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billrquimby

where were you?

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I was looking forward to meeting a few of you CW.com forum guys at last week's SCI convention in Reno, but none introduced himself while I was signing my books.

 

It was my 24th SCI show and, except for having to be electro-converted out of atrial fibrillation on Thursday and again on Sunday at Washoe Medical Center, I thought it was the best I've attended.

 

Someone said there were more than 21,000 paid attendees.

 

Bill

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It was my 24th SCI show and, except for having to be electro-converted out of atrial fibrillation on Thursday and again on Sunday at Washoe Medical Center, I thought it was the best I've attended.

 

uhhh.... yeah! That would put a damper on things for sure.

 

Hope you are feeling better!

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Bill I was there Thur., Fri. and Sat. By the time I realized what time it was on Thur. I had missed your book signing. I had hoped to meet you but got caught up in the show. I did get to meet BUCKHORN on Sat. and it was a pleasure to meet a fellow member. We had a great visit and plan on hooking up again in the near future. Overall it was a great show, got to see good friends that I don't get to see very often and made new friends. Didn't book any hunts because I had booked one at last years show for this Sept. in the NWT's.

If anyone ever gets the chance to attend one of SCI's annual conventions do so, you will be amazed!

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Didn't book any hunts because I had booked one at last years show for this Sept. in the NWT's.

 

If your NWT hunt is for central Canada barren ground caribou at Little Martin Lake in September you will be amazed at how many bulls you'll see. Take your time and get a couple of good ones. Look for a monument near the camp. It honors my guide who got drunk, fell out of the boat, and drowned when I hunted there years ago.

 

BillQ

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Didn't book any hunts because I had booked one at last years show for this Sept. in the NWT's.

 

If your NWT hunt is for central Canada barren ground caribou at Little Martin Lake in September you will be amazed at how many bulls you'll see. Take your time and get a couple of good ones. Look for a monument near the camp. It honors my guide who got drunk, fell out of the boat, and drowned when I hunted there years ago.

 

BillQ

[/quote Dang the bad luck :) How about the whole story to that trip ;) I'am all ears.

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Didn't book any hunts because I had booked one at last years show for this Sept. in the NWT's.

 

If your NWT hunt is for central Canada barren ground caribou at Little Martin Lake in September you will be amazed at how many bulls you'll see. Take your time and get a couple of good ones. Look for a monument near the camp. It honors my guide who got drunk, fell out of the boat, and drowned when I hunted there years ago.

 

BillQ

[/quote Dang the bad luck :) How about the whole story to that trip ;) I'am all ears.

 

Here's a brief account:

 

I flew to Yellowknife, spent the night in a hotel and then flew on to Little Martin Lake with a fellow from California and a planeload of gear and supplies. We landed on the lake in a light rain, and the Californian and I helped the cook (she already was there) put the stuff into a tent. By the time we were finished another float plane landed and four people got out -- a Frenchman and his wife, and two Indian guides. I knew we were in trouble when I learned the last guy out was our guide. Charley had sat in the back of the plane drinking booze all the way from Yellowknife and darned near fell into the lake before he got ashore.

 

The first thing he did was announce that he had seen some caribou as the plane was landing and he was going hunting. I never argue with a drunk, but I reminded him that he not only was supposed to be our guide, but there also is a law that forbids hunting on the same day you have been in the air. Charley wouldn't listen. He loaded his rifle (a frightening experience for the rest of us in that camp) and took off in one of the camp's three plywood boats. It was about 7:30 p.m., and it didn't get dark that far north until 11 or so.

 

The rest of us gathered in the dininng tent, ate dinner and went to bed. When Charley hadn't returned for breakfast, the French couple and their guide went caribou hunting. The Californian and I went hunting for our guide. I climbed an esker with my binoculars and found the boat on a sand spit across the half-mile wide lake, and the Californian and I took the remaining boat and went across. We found Charley's baseball cap and one of his gloves in the water before we reached the boat, which was on its side and half full of water where it had washed ashore. There were grizzly bear and caribou tracks on the little beach, but we found no sign of Charley after making a sweep on shore lookling for his tracks.

 

We had the cook radio Yellowknife to let the outfitter know Charley was missing, and the Californian and I went out and shot our first caribou (we were allowed two) and packed them to the lake where we could retrieve them the next morning with a boat.

 

A wolverine had urinated on and eaten part of my bull during the night, and although the Californian and I declared war there were no casualties and it got away. We had the two caribou in our boat as a SuperCub with floats landed at our camp. The first thing the Royal Canadian Mounted Police guys did was to put the Californian and I in separate tents and play "good cop, bad cop." I got the feeling they thought we had killed our guide. Everything worked out, though, and the Mounties joined us for suppper.

