We’ve all taken shortcuts at one time or another. Many live by the shortcut. Some, if we were to admit, have fallen by the shortcut. In a world where we want everything stat, patience is not only a virtue but a rarity. We live in an instant society where most of the time we can get answers in a moment with a google search, or alexa inquiry. Let’s face it, we don’t like to wait. But when it comes to nature, this may not be the best way to glean success, at least in the … Read More
Sometimes Lessons Need To Be Relearned
Well folks I don’t know about you but we had a decent deer season for 2024. A total of 6 deer were taken off the property we hunt this year and every one of them by yours truly. Not for lack of effort by my son or the landowner (Steve) and his daughter, but I just seemed to be the one blessed with the most opportunities. The old saying goes, I’d rather be lucky than good any day. Not to discount the skill and knowledge that are needed to successfully hunt a mature whitetail, but … Read More
Ode to the magnificent rimfire “Double Deuce”
There is little doubt that the most popular rifle and handgun cartridge in this country is the .22 rimfire round. Annual ammunition sales also state that it is the most fired round in America, and it is extremely versatile for being used from target shooting and simple plinking, to small game hunting and even personal defense. The fact that it isn’t overly loud with its report and lacks any noticeable recoil causes the .22 rimfire to be the perfect round to introduce new and young beginners into the shooting pastimes. Having shot the .22 rimfire … Read More
Whenever hunter-pressured whitetails go nocturnal, nothing beats an old-fashioned deer drive.
At high noon a few December muzzleloader deer seasons ago, I was on a deer drive with friends and acting as a stander at a likely location on the corner of a briar-infested woodlot bordering a hayfield. According to all the fresh tracks there were plenty of deer seeking refuge in the thick and snarly cover, and I was anticipating plenty of action, which can be the case with a well-organized deer drive. Deer drives don’t have to involve a lot of hunters, especially when everyone knows the lay of the land. In this instance, … Read More
Trophy doe hunting can become a challenging proposition
When I began deer hunting in my home Thumb area in 1963, deer weren’t as numerous as they are today, and just seeing one, much less one with antlers and being able to shoot it. Back then, the “bucks only” law wasn’t a bad thing, in order for deer to better propagate in a region. Whitetail deer are in fact quite resilient critters, and when given a chance, can do some serious propagating. In 1970, the DNR realized something had to be done to help keep the deer herd in check with the habitat, and … Read More
An Unforgettable Archery Season
Folks, I don’t know about you but, I have always appreciated when hunting shows or writers include failures among their stories. I have always felt that those tales of failure make the stories and those telling them more real, and it makes me remember that mishaps can and will happen to all of us at one time or another. Thus is the case for this year’s archery deer season, well at least in my case. The season was not without a victory in the woods, but it came at a cost. My 2024 archery season … Read More
Buckshot – an often misunderstood and maligned deer round
Buckshot has a long history of being a useful and efficient element in the American deer woods which dates from the flintlock era until now. It turns smoothbore firearms typically used for firing birdshot at small game, wild turkeys and waterfowl into useful hunting pieces for bagging larger game, such deer and wild hogs. It remains to be a favorite round for hunting in southern states per swampy and thick areas where even seeing the quarry is a close-up, fast-moving encounter in dense cover, an atmosphere for which buckshot is ideally suited. Single projectiles are … Read More
It’s Always An Adventure In Michigan’s U.P.
By: Ryan Foguth. Being born and raised in Michigan, I grew up hunting, fishing and trapping and was blessed with my dad building a cabin in the eastern Upper Peninsula In 1999. I spent large chunks of my childhood at that cabin, hunting and trapping until I joined the Coast Guard in 2011. When I met my wife Nicole, who was also active duty Coast Guard, while stationed at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, she had never hunted before. With it being one of my life’s greatest passions, she didn’t have much of a … Read More
Arrowheads – A Steady Evolution
Being able to create fire was, without question, the main element for helping prehistoric humans to begin climbing up the food chain. Creating fire may have led to another advancement, the creation of the bow and arrow. I can easily see a “Firestarter” using the bow and stick used for drilling into a piece of wood to create friction and thus fire, playing around with matters once a fire was created. It would be discovered the bow could cast the starter- stick quite a way, and the lights came on to create a larger version … Read More
Venison – which is an annual fall harvest for a lot of folks
November 15th is a revered day for Michigan deer hunters, and it is when the majority of deer are harvested statewide each year. It also represents a very busy timeframe for meat processors and good venison has a very succulent nature which is a primary meat source for my family that we all enjoy. I was a state meat inspector for almost 12 years, working on various “kill-floors” in slaughterhouses, where I did ante-mortem (making sure animals to be slaughtered were in a healthy state) and post-mortem (performing an autopsy of sorts) inspections to assure … Read More