Posted on November 7, 2014September 22, 2015 by siteadmin — Leave a comment

Wild Turkey Home Decor

Wild Turkey Home Decor

Bringing the Wild Inside for Thanksgiving

These plates and platter are called Wild Turkeys made by Johnson Brothers England. They belonged to my mother in law and the two little turkeys are actually vintage candy containers.

Wild Turkey Home Décor for Thanksgiving is made easy with wild turkey feathers!

I have been asked by the Women’s Outdoor News to bring my blog to their readers each month. This is my 3rd post and if you want to learn:

1. Ideas for diy table decorations & colors

2. How to dry and preserve you own harvested turkey tail

3. Could the earliest Thanksgiving actually been in Virginia?

And a new product to share with you

These beautiful handcrafted lapel pins are new and not yet on the site. In keeping with our tradition of all USA made goods, these wet winged flies are tied by a creative young man in Georgia – each is one of a kind.

So you better Strut on over to visit my post at:

http://www.womensoutdoornews.com/2014/10/bringing-wild-turkey-home-decor/

And see for yourself!

Posted on April 23, 2014May 5, 2015 by Rita Schimpff — Leave a comment

Sporting Lifestyle: Run for the Roses

The Sporting Lifestyle

It’s that time of year. Horse racing and the cocktails to go with them!

The Sporting Lifestyle for me is not just hunting, shooting & angling. But all things outdoors.

It ‘runs’ in the family.

Thomas M. Toher, American painter 1868-1929 was a horse portraitist .

Each year in April I pay homage to the Triple Crown of Racing: the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness & the Belmont.

On my bar.

And wait for the 1st Saturday in May.

The Belmont began in 1867

The Preakness in 1873

The Kentucky Derby in 1875

With a collection of family memorabilia and vintage barware to make the perfect Mint Julep.

The right ingredients are a must.

I have done my homework and the BEST mint by far is a variety of spearmint called appropriately

‘Kentucky Colonel’. Some mints can cause the drink to taste medicinal- almost menthol!

As well as the drinking vessel.

A couple of fine julep cups: 1964 Kentucky Derby & a equestrian motif silver beaker.

I have my old favorite silver julep cup and just discovered a beautiful new pewter cup at Ewin’s Dry Goods http://www.ewinsdrygoods.com/products/equestrian-pewter-julep-cup

( they have other VERY handsome sporting lifestyle gifts as well)

Pewter cup from Erwin's Dry Goods. — Pewter cup from Ewin’s Dry Goods.

For more ideas of refreshing cocktails using mint, pop on over to my friend & designer Courtney Price Design and see her recent blog

Top 5 Spring/Summer Cocktails for Entertaining

at http://www.courtneyprice.com

Posted on April 4, 2014July 18, 2014 by Rita Schimpff — Leave a comment

New Additions & Updates: New Panel for Elk & New angling/shooting Lodges

It’s been awhile since I have sent a news update-

Plenty going on and a couple of new blog posts- and best of all- what you have been asking for-

A new panel for larger game like elk….so I will catch you up!

February and March found us in very drastic temperature changes.

Early February found us in the Yucatan catching our first Tarpon and Bonefish on a fly at the

wonderful Casa Blanca Lodge.

See our related blog post of this fantastic trip

http://www.HeritageGameMounts.com/barefoot-flyfishing-in-february-ascension-bay-casa-blanca-lodge

Then March found us tromping after quail in unusual 26 degree snow & ice terrain at another wonderful lodge at

Upland Bird Country in Corsicanna, Tx

I finally found a shooting sweater that was good looking, warm and suited for ladies

so I did a guest gear review for Ultimate Upland Lodge magazine

http://www.ultimateuplandlodge.com/magazine/read/ladies-end-of-year-gear-review-favs-Old–new_169.html

And then….

My new design- a black forest style panel for elk and stag has arrived!

We introduced the new design at the Greater Houston Gun Club in a fundraising shoot benefitting

the

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Turns out—it makes a pretty fabulous mirror too! Shown here in the Blackberry finish.

I think I need to paint one of my dog portraits on a panel too!

Can’t you see one of your canine companions on a panel?

We are in the process of updating our website so we can better showcase all our new

sporting art & accessories like:

Our collection of Texas made shooting pens- here is the 30 Cal Bolt Action writing pen.

The action opens and closes the pen!

