aso magazine october 2013

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October 2013

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2 ADVENTURE SPORTS OUTDOORS “THE VOICE OF THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN” October 2013

LAND AUCTION! SELLS ABSOLUTE! NO RESERVE! RANDOLPH CO. IL 70+- AC.All Wooded – Excellent Hunt PropertySALE: Saturday, October 26, at 11 am at Mississippi Valley GunClub in Rockwood IL. Contact Managing Broker Wayne Keller at618-407-1679 or [email protected]

NEW! MOULTRIE COUNTY IL 128+- ACRESWith 81+- Tillable Acres – Excellent Hunt Property – Very Diverse. Located Just East of Allenville ILList Price: 689,000Contact Managing Broker Todd Hewing at 217-663-8087 or [email protected]

NEW! FAYETTE COUNTY IL 160+- ACRESHome and Buildings. Lakes, Ponds, Wetland Areas. Wooded and Open Areas.Located Near Vandalia ILList Price: $625,000Contact Managing Broker Don Bailey at 618-919-1031 or [email protected]

NEW! JACKSON COUNTY IL 243+- ACRESWoodlands and Open Fields – Excellent Hunt PropertyLocated Just South of Jacob IL (in the bend of the Mississippi River)List Price: $423,000Contact Managing Broker Wayne Keller at 618-407-1679 or [email protected]

Branch Offices Located at Flora, Greenup, Hecker & Sparta, ILBuy A Farm Land and Auction Company – 1403 Hillcrest Drive, Sparta IL – 877-308-0875

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October 2013 ADVENTURE SPORTS OUTDOORS “THE VOICE OF THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN” 3

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©Copyright 1994Published monthly by: Red Nose, Inc.Harry & Cathy Canterbury, Owners

TREMONT OFFICE1408 Downing Ct. • Tremont, IL 61568

(309) 925-HUNT (4868)Home Office: (309) 925-7313Harry’s Cell: (309) 360-0487Cathy’s Cell: (309) 370-6922

E-mail: [email protected] Web: ASOMagazine.com

Call Toll Free: (877) 778-HUNT(4868)[email protected]

Terri Sweckard309-241-6591 • [email protected]

Carroll Gentry • So. IL Rep. • 618-988-8230Billing: [email protected]

PRODUCTION - AD CREATION & LAYOUT:

Becky Fee - Graphic Artist (309) 642-2402 • [email protected]

OCT. 2013 • ISSUE #203

Deadline for ASO editions is the 10th of each previous month.

Please send only digital media files.

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ON THE COVER:Dave Herschelman, Orion Briney &

Harry Canterbury teal hunting at the Red Nose Gun club, south of Bath Illinois. They all shot their

limits and had a great day! could get off if they workedhalf as hard as he does butwho’s getting off if it’sfree.

I knew his dad StanleyBriney and he was a lot likeOrion. The apple didn’t fall farfrom the tree. Stanley hunted andfished as often as he could and thatwas most of the time. I thoughtmore of Stanley than I did of mostpeople. He was a special personand who ever knew him loved him.I have hunted and fished with mil-lionaires and with just regular folksand it doesn’t matter how muchmoney you have but what kind ofperson you are. When Stanley diedalmost 10 years ago it left a bigempty hole in my life. I am sureyou know what I mean especially ifyou knew Stanley.

The Briney family has lived onthe river near Browning for nearly200 years. If you walk through theBriney cemetery you will see mark-ers back to the 1830’s. They are apart of what the American Dream isall about and have lived a life mostpeople only dream about. Especial-ly us who love the outdoors and allit has to offer.

I know that I have been very for-tunate to have known many of theriver men of the Illinois and proudthat I was able to know the oldtimers that are gone now but for-gotten, Stanley was one of them.Orion Briney is a friend and one ofthe best examples of a man who

Canterbury Talesthe river. We were at our Red NoseGun Club near Bath Illinois. Theguys hunted 4 days and the clubshot 76 teal.

It was a lot of fun and those tealare really good to grill. The guy inthe middle is Orion Briney ofBrowning Illinois. What can I sayabout this guy? Well he can outshoot, out hunt, out fish and getmore mushrooms than any man Ihave ever met. Last year he pickedover 1800 pounds of mushroomsand caught over 2 and a half millionpounds of Asian carp. Not to men-tion all the other fish he has caught.

If you have never hunted withOrion you haven’t experienced areal good time. If he isn’t shootinga duck he is telling a story. Whetherit’s true or not is up to you, but wehave lots of fun. Like Uncle Si onDuck Dynasty says 95% of my sto-ries are true and I am sure so areOrion’s.

The Duck Dynasty guys don’tlight a candle to Orion. He is the re-al McCoy and proof is in the pud-ding. I really enjoy the show and ifyou haven’t seen it, you should. It’son A&E Wednesday nights and isvery entertaining.

One thing for sure I know a lot ofpeople that are right out of theshow. The reason I enjoy it somuch is it reminds me of who I amand where I come from. Orion is afine example of man who lives offthe land. He doesn’t ask for any-thing and gets it all by himself. The47 million people on food stamps

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How many years can I keep do-ing this, building blinds and tryingto walk in mud up to my knees? Idon’t know but I will keep on slug-ging till I give out. The photo yousee on the cover was taken on thebest day I ever had shooting teal on

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GUIDE TO ASO WRITERSGUIDE TO ASO WRITERS7 ....... .Mom's Recipe: Roast Wild Teal 8-9 ....Canterbury Tales continues. 10 ......John Ackerman, Worst American Maritime Disaster Forgotten 13 ......ISRA: Rich Pearson, Conceal Carry 14 ....Norman V Kelly, Where Land, Air and Water Travel Meet16 ......Bev Taylor, Big Hearts Outdoors: Family Adventure17 ......Sam Tonner, “Fit To Fish” 17 ......Senator Brady’s Bill for Landowners & Hunters Signed into Law18 ......Mike Roux, EUROPEAN MOUNTS: YES or NO?19 ......Big Red Stocking20 ......Bob Murray, Meandering Murrays: What Bob Hope Said21 ......RMEF’s $140,000 Gift Gives18,000 Acres of Public Access22 ......OCTOBER Outdoor IL Calendar of Events 23 ......Illinois Fall Trout Fishing Season Opens Oct. 19 24 ......DIY black bear hunting; Looking for a Bear? Follow the Food25 ......Dave Shadow, Think Like a Deer26 ......PMTT Madison Chain Muskies Heat Up For Clepper & Smida27 ......Colby Simms, SimmsOutdoors.com: Gear Up Right-More Bass in the Boat29 ......John E Phillips, Picking Camo & Guns-Dove Hunt with Marty Fischer30 ......Bob Park, 10 Spinnerbait Tips 31 ......Bill Graham, Monarch Mania at MDC Gorman Discovery Center31 ......Candice Davis, Mountain Lion in Carter County 32 ......Bill Graham, MDC Education Programs for New Hunters in Mo Outdoors33 ......Jim Low, MDC seeks comments on forest-management guidelines 33 ......Bill Graham, MWSU wildlife students win 2nd international award34 ......Meet Jim Miller in WTVP Studios on Thurs. Oct. 17th 36 ......North America narrated by Tom Selleck on BluRay Disk37 ......Kevin Boyer, Whitetails is my Passion38 ......Wayne Baughman, Whitetail Properties has the Wow Factor!39 ......IDNR Newsbits41 ....Woo's Corner, Woo Daves Great Time for Top Water Fishing 42 ......Babe Winkelman, Very, Very Venison43 ......Daniel Vinovich, Fall Cats45 ......Shannon Keith, Sunnylandcampers Prepper and Survival Tips46 ......Dave Herschelman, The Most Gracious of Targets 47 ......No Shortage of Fish in Devils Lake 48 ......Bill Cooper, Memories of Fall Turkey Hunts50 ......Don Dziedzina, Fall Bassin’51 ......CPO Reports July 201355 ......Roland Cheek’S Campfire Culture: Trout are for Wusses

56 ......Kirby Schupp, Gunsmithing-Persistent & Inconsistent Problems58 ......Ray Simms, October Muskies at Kinkaid60 ......Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive62 ......Ed DeVries, BAI News 64 ......Ted Nugent, When in Doubt I Whip it Out65 ......Bill Vaznis, Having Success on the First Day of Deer Season66 ......Steve Welch, Fall Colors and Great Crappie Action68 ......Emily Hauter, Traditions69 ......Gerald Sampen, Waterfowl Season-Hunt Them Where They Come From 72 ......OBEX, Samsung & iPhone5 Waterproof case72 ......FiAir Flames Campfires to a Roar 73 ......1 Million New Hunters Afield 74 ......On Point With Chuck Martin, Excuses…Excuses…Excuses!75 ......Gary Koehler Preventing Hard!Mouth75 ......Winchester Retriever Photo Contest76 ......Deer Creek American Legion, Fun Times77 ......Wade Bourne, Choosing a Duck!Call78 ......Realtree and Duck Commander Strengthen Partnership 80 ......Shining the Spotlight on!Specks 82 ......Hunter Worth, The Old Woodsmaster83 ......State & Federal Sites Open for Youth Waterfowl Hunting Season84 ......2014 Plans for Illinois Deer & Turkey Expo 85 ......Mississippi Hunters Take Another Record Gator86 ......Ducks Unlimited applauds improvements in Great Lakes!Funding86 ......Jason Houser, How Odors Work For and Against the Canine Trapper88 ......Circle M Auction Fall Classic, Oct. 25-26-27, CircleMAuctions.com90 ......Dan Gapen, The Migration92 ......Chad Morgenthaler, Getting the most out of your Umbrella Rig 94 ......Weinbrenner ’s Wood N’ Stream Outdoor Footwear95 ......Keli Van Cleave, Pink Outdoors: Disaster Strikes Colorado 96 ......Meet 2013 Miss Kansas Sgt. Theresa Vail97 ......AK Thompson, Dirt Church- SOLD!98 ......Outdoors with Anita Williams: The Hunt for Grey Ghost 99 ......Marlene Odahlen-Hinz, LADIES WELCOME! 101 ....Kris Winkelman Recipes 102 ....Mississippi Hunter Claims He Shot Chupacabra103 ....Bob Hendricks, What to Look for in a Knife, 104 ....Colorado State Senators Ousted Following Gun Control Recall Votes104 ....Blaser F3 Game Shotgun Now Available in the US104 ....NRA Outdoors to Award Alberta Whitetail Hunt on Facebook Contest105 ....Mary Ann Vance, Real Estate Chatter 106 ....Brian Barton, The BoJoLe Flutter Spoon: A Lure For All Species108 ....Ted Takasaki and Scott Richardson Go “All In” in Deadwood 109 ....Wisconsin Angler Finds 200-year-old Flintlock 110 ....Dave Evans, Minn. Memoirs: Summer’s Last Hurrah112 ....PARTICIPATE IN PHU DOG TRIALS113 ....Jack Hart, The Good Ole Days Pt 9, Sam Walton & Wal-Mart114 ....Mitch Eeagan, King Me a River 115 ....Which Country Boasts the Most Hunters in Europe? 117 ....Dan Galusha DAN’S FISH ‘N’ TALES®, C-P-R Alone” 119 ....Doug Nord, Rides with 2 Million Bikers to DC

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A YUMMY Roast wild duck recipe, with teal,stuffed with rosemary, onion, apple, cloves,with a sauce of drippings, dry sherry andcream.Wild (not domesticated) whole ducks,prepped (gutted, head and feet removed,plucked clean of feathers, shot and anybruised areas removed) Olive oilCoarse saltRosemaryOnionAppleWhole ClovesDry SherryCream

1) Preheat oven to 450°F. Inspect duckto remove any remaining pin feathers. Rinsethe duck with water. Thoroughly pat dry withpaper towels. Lightly stuff duck with a sprigof rosemary, an apple slice with a few clovespoked in them to hold them in place, and asmall wedge of onion.

