and a strong cup of coffee

With the weather getting nicer, you will want to make sure that you are not missing out on any of the fun adventures that I have planned this summer!  Now, you can subscribe to Coffee and get the posts and notifications right in your Inbox.  Enter your email in the box off to the right (above my bio) and you are all set. Thanks and happy hunting!

Dad, Hubby and I headed into the woods last weekend to look for some turkey sign as well as see if we could find some sheds.  It was a beautiful afternoon and we took our time enjoying the run and the start of some green grass. As soon as we got out of the car, we saw deer tracks - and some pretty nice looking ones. We headed up to the Sky Condo and down through the woods to T3.  We were maybe 10 steps into the woods when Dad stopped and pointed - four, maybe five flags bounced through the trees and away from us.  We were glad to see that they were starting to spread out again and break away from their yarding areas and they looked healthy. We spread out to cover more ground and kept looking for a shed or two.  A few years before, Dad and I had found one in this area so we were hopeful but we came up empty handed.  So, we headed to T3. Tracks and poop were plentiful.  We walked through the woods and down to where T3 is standing. The frost is leaving the ground and the stand is mu

We spent a few hours in the woods last weekend and I came across this pile of scat on the side of an old log.  It almost looked like the mystery critter could sit on the log and use it as a toilet seat. Who left this behind? It looks like turkey poop but there is a pile of it and usually when  have seen signs of turkey, they are more scattered and a little bit larger. These were the size of Cheetos puffs. So - what does it belong to?

If you were out in the woods and saw this, would you be able to know it was chaga right away?  I was lucky that I had Robin with me and she was able to point it out with 100% certainty of what it was. She was also on top of things and brought a saw to get it off the tree. It was a beautiful, somewhat windy day and we got out in snowshoes before it got too sloppy and slushy.  It was almost hot when the wind died down.  Chaga We took two pieces off of the tree and went in search of more, which we did not find.  I am hoping to keep working on my ability to identify this in the woods when I am out now but it may take a time or two before I am totally confident in my finds.

When some blogs just talked about opening day of fishing season, Robin Follette and I LIVED it! I drove four hours north the day before to hang out with Robin and go on a few adventures (those posts are coming, but here is a sneak peek ).  The biggest was to stand in the Stream in Grand Lake Stream on opening day and try our hand at fly fishing.  We didn't really care about catching a fish but we were excited to see the groups of people that would be there and the excitement surrounding the beginning of fishing season.  We met up with Brian Donaghy of Epic Adventures to help us with gear and guidance. When we pulled into the parkinglot, we saw Brian and only 4 or 5 other vehicles.  This was not the crowded fishing adventure that people said that it would be. Robin and I were the only women there with about 6 or 8 other guys who were there to hang out and talk to people or fish. Grand Lake Stream Fishing the stream Fishing the stream Robin and I got into our wad