Catfishin' with Mike Nichols

Ever since we won the second Ironman Catfish Tournament, Mike Nichols has it wired....See for yourself. Play the video's to see some really good fish.

John Green's First Hunt With His Son

I took my then 7-year old son deer hunting for the first time on 10/4/10. We were in a buddy stand in a hunt club in Warren County. (Importantly, we both were wearing anti-fall harnesses and had an emergency plan.)

After two hours of seeing nothing, Daniel laid on the grunt tube near 7 p.m. (about 15 minutes before dark). A few minutes later, we heard the deer in the attached photo walking towards us. I finally saw the deer about 12-15 yards away. Daniel covered his ears, and I fired my muzzleloader. The deer went about 15 yards, dropping about 5 yards from the firebreak/dirt road.

We took the buck to Pearce's Processing for processing. We ate the meat throughout the rest of 2010 and well into 2011. I put the antlers on a plaque, and Daniel even had them scored at the 2011 Dixie Deer Classic. Daniel has the antlers and the certificate in his room.

This was Daniel's first hunt, and he was thrilled! It was a day I hope I never forget.

Mike Nichols Gets His First Turkey, With a Little Help

Mike Hayes and I went to game lands one Saturday looking to get a turkey. It was a cool crisp morning and as the sun came up we heard a gobble off in the distance. After a mad dash to get set up on the bird we found out someone else was working that same bird. So we left to try another spot. We found a nice spot on the end of a road between two fields, so we set some decoys and waited. Hayes claimed I had dozed off, not true just checking the back of my eyelids for cracks. When out of nowhere two gobblers came beside us and made a bee line for the decoys. Hayes is saying shoot! shoot! I drew my gun pulled the trigger .... Nothing , had the safety on. Tried again and bam there he is. What a blessing it was to have this experience with a long time friend and most of all a brother in Christ!

The First Gun Project Done in My Gun Shop

Pete Valentine has worked in and around guns and gun shops all his life. At Colonial Outdoors, he is one of our go to guys for rebuilding or refinishing a gun (among other things). In addition, he has a sharpening business.

Here is a project that you'll find both interesting and different from a hunting or fishing story.

Enjoy!

This is the first gun project done in my little shop.

The story started when I visited a gun shop in Fuquay and spotted a Remington 514 single shot .22 rifle on the floor behind the counter.

The poor little rifle was about as ugly as it could get. The stock was painted black, the front sight was broken, the metal was rusty brown, and the trigger was limp and function-less.

I felt kinda sorry for the poor thing and made a ridiculous offer to buy it. They accepted my offer, so I filled out the paper and brought it home.

I had almost finished building my shop, (Man-Cave), so I started refinishing the 514 right away.

The first step was to remove the stock and strip the black paint off. To my amazement, the stock was made of "A" grade black walnut.

It was a rich brown with distinct vertical fiddle-back stripes from tip to butt.

The stock only required about three hours of actual work to bring to factory new. The metal took many days and lots of polishing and rust-bluing

to bring it back.

I found an original front sight that was in my toolchest for decades just waiting for such a time as this. I repaired the trigger system and tested everything to make sure it was functional and safe.

When finished I gave the "new" 514 to my wife who suggested we go to the range soon to test it out. She loves the rifle, and shoots it well.

So far we have fired about 500 rounds through it and made adjustments to the extractor. It now works as good as it looks.