Tonto Gear Box OtterBox

Sunset (taken with well protected camera)

A few weeks ago I purchased a new phone, a smart phone to be precise. My plan was to use it to help me stay in touch with my blog more, keep up on emails and look cool. With my old phone I had sent a tweet or two from the field. My new phone has the ability to tweet take video and shoot higher pixel photos than my point and shoot camera. While this is cool to have with you, I hunt ducks. Any duck hunter will tell you how hard the environment where ducks live is on gear, mud, muck, water or all three combined. With the cost of replacing a smart phone running in the $$$, you better protect it. Enter the water proof Otter Box.


The Otter Box

Reasons I Use the Otter Box

What is the Otter Box? It is a waterproof box that comes in a variety of sizes, shapes, and colors. The lid on each box has a seal that makes it waterproof. The design of the box makes it pretty much crush proof; protect anything fragile inside of it. I purchased the smallest one they had to hold my car key, phone, wallet and spare cash for any emergency, (such as if I fell in the water and needed a hot breakfast). I also picked the clear box so I can identify the contents inside. Out in the field it has been great, because I have already dunked it when crossing the river at a spot in the dark and missed the shallow section. Also it keeps contents dry until I clean my hands to text or take photos while out hunting. 

Capacity

Reasons You Might Not Like the Otter Box

If you find the bulk and extra weight of the box to much, and have no problem buying new phones and cameras, this is probably not a product for you. Another problem I have heard of is the lip where the closure fasteners breaking off, but so far I’ve had no issues.



Get one

Recommendation

If you carry an expensive phone or camera around water, i.e. all fly fishers and duck hunters; the cost of keeping you expensive valuables safe is worth the peace of mind.

I would recommend this product to everyone who needs to protect there gear from the elements anywhere outdoors. Also they make a fantastic line of phone cases.

More Info: OtterBox

To Purchase: 2000-Clear

Follow on Twitter: @otterbox

The Following review of "Otter Box” is the sole opinion of Tonto Rambling and given to help inform others about this product. It was purchased for the purpose of using it in the field.  I will try and give an unbiased and honest opinion of all products reviewed. I have received no compensation for this review and I am not associated with Otter Box.

Tonto Gear Box Glacier Gloves

I have lived in the Arizona desert for 22 years now, and the summers are hot i.e. 110 degrees. This baking has thinned my blood out and I get cold easy. After years of setting decoys out and then picking them back up, all with bare hands to keep my gloves dry, my cold threshold was breached. I started looking for a pair of gloves that could get wet, yet still function as a good glove. I started browsing stores for gloves around February of last year, and keep my eyes open for gloves I liked, this lead me to Glacier Gloves.

Reasons I Use Glacier Gloves

The first time I tried some on at the store, the fit was great with a warm fleece liner covered by neoprene. The ability to move my fingers made the glove comfortable, and the shape kept the blood flowing to the fingers. After purchasing a pair and using them out hunting, I was very impressed with the warmth they provide and the tasks I could perform with them on. Picking up decoys, wrapping anchor cords and shooting a shotgun are all tasks that can be performed now with warm hands. Also the ability to keep hands warm when wet due to the neoprene is a plus, I have been known to get unexpectedly wet at times. After two months use the durability of the gloves has been good, no holes or punctures yet. The river bottom I use them in still has much of the surrounding desert plant life growing, cactus, cactus and thorn bushes. Water proof gear has to have some amount of toughness to with stand this terrain.

Reasons You Might Not Like Glacier Gloves

If you wear a thick winter parka (I don’t) the cuffs that come up over the sleeves might be tight, they fit snug on me with a jacket. And I don’t need the Velcro strap over the cuff for same reason.

I purchased my gloves in November of 2011, and have used them on every duck hunting trip sense then. I would recommend these gloves to anyone who wants their hands to stay warm when spending time around the water.

More Info:  Glacier Glove

To Purchase:  Glacier Gloves Hunting Glove

Follow on twitter: @glacierglove

The Following review of "Glacier Gloves” is the sole opinion of Tonto Rambling and given to help inform others about this product. It was purchased for the purpose of using it in the field.  I will try and give an unbiased and honest opinion of all products reviewed. I have received no compensation for this review and I am not associated with Glacier Gloves.

I'm Addicted

5:00 am the alarm goes into overdrive as I pry my eyes open. Just 5 hours ago I was still up talking to my oldest son, it seems way too early. I pack the car full of gear in a fog, still trying to wake up, hoping I wouldn't forget anything. Reports from a friend said a lot of widgeons had moved onto the river and this was my first crack at them. At the river I load up, and find I have no extra batteries and the head lamp is becoming dimmer. Hoping the light will last I head off to the river once again. I finally reach the river bottom take off the pack and get out the blind bag and stool and go to set up decoys when the head lamp gives off its last ray of light and dies. I get the decoys set up by the moonlight, but I can't see on shore to get anything I need. Finally I find the camera in the dark and use the flash to find the last items.

