End of the season!

Yesterday was the last day of dove season here in South Georgia.  In a lot of ways it feels like the end of my hunting season for this year.  I'm sure that we could go chase some Bob Whites to pass the time, but for the most part my guns will be cleaned and put in the cabinet until the turkeys start gobbling in the spring.  The year ended on a good note as Daddy, Reid and I went on one of the best dove hunts that I have been on in several years.  It was a perfect day in which the sun was shinning and the sky was raining doves.  Josey the wonder dog did better than expected on just her second dove hunt.  She retrieves very well, but I have got to train her to only retrieve my birds and not to chase birds all over the field.  I am hoping that the Outdoor Blogger Network will have a give away on a shock collar soon.   It was a very good way to end what was a very good year of hunting for me.

March of 2010 started my year off with a good turkey on opening day.  An afternoon bird in which Daddy and I got to double up.  You can check out the play by play here.  I followed up that success with two more birds later in the year.  Here is my picture displaying my success for the 2010 turkey season!

After Turkey season I usually focus my efforts on little league baseball and my golf game, but we do still find time to do some fishing,

At the end of summer it is time to start thinking about college football and dove season.  Reid did very well this year as he went with me several times.  You can read about our opening day here.

Deer season starts in October and some of you may remember that I was blessed this year with an awesome buck!

November brings another trip to Kansas to do some true upland hunting and chase those beautiful ring necks.  I enjoy this time with my Dad and this years story can be found here.

We even did some squirrel hunting this year that didn't even require a rifle.  We let Ruby do the work!

Doves season rolls back around and here we go again, only this time I found out that I had a pretty good bird dog living in the house.

So now I guess you could consider me in waiting mode.  I will be waiting for spring training to start in about 6 weeks.  I will be waiting for March and the gobble of that first spring turkey (my wife loves the way I practice my turkey calling during this down time!).  I will then wait again for college football and the start of dove season around labor day.  I will then wait for deer season and my annual trip to Kansas with my Dad.  The we will wait for the second dove season to start on those cooler days in November and December, and then we will once again start over with our waiting for it all to start over again!!!

I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Thanks for following me on all of my hunting adventures!  If you didn't catch them the first time, then hopefully this little post will help you to go back and catch up!

March can not get here fast enough!!!!!!  Yelp, yelp, yelp.....Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!!!!!!!!

"Donnie Baseball", my hero!

-2,153 career hits
-222 career Home runs
-1,099 career RBI's
-.307 lifetime batting average
-9 Gold gloves
-6 All Star games
-1985 AL MVP
-1984 AL batting title winner
-3 Silver Slugger awards
-My baseball hero!

The National Baseball Writers Association is responsible for electing members to the Baseball Hall of Fame every year at this time.  They have chosen to enshrine Roberto Alomar (90% of votes) and Bert Blyleven (79% of votes) in the class of 2011.  Both of these men are worthy of the Hall and I am glad that they have both gotten in.  It takes 75% of the over 500 votes to be placed in the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Don Mattingly, the current manager of the LA Dodgers received 13.6% of the vote total.  To me that is very disappointing!

Growing up in the 80's as a kid who loved everything baseball, there was no bigger player in my eyes than "Donnie Baseball", Don Mattingly.  He had the absolute smoothest swing that you ever saw and was not afraid to get a little dirt on his uniform.  I thought he was the coolest thing in the world at the time and I made sure that I watched him every Saturday as NBC would always carry the Yankees on their Saturday game of the week.  Mattingly was destined for the Hall of Fame.  He was a great hitter who hit for a high average and also had a little pop.  He won a batting title, an MVP, 9 Gold Gloves, and set some impressive records along the way like hitting a home run in 8 straight games and hitting 6 Grand Slams in one season.  But, Donnie Baseball was unfortunate in the fact that he played his career for the Yankees when the Yankees were not very good.  He never had an oportunity to add a World Series ring to his resume, which can sometimes bolster a few more votes for the hall.  His career was also cut short due to a bad back.  Although he still managed to carry a .290 batting average over the last 5 years of his career, he lost most of his power and was not able to go everyday.  A Hall of Fame start of a career was derailed by injury.  That Stinks!!  I still consider him to be one of the best that I ever saw play the game and I still get a little sad when I think about what might have been if it wasn't for his back troubles.  If he never gets in the Baseball Hal of Fame, he will still be in mine!

