Outdoor Guide Magazine November-December 2018

November -December 2018

Outdoor Guide

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HUNTING • FISHING • CAMPING • BOATING • SHOOTING • TRAVEL

Crappie..............................Page 2

Rabbits...............................Page 6

Kentucky Lake..................Page 10

Geese................................Page 12

Dogs First Aid...................Page 16

Campfire..........................Page 21

Quail................................Page 33

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MISSOURI - ILLINOIS - AND OTHER EXCITING OUTDOOR DESTINATIONS

Outdoor Guide

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November-December 2018

Stockton – Best Lake You Never Fished Photo and Text

By BRANDON BUTLER

Missouri just might be the best freshwater fishing state in America. That’s a bold statement, I know. But really, look at what we have here.

Our large rivers produce some of the biggest catfish in the country. Our Ozark rivers rival any out west in terms of beauty and “fishability.” Farm ponds filled with bass and brim dot our entire landscape, and our reservoirs are famous across the country.

So much of a good thing allows for a few waters to remain under the radar. Fisheries that might be the very best water in any other state are just one more on a long list of incredible Show-Me State fishing destinations. One of those waters is Stockton Lake.

Stockton is an Army Corp of Engineers reservoir surrounded by 18,000 acres of undeveloped public land. The lake itself is 28,000 acres and it’s full of walleye, crappie, bass, white bass and catfish. The serenity of the lake and the lack of residential development is a nice change compared to other large lakes in the Midwest.

ESCAPE FROM BRANSON Kris Nelson and his wife, Amanda, have taken Stockton by storm. Nelson is a longtime fishing guide who cut his teeth in Key West before settling down in Branson for a number of years. His guide service, Tandem Fly Outfitters, had long been known as a go-to for any serious fly fisherman looking to land a lunker trout from Lake Taneycomo.

But with a baby on the way, and a strong desire to live a much more relaxed lifestyle than found amongst the glitz and glamour of the Branson strip, the Nelsons pulled the trigger on purchasing Stone Creek Lodge on

Brandon Butler, at right, fished with Tandem Fly Outfitters on Stockton Lake and caught a limit of slab crappie, like the one guide Kris Nelson is holding.

the shores of little-known Stockton Lake. The decision has paid off handsomely.

Stockton’s mixed bag of fish is a large part of its appeal. Lately, the walleye, crappie, bass and white bass have been on their migration to the backs of creeks to feed. They’ve been gorging themselves to prepare for the winter.

WHAT’S BITING? Kris and his guides at Tandem Fly will chase whatever their customers prefer to fish for, but smart clients will simply ask their guide to take them after whatever is biting best on that particular day.

I spent a morning in the boat with Kris.

It took less than two hours to fill a limit of crappie, with the average fish being about 13 inches. We targeted brush piles in water 20

feet deep. All we used was a 1/32 oz. jighead tipped with a minnow.

Once we found fish, it was hard to lower the offering all the way down without a fish taking it before it made it to the brush pile. It was hard to believe how dialed in Kris was on this fishery. He not only knew where the fish would be, he knew which size we’d catch off each brush pile. (Here’s a tip: When you fish with him, make sure he takes you to the “big fish brush pile.”)

THE MIXED BAG Growing up, I was fortunate to spend weeks each summer traveling north to Minnesota to fish with my grandparents. Walleye was the prime target, but if we had our limit of “marble-eyes” or if they weren’t biting, we’d

switch to crappie.

So a walleye and crappie combination fishing trip is at the top of my list for catching a mixed bag, especially when trying to add fish to the freezer. What I’m so excited to have recently learned is, I don’t have to travel to Minnesota to fill a cooler with these favorite eating fish. All I have to do is go to Stockton Lake, which is loaded with both walleye and crappie.

“Fishing is great all year-round on Stockton Lake, but the winter crappie and walleye fishing is second to none,” Nelson said “The highest concentration of fish are caught from December to March. The walleye spawn starts in mid-February and runs to the first of April.

The crappie spawn starts in April and runs to the middle of May. The bass spawn starts in the first of May and runs until the first of June.

“Even in the dog days of summer, the crappie are abundant on main lake brush piles, and the walleye are on main lake flats with large schools of white bass nearby. So there is no bad time to come and fish with us,” he added.

A PERFECT CAMP Stone Creek Lodge makes a perfect fish camp. All of the rooms have two queen beds, a bathroom, kitchenette, satellite television and Wi-Fi. The lodge has a fully stocked bait and tackle shop that has everything you may need to fish on your own.

The parking lot fits up to 30 boats with a boat ramp located conveniently right behind the lodge. For your next fishing adventure, consider visiting Stockton Lake.

Stockton Lake is on Missouri 132 just west of Lebanon and northwest of Springfield, with a visitor center at the north end and Stockton State Park at its center. Stone Creek Lodge can be reached at (417) 276-1700 or go online to stonecreekmo.com.

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November-December 2018

Hey, Pal, Find Your Own Fish!

Ethics takes a back seat with fish at stake

By BRENT FRAZEE See if this sounds familiar.

I attended a fishing club meeting, and one of our members was showing off photos on his cell phone of the big trout he was catching.

He attracted a crowd because he had a reputation

as being one of those fishermen who seldom caught anything.

When someone asked him how he found the hot spot where the trout were holding, he answered, “Binoculars. I just found where Brent was fishing, and I went back the next day.”

Everyone laughed…except me.

Then someone asked, “How did you know what lures would work?”

He answered, “I just looked at the lures he left at the bottom of his boat when he left the marina.”

Hmmm. Nothing illegal about that. But it summed up a growing problem in the fishing world today – unethical behavior.

If he had asked, I would have told him what lures to

use and without giving up my spot, I would have told him what type of water to

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look for, then let him find fish on his own.

THE EASY ROUTE But these days, it seems more and more fishermen are taking the easy route to find spots.

Even at our little private lake, I’ve had people fish so close to me that they actually ran into my boat.

I’ve had my boat positioned over a brush pile I sank, and I’ve had people come over presumably to talk, then I’ve seen them reach over and mark the coordinates on their GPS units.

I’ve had pleasure boaters in pontoon boats cut across the water I was casting to, oblivious to the fact that I was fishing there.

And I’ve shown friends spots I was fishing on the condition they were sworn to secrecy, only to find that they weren’t very good at keeping a secret.

Look, I’m no pro fisherman. I’m just an average ham-and-egger. But I work hard to catch fish, experiment with new lures and try techniques that are new to me. It aggravates me when I see that unethical behavior on the part of others who are too lazy to find fish on their own.

I’m certainly not the only fisherman who feels that way. Check out the Facebook pages of some of the wellknown guides in the region.

They complain about unethical behavior all the time.

IT’S PUBLIC, MAN! One guide showed a photo of a group of boats gathered tight around his boat when he started catching white bass and hybrids on mid-lake structure.

When he complained, one of the fishermen in another boat hollered, “It’s public water, man.”

Technically, he was right.

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UNWRITTEN RULES I’ve been at this long enough to know that most fishermen are great people who play by the unwritten rules. But there are a few who give the rest of us a bad name.

I think we could all benefit if we just asked ourselves a simple question when we get in a fever to catch fish.

Would I want someone else to do that to me? If your conscience gets the best of you, steer your boat in a different direction and find your own fish. You’ll feel much better about yourself, believe me.

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But the offending parties would have been madder than hornets if the same thing happened to them.

A friend of mine who guides takes a novel approach to get rid of followers.

He races to a spot several miles away, then throws out a marker buoy and starts fishing that spot which he knows is “dead” water.

Once the fishermen pull near his marker buoy and start fishing there without success, they leave and he is free to return to productive water once they are out of sight.

It’s sad that it’s come to that, but that’s part of the modern fishing game. There have been angry disputes at the BASS level when fishermen argue about who has rights to a spot. Even in local bass clubs, many recreational fishermen protest that tournament anglers act like they own the water, expecting the “little guys” to relinquish their spots simply because they’re casting for cash.

All the while, fishing’s image suffers.

The more people vie for space on the water, the more the public puts fishermen in a negative light.

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November-December 2018

A Bevy of Tips for Solo Rabbit Hunts

By JIM CASADA

Ordinarily, rabbit hunting is a group activity with a bevy of beagles being joined by a sizeable party of hunters who spread out to walk fields and woodlands in an effort to “jump” cottontails.

Once the quarry is on the move and canine companions are making ridges ring with a hallelujah chorus of magical music, they disperse to likely places to get a shot.

Yet I long ago learned, as a lad absolutely obsessed

with hunting but who didn’t always have someone to join him afield, that it was possible to deal with ridge runners and swamp ghosts on a solitary basis and do so with game bag-filling satisfaction.

Here’s a bevy of tips for taking to the cottontail trail alone.

• BEAGLES – “Solitary” means without other humans, but there’s no reason not to have a good pack of beagles as staunch allies. It may take longer to get a shot, but if you pick a spot where the rabbit was initially jumped and se-

lect a “stand” where you will be able to see well, rabbits have a decided propensity to circle and come back to the area where they were rudely rousted from their daytime hide.

• ON THE JUMP – When possible, especially after an initial race to get the “edge” off the dogs, try to kill the rabbit on the jump.

• THICKETS – In places with scattered thickets of blackberries, floribunda rose or other flora surely created by Beelzebub, throw large rocks

A cottontail hides out in a thicket during winter.

November/December 2018

Outdoor agazine Guide M HUNTING • FISHING • CAMPING • BOATING SHOOTING • TRAVEL

Volume Twenty Six, Number Six Published Six Times A Year Office: 505 S. Ewing, St. Louis, MO 63103 Office/News Department — 314-535-9786 www.outdoorguidemagazine.com e-mail: ogmbobw@aol.com

Bobby Whitehead, Editor/Co-Publisher Theresa McFadin, Graphic Designer Kathy Crowe, Graphic Designer Maria Murphy, Production Coordinator

John Winkelman, Associate Editor — ogmjohnw@aol.com Lynn Fowler, Circulation Manager Carl Green, Copy Editor

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Curt Hicken Bill Cooper Thayne Smith Steve Jones Larry Dablemont

John Neporadny Jr. Rick Story T. J. Mullin Ron Henry Strait Larry Whiteley

Ted Nugent Ron Bice Colin Moore Jim Cassada John Sloan

In Memoriam — Jared Billings • Charlie Farmer • Richard Engelke • Mark Hubbard Spence Turner • Hank Reifeiss • Bill Harmon • Barbara Perry Lawton • Danny Hicks • Ron Kruger

Scott Pauley Tim Huffman John Meacham Bob Holzhei Jeannie Farmer Kay Hively Tyler Mahoney

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Claudette Roper Brad Wiegmann Mike Roux Craig Alderman Randall Davis Jerry Pabst Ryan Miloshewski

Kenneth Kieser Gerald Scott Russell Hively Roxanne Wilson Gretchen Steele Jo Schaper Jed Nadler

• READ SIGN – If you can’t read sign, learn to do so. Wellworn runs, fresh droppings, recently used “beds,” small brush and twigs cut at 45-degree angles, bark gnawed from vegetation such as wild plums, and of course tracks in areas of open dirt (think clay roads in particular) or snow all have a story to tell.

• IN SNOW – Speaking of snow, learning how to track a rabbit in soft snow during the day after it has been about the necessary nocturnal business of getting a meal can be both great fun and a decent challenge in the school of woodsmanship.

In time and through close observation, though, you will learn to differentiate between tracks made the night before and older ones. Likewise, you will develop a sixth sense for the kind of places likely to bring you to the end of the trail and a bedded rabbit.

There are other tricks of the trade, plenty of them, but this will give you a running start on the special delights of one-man rabbit hunting. Try it and I suspect, at least in areas where cottontails are reasonably plentiful, you’ll find it a delightful type of small-game hunting.

Author and editor Jim Casada has hunted rabbits since boyhood. For more of his work, go online to www. jimcasadaoutdoors.com.

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or wood chunks into these favored hiding places. Occasionally you’ll be rewarded by a startled rabbit realizing it has urgent business in the next county.

• ROCK ROLLING – Similarly, in steep and rocky terrain, consider rolling sizeable rocks down hillsides and watching to see if their progress puts a rabbit in flight.

Far more often than not, the rabbit disturbed in such circumstances will come loping up the hill, not scrambling madly but just compelled to find more comfortable surroundings.

• COVER – Pay close attention to the type of cover where you jump rabbits in varying weather conditions.

Over time you will accumulate a wealth of “feet on the ground” knowledge. Also, if you find one rabbit in a given type of setting – say a southfacing slope on a sunny day – others are likely to prefer similar circumstances on that particular outing.

• SCANNING – Constantly scan the ground as you move along. Finding rabbits in the bed is a real art, but the key to success in this regard is fairly simple. You look for bright eyes, or what my Grandpa Joe called “chinquapin” eyes (because they shine like a chinquapin fresh from the burr).

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Outdoor Guide

It’s Time to Make Hunting Great Again

By RYAN MILOSHEWSKI

I have officially had it. After watching a hunter on Instagram claiming to pass up a two-year old tom turkey while bowhunting, I decided something needed to be said. It is not the fact he passed it up because there were bigger toms around. It’s the way he said it, referencing letting the “flock mature and have better age structure.” Man, just admit you wanted to kill a bigger bird. It’s fine. We all would like to do it.

I mean this with the utmost care and respect for hunting, but I ask hunters – what has the world of hunting come to? I have seen people naming turkeys, and now they are passing up mature toms? Give me a break. It’s time we reevaluate what it means to be a hunter and outdoorsman.

Sadly, this type of social media post is extremely common nowadays. A plethora of half-naked “huntresses” and “Westies” slamming their Mountain Ops protein shakes, and Boomerangs of nightly, sponsored skin care routines is infecting our sport.

In his Instagram Story, the hunter went on to say, “We are all on the same team,” and “There is no reason to attack other hunters.” Well, if we are all on the same team, you and others like you are the clubhouse cancers. And it’s probably not even on purpose. Some of the worst things imaginable are done with the best intentions.

The social media account “Making Hunting Great Again” inspired me to compile a list of issues we are seeing in the outdoor industry. It’s time to address these and make hunting great again.

RAMPANT PHONINESS If you do not want to shoot a turkey with a small beard or a buck with small antlers, so be it. Your choice is your choice, and I will support your management strategy as long as it’s valid. Howere, do not go around talking about #wildgamegainz and defending yourself to anti-hunters with the “hunting to eat” argument.

“Putting meat in the freezer” can only go so far before the holes are meticulously punched through the idea. If you say every time you hunt you are “grocery shopping” and are truly only out to harvest meat, why would you ever pass up a legal animal within range? Be honest – you want to kill a big buck or longbeard! Who cares?

Just admit it. Stop being fake.

Save for a few, every “celebrity” hunter on the internet has become insufferable.

The social media activity/facade continues to rub people the wrong way. And let’s not forget the real reason for most of their social media presence – selling their products. Good for them – just don’t try and pull the wool over the hunting community’s eyes.

So many people in the hunting industry have a fake persona on social media. It has become all about getting followers and likes. Chris Brackett, Bill Busbice, Adam Greentree and countless others have been exposed in one way or the other for who they really are. I’d rather you be who you are in real life while posting to Instagram or Facebook than be fake. If you are a jerk, be a jerk (see Tim Wells).

You would get much more respect from a lot of people.

Guest Editorial

ADS! ADS! ADS! I understand contracts and responsibilities, but for God’s sake, can we stop the constant barrage of sponsor-laden social media posts? I will never buy a Traeger, Mountain Ops, Scent Crusher, Ozonics, or (insert sponsored product) because of the constant badgering. It’s a grill.

It’s protein powder. Scent Crusher and Ozonics are a stupid concept that have been debunked by multiple studies done with drug-sniffing dogs, including one by Field and Stream, showing how useless those products can be. Stop tagging them and creating ad posts. It simply turns the average hunter off.

DISTASTEFUL PICTURES We need to stop doing dumb stuff with animals we harvest. It’s completely disrespectful and childish. This is the biggest issue, in my mind. Hunters have been taking selfies with dead animals, painting the faces of turkeys to advertise face paint, and posing in bikinis with harvested game.

One “hunter” recently posted a picture of herself with 10 ducks, which is clearly over the limit. It is all about getting fame and being “insta-famous” nowadays.

Honestly, it is baffling how anyone would think those pictures are in good taste. What is wrong with people?

BOW ONLY What is with the #bowonly movement?

If you hunt #bowonly, great. Glad for it.

I like bowhunting. I do it for five months out of the year. But do not talk about how much more ethical it is than hunting with a shotgun or rifle.

Sure, you need to be closer to the animal, and that requires skill (see luck and preparation) and discipline. But just because you are close doesn’t mean you are deadly. Every deer I’ve shot with a gun has been at 60 yards or less, for what it is worth. You know how many turkeys I’ve wounded and not recovered with a bow?

Three. You know how many I’ve wounded and not recovered with a shotgun? Zero.

Maybe I’m just a bad shot, but I know how easy it is to wound animals with archery equipment. And it stinks.

If you possess the skill and talent to harvest animals with a bow, keep on doing you. But please refrain from lecturing and looking down on those who use science, innovation and technology (guns) to their advantage because you think you are higher and mightier, and an overall better hunter. (Disclaimer: I know a portion of rifle hunters for deer are a different set of humans, killing everything they see no matter what, and I have a disdain for that as well. But don’t lump us together, and we won’t lump you together.)

HUNTRESSES The rise of so-called “huntresses” is asinine as well. Plenty of qualified, awesome, skilled women hunt and post on social media. They are different from this group. We have pretty, barely clothed women posing with dead animals, painting their faces like they’re modeling for Cover Girl, and posing with guns to “support the Second Amendment.” Please – they are looking for likes and fame, and that’s it.

Your average anti-hunter may get on social media looking for people to attack.

As soon as they see these low-hanging fruits, the battle is already over. You cannot defend those posts. As the kids these days say, they are “thirsty for likes.” A vast majority do not give a damn if they hunt or not – they are brand ambassadors See HUNTING page 32

November-December 2018

— Random Shots — Real Snipe Hunt: It’s In the Bag!

By JOEL M. VANCE The only thing more frustrating than a legendary snipe hunt is a real snipe hunt.

Traditionally, the in-crowd takes a neophyte out for a “snipe hunt” in the middle of the night and equips the poor sap with a bag and a flashlight, saying they will herd the snipe to him. Then they go home, leaving him crouched in the middle of nowhere, holding an empty sack and a bug-attracting flashlight.

Mosquito-bit, gritty-eyed and humiliated, he’ll stumble in the next morning, certainly sadder and presumably wiser.

Real snipe hunting, on the other hand, is a whole lot tougher. Real snipe fly as if they were dodging anti-aircraft fire (which they are) and are as elusive as the mythical night variety.

They are – believe it or not – the most widely distributed species of any flying game creature, yet scratch a hundred hunters and you might find one who’s slogged through muddy bogholes in hopes of getting a couple of shots.

One survey of snipe hunters and their bags found Florida led all other states in both hunter numbers and total bag … but Minnesota was second, indicating that the bird has its fans from one end of the migration route to the other.

Most states don’t have a harvest survey on snipe, but indications are that the Lake States (Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan) are the leading snipe predators at the top of the migration and California, Florida, Louisiana and Texas are at the bottom.

