TROPHY ROOM

Jake Starcevic walleye

Jake Starcevic, 6, of Larimore, N.D., caught and kept this 26-inch walleye this past winter while fishing with his dad, Alex, and younger brother Luke, 4, in the family’s permanent fish house on Devils Lake. “A priceless moment for the three of us to have together,” Alex Starcevic writes. “I actually lost what I believe is the same fish twice at the bottom of my hole before Jake hooked him and caught him about 30 seconds later! It was the only the second fish we marked that night and it actually hit my bare buckshot (rattle spoon) the second time I hooked it. I was going to help Jake try to play him, but figured that I already screwed it up twice, so he can have his shot … he sure made it count! Since our family rule is that you decide what to do with your fish, Jake went back and forth between releasing it and keeping it, but ultimately talked me into mounting it for him. How could I say no?”

April 14, 2013

Justin and Hunter Steward pike

Jessica Steward of Northwood, N.D., shared this photo of a big northern pike her husband, Justin, and son, Hunter, 9, landed Feb. 9 on one of the English Coulee diversion ponds west of Thompson, N.D. The pike measured 40 inches and weighed 17.95 pounds, Jessica writes, and is the largest freshwater fish her husband has ever caught. “It will in the next year become part of our house décor as our first mounted fish,” she writes. They caught the fish on a tip-up set near their fish house. “I believe it’s a wonderful story, as many have been shocked that such a fish has come out of the English Coulee,” she said.

February 12, 2013

Doug Iverson bass

Doug Iverson of Grand Forks caught this 18½-inch 4-pound largemouth bass New Year’s Eve while fishing a Bemidji-area lake. He kept the fish for mounting.

January 07, 2013

Nick Hodgson buck

Nick Hodgson, Grand Forks, shot his first deer with a bow recently while hunting along the Missouri River north of Mandan, N.D. According to his dad, Dave, Nick shot the buck the day after his 15th birthday. Nick is a freshman at Central High School.

December 12, 2012

South Dakota pheasant hunt

Craig Hanson of Grand Forks shared these photos of a recent pheasant hunting trip to South Dakota that was extended by a day because of a blizzard. Kneeling in the photo at left is Dave Devos of Spicer, Minn., and standing (from left) are Claude Sem of Minot, Craig Hanson, Barry Medd of Grand Forks, Jason and Larry Larson of Huron, S.D., Steve Charron of Huron and Harmon Badger of Grand Forks. In the photo at right, Barry Medd and Craig Hanson show off a couple of pheasants.

December 12, 2012

Buzz Marvin buck

Buzz Marvin of Fargo shot this buck during a recent hunting trip to Washington state north of Spokane. Marvin made the 30-yard shot from a tree stand. Snow was falling, and the conditions were very quiet, he said, and the buck only went 50 yards before dying.

December 07, 2012

Darrell Berg buck

Darrell Berg of Rock Lake, N.D., shot this whitetail buck on his land near Rock Lake during North Dakota’s deer gun season. According to his mother-in-law, Wynn Haberstroh, who submitted the photo, Berg had spent 35 days bowhunting trying to bag the buck before shooting it with a Browning 30-.06 rifle at a distance of 250 yards. The buck, which has a nontypical rack, has 16 countable points (eight on each side), including a 4½-inch drop tine and a 14-inch double main beam. The buck weighed 225 pounds field-dressed, Haberstroh writes.

November 29, 2012

Danica Tomanek mule deer buck

Danica Tomanek of Thompson, N.D., shot this mule deer buck Nov. 23 south of Medora, N.D. Tomanek, 14, had a youth tag for that unit. “Unfortunately, he had broken off one of the forks on his left side, presumably in a fight,” Dan Tomanek writes. “She has hunted deer with the family in previous years, but this was her first year afield with a rifle. She is still smiling in the picture after learning the art of field-dressing her buck. This was truly a memorable hunt for her and her family.”

November 29, 2012

James Egeland buck

James Egeland, 13, of East Grand Forks, shot this nine-point buck near Roseau, Minn., during the opening weekend of the state’s firearms deer season. His grandmother, Mary Lou Liddy of Grand Forks, submitted the photo.

November 27, 2012

Curt Howe elk

Curt Howe of Thief River Falls shot this 5x6 bull elk Wednesday morning, Nov. 28, near Craig, Colo., at a distance of 200 yards.

November 27, 2012

S.D. pheasant hunt

Jim Reitmeier of Crookston submitted this photo from a pheasant hunt near Kimball, S.D., on the weekend before Thanksgiving. “Thirteen hunters and six dogs mostly from Crookston got our two-day limit of 78 pheasants,” he writes.

November 26, 2012

Adam Grove buck

Adam Grove, 14, of Manvel, N.D., shot his first deer Nov. 15 in Ferry Township, which is located in deer hunting Unit 2C. Adam is the son of Tim and Kristi Buck.

November 26, 2012

Romfo bucks

Jacob Romfo (right) and his dad, Sheldon, of Walhalla, N.D., shot these bucks from the same stand, one the first weekend and the other on the second weekend of North Dakota’s firearms deer season west of Walhalla. Both deer weighed more than 200 pounds field-dressed. “Proud moment for father and son,” Jacob writes.

November 26, 2012

Pam Haus buck

Pam Haus of Thompson, N.D., shot this 9-point buck Nov. 17 in Unit 2B of eastern North Dakota. “He is the biggest buck that I have ever shot!” Haus writes.

November 19, 2012

Buzz Marvin elk

Buzz Marvin of Fargo shot this 6x6 bull elk Oct. 16 in New Mexico. “Our group was 4 for 4 on 6x6 bulls,” Marvin writes. “Great experience!”

November 18, 2012