 

They wouldn't allow us to hunt without a guide, though, so the Californian and I fished while we waited for the outfitter to send us another guide. He arrived the next day, and the Californian and I got picky. I must have passed up 30 or 40 shootable bull caribou that day. When we returned to camp, the French couple was there and the woman was excited: "The Indians are coming, the Indians are coming," she said.

 

Sure enough, all the radio traffic had not gone unnoticed by the people at Charlie's village and at least 40 of his friends and neighbors had come 100 miles downriver, portaging a couple dozen boats of every size and shape from lake to lake. They set up their camp across the inlet from us, and drank, sang and talked loudly all night. The next morning they started shooting every caribou in sight.

 

Meanwhile the Mounties were using our spare boat to drag the lake with a grappling hook, aided by a Hummingbird Fish Finder. They found nothing. To shorten this tale, the Californian and I each shot our second bulls and returned to Yellowknife. The outfitter called me the next spring to tell me that the first fishermen he sent to Little Martin had found Charlie washed up in one of the rapids. The fish and birds had been nibbling on him. He also said Charlie's buddies had erected a monument at the lake to commemorate Charlie's bad luck.

 

BillQ

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Didn't book any hunts because I had booked one at last years show for this Sept. in the NWT's.

 

If your NWT hunt is for central Canada barren ground caribou at Little Martin Lake in September you will be amazed at how many bulls you'll see. Take your time and get a couple of good ones. Look for a monument near the camp. It honors my guide who got drunk, fell out of the boat, and drowned when I hunted there years ago.

 

BillQ

 

 

Bill that is exactly the hunt I'm going on. It will be my Father, Uncle, a good friend and myself at Little Martin Lake for six days. I am fired up to say the least!

I'll look for that monument while I'm there. Hope my guide is a little better :)

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Didn't book any hunts because I had booked one at last years show for this Sept. in the NWT's.

 

If your NWT hunt is for central Canada barren ground caribou at Little Martin Lake in September you will be amazed at how many bulls you'll see. Take your time and get a couple of good ones. Look for a monument near the camp. It honors my guide who got drunk, fell out of the boat, and drowned when I hunted there years ago. BillQ

 

Bill that is exactly the hunt I'm going on. It will be my Father, Uncle, a good friend and myself at Little Martin Lake for six days. I am fired up to say the least!

I'll look for that monument while I'm there. Hope my guide is a little better :)

 

 

Deerslam:

 

Say hello to Bill Tate, owner of Raven Outitters, and tip your hat at Charlie's memorial for me.. Hope you find the area covered with as many bull caribou as I did. We saw very few cows and literally hundreds of bulls.

 

Good luck.

 

BillQ

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Hey Bill, your trip to the hospital wasn't after eating at The French Quarter Resturant was it? ;)

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Hey Bill, your trip to the hospital wasn't after eating at The French Quarter Resturant was it?  ;)

 

No. Thursday evening I had prime rib at the Victorian Buffet at the Silver Legacy downtown Reno. Sunday night I lobster at the Nugget Hotel in Sparks.

 

Both nights I was wakened by rapid, erratic heartbeats that felt like a couple of dogs chasing rabbits inside my chest. I called 911 both times and was taken to a hospital where I was electro-shocked back to a normal rate and released.

 

It isn't fun being rolled through the casinos on a guerney. The gamblers looked at me as if they thought I was contagious.

 

This thing is called atrial fibrillation and I've had it since 1998. I take some very nasty medicine to keep from having a stroke when my heartrate hits 150 to 175 beats per minute. (It has gone as high as 300 bpm.) It usually strikes me every three or four months. This was the first time I've been hit three times within 10 days (I had an incident in Tucson on Friday before leaving for Reno on Monday).

 

My chest and back are covered with blisters from all the shocks I got in the emergency rooms.

 

BillQ

:o

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Guest Ernesto C

Bill,we are praying for you..............may the Lord bless you with what you need.Take care cause we still need you here.

 

Ernesto C

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Bill,we are praying for you..............may the Lord bless you with what you need.Take care cause we still need you here.

 

Ernesto C

 

AMEN

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You are scaring me Bill. Like Ernesto says "we need you here with us"

 

Besides I'm not even close to going on my Africa trip!

 

Take care!

 

 

 

 

;)

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Bill,we are praying for you..............may the Lord bless you with what you need.Take care cause we still need you here.

 

Ernesto C

AMEN

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