2) Slather the duck inside and out with

olive oil. Generously sprinkle all sides of theduck with coarse salt. Lay, breast up, on aroast rack in a roasting pan. Place in themiddle rack of the oven. Immediately lowerthe heat to 425°F.

Cooking times depend on the variety of theduck. Teal ducks typically weigh less than apound and cook in 10-15 minutes. A mallardcan take up to 25 minutes. Cook until theduck reaches an internal temp of 135°F.

3) Remove the duck from the oven to aseparate rack or plate to rest, breast sidedown, for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the

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stuffing in the cavity before serving.4) While the duck is resting, take drip-

pings in the roasting pan, pour off the excessfat (save this for another recipe). Place theroasting pan on the stovetop, heat to medi-um, and deglaze with a little dry sherry orwhite wine. Add a tablespoon of flour. Scrapeup the browned bits with a metal spatula. Usea metal whisk to break up the bits even fur-ther into the wine. Reduce and then add a lit-tle cream, (and a few juniper berries if youwant an extra touch) for a fabulous gravy.Serve teal with wild rice and gravy.

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Orion Briney with his dogDaisy May after a good day

shooting teal.

Dave Herschelman with anice early season goose.

Harry and Dick Fredrick in Argocoming back from shooting teal

on Stewart Lake.

Ray Marshalla in front of one of the new duckblinds just build at the Goose Puddle.

Nora was an Army nursein WW2 and she sharedsome of her experienceswith listeners. Terry Bear

is here hanging out!

Lisa with Harry & John. Lisashared all kinds of interesting

facts with listeners about all thecommunities participating in

the drive. See more on pg. 60 & SpoonRiverDrive.org

Red Nose Gang radio show, left: Bob Park,Norm Kelly & Richard Pearson with guestsJim & Lisa Tunney with the Spoon River

Drive Festival in Fulton County.

ASO met up withNora Leman

during a GreaterPeoria Honor

Flight.

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your ATV across the state. The restof the money is to be used by theIDNR somehow. Probably to writeyou a ticket.

There are more administrationcosts than there are worthwhileprojects. This is just another waythose so called stewards of our out-doors are getting into your pocket.The IDNR is flat broke; they havedissolved their undercover divisionand have one game warden for asmany as 3 counties. I have heardthat some wardens have as many as4. You don’t hear a lot out of themthese days so your guess is as goodas mine.

Many of the IDNR field menhave retired if they could and mostcan’t wait to get out. It is sad thatIllinois was once one of the best rundepartments in the US. But thanksto Blago things went south andthere not coming back soon. Quinnwho was Blago’s Lt. Governor waselected and he has done such a finejob of staying in Blago’s footsteps.Why would you elect a man whocame from one of the crookestadministrations in US state govern-ment history? You have to remem-ber when the next Governor’s racecomes about vote for anyone

made it in America on his own. Do you think we need to be

taxed more, sure you do. You knowall the money our state gets. Theyspend it the best way they can. Ifyou believe that I will sell you agoose that lays golden eggs. Ourstate is so broke they can’t payattention nor can they afford to gowindow shopping. So what do theydo but find another way to raisemoney so they can waste it.

In the state of Illinois tax payersput out over 13 billion dollars justfor welfare. Then on top of that theyspend 18 and a half billion forhealth care for all those on welfarethe uninsured. So to help squeezethe gap a little they want to tax theworking man again when he is outenjoying the outdoors by makingyou pay fees to operate your ATV.

Brilliant why don’t they tax us forbreathing air what’s next? Theymay be doing that already. Here is anew law they have run down ourthroats. The charge for each ATV isnow $12. This new law was keptsecret and passed with no oneknowing. They say it is going to gofor creating new places to operate

except someone from the Chicagoarea.

Hopefully Bill Brady will be run-ning in the next race for governor.

I remember when that crookGeorge Ryan ran years ago I votedfor Glen Poshard a Democratbecause he was an outdoorsmanand an honest man. I know Glenand you won’t find a better manand he would have been a greatGovernor. It doesn’t matter in stategovernment what party you are butwhat you stand for. Glen stood forgun rights and they don’t inChicago but the machine put himdown.

The people in Chicago call usdown staters and could care lessabout our hunting rights or gunrights. If we had something to bragabout like great run state facilitiesyes tax us. But I guarantee youthings will be the same after theystart collecting ATV fees. Politics,aren’t they a beautiful thing?

A quick joke, a little boy tells hisdad when he grows up he is goingto be a crook. His father says cor-porate or government? That’s aboutright.

The right to carry is just around

the corner; by Oct 7th the state willappoint instructors to start classes.All of the information is a littlesketchy, but some things are truesuch as $150 license fee, and a feeof $200-$300 for instructionalclasses. The classes will be 16hours and veterans will get a breakwith an eight hour class. There area lot of things that you will need toknow such as what gun fits you, tothe type of holster that works wellfor you. As soon as all this is etchedin stone the ISRA-Illinois StateRifle Associations web page willshow it all. We will keep you post-ed when that info is up.

Hunting season is here, be carefulout there, have a safe and fun sea-son.

Remember our Veterans.Keep your Powder Dry and Your

Worm Wet! Harry

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The Worst AmericanMaritime Disaster that

was Forgotten"We have as a people become so accus-

tomed to suffering of horrors during thepast few years that they soon are forgot-ten. Only a few days ago 1,500 liveswere sacrificed. Yet now, the disaster isscarcely mentioned -- some new excite-ment has taken its place."The Memphis Argus Newspaper, a fewdays following the Sultana Explosion

On April 27th, 1865, very few peoplenoticed a newspaper report concerningthe Steamship SS. Sultana on theMississippi River. While ConfederateGeneral Robert E. Lee had surrenderedon April 9th, the last large ConfederateArmy under the command ofConfederate General Joseph Johnsonhad just surrendered and theConfederacy itself was still alive in smallpockets. The assassination of PresidentAbraham Lincoln on the night of April14th was still fresh in everyone’s mind.His funeral train caring his body was inBuffalo, New York, on its way toCleveland, Ohio. Headlines of the news-papers on April 27th carried the newsthat Lincoln’s assassin, John WilkesBooth, had been shot and killed thenight before.

All of this news buried the newsSteamship SS. Sultana and what took

place on the freezing Mississippi Riverjust seven miles north of Memphis,Tennessee. All but dismissed at the time,and now all but forgotten by time, thedemise of the Steamship SS. Sultana andthe over 1,700 men, women and chil-dren that died with her sinking stands asthe worst maritime disaster in theUnited States and up to September 11th,2011, the worst act of terrorism. Themore than 1,700 people lost with thesinking of this once great steamship isgreater than the over 1,400 lost with thesinking of the Titanic and yet while theTitanic has been widely investigated andpublished, very few can recall theSultana’s horrific destruction.

As Union Troops pushed further intoGeorgia and Alabama, they came to findthe Prisoner of War camps such asCahawba and Andersonville. They want-ed to get the survivors of these horrific

Prison Camps back north to home asquickly as possible. As such, they provid-ed trains out of Chattanooga toVicksburg. At Vicksburg the govern-ment provided steamboats to take themnorth to Cairo, Illinois.

The SS Sultana was built in 1863 inCincinnati by the John LitherburyShipyard and was intended for cottontrade on the lower Mississippi River.Manned with a crew of 85, thesteamship had made the run between St.Louis and New Orleans many times overthe years that followed, frequently com-missioned to carry troops. The SSSultana was state of the art, includingthe most modern safety equipment; safe-ty gauges that fused open when theinternal boiler pressure reached 150pounds per square inch, three fire-fight-ing pumps, a metallic lifeboat and awooden yawl, 300 feet of fire hose, thir-ty buckets, five fire-fighting axes and 76life belts. At 260 feet long by 42 feet ather widest, she was equipped to legallycarry 376 passengers plus her crew butshe could handle much more cargo byweight than that.

Under the command of Captain JamesCass Mason of St. Louis, the SS Sultanaleft New Orleans on April 21st, 1865,with over 100 passengers, a full crew of85 and numerous head of livestockbound for market in St. Louis. AtVicksburg, it needed some hasty repairsto the boilers and to take on the Union

Prisoners of War. Just one of manysteamships hired by the government totransport the troops, rather than replacethe bad boiler a small patch repair wasmade to reinforce a leaking area. Therepair took one day where as the replace-ment would have taken more than threedays. The government was offering $5 ahead (over $65 a head today) and withmore boats arriving each day the soonerthe SS Sultana got underway the moretroops available as passengers. Over2,300 troops crowded onboard.

At 9:00pm on April 24th, the SSSultana which was licensed to carry 376now had over 2,400 total passengers asshe left Vicksburg for her next stop inMemphis. When questioned by an Armyofficial about possible being overweight,Captain Mason confidently stated hehad carried more men before and by farheavier amounts of cargo.Because the snow had melted in thenorth, the Mississippi was flooded andthe boat struggled against the currentswith its heavy load. The Sultana arrivedin Memphis on April 26th to take onmore coal. By midnight the Sultana hada full load of coal and left Memphis.

At 2:00am on April 27th, seven milesnorth of Memphis, with most of its over-crowded passengers sleeping whereverthey could, the SS Sultana suddenlyexploded. Instantly flames spreadthroughout the wooden steamship. Asthe boilers blew, volumes of boiling

010_001.qxd 9/18/13 5:23 PM Page 1


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water and scorching stream sprayedacross the passengers. The two smoke-stacks fell on the boat, crushing theHurricane deck and killing many. Thosewho survived panicked and rather thanfighting the fire began to jump into theriver. The flames started sweepingtoward the stern, causing more panicand jumping.

Those who survived by jumping intothe water found themselves still in dan-

ger. Most of the passengers could notswim and now finding themselves in theriver they became panic ridden anddrowned many that could swim in aneffort to save themselves. Others in thewater clung to debris in the river, or tohorses and mules that had escaped theboat, hoping to make it to shore, whichthey could not see because it was darkand the flooded river was at that pointalmost five miles wide. The only light

available was that produced by the stillburning wreck of the SS Sultana. Thewreckage would burn until it finallysank around dawn.

