When big-water salmon disappear

These two anglers with a big salmon catch. A great fishing day!
photo courtesy Dave Richey Outdoors ©2012

These two anglers with a big salmon catch. A great fishing day!

It seems to happen almost every summer. There comes a period of a week or so when the salmon fishing slows down or seems to stop altogether.

Who knows why it happens. That part is not as important as knowing that it will occur. The major question is when it will happen. Salmon fishing has been hot up and down Lake Michigan.

Obviously, on any given day, a person or boat filled with people can get skunked or have a very poor showing. That part never bothers me now because fishing is just one more of many reasons to get outdoors and breathe some fresh air.

If the fish bite, that’s great. If they don’t, there will be no sad looks on my face. It is what it is, and we may not have any control over these things. Let’s not whine about it.

Forget about it, already!

However, I look at such days as an opportunity knocking on my door. It’s a day that suddenly is freed up. It allows us to change our plans.

Perhaps, weather permitting, we can arrange a fishing trip on an inland lake or stream. There are countless lakes in the Traverse City area where I can go to fish for bass, bluegills, crappies, northern pike, sunfish, trout or walleyes … just to name a few game fish species.

So what if these fish may not be as big as a lake trout or salmon? It doesn’t make any difference as long as I can find something out there that will pull my string, and make my heart do a flip-flop or two.

Mind you, years ago I would have been devastated by not catching some great huge salmon. The froth would be running from my mouth like saliva from a rabid skunk.

I’d kick the tackle box two or three times just for good measure. The problem is that outdoor writers need action and photos to produce magazine stories. No photos, no story, and no money. It’s that simple.

No unemployment for me. I could work my butt off, but hard work was no guarantee the weather would cooperate or the fish would bite or deer would move. Go for a week or two with no money coming in, and it’s enough to make a gent like me a bit testy.  I lived this life style for many years before taking a steady paying newspaper job.

Well, guess what; I’m retired now

I have been for more than nine years, and my fishing attitude has changed. There are no hard and fast rules. If I don’t get tonight’s blog done tonight, I’ll do it tomorrow and back-date it.

There was other work to be done. I was putzing around with an old Shakespeare bait-casting reel and took it in to get it  to get repaired. It needed a new handle, and the repair guy had one. Quick-like, it was done!

There is more stuff around my house that needs attention, and it’s time to find a home for some of it. I joined the Outdoor Writers Association of America in 1968, and they began sending me monthly newsletters. The paper edition continued until two years ago when OWAA went digital, and she has 34 years of the bulletin. Multiply both numbers by 12, and it amounts to lots of paper and the loss of more than a few trees.

I’ve still got them but need some room so two large plastic tubs were bought and it took both of them to handle the load. Now, they are so heavy I must partially empty them to move them into a storage unit. That would be almost a one-day operation, and my back is sore from tugging the heavy tubs around.

Someone with more time on his hands once came up with the saying: If life deals you lemons, make lemonade. There’s some sort of logic there.

To paraphrase that: If life robs you of a fishing day, find something else to do. Clean a reel, sharpen hooks until your eyes cross, put new line on reels that need it changed, and try to clean up things.

I may be insulting it by calling it a work-bench

I have what some might call a work-bench. That gives me too much credit for working or for needing a bench to work at. However, I start looking for something that often is on my work-bench, and in the process of looking, other things get placed there.

Eventually, it would take a small back-hoe to move stuff off my work-bench. So, when the opportunity presents itself with bad fishing or hunting days, I clean it off and put most of the stuff where it belongs.

Sadly, I think my home is infested with gremlins with nothing better to do than make a mess of all of my old fishing and hunting gear. I put lures back into the proper tackle boxes, strip old line off reels, and prepare them to have line added some other day.

Can’t do all of this at one time. Do that too often, and the meaning of having stuff to clean up and put away will be lost. We must be orderly, and remember what my first-grade teacher tried to pound into the minds of his six-year old students.

“There is a place for everything,” he lectured, “ and everything should be in its place.” Kind of sweeps over you, doesn’t it?

It didn’t make much sense back then, and still doesn’t. Being a pack rat means I enjoy a certain amount of clutter. It gives me something to do on rainy or windy days, and this should be things that are far more important that putting up screens or storm windows.

A wise man knows where his priorities lie.

