Even though it’s snowing, blowing and cold outside, Spring Turkey Season is coming in a few weeks. So, this year I wanted to get my own shotgun for Turkey Hunting. We went to Sporting Goods Discounters in Richland and looked at different kinds of shotguns. The Mossberg 505 Youth Pump in 20 Gauge was the one I liked best.

This shotgun has a nice wood stock, it’s smaller to fit kids and it is very well made. My Grandpa has a full size Mossberg 12 Gauge Pump in 3-1/2 inch Magnum. He shot lots of Turkeys with his and says these are real good for Turkey Hunting. My shotgun is almost the same  but it shoots regular 2-3/4 and 3 inch 20 gauge shells.

For the past few years I’ve used my Mom’s old 20 gauge H&R single shot. It was really a long barrel and I never got a chance to shoot at a gobbler. Hope my new Mossberg brings me better luck! And I hope it stops snowing.

Stay tuned for a video when I go to the range to shoot my 20 Gauge Mossberg at Turkey Targets!

A few of my readers at “RORUSA” have told us that they have seen Eagles recently soaring  around Johnstown. When I was at the Trout Unlimited Fly Tying event, a guy told us while deer hunting he saw an Eagle. The bird was eating the entrails of a buck his friend shot. He said the Eagle ate so much that it could hardly fly.

Another friend saw an Eagle flying above the Conemaugh River in the West End of town going towards the Conemaugh Gap. Others have seen the Big Birds around the Stoneycreek. At Hawk Mountain in Eastern PA, they have a club that watches and counts all kinds of Hawks and Eagles. Their website says 6 Bald Eagles have been seen there recently. There are Eagles at Raystown Lake, too.

Lots of people still think we did not seeing an Eagle. Some say we are seeing Buzzards, Osprey or Hawks. Of all the hawks and buzzards, the Bald Eagle is the easiest of the big birds to identify, especially with its big White Head.

Some people wanted to know what happened to the eagle that we saw that day, ( see my Eagle Has Landed! Story).

We will always remember that day we saw the Eagle because we got our pet cat, Leo that day. My Dad was taking us to the pet store to pick up our kitten when he saw the Eagle near Greenhouse Park. We watched it sitting on a limb of a Sycamore Tree. Then it flew downstream. Vayda and I ran along the road to watch it.

It glided downstream and landed in a different tree. Well, as we were running, Vayda fell. When we got near the Eagle, Vayda was still crying. We tried to get a picture of the bird across the valley and us at the same time. Look really close, (in the Yellow Circle) and behind us you can see the Eagle across the river. My grandfather used his big telephoto lens to make it bigger in the other photos.

When the Eagle flew out of this tree it glided right over our Church. St. Andrews Church and School are near the Benscreek and Stoneycreek River. I went to school there from pre-school to Third Grade. Also, we thought it was really cool that the name of the Sport Teams at our church is the “EAGLES!” That’s our carved Eagle in front of the school.

A few of my friends didn’t believe we saw an Eagle until the B&W photo that my Grandfather took was published in the Tribune Democrat. So, Eagles do fly along our rivers and creeks to feed on fish. Eagles are around here you just have to keep looking for them.

My Parker Crossbow is really fun to shoot. I’ve been using my Grand Father’s Crossbow for a few years. But, it’s an adult sized bow and that makes it hard for me to aim it quickly. Last Year I went to “The Archery Zone” in Richland and Bill showed me this bow. I shot it there and I liked it a lot! Bill had one that was Pink, but I like Green Camo Better.

My Parker “Challenger” is lighter in weight, smaller and has a shorter stock. This helps me to pick it up, reach for the trigger, line up the scope and get the stock just right on my shoulder. You can’t waste time when a nice Buck is walking by your tree-stand.

See my video below and how nice it is to shoot!

Most people don’t think about Fly Fishing when it’s 3 Degrees Below Zero…But, on February 13, 2016, I was invited to Gander Mountain where the Trout Unlimited Club “TU” was having a Fly Tying Pizza Party. It was really cold running across the parking lot, but the Gander Mountain Meeting Room was nice and warm. And, I knew hot Pizza was coming.

