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Total Members: 203 (The newest member is youngpup)
Jul 20 2008, 05:16 PM, a record 54 users were online.
Trail cam pics
Posted by Final (Admins) at Sep 2 2009, 11:51 AM. 5 comments
Here are a few pics from my trail cam.
Man swims the entire length of the Amazon
Posted by Final (Admins) at Aug 24 2009, 12:33 PM. 2 comments
Posted 24/08/2009 12:28:34 AM
That’s 3,274 miles, swimming 10 hours a day for 66 days.. on two bottles of wine a day
He’s middle-aged, his ample belly bulges over his Speedos…and he thinks drinking two bottles of wine a day keeps him in shape.
Swimmer Martin Strel would be the first to admit he makes the unlikeliest of athletes.
But the 55-year-old hard-drinking Slovenian just happens to be the greatest endurance swimmer in the world... ever.
He claimed the title by conquering the world’s most dangerous river – the Amazon – swimming 3,274 miles in 66 days, non-stop.
“It helps to be a little crazy, to do what I do,” Martin admits.
“I told myself that I would swim the Amazon or I would die trying.
“I’m a big man, sure, but the Amazon is so much bigger.”
The astonishing story of courage and determination is the subject of a new movie, Big River Man, which opens across the UK next month.
The enthralling film sees Martin brave the constant threat of piranhas, crocodiles and the horrifying candiru fish.
He also had to battle through tropical storms and blistering heat, as well as facing murderous bandits and machete-wielding native tribes.
Add unrelenting diarrhoea to that catalogue of horrors and you get an idea of the type of man Martin is, tackling each obstacle with sheer bloody-mindedness... and a healthy dose of alcohol.
But even as he tells how his doctor warned him to give up drinking to lessen the risk of heart attack, Martin simply cracks open another bottle of red, washing it down with a whisky and some beer.
“I told the doctor I have to drink, I have to swim – I am Martin!” says the part-time guitar teacher.
As a child, he used to leap into the icy river near his home to escape beatings by his father, but he didn’t begin serious endurance swimming until 1992.
His first challenge saw him conquer the 65-mile Krka river in his homeland in 28 hours.
He then swam the English Channel and became the first man to swim across the Mediterranean. Seven men had already died in the attempt, either drowned or eaten by sharks.
He then took on the Danube, before swimming the Mississippi, the Argentine Parana and the Yangtze in China, an experience which left his liver black.
He also swam London’s River Thames last year, although its risks were somewhat less than the Yangtze.
Martin says: “The Thames was a little easier to swim than other rivers. I thought it was a very nice, clean river. But it was very cold.”
After such previous conquests, the Amazon must have seemed like a natural progression.
Martin trained more than five hours a day in his local swimming pool and finally began history’s longest swim in April 2007. His daily target was to swim for 10 hours every day, covering around 90km. But the adventure soon became a struggle for survival.
As well as dehydration and exhaustion, water-borne parasites left his body racked with infection and disease, including dengue fever, which triggers painful cramps.
Tarantulas, giant millipedes and scorpions would drop off the trees into the river, often getting entangled in his hair.
Birds would fly down and attempt to peck at his face.
Larvae burrowed into his skin and his face was stung by wasps. Some days he even had to wear a pillowcase over his head, with slits for the eyes and mouth to protect his face from the heat.
However the hazards above the water were nothing compared to the horrors below. The biggest danger was the bull shark, responsible for the deaths of more humans than any other type of shark in the area.
Then there are stingrays and anacondas lurking in the shallows, crocodiles and alligators that can seize human-size prey and gobble it whole. Long, poisonous snakes slither out of nowhere and giant catfish up to 15ft long, known to swallow dogs and children, hide in the mud.
Once he had to be hauled from the water screaming in pain, as shoals of piranha fish gnawed at his leg.
He swam in the faster-flowing middle of the channel, in places 100ft deep, in the worst Amazon floods for a century, but sometime he couldn’t avoid the stiller water.
In an attempt to stop the razor-jawed piranha fish from smelling him, Martin would lather his body with gasoline and cream and buckets of pigs’ blood would be thrown into the water to divert their attention.