Tags: Dave Richey, Michigan, outdoors, big-water, fishing, clean, gear, location, salmon, fish, success, skunked, Lake Michigan, away

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Find a beaver pond and protect it

The late John Voelker, a.k.a. Robert Traver, casting delicately to brookies on his beloved Frenchman's Pond
photo courtesy Dave Richey Outdoors ©2012

My several experiences fishing Frenchman's Pond with the late John Voelker, a.k.a. Robert Traver, taught me many things about fishing for brook trout.

The Bard of Frenchman's Pond always believed in a calm and delicate fly presentation, and he believed these great game fish respond best to a cautious and delicate approach.

I think of the old Judge often, especially when fishing a back-of-beyond beaver pond where getting to the thing is two-thirds of the battle. The other third revolves around finding a receptive taker. Some beaver ponds are sterile.

Follow a creek upstream and maybe you’ll find a beaver pond

Voelker once wrote that the environs where brook trout are found are invariably beautiful but much of what man has created is not, and if Judge Voelker was right about anything, it was his thoughts that Man could screw up a one-car parade.

Brook trout fishing is occasionally too easy which is why gluttons and other fools who would take a limit of fish today, return to do the same spot tomorrow, and clean up what is left on the third day, should never fish such waters because it is inherently wrong. As wrong as it is, many fishermen subscribe to the theory that if the trout are there, they are meant to be caught.

Such thinking has sounded the death knell for many once-thriving beaver ponds and small streams. The fish simply are too gullible in tiny waters to pass up any chance for a meal.

Show me a beaver pond that holds brook trout, and if the word is spread around, it no longer will be a beautiful, unsullied, fish-producing piece of wonderful water. Sadly, many people subscribe to the "Me first" attitude where the first person in to a pond deserves the spoils. It reminds me of Genghis Khan's philosophy of rape and pillage.

I've been known to park my car two miles away and hike in to a beaver pond to hide its identity and location. I once fished a tiny pond that produced some 14-inch bookies, and the hiding place for my car was between two huge white pines where the boughs obscured my vehicle. I was never found in that location.

Many little jump-across creeks that flow out of a cedar swamp are destroyed; if not by human pressure, than by the worm containers and beer cans or bottles people leave behind. Such things weigh much less when carried out empty than when carried in full.

Beaver ponds come in all shapes and sizes

I began fishing brook trout at a tender age of 11 on some tiny Michigan streams. I began by using bait, and garden hackle threaded onto a hook with one split-shot above, was all it took to catch trout in those long-ago days.

It's all that is needed to catch brookies today. The bad thing is that undersize brook trout love worms, and they will swallow the bait. Easily two-thirds of the fish caught on live bait are killed before they reach legal size.

These days, if the area being fished is too confined for fly fishing, I'll use a number 0 Mepps spinner. Two of the three hooks are cut off, and far fewer fish are hooked too deep. A treble hook simply requires too much time to remove without killing the fish.

Beaver ponds are like rare jewels that sparkle in the distance when glimpsed through heavy conifers. They are generally small and very fragile ecosystems, where the removal of too many trout will cause it to decline into a silt and marl-bottomed pond with no redeeming features.

Don’t tell anyone about a beaver pond; Keep it a personal secret

Some of the best brook trout fishing I've had came on the land of a friend's friend. The man never invited anyone in to fish except my buddy, and he would run others off with threats of calling the police.

My buddy knew that his friend had a fondness for strong drink, and whenever we showed up, a pint of whiskey would change hands. He'd make some excuse to his wife about why we were fishing the pond, and our fishing trips usually began at dark.

We'd carry in our fly rods, waders, swim fins and a belly boat. Wading the edges of that pond was a death trap. We would set off into the darkness, sitting in the belly boat, and cast flies here and there along shore. My friend usually caught the largest fish because he concentrated on the deepest water near the beaver dam.

On occasion, we would speak to each other, but for the most part we silently fished in the dark. Most of those brookies were at least 10 inches long, and we caught a few 16-inchers. We would keep one or two of the smaller fish -- if we kept any at all -- and fished that pond only once or twice a year. The pond went out in a spring freshet when snow melt and heavy rain washed out the dam.

Beaver ponds are like that. They survive between being washed out, and once they are gone, the brook trout go with them. It's while they are vibrant and still alive that they can be the things of which anglers dream of but seldom find.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Ethics: Rules to live by

Television personality Jerry McKinnis with a river salmon
photo courtesy Dave Richey Outdoors ©2012

Outdoor ethics are a bit like marriage vows. They are those hard-to-explain things that keep sportsmen from breaking fish or game laws if we think someone might be watching us.

