Three Truths About Me

1. Before every one of my college finals I have to got to the bathroom, sometimes more than once!
2. I've stopped watching the TRAVEL Channel's show about the guy who eats weird food all over the world... it gives me diarrhea!
3. Peeing in the outdoors makes me relax!

Sorry if that was offensive! I'm going turkey hunting tonight, be back next week.

Happy Turkey Day

Gobble Gobble, this week will be my first ever Turkey Hunt. I will actually just be shooting my new Nikon D40 camera. My best friend Landon and his little bro Dallin will be doing the shooting. We are heading to Southern Utah to the Boulder Mountains. I will be taking my fly rod just in case, the ice is off on some of the lakes.

This week will be hell till Wednesday afternoon. It is finals week and the stress is on, so a good outing will be just what my tired brain needs.

Lots of people say wild Turkey is tough and not that great of table fare. I agree it isn't a farm raised Butterball, but those wild birds are still pretty tasty. Last fall my roommates shot a few wild Turkey's in Nebraska we cooked them up in a crock pot in a french onion soup. All I have to say is "YUMMY".

"I Think God Must Be A Cowboy At Heart"

Hello spring time! This past Saturday I joined my roommates and their family for a little horse back riding adventure to Antelope Island.

Antelope Island is a Utah State Park. It is the biggest island in the Great Salt Lake. It is home to a herd of 500 bison, bighorn sheep, antelope, mule deer, coyote, and a bunch of Chukar that have never heard the ring of a shotgun.

There were thirteen of us in all. I took my friend Jessica, who turned out to be pretty good with horses. We had a blast.

I titled this post after a song the late Dan Seals, a country artist, sang. This is the music I grew up listening to when I would go on fishing trips with my Dad. It is titled "God Must Be A Cowboy At Heart".


How about these buffalo?

Dream Girl!

It all started when I read this article and saw this picture.

The other thing that had me thinking about this topic was my Cousin Andy's post titled "Dream Crushers".

After reading the above two articles I was driving with my friend and I thought it would be interesting to get her opinions on a few things. The conversation started something like this, "Tell me if you think I'm crazy or asking too much?"

As we chatted I joked about a contract I want to ask my future wife to sign before we seal the deal. I hope you enjoy it. It is okay if you laugh uncontrollably, everyone else I told did.

1. I don't want a big house.
2. I don't want a big yard. (Things I enjoy more than yard work: I would rather be hunting, fishing, or water skiing.)
2. I want to spend our money on family vacations. (FYI vacations generally include a beach, a boat, or water of some sort.)
3. We will own horses and keep the cowboy traditions running.
4. A boat for water skiing.
5. Always keep a bird dog around.
6. HUNTING: Originally I thought I wanted four days in September, four days in October, and four days in November for hunting. A total of twelve days out of town and no limit on day trips. (But then I thought I would ask for twenty days out of town so if it gets down to a negotiation I have some wiggle room. Pretty smart right?)

My friend laughed and wished me luck on the hunting part of the contract.

If you know any girls like the one in the picture above and that will sign this contract send them my way! Also if you think I need to add anything to my contract let me know.

Eukanuba or Oatmeal!

My post "Dreaming Pink" caused quite an uproar. Somehow my post made it all the way to Eukanuba, which I thought was pretty cool. I'm not sure how it made it there, but thanks to whoever sent it their way.

Eukanuba responded with a comment, "You are dead on about Lady's scenting ability on Eukanuba. We did a study in 2000 that confirmed hunting dogs get 55% more finds throughout the season on the pink bag." (Elliott-at Eukanuba)

My dad loved it and asked me to ask everyone at Eukanuba to let him know when Eukanuba is coming out with a breakfast cereal?

My friend Marisa said, "Dog food?" I think she unsubscribed. I guess she thought I should be blogging about the latest pop stars.

My sister Lisa blogged about it on her food blog, Clawson Live. She has a sweet recipe for oatmeal at the end of the post.

Lady on the other hand is just happy we have decided to feed her Eukanuba year round.

Did I mention her coat gets softer and she smells better when we feed her Eukanuba? All you bird dog folks should try it.

Dreaming Pink

No! I'm not talking about the new line of panties and bras at Victoria's Secret. I'm talking dog food.

About seven months out of the year I feed the green bag of Iams dog food, which is good for a dog that isn't hunting. My dog Lady is close to eight years old now. I like to think she is in her prime, but occasionally if there isn't any bird scent in the air she slows down or starts ranging closer after an hour jog.

My Dad does the feeding at our house, mostly because he loves my dog Lady more than he does me most days. Dad wakes up early and takes Lady on an hour jog seven days a week, regardless of rain or snow. Lady really loves him, but I take her hunting so she loves me more.


Late last September I bought a bag of Sporting Dog Eukanuba, in hopes that it would give Lady a little more energy. Normally we feed three cups of Iams, so I just asked my dad to feed two cups Iams and add one cup of Eukanuba. The results were remarkable. My Dad and I noticed a difference in our eight year old dog within two days. It was as though she was a puppy again, she could run for hours and never tire.