I can not write a post like this one and not mention another great player from the 80's that played for my team, the Atlanta Braves!  Dale Murphy received 12.6% of the votes tallied this year for the Hall.  Murph is a two time NL MVP and one of the premier power hitters of the 80's.  Like Mattingly, he played on some pretty bad Braves teams, but finds himself in some pretty elite company.  In the 1980's, only Mike Schmidt had more home runs, and Eddie Murry had more RBI's that Dale Murphy.  Schmidt and Murry are currently in the Hall of Fame.  Murphy finished his career with 398 home runs, but his last five years were not kind to him in the batting average department.  Hitting only .238 in his last five years as compared to .289 in the five previous really hurt his Hall chances in my opinion.  Dale Murphy is an all around great person who wouldn't know a steroid if it looked him in the face.  If the Hall of Fame had a wing for good guys, Dale Murphy would have the first bust.  I hope he has a chance to make it one day because for a lot of fans in South Georgia who watched him hit those home runs to right field and carry a terrible Braves team on his back, he is definitly a Hall of Fame player.

I had both of these posters as a kid and they bring back a lot of great memories.  I wonder if kids today still worship players like we did and hang their posters on the wall or wear their jerseys or collect their baseball cards.  Things seemed to be different back then and ball players seemed to be more real.  They were worthy of being heros.  I hope that my son will love the game and love his heros.  He already enjoys watching the Braves and we have started a baseball card collection.  He likes looking at them but I have to admit that the collection is probably more for me right now.  It makes me feel like a kid again and helps me to remember what it was like to have heros!!

Good luck to "Donnie Baseball" and Dale Murphy!  You are both Hall of Fame in my book!!

You call it what???

I am a proud member of the Outdoor Blogger Network.  It is a great site that brings people like me together to share our outdoor blogs.  You may have noticed their tag on the right hand side of my page.  They feature bloggers each week, have giveaways, and inspire topics in which to write.  They have asked members this week to tell everyone how their blog got its name.  I have had several people ask me about the title of my blog, so I will be glad to help the OBN this week!

Brave Eagles Hunt with Antique Brownings came about very simply.  I was sitting in my office trying to come up with a name for this little blog and I was not getting very far.  I was not even sure that I could do this blogging thing.  I had been encouraged by my preacher to give it a try and my mother had recently started a blog of her own, so I decided to give it a shot.  Being a marketing major, I turned to an old trick that I learned when you are trying to come up with a unique idea.  I got out a piece of paper and starting brain storming by writing things down that interest me or best describe who I am.  As I was filling up my paper I decided that maybe I could do a little play on words for the title of my blog.

I'm an "All In" type of guy.  What I mean by this is that I am the type of person who is 100% committed to the things that I deem important.  If you are a manufacture and I like your product, then I am definitely your man.  I will use nothing else!  If I am a fan of your team, then I am your biggest fan and will fight for my team until the bitter end.  If I enjoy a hobby then I will work until I am the best that I can be at that particular hobby.  With that in mind I started looking at my scribblings on my little piece of paper and started picking things out.  I found the Atlanta Braves, The Georgia Southern Eagles, hunting and fishing, refinishing antique furniture, Browning shotguns and many more items that I could use for a name but settled on these.  Thus was the birth of...

Brave Eagles Hunt with Antique Brownings!!

I thought it did a pretty good job of describing the things I like.  With almost a year of blogging under my belt I have come to realize that I write about a lot more than just these things, but I hope that you get the basic idea!

Thanks Outdoor Blogger Network for all that you do!

The Best Job Ever!!!

I get the opportunity to speak with a lot of different people everyday.  One of the things I do as a banker is ask a lot of questions.  Questions like how much, for how long, what collateral, who is going to pay and what is your current line of work.  I always enjoy hearing about how people make their living.  Some people are your average Joe and work in a local industry.  Other people are professionals that work in the medical field or insurance business.  Others are teachers, while others are self employed.  I always wonder how people end up in their line of work and I also wonder if they are truly happy in what they do.  I can honestly say that I love my job and love helping people with their financial needs.  It is a good career that hopefully I can continue for many years.  But if you asked me if my banking career was my all time favorite job, then I would have to tell you no.  You see, every summer and Christmas during the years of 1991- 1995 (my wonderful college years) I was a Bud Man!

I grew up in a great household where hard work was expected.  My parents provided me with everything that I needed but I did not have a silver spoon.  When I was old enough to hold a summer job, that's exactly what I did.  I cut grass for many a summer and then I worked for the local Recreation Department.  I wasn't getting rich by any stretch, but I had gas money and money to spend for dates and such.  After high school graduation, my Dad decided that I may need a job in which I could earn a little more money as I prepared to go off to college.  He arranged for me to get a job with Fitzgerald Ice Company helping with the distribution of their product as well as general warehouse work involved with their products.  Now some of you are thinking that I actually worked at an ice company, and that is where you would be wrong.  Fitzgerald Ice Company has been in business for over 100 years and is the proud distributor of Budweiser Beer!  My Mama was so proud!!