Camera Flash Flashlight

With 20 minutes till shooting light I sit down on the stool and begin to wait. The wait is short as a dozen plus ducks buzz the hole, circle, then put down in front of me. I can't see them but I hear what's going on. Suddenly from downriver the resident beaver slaps his tail and the nervous birds are gone in a flash. Another ten minutes pass and a pair of widgeons hit the deck, only 5 more minutes till shooting light and I will jump shoot these birds. From downriver a quarter mile the thunderous boom of shots ring out, I can't see crap but birds fly everywhere, I wonder what can they see to shoot at? Shooting light arrives and there is not a duck in sight anywhere. Once again more shooting from down river but no birds anywhere to indicate ducks are flying. After 90 minutes pass by I decide to go walk to do some jump shooting. This pays off, I shoot a Gadwall drake in first spot, then drop another upriver from that.



Ducks like to loaf here

As I go to retrieve the second bird in waist deep water, I am 5 feet from the bird when I find myself looking up at the sky with just my face and left forearm holding my gun above the surface of the water. I hate big slippery rocks! At first the cold steals the air out of me and I am speechless, but as I resurface move to shallow water my sentiments are vocalized at the underwater rock. A trip to shore to dump water out of the waders and wring out the clothes before hiking back to the car adds insult to injury. I have had many great days waterfowling this year, and today wasn't one of them. As I drove home cold and damp, I thought to myself if the rest of the season is going to be like this, I'm done for this year. I will end with all the good memories and wait for next year, but as I think it, I know it’s a lie I'll be back as soon as possible, "I'm addicted and I can't control it".

Perfect Fall Day for Duck Hunting




Perfect Fall Day

 I was reading a story the other day on Mysteries Internal Worth One Thousand Words; or, Life Abbreviated. (great read) and thought about how good story telling affects each reader differently. It gives us the chance to paint our own pictures from the experiences that each of us has been through. Unlike Erin, I am not the best story teller so I like to combine photos with my stories. The photo above represents a snapshot of my hunting experience from Saturday morning. I have been asked why I like to hunt ducks, there are many reasons for this, but mostly I enjoy being outdoors, on the water, and I’m definitely a morning person.

This morning found me up hiking in the dark before the sun came up. I was excited about the day and left the house earlier than normal. The air was cold for the desert, lining the cactus with a thin layer of frost. A cold front had just blown through the state and I was hoping it had brought ducks with it. The work of setting up decoys in the predawn was keeping me warm, and as I neared the end of my task I noticed some small snow crystals floating in the headlamps light. Once the decoys were placed and I had settled into the cattails. I checked the clock, twenty minutes till shooting light. Sitting on the edge of the water motionless, the cold started to creep in through my hands and face. The first rays of light started to appear I heard a flock of divers coming down from the lake, the wind of their wings like the sound of a distant jet as they passed over me. After another ten minutes it was time to shoot, and right on cue a flock swung past the decoys, after a single call, they turned around and cupped there wings committing to the decoys. I knew after firing two shots it would be a special morning as two drakes hit the water.



Desert Duck Hunting

After an hour of exciting calling and shooting, I had one bird left to reach my limit. I sat there and just listened to the sounds around me and noticing the display of colors as the clouds broke up the suns rays. The leaves on the cottonwoods had begun to turn a brilliant yellow. The tamarisks had taken on the orange of winter and the cattails were a transitory green tan. This mixed with patches of deep blue sky and heavy gray clouds made the river a beautiful location to be. This is something even with pictures and words that should still be experienced by everyone. It does not matter if it is with a shotgun or fly rod in hand, or from a bicycle or hiking boots. Being outdoors at these magical times of the day and seasons are what recharge us, the activity is just the excuse to get there.
 

Limit of Divers





Suprising Start to the Duck Season

When I was a teenager I always knew I would live close to rivers and marshes where I love to explore, hunt and fish. Time and life have a funny way of changing youthful dreams. I have lived the last 20 plus years in one of the drier states there is. The desert is a beautiful place to live and contrary to popular believe there is water here. The Salt River has a series of four dams that store water for the use of the greater Phoenix Valley. This water combined with mild temperatures then provides the end of the line for many ducks migrating south for the winter. Two weeks after the season opener and higher than normal temperatures (i.e. 100 plus Fahrenheit), and more importantly, early morning soccer games, I finally had a chance to get out and hunt ducks. I am usually very good about having everything prepped and ready to go weeks in advance, not so this year. So late at night I rigged decoys packed bags looked for shells until late into the night. All of this was done thinking that the weather and water levels would make for a not so good hunt.

