August 13th, 2008
By Arthur

I know I’m lucky.  I know that Mark, even though we haven’t met, is lucky too.  It isn’t every day that you find a woman who really understands a hunter.  And not only understands the hunter, but knows how to put up with the hunter on a daily basis.  Women like that are a rare breed and I’m glad I have mine, and I’m sure that Mark is glad he has Jody too.  I’m also sure that Blessed’s husband is thrilled to have her as well.

I have met many a fella whose wives were not very understanding when it came to their passion.  “You have to go tonight?” they would exclaim.  They just don’t understand the sheer force that they are dealing with.  This hunting thing isn’t just a way to pass the time, and it definitely isn’t a take it or leave it kind of choice for us.  It is something that lives inside us.  It definitely takes a special woman to truly understand that, and if you can find one that also hunts, well then, you have just hit the jackpot.

I’m one of the lucky ones-I have a wife who truly understands what I go through when it comes to hunting.  Although she is not quite as passionate about it as I am, she understands where my needs and desires come from.  I have never had to beg, or lie, to go hunting.  If anything, she encourages me to get out more-not because she wants me out of the house, but just because of the sure fact that she knows how much it lives inside me.  She understands how much I really need to go-she knows that it is in my blood, and that it isn’t going away anytime soon.

All of us gentleman, who have wives who really understand our hunting addiction, know how lucky we are.  We know what a great commodity we have.

I think it is truly sad how many wives and significant others complain about their husbands hunting and fishing activities.  It is a shame that they don’t take the time they spend complaining about them, and use it to their advantage-actually try to get out and hunt and fish, and understand where their husbands and boyfriends are coming from.

I am truly one of the lucky ones.  My wife completely understands, and for that I am very thankful.  It is going to be weird not having her in the woods this year with us.  I think that that will be a small price to pay though, in order to welcome our new daughter into the world.

Popularity: 18% [?]

August 12th, 2008
By Arthur

My sister’s boyfriend, Justin, who shot this hog a few months back, and also shot this huge carp, hit the jackpot when he went to check his trailcam this weekend.

The problem we have right now is figuring out who’s buck is bigger-Justin’s buck in this post, or Jeff’s buck from a post a little while back.  Apparently these food plots are really working.   The only challenge now is getting these big boys to stay around come hunting season.  It sure would be nice to have the kill shot of one these big ‘uns, right along side the trailcam shots.

I think I need to talk to my property owners again about a possible food plot next year.  It seems I’m the only one without a monster on cam.  I’m thinking a food plot might help me with that little problem.

All of us are on a role this year with the trailcam pictures.  After being rookies last year, at this whole trailcam thing, it is sure nice to see deer this size on them this year.  Of course, getting them on cam sure doesn’t guarantee a kill.  I bet it will keep Jeff, the cousin’s from South Carolina, and Justin in their stands a litte longer this year though.

Popularity: 17% [?]

August 11th, 2008
By Arthur

I was recently reading an article in my Quality Whitetails magazine about the newest rage for hunting mature whitetails….suburbia. The author talked about making sure you don’t overlook well populated areas near you that could be holding big bucks. He talks about how he loves to hunt whitetails in the suburbs, and well populated areas, that most hunters would not think to hunt.

I have seen this particular topic brought up in a few magazines in the last couple of months, and quite honestly it was a shock to me. I’m not trying to toot my own horn here, but Jeff and I have been doing this since we started hunting. Sure, we hunt out of the way places as well, but one of our best spots, when we were just starting out hunting, (and still hunt to this day) is a small tract of land that to look at you wouldn’t think held deer at all. When Jeff first set me up in it about 10 years ago I thought he was crazy-right up until the point where I shot an 8 point out of it. That is exactly why these areas are great places to hunt. There is no pressure in these particular locations, and that is exactly why the deer flock to them.

Another place we used to hunt was a piece of property that ran along a major highway, and also had a multi-million dollar corporation located right across the street. I could not believe the number of people who were so shocked that deer were in the area. We shot many a buck off this property, and people were always surprised that it held deer. We sure weren’t. We knew it held some nice deer and proved that every year.

I guess my main point is that, for us hunters, it is easy to overlook certain areas because of the location. The fact is, in today’s world, deer adapt so well to humans, that you can’t overlook these areas. There are plenty of places that hold great deer numbers, despite the close proximity to housing developments and such. A lot of these places are great opportunities for bow hunting especially, and are well worth the effort, even if the property owner takes her morning walk under your treestand every morning (I had that happen on one property quite often, and a few minutes after she would pass, the deer would appear).

While I do hunt a more secluded place at this point in time, I still recommend not overlooking those “suburbia” type locations. They can make for a great time, and even though you might encounter some lulls in the action, when the action finally does happen, it can create memories that will last a lifetime.

