Uncle & Cousin Harvest 2 Great Mule Deer in Montana

My little cousin Kristin and my uncle, her dad, Mike just completed a deer hunt near Miles City, MT.  They both harvested great Muleys. Kris' was 28 1/4" wide and she made a 200 yard one shot kill.  I didn't get any info on Mike's deer but it looks like a good non-typical. 

Kansas State Wildcats vs. Texas Longhorns (39-14)

I got my hands on a couple extra tickets to the KSU v. Texas football game, so I invited two of my good friends to drive over from Kansas City to go to the game with me.  I met John and Matt while a student at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN.  John is currently a medical student at KCUMB and Matt is staying with him while he completes one of his pharmacy rotations at a county hospital in Kansas City.  They arrived at my apartment at about 9am and we made pancakes, bacon and sausage and then went to one of the K-State apparel stores over in Aggieville and picked up a couple purple sweatshirts so they would blend in in the student section.  After that I took them on a quick tour of the vet school.  Then we started to enjoy some beers and grilled some brats on the grill.  My apartment is within view of Bill Snyder Stadium so about an hour before game time we headed over to the stadium and stopped to do a little tailgating where my girlfriend was hanging out with some of our classmates.  The game was packed with an estimated 46,000 people attendance.  It was John and Matt's first experience with a big division one football game and I think KSU did a great job of welcoming them with a 39 to 14 victory that included 5 interceptions of the Texas QB Gilbert. 

A Guy I Look Up To

Today I received an email with an attached hunting photo, my favorite kind of email.  It was of a person who I look up to and has been a great role model and friend to me for the past dozen years or so.  His name is Jerry.  I first met him when he accompanied my dad and I on a Quebec Caribou hunt.  Our bush plane hit the tundra the day I turned 13, which marks the beginning of what has been and hopefully will continue to be a great hunting career.  On that trip, I shot two very nice caribou before I had even harvested my first whitetail buck.  As you can imagine a kid like me was walking on air for a long time.  During that trip I learned a lot, and the relationship formed with Jerry would lead to many more days afield hunting together but also introduce me to the game of trapshooting.  Jerry is the manager/chief/president of the Mitchell Gun Club and while other kids my age were golfing I was shooting trap.  I came to love the sport and with the guidance and teaching of Jerry and the other guys that took me under their wings' I prospered.  Just this past summer, I ended the league season with the highest overall average for the entire league. 

Anyway, he drew a South Dakota Black Hills Elk tag this year for the southern unit and the picture above is the result of 5 days of tough hunting.  Congrats Jerry!

Nice Whitetail Buck Found Dead on Our Farm

Every year while pheasant hunting we find the bodies and skeletons of deer that have died on our farm over the summer months. This past weekend my dad found this buck in our CRP field. It has 6 inch bases and 10 inch G2s, I'm not going to guess what it scores but I will put a tape on it over the Thanksgiving break.  Around our area, we usually think poaching before we think disease, but I guess that is just our paranoid nature as some of our neighbors have proved to be less than ethical.  Also, they would probably not miss a chance just to get under our skin by killing a deer on our land and just leaving it lay for us to find.  I guess they succeed because my heart always sinks when I find a buck dead that would've been a great trophy someday or a shooter that fall.  Alternatively it could've died from of a disease such as EHD or predators.  Either way this was a nice buck that is now out of the gene pool and we can only hope that he has sired some offspring for future seasons. Our rifle deer season opens on November 20th and I can't wait. 

 

One of Dad's "Camp Meat" Gemsbok

Well I just got back to my apartment after putting in a full day of studying my cadaver dog for a whopper of a gross anatomy test that we have on Friday, and I wanted to mess around with adding more videos to my blog.  This is a video that I took of my dad hunting a cull, non-trophy gemsbok that our guide Kamati wanted to shoot for camp meat.  We saw it from the road and made the stalk that you will watch. He finishes it off with a great spinal shot from his .340 Weatherby with 250 grain trophy bonded bullet.  The great part of hunting in Africa is the opportunity for trigger time for camp meat, culling, and bait procurement.  It is great experience for when you run into Mr. Big on a hunting trip like this.  This video was taken in Namibia while hunting on the Eden Wildlife Trust.  A 70,000 acre ranch in the northern part of the country.  It is home to several species of plains game, elephants, cheetah, black rhinos, and all kinds of other wildlife.  Eden is truly a place that is awesome for anyone looking for a first safari or going on there 20th safari.   Hope you enjoy the video (May 2009).