That's fine, as far as it goes, but it's a gross oversimplification of a very complex issue. And, these issues baffle many sportsmen.

Stated another way, if you must look over your shoulder or around you before doing something, chances are you will be breaking a fish or game law. Perhaps, if you find yourself doing this bit of odd behavior, you might wish to rethink the situation.

Be aware of some ethical acts and those that are not

Outdoor ethics are those complex but unquestionable rules that sportsmen must follow whether others are watching or not. They are rules we must endorse if fishing and hunting will survive this century.

Want a few examples; Consider these

I had six chances to arrow a big 10-point a few years ago this October. He always showed up five minutes after shooting time ended. No one was within 500 yards of me, and no one would have known if I cheated and taken a late shot at that buck.

No one, that is, except me. It would have chewed at my guts like a malignant cancer until the taking of that big 10-point would have been reduced to a humiliating experience. It would have ruined my hunt.

One night last fall I climbed into my bow stand, tried to remove my wallet from my back pocket, and it wasn't there. My bow license was home on the dresser. I had a valid license but it wasn't in my immediate possession so my bow was stowed away in its case.

The evening was spent watching deer through binoculars. It was fun even without a bow in my hands.

A big problem with outdoor ethics is they are impossible to legislate and very hard to enforce. Only one person–you or me–can deal with ethical situations whenever they arise.

For instance: we shoot a rooster pheasant and it glides across a fence and falls on posted property. Does winging this bird give us the right to pursue it without landowner permission? Nope.

We're fishing in flies-only water for trout and a stiff breeze puts down the hatch. Is it ethical to fish worms here? The answer is no.

Or, as I mentioned earlier about the10-point buck, could I have cheated and shot? Sure, but I would have had to deal with my emotions and my personal sense of right, wrong and/or guilt.

It is legal to shoot a grouse on the ground but it's not ethical

Mallards pinwheel down on a freshening breeze to spill into bobbing decoys. It's a perfect morning, and five minutes before legal shooting time. Hunters in a nearby blind have shot and dropped two hen mallards. Does that make it legal for us to shoot early as well?

The answer is an obvious “No” but some hunters would shoot any way, and could be ticketed by a Federal or state conservation officer.

Ethics prevent us from doing illegal or quasi-illegal acts. Hunters don't shoot ducks on the water unless they've been wounded or shoot grouse on the ground. We don't snag fish, and we don't keep undersized fish or fish over our limit.

Know the rules; Read annual fishing-hunting digests

Buying a fishing or hunting license is no guarantee of a full game bag, a trophy buck, a hefty creel or a brace of pheasants. The license only grants us an opportunity to fish or hunt during the legal season. It offers sportsmen nothing more and nothing less.

Ethical behavior is a topic as personal as the color of our morning toothbrush. It also serves as the bare-bones foundation on which our sporting ethics are built. We are judged by our conduct, and those who wink at fish or game law violations or encourage any breach of ethical conduct, do themselves and other sportsmen a real disservice.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

From Okavango to the Plains of East Africa

This is a great new book on hunting African big game
From the Okavango to the Plains of East Africa
author: Christenson

TITLE: From the Okavango to the Plains of East Africa
(Sub-title: Hunting In Africa In The Latter Part Of The Twentieth Century)
AUTHOR: Christenson
DETAILS: 465 pages, color photos, 1st edition, hardcover, gilt titles, color photos & maps
SIZE: 7x10 inches, limited to 1,000 copies PUBLISHER: Safari Press
DISTRIBUTOR: Safari Press
[NOTE: Books are not sold in stores, and are available only from Safari Press Inc.]

CONTACT:
Safari Press
15621 Chemical Lane
Building B
Huntington Beach, CA
92649-1506

WEBSITE: Safari Press
eMAIL: info@safaripress.com
PHONE: Phone (714) 894-9080
COST: $100.00 + S/H;

Many African hunting books were published years after the events portrayed actually happened, but such is not the case here. The author began his African hunting career in 1977 with the noted and professional hunter Willie Engelbrecht In Botswana. This is a record of those hunts. In some cases, the book wasn’t written until long after an author’s death.

It was a dream come true for the author. It was one fascinating adventure after another.

First the hunter took a 10-foot maned lion from the bush country, and then a native tracker was attacked by a leopard. He took three safaris with Willie, and then he hunted with legendary PH Harry Selby.