One man survived by floating almost10 miles on the back of a dead mule.One survivor recalled that there was atleast one person clinging to every treealong the flooded banks of the river. Allof them were very cold, and some sangsongs to try to keep their mind off theirtroubles. Many in the water died ofhyperthermia because of the freezingwater. Their dead bodies would contin-ue to found for over a month down-

stream as far as Vicksburg. Word of the disaster reached

Memphis when a passenger, a teenageboy, floated up to the waterfront andtold the sentries what had happened. Inthe early morning hours of April 27,1865, as word of the disaster spread,numerous boats began to assist in therescue. The first boat to the scene wasthe steamship SS Bostonia II, arriving tohorrific scene around 3:00am. Othervessels joined the rescue, including thesteamships SS Arkansas, SS Jerry Lind,SS Essex and the Navy side-wheel gun-boat USS Tyler, which was manned by

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volunteers from Memphis since the ship’sregular crew had already been discharged.

Of the estimated 2,500 passengers andcrew on the SS Sultana, only an estimated800 were rescued. Compared to othermaritime disasters, the HMS Titanic took1,517 down with it in 1912 and the localSS Columbia which sunk in the IllinoisRiver near Creve Coeur in 1918 took 87down with it. Adding to the tragedy is thefact that the vast majority of the deadwhere Union Civil War Prisoners of Warthat had survived the inhuman living con-ditions of Andersonville and Cahawbaonly to die heading back home to freedom.

Another tragic twist to this story is thatit may not have been an accident.

One official report points to the hastilyrepaired boiler, stress of the overcrowdedship, and mismanagement of the waterlevel in the boiler as the cause of the disas-ter, with greed for higher profits at anycost fueling the disaster. The leading prob-lem with the first official report is the con-cept of greed for higher profits. Since all ofthe officers of the ship where acknowl-edged as professional, experiencedsteamship operators. All of them, includ-ing the boiler master, the quartermasterand captain, would have had to be so over-whelmed with greed that they would act sorecklessly to the point of profits over theirown lives. This becomes harder to believe

when it was discovered that one of the firstto die because of his proximity to the boil-ers was the boiler master. Furthermore,none of the officers so obsessed with prof-its survived.

A second official report never concludeda cause. One leading possibility this secondreport investigated but never found proofof was sabotage by Confederate sympathiz-ers. Proof finally came forward in 1888.

St. Louis resident Robert Louden was avery publicly known in the years followingthe war as a former member of a wartimesecret organization called “The Boat-burn-ers”, a pro-confederate group workingalong the Mississippi and based in St.Louis to destroy Union River Traffic. TheBoat-burners destroyed over 100 river-boats during the war, resulting in thou-sands of Union deaths.One evening in 1867, as he sat drinkingwith his close friend since the war WilliamStreetor, Robert Louden was openly dis-cussing his past exploits as a member of“The Boat-burners”. William Streetorasked him if he knew anything about whathappened to the SS Sultana and to his sur-prise, Robert Louden stated he had beenresponsible for the explosion and started totell his friend how it happened.

“The Boat-burners” where looking for abetter way to destroy riverboats and hadrecruited another St. Louis resident to helpthem; Thomas Ethridge Courtenay.Courtenay was on the surface an insurancesalesman, but he was known to theConfederate Leadership as a torpedo (at

that time what we call today bombs wherecalled torpedoes) and metal craft expert.He had already proven his skill by provid-ing the Confederacy with roadway torpe-does. He was also a member of theConfederate Secret Service.

His new idea was the “Coal Torpedo”.Using a hollow iron casting 3/8 inchthink, the interior was then filled with 3-4ounces of gunpowder. The casting wasthen closed with a threaded plug. Theclosed casting was then dipped into meltedbeeswax and rolled in coal dust for textureand color. Finished “Coal Torpedo’s” wereabout 4” wide and weighted 3-4 lbs. Theexplosive power of these torpedoes wouldnot destroy the target themselves butwould burst the pressurized steam boiler,which had the potential to cause a tremen-dous secondary explosion. In action, the“Coal Torpedo” would leave little evi-dence.

Louden claimed that he had traveled toMemphis and during the evening of April26th had rowed out into the Mississippiand placed a “Coal Torpedo” in the coalsupply. If his story was true, then the“Coal Torpedo” was next unknowinglyloaded onto the SS Sultana and from thereshoveled into the boiler of the steamshiparound 2:00am. A short time later the shipexploded. Robert Louden died of naturalcauses before William Streeter made hisstory public.

Is Louden’s story true? We will neverknow for sure, but I believe the evidencepoints towards it being the truth. WhileLouden had a notorious criminal back-ground from childhood, making him lessthan a credible source, his friend William

Streeter was pro-union, was a formerprison warden who would have beenaccustomed to determining what is and isnot a lie from a criminal and had an hon-orable reputation.

Also consider that we do now that the“Coal Torpedo” was an actual weapon.One was found in Confederate PresidentJefferson Davis’ Office by Union GeneralEdward Ripley when the Union Army cap-tured Richmond. Several actual “CoalTorpedoes” were also discovered in thespring of 1865 in the apartment rented byConfederate Secret Service Agent JacobThompson in Canada. In 1875 an anony-mous letter to the Times of London gave afull description of how to manufacture“Coal Torpedoes”.

Finally, while debate remains as to theuse of “Coal Torpedoes” in the case of theSS Sultana, the Union Department of Wardoes credit to the weapon with the sinkingof two other ships (the private steamshipSS Greyhound and the gunboat USSChenango) and list it as a strong possibili-ty in the destruction of several others.

In 1982, an archaeological expeditionuncovered what is believed to be thewreckage of the SS Sultana. The blackenedwooden planks and timbers were foundabout 32 feet under a soybean field on theArkansas side of the Mississippi River. TheMississippi River has changed course sev-eral times since 1864 and today the mainchannel flows about 2 miles east of whereit was in 1864.

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012_001.qxd 9/18/13 5:15 PM Page 1


Two State Lawmakers Say More Gun Instructors Needed- They say state police must pick up the pace -

By Kurt Erickson, The Southern Springfield Bureau

SPRINGFIELD — With Illinois getting ready to join the rest of thenation in allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons, two statelawmakers are raising concerns about the number of instructors be-ing certified to provide training.

Democratic state Reps. Brandon Phelps of Harrisburg and JerryCostello of Smithton said the Illinois State Police (ISP) must movefaster on approving trainers to deal with the potentially high numberof applicants seeking concealed carry permits.

“It is critically important that not only those interested apply assoon as possible, but we also want to make sure ISP is approvingthese instructors at a much higher volume than they have been, dueto the high number of those waiting for the right to safely protect

From theDesk of:

Rich Pearson,

ISRA ExecutiveDirector

their families,” Costello said in a prepared statement.“We strongly urge the ISP and governor to listen to the people of

Illinois, and continue to approve instructors in a timelier manner, soconcealed carry classes can begin,” said Phelps, who sponsored leg-islation this spring that put a concealed carry law on the books.

When lawmakers approved the new gun law in July, they delayed itsrollout until next year in order to give state police time to put regula-tions and a licensing system in place.

Under the law, gun owners who want to carry loaded guns in publicare required to complete 16 hours of training. The subject matter willinclude firearm safety, basic principles of marksmanship, care andcleaning of a firearm and the loading and unloading of a gun.

Applicants also must pass a live fire exercise by shooting at a tar-get a minimum of 10 rounds from a distance of five yards, 10 roundsfrom a distance of seven yards and 10 rounds from a distance of 10yards.

The training and approval of instructors didn’t get underway untilearlier in Sept. As of 9/20/2013, Illinois State Police had approved55 instructors over the course of 11 weekdays.

“In order to handle the high demand of those wanting concealedcarry permits we need more qualified (instructors,)” Costello noted.

State Police spokeswoman Monique Bond said information abouthow many more instructors are in the training pipeline was not avail-able. And, she wasn’t sure how many would be approved by year’s end.

But, she said the state would post a list of approved training pro-grams on Sept. 30 on its website at www.isp.state.il.us. Trainingcould begin soon after that, Bond added.

The first concealed carry permits are expected tobegin being issued in April 2014.

Starbucks' CEO Announces 'Open Season' On His EmployeesAs millions of hunters and sportsmen prepare to take to the fields this

autumn, the CEO of the Starbucks coffee chain announced in Sept. thathis employees are now fair game for urban thugs, murderers, robbers andrapists.! This announcement came by way of an open letter from the firm'sCEO, Howard Schultz, in which Schultz informed law-abiding gun ownersthat, although their cash and credit cards are very welcome at Starbucks,their lawfully-owned firearms are not.! Thus, Schultz has declared Star-bucks stores to be pacifist oases inhabited by persons unwilling to defendthemselves against violent crime.

"The Starbucks announcement is a slap in the face to every Americanwho loves freedom and honors our Constitution," commented ISRA Exec-utive Director, Richard Pearson.! "Shultz's announcement is pure politi-cal grandstanding and does not at all reflect this nation's proud heritageof safe, lawful and responsible firearms ownership."

"Of course, we recognize and support Schultz's right to control hisstores as he sees fit," continued Pearson.! "However, gun owners have theright to shop elsewhere.! The ISRA is advising its members to stay awayfrom Starbucks for two reasons.! First, in protest of Schultz's disrespect-ful attitude towards lawful gun owners and our Constitution.! Second, be-cause Starbucks and its customers will be sitting ducks for violent crimi-nals since nobody in the stores but the thugs will be armed.! In short, itwill be just too dangerous to hang out in a Starbucks store."

"There are plenty of places to get a great cup of coffee," said Pearson."There remain some nice mom and pop coffee shops that haven't beenrun out of business by corporate marauders like Starbucks.! So I urge gunowners to shop locally where you can get a cup of Joe without having toswallow a dose of the gun-grabbers' self-righteous indignation."

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over 105,000 souls, 90% of them born inAmerica.

We had an Aldermanic Governmentand usually a very strong, active mayor.People seem to love facts, figures and sta-tistics, so I thought I would give themprobably a lot more than they care to read.

We were always cutting edge here be-cause we had so many wealthy people liv-ing here and when they wanted some-thing…they got it. They invested in thosenew products and the common folks ofPeoria benefited from it. We had 24,000phones in operation, just over 100 church-es and 271 manufacturing companiesmaking jobs rather plentiful here. Wemade tractors, washing machines, wire andsteel and so many, many more productsadding up to just over a thousand maderight here in town. Everyone knows aboutour many breweries and distilleries and af-ter 1934 we were once again the ‘alcoholcapital of the world.’