But of all the dangers, the one Martin feared most was the tiny candiru, otherwise known as the vampire fish, a parasite with a vicious tactic. It is attracted by the scent of urine and enters the body by swimming up the penis. Once inside it locks itself on with a series of spikes and feeds off blood and tissue. Surgery is the only way to remove it. And if Martin was attacked the nearest emergency ward was hundreds of miles away.
To reduce the risk, Martin never exposed himself to urinate and always did it inside his wetsuit. “I never looked down,” he said.
The only friendly creatures he met were the porpoises and dolphins who often kept him company, swimming alongside.
His escort boat, skippered by his son and manager Borut, 28, had a team of armed guards to protect him from river pirates and carried his stockpile of medicine and food...and alcohol.
“Drinking wine is part of my life,” Martin says. “It’s my special blend, that I make myself, so it’s very healthy and it gives me energy, without making me drunk. I would drink whisky as well, to wash my mouth out before I eat food.
“But sometimes I drank a little just to lift the day, because to swim a river like the Amazon is very hard. You never know what is below the water – and a drink helped me relax. You need a little Dutch courage!”
The toll on his body was immense – he weighed 114kg (250lb) when he started and lost nearly 20kg (44lb) during the swim, despite being on an 11,000 calories-a-day diet to keep up his strength.
Towards the end, he admitted that it felt like “a bomb was about to explode” in his head. He took months to recover. Since his swim, which he undertook to highlight increasing levels of pollution in the world and the threat to the rainforests, Martin has become a huge star back home in Slovenia.
Nowadays, women flock around him, calling him a hero and begging to be his wife.
“Yes, I get hit on a lot and sure, I do like pretty ladies,” Martin says. “But I’m already married. I have to keep my head clear – just as I did when I took on that river.
“I am just a regular man who just has higher goals than usual, not a superman.”
So what’s next for the incredible human fish? “Who knows?” shrugs Martin. “Maybe I’ll swim right around the world!”
That’s 3,274 miles, swimming 10 hours a day for 66 days.. on two bottles of wine a day
He’s middle-aged, his ample belly bulges over his Speedos…and he thinks drinking two bottles of wine a day keeps him in shape.
Swimmer Martin Strel would be the first to admit he makes the unlikeliest of athletes.
But the 55-year-old hard-drinking Slovenian just happens to be the greatest endurance swimmer in the world... ever.
He claimed the title by conquering the world’s most dangerous river – the Amazon – swimming 3,274 miles in 66 days, non-stop.
“It helps to be a little crazy, to do what I do,” Martin admits.
“I told myself that I would swim the Amazon or I would die trying.
“I’m a big man, sure, but the Amazon is so much bigger.”
The astonishing story of courage and determination is the subject of a new movie, Big River Man, which opens across the UK next month.
The enthralling film sees Martin brave the constant threat of piranhas, crocodiles and the horrifying candiru fish.
He also had to battle through tropical storms and blistering heat, as well as facing murderous bandits and machete-wielding native tribes.
Add unrelenting diarrhoea to that catalogue of horrors and you get an idea of the type of man Martin is, tackling each obstacle with sheer bloody-mindedness... and a healthy dose of alcohol.
But even as he tells how his doctor warned him to give up drinking to lessen the risk of heart attack, Martin simply cracks open another bottle of red, washing it down with a whisky and some beer.
“I told the doctor I have to drink, I have to swim – I am Martin!” says the part-time guitar teacher.
As a child, he used to leap into the icy river near his home to escape beatings by his father, but he didn’t begin serious endurance swimming until 1992.
His first challenge saw him conquer the 65-mile Krka river in his homeland in 28 hours.
He then swam the English Channel and became the first man to swim across the Mediterranean. Seven men had already died in the attempt, either drowned or eaten by sharks.
He then took on the Danube, before swimming the Mississippi, the Argentine Parana and the Yangtze in China, an experience which left his liver black.
He also swam London’s River Thames last year, although its risks were somewhat less than the Yangtze.