I think my Mama prayed every morning as I left for work in my Budweiser work shirts that I would not run into the preacher somewhere.  Truth be told, if I ran into the preacher in the places that I had to visit, he wouldn't have said a word.  I have been in every juke joint, beer store, bar, convenient store, liquor store, and grocery store in this part of South Georgia delivering products proudly displaying the Anheuser Busch name.  I had a blast!!  A typical day started at 6:00am as we checked off the trucks for the day's deliveries.  An average day consisted of 800 to 1000 cases with anywhere between 15 and 30 stops.  After your truck was emptied, you headed back to the warehouse to load trucks for the next day.  We usually got to knock off at 5 or 6.  It was long days and hard work, but at the same time it was kind of fun and taught me a great deal about the business world.  I got to do some neat things like learn to drive a semi truck and a fork lift.  I got to see how sales people handled their customers.  I got to see how a marketing giant like Budweiser got their product name recognized and what they did to always stay fresh on the consumer's mind.  I learned how supervisors treated their workers and  what they did to motivate or not motivate their employees.  I also learned that I better study while I was in school because these 12 hour days was not what I was cut out for!!

Because I was a hard worker, I got to keep that job for 4 years during my college career.  Every summer and Christmas vacation, I would come home to find my job waiting for me.  I was so thankful for that!  That job paid for all of my fraternity dues as well as any extra spending money that I might have needed.  That job also helped me in my studies.  As a marketing major at Georgia Southern, I wrote a lot of papers about Anheuser Busch and the marketing juggernaut that they were as they were selling the most popular beer in the country. 

I often think about the great people that I met while I was employed at Fitzgerald Ice Company.  I bank a good deal of them today and several of them are still good friends, but I always think of them around Christmas time.  When I started working there in 1991, part of our Christmas present was a Budweiser Christmas Stein.  I really like these steins and have them displayed in a case at home.  The reason that I always think of Fitzgerald Ice at Christmas time is that for the past 19 years I have continued to receive a Budweiser Christmas stein from the great folks that still work there.  I guess I did a good enough job while I was there that they continue to remember me at Christmas, or it could be that some of them now owe me money :).

Thank you Fitzgerald Ice Company for the stein and for the life lessons that I learned while I was working there!  You mean more to me than you will ever know!

Dear Santa,

Aside from my usual yearly request of new ties, hunting gear, and neat gadgets, I have decided to go all out and make some pretty bold request of you for the coming 12 months.  This is what I REALLY want for Christmas......

-A National Championship for Georgia Southern in 2011
-A World Series Championship for The Braves
-My limit for the second year in a row on Wild Turkeys
-The winning ticket on a new gun from some raffle that I enter
-A Boone and Crockett Buck
-A pheasant "super flush" while hunting in Kansas
-A State Championship for the Canes
-A Jason Heyward Super-fractor baseball card out of a random pack (it's worth a lot of money!!)
-A home run for Reid this coming up baseball season
-Raises for all bank employees (better yet just keep the doors open)
-A Recruiting class full of studs for Georgia Southern
-A beautiful yard with no mole crickets
-I would like the body back that I had at the age of 25 without actually having to do the work to get it
-A third Club Championship trophy at good ole FCC
-A 12lb large mouth on the day of a fishing tourney
-Several little antique tables in need of some attention that can be bought cheap
-Lower property taxes
-50 new blog followers
-I would actually like to win one of those little "give aways" on the Outdoor Blogging Network
-Ideas for interesting topics in which to entertain the few readers that I have
-For Josey the Wonder Dog to actually understand everything that I am telling her (kind of like Lassie)
-No need for antibiotics in my household for a period of 12 months (I think the kids are getting hooked on the pink stuff)
-More episodes of "The Duck Commander" on the Outdoor Network
-Win the Wild Chicken Cup
-For the kids to always do what I say (you can include the wife too if miracles are within your capabilities)
-A Browning shopping spree given to me by the company because they read my blog and decided that I was truly their biggest fan
-At least 10 comments on every blog post
-To smoke the competition at Reid's first Pinewood derby race
-No past due customers
-A guest spot on Real Tree Outdoors
-An invitation to sing the National Anthem at the Braves game
and.......

World Peace!

Thank you for making my first blogging year a good one!  I hope that each of you have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New year, and that Santa brings you everything that you ask for!!

Josey the Wonder Dog!