In 1937 we had seven newspapers, threedailies and 4 weeklies, stove makers, cigarmakers, and nine downtown movie the-aters with 8,844 seats. We had an exciting,viable downtown shopping area with 13principal hotels that offered 2,000 rooms.Of course we had a lot of tiny places called‘dives, dumps, rat holes, flop houses and if

you count all ofthem, there werefifty-nine of those.Our merchantsloved to tell anyonethat would listen “Ifyou can’t find it indowntown Peo-ria…you don’tneed it.” We had 5hospitals consistingof 775 beds. Peoriabragged about anexceptional schoolsystem that consist-ed of 47 differentschools, including 7high schools, 16parochial and sever-al other specializedschools, which in-cluded a Horology

school and Bradley College. We werehugely into music conservatories and be-lieve it or not, we had 58 music teachers,which included voice, instruments and ofcourse piano.

Peoria was a major Railroad town with15 companies serving this great little town.We had the Alton, Big Four, Burlington,Eastern, Illinois Central, Rock Island,Sante Fe and TP&W, just to name a few.We bragged about our 200 miles of streetsespecially the 137.66 miles that were paved.We had a first class fire department of 127men and a police force consisting of 121men with 9 of our police cars equippedwith two-way radios.

Our Chamber of Commerce remindedvisitors that Peoria was the home of the first‘practical’ gas powered auto and the centerof horse racing, auto racing, bicycle anddog racing and a beautiful fair grounds. Wecalled ourselves Convention City and tout-ed our parks and recreational river front.Our Peoria Union Stock Yards competedwith the big boys and were number onewhen it came to trucked in hogs.

We were served by American Airlinesand our politicians promised that the air-port would grow along with our great city.

Automobiles were big in Peoria and wehad 23 auto dealers in town and over 60auto repair shops, so apparently the prod-

uct was not perfect. The aroma of 60 bak-eries was in the air, along with the odor ofthe breweries and distilleries and the blacksmoke belching from the locomotives onthe tracks down by the river which made usa bit odiferous Add all that to the chemi-cal makers and the stock yards and on a hotAugust night folks knew they were in Peo-ria. Some critics sloughed it off with,“That’s just Peorians making money.”Along with the 162 barbers working with-in the city limits were the 170 beauty shopsand 50 shoe retailers and 9 shoe shinningshops in town. Peoria manufacturedshoes…repaired them… sold them andshined them all within close proximity ofone another.

We had seven major pool and billiardparlors in town, six bowling alleys and awhopping 258 saloons in town. Some ofthese were elegant restaurants, bars, tavernsand night clubs. We also had despicableplaces with scary reputations. Some hadcolorful names like Bucket of Blood andHole In The Wall. Most of Peoria’s violentcrimes emanated from these places duringthe early morning hours.

Since 1845 we have had our share ofbrothels, gambling and dope dins, and bythe time Prohibition rolled around, Peo-ria’s reputation as a wide-open bawdy townwas well deserved.

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Quite a titlehuh? Howeverthat is what theChamber ofCommerce herein Peoria, Illi-nois liked po-tential cus-tomers to thinkabout. We alsotouted our so-called Indianheritage too,and most of thatwas just a myth.But for a smalltown that man-aged to exist with from one square mile in1845 to eventually 12.28 square miles, Peo-ria was a remarkable place indeed.

It is 1937 here in Peoria and I thought Iwould give you an idea just what was goingon here. The Great Depression and Prohi-bition were in our past and since 1934 thiswas a city on the grow. We had a popula-tion of over a hundred thousand and by1940 we reached the magic number of just

by Norman V.

Kelly

014_001.qxd 9/18/13 7:29 PM Page 1


We had 4 brewers andGIPPS was clearly Peoria’s fa-vorite beer, along with our 6distilleries the aroma of ourmoney makers added to theso-called ‘Flavor of Peoria.’In the Alliance Life Buildingour radio station WMBDbroadcast the news and our fa-vorite radio shows to us andalmost every household had aradio.

Open the telephone bookup in 1937 and you will findevery profession known tomankind. Peoria boasted nineChiropodists, nine ChristianScience Practitioners and 21Chiropractors and of course, far too manylawyers. At least 120 dentists, 45 drugstores, by the way only one was a Wal-green. Almost 50 dressmakers were look-ing for business and well over 250 fillingstations, as they were called sold gas and oiland actually looked after our cars. It seemsthat on every corner was a grocery storeadding up to well over 300 of them. Onewas even a drive-in grocery store. Our ma-jor shopping center brought thousands toPeoria to marvel at the things they had tosell.

PSSST! Wanna rent ahall for a wedding or a meet-ing? Well, we had fifty-nineof them and enough insuranceagencies and insurance com-panies to insure every personand thing in town. Jewelrywas big and the new bride had60 to pick from. Peoria was aunion town, although fromthe strikes and battles thatwent on here …one mightdoubt that. There were sixtyunions here and our historyreveals they were active. Wehad dozens of lumber storesand enough liquor dealers tomake New Years Eve a happy

one here in town. Meat sellers numbered77, but we only had one museum alongwith a great library system.

Nurses were listed at just over 100, withan abundance of osteopaths, optometristsand physicians and surgeons numbering125. Peoria had almost fifty plumbers andtoo many contractors to count. That goesfor real estate people as well. No reason togo hungry in Peoria…even if you werebroke because we had several missions and158 restaurants including cafes and lunchrooms.

Tires were a major item in town and wehad vulcanizers, repair shops, truckingcompanies and dozens of moving compa-nies to serve us. We had over 100 so-calledSociety Clubs in town from Elks to Mooseand far beyond. We had one club in towncalled ‘Swastika’ whatever that was. Wehad all kinds of bath houses, some publicand some very ‘private’ if you get mymeaning. Our banks flourished here…allfourteen of them. We had 5 very activeblacksmiths in town and they soon learnedto adapt even when most of our horses had

disappeared.Peoria, Illinois in 1937 was a wonderful

time in our history, and throughout ouryears we continued to grow and prosper.Then a strange thing happened alongabout 1954, we began to just slip away. By1980 and beyond all we had downtownwere lawyers. Now just what did they do tokeep downtown Peoria alive? You guessedit.

Editor’s Note: Norm is an author and Peoria historian.

[email protected]

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Big Hearts Outdoors: Family AdventureBig Hearts Outdoors partnered with Angel’s Arms Ministry in hosting 12 special needs chil-

dren and their family’s experience the great outdoors at the Easter Seal Timber Point Camp-ground in Hudson, IL. All of the children attending were gifted a new fishing pole and each

family was given a tackle box full of fishing treasures and alist of the many places to fish in Central Illinois.

Big Hearts Outdoors underwrote the fishing equipment,boating and horseback riding activities for the group withthe hope of encouraging the families to continue similaroutdoor activities in the future. Lots of smiles and laughswere shared as the fish were caught and the fun boat rideswere experienced on Lake Bloomington.

Big Hearts Outdoors is a charity with a mission of providingaccess to outdoor family experiences for special needs childrenand young adults. Angel’s Arms is a ministry of NorthminsterPresbyterian Church in Peoria, IL. More information can befound at www.BigHeartsOutdoors.org

016_001.qxd 9/18/13 8:14 PM Page 1

This movement will help to increase sensitiv-ity through the foremost part of the foot whichis the most widely used area in terms of con-trolling a trolling motor via a foot pedal. Lung-ing on the toes will also create a less stableplatform so more muscles will have to be en-gaged to prevent the body from falling one wayor the other. This added strength and increasedstability will help you to control and move aboutyour boat more ef ficiently.

If you have any questions regarding fitnessor exercises related to fishing I would be morethan happy to answer them or provide much in-sight into the area. View my website atwww.samtonnerpt.com for more exercises oremail me at [email protected] to ask aspecific question.

Keep the body strong, and good fishing!

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“Fit to Fish” A Functional Approachto Fitness for Anglers

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Bill sponsored by Senator Brady to help Landowners and Hunters Signed into Law!

A bill sponsored by SenatorBill Brady (R-Bloomington)that gives landowners broaderprotection against poacherswas signed into law recently.SB 1831 amends a section ofthe Wildlife Code to nowmake it unlawful to “take orattempt to take” any wildlifeor wildlife parts (such as car-casses and shed antlers) on theproperty of another without permission. The previous law only pertained to actually hunt-ing.

The new law allows for a landowner to appoint a designee to act as his representative incourt if he is unable to appear or is out of the area. “We have a lot of landowners who mi-grate to warmer climates in the winter and this law will prevent them from having to returnjust to appear in court when someone is caught illegally on their property if they have a au-thorized designee in place,” stated Brady. Brady explained that courts were starting to ques-tion the previous law which only required the landowner to appear if the person actually hadpermission.

The law also makes it clear that it is unlawful for a person to shoot at any wildlife stand-ing upon or flying over the property of another without permission as well.

The measure was brought to the attention of Senator Brady by the Illinois ConservationPolice Lodge, a fraternal organization consisting of active and retired conservation police of-ficers. Representative Norine Hammond (R-Macomb) was the chief sponsor of the meas-ure in the House.

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017_001.qxd 9/18/13 9:31 PM Page 1


Welcome to...

The Brick TavernWhere even the ducks come to party!

All-You-Can-Eat Meals Thursday, Friday and Saturday Nights

Sandwiches & Soups SaturdayDaytime Meals Sunday

309-546-9013Rt. 78 • Bath, IL

WANTED TO BUY:INDIAN INDIAN RELICS RELICS OF ALL OF ALL KINDSKINDS

APPRAISALS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.Contact Brian: (217) 642-5379

(217) 871-5379 • [email protected]

Taxidermy is one of those subjects that Iavoid at my house. I have yet to convinceNancy how necessary my mounts are to me.She thinks a photo would be just as good. Ihave hundreds of those, as well.

As you might imagine space for my taxi-dermy is at a premium here. With dozens offish, a dozen shoulder mounts, several full-body mounts and trophies from Africa it ishigh time I got creative. One of those ideasis to use European skull mounts as opposedto full shoulder mounts.

One of the few taxidermists that I trust mytrophies to is Jim McClintock of FURFEATHERS & FINS TAXIDERMY inCamp Point, IL. Jim has done manymounts for me including a shoulder mountdeer and several fish. His expertise and at-tention to detail is second-to none.

I recently took Jim a deer head for a Euro-pean mount. I visited with him about thistype of taxidermy. He told me that the Eu-ropean mounts are gaining popularity everyseason. In 2012 the ratio of shouldermounts to European mounts grew to 70/30.

That fact did not really surprise me. How-ever I was a bit shocked at the size racks hewas mounting in this style.

McClintock told me he is now doing Eu-ropean mounts on virtually all sizes of white-tailed racks. For me I have only use this tech-nique for racks that were maybe not largeenough to justify a full shoulder mount.

There are several reasons a Europeanmount might be considered by a hunter.First is cost. A typical shoulder mount willcost over three-times that of a skull mount.Sometimes the hunter just wants somethingdifferent for the wall and sometimes they willhave Jim dip the skull in a camo film to real-ly make it unique.

