Do what you love more and more often…

Every year I tell myself this summer I am going to fish more and fish more often. Every year I tell myself this summer I’m going to shoot more and shoot more often. The fact is, it seems like I have done less and less fishing and shooting the last few summers. But this year is going to be different.

I don’t think I have done open water fishing the last two summers for sure. I have been lucky enough to get out on the ice on a local lake a handful of times the last two winters. That doesn’t suck. But I love fishing so much I can’t waste another summer of not enjoying my line in the water waiting for that tug that we all crave.

The last handful of summers I always tell myself I’m going to shoot my rifles more often just to make sure I’m still on and I just love the aroma of used casing. If they would bottle that smell and use it as a cologne, I know what I would be wearing. I was lucky enough to draw a North Dakota turkey tag this Spring, so I will have to shoot my shotgun a couple times before the season.

During the summer I usually fish the local rivers in my area which consist of the Maple and Sheyenne. I usually don’t catch much but if I do it’s either a walleye, northern or bullhead. I have a couple holes in each river that I like to go to and also a couple bridges that I like to hang my line off of. We are lucky in Enderlin because our park board purchased a fishing pier that gets placed in Patrick Pierce Park on the banks of the Maple River right in town. That doesn’t suck. Thank you park board. Hopefully this summer I will be at these fishing spots more and more often.

Where I can go fishing is limited because I am in an electric wheelchair but this does not stop me from getting out there. Being limited to the spots I can get to doesn’t mean I don’t have the opportunity to catch fish; I just need to be more particular in the spots I can get in and out of. There have been numerous times I thought I was never going to get back up the banks of the river but my buddies would drag me through some pretty gnarly spots just to get my line in the water. Good times.

Years ago, I was gifted an electric fishing reel from some family members that got me fishing again after my accident. It works pretty slick. A friend made a rod holder that attaches to my chair and the reel’s battery cord goes from there to a battery that hangs in a bag from the back of my wheelchair. I cannot cast due to my limited arm movement but I usually just drop the line and start fishing unless one of my buddies’ casts for me.

Just like fishing, I have failed to get out and do more shooting during the summer. Every spring I tell myself I am going to shoot my Ruger 22, Tikka 270, Weatherby 12gauge and crossbow more often. I love shooting just at paper and am lucky that our local wildlife club’s shooting range is only a couple miles away.

Many years ago, I was gifted a rifle mount that attaches to my wheelchair from a friend. This thing does not suck. All of my rifles and shotgun work with this mount. It attaches to the wheelchair pretty quickly and my friends have gotten good at strapping down my guns in a hurry if needed. But always safe. The elongated trigger my friend made for me is really the key to all of these guns working for me. It doesn’t suck. It attaches straight to the trigger guard on each weapon and can even attach to my crossbow.

I love shooting my crossbow. It is a Carbon Express Intercept. It is built AR platform, meaning parts can be changed and taken off easily. My dad made my crossbow mount that attaches to my wheelchair with just one bolt. This also is pretty slick. I aim with my chin and pull the elongated trigger with my right arm, even though I have less movement in my right arm it somehow works better on that side. I was born right-handed but after my injury I have learned to do most things left-handed. But my left-handed writing looks like chicken scratch.

 I have had my newest crossbow for probably 10 years with no problems. It can easily shoot out to 70 yards but I only set up while hunting around 20 yards or even closer. For me there is nothing more fun than shooting an arrow. Hopefully this summer I will be shooting crossbows and guns more and more often.

I still do more in my position than most do in a wheelchair but I would like to do a lot more. No matter what our physical conditions are, we all want to do more fishing, shooting and hunting right? Nobody knows how much time they have left to do what they love. Don’t take it for granted.

So, I challenge myself and everyone reading this to get out there and do what you love to do more and do it more often this summer.

Thanks for reading, Clint.

Spring Turkey Season 2026.