Christenson hunted most of Africa, and received what he considered superb mentoring from other professionals such as Wally Johnson, George Angelides and others for a variety of large and small game/ His tales include elephant hunts, and trips for buffalo, leopard and lion,

Mixed in with the big game are notes from his side trips to hunter smaller game such as the Abbott duiker, sable, sitatunga, nyala. Lord Derby eland. Greater kudu, gemsbok, blue wildebeest, red lechwe, impala, oryx, wildebeest, bushbuck, zebra, klipspringer, Robert’s gazelle and others were taken on many of Christenson’s thrilling safaris.

This is a book to get lost in. It’s big, heavy and filled with anecdotes that would help anyone planning an African hunt. There is plenty of excitement, some fun, information on the native trackers and gun bearers.

Perhaps even more exciting than great color photos of elephants, lions, leopards and Cape buffalo are the color maps of the areas being hunted. Wonderful color silhouette photos reach out and grab you with their deep colors. These maps certainly set off this book in grand fashion, and they enable the reader to keep track of where the author is hunting. They fill a much-needed hole in most African books.

It’s easy to keep up with the author because he mentions hunting in various locations, and these maps help a great deal. I’ve always wondered why many African hunting books do not have maps. I wonder no longer, and project we’ll see more maps in other upcoming Safari Press books. and an African spiral-horn appears on the front cover. A gilt title, author’s name and gilt rules decorate the spine. It’s a lavish book, and certainly worthy of its price. It is one of only 1,000 copies, and is destined to become a collectible item.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Quiver: On Or Off The Bow

My buddy, Harold Knight, with a nice buck taken from a tree stand
photo courtesy Dave Richey Outdoors ©2012

This applies as well to bow hunting as anything else. Every bow hunter worthy of the name has his or her way of doing things, and often they turn out right. We all learn from the best teacher -- experience.

Bow quivers are a case in point that was brought home to me a couple of nights ago. We were watching a TV hunting show, and a woman was trying to draw and shoot at a buck with the bow quiver on. She was having trouble, and it begged the question.

Should hunters leave the quiver on the bow while sitting in a stand and shooting at a buck? Or, should they take the quiver off to minimize weight and to eliminate an unnecessary item that could easily tangle in tree limbs and mess up a shot?

 

Each person must answer this question individually; I don’t preach concepts

I'll go first, and throw my hat in the ring and voice my heartfelt opinion. I climb into a tree stand, and after attaching my full-body safety harness to the tree and my body; I sit down, and use the haul rope to raise my bow from ground level. The bow quiver is then removed and placed elsewhere on the tree after one arrow is removed. I often hang the quiver on a nearby limb where it will help break up my silhouette.

Once the quiver in hung, I unscrew the broadhead and attach my Game string behind the broadhead, and screw it into my Maxima carbon arrow shaft.

I attach the release to the string, stuff the lower limb of my C.P. Oneida Black Eagle bow into my left boot, and relax. I hunt and shoot sitting down, and my stands are positioned so bucks usually come from behind me and on my left side.

If the deer follows his normal pattern, he will approach from behind and on my left side. I'm right-handed, so when the buck comes within shooting range, and looks the other way, I start my draw and as I reach full draw, the lower limb clears the top of my boot and is clear of my leg, the stand or any tree branches.

This allows for a minimum of movement, is very quiet, and oh so effective once a hunter becomes used to it. This method of drawing a bow wouldn't be possible if my bow quiver was still attached.

The arrow shafts, vanes or even the quiver could get caught up in clothing, limbs or branches. But there is another reason why my quiver comes off my bow when I begin hunting.

It reduces the overall bow weight. Not much, mind you, but when hunting in a variety of locations, sooner or later a bow quiver is going to hang up on something. I remove all possibilities of that happening by removing it and hanging it some place where it is out of my way.

As a deer moves, it’s easier to follow the animal if the quiver is off the bow

Whenever I watch a television show, or hunt with someone who always leaves his or her quiver on the bow, it makes me wonder how many lost opportunities have occurred because of that quiver.

A bow is a one-shot piece of archery equipment. It's not like hunting with a bolt, pump or semi-automatic firearm. Unless the wind is very strong and noisy, second shots at a buck are so rare as to almost be nonexistent.

A bow quiver on a bow, doesn't speed up getting off a second shot at a deer. It is somewhat awkward to reach to the quiver, pull out another arrow, reach across the bow to nock it, and prepare to shoot again. Chances are, any self-respecting buck with heavy headgear will be long gone if you miss the first shot.