It is very easy to deliver a head for skullmount to the taxidermist. You need not skinthe head. Just cut it off and bring in thewhole head. The taxidermist will then em-ploy one of two methods to prepare the skull.

European mounting, as evidenced by thename, has been popular in Europe for a verylong time. However, the methods and stylesfor European mounting have changed a lot

EUROPEAN MOUNTS:YES OR NO?

BY MIKE ROUXwww.americasbesthuntingsupplies.com

2470 235th St.Fort Madison, IA

1-877-BIRDHUNTwww.FaethsFowlPlay.com

since the olden days. In thebeginning, the animal's hidewas removed and kept out-side to decay and bleach it-self. Nowadays, the Euro-pean mounting bleachingprocess is done by using per-oxide and soaking the ani-mal's skull in it overnight.

It is often a good idea tobring the animal's skull intoa professional skull cleaningservice instead of boiling toclean it yourself. That couldpotentially ruin your work.Many professionals willclean the skulls by usingDermestid Beetles, which isa traditional method of skullcleansing. This method ofcleansing is good becauseunlike boiling, it will notbreak the gentle nasal cavityor cause it to fall out. It alsomakes sure the teeth remainin place and that the jointsdo not crack.

Dermestid beetles are also known as hide,carrion or skin beetles. They are bugs gener-ally associated with decomposition, and canbe found under dead and decomposing ani-mals. They are usually black or dull coloredand hairy, and range from 2mm to 12mm inlength. Female Dermestid beetles tend to bebigger than males. Dermestid beetles are of-ten used to clean the flesh off skeletons, es-pecially small animal skeletons with delicate

bones. Scientists, museums and universitiesoften grow Dermestid beetles because theydo not damage skeletons, unlike harmfulchemicals, making them a great alternativefor cleaning skulls.

To contact Jim McClintock about theseor any of your taxidermy desires call him at217-696-4322 or atwww.fursfeathersfins.net.

Once you have a European mount thereare several ways to display this unique tro-

Taxidermist Jim McClintock shows both his European skull mount and the traditional shoulder

mount buck. (Photo by Mike Roux)

Quail & Pheasant HuntingQuail & Pheasant Hunting

018_001.qxd 9/18/13 10:41 PM Page 1

phy. Let’s look at a couple of options; the mostcommon way to display European deer skullmounts is on a wooden plaque. These come indozens of different shapes, sizes and styles. Someof the most popular I have seen are the “StateSpecific” plaques that represent the state fromwhich the trophy was harvested.

John Tabor from CUSTOM OUTDOORADVANTAGE in Marseilles, IL does the stateplaques and also arrowhead shaped plaques forthose archery-taken skull mounts you mighthave. He also produces some very attractive Illi-nois harvest pin plaques. Call John at 815-325-3975 or check-out his web site at www.custo-moutdooradvantage.com.

Another option is perhaps a bit classier thanthe wooden plaque approach. SKULL HOOK-ER made by the Little Hooker Company is aprofessionally finished, fully adjustable skullmounting bracket.

This metal device consists of a wall plaque,mounting arm and an adjustable prong. Thebracket attaches to a wall stud with screws andrequires no drilling into the skull itself. The ad-justable prong is designed to fit into the spinalhole in the base of the skull. It has 12 adjust-ments up and down and swivels left to right.This is the perfect way to display your Europeanskull mount in the living room, hallway, and mantel or anywhere in your home.

See these remarkable hangers at www.skullhooker.com. These can also be used for antelope,alligator, black bear, wild boar, impala, cougar and many other small to medium sized speciesfrom around the world.


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Both wooden plaques and metal hangers help you display your

European skull mount trophies. (Photo by Mike Roux)

THE RED STOCKING CHRISTMAS FUNDGet Your Holiday Gifts Lined Up Early &

Donate to the Journal-Star Christmas Fund! 12 Stories from Norm Kelly,

ASO Writer & Peoria Historian…A Great Gift ONLY $7 or $1 per story!

Stories sent Electronically. Norm is a great writer!

Help him to support The Journal Star’s Red

Stocking Christmas Fund!Christmas 2012 they distributed

over 5000 food baskets and 1700 stockings full of toys to Central IL

residents in need, marking the 100th year of giving for this charity.

Contact Norm for details! norman.kelly@sbcglobal

309-692-6387“Wishing an early Merry Christmas

to you and the KIDS!” ~Norm

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The MeanderingMurray’s

By Bob Murray


What Bob Hope SaidI got into Old Joe’s boat from the creaking

dock that looked like a lawsuit just waiting tohappen. Jagged pieces of metal surroundedbroken concrete platform tiles that formedthe main walkway and separated the boatstalls from each other. Martin nests weretucked in the corrugated metal roof andadded bird droppings to the spider poo thatpainted the dock and the boats in each of thestalls.

Joe had been out fishing already on thepleasant early spring day and apparently sawCheryl and me fishing from the rickety dock.He also was apparently a true sexist since heonly included in me in his invitation to fishwith him on his vintage Bass Cat. We leftCheryl standing on the dock working onecrank-bait after another, and not catching athing.

That was fairly well how our romance withToledo Bend Resort began; poor Cheryl onthe dock and me catching five bass with OldJoe in his old Bass Cat. Cheryl did meetInjun Ray that day, he was the self-appoint-ed keeper of boat stalls, fish cleaning sta-tions, and a never empty coffee pot. I don’tremember what tribe he was from, but as aNative American he has some things thatonly can be possessed by a person with aminimum percentage of a tribal bloodline.He had an owl in his freezer (it had been hiton the highway) eagle feathers and variousother controlled animals and animal parts,that he was “going to do something with it.”

Between Cheryl running his trot lineswith him and me fishing with him forstriped bass and crappie; we logged a lot ofhours with Injun Ray.

829 E. Camp St. • E. Peoria, IL [email protected]

309-694-4867 • 1-800-962-9934www.mwfco.com

Rt. 29 • Rome, Illinois • (309) 274-WOLF (9653)www.wolfhollow.org • [email protected]

.Archery Pro Shop. Indoor Shooting Range.Bow Tuning & Repairs

.Bait & TackleLarry & Celeste Pollack

15704 Vonachen Dr.Chillicothe, IL 61523

Closed on Mondays.

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FRIENDLY CUSTOMER SERVICE IS OUR #1 PRIORITY!

We floated even more hours with Mr.Cliff. He has since left us, but he will alwaysbe with us. Beyond fishing from his pon-toon boat and eating his too greasy chicken,that ole WWII vet became a large part of ourlives to the degree we accepted his power ofattorney and journeyed with him thru anugly and lethal encounter with dreadedAlzheimer’s disease.

Before he succumbed to the forgetfulnessand the personality changes he was fun to bewith. He had forgotten more about thewoods of Louisiana than any ten of us willlearn in our lifetimes. As most of the readersknow, hearing is an extremely important partof success in the woods. Well, Cliff wasabout as deaf as a post. He wanted to takeme squirrel hunting at one of his old hauntsfor years. We finally put such a trip togeth-er and hit the acorns early one morning inthe Kisatche National Wildlife Refuge, andwe actually found his old stomping grounds.

I should have anticipated what was aboutto happen. I didn’t. He found this enor-mous oak that was standing in the midst of aclearing that was surrounded by mostly pinesand a few poplars. We set up at the base ofa smaller oak kind of in a back to back kindof a position. With shotguns resting in ourlaps we settled in to wait for the tree rats tocome and lay down their lives to become partof a wonderful fricassee.

Minutes passed, and I sat and listened tothe sounds of the woods. We didn’t talk atall. Now, remember Cliff is deaf in bothears. I heard a noise and was straining to

hear if it might be fodder for free Mepp’sSpinners (they trade baits for squirrel tails)when out of the corner of my ears I hear “ITHINK I HEAR ONE OVER THERE!” atan octave level commensurate with a 747 ontakeoff. I ducked my head in an effort toproduce some sort of hiding maneuver. Ilooked at Cliff and nodded in agreement andappeared to wait in anxious anticipation ofanimals that were at that point probably stillrunning from us. No, we didn’t get a squir-rel; but Cliff did get to take me to one of hisfavorite spots. God bless him.

We were blessed with many other friend-ships over the years. Some were fleeting thatcame and went as people found camps andgave camps up. Others have been there foras long as we have been here and will contin-ue for the rest of our time on earth. We wentcrabbing with Mary and Gregg in mosquitoinfested marshes in SE Texas. We went toGalveston Texas. to Dickens on the Strandwith Jim and Carla and James and Mia, all ofus dressed in Victorian era garb. We didMardi Gras with Doc and Melitta in Eunice,La. and explored Lafayette with Reid andMalia. Janice and her son Cameron becameso close Janice is planning on going withCheryl on the family ladies weekend. Wehad many more friends and many more tripsand events and we will remember them all.

Now, what is it that Bob Hope said?“Thanks for the memories.” You know whatelse he said? Keep it clean out there. Notreally.

[email protected] • Liquor • Wine • Soda • Ice • Snacks

Live Bait • Tackle • Roll Your Own TobaccoHunting & Fishing Licenses & Stamps

820 S. Main St., Lewistown, IL (309) 547-1094

By Casey's on Rt. 24 • Paul Dinkheller, Owner

Expanded Bait Shop, Several Expanded Bait Shop, Several Sizes of Minnows Now Sizes of Minnows Now

Available & Much More!Available & Much More!

020_001.qxd 9/21/13 9:04 PM Page 1


GCR Tire CenterGCR Tire CenterBridgestone Firestone

642 E. Main Street • Galesburg, ILWe Provide Excellent Quality forall Cars, Trucks, Trailers & RV’s

• Complete Tire Service • Brake Service• Wheel Alignment • Shocks & Struts Suspension• Professional Repairs • Road Service

Specializing In Hard to Find Tires For Your 4x4 or ATV

Phone: (309) 343-1141 • Fax: (309) 343-3490

RMEF’S $140,000GIFT OPENS DOORTO 18,000 ACRES OF

PUBLIC ACCESS A 40-acre acquisition by the Rocky Mountain Elk

Foundation will improve access to nearly 18,000acres of National Forest public lands in central Mon-tana for hunting and other recreational enjoyment.

“This strikes at the heart of what RMEF is allabout,” said David Allen, RMEF president and CEO.“We are committed to opening more land for huntingand other year-round recreational public access andnow the gate is open for hunters to more easily accessthousands of acres of elk country previously almostimpossible to reach.”

Recently acquired by RMEF, the property contains a30-foot common boundary with a corner piece of theLewis and Clark National Forest (LCNF), best known ashome of the Big and Little Snowy Mountains. Thetransaction is a cooperative effort between the RMEF,Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the LCNF, and willinglandowners Marshall and Leslie Long.

RMEF purchased the land for $190,000 and will of-fer it to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks for $50,000,in effect donating the remaining balance of $140,000to FWP. To complete the land transfer, FWP will launcha public environmental analysis to get the land acqui-sition approved by the FWP Commission and the Mon-tana Land Board.

