By: Adrian Zarantonello. Despite the favorable conditions, opening day didn’t yield any activity for me. My father-in-law Jeff shot a nice 8-point on opening day, his first deer in 5 years. Jeff could care less about antler points and would equally have someone else have success as himself, so as he regaled us with the story, of his first 8-point, I was glad that someone so selfless had found some personal success. With the wind changing to the southeast the next day, a location change was in order. The morning of the 16th, we were greeted … Read More
My Hunting Obsession Came Late
By: Adrian Zarantonello. I’ll start this story off with the fact that I’m by no means a hunting expert. I haven’t shot any “Booners” and I’m relatively new to hunting. However, for a newer hunter with limited background and experience, some components of hunting stick out more than others in terms of importance. Although my learning curve was steep, I’ve cultivated a great appreciation for scent control and prevention. I thought I’d share my observations concerning scent control and prevention, and its importance in a successful hunt. My hunting obsession started late; I was really … Read More
The Unconventional Fish Story
By: Adrian Zarantonello My adventurous wife, Rachel, and I planned a backpacking excursion on the Manistee River Trail this spring. We both agreed to pack our fishing poles in hopes of catching some trout. The weekend arrived and our trek to our camping spot began. After setting up camp we decided to wet a line. I caught a small brook trout and lost a nice one so I gave my spot up to Rachel and slid downstream so she positioned five feet upstream of me, right behind a nice slack water eddy. After casting for a while with no action we noticed a big fish splashing around, swimming in … Read More
A Superior Experience In Michigan’s U.P.
By: Adrian Zarantonello The Smith family has been traveling to Michigan’s upper peninsula for the whitetail deer gun season for well over six decades. When I married into the family I became part of that tradition…a tradition I embraced and hold near to my heart. This year, 2016, ‘our opening day’ began with the first weekend of the season. Saturday and Sunday were marred by a snowstorm that had 20-30 mph winds and gusts of 45 mph. This storm dropped 2-4″ of snow on the eastern UP as well as drive temperatures down into the … Read More