CURLEWS & GODWITS, AVOCETS AND PLOVERS Snipe are a shorebird, an order which includes curlews, godwits, yellowlegs, avocets and plovers. All once were important game and market birds, but in 1916, the United States and Canada put all but snipe and woodcock on the protected list. Except for those two, hunting never has re-opened and probably never will.

Woodcock and snipe both remained game birds until 1941 when the government recognized a serious decline in snipe numbers and shut off hunting for 13 years.

The droughty Dirty Thirties probably did more to hammer snipe populations than hunters did. Their habitat dried up and, coupled with bitter winters, the birds went into the decline that resulted in the closure.

HUNTING IN MUD But snipe are legal game in every state, and they occur in all those states, but usually not in a place you’d choose to be unless your idea of fun is mud wrestling with your favorite shotgun. The result of the rare successful shot is a three-or-fourounce bird that is dark-meated and, to many, not appetizing.

But to a knowledgeable snipe hunter, snipe is a challenging prey. The rules are fairly simple. If there’s a wind, the birds will flush into it, then turn and fly with the wind, so you hunt upwind. If there’s no wind the birds can flush in any direction.

The flush is explosive and the bird’s erratic flight (a few wingbeats to the left, an instant shift to the right, like an avian pinball machine) is what makes snipe shooting difficult – the birds almost always are in the open, so it isn’t snap shooting in the brush.

Although snipe are classed as a shorebird, they aren’t always found along the

shore of a body of water. A boggy meadow is a magnet for migrating snipe. Once I was hunting with a dedicated ruffed grouse hunter in Minnesota. He contemptuously referred to woodcock as “mudbats” and refused to shoot them, an attitude that I endorsed because it left more for me. As for snipe, he had never given so much as a fleeting thought to popping a cap on one.

As we drove past a wet pasture, I spotted a flight of snipe wheeling in for a landing. “Stop the car!” I exclaimed. “Snipe!”

He looked at me as if I had announced the settling of a flying saucer. “We’re hunting grouse,” he growled, not slowing down.

QUICK MATING DIVE Almost all male birds have some sort of mating ritual, some more exotic than others. Male snipe have a unique courting flight, called winnowing for its peculiar sound. It’s created by the bird’s wings as it tumbles from great height. No writer so far has had the talent to describe the sound accurately in print, but try to imitate the “whuffing” sound made by wingbeats and stick a whistle in with it.

Better to hang around wet meadows on a June night and listen. Once heard, the sound is unforgettable. Like woodcock, the male snipe opens its courting drama by climbing to as high as 500 feet, then winnows its way to earth. It’s a dazzling free-fall that the bird halts at the last second, breaking hard for a feather-soft landing.

This behavior is impressive to a crouching female and, as is often the case with birds, the consummation of the romance is ridiculously brief – a few passionate seconds, hardly enough time to whisper “I love you,” and the male is off again to the wild blue yonder. But, hasty lover that he is, the male also is a good father.

THE GOOD FATHER Like woodcock, snipe hens lay four eggs and generally hatch all four youngsters, with the male helping incubate for the 18-21 days until hatch. Unlike other game birds that count on numbers for survival, snipe and woodcock usually raise all four youngsters. Snipe parents share the duties, with the male taking two young and the female two.

So the next time someone offers you a snipe hunt, ask if it involves a sack and a flashlight or a shotgun. Either way it’s hard work, but the version with the shotgun is more fun and pays better dividends.

Outdoor Guide

November-December 2018

Page 9

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November-December 2018

Fishing Kentucky Lake All Year-Round

By JOHN NEPORADNY JR.

With an average depth of only nine feet, Kentucky Lake is a mecca for bass anglers who love to fish shallow.

The 160,309-acre lake is one of the largest impoundments in the country at about 180 miles long, with 2,064 miles of shoreline running through Kentucky and Tennessee.

“That gives it a lot of shallow-water habitat and lots of diversity as far as types of

habitat, so that allows for lots of bass recruitment and lots of bass to grow up to be bigger fish,” said Bassmaster Elite Series pro Mark Menendez, of Paducah, KY. Menendez rates his home waters as a “fantastic” yearround lake. The touring pro’s favorite time to fish Kentucky Lake is the late winter and early/spring period when bass are biting on suspending jerkbaits and crankbaits.

He suggests visiting anglers should load their tackle boxes with crawfish-color or

red crankbaits that dive 5 to 8 feet deep, and with suspending stickbaits in shad, chrome and clown hues.

Look for pre-spawn largemouth and smallmouth bass along east banks where the rocks transition from basketball-size to baseball-size or baseball-size to pea gravel.

“Those transitions are a real key along the main lake if you can find a little bit of a flat spot there,” Menendez said. “That’s where the fish will come up and feed and then drop off into deep water.”

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“The spawn will start a little bit early down on the south end but it won’t be much different all the way up the lake,” he said.

“There are more submerged bushes the farther south you go, which allows you to fish more gravel pockets.”

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northeast coves. They catch the most rays from the southern angle of the sun and warm up the quickest.

“I prefer to find gravel, sand or bushes in the backs of the creeks,” he says. “I am looking for the hardest bottom I can find.”

His primary targets for bedding largemouth are submerged bushes, willow trees and cypress trees.

“It’s flipping then using baits like a (Texas-rigged) Strike King Rodent or Rage Craw or a jig with either one of those trailers on it,” Menendez said. His favorite colors for flipping baits are green pumpkin in clear water and black-and-blue for dirty water.

SMALLMOUTH TIME Kentucky Lake smallmouth also start nesting in April “When they go to spawn, you can go drag (green pumpkin) tubes or drop shots (with a green pumpkin Strike King Dream Shot) in the first little gravel pockets in the bays or the long gravel bars out in the mouth of the bays,” Menendez said. “You catch some big smallmouth then.”

Menendez rates the postspawn stage from May through early June as the “absolute premier time” to catch bass on his home lake.

“As those fish (in the coves) get done spawning, it is always fun to get on the first break line at the mouth of the creek, where the fish will really reconvene and gather up in big numbers,” he noted.

The three-time B.A.S.S. winner relies on a Strike King 6XD crankbait to catch post-spawn largemouth and smallmouth bass along the break line. Some post-spawn smallmouth will also hit topwaters along main lake points.

“It’s short-lived each morning, but if you pull up on the right little bar, you can catch three or four 4-pounders,” he said.

LARGEMOUTH SUMMER While smallmouth seem to disappear in June, Kentucky Lake largemouth set up for the summer along ledges 10 to 15 feet deep that drop into depths of 25 to 30 feet. Largemouth on the southern end of the lake will set up on shallower ledges (8 to 10 feet dropping off into 20 feet).

“Shell beds are keys,” Menendez said. He suggests looking for shell beds along the south end of any structure since current piles up the shells there. The best lures for ledge fishing include Carolina-rigged Strike King Bullworms and 5-inch Strike King Shadalicious Swimbaits on 1-ounce jigheads and 1-ounce football jigs tipped with Strike King Rage Craws.

Fall fishing is tough on Kentucky Lake because the lake level is drawn down five feet to reach winter pool, causing bass to scatter in the coves and along the vast shallow flats.

“As the water gets colder towards Thanksgiving and into December, the fish gather up on the bars at the mouths of all the creeks, and any vertical banks that you can find can always be good,” Menendez said. He recommends throwing Strike King Series 3, 4 and 5 crankbaits in chartreuse shad or ghost colors for bass in 4 to 10 feet of water.

UNDER A FULL MOON Visiting anglers wanting to catch trophy bass should plan their Kentucky Lake trip for the full moon period of late March and early April. Menendez rates that period as the best time to catch smallmouth in the 6-pound range and largemouth up to 8 pounds.

The local pro has also started seeing some 10- to 12-pound largemouth caught in the Tennessee section of the lake since the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency stocked Florida-strain largemouth in the creeks in recent years.

November-December 2018

Outdoor Guide

Page 11

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November-December 2018

Duck Blinds Are for Hiding In

Photo and Text

By JERRY PABST

Yes, that’s right – duck blinds are to hide in. So are goose pits. Novice hunters don’t always know this, and you often see them outside the hide, walking around, stretching their legs or attending to a call of nature.

Experienced hunters know it, but still, you will see them outside the hide, walking around, stretching their legs or attending to a call of nature.

In the days of yore, when

hundreds of thousands of Canada geese spent their winters in southern Illinois, the three big refuges were surrounded by commercial goose hunting clubs, and the many pits on those clubs were usually little more than 200 yards apart. If anyone crawled out of a pit, they instantly ruined the hunting for all those in that field.

But still, usually during those long dry spells between flights, boredom would prompt some nimrod to get

out and walk around in those seemingly always muddy fields. Of course the callers (guides) would immediately cut loose on their goose calls, sending the strolling miscreant diving headlong into the gumbo, thinking a honker was coming into the field. He soon realized his error when howls of laughter erupted from the surrounding pits.

HIDING THE BLIND Those good old “Quota Zone” days are long gone, but the need to hide in your

Jeff Norris looks out from a camouflaged goose pit at his Fox Valley Guide Service club.

blind surely is not.

Staying in your blind and keeping your head down will always hide you, but what hides the blind? For the first few days of the season it probably doesn’t matter much, but it doesn’t take long to re-educate the birds to the perils of flying too close to an unnatural looking object, and a poorly concealed blind is definitely unnatural.

Many hunters get their blind ready well in advance of the season opener. They clean out the dirt, spent shells,and dead mice. Then they will patch any rotted wood, make sure the roof doesn’t leak, and tend to any other needed repairs. Then it is time to disguise the blind itself with a camouflage covering.

Available for this purpose are a wide variety of artificial grasses, reeds and netting that will do the job admirably, but since they don’t give that stuff away, many hunters prefer to use natural cover gleaned from nearby vegetation.

Either option will result in a fine job and perfectly conceal the blind itself, but neither is permanent. Here is what you have to contend with: ARTIFICIAL Artificial netting is subject to deterioration due mainly to weather. It can fade or be torn loose by wind, freezing rain or snow. Now and then some critter will decide to chew a big chunk of the cover off, exposing a portion of the blind itself. And while this doesn’t happen very often, it can be stolen.

To remedy any of these problems, always have an emergency supply of the netting in reserve, but don’t leave it in the blind, since it makes perfect mouse nest material, and when you need it, they could have turned it into a pile of dust.

NATURAL Natural vegetation has all the above flaws, except theft, plus Mother Nature has

designed it to slowly disintegrate and over the course of a waterfowl season, it will need regular replacement.

Again, it is prudent to keep a good supply of whatever you are using cut and handy for instant repairs.

If you are hunting from a water blind, you only need to concern yourself about the blind itself. But if you use a pit or a field blind, you have to be aware of the area all around the blind.

In early fall, when you initially built the blind, the surrounding ground was covered with natural vegetation, be it weeds, or agricultural chafe or stubble. If you put good overhead cover on the pit or blind, you were good to go. But after a few weeks of use, much of that ground cover will have been walked down by the hunters, and, from a bird’s perspective, a big bull’s eye will have been formed with your pit or blind in the center. Not good.

To avoid such a situation, try to approach and leave the blind from one single trail, leaving all other vegetation undisturbed. Have a pile of weeds, corn stalks or bean chafe handy to periodically cover any exposed ground along the trail. Make the trail straight out from one end or the other of the pit or blind, not out the front, where it acts as a pointer directly to the hide.

KEEP IT CLEAN Clean up the area around the blind. Shell casings and boxes, paper, candy wrappers, and pop cans are dead giveaways to the birds that something is amiss, and they will flare every time.

Remember, these waterfowl have been dealing with hunters all through the season, and they are getting harder to fool every day. The dumb ones are residing in some hunter’s freezer; the live ones all are graduates of survival school.

That is why we have duck blinds to hide in. (And, let ‘em work.)

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Outdoor Guide

November-December 2018

Page 13

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November-December 2018

Be Prepared for Winter RV Travel

By THAYNE SMITH

RVs are wonderful for participating in the pleasures that winter events offer all outdoors enthusiasts.

It’s no secret, however, that they require a lot of tender loving care to survive the rigors of snowstorms, icy roads and blizzards. This I’ve learned in more than 40 years of winter RV travel.

Some of it involved pheasant hunting trips to the Texas panhandle, western Kansas and South Dakota, being

caught in unexpected blizzards and blowing snow that froze water pipes, holding tanks and pumps and drained fuel supplies.

My most miserable driving experience came when I drove a new mini-motorhome from a Midwest manufacturing plant to Chantilly, VA, to be added to a “loaner” fleet I maintained when I worked with RVIA. My flight to the plant was delayed in Chicago, when a blizzard engulfed O’Hare Airport.

Reaching the plant the next

day, I started home. It was soon evident that no insulation had been added to the area below the driver’s seat where the steering shaft entered the unit.

Even at slow speeds, cold air rushed in, numbing my feet and legs. I was determined to keep going, however.

I spent a night at a motel in South Bend, IN, and several dollars at a hardware store for foam rubber pads and duct tape to make a quick fix on the leak. It helped some, but with wind and low temperatures following, it was still a

chilling experience.

BLIZZARD BOXES Over time, cold weather outings have made an impression and taught me to always be prepared for the worst during winter RV travel.

This led to the adoption of two insulated “Blizzard Boxes” that can be fitted easily in storage compartments.

A small one contains two 300 BTU candles and waterproof matches sealed in metal cans. In an emergency, the candles will keep the chill off

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Also included are bottles of water, crackers in metal cans, sacks of trail mixes, peanuts, chips, candy bars, powdered eggs, potatoes, milk and canned meats.

It also contains six large Space Blankets packed in cartons, weighing just three ounces each. They will cover the body of an adult and keep heat from escaping through a process called thermal reflectance.

A 50-quart cooler contains a flashlight and a million candlepower lamp, with extra batteries, for signaling other motorists or aircraft, plus a reflective mirror, 16.4-ounce container of propane fuel to power a packed one-burner portable stove and three insulated jugs containing soups and other liquid.

BE PREPARED Fill the 20-gallon propane tank, used to fuel the furnace, cook stove and water heater, before every trip.

Carry lots of extra clothing. Sweat suits and insulated underwear serve well as pajamas. For bedding, use flannel sheets, goose down or heavy polyester comforters.

Mating-type, flannel-lined, heavy-duty sleeping bags provide excellent warmth for couples.

Your favorite RV dealer can suggest and supply many winter-fighting items. For instance, a portable generator and extra gasoline supply can be a lifesaver. It can also power several 110-volt appliances.

If you’re hooked to a power outlet, save the generator and plug in a small, oscillating fan with heating element to spread warmth throughout the unit.

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and efficient.

Do exercises. Activity helps keep the body warm and functioning properly.

Always tell someone, a family member or friend, where you’re going, the routes you’re taking and when you plan to return.

DON’T FORGET FIDO Hunters with dogs should consider keeping them in the RV. They add warmth (as do other pets) if you can tolerate the smells. I discovered years ago that a large plastic dog caddy fits perfectly in the space between the seats of a standard RV dinette. Just remove the tabletop and cushions and store them elsewhere.

If you’re caught in a blizzard or the unit becomes snowbound, don’t panic. Stay inside and don’t open doors any more than absolutely necessary.

Cooking inside, even with portable stoves, also adds heat. However, never operate a burning appliance indoors without cracking a window or opening a vent.

In extreme emergencies, build a fire outside for warmth and to attract attention. Seat cushions and other flammable items from the rig can be used.

Carry a spare can of gasoline for the generator and other emergencies, stored in a separate heavy-walled cooler.

Never strap it to the back of the rig, where it could be struck in a rear-end collision.

The modern RV also contains a cell phone, a hand-held GPS unit, and a CB radio, all of which can be employed in emergencies. They don’t add warmth, but they can help you find it, when needed.

Believe me, I could have used some of them years ago!

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November-December 2018

Outdoor Guide

Page 15

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Outdoor Guide

Page 16

November-December 2018

First-Aid for Dogs in the Field

Photo and Text

By PURINA PRO-PLAN

Being prepared for field emergencies is equally important to having a properly conditioned hunting dog.

Luckily, most injuries a dog incurs can be readily treated in the field, but knowing how to handle a more serious accident could make a difference in the prognosis for your dog.

It’s important to know your dog well and readily recognize signs of something wrong.

“Traumatic injuries are the most common problems that occur in hunting dogs,” says veterinarian Joe Spoo, a hunting dog specialist from Best Care Pet Hospital in Sioux Falls, SD. “Your field outings likely won’t involve more than a few minor nicks and scratches. However, if you run dogs long enough, you’re bound to encounter a few major problems, ranging from cuts and bruises to penetrating, life-threatening injuries. It is in these times that preparation and levelheadedness can determine whether your hunting partner will be able to hunt with you another day.”

TAILGATE EXAM Conducting a tailgate exam is a surefire way to help keep

The tail gate is a great place to give the dog a good checking-over. – Purina photo

your dog healthy and safe in the field. Take time at the end of each run – and definitely at the end of every day afield – to go over your dog from nose to tail, looking for any abnormality, injury or area of concern.

“Address any issues right away, because they won’t magically disappear when you put your dog in the crate,” Spoo advises. “A dog’s immediate injuries should be treated, and then taken as quickly as possible to a veterinarian. Dealing with them in the moment can often mean the difference between days, weeks and months of recovery. The goal is to get

your dog back into the field as soon as possible. This is what he or she lives for.”

Other common field injuries include lacerations, eye irritations, insect stings and snakebites.

LACERATIONS Care for lacerations depends on the severity of the injury, but generally, you should apply pressure and get your dog to the veterinarian so the injury can be cleaned up and stitched. Most cuts are inconsequential if cared for, but sometimes a dog may have tendon or nerve damage.

“Learn how to assess and address,” Spoo said. “If you

can wash, clean and staple the wound yourself, you can accelerate the healing process while seeking veterinary care.”

An eye abrasion has occurred if a dog has a red, inflamed eye, which requires immediate veterinary attention. Seeds trapped in the eye could be the underlying issue, or a dog could have an abrasion or more serious puncture or laceration to the cornea.

Some dogs can have an allergic reaction to insect bites or stings from a bee, wasp or horsefly. In the instance the reaction is severe, it’s a good idea to carry an antihistamine with you to treat the bite or

sting if you cannot seek immediate veterinary care.

SNAKEBITE When a dog is outdoors, whether on land or in water, he or she potentially could be in danger of a snake encounter, depending on your geographic location and time of the year. Being aware of the types of snakes native to areas you are traveling to hunt or field trial is imperative.

Many variables – including the amount of venom injected, location of the bite, size of the dog, and elapsed time between the bite and arrival at a veterinary facility – impact the severity and outcome of a snakebite.

If you suspect your dog has been bitten by a snake, it is crucial to seek veterinary care. Do not apply ice or heat to the wound, nor should you attempt to cut into the wound and suck out the venom or apply a bandage to the wound.

Restrain your dog as much as possible and keep him or her calm to help slow the spread of venom until you can get him or her to the veterinarian.

LEGS & LIGAMENTS Ruptured cranial cruciate ligaments (CCL), fractures and broken legs are uncommon but serious field injuries.

A dog’s CCL helps to stabilize the femur (thighbone) on the tibia (shinbone) and allows a dog to bear weight on his or her leg. When the ligament tears, the two bones are destabilized and the dog becomes lame. Surgery is the only alternative when this occurs.