RMEF and its partners signed an agreement that setsthe stage for the FWP to provide an entrance, parkingarea, signage and a defined access trail into the for-

est. The goal is to have the improvements in place byOctober 26, opening day of the 2013 general big gamerifle season.

“This small but critical piece of land offers both biggame habitat and exceptional access to public landthat supports a prized elk population,” said GaryBertellotti, FWP Region 4 supervisor. “FWP wants tothank the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation for its ef-forts to secure the Red Hill property and partneringwith FWP to provide access to elk and National Forestpublic lands for future generations.”

“This is a big win for hunters and other members ofthe public because there was realistically no easy wayto reach this part of the Snowys. This public accesswill allow hunters to play a more active part with man-agement of an elk herd that is over objective.” addedAllen.

Aerial surveys conducted by FWP this past Febru-ary revealed a population count of approximately4,000 elk in the Big and Little Snowy Mountains witha calf to cow ratio of 30:100.

The transaction conserves a diverse mixture of as-pen and forest, grasslands, meadows, wetlands, and aspring and intermittent stream; and provides impor-tant habitat for elk, mule deer, whitetail deer, blackbear, grouse and a vast array of other wildlife.

Funding for the project came from the TorstensonFamily Endowment which is used solely to furtherRMEF’s core mission programs of permanent land pro-tection, habitat stewardship, elk restoration andhunting heritage.

To date, RMEF projects opened or improved access

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cier, Yosemite, Rocky Mountain and Great SmokyMountains national parks combined. RMEF also is astrong voice for hunters in access, wildlife manage-ment and conservation policy issues. RMEF members,partners and volunteers, working together as TeamElk, are making a difference all across elk country.Join us at www.rmef.org or 800-CALL ELK.

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to approximately 668,000 acres of elk countryacross the nation.

About the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation: RMEF isleading a conservation initiative that has protected orenhanced habitat on more than 6.3 million acres—an area larger than Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Gla-

BLARNEY CASTLEDelicious Homemade Pizza…Enjoy sizes up to 16 inches!

WED. & SAT. 1/2 Price Pizzas (In-House Only)FRI. Catfish Dinner with all the Trimmings

SUN. Fried Chicken 11am-8pmDaily Drink Specials • 32 oz. Schooner of Cold Beer Only $3.50!

Family Owned for Over 70 Years! Open Wed.-Sat. 3:30pm309-274-2694•Old Rt. 29•Rome, IL

First Retail Store Fur Ban Goes into Effect in West HollywoodAnimal rights activists under the name “Fur Free West Hollywood” have succeeded in a campaign to ban the

sale of fur in all West Hollywood retail stores.! Beginning Saturday, September 21, 2013, West Hollywood retail-ers will become the only city in the U.S where it is illegal to sell clothing made with fur.

Retailers in West Hollywood will be given citations if caught selling fur items by the Code Compliance Depart-ment, according to California Apparel News.! A ticket for a first offense will cost $200 with a $50 administra-tive fee, second offense $400 with the $50 administrative fee and a third offense would be $800. Three tick-ets in a calendar year could result in a misdemeanor for the shopkeeper.

The ban will specifically pro-hibit retailers from sellingclothing made with fur, evensmall items such as gloves,hats, scarves and boots.! Furtrimming on such items will al-so fall under this ban.

This is just the beginning foranimal rights activists, as FurFree West Hollywood is pushingtheir agenda on other cities.

See more at: http://www.ussportsmen.org/antis/first-retail-store-fur-ban-goes-into-effect-in-west-holly-wood/#sthash.jA2FfsTr.dpuf

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LAKEZONE CONVENIENCELive Bait & Tackle • Shell Gas & Diesel Fuel

Soda • Snacks • Cold Beer • Block & Bagged IceJct. Hwys. 154, 37 & I-57 • Whittington, IL 62897

(618) 629-2780 • OPEN 24/7!

The Depot Bait & Tackle ShopOPEN 7 DAYS…ALWAYS 1-HOUR BEFORE SUNRISE!

MON.-SAT. TIL SUNSET & SUN. TIL 6PMOwners: Becky & Duane Thorne

305 S. Union St. • Victoria, [email protected]

309-879-2401OUR BAIT IS GUARATEED TO CATCH FISH OR DIE TRYIN’!

www.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/deer

Oct. 16National Fossil Day, Ill. St. Museum, Springfieldwww.museum.state.il.us/events

Oct. 19Opening day of Illinois Duck and Canada gooseseasons, North Zonewww.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/Documents/DigestWaterfowlHuntingRegulations.pdf

Oct. 19-20Illinois Youth Waterfowl Hunt, Central Zonewww.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/Documents/D

Oct. 20Native American Game Day, Dickson MoundsMuseum,Lewistownwww.museum.state.il.us/events

Oct. 26Opening day of Illinois Duck and Canada gooseseasons, Central Zonewww.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/Documents/DigestWaterfowlHuntingRegulations.pdf

Nov. 2-3Illinois Youth Waterfowl Hunt, South-CentralZonewww.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/Documents/DigestWaterfowlHuntingRegulations.pdf

2014 North 4th St.Clinton, IA

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with all your hunting and fishing needs…Large supply of hunting, fishing & marine equip. Special orders available at no additional cost!

Lots ofFirearms &Discounted

Bows!

OCT. 2013CALENDAR OF EVENTSFor more info: www.dnr.illinois.gov

Oct. 1Opening day of 2013-14 Illinois Archery DeerHunting Seasonwww.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/deer

Oct. 5-6 and 12-13Dickson Mounds Rendezvous Encampment,Dickson Mounds Museum, Lewistownwww.museum.state.il.us/events

Oct. 12Super Saturdays Children’s Program at Ill. St.Museum, Springfieldwww.museum.state.il.us/events

Wild Weekend, Cypress Creek National WildlifeRefuge and Cache River State Natural Area,Cypress, ILwww.dnr.illinois.gov/calendar/Pages/WildWeekend-USFishWildlife.aspx

Oct. 12-13Illinois Youth Waterfowl Hunt, North Zonewww.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/Documents/DigestWaterfowlHuntingRegulations.pdf

Oct. 12-14Illinois Youth Firearm Deer Hunt

Crossbow use and regulations in North AmericaHere is a brief, at-a-glance overview of crossbow regulations and prospects across the United States and

Canada. Please note that laws can change at any time, especially as more jurisdictions open crossbow hunting

opportunities. As always, consult local rules and regs often for up-to-date details, as requirements may vary between hunts and

areas, even within the same jurisdiction.Current as of May 21, 2013. !Know before you go!Update to Kansas regs — Crossbows are now part of the legal archery equipment, which means they are legal

equipment during any season. Anyone with a permit valid during an archery season may hunt during that seasonwith a crossbow. Before hunting big game and turkey with a crossbow all hunters must first obtain a free CrossbowSurvey ID Number. The number is available through any KDWPT office and online through the KDWPT website.

New Record Weight for Mississippi AlligatorJACKSON, Miss. (AP) — During the first weekend of Mississippi's alligator season a hunting party held the

weight record for an alligator taken in the state. But the record only lasted about an hour. Beth Trammell took a 13-foot, 5.5-inch long, 723.5-pound alligator early Sunday in Issaquenna County in the

Yazoo Diversion Canal. It broke the previous weight record of 697.5 pounds.However, Mississippi Alligator program coordinator Ricky Flynt tells WLBT TV!that one hour after he certified

Trammell's record, he certified another record-breaking gator.Dustin Bockman, a UPS driver from Vicksburg, took the 727-pound alligator in the Mississippi River in Claiborne

County. It was 13-feet, 4.5-inches long.The current length record remains 13-feet, 6.5-inches. That alligator was taken on the Pascagoula River in

2008.Information from: WLBT-TV: www.wlbt.com

Fulton County’s Spoon River Valley Drive • Oct. 5-6 & 12-13Arts, Antiques, Crafts, Flea Market & Lots of Good Food!

www.SpoonRiverDrive.org • Call 309-647-8980Circle M Auctions 2nd Annual Fall Classic • Oct. 25-26-27

Antlers, Taxidermy Guns & Sporting Goods!www.CircleMAuctions.com

022_001.qxd 9/21/13 10:16 PM Page 1


Cardinal Corner409 Grand Tower Road • Grand Tower, IL 62942

On the Mississippi River • Hwy. 3 (Halfway between IL 146 & IL 149)618-565-1064 • Your Hometown Store!

Every morning serving biscuits and gravy and fresh doughnuts!Buffet Pizza made fresh the way you like it! Order yours today!

Sub sandwiches made to order or meats/cheese by the lb.Hours: 6am-8pm 7 Days a Week • Open unt i l 9pm dur ing the SummerSee You at the Corner…THE CARDINAL CORNER!

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Station!

IL FALL TROUTFISHING SEASON OPENS OCT. 19

Provides great opportunity toteach kids to fish at

43 locations statewideSPRINGFIELD, IL – The 2013 Illinois fall trout fish-

ing season opens on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 43 pondsand lakes throughout the state, including several newlocations in Cook, McHenry and Will counties.

“Autumn is a great season to spend time outdoors,and fishing for tasty trout is a great family activity,”said Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR)Director Marc Miller said. “The Fall Catchable TroutSeason is one way we encourage youth, families, andanglers of all ages to spend some time fishing inIllinois.”

Approximately 75,000 trout are stocked by IDNRat the locations listed below just prior to the openingof the fall trout season.! The Illinois catchable troutprogram is funded entirely by those who use the pro-gram through the sale of inland trout stamps.

Anglers are reminded that no trout may be takenfrom any of the stocked sites from Oct. 1 until the falltrout season opens on Oct. 19 at 5 a.m.

To take trout legally beginning Oct. 19, anglersmust have a fishing license and an inland trout stamp,unless they are under the age of 16, blind or disabled,or are an Illinois resident on leave from active duty inthe Armed Forces.! The daily catch limit for eachangler is five trout.

Anglers are reminded to check the opening time oftheir favorite trout fishing location if they plan to gofishing on opening day.! While regulations allow troutseason to open at 5 a.m. on Oct. 19, not all locationsare open that early.

For more information on fall trout season and other

Illinois fishing opportunities, check the web site atwww.ifishillinois.org.

Illinois fishing licenses and inland trout stamps areavailable at DNR Direct license and permit locations,including many bait shops, sporting goods stores andother retail outlets.!

Fishing licenses and trout stamps can also be pur-chased by using a credit card through DNR Directonline via the IDNR website at www.dnr.illinois.gov orby calling toll-free at 1-888-6PERMIT (1-888-673-7648).

For more information about all site regulations,anglers should contact individual sites that will bestocked with catchable-size trout.

