Hunting
Getting Youth Involved in Turkey Season
Getting Youth Involved in Turkey Season Youth turkey season can be such a fun, exciting and rewarding experience. Here are some tips and tricks for a successful hunt. Get Them Involved Give the youth turkey calls to practice with and invite them to practice calling before season. A box call or push-button calls are […]
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Back to the Basics
Back to the Basics Basic drills are where a great bird dog begins. The basic drills are where bird dogs maintain greatness. I like to think of basics as building blocks. Once my dog consistently accomplishes a foundational skill like retrieving, I can add a layer and start doing memory retrieves. After my dog consistently […]
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Favorite Small Game Cartridge
Favorite Small Game Cartridge I have a picture of my grandpa, Ron, sitting on a mountainside in Colorado with his Ruger 22 Single Six on one knee and a Gray Jay sitting on the other. My grandpa was an avid outdoorsman who used to travel to Colorado for an annual elk-hunting trip. One of his […]
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How to Find Spring Turkeys
How to Find Spring Turkeys There have been many times throughout my turkey hunting years that I have heard the phrase “There aren’t any turkeys on my ground”, or “I only see turkeys when I’m deer hunting, but never in the spring”. In my early years I never thought much about it when people said […]
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Leveraging Prairie to Improve Habitat
Leveraging Prairie to Improve Habitat As I write this I am winding down for the evening after surviving an ice crusted day of freezing rain. A unique phenomenon my friend Luke Fritch and I have noticed on such days is the presence of pheasants near our houses as the ice glazes over all of the […]
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Guide to Creating a Spring Food Plot for Deer Hunters
Guide to Creating a Spring Food Plot Spring is the perfect time for deer hunters to start preparing food plots. The plans for deer season 2025 start now and a well-planned food plot not only improves hunting opportunities but also contributes to the overall health and nutrition of the local deer population. Creating a food […]
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Dog Nutrition Breakdown
Dog Nutrition Breakdown If you’re getting nutritional advice for your dog from cousin Eddie, you need to stop. In the Christmas classic “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”, Snots (the dog) is under the table and Clark asks Eddie, “What’s wrong with the dog?” Eddie nonchalantly responds, “Oh, he’s just yakkin’ on a bone…he’s probably just […]
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Range Etiquette
Range Etiquette You might be a redneck if you never use the word etiquette. I say, “Join the club”. Just because you might rarely use the word, doesn’t mean you don’t and/or can’t be etiquette at the range. Google’s dictionary defines etiquette as “The customary code of polite behavior in society or among members of […]
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Public Land Shed Hunting Strategies
Public Land Shed Hunting Strategies It was the winter of 2015 and my wife and I were living in a third-floor apartment in Bettendorf. Although we were in the middle of city living. I still had a strong pull to get out in the woods and try this new pursuit. Hearing about it from a […]
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Use Shed Hunting to Combat Cabin Fever
Use Shed Hunting to Combat Cabin Fever I dread cabin fever (February – April). It’s cold. It’s dark longer than it’s light. Most hunting seasons are closed and football season is over. Rather than continuing to let this season get me down, I plan to combat the doldrum with a new hobby of shed hunting. […]
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