Morning arrived and we headed to the river for the start of the 2011 duck season. As we pulled up to the parking spot, there were already three cars parked. I hoped that they were there to fish, but as we got closer to the river, it was apparent they already had a spread of decoys in the water and were ready to go. I have hunted the river for a lot of years and have plan B and C always ready to go. So plan B was a small spread of 9 decoys, and then wait for the ducks to be pushed in front of us for pass shooting.  As shooting light arrived it was obvious I had made the right call on plan B, ducks came into the first parties decoys, shots were fired the ducks retreated back up the river to us and I shot the first duck of the season at about 15 yds. I thought this is a great start to the season but that ended up being the best action of the morning. I dropped one teal across the river after that and my hunting buddy Josh missed an easy one I sent his way. As the sun came up the temperature did too and we cleaned up the decoys and called it a day.

Packing up gear I told Josh I would be heading down river to scout a few other spots that can be productive ,so we split up and I headed down the river a couple of miles. The lower section had even more hunters there, I don’t recall a year when there where so many people hunting the river. Scouting along the river I carried my gun in hopes of possibly jump shooting a few more ducks. Heading across river through a large stand of cattail I was not disappointed when a teal flushed in front of me giving me a great shot which I took advantage of. Upon retrieval of the bird I was shocked to find out I had just harvested my first Blue Wing Teal. I have hunted ducks for 30 years and have only seen a hand full of them, all of which was well before the season opener. This is one of the joys of being outdoors, the unknown adventure that stirs the soul and imagination to reveal new secrets on every outing no matter what our experience level.

Fall Break Part III

They next day we got up and headed out for the day my twin boys had been waiting for, squirrel hunting with their 22’s. The excitement they had was interesting to witness they don’t typically get too excited about going out to hunt anything but this was different. As we drove down the dirt road toward Winslow AZ. Looking for a good spot we finally saw a small canyon with heavy stands of pine trees in it. I wondered if we would really see any squirrels at all not knowing the area that well. As the boys loaded clips to put in the 22’s I heard a squirrel calling just below us, then saw him scamper across a log. From that moment on it was four hours of nonstop hunting, stalking, shooting and a few squirrels put in the game bag. Everyone took plenty of shots, everyone got a squirrel, and we all had a great time.

If you want to get your kids out on a hunt that is fun, has plenty of challenge mixed with great odds of success, you may want to try out squirrel hunting.

Tonto Quail



Desert Canyon at Sunrise

It has been awhile since the last post due to a packed fall break. So I am going to start with quail hunting on Saturday the 8th. After the previous weekends shut out we went to a completely different location, one of the nice things about Tonto forest is there are thousands of good places to hunt quail. We picked a canyon off the side of a busy dirt road at sunrise and started to hear quail calling right out of the car. A few hundred yards later the first quail flushed, I mounted the gun, took a shot, and the bird went down. My friend Josh yelled great shot; nope he's running on the ground. After a 10 min search through the cholla, we lost that bird. This left me wondering if I was in for a repeat of last week’s hunt. We moved on up the canyon and heard several more quail, but never saw any of them. After looping around the backside and coming down another canyon we split up to cover more ground. I continued to hear birds and jumped two more both of which I missed.

The Prickly Stuff

After an hour of this I hooked up with Josh to plan what are next move would be. He had ended the streak by getting the first bird of the season, and this showed some promise. We talked, planned and then set out through some flatter country. We both felt that the quail were holding very tight in the cactus and we needed to slow down and take our time. After a short walk we thought we heard one move in some brush, we moved around the brush for 30 to 40 seconds when the bird finally got nervous enough to make a break for it, 2nd quail down. We tried this again only 40 yards from there and bird up, shot bird down. This time I wasted no effort in racing in on the downed bird and actually found this one on the ground. Finally I felt the relief of getting the season started.



First Quail of the Year

We did this for another half hour but the sun was really starting to get hot. We managed to get one more bird out of the morning, but we have figured this area out for the early season. A lot of the birds where in small coveys and were holding very tight. Good luck to all who head out to hunt.

Quail Country



Mornings Harvest



0-1 Quail Opener



Only Picture from Quail Hunt

 The quail season opened up this weekend, and it started out with a big goose egg. At first light we hit one of my favorite spots, always a productive location. I should have known it would be a rough morning, when after just one picture the camera flashed low battery unable to process picture. So putting the camera aside I continued hunting the washes with my boys, and Josh and his son. We put in almost two hours of hiking without seeing a single bird. This is a wash that typically we are able to find three or four large coveys. After several miles we jumped a rooster and a hen, I knocked the rooster down, but missed the hen. When I went to retrieve the rooster all I found was a long line of feathers and no bird. That was all the action we had for the opener slow start to the season. This weekend I will have the camera charged, and I will find some birds.