I have written about my Boykin Spaniel Josey before.  I told you what a wonderful dog that she is for my kids and our family.  She is a Daddy's girl and loyal follower.  She is two years old, and although she is bred to be a hunting dog, I have never really taken her hunting.  I do not claim to be a bird dog trainer and quite frankly I have never had much luck in teaching a dog to be a good hunting partner.  I'm sure that is my fault and not the dog's.

Here lately I have been taking Josey squirrel hunting with me in a local pecan orchard.  She knows what a gun is and knows that when I shoot, a critter comes falling from out of the trees.  She will chase squirrels up trees from out of the bushes and find them when I shoot them down.  Sometimes she will bring them to me, sometimes not.  You can tell that she really enjoys the hunt because her little tail is wagging 100 miles per hour the whole time.  I began to wonder if maybe, just maybe, Josey could be a good hunting partner despite her owners lack of training skills???

Josey has always been very smart and catches on to things fairly quickly.  I have had no trouble training her to have good manners around other people and she will always stay pretty close to wherever I am.  It was for this reason that I decided to let her tag along on a small Saturday morning dove hunt.  I knew there would not be many people there, and worse case she would just sit with me and watch.  As daylight approached and a few birds starting to make there way into the field, someone fired a shot.  It was like you turned a light on in Josey's head.  Her tail started wagging and she got excited as if to say "So this is what we are doing today?"  I was very nervous as I pulled on my first bird.  I wanted to make sure that I connected on my first shot so that Josey could see how the game was supposed to be played.  I fired and down it went in a puff of wintery feathers.  Josey didn't move.  I tried to send her out to fetch, but she just looked at me like I was crazy.  I could almost hear her say, "Dude, there was no squirrel!" 

So I walked my dog out to help her retrieve my bird.  As we got close I told Josey to fetch it up and she caught scent of the dove.  She quickly pounced and started to chew the bird.  By the time I got it from her, she was covered with feathers, but I praised her when I took it from her and made a big deal of the whole thing as we went back to the stand.  At least now she knew what Daddy was after.

The next bird was shot down and we sort of went through the same thing.  She did not go after the bird right away.  I had to start towards the direction in which the bird landed and then she went out from there.  She found the bird, but I had to go and get it from her.  Again, I made a big deal about the half retrieve.  The third bird is where we turned the corner.  I shot the bird down, but I could tell it was just a wing shot.  As the dove sort of fluttered on the ground, Josey took off.  As she approached, the bird also took off and struggled to fly down the field with Josey on its tail.  She chased it for about 75 yards before she quit and ran back to me.  The bird fell and died in front of my friend on the next stand.  He picked up the bird and sort of tossed it towards my stand in the row that I was sitting on so that I would be able to easily find it.  Josey saw him make his little toss and bolted in that direction.  She picked up the bird and to my surprise ran it all the way back to me.  I was so proud I could have cried!

I killed six more birds that morning and Josey the Wonder dog picked up and retrieved all 6 of them.  Not too bad for a spoiled little house dog with no proper training.  It just goes to show what good instincts these little brown dogs have.  She really is a good dog and I am glad to say that I finally have a bird dog just like I have always wanted!!

Christmas Wish List!

  For the ladies that read my blog that have no idea what to give their man for Christmas, I would like to offer you the following idea.  Fellows, you can run with this too if you like.  The picture that you see here to the left is an actual ad for Browning.  You can tell that it is a Christmas time ad because of the "gift" references and Christmas tree pine needles shown in the picture.  Now who wouldn't want a new Browning for Christmas????  I know I sure would, but what I have in mind is a whole lot cheaper than running out and buying a new gun!  The ad that you see here is actually from 1959.  You can go to e-bay and find vintage Browning ads from the 50's and 60's, most of which are in excellent shape.  An ad can range in price from $7 to $15 depending on the ad color and content.  These are paper advertisements from old magazines and are usually 8x10 or larger.  When these ads are framed and matted, they make great looking pieces to display in an office or "Man Cave".  I currently have two of these and I can say that they are some of my favorite items hanging in my shop and office.  This little project will cost you less than $75 depending on how nice you plan on framing your new piece of history.  Not a bad deal for something that a Browning lover will appreciate.

So what if you are not a Browning lover?  You may now exit my blog!!!  Just kidding.

E-bay is full of sellers that deal in this type of paper sales.  You can find most anything if you look hard enough.  Old John Deere ads, Winchester ads, Remington ads, Coca-Cola ads, etc., etc.  Just a cool little idea for those that can sometimes be hard to buy for.  Especially if they are passionate for a particular brand, such as with me and my Brownings!

Happy shopping!