Please come ‘like’ our page on Facebook so you don’t have to wait so long to learn what we are up to!

https://www.facebook.com/HeritageGameMounts

Rita Schimpff

Posted on February 18, 2014December 8, 2014 by Rita Schimpff — 2 Comments

Barefoot Flyfishing in February: Ascension Bay, Casa Blanca Lodge

Where the Sky Begins (Sian Ka’an) is what the ancient Mayans called this Unesco World Heritage site and where our azure adventure also begins.

The pier at Casa Blanca lodge where we called home for 8 days in February.

All of the food is fresh and made from scratch – each evening with cocktails wonderful appetizers are served to each guest. All the fish is caught by locals with special permits allowed only to them.

Renan was our bartender for the week, always at the ready with a hand crafted Margarita or drink of your choice.

The privately owned island was once a coconut plantation and now boasts Casa Blanca and it’s sister lodge Playa Blanca.

We learned about Casa Blanca through our friend and guide Doc Thompson of High Country Anglers www.flyfishnewmexico.com based in Ute Park, NM – he helped us with all the arrangements. Doc is a longtime friend of Rita Adams, who grew up fishing NM with her guide/father and became a guide herself at 17. She and Johnny Pares manage the two privately owned lodges www.casablancafishing.com

Each lodge hosts up to 12 guests per week. Each night dinner is served at 6:30 and for the next few days we met the most interesting, diverse and fun new friends with the common thread of fly fishing. The dinners were always lively.

I had wondered (doubted really) my casting ability for this trip in the uncharted salt flats….I fight the wind, I have not yet learned to double haul, and have not had much practice with anything heavier than a 7 wt rod, and have yet to land a fish over 5 lbs on a fly, but then you don’t get ahead by waiting.

We took a 7, 8 and 10 wt rod and on the first day as we say in the South referring to luck, a blind hog finds an acorn! Or in this case my first bonefish on a gotcha fly tied by my husband.

First one in the boat, we caught several 23″ and over.

Your guide for the week is your lifeline and your coach. You learn to become a team. Rene is an 18 year veteran here and extremely knowledgeable about the fish and how to navigate the area and the endless maze of Mangroves.

To say Rene was patient is an understatement! I won’t go into all my shenanigans here that I employed and my shock when that first bonefish took off….taking 1/2 the rod! But I will say that in 6 days Rene uttered “Casta More Longer!” more than a few times.

Felt much like Kate & Bogey on the African Queen as we traversed through holes in the Mangroves barely tall enough for the boat to squeeze through and heavily populated by -SPIDERS!

Luckily, Rene and Tim came up with a secret weapon for the non poisonous Aranjas!

skip9a — My first tarpon ever and on a fly! Skip & I both caught our 1st on the same purple/black Peanut Butter fly given to us by Doc, but it came at a high price! The fly is now retired.

After a wake up call from Manuel delivering French press coffee to our room, we join the rest of the guests for breakfast around 6:00 am.

Now if you wish, to come in a little early from fishing one day you can enjoy a field trip on the island.

Here Jed and all his friends loaded up the truck and moved to Chac Mool. We were guided that day by the very capable Tim Fischer, who made sure Coronitas were in the cooler!

A visit to the ancient Mayan ruins was ours alone – no tourists to this spot discovered around 1919. The ruins of Chac Mool ca 900 AD were named for the powerful Mayan god of rain & thunder.

Then it is back to fishing…..

At times the bonefish came in waves….where we would have two on at a time. In among the bonefish I caught this beautiful Blue Runner. we also caught Baracuda, Mangrove Snapper, Cravelle Jack a Perch but alas not a sighting of the fickle Permit. The week before the groups landed 3.

Girls just love to have fun. You would never guess two of these gals are 85 and all of us fished 6 days for 8 hours a day. One lady fished 2 weeks and only one day off.

Every detail was taken into consideration. Manuel saw to it that the tablescapes each night at dinner were fun and creative. One night we had balloons, whistles and horns to celebrate Audrey’s 85 birthday!

Each day our bed was turned down and fresh towels greeted us in creative forms called that have been taught to the locals.

Conservation and respect for the area, it’s inhabitants and natural resources are evident. This biosphere contains the 2nd largest barrier reef in the world and is also home to abundant flora and fauna; there were a pair of nesting Osprey not 100′ away from our cocktail area, I spotted Roseate Spoonbills, Brown Crested Flycatchers, Royal Terns as well as the beautiful Mangrove Warbler for my “life list”. The jaguar, a once iconic symbol of greatness to the Mayas as ‘king of the forest’ is now in serious danger of extinction.