Thunder and Lighting

We headed out to our dove field Saturday afternoon on a spur of the moment hunt. All day the sun had been beating down on the valley heating things up. Clouds on the northern horizon had started to form midafternoon into big white pillows. As we left the house I thought “are we going to get rained on before the evening ends”. As we approached the field so did the rain storm, and getting out of the car we took some heavy rain drops. As we stood watching the rain drops come to an end we wondered if any birds would fly. Shortly after the rain stopped we saw several birds pass over our favorite spot, so we loaded up and headed out.




Superstition Mts.

 

As I settled in to my favorite spot I thought of what a beautiful evening it would be, the cloud cover had hid the sun and the rain had dropped the temperatures into the 70’s. I had my camera back today after my wife used it all last week; I hoped to get some good pictures.



Storm Clouds Moving Out



Once the doves began moving, I had the feeling it would be a good evening. The first bird that flew from the left to the right went down with one shot.

Another one came from the same direction and I hit it on the second try.

After missing a bird behind me I had a third bird fly the same direction as the first two,

and it was brought down with a single shot.

After getting three birds in five shots I was feeling pretty good about the hunting action. My friend Josh was also getting some good opportunities at birds. On this evening he had three of his kids in tow to enjoy the evening. As we continued to shoot birds, we watched as the storm circled us off in the distance. Every now and then the thunder would slowly roll across the fields bringing the promise of more rain. As I continued to shoot a big gust of wind kicked up several birds in the distance, they started heading our way. As they approached us I hit one of them, followed that up with a miss, but doubled on the third shot. When the shooting is this good it doesn’t last long, with only 23 shots fired I had filled my daily limit.



An Evening of Fun



After cleaning up around me I headed off to see how Josh and his oldest son were fairing. They had shot several birds and were having a good time. It is always nice to see outdoor traditions passed down to the younger generation. As the sun set, the storm was getting closer. The lighting was lighting up the eastern sky as the thunder echoed across the fields. We drove home to the light show having enjoyed a special evening of dove hunting.



End of a Hunt, Start of a Lifetime



Labor Day Dove

Dove hunting in the desert is best pursued in either the early mornings or late afternoons. The birds are flying to or from their roosts in predictable patterns. In fields where there is active agriculture, or better yet a dairy, the birds will be more concentrated. The problem with hunting these areas on Labor Day is it tends to concentrate the hunters also. This year was no exception, so the early risers get the premium location. With this in mind I woke my three boys early enough that we were the first ones to the field, choosing the best spot from which to hunt.

Christian

 


Carson

Hayden



The birds began to fly just after legal shooting light and it was game on. I got off to a quick start by connecting on three birds with my first few shells. My boys on the other hand got off to a slow start burning through the stack of shotgun shells. Doves are fast flying missiles and can be tricky to hit, but the boys where having a great time trying. My partner in crime when it comes to hunting, Josh, once again was shooting lights out. At this time in the morning I came up with the concept of how well one shoots, is to take the amount of birds taken divided by the amount of shells used. A good number would be in the 2s mediocre the 5s and poor the 10s. While I have shot in the 2s before I am more of a 4.5s kind of shot. The problem for me this year though was the cost of supporting three boys who were definitely in the 10-12 range and getting a lot of birds.



Marc AKA Tonto Rambling

While this arbitrary system of shooting skill is fun for badgering friends, (Josh claiming to shoot in the 2s opening day?), it is not what dove hunting for me is about. I enjoy getting out with family and friends and just talking. The smell of gun powder burning in the barrel.  Seeing the sunrise over the mountains. Meeting new people who enjoy the outdoors and the realization that fall is just around the corner. To everyone who hunts dove good luck. To the rest of you get out there and try this early hunting season and see just how fun it can be.

112°

What is worth standing on the edge of a dirt field in the afternoon when the thermometer says 112°? If it is September, and you are in Arizona, it is probably for the start of dove hunting. This year Arizona passed a new law that reopened some old dove hunting land in the state. The law passed allowed hunters to legally discharge a firearm to pursue game inside city limits, allowing a lot of desert to reopen for hunting. Thus I find myself in the afternoon after work standing in a dirt field slowly roasting.

Fortunately, a friend of mine had scouted this field and the doves where moving continuously through the field. We set up to intercept them as they moved in the afternoon from feeding fields to some water just east of the dirt lot. This year I was unable to make it out and shoot some skeet preseason, this showed right away. The first 20 doves to fly by me were given a free pass, as I was nowhere near hitting one. Finally I hit my first bird of the season, which got the ball rolling. One of the things I enjoy about dove hunting is the crazy variety of shots they provide. Most of the time I can make the right to left shot, or the straight on shot, but find left to right to be more difficult. Dove will challenge you on all angles and speeds. As the evening wore on and the suns affects diminished, my shooting improved. Day one of dove hunting was once again successful.