We fed one cup Eukanuba and two cups Iams the whole fall and winter season. My Dad started having dreams about Eukanuba.

My Dad eats a bowl of oatmeal every morning after his run. Dad dreamt that after his run instead of adding a cup of oatmeal to the boiling water he added one cup of, as he calls it "the pink dog food".

The biggest difference came during the hunts. Lady never tired. My Uncle Dan and I raised our pups together. They are the same age and this year in South Dakota when we hunted them together it was very apparent which dog was eating Eukanuba. On our longer trips to Montana and South Dakota by the end of the trip the dogs seem to be a little more worn down, not Lady. She had the same fire the whole trip.


I don't equate all of this to Eukanuba, I owe a great thanks to my dad who runs her seven days a week.

I think Eukanuba also helps with scenting ability. All my cousins and friends who didn't own dogs wanted to hunt behind Lady because she was always finding birds.

I noticed again the potency of this dog food, because we just cut Lady back to three cups of Iams for the summer season. And within a week or two she was the same old dog she was last summer. My Dad asked if she was sick or getting old?

So we tested it last week and we fed her a cup of Eukanuba a couple days in a row and she was on fire again! I think my dad wants to keep feeding her a little Eukanuba year round. Hopefully he pays for it, because that stuff isn't cheap.

No! I am not sponsored by Eukanuba. I just wanted to share the secret of Eukanuba with my fellow bird hunting bloggers.

“复活节快乐！”

I love to hike, swim, and run. As an avid outdoors man one of the things I am most grateful for is my physical body.

I served a mission for my church in Taiwan, doing service and teaching about Christ. Two years ago today we rode our bikes around and told people "Happy Easter!". In chinese it is translated literally as "happy resurrection!" “复活节快乐！”

We told person after person happy easter, if they would stop and talk to us we would ask them, "Have you heard of Jesus?" They always replied "yes". When we asked "Did you know that after Jesus was crucified on the cross, three days later he was resurrected?" They all replied "no".

One of the blessings I am so grateful for on this Easter Sunday is a knowledge of the Resurrection. No matter how old we get in this life, all of us can hope for the Resurrection.



I'm reminded of a talk I recently read by Ezra Taft Benson . It reads as follows.

I bear witness to you that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of the world—the very Son of God...On the third day there was a great earthquake. The stone was rolled back from the door of the tomb. Some of the women, among the most devoted of his followers, came to the place with spices “and found not the body of the Lord Jesus” (Luke 24:3).

Angels appeared and said simply, “Why seek ye the living among the dead?

“He is not here, but is risen” (Luke 24:5–6).

There is nothing in history to equal that dramatic announcement: “He is not here, but is risen.”

The greatest events of history are those which affect the greatest number for the longest periods. By this standard, no event could be more important to individuals or nations than the resurrection of the Master. The eventual resurrection of every soul who has lived and died on earth is a scriptural certainty, and surely there is no event for which one should make more careful preparation. Nothing is more absolutely universal than the resurrection. Every living being will be resurrected. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22).

He is risen! He is risen!
Tell it out with joyful voice.
He has burst his three days’ prison;
Let the whole wide earth rejoice.
Death is conquered; man is free.
Christ has won the victory.
(Cecil Frances Alexander, 1818–1895)

I know Christ is risen and every person that has lived or will live will be Resurrected. Happy Easter!

I Should Have Been A Cowboy

There is nothing like swinging into the saddle early in the morning with an anxious horse underneath. Your cell phone is never going to ring, no homework is due, and I am at a feeling of total freedom.

Last weeks round up was a roaring success! We rode some of the prettiest country I have ever seen. The ranch is called 9 Mile Ranch and it is near Price Utah. My friend Ben is the owner, he's seventy. Ben and his son Leroy run just over a hundred mother cows. They also use their ranch in the summer for a place people can camp or have a family reunion.


This time of year it is just Cowboy stuff. The ranch borders some BLM land and they have a permit to run part of their herd on the southern slope of a mountain range all winter long. April 1st is time to bring the mother cows in.

It was sunny, then it rained, then it snowed. I love being a cowboy. After chasing cows all day I get that same feeling I get after spending the whole day hunting. Tired, but totally rejuvenated.

City Slickers 3!

I grew up on the back of a horse, but I've always considered myself more of a mountain man than a cowboy. I can pack a string of mules, I can gut and quarter an elk and pack it out, I have even trained my fare share of colts.

Some of my first memories are of my Dad and I horse packing into wilderness areas and fishing for brook trout. When I was seventeen I actually worked for an outfitter near Jackson Hole, Wyoming taking people on these wilderness adventures. But when it comes to cows my experience is pretty limited.

At age fifteen I bought two steers at the Weber County Livestock Auction without letting my parents know (that is a story for another day), because I thought to be a true cowboy I needed to have cows. Aside from that, my cow experience is still pretty limited. I can't rope, I can't steer wrestle, and other than eating steak occasionally I don't know much about cows.
That is going to change tomorrow. My buddy Landon and I are heading for the high Utah desert near Price, Utah to help a family friend round up his herd of cattle. We are pretty ecstatic! I'll take some pictures and report on how it goes! "Getty up!"