This event was the ending of the TU classes on how to tie a variety of good fishing flies for PA Streams. A lot of people signed up for the 8 week classes. At this party anyone else could learn how to start to tie a fly. Next year I want to take the whole class.

The TU Guys I interviewed on video at the Allegheny X-Fest last fall invited me to this event. They are Andy Fresch and Dave Wright. At Gander Mountain they showed me how to tie a Caddis, and do a whip finish knot. I have to practice the whip finish tool. They also tied a Foam Popper, a Hair Popper, a Foam Frog and a Hellgrammite. The Crawfish was the best.

Everyone was welcome to this fly tying demonstration for free, even kids. There were signs on the Bulletin Board at Gander Mountain for a few weeks. It’s nice that the TU members do this to help get kids and adults get more interested in fishing.

Now it’s a good time to tie flies when it’s snowing and cold outside. Then you can think about spring coming when you can be out in the warm weather fishing. With some luck you will catch a nice trout with the flies you made yourself last winter.

Ruby was invited to participate in the Allegheny Adventure Xfest in Johnstown last fall. This event attracts all types of outdoor enthusiasts, including, mountain bikers, hikers, canoe and kayak clubs, anglers, snow skiers and more. It also draws in those interested in checking out the new gear for all of these activities. There were about 30 exhibitors and vendors at the event. Ruby was doing a fly-tying demonstration there and she had a booth setup with her fly-tying gear. The event got quite a bit of publicity on TV and in the newspapers. See Ruby on the front page of the “Tribune” and her “Video Interviews” below.

Last Fall I went on my first ever Bird Hunt with my Granddad. We met our guides and they had really good bird dogs, a Brittany Spaniel and a Yellow Lab. I wasn’t going to actually hunt, because I’m in the PA Mentor Hunter Program and you can’t walk around and carry a shotgun. But, I was the Producer and Director of the video show. Making a Hunting Show and getting video of all the action, the Dogs, Birds and Hunters, is harder to do than I thought. And you’ll see all that in my video segment, see below.

Last year, on the day after Christmas, my Dad took Vayda and I to the pet shop to pick up our new Kitty. As we drove down the road past “Greenhouse Park” my Dad yelled, “Look at that Eagle!” The Big Bird was sitting right along side the roadway and then flew up into a nearby tree. Dad pulled his truck off the road and tried to get a few pictures with his cell phone.

Then we thought, we have to call my Grandfather, he’ll bring his camera with a telephoto lens. I called him and was really excited to tell him about the Eagle. We had to leave for the pet shop, but when we came back the Eagle was gone. My Grandfather was waiting for us in the parking lot of Greenhouse Park. He thought the bird would be near the Stoneycreek River, but he didn’t see the Eagle. Then my dad said, ”Get in the truck and we’ll drive up and down the road to see if we can find the Eagle.”

Well, as we drove towards St. Andrew’s Church and School (Their Sports Teams are called the “EAGLES”) we saw the big black and white bird perched in a Sycamore Tree.

It was really cool to see our Nations most famous Bird, The Bald Eagle. When I went back to school I told some of my friends that we saw a beautiful Eagle near my house. Some of them couldn’t believe we saw an Eagle there. Some people told us we probably just saw a buzzard, not a Eagle. Then the Johnstown Tribune Newspaper published one of the photos that my Grandfather took. Then every one knew it really was an Eagle.

I’ve been deer hunting with my Grand Father for the past 3 years. We set up two tree stands and we also use a ground blind when we hunt on our property around my house in Somerset County. I also hunt at my cousin’s property about 15 miles away in Cambria County. I like to go there  just for a change of scenery and because my cousin, Danny, has shot 5 deer there and he’s only 9 years old. So, for 3 Deer Seasons we have scouted, used our trail cameras, watched for buck rubs and buck scrapes. During that time my Grand Father and I have spent many, many hours in the tree stands and in the woods hunting with my Parker Crossbow or my 50 cal. in-line muzzle loader. Some of our hunts were in the rain, snow, sleet, wind and cold. A few  of our hunts were in beautiful Indian Summer Days. In all that time I never had a really good chance to shoot at a buck…until October 20 of this year.