Martin says: “The Thames was a little easier to swim than other rivers. I thought it was a very nice, clean river. But it was very cold.”
After such previous conquests, the Amazon must have seemed like a natural progression.
Martin trained more than five hours a day in his local swimming pool and finally began history’s longest swim in April 2007. His daily target was to swim for 10 hours every day, covering around 90km. But the adventure soon became a struggle for survival.
As well as dehydration and exhaustion, water-borne parasites left his body racked with infection and disease, including dengue fever, which triggers painful cramps.
Tarantulas, giant millipedes and scorpions would drop off the trees into the river, often getting entangled in his hair.
Birds would fly down and attempt to peck at his face.
Larvae burrowed into his skin and his face was stung by wasps. Some days he even had to wear a pillowcase over his head, with slits for the eyes and mouth to protect his face from the heat.
However the hazards above the water were nothing compared to the horrors below. The biggest danger was the bull shark, responsible for the deaths of more humans than any other type of shark in the area.
Then there are stingrays and anacondas lurking in the shallows, crocodiles and alligators that can seize human-size prey and gobble it whole. Long, poisonous snakes slither out of nowhere and giant catfish up to 15ft long, known to swallow dogs and children, hide in the mud.
Once he had to be hauled from the water screaming in pain, as shoals of piranha fish gnawed at his leg.
He swam in the faster-flowing middle of the channel, in places 100ft deep, in the worst Amazon floods for a century, but sometime he couldn’t avoid the stiller water.
In an attempt to stop the razor-jawed piranha fish from smelling him, Martin would lather his body with gasoline and cream and buckets of pigs’ blood would be thrown into the water to divert their attention.
But of all the dangers, the one Martin feared most was the tiny candiru, otherwise known as the vampire fish, a parasite with a vicious tactic. It is attracted by the scent of urine and enters the body by swimming up the penis. Once inside it locks itself on with a series of spikes and feeds off blood and tissue. Surgery is the only way to remove it. And if Martin was attacked the nearest emergency ward was hundreds of miles away.
To reduce the risk, Martin never exposed himself to urinate and always did it inside his wetsuit. “I never looked down,” he said.
The only friendly creatures he met were the porpoises and dolphins who often kept him company, swimming alongside.
His escort boat, skippered by his son and manager Borut, 28, had a team of armed guards to protect him from river pirates and carried his stockpile of medicine and food...and alcohol.
“Drinking wine is part of my life,” Martin says. “It’s my special blend, that I make myself, so it’s very healthy and it gives me energy, without making me drunk. I would drink whisky as well, to wash my mouth out before I eat food.
“But sometimes I drank a little just to lift the day, because to swim a river like the Amazon is very hard. You never know what is below the water – and a drink helped me relax. You need a little Dutch courage!”
The toll on his body was immense – he weighed 114kg (250lb) when he started and lost nearly 20kg (44lb) during the swim, despite being on an 11,000 calories-a-day diet to keep up his strength.
Towards the end, he admitted that it felt like “a bomb was about to explode” in his head. He took months to recover. Since his swim, which he undertook to highlight increasing levels of pollution in the world and the threat to the rainforests, Martin has become a huge star back home in Slovenia.
Nowadays, women flock around him, calling him a hero and begging to be his wife.
“Yes, I get hit on a lot and sure, I do like pretty ladies,” Martin says. “But I’m already married. I have to keep my head clear – just as I did when I took on that river.
“I am just a regular man who just has higher goals than usual, not a superman.”
So what’s next for the incredible human fish? “Who knows?” shrugs Martin. “Maybe I’ll swim right around the world!”