Pheasant Hunt 10/30/10

Yesterday my dad took seven guys and seven dogs out to our 320 acre farm in northern Davison county to do a little pheasant hunting.  The season has been open for two weeks now and this is only the second hunt on the farm this year.  I was home for the season opener and only hunted that Saturday.  We saw lots of birds but only managed to get two, there were quite a few first year birds which is always a promising sight.  I have never really been a fan of pheasant hunting in October as I have found the best time of year to do it is in December when the birds are concentrated in our CRP and food plots.  Dad said it was a good group of guys and they bagged 14 birds.  My only complaint is that my dad originally only invited a couple of guys, but those guys invited several more without my dad's knowledge.  To me this is rude, but my dad didn't seem to mind all that much.  Anyway, my dad is always proud to showoff the farm and all the hard work he has put into it to make it that wildlife haven that it is.  

Mid-American Alpaca Show, Topeka, KS

Yesterday evening I had the great pleasure of performing check-in health inspections on registered show Alpacas as they were unloaded off trailers.  It was a great experience for a first year veterinary student and I learned a lot about the species as a whole.  This organization has donated a tremendous amount of money to universities that educate students about camelids.  The coordinator told us that $80,000 had been donated since the programs beginnings.  I also learned that they pay for the alpaca herd here at KSU CVM which the vet students get to work on.  Never know I may be working on Alpacas or maybe even own a few someday.  

The website for this show in Topeka is: Mid-American Alpaca Show

Ogden's Best Gun Range

Today three of my classmates and I jumped in my truck and drove the 7 miles over to Ogden's Best Gun Range.  My dad gave me a Glock 19 before I left for school along with 500 rounds of ammo.  This was my first time visiting this range and I had a really enjoyable time.  Usually they charge $15 per hour, but because there were 4 of us he gave us a discounted price.  They have a promotion in November for $5 per hour.  I burned through 150 rounds and was amazed at how my shooting progressed from horrible to somewhat good in just a short amount of time.  It felt really good just to be pulling a trigger.  

On the way home, the KSU vs. OSU game had just been getting done and the traffic was very busy.  Anyway, pulling into my buddies apartment complex there was a big cooler on the side of the road.  Apparently it had fallen off of somebodies car who had just been tailgating, so I pulled over and as my buddy picked it up he realized it was FULL!! It had beer, pop, gatorade, chicken strips, dipping sauces.  So we cracked a few beers open and cheered to new friendship.  

   The website for the shooting range can be found at this link: Ogden's Best Gun Range

Survival Strap

My new purchase of a Survival Strap. In a pinch it can unravel to give you several feet of 550# parachute cord.  When it arrived it was very rigid, but after wearing it for a few days it has become surprising flexible and more comfortable.  There are several colors to choose from and also other neat products such as dog collars and lanyards.  If you ever have to use your survival strap, just send it back to the company and they will re-braid it for you and send it back.  This company is a big supporter of our soldiers and offer ways to send care packages. The link to their website can be found here Survival Straps .     

My Name Is Erik Holum

My life, in many ways, has been shaped by what I have spent my time doing outdoors.  A lot of people call me one lucky kid and some hate my guts for the opportunities that I have been given.  I recently found a thread on Facebook, with MY NAME included in the title, aimed at people who spend "truckloads" of money to go hunting, how I give hunting a bad image and accused me of being unethical. Why people who call themselves hunters attack another hunter is a mystery to me in the first place.  I resisted the urge to smite this jealous twit with the truth about me because I've found people with that much ignorance and general lack of brain cells are not worth my time and effort to argue with.  Instead, I decided that I wanted to keep a blog about my self, my days spent afield, and any conservation and hunting related news that I feel needs to be discussed.  

         In the next few days I will be posting short memories and stories of times spent outdoors and looking through the crosshairs.  Here are a few pictures to spike your interest to return!