Page 125 - North 40 Outfitters

The short, simple answer to this question is, of course, the cow. That's her job. The role of the cow specifically, and cow/calf production systems in general, is to profitably turn forage into beef through the production of calves. Our entire management effort centers on providing the inputs required for the cow to do her job. Not providing these inputs diminishes her chances of successfully playing her role in the cow/calf production system. As cattle producers, our responsibility is to ensure that the fundamental inputs of water and forage are provided along with supplemental nutrition and sound animal husbandry and management that prevents disease and promotes herd health. Like every living thing, the cow needs water which is the most important nutrient. Water is essential to maintaining all bodily functions and, if limited, results ...

  What's the best food to feed your dog? Normally, if you are looking to generate a highly controversial blog, a blog wherein there are surely going to be lay-experts and internet gurus, you should title said article, "What's the best food to feed your dog?" For us however, we are taking a different approach. Our "best food to feed you dog" is more about looking at your dog specifically, and determining what is best for your individual dog (and less about the broader "shoulds" and "shouldn'ts.") Nutritional needs vary based on breed, job and age of your dog. So that's the first thing you should look at when considering what brand/type of dog food to provide for your animal. Is Your Dog Young or Old? What Food is the Right Food? A young working dog will normally need higher nutrient content, calorically high or a higher quality food...

First: A Little History It's unknown who made the first hammerless shotgun. However, it is believed that the first hammerless shotguns were introduced in Europe in the 19th century. When John Browning began producing the Browning Superpose, versions of the Over and Under shotgun began replacing the Side by Side in America during the 1930's. The Over and Under shotgun is a double barrel shotgun where the barrels stack on top of each other vertically:hence: over/ under -as opposed to the barrels being side by side. Double barrels are made so that the choke design allows shot groups to converge at a certain range. The settings can be changed so that one barrel can either be closer or further away than the second barrel at the point of convergence. This basically means that one barrel can shoot closer, while the other can shoot further away. ...

If we're talking about fishing for salmon in the Columbia River, chances are we're talking about Chinook salmon (also called Kings, Springers- etc). And the best time to fish for those salmon, like Matt and Tanner say in the video, is starting mid-July. BUT that's because they are talking about fishing Chinook near Omak, WA- that's in the upper Columbia, and pretty specific to their local area. It's not the same everywhere.  The Columbia River System: Lower VS Upper  Imagine the river system as the circulatory system of a human body, and the ocean is the heart. The Lower Columbia, being closer to the ocean, will see spring run salmon sooner than the Upper Columbia. The fish have further to travel to get that far up, and it's all up stream, against bears and dams- so the further from the ocean, the longer it will take the salmon to get...

Written by Jeff Streeby, Cowboy Poet A Definition of Cowboy Poetry Cowboy poetry is a tradition of work poetry /performance poetry that grew out of the 19th century improvisational entertainment practices of isolated crews of cattle drovers and ranch hands. Cattle drovers and ranch hands built cowboy poetry. After a day's hard work, cowboys would gather at the chuckwagon's cookfire or in the bunkhouse (the "ram pasture") to relieve, with extravagant yarns and folk songs, the tedium and stress of their dull, but dangerous jobs. According to D.J. "Kid White" O'Malley, a Montana cowboy who published his first important poem in the late 1880's, popular songs of the day were seized, and their forms and lyrics freely altered and adapted to fit the circumstances and environment of the West. This method of invention was also frequently used by B...

After hearing several great reports of healthy Rainbows being caught on Round Lake, I knew it was time for me to investigate. I was on the water in my float tube by 5:15 pm, and fished until just before 8. The first 15 minutes were chaotic! My #8 olive woolly bugger caught 4 fish on 4 casts. Two of the four were beautifully spotted 12" rainbows that slammed the fly like they were 20". The other two fish was a Crappie and a small Perch. The trout seemed to be cruising throughout the entire lake, but were suspended within 5 feet from the surface. The Crappie and Perch were stacked along weed beds, and were willing to grab anything flashy. We primarily fished the South side of the lake, and it produced for us fairly well. In the few hours of fishing, I caught around 7 trout and a handful of Perch and Crappie. I highly recommend fishing...

Fishing on the Coeur d'Alene River remains good with solid dry fly activity in the afternoon. The low C.F.S. for this time of year has the river level low and clear at just under 1000c.f.s . Lots of bugs ranging from Salmon flies to march browns and pmd's are out and about. Smaller mayfly patterns such as the Kellers Rocky Mountain Mints in purple and pmd seemed to be working the best for dry flies. Soft inside seams produced some nice fish this weekend. Streamers got us a couple good grabs, but fish seemed to be keyed in on smaller bugs. Fish are starting to get picky, so a longer leaders with smaller tippets helps. The river is projected to bump up again Thursday...

Why Now After All These Years? I've never been to the Bighorn River before, which to me is sort of crazy. I've fished Montana a lot, but because I live in Great Falls, MT, and the Missouri River is in my backyard, driving four hours to fish a similar tailwater has never been on my list. However, I was recently invited to a meeting by one of our suppliers, Zoetis animal health. Yep... our animal drug company is what has led me to come fish the Bighorn River this weekend. Farm store fly fishing to a tee. If you are considering coming here for the first time, I want to paint a picture why you should consider it... Even if you live on a world class tailwater already. Journey to the Bighorn I left Great Falls at 6:30 am with my Dad and we drove through Lewistown, through Roundup, on to Billings and finally turned right at Hardin, where the ...

Free Fly Fishing Seminar NYMPHS IN THE FILM  "When swinging for success, down and across is best" On Saturday May 21 at 10 a.m., Terry Courtright will present his time proven patterns and successful fly fishing techniques at North 40 Outfitters in Great Falls. His presentation "Nymphs in the Film" will give you great insight into this highly successful fishing method with logic and reason at its inception. Courtright’s flies partake of Gary LaFontaine’s series of caddis ties, combined with Sylvester Nemes’ Soft Hackle patterns. He has been a guest speaker at numerous fly fishing clubs throughout the country. Developed in the late 70’s and early 80’s on western waters, Courtright’s Caddis Purger series are a cross between the aforementioned ties, with some critical added details. They combine the size, color, and ...

It’s been an interesting spring. The weather has been yo-yoing from beautiful to downright nasty. 82 degrees and an epic caddis hatch followed by snow 12 hours later. Fishing success has been yo-yoing as well, from phenomenal to downright marginal. When people ask me how the Missouri is fishing, I like to say, "The Missouri is always good. You can always catch fish. You just can’t always catch as many as you want or catch them the way that you want." That’s fishing. In order to have fun and maximize success, anglers need to be flexible. There are those days where you can catch them any way you want to and they seem to come easy. Streamers, Nymphs, Emergers, Dries, Spinners and Spent-everything is on the table. But not every day. If it was always lights out good, it would get boring. The Mo is not boring. BWO’s and March Browns a...

Every once in a while, I will have a day where all I want to do is swing streamers. The weather was beautiful, the flows were manageable, and the trout were active. Right away, I noticed a small hatch of March Browns with a few sporadic fish feeding. Although the rising fish were enticing, my head was set on swinging. I tied on my favorite #4 rainbow imitation streamer, and hooked up on a fun rainbow 5 swings later. I finished the run, and decided to hike back to the top to give it another go. I tied on a trusty #4 Copper Muddler Minnow thinking it would be the ticket. A few swings go by, and I hooked up on something bigger. Fought him for a few minutes, brought him to the net, and measured him out at a healthy 18. Needless to say, I was satisfied. I continued to swing for a another 15 minutes, and lost one more, then called it a day. T...