The 43 locations are:Adams County: Siloam Springs State Park, ClaytonBond County: Greenville Old City Lake (Patriot’s

Park Lake)Bureau County: Hennepin Canal Parkway State

ParkChristian County: Manners Park Pond, TaylorvilleColes County: Campus Pond at Eastern Illinois

University, CharlestonCook County: Axehead Lake, Cook County Forest

Preserve DistrictCook County: Belleau Lake, Cook County Forest

Preserve DistrictCook County: Busse Woods North Lake, Cook

County Forest Preserve District (new location)Cook County: Wolf Lake at William W. Powers State

Recreation Area, Chicago (new location)Crawford County: Crawford County Conservation

Area Pond, HutsonvilleDouglas County: Villa Grove West Lake DuPage County: Silver Lake, DuPage County Forest

Preserve DistrictJefferson County: Mount Vernon Game Farm PondJohnson County: Ferne Clyffe State Park, GorevilleKankakee County: Bird Park Quarry, KankakeeKendall County: Big Lake at Silver Springs State

Convenient Drive Thru Cold Beer & Liquor • Ice • SnacksHunting & Fishing Licenses

Sesser Sun Mart

203 W. Franklin • Sesser, IL • (618) 625-5858

OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK!

Sun. - Thurs. 6am - 11pmFri. & Sat. 6am - 12midnight

Fish and Wildlife AreaLake County: Banana Lake, Lake County Forest

PreserveLake County: Sand Pond at Illinois Beach State

Park North Unit Macon County: Rock Springs Pond, Macon County

Conservation DistrictMacoupin County: Beaver Dam Lake, Beaver Dam

State ParkMadison County: Highland Old City LakeMarion County: Boston Pond at Stephen A. Forbes

State Recreation AreaMassac County:

Fairgrounds Pond at FortMassac State Park,Metropolis

McDonough County:Argyle Lake at Argyle LakeState Park, Colchester

McHenry County:Spring Grove HatcheryPond, Spring Grove (newlocation)

Randolph County:Randolph County StateFish and Wildlife AreaLake

Randolph County:Derby Lake, WorldShooting and RecreationalComplex, Sparta

Rock Island County:Prospect Park Pond,Moline

St. Clair County: FrankHolten State RecreationArea Lake, East St. Louis

St. Clair County: JonesPark Lake, East St. Louis

St. Clair County: WillowLake, Peabody River KingState Fish and WildlifeArea

Saline County: JonesLake Trout Pond at SalineCounty State Fish andWildlife Area

Sangamon County:Southwind Park, Spring-field

Sangamon County:Washington Park Pond,Springfield

Shelby County: ForestPark Lagoon, ShelbyvilleTazewell County: MineralSprings Park Lagoon,Pekin

Vermilion County:Clear Lake at KickapooState Recreation Area

Wabash County: BeallWoods Lake at BeallWoods State Park

Warren County: Cit-izen's Lake, Monmouth

Wayne County: Sam Dale Trout Pond at Sam DaleLake State Fish and Wildlife Area

Whiteside County:! Centennial Park Lake in RockFalls, Coloma Park District

Will County: Lake Strini at Conservation Park,Romeoville (new location)

Will County: Van Horn Woods, Plainfield (new loca-tion)

Follow the IDNR on Facebook & Twitter!

023_001.qxd 9/21/13 11:43 PM Page 1


Gas • PizzaSubs • Burgers

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5:30am – 10pmSun. 6am – 10pm

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Insurance Approved • We Specialize in Service!Bob Smith, Owner • Hours: M-F, 8-5 • Sat. 8-12

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4952 State Rte. 13 • Pinckneyville, IL 62274(618) 357-2583(618) 357-2583

Hicks Trading StationHicks Trading StationSouthern Illinois’ Largest Gun Shop

Come visit with Kevin & Sam and choose your next gun from over 2000 Guns In Stock!

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DIY black bear hunting;Looking for a bear?

Follow the foodKnow what you need for

scent control, scouting, sign,food sources, and playing thewind to make your DIY bear

hunt a success.

by Jack YoungTagging bears by hounds or bait offers

a certain brand of excitement and high-odds success. These methods, however,have become a thing of the past in an in-creasing number of states. Even wherelegal, guided hunts including such ployscan be cost-prohibitive. Heavy-handedregulations spawned by anti-hunters,even apathetic hunters who deem suchmodes unethical, have resulted in ex-ploding bear populations in many areas.This means that despite the restrictiverules, your chances of bagging a bearmight actually have improved.

For the do-it-yourselfer bowhunter,this means still-hunting or spot-and-stalk, each dictated by terrain and vege-tation type. Still-hunting is best in heav-ily wooded areas with limited visibility.Bowunters slip slowly and quietlythrough promising habitat after heedingwind, calculating their approach to un-suspecting bruins. Spot-and-stalk is

cult. You cancover a lot ofground before theseason begin ordo it while hunt-ing less methodi-cally until youunlock the sea-son’s preferredfare. Afterwards,concentrate yourefforts on areaswhere preferredfood is mostabundant.

P r e v a i l i n gweather can pro-vide clues to aparticular year’scrop. Summerswith normal toa b o v e - n o r m a lprecipitation gen-erally createacorn mast, mak-ing such areashotspots. Piñonnuts typicallyproduce on a sev-en-year cycle, making certain years bear-hunting bonanzas. During a droughtwhen Southwest acorns or high-countryberry crops fail, look to lower elevationsand juniper berries as bear magnets.Prickly-pear fruit can also be highly pro-ductive during dry years. It’s counter in-tuitive, but during dry years foothill

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most viable where visibility is better.Hunters glass promising habitat to seekdistant bears. Then they plan a sensibleapproach route to arrive within bowrange. Both are highly effective approaches.!

Bears have a supernatural sense ofsmell. Their other senses—compared togame such as deer—are poor. Too, be-cause bears are essentially at the top ofthe food chain, they have less to fearthan deer. Therefore, they are more re-laxed. This means a bear sensing a foot-fall or slight movement may sometimesreact more in curiosity than terror.

Scouting is pivotal to locatinghotspots. Bear scat not only tells youbear are in an area, and how many, butwhat they’re eating. Bears live by theirstomachs. While still-hunting or stalkingfollow the food. Bears are always hungry.In spring when bears emerge from hiber-nation, they are literally starving. In fall,they are fattening up for the long winter.Where there is food, there will be bears.

Foods found in thick areas—like sec-ond-growth or creek-bank berry scrub(East), or piñon-nut mesa country(West), as examples—allow slow, patientstill-hunting. Terrain inviting spot-and-stalk ploys might include acorn-bearingoak ridges, old forest-fire clearings,clear-cuts, or Southwest juniper berry ordesert prickly-pear fruit canyons.

Inspect bear droppings closely to de-termine what kinds of food bears are hit-ting. Finding bear sign is seldom diffi-

habitat often attracts more bears.! Slipping close to a bear, face to face,

has to be one of bowhunting’s mostthrilling experiences. You don’t need aguide to make this happen. Invest yourtime this season, and you can realizeyour dream of a bear-skin rug by follow-ing the food for success.

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Head Games For Big Racks & Venison Steaks

Lots of expensive gear seems to be themost advocated approach to hunting of anyspecies when we watch the TV or read oursporting magazines. This is understandablesince that’s what pays for the publications.

Also, the marketing of sporting products is amulti-billion dollar segment of our economythese days and there are many worthwhileproducts out there. They are sometimes nec-essary, sometimes helpful, but seldom arethey the key to your success!

Understanding the species sought-afterand proper preparation will more than “out-weigh” all the hi-tech gear. Successfularchery deer hunting is about 25% goodgear and 75% a “head game” of understand-ing and proper preparation.

With the 2013/14 Illinois archery deerseason just a few days away, it doesn’t feellike “deer season” for most of us even as weanticipate its arrival. With the temperaturesin the upper nineties and an extended lack ofmoisture, it’s hard get a “handle” on justwhat pressures this puts on the animal worldand how it affects their lifestyles. In mostcases, the animals adapt to these conditionsbetter than we do.

The season convened October 1st andmost of us will hunt even if the temperaturesremain high and the bugs drive us to distrac-tion. The lack of rain does not affect the an-imal world in the same way that it affects ourcrops and flora. Simply, the animals cantravel to better water sources and the plantsare stuck with whatever they get. By usingthis simple knowledge we can locate and“pattern” animal locations and movementsmuch better.

Everyone knows of my addiction to squir-rel hunting but if I’m going to be successfulin the early deer season, I find it absolutelynecessary to stay out of the woods where I’llbe deer hunting after Labor Day. I may slipin during the middle of the day for some lastminute brush trimming around stands. Weshould always avoid suspected bedding areas.In our agricultural locations, this intrusion issomewhat acceptable since farmers are al-ways clearing fencerows and mowing water-ways and filter strips. I do use some scoutingcameras in these locations but insert and re-trieve them during midday periods.

Keep in mind that there are three “keys”to satisfactory survival and living conditionsfor us as well as most animal species. Theseare Food, Water, and Sanctuary. During thefall period, many of us may think that the“end of baseball”, arrival of football, and up-coming basketball seasons may be includedin our “items for survival”, but the deerdon’t have similar interests. Deer are excep-tionally adaptable to living within the con-fines of human environment and will go un-detected in many cases while living very closeto homes, farm buildings etc. An example ofthis occurred a while back when I walkedpast a machine shed. I glanced in the door intime to see a nice young buck eating hay outof the baler parked there. It was easy eatingand the shed was a cooler environment thanthe surrounding area. He left quickly!

The “down side” of thinking you have gotthe deer all figured out this week may comewith their continued adaptation to their liv-ing conditions. For example: I know, at thistime, where some deer are bedding and theirtravel routes to food and especially the scarcewater supply.

However as time passes and the seasongets closer, if we get abundant rain, this canall change overnight. When you’re plottingyour hunting strategies take these changingconditions into your consideration and tryto “outthink” the deer. How will he adapt ifthe rain fills the small creeks, ponds andditches. What will happen if the corn orbeans are harvested just prior to openingday? How will he change his travel patternsfrom food, water, and sanctuary? Spendmore time thinking and less time trompingaround the wood and you’ll be more suc-cessful.

Lake Mattoon: The local catfish club helda tourney on 08-24-13 with 12 boats partic-ipating. --Scott Nation and Dale Stuart tookfirst place honors with 23 pounds ofwhiskered critters – Bob and Matt Tateplaced a close second with 19lbs 4 oz. – NobHibbs, Nick Brown and Damien Mc-Conkey, all of Decatur, placed third with 19pounds even -- The “big cat” award went toPatricia Kelley and Sue Harris of Gays at 8lbs 4 oz.

Its Health, Happiness, and Hunting

THINK LIKE A DEER

by Dave [email protected]

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one musky and had several other sightings of fishwhile burning (retrieving as fast as you could)buck tails in the shallow weed beds. Their strate-gy was that it worked why fix it so they kept onworking the lures in the same manner.