Popularity: 15% [?]

August 09th, 2008
By Arthur

This post is part of our new “Inside the Frame” weekend series here at SimplyOutdoors. This series showcases pictures from our archives, and attempts to tell the story about the picture you see in the post. If you would like to read other Inside the Frame posts you can do so here.

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This picture is definitely nostalgic. My sister Melissa, who is now 24, couldn’t of been more than 10 in this picture. If we do the math, that would put this picture being taken around 1994. The dog that you see pulling Melissa through the field edge is probably the best bird dog that ever lived.

Okay, so maybe I’m biased a little, but Kathy, the Brittany Spaniel, was just an awesome, awesome dog. We acquired her from the local paper. My dad was looking for a bird dog and happened to stumble upon an advertisement that was looking to give away a Brittany for free. For free? We had to call and find out the story.

It turned out that her owner was in his mid-70’s and couldn’t take Kathy hunting anymore. He felt so guilty about it, that he put the ad in the paper just simply hoping that he could find someone to take her hunting again. My dad went out to take a look at her, liked what he saw, and brought her home a few days later. My best bird hunting memories were about to begin.

I honestly have never been a big bird hunter, and I’m still not a huge one ’til this day. But my dad did it a ton when he was younger. It didn’t take long to realize that hunting behind Kathy was going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Jeff and I took her out behind our house for a trial run, and immediately she hit on this little pile of brush on the edge of this field. This was not in an area of prime habitat for pheasant, and Jeff and I glanced at each other at the same time-both of us thinking that this dog was crazy, and wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. Being the optimist that Jeff is, he gave her the command to flush, and sure as you know what a hen took off into the air out of that brush. We swore we would never doubt the dog again.

That wasn’t her first bird that she put up, and it definitely wasn’t her last, but I knew right at that point that we had something special. We took Kathy everywhere-to local state game areas, friend’s properties, and just about anywhere else we could think of that might hold birds and she always performed. I will never forget a bird being shot, and Kathy running the thing down and bringing it back to us-carrying it like it was a carton of eggs. I can only think of one bird that got away while Kathy was around. She was awesome!

I will also never forget, when our sweet little dog, who would never hurt anyone, tore into an Akita that lived a couple of houses down. This dog had broke off her leash, and came on a rail towards Jeff and I. We only had bb guns at the time (we were just running the dog), so we felt helpless right up until the point where this Akita bit Kathy on the butt. Right then our sweet little dog turned into Kujo-attacking the other dog and making sure that we were safe. It was great, and a moment I will never forget (that same dog ended up biting a little kid in the face a few months later-thank god we had our fierce fighting dog).

Kathy was probably the best mannered dog we ever had. She was type of dog you could let out in the yard and not have to worry about a thing. Our yard wasn’t fenced when we were growing up, but she always just stayed around. She was so well-behaved it was amazing. I still have yet to encounter a dog that was as well mannered as she was.

Kathy also had something else that I have never experienced with other dogs. After hunting with her all day, we came home and she was basically lethargic in our garage. I could barely get her to respond to anything, and she just didn’t seem right. I stayed with her out in the garage, and waited on a late night call back from the vet. I was amazed at the events that transpired after that. The vet had a hunch, and after coaxing Kathy to drink some warm water with some Karo syrup mixed in, we realized the vet was correct-she was diabetic. That was nothing some mini-sized chocolate wouldn’t solve every hour we hunted with her though (yeah, we gave our dog chocolate. Only a little bit though per the vet’s orders).

All in all Kathy was an absolutely great all around dog. We’ve had a few bird dogs since, but none that compared to her. We all have great memories of hunting with Kathy, as well as the memories of just being around her. She was a wonderful companion, a great hunter, and as the pictures shows, not used to being on a leash!

Popularity: 19% [?]

August 08th, 2008
By Arthur

In case some of you haven’t noticed already, I figured I would point it out in a post. We have added a little something new to the site. I honestly added it because I think it is a great piece of nostalgia for me, but I also hope that a few of you enjoy it as well.

Over on the right hand side of the page-just above the Welcome Message is an area entitled One Year Ago at SimplyOutdoors. This is a cool little plug-in I found, that goes back a year, and displays the posts that you wrote for that day. While I know that many of you may choose to not look at this particular section, I just thought it was important for my own reference. It also is important to take a look back at the past, so that you can realize where you are, where you’re headed, and most importantly, where you came from.

So, if any of you are curious what we here at SimplyOutdoors were doing a year ago, go ahead and click on one of the links to the right. It will be a blast from the past, and a click that might be worth the read.

Note: Jeff and I are going to be doing some treestand setup this weekend. Jeff is also going to be doing some more food plot setup this weekend as well. Stay tuned for those posts next week!

Popularity: 18% [?]