I often use my bow to help camouflage my upper body and head. I wear a facemask while hunting, and can still turn the bow inside my left boot so the handle and upper limb breaks up my silhouette. If a deer offers a shot, a simple and slow half-turn of the wrist will point the bow toward the animal as the hunter comes to full draw.

Such a movement may or may not be necessary, and that is a debatable point, but it would be impossible to do with a bow quiver attached. For me, that is a strong reason for removing the quiver.

The slight added weight of a bow quiver (even a three-arrow quiver like mine) can allow a hunter to unknowingly cant the bow to that side. Is it enough, under the pressure of a nearby buck, to throw the arrow off its intended course?

I don't know and don't care to test the theory. My preference is to shoot a bow unencumbered by a quiver. It's my thought that it just simplifies everything, reduces weight, eliminates canting, and besides ... it works for me.

Anyone willing to plead his or her case for keeping a bow quiver on a bow while hunting is encouraged to contact me. You won't change your mind, I won't change mine, but I'd love to hear your philosophy.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Protect equipment and permissions: Ask First - Always

Lock up all tree stands & other hunting equipment to prevent theft
photo courtesy Dave Richey Outdoors ©2012

My ultimate goal is to be ready for bow season by Sept. 1, and August 15 is even better. That gives my area 30-45 days to settle down before I start hunting.

My fall food plots are planted, and there is a fairly lush green growth. We need a rain bad, and last week the plots got a nourishing drink. Even more rain would be good to keep it growing.

What we don’t need is any more 90-degree weather. It’s time some cooler weather and some more rain. Nice late-summer rains would be nice.

We need some nice steady rains but don’t need a gulley washer

Deer are moving through the food plots, and after tomorrow, there will be nothing left to do but bide our time. Some long-distance scouting can be done but I don’t plan to spend any time walking through my hunting areas.

We’ve got deer spotted, trees stands are up, our coops are almost all ready, and all I need to do is spend a few hours putting chicken wire around the bottom of the coops to prevent porcupines. skunks and other critters from chewing holes in the wood.

Two ground blinds are completely checked out and set in place. The fencing around the bottom has been put in place, and the coops are locked. Are locks necessary? To my way of thinking, I’m beginning to believe my father was right.

“Locks keep honest people honest,” he used to say. “If you don’t lock things up, and exercise certain precautions, some people who are given an opportunity to steal something, someone will take advantage of it.”

I’ve had people take advantage of me when they thought that leaving coops unlocked was an open invitation to hunt my land or steal tree stands. So, in the past I’ve had people climb into my coops to hunt when I can’t get away for one reason or another. I’d find the coop doors unlatched and blowing in the breeze, a larger shooting window cut more to their liking, and a chair stolen.

Another time I spent two days fixing up tree stands. I went to one stand, and some fool had stolen the bottom two sections of the ladder stand. The seat and foot rest was still attached to the tree with a good chain and a heavy-duty lock.

This was an out-and-out theft

Now I stand the sections together, duct tape the chain to the ladder, and lock it. The cost of two good padlocks for the ladder section and another lock and chain for the seat is certainly cheaper than replacing a complete tree stand.

I once had an excellent tree stand, and located in a great spot where two deer trails merged. The deer always came from behind me and on my left side to present a perfect broadside or quartering away shot. The person who would occasionally sneak into my tree stand always left his signature behind.

He was left-handed. He would try to reposition the stand so it was easier for a left-hander to shoot from. The stand was in a cedar tree, and I had pine boughs conveniently placed to break up my outline. Those boughs were tied with twine to suit my needs.

I went to this tree early one morning, and waded into the cedar swamp and hid. My presence kept the deer from moving that morning, and right about daylight I heard brush cracking as the poacher walked to the tree.

I let him set there, and both of us could hear deer giving the area a wide berth. I snuck up behind the stand, and pulled out the two lower ladder sections. The guy looked down at me, and yelled, “What do you think you’re doing?”

I said I knew what I was doing. I was making it difficult for him to get down

He was in my tree, I was on the ground with two ladder sections, and he’s whining about how he’s going to get down. So we had us a little heart-to-heart chat.

“You’ve been hunting my stand illegally for a week or more, and we’re going to settle this now. You either agree to quit sneaking in on my leased property, and stay away from this area, or I’ll call the cops right now. It’s a long ways to the ground, and too far to jump, so either agree to stay away or I’ll press charges and wait down here until the police arrive.”

