2014 Outdoor Goals Mid-Summer Update

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We are a little more than half way through the year. Here is my update of how I've done on my goals so far.

Fishing Goals:


  • Catch a fish in every month of the year 
    • Unfulfilled -- cold temps in Jan, Feb, and March put a damper on this. 
    • April - July I've done well though.
    • REVISED goal is to fish at least once in each of the remaining months.
  • In WV, catch one new species of fish (northern pike, hybrid striper, tiger musky), and/or a species I haven't caught in a few years at least (flathead catfish, musky, freshwater drum, eel, or yellow perch).
    • Currently unfulfilled
  • Catch a 15"+ smallmouth bass on a fly
    • FULFILLED - 
Big smallmouth on the fly

    • I have also caught two 18+" smallmouth bass this summer on conventional tackle
Big smallmouth in the summer on conventional tackle

  • Catch a trout over 17" on a fly
    • Currently unfulfilled
  • Float a new stretch of water

      •
    • FULFILLED x 3. Floated 2 new sections of the Cheat River. Floated the Greenbrier as well.
Greenbrier float with Fritz and Ben

  • Explore a couple "new" brook trout streams
    • Currently unfulfilled
  • Fish with my wife
    • Currently unfulfilled. She normally goes catfishing with me. Its time for that.
  • Fish with my mom
    • FULFILLED. She floated a new section of the Cheat with me where we both caught BIG smallmouth on topwater!
  • Fish with my dad
    • FULFILLED. We took a day and fished Cheat Lake, catching a mixed bag of 6+ different species. Thanks Zach for lending the boat!
Dad with a hand-sized sunfish


Hunting Goals:
(We'll leave these for now since other than coyote season, none of these have been possible)

  • Kill a coyote
  • Harvest a deer from the ground with my bow (this is my big one - thanks Evan)
  • Hunt with a recurve bow
  • Donate/give away at least 2 deer
  • Harvest more does than bucks for the year
  • Fill the freezer
  • Hunt with my dad


Misc:

  • Improve the garden this year (tough to quantify)
    • FULFILLED - worked hard early to improve the soil which paid off. We had (and still have) lots of Kale, a great crop of sugar snap peas, and lettuce. Our tomatoes are going crazy now, much better than ever before, and we are on the verge of having cucumbers coming out of our ears. So this one is definitely fulfilled.
Tomato jungle

  • Start everything in the garden from seed
    • UNFULFILLED - early spring was busy for me, but thanks to a co-worker's wife who generously gave us tomatoes and peppers, I know everything in the garden was "raised right".
  • Hike into somewhere remote, interesting, and new.
    • Currently Unfulfilled. Hoping to get to this one with the exploring new brook trout streams or during hunting season.

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