Proper location preparation can make the difference in whether or not you have success stories to tell. While your on-foot scouting only required the use of maps and or a notebook, location preparation requires specific tools and a great amount of physical labor. I finished drywall for 14 years and like any trade job, the more prepared you are concerning tools, more thorough and expedient the job will be done. The ideal scenario is to be able to pack in and carry the necessary tools to totally prepare a location yet be mobile enough to … Read More
Reality Of Bowhunting
Pre-Season Scouting/Speed Touring Mature whitetails are creatures of habit and once deer season is over it doesn’t take them long before calming down and reverting back to set routines which include more daytime movements. Their routines will take on slight alterations throughout the year primarily due to changes in weather conditions, preferred food sources and during spring fawning there will be alterations as does break with wintering social groups, force their previous spring’s fawns away, and birth their new ones. Bedding to feeding area routines by mature bucks also remains constant throughout the summer until … Read More
Frozen Waterfalls & Ice Caves
What comes to mind when you think of a winter getaway? Probably some place warm right? Maybe a beach somewhere just lying in the sun with a cold drink in your hand. I would have to guess that most people don’t think of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as a winter destination. I mean unless you are into snowmobiling or skiing why would anyone want to go where it’s colder, right? Well, what if I told you that there are things to see and do in the U.P. during the winter months that you can’t see or … Read More
Wyoming Adventures Long Remembered
The late Bob Brislawn is known by the USDA as being the founder of the Spanish Mustang as an American horse breed. I can remember a large picture of him in Life magazine in January 1969, in which he was wearing his trademark large Stetson with a small American flag protruding up out of the hatband. The Life magazine article about wild mustangs featured a bit of Bob’s history and his dedicated efforts to save the Spanish mustang as a breed. He had worked for the U.S. Geological Survey during the early 20th Century as … Read More
Restoring An Old 870 Wingmaster
My buddy Jim loves to go to auction sales. So when his son Nick told him that he wanted to buy a 12 gauge shotgun for deer hunting here in Michigan, it was no surprise to me when Jim called me to ask what kind of gun he should keep his eye out for when he was visiting auctions in the area. Obviously there are several good shotguns out there but I told Jim, if he wanted to buy a used shotgun, he could hardly go wrong if he picked up an old Remington 870 … Read More
Lost! – “It’s a helluva feeling, ain’t it?”
A few years ago when our current home was our cabin and the property was new and less familiar, I went snowshoeing one blustery winter’s day. Admittedly, I do not have a great sense of direction. Add to this that I was focused on making my way through deep snow, having only been snowshoeing a few times in my life, and the result was a few moments of panic. I realized I might be turned around when things were no longer familiar and I came upon some old abandoned buildings I’d never seen before. This … Read More
Scout NOW For Next Fall & Why! (Part II)
In order of importance, once on foot focus your attention on the following sign for stand locations: primary scrape areas, fruit and mast trees, within bedding areas, funnels between bedding areas and terrain feature funnels, areas offering security cover that protrude out into crop or weed fields, scrape lined runways, narrow draws offering transition security cover that protrude into crop or weed fields, funnels between bedding and feeding areas, clusters of rubs and rub lines, convergence points of several runways, and water in areas with minimal water sources. Primary scrape areas A primary scrape area … Read More
Scout Now For Next Fall…and why! (part I)
For each of the three instructional whitetail bowhunting books my son Chris and I wrote, my 4 instructional DVD’s, as well as for hunting articles, from 1998 to date we’ve; researched many whitetail studies, tracked bowhunting license sales for each state, found the absolute land mass for each state in square miles, and researched specific data from Pope & Young statistical summary books to compile factual statistics and there was one very important piece of kill data that remained consistent throughout the years. While Pope & Young entries per licensed hunters vary dramatically from state … Read More
Playing By Ear
The walk through the darkness and silence was eerily exciting, like when you step into a lake and something unseen brushes past your leg. The cool rain wasn’t falling hard enough to discourage the adventure but just hard enough to make zipping up the jacket a good idea. In so many ways it was the same. Yet in several ways it was different. About 20 years had elapsed since my previous wild turkey hunting in northern Michigan. For a couple of reasons I stopped, mainly the nuisance of interlopers sneaking in hours after I had … Read More
Why You Should Support The Hearing Protection Act
Originally introduced by Representative Matt Salmon (R-AZ) all the way back in October 2015, H.R. 3799, better known as the Hearing Protection Act of 2015, was a bill that could completely revolutionize life for hunters and shooters in the United States. What Is The Hearing Protection Act? You can read the full text of the bill here, but put simply, the Hearing Protection Act would remove suppressors from regulation under the National Firearms Act of 1934 and would treat suppressors just like rifles and shotguns. Specifically, this bill would allow people to purchase a suppressor after simply … Read More