So, I drew another turkey tag for this year’s spring season. I believe this is my eighth tag and I have yet to fill a turkey tag. But this year I just knew this was going to be the year. I kept telling myself over the years when I would fail to fill the tag, if I ever do kill a turk it will be my once-in-a-lifetime tag. Meaning it will be my last. But after that hunt, I’m not so sure it will be my last.

My cousin Christopher was more excited about this turkey hunt that I think I was. He had a bunch of turkeys on his land and he wanted me to come down and exterminate one. All spring long he had been planning and scouting them. Yesterday April 21 was perfect weather and Chris was going to be home so Don B and I decided to head east of Kindred to try and fill my tag.

Chris told us to get there around 4 PM and I think we got there right at 3:30. Chris filled us in about the set up and where the turkeys should come from while Don B got my gun mount attached to my wheelchair and got the trigger on the shotgun. We made our way to the food plot where the pop-up blind was set. As we were still chatting, Don B noticed a lone hen working her way towards us slowly. We panicked. They lifted the pop-up blind and I drove in. Chris skedaddled back towards the house and Don B snuck into the blind with me.

That hen walked around and walked around the whole evening. She even took a nap 5 yards from us for a while. She had no clue. Evidently she was knocked up earlier and was just looking for food.

My cousin Christopher who is the landowner was about 100 yards behind us running the electric call. The speaker was about 20 yards behind us. It worked perfectly. We had four decoys in front of us; one jake and three toms. In front of us was a food plot, it is a couple acres. Behind that was some trees and then the Wild Rice River. On the other side of the river is a huge grove of trees, really thick stuff. It was a perfect set up.

Every time he would call the four toms across the river would start bugling. We played with them for 2 hours until they made the mistake to jump the river and head our way. They hung up for about 30 seconds and then came right into the decoys. 

They came like a string to the decoys in front of us. They first picked on the standing jake and then they moved to the tom laying on the ground. They did their little dance with their fans up around that decoy numerous times. At this time I was trying to maneuver my chair without making too much noise in the blind. They were less than 10 yards away. But they were making enough noise that they didn’t hear me when I engaged my chair to move.

They were completely twitterpated. No care in the world except for beating up that decoy. This gave me plenty of time to get the elevation right for my shotgun to be lined up. I just needed them to move to my right a little bit and I could take a shot. They were zigzagging in between each other strutting their stuff. It was hard to pick just one out. I didn’t want to kill two of them or all four. Then one made the mistake of coming directly in front of me and I pulled the trigger. He dropped like a sack of taters. After the shot the other three toms didn’t even move. They started beating up on the dead one now. Don B and I were smiling ear to ear as I think we were both amazed at what just took place and I actually killed one. Don B has been along with many of my failed turkey hunts. It was great to have him there. He was also videoing the whole thing. Shining times.

The three remaining toms didn’t leave until Don B got out of the blind and Chris and his son Carter came to congratulate us. I was just about to give up because it was warm in the blind but glad I didn’t. It was 71° but it was like a sauna in that blind.

Now it was story time and we went over how everything happened. Then Staci Chris’s wife, Ellie Chris’s daughter and Ellie’s boyfriend Jack came with the side-by-side and we started taking pictures and some shenanigans happened.

After pictures we all made it back to the house as there was roast beast in the crockpot along with pasta salad. That didn’t suck. It was also Staci’s birthday that day so we celebrated that also with well-deserved cocktails. It’s always fun hanging out with them. Good people.

Don B and I stayed for little over an hour and made our way west. Don dropped me off at home and then I called my cousin Luke, my next-door neighbor and we cleaned the turkey in his garage. Going to make a fan mount with the beard and the spent shotgun shell. Now I need to find room on my wall…

Thanks Don B for always being there when I ask to go on any kind of hunt. Thanks to my cousins who let me on their land and made the day truly memorable. You all don’t suck…

Thanks for reading, Clint.