New Years Resolutions…….weight loss, more active, trim and fit, save money, blah, blah, blah. Same ole same ole.
Good resolutions are, to me, something you intend to keep from the start.
Sitting in the stand this afternoon I thought about my Outdoors Resolutions for the upcoming year.
Upcoming from the end of deer season is Duck Season. My group wasn’t drawn for a blind this year so I haven’t duck hunted as much as I normally do. The wife gave me a set of Flambeau Storm Front decoys for Christmas along with a decoy bag and my parents gave me a blind bag and handmade call so I’m starting to build up Duck Hunting supplies.
Duck Hunting Goals: Wood Duck Drake and Hen with Plumage enough that I’d want to mount. Ideally something banded but that’s a long shot. (You see what I did there)
Fishing Goals: Crappie, crappie, crappie!!!!! Spring spider rigging, spawn vertical jigging, and when it warms trolling crankbaits. I want a TARP crappie. 14 inches. I want to catch one on J.Percy Priest.
I would like to fish with the Middle Tennessee Crappie Club but all tournaments are located on Woods Reservoir, Tim’s Ford and Normandy Reservoir. Fishing these lakes are fun but the nearest one takes 45 minutes, then hour, then 1 hour 15 minutes with good traffic and no interstate problems. The club meetings are good to go to also but it takes right at 2 hours to get to Winchester from work.
I hope to get to the Caney Fork River this summer more than I did last year (not a single time). Trout fishing by wading is a great activity with ultralight spinning tackle. It’s also a lot of fun with friends. The last time I went to the Caney was with a few friends. We fished two days and camped. It was a great time.
My last fishing goal is to better understand my electronics. I have a down imaging depth finder and want to not only be able to read the screen but use it to locate fish.
Turkey Hunting Goals: I don’t turkey hunt much but I’ve been a member of NWTF for a year now. I’ve never gone much but as long as the crappie spawn isn’t going on Ill be trying.
Deer Hunting Goals: Next deer season I intend to have cleared a good bit of land here at the farm, have 3 separate food plots in, and mineral stations set.
I HOPE to get at least 3 deer for the freezer as venison is almost all we eat in the way of red meat now. It sounds like the large buck from the farm was killed by the neighbor this year, so maybe one of the smaller bucks will be better next year.
My last deer hunting goal is to finally take one with my bow. I’ve bow hunted for the past 3 years and haven’t taken one yet.
Land clearing starts next weekend, tree seeds have been water scarifying since this afternoon and hopefully my resolutions will ring true!
Modern Day Outdoorsman 