“You’ll still be up the tree when the police come. Then we will have a chat with the landowner. What’s it going to be?”

He quickly agreed that he wouldn’t come back. OK, I said “Toss me your wallet, with your driver’s license and hunting license so  I can make a few notes in case I find you’ve been hunting my spot in the future.”

He whined and carried on but I convinced him the two ladder sections wouldn’t be replaced until he complied. I added that while he was at it, he could lower down his bow on my haul rope.

I asked him if he was the one who was hunting out of my blinds. He said he just hunted the tree stand, which was obviously difficult to deny. I took notes, learned that he lived nearby, and I then threatened to walk away and leave him there.

Make it hard on trespassers and poachers. They get no sympathy from me

He gave in, complied with all my wishes, and I asked if he was going to be aggressive when he came down. I didn’t want to fight him, but I wanted him to realize the errors of his ways.

“No, no more hassles,” he said.  “I’ll leave and won’t be back.”

So that episode ended peacefully, but I’d learned my lesson as well. Ladders and tree stands are now chained together, and to chained to the tree, and I never lost anything since. Land leased for hunting carries much the same laws as ownership, and I’ve had all of trespassers and thieves to last me a lifetime.

If they don’t respond to reason, I get on the phone and call the local conservation officer or the Sheriff’s Department, and let them do their job. They get no second chances with me.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Back roads of our memories

A buck like this must be hunted properly without spooking him
photo courtesy Dave Richey Outdoors ©2012

Fishermen love their  "fishing memories," and continue going back time after time to the same old spot. Sometimes it works on deer, and sometime it doesn't, but memories often remain long after the size of the rack and the venison has disappeared.

Hunters often have the same problem. We develop a feeling for certain ground blinds or tree stands, and often this can be good. In many cases, if a particular stand was once good, it may still be good.

For three years I shared the same tree stand with a good friend. It probably produced a dozen nice bucks for us, and then it seemed to go dead. They didn't hunt it daily, and it may only have been hunted once or twice per week.

My buddy took a few nice 8-pointers there, as did I, and we still talk fondly about hunting that tree. However, as I make my rounds to study deer behavior and travel routes, it has become obvious that deer had quit moving past that tree.

That tree was on an elevated knob 15 feet above a great deer trail.

I've got several memories of favorite tree stands, and those thoughts often are built around having taken a really good buck from it or having seen a wide-racked buck nearby. In some cases, a new stand may reveal a great travel corridor than has been overlooked.

One particular stand sticks out because I had seen a heavy beamed 10-pointer there, and I noted the time he passed by. I was there the next night but he wasn't, and several deer were passed up because I didn't want to shoot a lesser buck if the big one may be nearby.

I went back to that stand periodically, and saw that buck on three occasions but he was either screened by heavy brush or just too far away. And this brings up a point: bow hunters should know what their maximum range is for making an accurate shot.

Shooting at a buck too far away usually results in a miss but a deer that is spooked by an irresponsible shot may never return. Even worse, a bad hit may be made, and that may result in a long tracking job and even then, the animal may never be found. Sportsmen must know their limitations, and strive not to exceed them.

Know your limitations and always hunt within them. Never take long shots.

Years ago, one of my favorite tree stands was in a crooked tree. If a back didn't hurt when they climbed in, it would be hurting when they climbed down. That stand, many years ago,  was positioned between a bedding area and nearby crop fields, and it produced quite a few bucks. It is no longer being hunted.

Another of my favorite locations was a dead elm, and it was located 15 yards from a hole in a fence between my land and a neighbors, and was positioned for a broadside shot once the deer came through. Many people do not realize that given the chance, a deer often prefers going through a hole in the fence rather jumping the wire.

The last time I came down out from that fence-hole stand I felt the tree shudder. I kept going and made it to the ground. The next day I drove down a wooded trail past that tree, and it was on the ground.

Hunting memories, my phrase for going back to tree stands that once produced shots at good whitetail bucks, is something that hunters do. Some of it is nostalgia, and some is to determine if that area is as good as it once was.

These memories are good for hunters. It helps us remember a stand that once led to the arrowing a nice buck, or a memorable miss, or a stand that just makes us feel good.

I'm willing to bet that all of us have such memories. A little thought can make them reappear on demand, and part of hunting's thrill is traveling down the back roads of our memories.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors