hunting
A Flight of Passage!
A Flight of Passage! It starts with a change. That first real bite of cold in early fall when the leaves have barely started to turn and daylight periods grow shorter. It isn’t a rapid change, but more of a coaxing that sends those first early migrants on their southward journey. Waterfowlers sense this as […]
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When the Pressure (Hunting) is High!
When the Pressure (Hunting) is High! I grew up hunting with a great bunch of guys from my church. Most of them were farmers who had plenty of land and enjoyed the company of a city boy and his dad. Deer drives were our method of hunting and with these guys on our team, there […]
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Breaking Down Fall Plots: Whitetails 365
Whitetails 365: Breaking Down Fall Plots It was September of 1999. My hunting buddies and I had been watching a bachelor group of bucks feed between two alfalfa fields all summer long. With each cutting of hay, the group would simply rotate about a quarter mile between the two fields depending on which field was […]
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Targeting Wood Ducks in Iowa
Targeting Wood Ducks Wood ducks are hands down my favorite duck species. Their curious behavior, the habitats they like to frequent, the male’s striking plumage, not to mention their meat is better than a lot of duck species in my mind. All of these things combined and more are what put wood ducks on the […]
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Improving Your Marksmanship
Improving Your Marksmanship As a bow hunter one of the things that I strive for is to take a shot that is accurate and will take my quarry down quickly. Invariably, like most hunters, I have an errant shot that doesn’t quite hit the mark. At times it is circumstances beyond my control, i.e., unseen […]
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What Iowa Public Land Has to offer
What Iowa Public Land Has to offer Public land is getting more and more attention in the outdoor space lately. At a total of 640 million acres of public land available inside the United States, one can start to understand why it has come to draw so much attention. When thinking of public lands, it’s […]
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30 Things Every Hunter Worth Their Salt Should Know How To Do
30 Things Every Hunter Worth Their Salt Should Know How To Do Sportsmen come from all walks of life: rich, poor, young, retired, self-inspired, or groomed into the lifestyle by those who came before us. It is safe to say that no two hunters have precisely the same tastes when it comes to what game […]
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Defining Success in the Deer Woods
Defining Success in the Deer Woods In an attempt to do better at this thing called life I recently read an article at www.lifehack.org entitled “30 Tell-Tale Signs You’re Going To Be Highly Successful.” The article begins with the statement, “All successful people have a set of characteristics and threads that enable them to succeed.” […]
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Making the Right Decision
Making the Right Decision It had happened before but too quickly. This time, the buck came in downwind, stopped to think about what he was smelling, and I had enough time to take a shot. As I watched the arrow pass into his right side and bury itself under his fur, I knew that it […]
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How Safe is your Treestand
How Safe is your Treestand August 10th. It’s hot. And humid. Iowa has turned into a sauna. You surf the web in the A/C after dinner and the 10-day forecast has the first major cold front of the season in it with a high of 65. Instantly your thoughts turn to what the cool weather […]
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