Bears on the increase
Posted by Final (Admins) at Aug 22 2009, 02:33 PM. 4 comments
Hello, Bears are on the increase [in my area anyway] I have seen 4 in the last two weeks in my yard, more than I have seen in the last 5 years. Unfortunatly I had to shoot one yesterday it came in the yard in the early afternoon it was ragged and was acting very strange, [walking in circles out in the open] it showed no fear of myself or the other two adults who were in the yard it was at the back portion of the yard, when it seen us it started walking toward us at a slow shuffle I said to get inside the house just incase , we went inside the bear started to circle around the house, twice it stood up against the window so I brought out the 12g opened the upper window and fired a bird load in the air, the bear just looked around then went to the front door and started to push and sniff around the door my granddaughter started to get upset thinking the bear was going to come in and so did I, so I reached for the slugs went out the back walked around front, the bear seen me and started to come at me so I put two into the front of his chest [semi auto] this is the first bear that did not run fom me. all in all a very strange and sad experiance strange because of the boldness of the bear and sad that I had to shoot it with out wanting to.
Summer vacation/fishing pictures
Posted by Beamer (Top Users) at Aug 16 2009, 10:33 PM. 5 comments
Here are some shots from the family vacation on Rainy Lake this july/August fishing was good, weather not so, water temps were cooler than normal 65 degrees. Fish weren't as deep as they usually are at this time of the year 
Beamer
Beamer
What has happened?
Posted by Final (Admins) at Aug 15 2009, 12:48 PM. 12 comments
Ok what has happened here? nobody has posted much at all is everone busy? hmmmm I see a lot of stuff going on at other boards I even recognize some of our members at them posting away. I guess some how we or I have offended them or turned them off of posting here. I don't know what to think anyone else have any ideas why????
Hello
Posted by Final (Admins) at Aug 5 2009, 05:40 PM. 5 comments
Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you and yours. Things are ok here. I have been made care taker of 1100 acres they are attached to my property so I now have 1800 acres to hunt all on the same road[only 200 are owned by me] that will make things interesting for me.[ POACHERS BEWARE] I just put out a trail cam today, I will be moving it around as I learn the new place, I will post some pics if I get any good ones. My reno is still ongoing things have slowed down due to cash flo and I have developed severe arhtritis in my right shoulder so its slowing me down alot. I never understood how crippling this could be until now. I can still shoot but I pay for every shot. Once I am caught up I will be on here more or if its still slow I will see most of you on our sister board.My best to you all.
Weekend Walleye
Posted by tracker (Top Users) at Aug 5 2009, 01:21 PM. 7 comments
Here are a couple of pics from the weekend. After the rain and high winds, it was safe to go back on the water.
Just add miracle grow.
Just add miracle grow.
Learning the Hard Way
Posted by Final (Admins) at Jul 7 2009, 10:26 AM. 7 comments
This year was the first year my boys ran a boat, I rented two so they could learn on their own, the first day out was great but the second was a nitemare the morning started out ok
we caught lots of fish
you can see its starting to get rough [this area is sheltered]
then things started to look like it might get bad
so we decide to head back as we are about 12 miles from camp we drove out of the sheltered bays we were fishing to the main lake and the waves were 4 feet
coming out of the north west with some 5-6 foot rollers, being pushed by 70 k winds. I have been in rougher but not by much. My oldest son T.J. was running the boat he only had 7 hrs of experiance so I was a bit worried about my boys. I was in the lead so my boy could see how I was running the waves, we talked before hitting the main lake I had told him to do what I did and I would keep looking back to make sure they were ok it was so rough that pics were out of the question. It took us 2 1/2 hours to get back to camp and a white knuckler it was. When we made it to the dock I asked my boys what they thought of the ride they said that they would rather not do it again. I told T.J. that I was proud of and impressed by his handling of the boat it was a damed hard way to learn how to run a boat.
we caught lots of fish
you can see its starting to get rough [this area is sheltered]
then things started to look like it might get bad
so we decide to head back as we are about 12 miles from camp we drove out of the sheltered bays we were fishing to the main lake and the waves were 4 feet
coming out of the north west with some 5-6 foot rollers, being pushed by 70 k winds. I have been in rougher but not by much. My oldest son T.J. was running the boat he only had 7 hrs of experiance so I was a bit worried about my boys. I was in the lead so my boy could see how I was running the waves, we talked before hitting the main lake I had told him to do what I did and I would keep looking back to make sure they were ok it was so rough that pics were out of the question. It took us 2 1/2 hours to get back to camp and a white knuckler it was. When we made it to the dock I asked my boys what they thought of the ride they said that they would rather not do it again. I told T.J. that I was proud of and impressed by his handling of the boat it was a damed hard way to learn how to run a boat.
