This feature article first appeared back in 2001 as “Turkey Hunting Safety,” a chapter in the Team Realtree Turkey Hunting Fieldbook (now a collectible classic). Written by the late Aaron Pass, and as the title suggests, it contains cautionary advice to help turkey hunters stay safe. Some of it might...
It rippled through the conservation and hunting communities this week when news broke that four Canadian wolves were air-dropped in a national park. According to a recent National Park Service (NPS) news release , the wolves were trapped in Canada and released in the Isle Royale National Park in Michigan...
Fair chase — it’s a common term that we hunters often refer to. High-fence vs. free-range. Dogs vs. no dogs. This weapon vs. that weapon. It’s an age-old discussion. Nothing new. What is (relatively) new is technology. And according to both Pope and Young and Boone and Crockett, some technology,...
You’d think the sky is falling, the earth is crumbling, and the walking dead have risen with the way people are currently behaving. Recent articles deeming whitetails as “zombie deer,” have the uninformed and easily convinced both confused and scared. Should people allow CWD to scare them away from deer...
Bonnie led Bill Healy to his first shed antler. He was a graduate student at Penn State, studying the food habits of deer in Pennsylvania's Allegheny National Forest. Bonnie was a guinea pig — really, a tame, whitetail doe. She wore a harness as Healy followed with a clipboard and...
The alarm chimes as the clock strikes five in the morning. Before the big hand reaches five past the hour, I am pulling the last knot tight on my snake boots and walking across the creaking wood floor at my parent’s house to the door. It has become tradition for...
Some springtime longbeards take their marching orders from the boss hen. At times, the only way to get him in range is to call her in. How do you sell yourself to the lady turkey in charge in order to pull that dawdling strutter into range? Read on. Payback Okay,...
So, when it comes to deer hunting, the common cliché is that outdoor writers, editors, hunting show hosts, and other outdoor industry "professionals" have it all figured out. My question — outdoor writers have it all figured out, eh? My response to my question — Bah. Gah. Naw. Is you...
The off-season is a time to rest, reflect and grow as a deer hunter. But it’s also a time to work. It’s a time to map trails, find rut sign, track down bedding areas and a plethora of other to-dos. Put simply, it’s not just a time — but the...
Why do we hunt? Is it for the passing of time? Is it for the bragging rights of a well-earned trophy? The satisfaction of knowing that sometimes as a hunter you put yourself up against nature and succeed? Or maybe it’s the hearty, all-natural meals to come? For me, many...
If you’re going to learn one call for turkey hunting, one turkey sound that will let you speak their language and provide the best chance for you to lure in a gobbler, learn how to yelp. The Yelp The yelp is the most common sound a hen turkey makes when...
If you’ve never helped a beginning turkey hunter start climbing the learning curve, you’re missing one of the most enjoyable aspects of the sport. Archibald Rutledge wrote many years ago that “Some men are mere hunters; others are turkey hunters,” and he was right. There’s something about this bird, and...