Fractures can occur when a dog accidentally steps in a hole while running, hits a rock or stump, or falls off a cliff. A dog may also break a leg if he or she becomes tangled in tie-out stakes.

Broken legs should be treated by a veterinarian, though owners can help stabilize the leg by wrapping it with a bandage.

When a dog comes in from the field limping, it could be signs of lameness or soft-tissue damage, though it could also be due to a torn nail or cut, burr or sliver in the paw pad. Remove any foreign object and use a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) recommended by your veterinarian to help reduce the pain.

Being prepared to provide aid for an injured dog is the best course. Thinking ahead and being aware of how to handle potential problems will go a long way in making a difference in the outcome.

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Outdoor Guide

November-December 2018

Page 17

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Outdoor Guide

November-December 2018

Wildlife Wrangling and Outdoor Ramblings

Stinking at the Job – and Ballet, too Photo and Text

By RANDALL P. DAVIS

Most animals – including humans – have an Achilles heel when it comes to scent.

Odors that waft of food – or a willing mate – can easily piedpiper nearly any species into some form of containment device, whether it’s a cage trap or marriage.

Playing on Mother Nature’s mechanism of odoriferous investigation, I often rely on “store-bought” bottled trapping scents to administer the last seductive notes to a siren’s song ushering critters into the trap.

The real secret to trapping, however, is to keep these lures either on the ground or in the cage and not on one’s self. But sometimes the twain do meet.

I finish with the evening chores in the dark. With the rain, sleet and greasy mud on top of frozen ground, I am fairly covered in moist soil and falling precipitation.

Typically in winter, we don’t leave this Outpost-InThe-Holler but maybe once a week, which means we don’t pick up the mail until the last detail of the day. I am wet, tired and just want to get the mail and be done.

I hike up the quarter-mile drive just as the parcel package delivery driver rounds the corner. It’s not uncommon to have one, or maybe two, deliveries a day with business and early Christmas shopping.

EAU DE SKUNK It’s also about this time of year I have to re-supply my cache of fetid fragrances, and I am expecting a parcel of fresh trapping lures, including a little skunk essence I use to make some fabulously potent coyote lures.

Now when the dealer ships skunk essence, it requires a bit more robust packaging than say, fox urine, beaver castor or liquid mice. Sure they all build mental images of fumes so ghastly that buzzards must wear hazmat suits just to make a flyover, but these claims are wildly exaggerated – except for the skunk essence.

Essence is packed in glass vials with rubber stoppers and swaddled in plastic electrician tape. It’s then rolled in bubble wrap and sealed into a cardboard box. Pretty much impervious to shipping perils, right? How about wildlife wranglers?

The driver and I exchange pleasantries. I ask to take the packages now so he won’t have to drive down to the house. As he finds the boxes in the truck’s cargo hole, I manage to penguin-walk through

These are a few of the ingredients that make his job stink.

the icy slush to the mailbox, pick up the mail and rendezvous back at the truck. He slides the three-package pyramid into my chest like an NFL quarterback delivering a hand-off. I notice the smaller, upper box is my lures.

The heavy drizzle has water running off my cap bill. My coat and overalls are soaked and slick with mud. And the week-old beard is getting close to Duck Dynasty long.

BEST-LAID PLAN The driver says, “Looks like it’s been a long day. You need to get in out of this.” I tell him I’m on my way back to dry clothes and hot wings for supper.

As I step in front of the truck’s headlight, I step squarely onto a discreet ice patch, puddled over by a rain/ sleet soup. The maneuver provides little traction.

The illuminating beam perfectly spotlights the high kicks and pirouettes of my interpretive ballet routine, shaming anything performed in Swan Lake.

Actually, I am doing pretty good ... for a while. But finally, the seizure-like gyrations cause my top package – the trapping lures – to slide off and somehow get between my shoulders and the driveway just as I land booties up.

The frosting comes when the tiny parcel’s contents – pressurized by the impact of nearly 200 pounds of personal kinetic energy – gush out onto my back, up my shoulder and into my hair, something like

smashing a jellyroll with a dropped bowling ball. Instantly, I become as one with the skunk.

A QUICK RECOVERY I roll over on my side and come up to my feet, all the while keeping the regular mail (bills, political ads and AARP enticements) and the packages (impact resistant socks and underwear) high and dry.

Then the driver pokes his head out the window and asks if I’m OK. “Yep,” I reply.

“Just practicing my vaudeville act for the Christmas play at the senior citizen’s center.

I’m one of the elves, a little stinker called ‘Slushy.’ ” There is a moment of silence. Then my “scent” reaches his heated cab.

“Ohhh, yeah! Okay!” he says as he jerks his head back inside. Then he slowly backs up to turn around.

“Be careful, and good luck with the play,” he says, staring at me wide-eyed as he rolls out of sight.

THE WONDER OF IT ALL I just stand there analyzing the train wreck of events. I now smell like I should be curled up in a cage trap, waiting for some coyote to put the chomp on me. I’ll have to re-order all those lures. Burn my clothes. And likely shave my head.

And the driver ... well, while I may stink at ballet and my job, he actually took what I said seriously!

November-December 2018

Outdoor Guide

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November-December 2018

Tips, Tricks and Thoughts for the Great Outdoors

My Second Favorite Month

October is my favorite month, but my second favorite month has to be November.You see, I enjoy fishing. I like catching fish and eating them, but I dearly love hunting, especially for whitetail deer. November allows me the chance to hunt deer with my bow, my rifle and my muzzleloader.

Rifle season during the rut is especially important to me, since that is the time for deer camp with my kids, grandkids and friends. It’s a special time with special traditions and lots of memories.

Before and after that time, I am usually hunting alone and that is special, too, in its way.

There’s something about sitting in a deer stand and being part of the forest. The birds and squirrels go about their daily activities and don’t even

Kodiak tent – I love this tent

know you are there watching.

If a deer does happen by my hiding place, maybe I shoot, maybe I don’t. I never know until that moment.

If I do shoot, I take time to honor the game and be thankful to the one who created the outdoors and everything in it for us to enjoy, take care of and pass on to others.

LARRY’S GIFT GUIDE 2018 DUCK CALLING TIP

When we’re out hunting ducks, occasionally we’ll call a lot to bring in the flocks, but using our Zink calls intermittently with more variety seems to work the best for us. When in doubt, call less. (Go to www. zinkcalls.com)

QUALITY DECOYS

Take a look at your waterfowl decoys. If they are old and beat up, they probably aren’t going to attract any waterfowl to come and join them. If they don’t look like the real thing, you need to think about investing in decoys like the Avian-X we use. The attention to quality and detail they put in their decoys is amazing.

No matter how good you are at calling, if the ducks don’t feel comfortable with the decoys they see, they will probably flair off and not come within range.

(Go to www.avian-x.com) TENT IN A TRUCK I dearly love camping and have been doing a lot of it this year in my new Kodiak canvas tent that sets up in my truck bed. I have used it for fish camp and turkey camp and I am now using it as my deer camp. Anywhere I can park my truck, I can put up my tent.

It’s easy to set up. Through some heavy storms, the canvas didn’t leak and the metal support poles kept it from collapsing during some pretty strong winds. I keep anything I don’t need in the tent inside my crew cab or under my truck, so I am not crowded and you can’t believe all the room inside. I

have plenty of room for my bags, a couple of coolers and a camp chair if I want to sit up and read a good book.

Instead of a pad or mattress to sleep on, I have a Disc-OPad cot that is the greatest thing since peanut butter. It’s really easy to set up and I can use it as a single cot or, if I’ve got someone with me, I can make it into a bunk bed. To top it off, I use their Disc Pad inflatable sleeping pad and I sleep like a baby.

Take my word for it. If you have a truck and you enjoy camping, you need a Kodiak Canvas truck tent (www.ko-

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diakcanvas.com) and a DiscO-Bed (www.discobed.com) for your camping, hunting and fishing adventures.

INNOVATIVE IDEAS Outdoor Edge offers a great selection of knives, and one of their most innovative knives is the Swing Blade series for field-dressing deer. The knife changes at the push of a button from a drop-point skinner into the best gutting tool you’ll ever use.

I use their Razor Lite EDC folder for an everyday carry knife, but I also make sure I have it with me in the deer woods. It has six replaceable stainless blades that you also change with the push of a button, so you never have to sharpen them.

I don’t know who came up with these ideas, but all of us deer hunters should thank them. (www.outdooredge. com).

THE BEST GIFT The best gift you can give your kids and grandkids this Christmas is teaching them to love the great outdoors.

It’s a gift that will last them a lifetime.

CHRISTMAS QUOTE To your enemy, forgiveness.

To an opponent, tolerance.

To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect.

– Oren Arnold

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Outdoor Guide

November-December 2018

Page 21

Gravel Bar Gourmet

The Gift of the Communal Campfire Photo and Text

By BILL COOPER

As winter approaches, thoughts of warm fires and hot meals become especially tantalizing. In the comfort of my rural home deep in the woods, I relish the times I can sit in my leather lounger by the fireplace to enjoy a steaming bowl of deer stew while reading the latest edition of Outdoor Guide Magazine.

Nearer and dearer to my heart are the winter-time float and camping trip opportunities that abound in our blessed Ozarks. I can easily access a half-dozen float streams within an hour of our home. There aren’t many places in our grand country where such opportunities exist.

Cold-weather floating and camping demands foods that not only will nourish our bodies but add internal warmth and happiness as well. A rough day weather-wise in the outdoors can quickly be negated by a heaping helping of hot chili, soup or stew.

My favorite gravel bar meals during cold weather include soups and stews. Not only are they hot, nourishing and delightfully tasty, they are easy to heat up quickly over the campfire or camp stove. And such meals lend themselves well to river camps that involve long days of sitting on bowhunting stands or chasing wild turkeys over hills and hollers.

SOUPS AND STEWS Soups and stews are the perfect meal to place in a cast-iron pot and set on the coals of a communal campfire. The smells emanating from a pot of stew create an atmosphere

of excitement and melancholy that sets the perfect stage for days spent in river camp.

The late Spence Turner said it best: “It wasn’t tools, but food and the wonderful family and tribal rituals that evolved around the capture of prey, return of successful hunters to the family and tribe, and the camaraderie associated with the preparation and consumption of foods around the communal campfires, that was the turning point for the human line.”

Furthermore, Turner proposed that in our world, expert and artful preparation of fish and wildlife has replaced simple roasting over communal fires, yet the symbols and psychological response of the soul to the wild foods still rings true.

WE’RE STILL AT IT Thousands of years later, we still celebrate the acts of hunting and killing of game, and the return of the successful hunter to the family by preparation of the bountiful harvest.

Choosing wild game and fish for your gravel bar meals adds a connection to our hunter-gatherer ancestors of long ago and feeds our desires for the outdoor lifestyle.

Your river camping experiences can be heightened considerably by taking the time to plan and prepare meals utilizing wild game and fish. Instead of making buddy Joe’s best chili, substitute venison for beef. I guarantee the deer-hunting tales told around the gravel bar campfire about how the deer was hunted and taken will far surpass the unglamorous tale of how a cow was fattened for the slaughter.

Meals cooked and consumed by friends and family around a communal campfire link outdoorsmen to ancestors of the distant past.

Family Pet Becomes a Natural as a Shed Dog Photo and Text

By BILL KEATON It’s February, and deer season is over. Waterfowl hunting is done and football season is over, too. It is Friday night and you are wondering what you are going to do on Saturday.

You say to yourself, “I love walking in the woods looking for deer sheds, but I have never found one.” You always depended on your buddy’s Lab when you were duck hunting. You don’t own a retriever or for that matter, any kind of hunting dog. The only dog you have is the boxer puppy you got for the family in early October.

This is exactly the situation in which I found myself at age 72. I had just retired, but thanks to years of exercise and good habits, I was in excellent physical condition and not ready to sit on a couch and

watch television all day.

Until two years ago I had had hunting dogs all of my life, but the wild population of upland game is almost nonexistent and the only hunting preserve in reasonable driving distance had closed. So when my trusted hunting dog died, I didn’t replace him. Instead I got a boxer puppy for a family pet.

CHRISTMAS SURPRISE Our puppy, Maddie, was four months old when Christmas came. My wife, Rita, knows how much I love being in the outdoors. To my surprise, for Christmas she gave me a shed dog training kit, made by Dog Bone and consisting of training instructions, a hard rubber antler and antler scent.

My first thought was, “What am I going to do with

Maddie was just supposed to be a family pet.

this? I don’t have a hunting dog anymore.” Rita sensed my hesitation and quickly said, “It’s for Maddie!” Wow! She was exactly right (as usual).

When we think about it, most dogs have a sense of smell that is about 40 times greater than the human sense of smell. Many of the popular family pet dogs were bred for hunting.

For example, the boxer was bred in the late 19th century to hunt bears, wild boars, and deer. All of the terrier breeds and spaniels, pit bulls and dogs in the “bull” family, and the popular golden retriever were originally bred to hunt.

Now here I am with a fourmonth old boxer puppy and a shed training kit. Where I live, shed hunting usually starts in February and ends in midMarch because by that time, the squirrels and other rodents will have severely damaged most sheds by eating them for the minerals and calcium they contain.

A FAST LEARNER The winter of 2017-2018 was brutally cold. For ten days after Christmas, the high temperature was six degrees above zero! It was too cold to be outside much with a puppy, so for a few minutes most days I played a game of fetch with Maddie in our family room using the dummy antler.

It was important to start with the rubber antler, be-

cause a real antler is hard and pointed, which can result in a young dog not wanting to pick it up. Very quickly, Maddie got excited for playtime whenever I picked up the dummy antler.

The weather moderated in mid-January, and we took the game outside. To my joy, Maddie was great at sightretrieving the antler to me, every time.

With sight-retrieving mastered, it was time to go to the next step of introducing scent.

I added the scent which came with the kit to the dummy antler and threw it out several times for a sight retrieve.

Then I threw it into some tall, thick prairie grass, and to my delight, Maddie quickly searched it out with her nose and brought it back to me.

We practiced the blind retrieve for a week or so, and then it was time to introduce a real antler. I applied scent to both the dummy and the real antler as described in the instructions. This time we went into a small woods for a final test.

I threw the dummy to distract Maddie, and then I threw the real antler where she didn’t see it. She retrieved the dummy, and then I began hunting her in the direction of the real antler. As soon as she caught the scent, she found it and brought it right to me. I was thrilled because I knew I now had a shed dog.

I continued working with

Little Maddie turned out to be a real shed dog.

Maddie for another couple of weeks to hone her skills. I learned that I needed to hunt her into the wind and not with the wind. I should have known that because I always hunted my bird dogs into the wind, but I hadn’t thought about it when I began training Maddie.

10 POINTS! In mid-February, Maddie was six months old. We had a few mild days, so we headed for the deer woods, where I had seen a 10-point buck during deer season but had not harvested it.

As Maddie and I were walking around a big hill about two-thirds of the way to the top, I turned and started up the hill to check something

that caught my eye. Maddie ignored me and started zigzagging at an angle down the hill. As I watched her, she went about 15 yards, stopped for a second and then put her head down and tried to pick up a very large antler.

It was too big for little Maddie to get it off the ground, so she just dragged it back to me.

It was one side of the 10-point I had hunted. I would not have found that antler without Maddie. Our family pet had proved her worth as a shed dog.

We went out one more time in early March. Although we didn’t find a shed, Maddie retrieved a deer leg bone, which affirmed to me that she is going to be a very good shed hunting dog.

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November-December 2018

Back to the Wildside Basics

By TED NUGENT

Ted Nugent helps Sarah Palin work on her bow technique.

“Keep it simple stupid” keeps running through my head 24/7/365/69.6!

All the best things in life are close to the bone, reverberating as one with the primal scream of our inner spirit.

Yikes! That’s a mouthful, ain’t it? And it darn well ought to be, if we are to remain in touch with the primary focus and pragmatic functions of our beloved down-to-earth quality of life.

And of course I know I’m

– Sportsman Channel photo

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preaching to the ultimate down-to-earth choir here, for who better to understand and live the purest primalscream lifestyle than those of us smart and fortunate enough to hunt, fish and trap as defining hands-on conservation participants in God’s miraculous nature creation.

Can I please hear a loud, proud and hearty tooth, fang and claw hallelujah ya’all?

We must all admit that in order to thrive as rugged independent individuals in the wild and crazy world of 2018 and beyond, we must also be ultimately aware of the modern-world demands emanating from the concrete jungle hell zones that provide much of our human-needs delivery services.

PRIMITIVE/ TRADITIONAL Hunting is the definitive rural, beyond-the-pavement wildside lifestyle, but the urban city world is a powerhouse reality we all must live with and function in harmony with as well.

Hell, most hunting families do indeed live within the cityscape to some degree or other, and no one knows better than they do the transitional dynamic we must deal with in order to get back to our natural predator instincts and connections.

Nobody can honestly claim to be a true primitive hunter today, unless of course they head naked into the most undeveloped wilderness and start from scratch. Ain’t gonna happen.

Even so-called traditional bowhunters are not anywhere near primitive, and certainly a modern recurve or longbow is anything but primitive.

Traditional is a powerful word that has much more to do with mindset and spirit than with any equipment we may prefer to hunt with.

Everybody I know and hunt with are pure traditionalists who still scout as much as possible, use the wind, sun and moon, study wildlife intently, and summon a timeless predator spirit to connect with the critters that give us life and so much joy.

Many of them use older technology like recurves and longbows, vintage iron-site 30-30 lever-guns, modern long-range sniper rifles, state-of-the-art compound bows and crossbows, and pretty much the entire gamut of legal sporting arms and technology available today.

But each and every one of them has the deepest, most reverential desire to be an asset to wildlife and nature by conducting themselves in the most dedicated, conscientious way possible.

Now that’s a tradition that drives us and connects us in the best way there is.

I bring this up not just to

clarify the importance of our spiritual traditions and brotherhood but also to remind how keeping in touch with various methodologies can enhance our preferred hunting styles.

PROJECTILE MANAGEMENT Raised on longbows before there were recurves, then embarking on the glory of bowhunting with the earliest of those beautiful handcrafted weapons, I was very fortunate to develop and nurture what I believe to be the ultimate hand-eye coordination system of projectile management.

When you shoot slingshots and bare-bow archery every day growing up, year after year, you truly can become the mystical flight of the arrow.

Transitioning to compound bows in 1977 after crumbling into the pits of target panic hell with my beloved recurves, I had a long journey back to my natural, instinctive shooting capabilities.

I never stopped shooting my recurves and over the years learned how maintaining that instinctive archery connection dramatically improves all my other shooting, both archery and firearms.

After my daily recurve shooting with my cherished Fred Bear Super Kodiak, I experience some of the best hand-gunning, rifle and compound sessions.

Something about that open-sight picture of a canted recurve brings a clarity to instinctive arrow flight, and such trained “point-ability” goes straight to improving my focus on every sight picture discipline no matter what the weapon.

MYSTICAL FLIGHT If you own an old-fashioned longbow or recurve, fletch up a few high-profile turkey-feathered shafts, stand 10-12 yards from your target and concentrate on a tiny, tiny spot to hit.

Discover how your eyes can become one with your fingers, muscles and breathing, and learn how to release that arrow in a consistent fashion until the entire shot sequence becomes a fluid, out-of-body ballet.

When I go from shooting my old bows with fingers to shooting my Mathews compounds with a trigger or back-tension release, my groups become as tight as they have ever been.

Give it a try. Get an old bow and find that mystical flight of the inner arrow within.

Summertime is coming on and now is the time to keep the primal scream screaming!

Aim small, miss small and be the best projectile manager you can be. The SpiritWild backstraps made me do it.

November-December 2018

Photos and Text

By TIM HUFFMAN Brush-hugging crappie are best sought with slow presentations directly in the brush. Vertical jigging, slow trolling or pinpoint casting can be used. But open water crappie are different creatures and more difficult to catch.

Many crappie are in open water. Some suspend and scatter. Others are chasing schools of shad. Fast trolling is great way to target these fish.

Longlining, crankbaiting and power trolling are all proven techniques.

POWER TROLLING ABCs Power trolling has physical and equipment requirements.

Heavy weights and big crappie on 16-foot poles, pushed out the front of the boat, require strength. People who are not physically strong or who don’t want to work need to stick with easier techniques.

Good equipment is required. An auto trolling motor, like an I-Pilot or Ultrex, stays on a set coarse of its own.

Handling poles and fish while power trolling requires full attention. Strong pole holders are needed. Driftmaster is the leader, but others are available.

Poles must be strong.

BnM created 16-foot poles specifically for this technique.

Their Pow-R-Troller has the strength to handle heavy weights and big loads. The backbone is able to hoist a big fish into the boat. Strong reels and 15-pound test line finish the rig.

Bait rigs can vary, but one popular version is to start on the main line with a barrel swivel. A 4-foot leader is tied to the swivel; halfway down, a

Outdoor Guide

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Power Trolling for Crappie 6-inch loop leader and bait is tied, then an egg sinker (about 3 ounces) and bead is added before tying another swivel. A 2-foot leader with a bait is tied to the bottom swivel.

The number one bait is a 1/4-ounce jig with a 3-inch curlytail. Sizes and types can vary. Mepps spinners are a good option, especially the ones with plastic minnows on them. Underbody spinners, like the popular Road Runner, are usually good.

THE TACTIC Les Smith, a Mississippi fisherman, says the technique will work in many lakes across the county. Test fishing a few times will determine how productive it is on your home waters. It works in waters where pulling crankbaits work.

“I like 1.0 miles per hour,” Smith said. “The weight helps keep lines vertical even when going fast. Most of the time I’m following a ledge or channel, something difficult to do if longlining. Pushing from the front, we can run up on the ledges, turn around and head to the other side. Fish are often lying on the sides of the ledges. Finding balls of shad is another key ingredient, so watching electronics for depths, changes in depths and shad is all important.”

Smith uses eight poles for two people where laws allow.

A different color goes in each bait spot until the fish show which ones they prefer.

“The bottom line is that power trolling offers better bait control,” he said. “The downside of the longline trolling is making long turns and sweeps, but with power trolling, immediate turns can be made. Two fishermen can combine power trolling and

FINAL NOTES Power trolling is hard work and requires strength.Abig fish and heavy weight being pulled at 1.0 mph puts a lot of pressure on the tip of a 16-foot pole.

Longlining jigs or crankbaits is easier. However, there are advantages and rewards for pushing large bladed jigs out the front of the boat. Navigation is easier, and baits can be put where they need to be. It’s a great technique for catching numbers of crappie, no matter how hot, cool or windy.

pulling crankbaits at the same time if they prefer.

“This technique works great well into the fall. Where you see shad and fish stacked up on the graph are the spots you can expect crappie action.”

Smith likes to use a NoKnot to avoid tying the jig directly to the line. It’s mad changing jigs quick and easy.

Fishing early in the morning has advantages especially if weather is still hot, but this tactic will catch them all day long.

The setup for power trolling includes heavy-duty pole holders and strong 16-foot poles.

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Outdoor Guide

November-December 2018

Camping Gear & Gadgets Big Dog Chair Is Just the Most Comfortable

ADCO Offers Smart New RV Cover Set

Looking for the perfect Christmas gift? How about the most comfortable folding chair ever?

The Big Dog chair comes with a carry bag and shoulder strap to fold up and set up quickly and easily, offering a padded seat, steel tubing and a backrest for more comfort. It supports up to 300 pounds.

Protect your travel trailer, toy hauler, 5th wheel, or Class A and Class C RVs with ADCO’s Tyvek Plus wind covers.

The top panel reflects sunlight, keeping the RV cooler. The sides are a durable designer grey polypropylene. The all-climate cover protects the RV from sun/UV rays, rain, snow and wind.

Other features are zipper entry doors for easy access while in storage, a ladder cap that reduces wear on the ladder, reinforced front corners, and a three-year warranty.

ADCO’s wind covers are available at Byerly RV, 295 E. 5th St., Eureka, starting at $306.75. Call (636) 938-2000 or go online to www.byerlyrv.com.

Big Dog chair sells for $85 at 47 West Trailer Sales, 26 Dream Hollow in Troy, MO. Call (866) 464-5434 or go online to 47westtrailers.com.

Collapsible Bucket Handy In RV, at Home The Camco Collapsible Bucket is great for camping, traveling and even at-home use. The heavy-duty, waterproof bucket holds up to 3 gallons of water and collapses flat for storage.

The bucket’s lightweight material and carrying handle make it easy to bring along anywhere, and it includes a zippered storage bag.

Camco’s collapsible bucket sells for $14.99 at Byerly RV, 295 E. 5th St., Eureka MO or call (636) 938-2000 or go online to byerlyrv.com.

Camp Casual Dishes A Gift For All Campers

Campfire Ring Brings Its Own ‘Trees’

Camp Casual is offering a 12-piece set of dishes– a great Christmas gift for people who live to camp.

The 12-piece set includes four 11” dinner platers, four 8.5” salad plates and four 6” bowls packed in a reusable box with handle. Mugs and other items are available separately.

The dishes are dishwasher safe.

Camco’s Portable Campfire Ring will safely contain your campfire but do it with a sense of style, too.

The 27”-around and 8.6” tall steel ring will accommodate a natural, wood-burning fire, and its tree cutouts create a captivating ambience.

Assembly is easy, with no tools required, and it includes a storage bag for easy transportation.

The Camco Portable Campfire ring lists for $40 at Midwest RV Center, at I-55 and Meramec Bottom Road, St. Louis. Go online to www.mwrvcenter.com or call (314) 487-8000.

Camp Casual products start at $8.99 at 47 West Trailer Sales, 2294 Hwy. 47, Troy MO. Call (866464-5434).

Team Mugs Make Great Stocking Stuffers for Fans Fans will love these insulated cups for St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Blues fans. They’ll keep hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold.

The mugs come in silver and black and in large and small sizes, with beautiful detailing.

The team mugs start at $17.99 at Pin Oak Creek RV Park, 1302 Hwy. AT, Villa Ridge, MO. Call (636) 451-5656 or go online to pinoakcreekrvpark.com.

Camp Classic Still Available In Stores Here’s a camping classic from Coleman – the twoburner propane stove, with 20,000 BTU of portable cooking power from its adjustable burners.

Folding WindBlock panels help shield burners from and adjust for pan sizes. It can handle a 12” pan and a 10” pan at the same time. The heat is steady even in cold weather, at high altitudes or when fuel is running low.

The stove weighs 11.9 pounds and measures 13.7” by 21.9”, and it comes clean with soap and water.

The Coleman propane stove sells for about $43 at Walmart, Target and other stores.

Tyre Gard Protects Tires of Stored RVs

Protect your stored RV’s tires with ADCO’s Tyre Gard, made of heavy duty, flannel-backed white vinyl that repels liquids and protects tires from damaging UV rays and environmental hazards.

The guards save installation time by protecting up to two tires at once. They have overlapping seams, double-needle stitching and reinforced grommets.

They help prevent premature cracking of sidewalls that can lead to on-road blowouts.

Tyre Gard fits tires 30 to 32 inches in diameter with a 16” to 17.5” rim diameter. Prices start at $23.99 at Byerly RV, 295 E. 5th St., Eureka MO 63025 or call (636) 938-2000 or go online to byerlyrv.com.

November-December 2018

Outdoor Guide

Page 25

Jeannie’s Journey

Wildlife in Hibernation: A Nature Study Photos and Text

By JEANNIE FARMER

Hibernation among many wildlife species is a fascinating winter phenomenon.

Throughout the season, it provides for those of the animal kingdom to become dormant. Their body temperatures decrease, breathing slows down, and heart rates and metabolism drop, allowing them to go into a deep sleep. Hibernators such as fish, reptiles and amphibians lie dormant with their body temperatures near freezing.

True or deep hibernation refers to animals that are inactive for sizable amounts of time, including weeks and months for many. Their body temperatures drop significantly. Some but not all will awaken at times to forage for food.

Some mammals such as woodchucks are true hibernators. Their heart rates drop from 80 to four or five beats per minute when they enter the hibernation state, and their body temperatures decrease to 60 degrees below normal.

Bats also are true hibernators.

They seek out caves or mines to spend this idle time in winter months.

Interesting facts about hibernating mammals include that while in the state of hibernation, they go into a sleep so deep that they appear to be dead. Their heart rates drop drastically, falling from 400 to an unbelievable 20 beats per minute. Their systems slow to the point that they can’t take a breath for up to an hour.

Other species – namely hedgehogs, skunks, deer mice, rodents and ground squirrels – fit into this category.

TORPOR: LIGHT HIBERNATION The term light hibernation, also called torpor, relates to an animal’s state of mental or physical inactivity. This unique process empowers an animal to survive reduced

WELCOME TO OUR NEW HOME Pecans, still green but downed by stout winds, are tested by some wildlife species seeking foods for hibernation.

food intake. They sleep less. Even when their body temperatures and heart rates decrease, they are able to move about. Some are known to sleep for long periods but awaken more often than true hibernators, and they will consume some food.

Bears are light hibernators, researchers have found. In the torpor period, bears lie dormant, generally from November to mid-April, spending their sleep time in dens or hollowed-out trees.

Bears are famous for foraging for food in the summer and fall to prepare for the long winter season.

In autumn, black bears forage 10-20 hours, which increases their body weight by 35 percent. Food sources generally available to them during the spring include shoots of sedge, skunk cabbage, grasses and leaf buds.

In spring and summer they also feast on large quantities of berries, acorns, hickory nuts, conifers such as pine cones and needles, insects of various kinds, fish such as spawning salmon if available, and mammals. Another interesting fact is that female bears, known as sows, give birth and nurse their young during torpor.

Mushrooms growing wild on the forest floor are favorite foods for hibernating wildlife.

This helps to insulate their bodies with fat and conserve energy to survive the cold winter. When in hibernation, bears don’t eat or drink, while their heart rates and breathing slow, and body temperatures decrease to about 10 degrees, according to scientists. However, when thawing begins and spring starts to provide warmer temperatures, some bear species start stirring and foraging for food.

WINTER IS A TIME TO LEARN Most wildlife species have a remarkable way of preparing for cold weather. In order to survive and conserve energy, during hibernation, an ample food supply must be available.

Autumn, in general, offers specific food sources for foraging animals, with a great diversity of plant species to be consumed and stored to support their nutritional well-being.

These generally abundant foods include acorns, pecans, various types of seeds, and berries such as wild blueberries, blackberries and mulberries. Various fungi, including several species of mushrooms, also offer wildlife a plentiful and nutritious food source and are found in most woodland areas. As with bears, consuming food helps the hibernators store body fat for warmth during the long cold winter months.

The ability of wildlife in our natural world to survive winter’s freezing temperatures in hibernation is something to be marveled at and appreciated. Visiting a local or area zoo is a good place to observe many species’ individual behaviors and living habits. Their gifts of teaching about preservation and survival during winter’s harshest times are wonders to behold.

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Outdoor Guide

Page 26

Gunsmith TechTalk

By JED NADLER Master Gunsmith I know there are not many among us who have a love of numbers the way tech geeks like gunsmiths have. Much of what we do on a daily basis involves “hitting the number,” whether it’s a size we are machining to or a headspace we are measuring.

Numbers inform us, arm us to make good judgments and proper choices. Hence we like

November-December 2018

It’s All in the Numbers

having some numbers around and handy. Others can be very enlightening.

I acknowledge that I will not delight and entertain many with the content of this month’s offering. I DO hope some will find the information interesting and some others will find a handy reference to set aside for the settling of future arguments.

THE SPEED OF SOUND At sea level, sound travels

at 1,125 feet per second (767 mph). Why is this interesting to me? Because ammo that has a muzzle velocity lower than this is “sub sonic.”

Such ammo is very useful in two instances, and all ammo may not be clearly marked as such. If a bullet coming out of a suppressor is going to break the “sound barrier” it’s going to make a crack just like a jet makes a sonic boom. NOT very quiet no matter how good the suppressor is.

Secondly, when a bullet slows down, after some distance, from sonic to subsonic, it becomes unstable as it transitions through the sound barrier. If you are looking for accuracy, better make sure it stays supersonic all the way to the target OR travels at subsonic speed the whole way instead.

MUZZLE ENERGY This key measurement of cartridge effectiveness allows

us to judge whether we’ve got “enough gun” to do the job.

Very often, we are not provided the muzzle energy that would allow us to compare rounds, but we do get bullet weight and muzzle velocity.

The measurement is in units of “foot-pounds,” written as ft-lbs or Ft Lbs or in other variants. The formula for the geeks among us is (½*mass of the bullet*velocity squared). We are accustomed to bullets in grains and velocity in feet per second, so here’s how to figure it with all the unit conversions built in: Grains x Velocity x Velocity 450,240 TRIGGER PULL Trigger pull gages confuse everybody by being digital pounds or pounds and ounces.

Here’s a chart for quick and handy conversion between pounds & ounces and digital pounds.

Pounds & Ounces

lbs

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2

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oz 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 0

Digital Pounds 0.00 0.13 0.25 0.38 0.50 0.63 0.75 0.88 1.00 1.13 1.25 1.38 1.50 1.63 1.75 1.88 2.00

SHOTGUN GAUGE Here’s one you’ve probably seen elsewhere, a long time ago, and can’t quite remember how it went. If you cast lead balls to fit the bore of a shotgun, how many will it take to make a pound? That’s the gauge. Takes 12 balls? It’s a 12-gauge. Twenty-gauge balls are smaller, so it takes 20 of them to make a pound.

The exception is 410. It is actually a “caliber” like a bullet, 0.410 inches.

BARLEY & BULLETS Left over from the 1500s, the grain was actually a measurement of an average barley kernel, considered equal to 11/3 grain of wheat. (Don’t you just love Wikipedia?).

There are 7,000 to a pound, and that makes 437.5 of them

to an ounce. So, for perspective, a 1-ounce shotgun slug is the same weight as a 437.5 grain bullet. Cool.

CALIBER & MILLIMETER Guys like us can remember there are 25.4 mm’s to an inch. So what? How does a 30 cal compare to a 9mm?

How about a 32? Is 6.5mm smaller or bigger than .22?

Yeah sure, 10mm is bigger than 9mm, but where does the .40SW fit in? So here are a couple of charts to put everything in ROUGH perspective.

Some close comparisons are NOT exact but still useful for perspective. Hopefully you’ll find the cartridge you’re interested in listed.

Handgun Caliber/Millimeter Comparison Caliber mm Cartridge 0.170

4.32

0.220

5.59

0.224

5.7

22 short, long and long rifle, 22 magnum, 5.7x28 FN

0.250

6.35

25 Automatic Colt Pistol (ACP)

0.300 0.320 0.327

7.62

0.357

9.07

0.380

9.65

30 Cal Carbine, 30 Luger 32 auto (ACP) 327 Federal 9x19 Luger, 9x18 Makarov 357 Sig .38 Special, .357 Magnum, .380 ACP, 38 Long Colt 40 Smith & Wesson, 10 mm Auto 41 Remington Magnum 44 S&W Spcl, 44 Rem Mag 45 Glock Auto Pistol (GAP), 45 ACP, 45 (long)Colt

8.13 8.31

9

0.354

0.400

10

0.410 0.440

10.41 11.18

0.450

11.43

0.454 0.460 0.475 0.480

11.53 11.68 12.07 12.19

0.500

12.70

Caliber

0.17

454 Casull 460 Smith & Wesson 475 Linebaugh 480 Ruger 50 AE (Action Express), 500 Linebaugh, 500 S&W

Rifle Caliber/Millimeter Comparison

mm 4.32

0.22

5.59

0.223 0.243 0.250

5.56

0.270

6.86

0.256 0.268

17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire

6.17 6.35

6.5 6.8

0.276

7

0.284

7.00

0.30

7.62

0.312 0.315

0.32

7.92 8 8.13

0.338

8.59

0.35

8.89

0.375

9.53

0.416 0.444

10.57 11.28

0.45

11.43

0.458 0.460 0.470 0.500 0.570

11.63 11.68 11.94 12.70 14.48

cartridge 17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire 22 long rifle, magnum, Hornet, 22250 and many others .223 Win, 5.56 NATO .243 Winchester 25-06 6.5 Creedmoor 6.8 SPC 270 Remington 7x57 Mauser, 7mm-08 Rem, 7mm Rem Mag 284 Win

308 Win, 7.62x51 Nato, 30-06, 300 Black Out, 30-30, 300 WinMag, 30 Carbine, 7.62x39 (AK), 7.62x54R(Mosin Nagant) 303 British 8mm Rem Mag, 8x57 Mauser 32-20 Win, 32 Win Spcl 338 Marlin Expr, 338 Win Mag, 338 Lapua, 338-378 Wtby Mag, 338 RUM 35 Rem, 350 Rem Mag, 35 Whelen 375 Win, 375 Dakota, 375 Ruger, 375 H&H Mag, 375 Wtby & Wtby Mag, 375 RUM 416 Ruger, 416 Rem Mag, 416 Rigby, 416 Wtby Mag 444 Marlin 450 Bushmaster, 45-70 Gov, 450 Marlin, 450 Nitro Exp, 450 Dakota, 450 Rigby 458 Socom, 458 Win Mag, 458 Lott 460 Wtby Mag 470 Nitro Exp 500 Nitro Exp, 500 Jeffery 570 Nitro Express

DISCLAIMER – Do not make changes to a firearm for which you are not qualified. Dangerous conditions can result. Take the gun to a qualified gunsmith.

Jed Nadler can be reached at FIRST Gunsmithing in Valley Park, at 636-826-6606 or online at info@FIRSTGunsmithing.com

Visit Our Website At

outdoorguidemagazine.com

November-December 2018

Photo and Text

By LARRY DABLEMONT Life was great when Christmas came, back in Houston, MO, when I was a boy in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. That was when I first heard those old Christmas carols they still play today, like “White Christmas,” “Silver Bells” and “Winter Wonderland.”

I got a new bicycle for Christmas in 1960. I think Dad traded a shotgun for it. You could tie a shotgun or fishing rod across the handle bars and head for the Big Piney River, only a mile or so away, for whatever season presented itself.

A basket on the back helped me get a stringer of fish or a couple of fox squirrels home. And when I went to work at the pool hall that Dad and Grandpa McNew and I owned on Main Street, I had a bicycle to get there.

AT THE POOL HALL It was at that pool hall that Christmas time was most enjoyable, because everyone got a little happier, a little nicer to each other than they were when it got up around 96 degrees in July. Most of the old men gave me some kind of small present at Christmas.

Several of them got together that year and bought me a subscription to Outdoor Life magazine AND one to Field and Stream.

I would buy one or the other every month from Herron’s Drug Store, but they cost 35 cents each and I could only afford one a month. That’s because once a week I also blew 35 cents on a piece of pecan pie from the West Side Café across the street from the pool hall.

I would ask Ol’ Jim and Ol’ Bill and Ol’ Jess to watch the place for just a minute or answer the phone if it rang. Everybody knew that if it was Les Cantrell’s wife calling, they had to tell her he wasn’t there!

Then I would wear the money bag over there and get me a piece of pie on a paper plate to go and eat it in the pool hall.

THE REGULARS One Christmas one of the Front Bench Regulars’ wives made me a whole pecan pie for my very own.

Trouble with that kind of Christmas gift is, it just don’t last very long. I hid it in the back of the soda pop cooler chest and ate it in a hurry, worried that someone else might want a sample.

I remember Preacher Lampkin giving me a little worn Bible, and I think it was Norman Salyer who gave me a used pocket knife

Outdoor Guide

Page 27

Christmas in the Pool Hall Is the birth of Jesus less important today? Anyone who thinks so isn’t seeing the world I am looking at.

On Christmas night, as I slip into the night far from the town’s lights and look at the stars and listen to the owl and the coyote in the unchanging natural world that God created, I say a simple prayer that big-time preachers and “religious” folks might think sounds a little goofy.

At times like that I wonder if someday soon we will

with the blade sharpened so many times it was darn near gone.

Bill Hoyt gave me a little book on how to cheat at poker and not get caught. It was pretty well worn, too.

Jess Wolf was a big old teddy bear of a man who must have been nearly 80. I thought the world of him. He would sit on the front bench and watch a snooker game going on and just drift off to sleep. When he did, I would gently take his cap off his head and hide it somewhere … behind the cigarette machine or in the big mouth of a sea-bass hanging on the wall above the coat rack.

Jess would act awfully grumpy when he woke up and tried to find it, but I don’t think he was ever all that mad. One Christmas, he wrapped up one of his old caps with a faded card that said, “Merry Christmas.”

Beneath the greeting he had written in pencil… “Now yu can hide yer own dam cap an leeve mine alone.”

HAPPY MEMORIES At Christmas time, I helped Dad give away cigars and chewing tobacco and socks and brown cloth gloves to all the Front Bench Regulars. Was that ever a happy time for me! But the celebration of Christmas just isn’t like it was when I was a kid. I think maybe I have heard those Christmas songs too many years now.

They don’t sing those old hymns today in modern churches like they did in the little country church my Mom and Dad made me go to. I don’t think that after hearing Grandpa McNew singing, “It Came upon a Midnight Clear” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem” that I’ll ever cotton to modern church music where you just sing one line over and over.

Today, folks are working to eliminate the name of Christmas and steer new generations away from believing it was God’s son born in Bethlehem. Why can’t we have manger scenes in front of the courthouse now?

have hustled and bustled and commercialized our way toward the last Christmas.

Maybe it will be a while longer if enough of us remember the first one.

Of all my books, I get the most requests for “The Front Bench Regulars” about my boyhood with those old-timers in the pool hall. That book or others I have written might make good Christmas gifts. Just call our office at (417) 777-5227.

Young Larry Dablemont lines up a shot in front of his Grandpa McNew at their pool hall.

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Outdoor Guide

Page 28

November-December 2018

Deer Camp Is Winter Excitement

Photo and Text

By BRANDON BUTLER

My first deer camp was at a state park in Indiana. It was the early 1990s, and I was just 12 or 13. It was only my Uncle Tom, cousin Derek and I. We slept on the ground in a tent with sleeping bags. There was nothing fancy about it, but the two-night trip changed my life.

Hunting can be a solitary experience, especially deer hunting. You spend a lot of time alone, often 15 feet or so up in a tree, which affords

you ample opportunity to sit and think, deeply surrounded by the comfort of nature. All of which is a huge reason why hunting is so enjoyable. But for me, the greatest joy comes from the time spent sharing hunting experiences.

With Missouri firearms deer season now open, there deer camps are under way, scattered in every county across the state. Some are at fancy cabins on managed private property while others are tent camps on public land. No matter the comfort level, family and

friends gathering together for the annual fall tradition of deer camp creates great memories.

A FINE MEAL Food is an important aspect of camp. You eat a lot of meals in your life. So to vividly remember one, it had to be special.

During that first camp of mine, my uncle took ground venison seasoned with Worcestershire sauce, salt and black pepper, and waded it up in a ball and added diced carrots, potatoes and onions. He

Deer camps come in all shapes and sizes, like this one from the author’s college days.

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wrapped it in tinfoil and placed it directly on the outer edge of the hot coals of our campfire.

We ate that meal on a picnic table surrounded by empty campsites in a forest of trees that had shed their leaves. I’ll never forget how good it was and how grown up I felt at that moment.

THE TIME COMES And now, the final preparations are complete. The tree stands and ground blinds are up. A large stack of seasoned firewood is next to the fire pit. By the time you read this, my first Driftwood Acres deer camp is under way with five friends and I deep in the Missouri Ozarks.

Sitting around the crackling flames of a campfire, I’ll soak in the reality of completing another trip around the sun.

I’m reminded of time by the passing and coming of seasons.

Not spring, summer, winter and fall. I measure instead by deer, turkey, trout and duck.

How quickly the time has

passed since I was the young boy sitting fireside, looking up to my uncle who was so willing to give of himself to guide my development as a hunter. Now I am paying it forward by hosting camps for others who desire the same sort of experience.

For so many people, deer season is about so much more than shooting deer. It is the one time of year, for a very short window, when hundreds of thousands of hunters put aside the stresses of everyday life to focus on time spent outdoors. It is a time to reflect on the hunters who came before us and pass on our traditions to those who will follow.

I hope you have a wonderful and safe deer season. And I hope you find success, however you may judge it. Most of all, I hope you have others with whom to share your experiences.

See you down the trail…

Brandon Butler is executive director of the Conservation Federation of Missouri.

Mystery Fish Turns Out to Be a Record

Kerry Glenn of Sedalia became the newest recordbreaking angler in Missouri when he hooked a goldeye on Truman Lake using a rod and reel on May 25.

The new “pole and line” record goldeye weighed 2 pounds, 2 ounces. It broke the previous state record of 2 pounds. Glenn was crappie fishing using minnow for bait when he caught the goldeye.

“As soon as I hooked the fish, I knew right away that it wasn’t a crappie,” Glenn said.

“After getting the fish in the boat, I really had no idea what I had caught.”

Glenn thought he had caught a shad, but after taking his fish to Lost Valley Hatchery to get it identified and weighed, he found out it was a state-record goldeye.

“It took a while for that to sink in, and once it did I couldn’t be any prouder,” he said. “I have fished Truman Lake my entire life and never thought I would catch a staterecord fish, and just like that, I did.”

Goldeyes are a part of the mooneye family, most often found in the open waters of

Kerry Glenn shows the new record goldeye, caught at Truman Lake.

large rivers and lakes. Goldeyes have large eyes and prominent teeth on the jaws, roof of mouth, and tongue. Anglers often mistake the goldeye for skipjack herring while fishing for bait.

Missouri state-record fish are recognized in two categories: pole-and-line and alternative methods. Alternative methods include throwlines, trotlines, limb lines, bank lines, jug lines, spearfishing, snagging, snaring, gigging, grabbing, archery and atlatl.

For more information, go to the Department of Conservation website at huntfish.mdc. mo.gov/fishing.

November-December 2018

Outdoor Guide

Page 29

Claudette’s Kitchen

German Baking Has Its Own Rules

By CLAUDETTE ROPER

It’s that wonderful time of year when the summer heat has subsided and the nights are getting cold. Mountain Man is splitting his time between the livestock and his tree stand, and I begin to think about Christmas cookies. That seems a little early, but most German Christmas baking requires an aging or ripening period.

Being raised with German traditions, our Christmas baking was different from the baked goods served the rest of the year. The cookies and Stollen we baked were only served at Christmastime, usually beginning with the Advent season. I’m certain that added to what made them so special.

Probably the most common German Christmas cookie is known as Lebkuchen (Layb-kooschen). Its history is so extensive that trying to address it here is impossible, except to say that Franconian monks are credited with their invention.

The Lebkuchen we know today had its beginnings in Nüremburg in the 14th century. This product, known as Nürnberger Lebkuchen, is a protected designation of origin and must be produced within the city limits of Nüremberg.

These tasty treats come in many shapes, sizes, textures and tastes. While the term Lebkuchen encompasses them all, the varieties have names of their own: Aachener Printen, Schokoladenherzen, and Pfeffernüsse, to mention just a few.

WHICH LEBKUCHEN? There are probably as many recipes as there are bakers.

As a result, it’s almost impossible to make absolute statements about which ingredients a Lebkuchen will or will not contain. One certainty, however, is that the famous Nürnberger Lebkuchen are made entirely without flour using ground almonds, hazelnuts and English walnuts instead.

When my sister and I compared my mother’s recipes with those of other Germans and Austrians, as well as some online recipes, we discovered that many things we thought we knew for sure are not so sure. Older recipes often varied greatly from new recipes. We believe, in some instances, that may be the result of tough times when certain ingredients were unavailable.

Many recipes do not call for butter (or other fat) or eggs, but some do. Most call for candied lemon and orange peel, but it’s not the kind we usually see in the traditional Christmas fruit bread. When using the more readily available peel, it helps to finely dice it.

While being a fan of authentic foods – no substituting margarine for butter – I’m also a pragmatist. Sometimes a slight deviation has its benefits. Examples of that are Hirschhornsalz and Oblaten, products not found in your average garden-variety grocery store.

ONLINE SHOPPING Since the days of online shopping, it’s easier to get some of these less common ingredients, so I have to decide just how important authentic is. Of course the cheapskate – I mean frugal – part of me kicks in and the decision gets tough.

Hirschhornsalz (aka Hartshornsalz, baker’s ammonia or ammonium carbonate) is a leavening agent. Some claim it was originally made from ground reindeer antlers. Today it comes from dry distillation of antlers, horns and hooves.

Growing up, I only knew it as that white powder that came in little paper packets. Today it is often replaced by baking powder or a combination of baking powder and baking soda. It is believed to make small baked goods crispier and lighter. These qualities are why some bakers continue to use it, despite the popularity of baking powder and baking soda. Its use is recommended for small cookies only.

Oblaten are wafers much like those given when taking communion. They form the base of some Lebkuchen. It is thought that the monks had ready access to these, and they aided in producing a uniformly sized product. Later, larger round and rectangular Oblaten were also produced.

SPICE AND DICE It is not uncommon for recipes to call for a packet of Lebkuchen Gewürz (spice). This is usually a combination of cinnamon, allspice, cloves, coriander, star anise, ginger, mace, cardamom, cloves, fennel and nutmeg. Since there is no set combination, they will sometimes call for a brand

name to accomplish a specific flavor or will list the specific spices and the quantity needed.

Some of these treats are topped with a few almonds before baking and then left plain. Others are iced with chocolate or a confectioners’ sugar glaze, with almonds placed on top.

When done, they are stored in airtight containers in a cool, dry place for a minimum of three weeks to allow all the spices and flavors to meld. Depending on the type of Lebkuchen, it’s not unusual for them to keep for up to three months.

For the purpose of saving space, I will recommend my favorite Pfeffernüsse recipe via this web page: www.daringgourmet. com/pfeffernuesse-german-iced-gingerbread-cookies or just go to daringgourmet.com and type pfeffernusse into the search bar. I promise it’s all in English.

Wishing everyone a frohe Weihnachten!

Lebkuchen – such as this Elisenlebkuchen – comes in a lot of different varieties.

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Outdoor Guide

Page 30

November-December 2018

Your Guide to

GREAT GEAR

Aimpoint Offers Red Dot Sight for Small Guns

Aimpoint, originator and leader in red dot sighting technology, introduces a new line of red dot sights, the ACRO (Advanced Compact Reflex Optic) P-1 Series. The unique small sight design was developed for use with pistols and other weapon platforms.

Users have requested a small, enclosed red dot sight to fit on handguns. The P-1 offers an enclosed system that is more durable than open systems, and it is the only sight in its size category fully tested for shock, vibration, temperature span and other environmental stress.

The P-1 optic adds only negligible size and weight to the equipment and was tested with more than 20,000 rounds on a .40 cal pistol slide, proving its ruggedness and reliability.

While designed for direct integration onto pistol slides, the P-1 sight can also be used as a backup sight for magnifying scopes, personal defense weapons and on any system where a small red dot is applicable.

For more information, go online to aimpoint.com.

Buck Adds SpitFire Lightweight Knife to Custom Shop

Buck Knives has added the popular 722 SpitFire model to its Custom Knife Shop, giving it a range of handle colors and materials, blade steels and finishes as well.

The 722 SpitFire is a lightweight, everyday carry knife first released in 2013. Options include different handle colors and materials, including aluminum, G10, and carbon fiber. Different blade steels and finishes are offered in satin finish, mirror polish and Cerakote coated colors.

The SpitFire was added to the Custom Knife Shop to offer a customer a vast array of selections when designing a knife, including the option to engrave on the blade and handle.

Customers can mix and match hardware, spacers, and clips to create their own unique versions.

The 722 SpitFire base price before customization is $55.

For more information, go to buckknives.com.

DryCase Adds Mossy Oak Patterns to Duffel, Backpack

Crosspoint Socks and Gloves Add Merino Wool Lining

Winchester Offers Xtended Range On Shotshells

Brush Grippers Good for Hunting, Camping or Fishing

DryCase backpacks and duffel bags, all 100 percent waterproof, are now available in Mossy Oak patterns. The 20-liter backpack is in either Break-Up Infinity and Shadow Grass Blades, listing for $119.95, and the 40-liter duffel is in Shadow Grass Blades for $129.95.

Both bags are made of Gnarlwall marine-grade waterproof technology for wet, rainy and muddy days. Each bag has a two-way purge valve for inflation or compression.

They can even be used to transport game, too. Once you’ve cleaned your mess and rinsed out your bag, all water will drain out of the built-in, two-way purge valve.

Features include limited lifetime warranty, water resistant zipper, outer storage pocket, drink holder, bungee straps, internal zippered pocket, wallet compartment, tie downs, and padded lower back, waist and hip support.

For more information, go online to www.drycase.com.

Winchester has launched Xtended Range versions for its Bismuth shotshells with Shot-Lok technology, resulting in a lead-free product ideal for turkey, waterfowl and upland hunters.

The new product pairs Shot-Lok technology with Bismuth shot, resulting in optimum performance for turkey, waterfowl and upland hunting in areas that require lead-free shot.

With density greater than steel, bismuth offers improved penetration, near that of standard lead loads. Shot-Lok protects the bismuth shot from fracturing, which improves pattern density and increases downrange energy. The Xtended Range Bismuth puts twice the number of pellets into a 20-inch circle at 60 yards than standard lead loads.

Xtended Range Bismuth sell for approximately $35 for a box of 10.

They may feel comfy, just like regular gloves and socks, but the Showers Pass Crosspoint Mountain Socks and Crosspoint Waterproof Knit Wool Gloves are actually fully windproof and waterproof, using a proprietary three-layer construction.

Features include a wear-resistant knit exterior, seamless waterproof-breathable Artex membrane, and a moisture wicking Merino Wool-blend lining.

The socks effectively turn any shoe into a windproof and rainproof solution, while the gloves help you retain comfort and dexterity in inclement weather.

The Crosspoint Mountain Socks list for $45 and the Wool Gloves are $49 at showerspass.com.

Blakemore will soon be offering Brush Grippers, a new steel solution for hunting, camping or fishing needs that require a good grip.

A few of the many uses are as a brush anchor for duck hunting or fishing, a lantern hanger at a campsite, or with kayaks. Some anglers and duck hunters use Brush Grippers at each end of their boat to provide a stable, no-drift position.

Campers can hang clothes, lanterns or set a lean-to with the Brush Gripper. Kayak users will anchor their yak on the shoreline or use it to hold the yak in place while fishing, or to hold accessories while paddling.

A 10-foot cord is included. The tighter the cord pulls, the tighter the Brush Gripper grips.

Brush Grippers will be available this month in orange, dark green and silver. Go online to ttiblakemore.com after Nov. 15.

Mossy Oak and Scentlok Offer Smart New Set

Mossy Oak and Scentlok have collaborated on a hunting jacket and pants set that promises to beat the heat or defy the falling rain – in comfort and silence.

The Scentlok Savanna Reign Jacket and Pants are now available in Mossuyu’s popular Break-Up Country and Bottomland camo patterns.

ScentLok has been engineering innovative solutions for bow-hunters for 25 years. Savanna Reign provides premium protection from precipitation with NeverWet, a super-hydrophobic permanent fabric treatment.

Hunters remain dry and comfortable when the skies open up.

The jacket offers a hooded design with an integrated facemask, delivering maximum scent control and protection from insects, plus a safety harness opening, zippered waist pockets and a zippered chest pocket.

The pants have six flexible pockets and a non-slip waistbelt with a fast-adjusting buckle for a secure fit.

The jackets list for $129.99 to $149.99 and the pants are $139.99 or $149.99. Go online to ScentLok.com.

Rumpl Uses Old Art for High-Tech Blankets Rumpl and Nipomo have combined to create new lightweight, technical blankets incorporating traditional woven designs from Tlaxcaka, Mexico, intended to preserve Mexican arts and crafts while providing a high-tech solution for people in the outdoors.

Rumpl, a Portland Ore. outdoor company, developed the design, then Nipomo artisans created an exact woven replica, which Rumpl then printed onto its blanket.

Rumpl also combined with German musician and artist Ingo Pohl for the “Space Oddity” blanket, and painter Kelly Marie for a blanket called “Messy Ever After.”

The blankets are filled with hollow fiber insulation and weigh just 2.1 pounds. They stuff into their sacks easily for storing and packing and are machine-washable and quick drying. Finally, they are water, stain and odor resistant but still durable.

The versatile blankets keep you comfortable no matter where you are and have been tested and proven in harsh environments, yet specifically selected for comfort and durability.

The blankets described here list for $129 and can be seen at rumpl.com.

Genuine Bacon Grease Makes for Great Cooking How about a cooking oil that contains no gluten, no dairy, no MSC and no peanuts? Yes, it’s genuine bacon grease, from high-quality bacon in John Gordon’s traditional smokehouse process and triple-filtered for purity.

A gallon contains 7.3 pounds of bacon grease – the equivalent of grease from 21 pounds of bacon. Use it instead of butter, shortening or traditional cooking oils.

It’s shelf stable for up to two years, so it’s ready when you are. Try it for fried turkey, potatoes, chicken, eggs, biscuits, muffins – and even pan- or deep-fried fish.

The gallon bucket lists for $29.99, and a 16-ounce tub will be coming soon. Check them out at BaconUp.com.

Outdoor Guide

November-December 2018

Page 31

A New Year Comes; Time Stands Still

By LARRY DABLEMONT I wrote this as a newspaper column about 10 years ago, and several readers commented that they liked it then.

So I will send it out again in hopes that new readers like it as well, with the knowledge that old readers, like me, don’t remember it…

There won’t be any New Year’s Eve party here on Lightnin’ Ridge. Things will be about like they are almost every night. I will be asleep well before midnight.

About then, a pair of raccoons will be ambling along the small creek that leads down to the river, looking for food that is becoming harder to find because the crawdads are in deep water and the frogs are buried in the mud, just as it has been for hundreds and hundreds of years.

A great horned owl will leave his perch at the edge of the meadow and sweep down upon an unsuspecting deer mouse without a sound other than the rustling in the grass when he pins it against the cold earth with sharp talons.

A great horned owl’s wings make no noise, just as it has been for who knows how long.

Unfortunately for the mouse, he won’t live to see

the new year, but he doesn’t even know that there is one coming. He didn’t see the coming of the last one. He has lived only 10 months, and that’s a long time for a mouse.

The field where he has lived is a home for dozens of field mice, voles, cotton rats, and shrews; nearly a dozen species of small ground mammals, some of which spend the entire winter beneath ground in hibernation. Fortunately for the owl and other predators, some species of small mammals do not hibernate but remain active throughout the winter or at least much of it.

Inside the big oak where the owl sat, a pair of fox squirrels sleep in a small, protected cavity. They will miss the dawning of a new day and a new year if the temperature is well below freezing for a good while.

They won’t hibernate throughout the winter, but in periods of extended extreme cold, they will sleep for days, in a semi-hibernation, much like the raccoon, skunk and opossum.

A MATTER OF SURVIVAL There are some big sycamores along the bluff over the creek, and several wild gobblers spend the eve of the coming year asleep on their

branches, their forms plainly visible in the moonlight.

Three of the gobblers are big old toms, but there are five jakes that have never experienced a New Year’s Eve before. They sleep through it, with tightened tendons in their legs securing their toes to the limbs of the sycamore like the grasp of a vice.

Their ancestors weathered the passing of hundreds of mid-winter nights in much the same way. Change is not clamored for amongst wild creatures. It is resistance to change that ensures survival of the species. It is sameness that gives security in wild places.

In a cedar thicket, buried in the grasses, a covey of bobwhites form a ring, ten of them in all. There were nearly twice as many in October. The new year brings little for them to celebrate. With their bodies huddled together, warmth is passed to the weaker members of the covey by the stronger, and they preserve heat as feathers fluff and insulate.

When there are too few and the temperature plunges, there is less chance of survival. As a new year begins, smaller groups find birds of another covey and join them in greater numbers, finding greater strength to resist the cold.

Huddled beneath the cedar,

Winter has its own beauty in the Ozarks.

they are unaware of the gray fox, which passes by as the new year approaches. His is an eternal quest for food, and if he only knew they were there, what a New Year’s Eve party he would have. But like the owl, he will settle for a few small ground mammals on this final night of an old year.

THE CYCLES OF LIFE A half-dozen mallards spring to flight as a bobcat streaks across the river gravel bar where they rest, upstream from the mouth of the creek.

He leaps high to grasp a

slower member of the flock with his forepaws and pulls her down, taking that weaker, slower individual for a new year’s feast. The hen mallard is a substantial meal for the bobcat. The rest of the flock circles in the moonlight and will settle into another hole of water upstream.

The last protests of the quacking hen break the stillness, but other sounds of nature at midnight are subtle.

A buck snorts from a cedar thicket above the creek. A dying rabbit shrieks from the

– Paul Caldwell, Photos of Arkansas

field across the river, as a mink ferrets him from a brush pile.

Smaller than the rabbit, the mink can go anywhere, and he wraps his body around the cottontail’s neck and hangs on, his teeth buried in the soft fur as the life-and-death struggle that marks the beginning of a new year is just as it has always been.

Here where the creek joins the river, where the woodland breaks into meadow, where thickets of briar and cedar stand as they have since men See NEW YEAR page 44

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Outdoor Guide

Page 32

Rural Ramblings

Deer Season, Like No Other

By RUSSELL HIVELY

With the various seasons of deer hunting, almost all of November and December are a part of deer season in Missouri. Whether a person only hunts the regular gun season or by the many other alternative methods, people get excited about deer hunting. *** Deer camps, church breakfasts and family dinners have become a yearly tradition with deer hunting.

Some claim the opening day of deer hunting season has the same holiday feeling as Christmas or New Year’s Day. Some families use the day as a family gathering with breakfast, deer hunting and a large noon or evening meal. If the ladies are hunters, meals are catered.

Sometimes, frost comes late and leaves still cling to trees as a deer hunter waits for the elusive buck. After a frost, a small breeze can pick up, and multi-colored leaves tumble to the ground constantly, with never a moment when at least one leaf is not floating toward the ground.

*** Did you realize that most refuse from sawmills is converted into mulch or charcoal? Sawdust also is used as bedding by some livestock farmers.

Colleges seem to be getting more practical with some of their classes. Missouri Southern State University in Joplin now offers a beekeeping class. The hives that are used as part of the class are on 40 acres of tall grass prairie the university owns. *** More than 600 Missouri high schools now participate in the Missouri National Archery Program. *** In many cultures, a cock cardinal represents a loved one who has passed. So seeing a cardinal is like someone you loved revisiting you.

Feeling old? Remember, in 1910, the life expectancy for men was 47 years. *** Good conservationists follow the old saying, “You cannot control where a bird goes, but you can control a place for him to go.”

*** Now that most purchased lumber is planed, a 2” x 4” stud is really 1 1/2” x 3 1/2.” *** Some people claim the smell of the woods during hunting season is special.

The smell of overripe apples, the musty smell of the mast on the forest floor, and the hint of a camp fire are special. Or is it the smell and taste of campfire coffee that greets a person as he rolls out of his sleeping bag that is so special? *** The tastes of possum grapes and wild pecans are signs of early winter. Sadly, some people never hear the unique sounds of a flock of geese flying high overhead.

Or the “bang” of a black walnut falling on a tin roof.

Or rifle or shotgun blasts off in the distance.

*** Hunting in the fall is a time when people get off city streets, interstate highways and the “blue” highways and head for the back roads where dust trails your vehicle to your hunting spot. It is a time when people don’t

care if road dust settles on the back window and smart alecks write, “Wash me!” *** Unpicked corn standing in a field next to a deerhunting spot can be both good and bad. The corn can give a hunter cover, but how can you walk quietly through a dry field of corn? *** Some hunters have the reputation of being poor shots. One old-timer was such a bad shot that his friends said his first shot at a covey of quail was only a warning to give the birds a fair chance. *** Although SUVs have made inroads into the rural areas of Missouri, pickups are still the number one vehicle in sales. *** November and December are special months of the year. They are times for family, hunting, holidays and one’s right to worship and praise God. Have a pleasant holiday season. Anyway, that is what this rural rambler thinks and sees.

November-December 2018

• Hunting

from page 8

and get paid to look cute and take pics like this.

NAMING ANIMALS I used to do this, like most people nowadays, but I’ve been #hitlist free for three years now. Naming animals is just dumb. This is a direct result of social media influence, and it is not even up for debate. When hunters are creating a season-long Facebook-post-laden-quest for “Bucky,” people want to replicate it. This isn’t one of the major issues, but it does irritate me. Naming animals makes the hunt seem trivial and like you have total control over “your” herd. I just don’t like it.

GIVE HIM ANOTHER YEAR You post a photo of a great buck on Facebook. People are congratulating you, liking the pic. Then this guy comes in hot with “good deer but I would have given him another year.” Firstly, nobody cares what you think. Your guessing of age structure is probably wrong anyway. Nine times out of ten, the buck is very nice.

Secondly, why feel the need to backhandedly comment on somebody’s harvest? If you shoot a deer, great job. Who cares what others think on your property.

BROWN IT’S DOWN CREW Listen, I get that this may be contradictory at a glance. I get it. I shoot a lot of does. But I’m not talking about people who hunt to eat. There is a sect of the hunting community that shoots every deer they see, no matter of population status on their property. Often times, these are the same hunters who would willingly poach, as well as waste most of the meat (usually only taking the backstraps/tenderloins) on a deer they harvest. This is not acceptable. If you shoot it, eat it.

Also, the “you can’t eat bone” folks need to chill, too. If you had the opportunity to harvest a buck over a doe, don’t act like you wouldn’t do it.

CONCLUSION These are just some of the issues I and others have noticed plaguing our sport. I know people will disagree, and that’s fine. I want to open up some dialogue. We need to become more cohesive. Unfortunately, the ongoing dominance of social media in our lives is helping divide us. It allows fake hunters to infiltrate our sport, and we need to put an end to it.

Ryan Miloshewski is a freelance outdoor writer and co-founder of “Mahoney Outdoors” online magazine.

Contact him at rmiloshewski@ gmail.com.

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Outdoor Guide

November-December 2018

Page 33

Just One More Covey Rise

Photo and Text

By SCOTT PAULEY

When an only daughter asks her Pops what he would like for his 85th birthday present, she might not know exactly what to do when he replies, “I would like to see one more covey rise in my lifetime.”

Pops, a lifelong bird hunter, hadn’t been afield for numerous years after a period of declining quail numbers and the passing of his beloved English setter Jinks.

Pops is still in good health, but walking rough terrain wasn’t as easy anymore. Yet he longed for just one more hunt.

PLANS ARE MADE That is exactly the dilemma

faced by Sara Parker Pauley, and she didn’t hesitate one beat. She immediately started reaching out to friends for help, the first a friend with birddogs, a pointer and a retriever, and the second a friend with a farm hosting several coveys of quail.

The date was set. They arrived at the farm the afternoon before and let the dogs run free and the handler get a feel for the lay of the land.

It didn’t take them long to point and flush a covey. The next morning’s hunt began to take on a heightened expectation, especially for a girl and her dad.

STORIES ARE TOLD The evening was spent reminiscing about memo-

Sarah Parker Pauley and her Pops head out on one last quail hunt.

rable experiences afield.

Stories were told about days of old, amazing Missouri hunts, Jinks’ outstanding points and retrieves, Pop’s miraculous shots and even a few short stories about errors, mistakes and missed opportunities.

The following morning was clear, cold and crisp with little wind. Quail could be heard whistling at dawn.

Pops was primed and ready and his daughter had a smile from ear to ear. As usual, it wasn’t as easy to find that first covey as it had been the afternoon before, and both were apprehensive they might miss their first shot.

As they walked along side by side, with guns in hands, they knew this was about so

much more than just another bird hunt.

AND THEN… The dogs worked hard, moving in and out of the brush along the edge of a creek and cornfield, noses down searching for a scent trail. Then, in an instant, a locked-up pointer and an honoring retriever, Pops moved in, making the flush and there it was – One More Covey Rise.

For dinner that night, roasted quail with a rice and mushroom paprikash, hot cheesy garlic bread accompanied by a nice glass of chardonnay. A birthday celebration fit for a king, but more importantly, made for a happy daughter and her tired yet thankful Pops.

Viral Deer Disease Turns Up in Illinois

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has received reports of 55 suspected cases of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) in white-tailed deer so far in 2018 from 17 counties.

EHD is a viral disease of white-tailed deer that can cause localized die-offs when conditions are favorable for transmission. Infected animals develop a high fever, and dead animals often are found

near water sources.

Outbreaks typically end when freezing weather kills the insects that spread the virus. While often fatal to deer, EHD is not hazardous to humans or pets. It has been shown to affect livestock, so producers should be vigilant.

The virus is transmitted between deer by a midge that hatches from muddy areas along lakes, ponds, streams and rivers. Reports are more

numerous during hot and dry summers, presumably because receding water levels create muddy areas that provide breeding sites for the midges.

EHD has appeared this year at low-to-moderate levels in counties on or near the Illinois River including Fulton, McDonough, Peoria and Putnam.

Scattered EHD cases were reported in central and southern counties Alexander, Macon,

Madison, Marion, Monroe, Perry, Pope, Randolph, Richland, Union, Wabash, Wayne and Williamson.

WORST YEAR The worst year for EHD in Illinois was 2012, when 2,043 cases were reported from 76 counties. In 2013, the state received reports of 403 cases from 51 counties. EHD was virtually absent in 2014 and at low

levels in 2015 through 2017.

DNR asks landowners and hunters to be on the lookout for dead or dying deer and to report suspected cases to a DNR field office or the Wildlife Disease and Invasive Species (WDIS) office.

The department is especially interested in sick or recently dead animals, as staff may attempt to collect tissue samples to confirm the presence of the virus.

Contact information for local IDNR biologists is available online at: web.extension.illinois.edu/wildlife/ professionals.cfm. Or contact WDIS at (815) 369-2414 or by email at doug.dufford@ illinois.gov. Provide your name and contact information plus the county, number of dead or sick deer, sex of the deer if known, age as fawn or adult, and the specific location.

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Outdoor Guide

Page 34

November-December 2018

Book Tells Tales of Turkey Hunting Noted outdoors writer and former game and fish commissioner Berdette Elaine Zastrow has published a new book with some of her best stories, called Fan Tales – A Chronicle of Wild Turkey Hunting Stories.

Zastrow is known for challenging the gender gap in hunting literature. Stories in the book are described as “hilarious, bone-chilling, fun and exciting,” starting with her first hunt 28 years ago in the Black Hills of South Dakota and including hunts in Missouri, New York and Iowa.

Other stories come from her work as a guide in northeast South Dakota and address the old style of turkey decoys and today’s highly technical products.

The stories mention the professional hunters, friends and relatives who have been on her hunts, and the book has 30 photographs to bring the

stories to life.

Topics include wild turkey biology, the National Wild Turkey Federation and two favorite recipes.

GOOD REVIEWS Bobby Whitehead, editor and publisher of Outdoor Guide Magazine, was one of the first readers.

His report: “I am a turkey hunter. I have books by the legends: Colonel Tom Kelly, Ray Eye, Jim Spencer and others. This new book has quickly become my favorite. It chronicles a lifetime of turkey hunting from a former South Dakota game and fish commissioner that will tickle your fancy.

“She presents a lifetime of individual hunts giving you the good, the bad and the exciting,”

Whitehead added. “Do yourself a favor and add this to your library. You won’t regret it.”

Another well-known outdoors writer, Josh Lantz, said the book is a great reflection on its author.

“My friend and hero, Berdette Elaine Zastrow, writes as she lives … with humor, humility, unyielding advocacy for conservation and a passion for shared outdoor experiences,” he said. “Fan Tales chronicles a life well-lived in the outdoors through entertaining accounts of the kinds of one-off camaraderie and unpredictable lessons learned that so often define and add value to the turkey hunting experience.”

The book was published by Wild Outdoors Publications, P.O. Box 7, Grenville SD 57439, and is available for $19.95 in paperback or $5.99 on Kindle at Amazon.

Illinois Adds Locations for Non-toxic Shot Requirements The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has added more counties to those falling under its non-toxic shot requirement this fall, at sites for dove, controlled pheasant and upland game hunting, for the 2018-19 seasons.

Many IDNR sites already require use of non-toxic shot. Lead shot has been banned for waterfowl hunting by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since 1991. Non-toxic shot is required for use at all IDNR sites for hunting waterfowl, coots, snipe and rail.

DOVE HUNT Dove hunting season opened Sept. 1.

Non-toxic shot is required for dove hunting at these sites: • Coffeen Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area (SFWA).

• Copperhead Hollow SFWA.

• Crawford County SFWA. • Edward R. Madigan SFWA. • Middle Fork SFWA. • Jim Edgar Panther Creek SFWA. • Ray Norbut SFWA. • Shelbyville SFWA. • Kickapoo State Recreation Area (SRA).

• Lake Le-Aqua-Na SRA. • Siloam Springs State Park.

• Siloam Springs State Park Buckhorn Unit.

• Weinberg-King State Park.

• Dixon Springs State Park.

• Pere Marquette State Park.

• Ramsey Lake State Park.

• Harry “Babe” Woodyard State Natural Area (SNA).

PHEASANT HUNT IDNR is requiring non-toxic shot for Controlled Pheasant Hunting at five additional

FISHING

sites, including: • Des Plaines SFWA. • Horseshoe Lake State Park (Madison County).

• Jim Edgar Panther Creek SFWA. • Silver Springs SFWA. • Mackinaw River SFWA. UPLAND HUNTING IDNR is requiring non-toxic shot for Upland Hunting seasons at these additional sites: • Anderson Lake SFWA. • Banner Marsh SFWA. • Big Bend SNA. • Bradford Pheasant Habitat Area (PHA).

• Crawford County SFWA. • Cretaceous Hills SNA. • Double T SFWA. • Horseshoe Lake State Park (Madison County).

• Jim Edgar Panther Creek SFWA. • Mackinaw SFWA. • Marshall SFWA. • Mautino SFWA. • Sam Parr SFWA. • Sand Ridge State Forest/Sparks Pond and Rollo.

• Sanganois SFWA. • Victoria PHA. • Whitefield PHA IDNR reminds hunters to check Hunter Fact Sheets posted on its website for site-specific hunting season information and regulations, as some other sites not listed above require non-toxic shot.

Additional information can be found in the Illinois Digest of Hunting and Trapping Regulations 2018-2019, on the same website.

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Outdoor Guide

November-December 2018

Page 35

Campfire Tales, Believe It or Not

By GERALD J. SCOTT

The Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA) usually holds an event called “Around the Campfire” one evening during its annual conference. The idea is to have four veteran outdoor communicators – a.k.a. graybeards ­– come up on stage in full sight and hearing of their assembled peers and answer questions posed by an unmerciful moderator.

Well, it’s evening as I write this, and I have a gray beard. True, I am speaking to a larger audience than my fellow POMA graybeards had to face. On the other hand, I’ll have to suffer neither laughter nor catcalls. But if anyone were to ask these questions, I’d be ready.

1. What was your most embarrassing miss?

It’s been some time ago now, but, for several years, I guided turkey hunters on behalf of Sedalia’s chapter of Ducks Unlimited. Due to what I’d like to think was at least a modicum of skill – bolstered by consistently good luck – I developed a reputation for producing gobblers for my pro bono clients.

One spring, I was paired with three hunters for one morning each. I had the first one back to the Comfort Inn in

time for breakfast. The second day’s hunt took only a couple of hours longer. Neither of those men had much turkey hunting experience, but both were a pleasure to spend time with. I was (almost) as pleased by their successes as they were.

My client for the third day was every bit as personable as the first two, plus he was an experienced turkey hunter. I normally don’t carry a firearm while I’m guiding, but when I told him we would be challenging two inseparable gobblers, he insisted that I bring my shotgun.

Those two turkeys turned us every way but loose. Finally, about 11:30 a.m., they tired of the game and wandered off onto property I didn’t have permission to hunt.

Ever the optimist, I told him that if he’d stay over an extra day, I had a plan to outsmart our feathered foes. That was all the convincing he needed.

A NEW PLAN On our way to the woods the following morning, I revealed that I intended to set up a silent ambush where I was sure the turkeys would enter a ridgetop pasture. There would be no decoys and absolutely no calling.

The two toms spent the first hour after daylight tormenting us with nearly constant gob-

bling before going absolutely silent. I was beginning to think I might have to physically restrain my partner to keep him from calling when the gobblers slipped under a barbed-wire fence and entered the pasture right where I’d predicted they would.

It was obvious they were going to walk past our position in single file at about 35 yards. I whispered that he should shoot the second turkey whenever he was ready and that I would fire on report.

Our two shotgun blasts sounded almost as one, and two turkeys sprinted across the pasture unscathed. All he said was, “Take me crappie fishing.”

2. What’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever done outdoors?

Admittedly, there are a lot of contenders for this one, but one “incident” rises above all the others. It happened one day back when the muzzleloader season required a separate license.

I was hunting from a 16foot homemade ladder stand that guarded the upper end of a timbered hollow when I spotted several does standing in a thicket downhill and to my right. One of them walked up the hollow until she was only about 30 yards from me and turned broadside.

The only problem was that a tree trunk between us blocked my view of her chest. But not to worry. The chair I was sitting in was firmly bolted to the stand, so I hooked my left foot behind a chair leg, secured the rifle’s buttstock on the inside of my elbow and leaned as far to the right as I could.

When I touched the trigger, I was instantly blinded, not only by the expected cloud of smoke, but also by blood spraying from a deep scope cut above my right eyebrow.

By the time I’d stanched the bleeding and cleaned my

glasses, the deer I’d shot at was nowhere in sight, but the rest of them were still in the thicket, so I reloaded.

NO HARM, NO FOUL Only a few minutes later, another doe left the herd and was soon standing exactly where the first one had been. I decided that, after all I’d been through, I should at least have a deer to show for it. I also deduced that the flesh on my forehead would be numb after its first encounter with the scope, so I repeated the steps up to and including my first shot.

That part about my forehead being numb was more than a trifle overly optimistic. It hurt as in really hurt, and it bled as in really bled. But the deer went down in its tracks!

Probably fortunately, I was still smoking back then, so I could self-medicate during the somewhat lengthy process of getting myself lined out to climb down from the stand.

Much to my surprise, the first deer was lying only a few feet from the second one. But at least that part was a no harm, no foul, because I had two antlerless tags in my pocket.

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Page 36

November-December 2018

Taneycomo Revived His Love for Fishing

By PAYDEN HAYS When I was in grade school, fishing was a daily part of my life. Many evenings and weekends were spent on the banks of the small pond behind my childhood home.

The bass and crappie must have hated me because I fished the pond so much. I loved the feeling I would get pulling a big largemouth from the water.

As I approached my teenage years, visits to that source of daily delight slowly dwindled and my fishing poles began to gather dust.

Nearly a decade after high school, I was ready to pick up the rod and reel again.

I have been to Branson many times and thought I had seen everything it had to offer. From Silver Dollar City to the Landing, from Yakov Smirnoff to the Dixie Stampede, I had experienced it all, I thought. Much to my surprise, there was a very exciting attraction I had blindly driven by for years – Lake Taneycomo.

AT TANEYCOMO Lake Taneycomo, a river they call a lake, flows from Table Rock Dam into Bull Shoals Lake. It’s stocked with thousands of rainbow

trout and many elusive brown trout. Bass and walleye are occasionally caught as well, or so I’m told.

When my friend Tyler Mahoney invited me to fish Lake Taneycomo in early February, I was excited, yet skeptical of my ability to catch fish. I imagined myself struggling to throw the complicated fly rod with its tiny lures and multiple sizes of line. After all, that’s the only way I knew to catch the elusive trout. Luckily, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Our journey started a couple hundred yards above “Trophy Run,” a place not far below Table Rock Dam. The area is home to many large trout, or “footballs” as Tyler affectionately called them from their fat, football-like resemblance.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn I didn’t need a fly rod to catch trout. My mind was blown as we pulled out some lightweight spinning reels with two-pound test line. Our bait was a hand-tied 1/16th oz. marabou jig that Tyler bought from Lilley’s Landing. Sculpin and Pink were our colors of choice.

FIRST CASTS Unsurprisingly, my first few casts yielded no fish.

Payden Hays lands a nice trout.

I was focused more on my footing and the cadence of my retrieve. Once I settled in, I felt a tug, and my rod bent over towards the water.

Seconds later, I landed my first rainbow trout of the trip.

It was exhilarating pulling the fish right up to me as I stood in the water. As I caught more fish, I noticed even the small fish put up a good fight on two-pound

line. I landed a particularly colorful rainbow, and it was then I realized I was totally hooked on this experience.

The more fish I caught, the more I realized just how picky trout can be. Some spied my sculpin jig from inches away and expressed no interest.

Then with one slight color change, they would devour it. Pink became my favorite throughout the weekend.

FIGHTING RAINBOWS When the fishing slowed, we moved downstream right to the top of Trophy Run. We were there about half an hour with no action when Tyler hooked up with a twopound rainbow trout. Both our hearts raced as he fought the fish. It pulled, tugged, and fought for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, the fish gave in and I scooped it up in the net.

It’s amazing how much strength they have even after a long fight. Tyler took a moment to admire his catch then released the fish back into the lake.

Soon after, we received a call from our friend who had rented a boat, so we needed to pack up soon to meet him.

As I retrieved my last cast, my lure stopped abruptly.

I thought I was snagged but realized in an instant I had hooked into something big. Tyler had just landed perhaps the biggest rainbow trout of his life, and now mine was on the line.

Excitement turned to panic as the thought of the thin, hair-like line potentially snapping shot through my mind. The adrenaline made the fight feel long, but it passed in the blink of an eye. As I scooped it up in the

net, I felt a rush I hadn’t felt in years. It weighed in at a pound and a half and was a beautiful fish.

As I held it for the picture, Tyler explained the importance of not handling the fish too long. They are strong, yet delicate fish.

I released it gently back into the water and watched as it swam back under the downed tree from which it had ambushed my lure.

FISH HAPPY At that moment, that intense feeling of happiness that comes only from fishing overwhelmed me. The memories of pulling crappie and largemouth out of the pond behind my childhood home came flooding back.

I felt the calming peace that only a February morning on the mist-covered banks of Lake Taneycomo can provide.

No two vacations to Branson have been the same for me, just as no two fishing trips are the same. I can honestly say wading the waters of Lake Taneycomo renewed my love for fishing. I’ll definitely be back to Lake Taneycomo to chase not only the elusive trout but the feeling of euphoria that comes with it.

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November-December 2018

Page 37

Ducks Unlimited Leads Wetlands Preservation Efforts

Photo and Text

By BOB HOLZHEI

John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath was published in 1939. Two years earlier, at the height of the Oklahoma Dust Bowl, dried up wetlands across North America resulted in plummeting duck populations.

The novel described the story of human unity, love and the need for cooperation.

However, the effects of the stock market crash in October 1929 lasted long, and the Dust Bowl created a sense of desperation as folks moved across the country and away from their homes.

In the midst of hopelessness and despair, an idea for an organization was conceived in 1930 in New York City when waterfowlers met and saw a need to begin to raise money in order to preserve wild lands across the United States.

The original organization was called the More Game Birds in America Foundation, which established a 10-year plan for increasing upland game bird populations. The federal government created many wildlife refuges at that time, focusing on flyways and

refuges, creating breeding habitat in the north and migration and wintering habitat in other areas. Eventually the flyways became super flyways.

Discussion of the future of wildfowl led to wildlife management, which was in its infancy stages. State and federal agencies became involved as a new science began, pioneered by Aldo Leopold, a professor of game management at the University of Wisconsin. Other colleges and universities also began developing courses in wildlife biology and management.

DUCKS LIMITED? Suggestions for modernizing the name from More Game Birds in America Foundation to simply Ducks was made, but in Canada corporations are legally designated as “Limited.” So the name didn’t fit, for the organization did not want populations of “Ducks Limited.” Thus the name Ducks Unlimited came about.

In 1934 the first duck stamp was issued, and the money generated was earmarked for duck habitat.

Ducks Unlimited was established in North America in 1937 as dried-up wetlands

Ducks Unlimited volunteers prepare for a youth event.

of Dust Bowl resulted in decreasing duck populations across the country. Ducks Unlimited emerged as a grassroots organization that was volunteer-based, consisting of members who were conservation minded and outdoor enthusiasts.

The vision seemed unattainable as the idea was conceived. Perhaps the thought

would settle in the dust and become buried. That did not happen.

As of last year, Ducks Unlimited’s annual report indicated 14 million acres of land have been conserved since the founding of the organization. The “Rescue Our Wetlands” campaign was funded by donations from supporters and organizations

across the United States.

WETLANDS ROLES Wetlands are crucial because they “filter drinking water and refill ground water sources, prevent flooding, protect coasts from hurricanes, and provide recreational opportunities for birds, hunters, anglers and boaters,” according to Ducks Unlimited.

The despair from the years of the Dust Bowl described

by Steinbeck transformed into a need for cooperation and the emergence of Ducks Unlimited. Currently, 13.8 million acres across the U.S. are conserved.

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Outdoor Guide

Page 38

November-December 2018

All My Trails

Lone Elk Park Crams Adventure, Wildlife, Scenery into 546 Acres

Photos and Text

By CARL GREEN

St. Louis County is large as counties go and has more than a million people, so it’s no surprise that it also has a long list of great parks, especially for hiking or biking.

But one of them, Lone Elk Park, qualifies as unusual, interesting and challenging, all at the same time.

• UNUSUAL – In that its 546 acres are ringed by high fences to keep in its prized possessions – herds of elk and bison.

• INTERESTING – In that visitors can share a little space

with those major mammals – as long as they stay at a respectful distance – and also that it started as a place to test military ammunition.

• CHALLENGING – Because those lovable animals can be dangerous, too, and the whole place is built on steep hills that make hiking both a scenic pleasure and a cardiovascular workout.

We rumbled in from Interstate 44 at Exit 272 – head west and watch for signs – on a cool, sunny early fall day. We found the place looking gorgeous and only moderately busy.

Many visitors never get out of the car. You can cruise

PICNIC TIME – This elk seemed to be waiting for the picnic to begin.

slowly through the park on smooth, narrow one-way roads that let you see some animals, stop and take a picture, get a little lost and then find your way back out.

But we weren’t there for drive-through nature. We’d come to take a hike. There is just one trail, a well-marked, hiking-only loop called White Bison, that circles the small lake and visits the entire park except for the area at the west end where the buffalo roam.

Once you find the trailhead at the visitor center by the lake, you just walk around in a big circle, reported to be anywhere from 3.2 to four miles. It took us about two hours of steady striding. It has no flats – everything’s uphill or down.

TANGLED HISTORY The place has a history, for sure. In World War II, the Tyson Valley Powder Plant was created to test and store ammunition on 2,400 acres along the Meramec River.

Vestiges of it are still apparent – concrete walls in the middle of nowhere and mysterious little bunkers that set the imagination wandering,

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AT REST – The females in the herd were enjoying a peaceful afternoon together.

and most importantly, high fences around the park property. After the war, the county made it into Tyson Park, and it seemed a great idea to bring elk from Yellowstone, buffalo from Oklahoma and deer from Grant’s Farm to establish small herds inside the fence. But the feds took the place back for the Korean Conflict and by 1958, the big herds didn’t seem like such a great idea. The animals were killed, with one great exception – a bull elk that got away and went on living there for years, all by itself, unknown and unseen.

In 1964, the county purchased 405 acres back from the government to re-establish the park. When George Weber, the Chevy dealer, brought in a fresh load of elk in 1966, the old bull showed up, too, surprising everyone and giving the place its excellent name – Lone Elk Park. The West St. Louis County Lions Club and Rockwood School District students pitched in on the project. Quarry operator Fred Weber Inc. (no relation to George) built the lake, and the park re-opened in 1971.

In 1973, six more bison came from the St. Louis Zoo to help re-establish that herd.

100 FEET AWAY But we didn’t know all that yet as we drove in. We quickly came to a dead end at a picnic area occupied by a large elk that patiently posed for pictures from a respectful distance until we drove back out of there.

Soon enough, we found the

trail and set out, scrambling up and down, switching back and forth, and occasionally encountering an elk or a deer.

We made it to the far side of the lake, where we literally stopped in our tracks because an enormous, wellantlered bull elk was resting peacefully, right on the trail, overlooking the water. He wasn’t smoking anything but he seemed peaceful enough.

Park signs had warned us to stay 100 feet away, but we didn’t see him until we were a lot closer than that. So we snapped a photo and then climbed up and over a rocky hill to move away before he could impale us with those antlers.

HOLD THE SELFIES It sounds unlikely, but it does happen. In October, 2017, a nature photographer shooting a herd of elk noticed visitors trying take “selfies” with the elk. One bull made a warning sound, and the photographer hollered, too, but soon the bull antlered a woman’s arm, causing minor injury and major scare.

Another woman had been injured that September when she came too close to a bull that gored her in the back. Park officials note that mid-August to December is mating season – not the time to annoy a giant bull elk.

In our case, the bull paid us no mind as we scrambled away and found the trail a little further along. Soon enough, we had a peculiar experience as we walked along the east side of the park. The trail is at

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IN THE WAY: The massive bull elk rested peacefully – right on top of our trail. We went around.

the bottom of a hillside with a road along the top, separated by a tall fence. So we were inside the fence with the animals as the tourists slowly drove by up above and peered down – at us! We could only hope they enjoyed the view and took a few pictures.

We saw one young elk and a few deer as we finished our hike and then set out to drive the park roads. We didn’t see any bison, but that was OK. We took a turn toward the lake, and there on a grassy hillside was the rest of the elk herd – something like 15 goodsized female elk, all sitting and enjoying some sun and company, with nobody darting among them for selfies. We were reminded of some of our acquaintances – the women enjoying being together, the men wandering about either looking for the women or avoiding them.

THE LOWDOWN A few more pertinent items: • The highly regarded World Bird Sanctuary is located on the road heading into the park. That’s another story for another day.

• Catch-and-release fishing is allowed by reservation, with bass, bluegill and crappie all notable. Call (314) 615-8481 or check for open dates at stlouisco.com/ParksandRecreation.

• Morning people can rejoice – the staff feeds animals first thing, so before 8 a.m. is the best time to see them. Gates open about 6:30 a.m.

• Two picnic shelters can be reserved, and a few picnic tables are scattered around.

• One picnic shelter is named for Ralph Foley, an Army and Air Force employee who joined the county parks in 1964 and became construction foreman. He died in a threecar crash in 1971.

• Supposed to be some wild turkey and waterfowl, but I don’t remember seeing them.

• Rules, rules, rules – no motorcycles and no pets, even inside your car.

Editor’s note: We’ve called these columns “Two Wheel Trail” because they started out to be about bike trails, but the topics have eased over into hiking trails, too. So now it’s “All My Trails.” Thanks for dropping by!

Outdoor Guide

November-December 2018

Page 39

Wrestling White Bass on a Chilly Day

By GERALD J. SCOTT

I was taking a pleasant stroll down memory lane when I came upon a day my dad and I spent together on the first Saturday in November, a little over 30 years ago. He and my mother arrived at our rural Lincoln home Friday afternoon.

The temperature was struggling to remain above freezing, and the coldest south wind I’d ever felt was roaring through the treetops at 25 mph. When I was bringing in their suitcases, I remember thinking that this visit wouldn’t include our standard Saturday fishing trip.

Wrong! After giving me a one-paragraph dissertation about how his ice-clad destroyer pitched and rolled in the North Atlantic during WWII, he pointed out that nothing like that was going to happen to my vintage Ranger bass boat on Truman Lake.

OK, we were going fishing, but fishing for what? Not only were Dad and I almost exclusively crappie fishermen, but we’d rewritten our own perch-jerking records during the spring and summer of that year. I didn’t have a clue where to find crappie under the weather conditions we’d be “enjoying” the following morning.

Then I thought of white bass. The only weather condition that influences white bass behavior is wind strong enough to force shad onto the points and into the short coves on the downwind side of the lake. I knew several places that should (might) attract white bass under the prevailing conditions, and one of them was practically within sight of a boat ramp. Hmm...

HANDLING A BOAT On Saturday morning, three things became readily apparent: It was even colder than I thought it would be, the first place we tried was loaded with hungry white bass, and all of my time was going to be spent keeping us off the bank.

For the first 15 hours – or it might have been closer to 15 minutes – Dad pretended not to notice that I very rarely made a cast and hadn’t landed a single fish. Actually, that’s not entirely true. He kept up what seemed to me to be a continuous banter about how many fish he was catching despite the “far from satisfactory job” his guide was doing handling the boat.

At this point, all of you who have done any guiding are thinking I was about to put him ashore on the far side of the lake. Fortunately for both of us, there’s a “rest of

the story.” My dad was a true prince among men, and I knew there was no edge whatever to his teasing. He was, in fact, more concerned about me not being able to fish than I was.

When we reached the end of the productive shoreline, I used the trolling motor to move far enough offshore to give me time to get to the back of the boat and start the gas engine. En route, I literally stumbled over the solution to our problem – an anchor lying in the bottom of the boat. Anchoring far enough out that Dad could cast to the bank behind the boat and a short distance to either side allowed me to cast farther to either side of the boat.

BASS KEEP COMING Even at the time, neither of us knew how many white bass we caught along less than a quarter-mile of shoreline, but it couldn’t have been less than 100. The 30 we kept averaged slightly less than 1.5 pounds apiece, making our catch the heaviest limit stringer of white bass I’ve ever been part of.

But all good things must end. Our coffee thermoses had been empty for hours, and the cold wind’s attempts to penetrate our bones were becoming increasingly successful.

They were worth a little wind burn.

I honestly don’t remember which one of us was first to call “Uncle!” but I do remember us setting some kind of speed record for getting a boat back to the ramp and tied down on its trailer.

Back home, we managed to position ourselves in front of the fireplace before certain

persons of the wifely persuasion began berating us about how “dumb” it was for “two grown men” to get their faces that wind-burned.

Neither of us could understand why either of them felt the need to say anything at all on the subject. After all, how did they expect us to catch

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That day is only one among many signposts along my memory lane that mention my dad. He was “a good man to run the river with,” and in the last 10 years of his life, we did indeed run some rivers.

Page 40

Outdoor Guide

November-December 2018

Outdoor Gallery Send in your favorite outdoor photo to ogmbob@aol.com and be featured in the Outdoor Gallery of Outdoor Guide Magazine.

TROPHY CATCH – Seth Smith, from Belton MO, lands a trophy smallmouth while out on an Ozarks stream with guide Dennis Whiteside. According to fisheries biologists, it takes 10 years for a river smallie to reach 18 inches in length.

This one and another Seth landed have been around for well over a decade.

SMALLIE HEAVEN – Andrew Sharp of Wichita, KS, shows one of several smallies he caught this past May in northwest Ontario. “It was a big-fish trip this year,” he said.

AT BEAR CAMP – Fishing guide Dennis Whiteside reveals the ultimate man-cave for bear camp – with something useful to read when you really need some privy-cy.

ON THE TRAIL – Partners Jim DeFreitas (right) and Dale Willingham competed in the last American Crappie Trail tournament of the year for 2017 on Grenada Lake in Mississippi.

November-December 2018

BASS PLAYER – Rick Heroneme, fishing with his buddy Brian McCarty and guide Dennis Whiteside, ties into some river bass on the Niangua River.

Outdoor Guide

PADDLING SOUTH – Bay Nothing, Yellow Bank, Harry’s Root, Deer Leap and Snaggy Bend are just a handful of the locations along the Current River that Pete Reddick (in back) and his buddy, Steve Keel, like to explore, along with staying at the “Current Situation” cabins in Doniphan and heading out with float-fishing guide Dennis Whiteside for a couple of days of prime float fishing.

TURKEY TREK – Paul Hollis, executive vice president of RTP Outdoors in St. Louis, has been collecting turkeys in Nebraska lately, including a Rio Grande, a Merriam and the Hybrid seen here.

Page 41

KEEPING CURRENT – “Bassboat Bob” Barden (at left) and Tommy Noser doubled up on some smallies on the Current River with guide Mike Emerson.

BELLY BOMBER – Neal Holland of Wichita, KS, reports: “We might have caught fewer fish on this trip than usual, but the size of smallmouth and northern pike was the best I’ve seen in 20 years of fishing northwest Ontario.”

Page 42

Outdoor Guide

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November-December 2018

Women Are Back in the Woods

Photos and Text

By JOHN SLOAN Southern Editor at Large Where I grew up, women hunters were common. They did not just come along to cook and keep the camp neat, they came to hunt. They did everything the men did, from shooting to gutting to gathering firewood. It was expected and accepted.

I don’t know when that changed. Somewhere along the line, it became novel to see a woman hunter and especially, a woman bowhunter. That was some of the premise behind Robert Pitman and me starting a bow hunt for women only

at White Oak Plantation. It immediately caught on. Does and Bows was booked solid for 13 years.

Over the years, I have known several women who are true hunters and guides, women like Joella Bates, Mia Anstine, Ashley King, Kathy Butt and Tess Randle Jolly. They are real hunters, not window dressing, and there are a lot of them across the country.

Today, it is again almost common. I am not talking about the beautifully coiffed and polished “stars” you see on outdoor television. In some instances, they are window dressing, much like the mannequins in store windows, just

there to garner your attention.

I am talking about women such as Ashley King from Alabama and MiaAnstine from Colorado, two women from vastly different upbringings.

They hunt, and they don’t do it by sitting in shooting houses or ground blinds in front of feeders.

ASHLEY KING Ashley King was born in Albemarle, NC, and has lived there most of her life. She grew up fishing and playing sports and doing tomboy type things.

Then, in 2010, she met a man and they started dating.

“But during hunting season, I would never see him,” she said.

“So in about 2012, I bought a bow and started practicing. I thought, maybe we could hunt together. But I was wrong. It’s always better to sit in two different spots, I was told. There is

Mia Anstine with a monster, bow-kill bull in Colorado.

a better chance of seeing more deer, he told me.

“So that’s just what I did. I would go to another property, climb my stand and hunt by myself. Being so competitive, I loved that part of hunting. I loved trying to shoot a deer before he did. In October 2013, I shot my first deer, a doe, with my bow! I have been hooked since that day.”

In 2014, King moved to Rutherford County, NC. “I have hung stands, checked cameras and done all of the prep work you have to do before the season even starts,” she said. “It’s a lot of work, but it is well worth it when you get that trophy! And knowing you did it all on your own, there is no better feeling.

“Over the years, I’ve built up my collection of guns, too.

My bow was my first weapon, but since then I’ve added a Mossberg 500, a .243 rifle, a 6.5 Creedmoor and a few small handguns.

“In March, 2015, I did a gator hunt in Florida and got a small 6-footer. But it was still such a rush to be so close to a reptile that could eat me! Then I went turkey hunting and killed my first turkey in April, 2015.

I didn’t have my own shotgun then, so I used my boyfriend’s Mossberg 835. I killed my trophy 9-point in December of 2015 with my .243. That was a big year for me.

“This past turkey season, on opening day, I finally got to kill a turkey with a bow. I haven’t got to kill a bear yet, but I have been on a few bear hunts. I enjoy hunting with my bow the most. It’s a huge challenge and takes tons of practice.”

MIA ANSTINE Mia Anstine lives in the Rocky Mountains of southwest

Mossberg’s Linda Powell Is Honored • New Year

Linda Powell, longtime director of media relations for O.F. Mossberg & Sons, was inducted into the Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame in August to honor her work for the outdoor industry, promotion of hunting heritage and efforts to further conservation.

A North Carolina native, Powell entered the firearms industry in her 30s and now has more than 20 years of experience. She is known for mentoring new hunters and is a life member of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and served on its board from 2010 to 2016. She is a member of the NRA, the Boone and Crockett Club and Safari Club International.

John MacLellan, vice president of sales and marketing for Mossberg, said Powell is “legend in her own right.”

Linda Powell accepts her honor from (left to right) outdoorsman Ray Eye and Mossberg Vice President John MacLellan.

“Linda is one of the most well respected people in the shooting sports industry, and we are proud to have her as part of the Mossberg team,” he said. “On behalf of all of us at Mossberg, we’d like to take this opportunity to offer Linda the most sincere con-

gratulations on this major achievement.”

Other inductees were Charlie Brewer Jr., John McAteer, Doug Minor, Jim Scoutten, Jimmy Sites and Orlando Wilson. The Hall of Fame was founded by Gerry Mason in 2002.

first came to change and scar and destroy the land ... life goes on. There is no celebration. It is only the passing of another night, the coming of another day.

NO NEED TO PARTY And I know that for some, it is necessary on this night to group together and make much of the ticking of a clock, where alcohol flows and the noise grows to a blaring crescendo. But I’ll walk that quiet wooded ridge above the creek in the first hour of darkness, and treasure the silence, listening for little more than the distant yodel of a coyote.

I’ll survey the river bottoms in the moonlight and be thankful for the stability of unchanging nature when man lets it be – wild creatures living as they always have, evidence of God’s unchanging laws which even man will eventually answer to.

Ashley King with a trophy buck, taken with a .243.

Colorado and grew up hunting.

“Growing up, I learned about all things wonderful through a simple, pioneer way of life,” she said. “Most people these days will never have the opportunity to experience, or even understand, the ways of living independent of technology or modern conveniences.

“It’s that basic style of living in the Colorado mountains that inspired me to encourage others to get outside, hunt, fish, shoot, cook, eat, survive, create and live life in a positive way.

“My father hunted to put food on the table. My mom grew a garden, sewed, and taught me how to fish. Before my parents moved to the area, my great-grandfather used to visit there for annual hunting trips. He passed on his skills to my father, who passed them on to me.”

THE ELK HUNT “After nine years of applying, this year I drew an archery elk hunting license for a limited area, just over the Continental Divide in Colorado,” Anstine related.

from page 31

There is perfection here.

Thank God we haven’t ruined it all. We will in time, I suppose. These mushrooming numbers of human beings will destroy it all eventually – but maybe not this year.

On this little Ozark ridgetop, life continues as it always has. There’s nothing special here at midnight, no observance of anything different or new. And I will not celebrate the coming of a new year while I linger there. I will mourn the passing of the old one. I draw nearer, each eve of a new year, to the year which will be my last.

A TIME FOR THANKS It has been a year to give thanks for. None of us are guaranteed there will be another one. This quiet wooded ridge overlooking the moonlit river is a good place to ask the Creator to allow us all to enjoy one more year, to ask that the

“As usual, I trained, planned and prepared for the hunt.

Since it’s an archery hunt, it is key to have a caller who can distract the elk’s attention from the shooter. My husband did a fine job in this area. We encountered thousands of elk and came within bow range of at least 75 bulls.

“We set up a high mountain camp, which we packed in and out three times on our horses. I finally sent an arrow at a beautiful mature bull. Taking him down in the thick, beetle-kill timber, my husband and I deboned him and then carried the meat out on our backs, up the mountain and over the piles of trees, to our waiting horses. We returned home and processed almost 300 pounds of meat to put into our freezer.”

JUST TWO These are just two of the thousands of independent women who take to the woods and waters every year. And if women will go hunting, it just follows they will take their kids and grandkids.

And we need that.

coming year be a good one as well ... a year wherein wild things and wild places continue to exist.

I could wish you a happy new year, but wishing it for you will not make it happen.

We should pray for each other’s good health and work together to make the coming year a good year for the neighbors, friends and family that we know and love.

In living our lives with others in mind, we create happiness for ourselves. If you have seen many years pass, you have learned that. If you are young and have it to learn, may this be the year it comes to you.

And may you end this new year – when it becomes an old passing year – with more peace and more wisdom than you began it with. Those are the things no man can ever have too much of, and few men ever attain.

Outdoor Guide

November-December 2018

Page 45

Take the Turkey-Taker’s Quiz

By GERALD J. SCOTT

I hadn’t intended to write again about turkeys yet, but that was before I stumbled across a copy of a five-yearold “Turkey-Taker’s Quiz.”

According to the press release that was still clipped to it, it was the brainchild of well-known outdoor writer John Phillips.

I’ve known John for many years, and while he’s among a very short list of people who think he’s anything out of the ordinary as a turkey hunter, he’s a very smart man and a truly gifted writer. Besides, the press release stated unequivocally that taking this five-question quiz will “sharpen the skills you need to bag one of the more than 7 million gobblers across North America.” That beats the heck out of wasting a lifetime studying the accursed critters.

Alas, I didn’t do particularly well when I took the quiz five years ago, and I didn’t do any

An adult female deer in Oregon County in southeastern Missouri tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) after landowners found the deer dead on their property.

The Missouri Department of Conservation collected a sample and had it tested for CWD. It was the first deer

better when I retook it a few minutes ago. I’m not sure what that means, but I once guided a man who was totally frustrated with my calling strategy until he lowered the boom on a 25-pounder with a 12-inch beard.

Maybe he was right when he looked me in the eye and said, “The only thing you know about turkey hunting is how to kill turkeys.”

QUESTIONS Now it’s your turn.

1. Although you’ve been scouting for two days, you haven’t heard a gobble.

You’ve bagged a tom before on this same land. Do you:

a) Return to where you’ve bagged a gobbler previously. b) Keep attempting to make a turkey gobble. c) Continue to scout to gain more information about the local turkeys. d) Go to places where you

assume turkeys will be.

2. While hunting in a river bottom, you locate a tom on the other side of thigh-deep water. Which tactic will be best:

a) Shoot across the water. b) Run upstream or downstream to find a crossing point. c) Wade across the water. d) Attempt to call the turkey across the water.

3. How can you bag a gobbler that won’t fly down until he sees hens that are roosting nearby?

a) Use a turkey decoy. b) Flush the gobbler, walk in the direction he flies, set up and call. c) Get ahead of the hens when they fly down, and take a stand. d) All of the above.

4.When turkeys won’t gobble, make them gobble by:

a) Using a crow or an owl call, b) Calling loudly, c) Calling like a blue jay.

d) Using a gobble call.

5. Where hunting pressure’s high, the best time to bag a gobbler is:

a) As soon as possible after legal shooting time in the morning. b) Late in the morning when few others are hunting.

ANSWERS The “official” right answer to the first question is “A.” Hunting for memories works just often enough to have sent me traipsing down that primrose path on many an occasion.

Even so, I chose C by process of elimination. Not only is it impossible to learn enough about a piece of property in only two days, it’s seldom a good idea to try to force turkeys to gobble while scouting, and assuming anything about what a gobbler will do, as is required by both A and D, is risky business.

The undisputed answer to the second question is “B.” It

shouldn’t take a high school grad-u-ate to figure out that wading into enough ice-cold water to reach your thighs is insane even if the bottom is solid – and that’s a big if in a Missouri River bottom. Shooting across a body of water is illegal, and calling a gobbler across water is an uncertain proposition. That leaves B., find a place to cross the water safely.

I’ll concede that the leastwrong answer to the third question is “D.” However, a better option would be to leave the

Deer Found Dead from CWD; First in State

found dead in Missouri to test positive for CWD. The nearest confirmed CWD positive was over 70 miles away inArkansas.

This finding brings the total number of CWD cases detected in free ranging deer in Missouri since 2012 to 76.

“We will be working cooperatively with hunters and land-

owners in the coming months to test more deer in this area and assess the extent of the disease in Oregon County,” MDC Wildlife Disease Coordinator Jasmine Batten said.

CWD is a fatal disease that affects deer and other members of the cervid family. There have been no cases of CWD infect-

ing humans, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that hunters harvesting deer in areas known to have CWD to get their deer tested before consuming meat.

Hunters in or around Oregon County can have their deer tested during normal business hours at the Ozark Regional Of-

fice in West Plains. Hunters can bring the entire deer, preferably field dressed, or the head with at least six inches of the neck in place, and MDC staff will take a sample to have it tested.

Hunters harvesting deer outside of business hours can remove the head, keep it cool, and bring it to the office later.

gobbler alone until late morning and then return to his roost area.

The alleged answer to the fourth question is “A,” but in my opinion, the correct answer – a short, loud blast on a referee’s whistle – wasn’t among the options. Then too, why is it so all-fired important that a turkey gobble at that particular moment?

As for the fifth question, even though any turkey hunter worthy of the name will be in the woods before dawn, the correct answer is “B.” I got that one right. So how did you do?

“Sampling deer that show possible signs of CWD is one important piece of our surveillance efforts, and we greatly appreciate the public’s assistance,” Batten said.

For more information and information on sampling opportunities, go online to mdc. mo.gov/cwd.

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Outdoor Guide

Page 46

November-December 2018

A Book as Special as Its Topic

Writing about the outdoors, animals and places to visit has been a dream of mine for a long time. I have never really aspired to write a book, but I really love reading them. So to perfect the plan, I’d like to be the guy who writes reviews on

tomes about outdoor topics.

A book I read earlier this year delivered on all I could have hoped as a guide to places I’d like to see, and it included a couple that I have already seen. Mark Woods is a newspaper columnist who received a fellowship to write about national parks across the country.

If you know someone who likes books and outdoor places, Lassoing the Sun: A Year in America’s National Parks could be great gift item. My kids bought it for me, and it was a great choice.

BETTER THAN A GUIDEBOOK It is much more than just a guidebook that starts with sunrise on New Year’s Day on Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park in Maine and concludes at the end of the year at Haleakala in Hawaii. The stories of family and people in between make for compelling reading.

We went to Acadia and Bar Harbor, Maine, in early September a couple of years ago.

We watched a sunset there, and it was incredibly cold. I can’t imagine the environment for a sunrise in January, but Woods was not alone.

Being in the first place where the sun reaches the American mainland on the first day of the year is apparently a thing.

It is also requires extreme weather gear.

The main theme of the book is its celebration of 100 years of national parks in America, and it asks what

those places might be like a century from now.

The one park Woods featured that seems to be most in peril is called Dry Tortugas, a series of shallow islands about 70 miles west of Key West, Florida. Almost any sea level rise will swamp Fort Jefferson, which was built in the 1800s to defend and protect the shipping lanes between the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.

Another place featured in the book that we have visited is Olympic National Park in Washington on the Pacific Ocean. The book highlights a place called the Hoh Rainforest. We hiked at a section called Quinault, which also features a temperate rainforest.

As opposed to the tropical rainforests of Amazon acclaim, these Pacific Northwest areas are fed by the moisture that comes off the ocean but can’t make it over the coastal mountain range, resulting in more than 140 inches of rain each year.

NOT ALL BIG NAMES In his big year, Woods visited some of the best-known national parks including Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Yosemite, acknowledging the amazing features that make them popular with millions of visitors each year.

The descriptions made me anxious to see these national treasures.

The author also visited a place called Gateway in New York, which depicted the system’s need for some tender loving care. Mostly an overgrown and abandoned

The temperate rainforests of Olympic National Park in Washington make it one of our most inspiring national parks.

airstrip on the harbor with its own island of garbage, it also includes a large grassland that may resemble what New York City looked like before the first Europeans arrived.

Recognizing more recent history, Woods spent a few days at the Flight 93 National Memorial at a field outside of Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

The place is a powerful and poignant look at America’s reaction and remembrance of a terrible September day.

THE BIG BEND Woods made a quick stop

at one national park I really hope to see some day. There is actually nothing quick about a visit to Big Bend National Park in the middle of nowhere in Texas. No matter where you happen to be, it is still a long drive to Big Bend. Its location away from everything, of course, is the place’s charm. It is best known for star-filled skies above mountains, deserts and Rio Grande valleys with no interference from the man-made world.

If you have national pride about outdoor places across

our country, Lassoing the Sun can take you to many of them while you wait for your chance to visit in person. Getting to know Mark Woods, a University of Missouri graduate, and his family along the way is a delightful side trip.

John J. Winkelman is community relations manager at Mercy Hospital Jefferson. If you have news for Outdoor Guide Magazine, e-mail ogmjohnw@aol.com and you can follow John on Twitter at @johnjwink99.

Grandpa Had Him Shake for Squirrels

By JIM CASADA One of the countless enduring memories from my boyhood involves a winter squirrel hunt with my Grandpa Joe. He was the perfect partner for a youngster approaching his teens, because Grandpa was, in essence, just a boy trapped in an old man’s body.

Grandpa possessed boyish enthusiasm as well as a lifetime of hunting experience, and no matter how much the “miseries” (a collective term he used to describe arthritis, cabin fever or whatever happened to be bothering him at the time) plagued him, he was always ready for a hunting or fishing outing.

This particular occasion came on a bitterly cold morning in late January after two or three inches of snow had fallen the night before.

“Squirrels likely won’t be out and about in this weather,” Grandpa opined, “but we’ll get in trouble with the womenfolks if we stay in

the house. Besides, I’ll show you a trick about how to get the makings of a squirrel and sweet ‘tater supper on a day

smaller birds.

Not once did we encounter squirrel tracks, but Grandpa had a ready explanation for

“Squirrels likely won’t be out and about in this weather,”Grandpa opined, “but we’ll get in trouble with the womenfolks if we stay in the house. like this.”

Thus began what he described as a “vine-shaking expedition.”

NO TRACKS In one sense, it was just a walk in the winter woods, with educational stops along the way as my mentor pointed out where rabbits had passed before dawn en route to their daytime “hides,” grouse tracks leading to an old apple orchard where the bird likely hoped to find a windfall apple or two not yet fully rotten, and all sorts of sign left by

this. “A bushytail’s got better sense than to be out in this weather,” he said. “Only fools like us wander around. Never mind though, we’ll likely dislodge a few of ‘em from their warmth and comfort.”

His approach was the essence of simplicity. Any time we saw a nest where there were grape vines leading up the tree holding it, or even where grape vines encircled worn holes and slick bark suggesting a den tree, Grandpa would have me shake them with all the effort my small frame could provide.

THREE SQUIRRELS Most of the time the result was nothing other than me getting a bit of exercise and him chuckling when I’d use a vine for a bit of swinging if it offered that opportunity.

On three occasions, however, a startled bushytail left a nest, having clearly decided it had urgent business elsewhere. I killed one squirrel with my shotgun and on the other two occasions, Grandpa’s trusty little .22

took care of business.

We had the makings of a squirrel supper, the pleasure of some simple sport on an unlikely day, and I had gained insight on yet another of the many ways to get to treetop tricksters.

Outdoor Guide

November-December 2018

Page 47

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Outdoor Guide

Page 48

November-December 2018

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