Americans the good and the bad
Posted by Final (Admins) at Jul 4 2009, 09:07 AM. 3 comments
We all know that us canadians are far from perfect [ well I might be close 
] Americans are just like us some good some bad this is apparent when they visit our country. Unfortunatly I have seen mostly the bad, I had a image of Americans and it was not good based on my previous experience with Americans on fishing and hunting trips, but last years trip changed my image of Americans. This is the group of Americans that changed my mind, [ funny thing is this group of guys had the same thoughts about Canadians until they met my boys and I]
these are the best Americans that I have ever met, a tight group of friends that included my boys and myself in their week at Lac Seul last year and this year with both groups getting something from the other. Pete the groups leader has been going to the lake for 40 years some times twice in 1 year [ fall hunting] this group shared their knowlage of the lake saving my group a whole lot of time in locating fish, these guys like to share good times we had many shore lunches together and some good times at the cabins, the camp definatly changed when they left for home. Some of you may not know that I stay for two weeks so I get to see the next group come in to camp [ not to many Canadians fish here] When this group pulled in you could tell things were going to be bad they got out of their trucks drunk, the one driver fell dropped his beer and commenced to curse a blue streak another let his poodle out and it started to run around barking like crazy then went to a can of garbage jumped at it to knock it over and ripped into it the owner thought it was funny, this dog barked all nite every nite [ my satilite boom box saved this dogs life] this group is a bunch of what I call poaching slobs they thru garbage in the water they also used two rods per person [why when I caught 44 walleye and lost 147 with one rod in one day] and kept far more than the legal limit. I seen this with my own eyes, I tasked them about it and I got blank stares and laughter one even waved at me like I was saying hello.[yes I reported them but as of when I left no C.O.s had shown up] I could have stepped up my response to their bull attitude a bit but like I said to my boys we were there for a good time not a fight.[ I have fist fought Canadian poachers]
I would just like to say thanks to Pete and his group for changing my mind about Americans I now know they can be and are just like us the good and the bad.
] Americans are just like us some good some bad this is apparent when they visit our country. Unfortunatly I have seen mostly the bad, I had a image of Americans and it was not good based on my previous experience with Americans on fishing and hunting trips, but last years trip changed my image of Americans. This is the group of Americans that changed my mind, [ funny thing is this group of guys had the same thoughts about Canadians until they met my boys and I]these are the best Americans that I have ever met, a tight group of friends that included my boys and myself in their week at Lac Seul last year and this year with both groups getting something from the other. Pete the groups leader has been going to the lake for 40 years some times twice in 1 year [ fall hunting] this group shared their knowlage of the lake saving my group a whole lot of time in locating fish, these guys like to share good times we had many shore lunches together and some good times at the cabins, the camp definatly changed when they left for home. Some of you may not know that I stay for two weeks so I get to see the next group come in to camp [ not to many Canadians fish here] When this group pulled in you could tell things were going to be bad they got out of their trucks drunk, the one driver fell dropped his beer and commenced to curse a blue streak another let his poodle out and it started to run around barking like crazy then went to a can of garbage jumped at it to knock it over and ripped into it the owner thought it was funny, this dog barked all nite every nite [ my satilite boom box saved this dogs life] this group is a bunch of what I call poaching slobs they thru garbage in the water they also used two rods per person [why when I caught 44 walleye and lost 147 with one rod in one day] and kept far more than the legal limit. I seen this with my own eyes, I tasked them about it and I got blank stares and laughter one even waved at me like I was saying hello.[yes I reported them but as of when I left no C.O.s had shown up] I could have stepped up my response to their bull attitude a bit but like I said to my boys we were there for a good time not a fight.[ I have fist fought Canadian poachers]
I would just like to say thanks to Pete and his group for changing my mind about Americans I now know they can be and are just like us the good and the bad.
10:36 AM Nov 9
