful summer and getting antsy for the fall season to arrive.

Jim

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