The two anglers proceeded on Sunday andstarted heating up catching 4 more muskieswhich propelled them into a very lopsided win witha total of 5 muskies caught. Their fish were 33”,35”, 39.75”, 44.25” and 44.75”. What a tour-nament they had defeating some of the bestmusky fisherman from across the country. Their1st place finish netted the two anglers $11,000, abeautiful first place PMTT trophy and the covetedRanger Boats sponsored Ranger Cup for being the1st place team that was fishing out of a RangerBoat which consisted of $1,000 Bonus fromRanger Boats. This was the two angler’s first winin the PMTT Trail after many years of fishing andvery gratifying.

2nd place was taken by Lance & Darrel Seasorof Ashland, Kentucky who used fire tiger coloredhellhound jerk baits in shallow weeds to catchthree nice muskies that were 37”, 44.75” and45.50” in length.

In 3rd place were 2 Eagle River, Wis. residentsJared Adamovich & Jeremy Barber who caught 3muskies that were 33”, 38.25” and 39.25”. Thetwo anglers are having quite a year having won thelast event at Eagle River, Wis. a couple monthsback. Their technique was to cast black rubberbaits with gold and black buck tails in water that

was a bit deeper off of the weed edge. 4th placewas won by two fishermen from St. Clair Shores,Mich. Spencer Berman & Matt Quintano. These 2anglers used hellhound jerk baits in shallow waterweed beds to catch their fish of 41.50” and 44”.

Rounding out the top five in 5th place were Jor-dan Gustman of Burlington, Wis. & Kyle Weber ofCrane Lake, Minn. who caught 4 muskies thatwere 30.25”, 32.50”, 33.75” and 35.75”. Thetwo fishermen were also burning medium sizedbuck tails but this time on the inside weed line.

Big Fish of the day for Sat. was caught by theteam of Ross Korpela of Carlton, Minn. & ChadMitchell of Inver Grove Heights, Minn. that fishmeasured 46.25”. On Sun. the Big Fish of the daywas a 49” monster caught by the team of M.J.Johnson of Cross Plains, Wis. & Craig Wood ofStoughton, Wis. Each Big Fish of the Day team re-ceived a check for $500.Tournament Director Tim Widlacki thanks all ofthe PMTT` s fantastic sponsors, especially MuskyHunter Magazine for sponsoring the event. A bigthanks to Ranger Boats, Mercury Marine, ChaosTackle, the Morehead Tourism Commission, theEagle River Area Chamber of Commerce, KeyesOutdoors, Rollie & Helens Musky Shop, MuskyMayhem Tackle, Crash's Landing and all the asso-ciate and contributing sponsors. Please let thesefine folks know that you appreciate their promo-tional efforts in support of freshwaters mostchallenging fish and those extreme anglers whochase her on the first, best and only truly Nation-

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(PMTT) held its Musky Hunter Magazine LateSummers Blast event on September 7 & 8 at thefish filled waters of Madison, Wis. Saturday was atest for the 150 some anglers registered to com-pete because of the hot weather that was close to90 degrees with not much wind. Early Sundaymorning clouds and a cold front moved throughmaking the fishing more comfortable. The anglerssoon found that the weather also heated up themusky fishing by catching a total of 53 muskiesduring the event. One team that especially caughton fire was Brian Clepper of Blaine, Minn. & ChuckSmida of Isanti, Minn. On Saturday they caught

Congrats Winners! Front: 1st Place Chuck Smida &Brian Clepper. Back: 3rd Place

Jeremy Barber & JarodAdamovich; 2nd place Lance &

Darrel Seasor.

026_001.qxd 9/19/13 12:23 AM Page 1


Mid fall is a great time to chase bass in theprairie state. As most anglers trade boat forblind and rod for gun, waters become the oppo-site of crowded, just as bass attempt to maketheir greatest gains of the year, feeding withreckless abandon before cold weather takes holdin the Midwest. Illinois bass can become very ag-gressive and very predictable in mid fall. Let’stalk about how to get them in the boat.

*Location FactorsMid fall bass in Illinois will usually move into

the shallows on most waters. F lats, shelves,

points and irregular shoreline banks all hold lotsof mid fall bass as water cool down. Fish will usecover where it is available, but they can also befound actively cruising around too, hunting forfood in open areas devoid of cover. In some cas-es, fish will hold in moderate depths, while atother times they’ll be found in water so shallowthat it barely covers their slimy backs. However,this is not typically the time to search out a deepwater bite, at least not on most waters that is.There could be some bass in deep water, butthese fish tend to be less active and very hard tocatch.

MID FALL BASS IN ILLINOISMID FALL BASS IN ILLINOISBASS PATTERNS FOR THE HEIGHT OF AUTUMN

BY: COLBY SIMMS WITH DERECK DIRSCHUWEITPhotos by: The Colby Simms Outdoors Photography

www.ColbySimmsOutdoors .comwww.ColbySimmsOutdoors .comCont’d. on next pg.

*Prey ItemsOf course, bass can always be tempted to eat

anything. Snakes, birds, insects, frogs, andeven small animals occasionally make it into thediet of the bass. But, most of the time, bass willuse bait fish orcraw fish, whenev-er they are avail-able. W hile basssometimes show apreference forcraw fish on somewaters in spring,fall bass in mostIllinois waters feedprimarily on vari-ous bait fishspecies. On waterswithout pelagicschooling bait fishspecies, smallcrappies, bluegills,greenies, pumpkinseeds, red ears,and other speciesof sunfish willmake up a big per-centage of the dietof bass. On largerlakes, rivers andreservoirs howev-er, or anywherethey’re found, softrayed, oily pelagicbait fish like giz-zard shad andthreadfin shad,herring and shin-ers are at the topof the menu.

*Presentation Options

Of ten in fall,lures that mimicbait fish are best.Spinnerbaits topour list, and so doswim jigs, whenpaired with swim-

ming style soft plas-tics like paddle tailshads. Top waterssuch as buzz baitsand stick plugs canmimic wounded baitfish at the surfacevery well and shinymetallic castingspoons are great op-tions too. In waterswith shad and otherschooling bait fish,choose colors likepearl white, bloodyshad, chart reuse

shad, silver, chrome and gray. In waters con-taining mostly pan fish, patterns like fire tiger,gold and limetruse work well. In fall, becausebass are of ten actively feeding, it’s usual-

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Colby with a mid-fall

bass.

027_001.qxd 9/19/13 11:10 AM Page 1


ings, like the new split grip model graphite TamerBass Rods (www.toothtamerrods.com/pages/bass-fishing-rods.php) which of fer agreat combination of sensitivity and power.Monofilament and fluorocarbon lines are usuallychosen in 14 to 20 pound tests, while braids arebetter in 40 or 50 pound strengths for most ap-plications.

ly best to start out fishing fast and only slowdown if need be.

This is where a high speed retrieve reel comesin very handy, and we usually choose them in baitcasting models, matched up with bait castingrods in light, medium or medium heavy power rat-

MID-FALL…Cont’d. from previous pg.

Another big fall smallmouth bass release.

Pro Staffer Chris Shannon with anice largemouth.

[email protected]

618-521-0526573-358-5948

PRODUCT S HOWCAS EHatchet Spin Double Spinnerbaits

from Colby Simms OutdoorsBy: the CSO Pro Staff & Field Staff

American Made Colby Simms Tackle HatchetSpin Double Spinnerbaits are incredible lures

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hybrid stripers, and many other species attack Hatchet Spins when they won’t strike

anything else. The highly unique double counter rotating hatchet blade design

produces a unique action and vibration unlikeany other lure. They come in three sizes and

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028_001.qxd 9/19/13 11:03 AM Page 1


equipment that solves a major problem for new wing-shooters. I use this piece of equipment when I’mteaching at wingshooting schools and realize that mynew shooters are having difficult times getting theircheeks properly aligned so that their eyes lookstraight down the barrel. If the shooter can lookstraight down the barrel and see the bead of the gunwithout moving his head, then the gun starts shooting

where the person is looking, which makes shooting ashotgun accurately much easier.

Mossy Oak and ScoutLook Weather have teamed-up to give away a GilesIsland deer hunt and gear pack-age worth almost $5,000. Goto! http://www.mossyoak.com/weather-app-con-test?id=OH-1 to learn more.www.outdoorhub.com

Another difference is the weight of the gun. Mosthunters will buy a single-shot .410 for new shooters.However, today many gunsmiths offer featherweightor lightweight 20 gauges and 28 gauges. Having saidthis, the biggest problem that I see with most 20 and28 gauge shotguns is that the comb (the top of thestock) can be too low for shooters to get a propermount. If you watch a youngster or a lady while he orshe puts the stock to his or her shoulder, if the stock isnot above the crown of the shoulder, his or her headwill roll over the top of the stock pretty far. When thehead rolls this way, the shooter can’t look down thegun with the dominant eye.!To sight properly, he or shemust lift his or her cheek off the stock. Lifting thehead up will magnify the recoil from the gun signifi-cantly because the gun is not locked in to the cheekand the shoulder.

There is a product,!the Beartooth Stock Comb Rais-ing Kit, which is a neoprene pad with a sleeve. You canuse this kit to elevate the height of the shotgun’s combto enable the shooter to keep his head erect like it’ssupposed to be, allowing accurate shooting. ThisBeartooth Comb Raising Kit is a magical piece of

Picking Camo and Gunsfor Dove Hunting with

Marty FischerBy John E Phillips

Author’s note: Marty Fischer, the host of!TNT Out-door Explosion!on the!Pursuit Channel, a professionalwingshooter, a National Sporting Clays AssociationLevel III shooting instructor, and a longtime!MossyOak!Pro Staff member, has designed more than 150sporting clay facilities. Here are his tips for takingmore doves.Camouflage

I have been on dove hunts where hunters show up inshorts, white socks, and a white T-shirt. I don’t godove hunting, though, without wearing a full suit ofMossy Oak camouflage. I want to make sure I blend into my surroundings, rather than standing out like asore thumb. I shouldn’t be moving until I am ready totake the shot, but if I do, I want that movement to bedisguised by the Mossy Oak camouflage I’m wearing.Remember, doves have very good eyesight. When theyspot something unnatural in the place where they feed,travel, or water, they’ll veer away from it. During theearly season, I almost always will wear Mossy Oak Ob-session, because there is a lot of green in the part ofGeorgia where I hunt. For early dove season in theSouth, I don’t believe there is a better pattern.

If I’m hunting later in the season, hunting in a par-tially-cut corn field, or hunting in an area where the fo-liage is really brown, I wear Mossy Oak Break-Up orMossy Oak Break-Up Infinity. Another pattern thatworks extremely well when you’re hunting with a lot ofdead grass and brown foliage is Mossy Oak ShadowGrass Blades, which we normally consider a waterfowlpattern. However, I have found it is also a productivelate-season camouflage pattern for dove hunting. Of-ten times you’ll be hunting in tall grass around theedges of an agricultural field, and that’s where theBlade pattern will make you invisible. Another patternthat works well around the edge of an agricultural fieldis Mossy Oak Duck Blind. For me, I pick and chose mycamouflage once I know where I will be hunting.

Choosing the right gun for the right personMost often, when a hunter is picking out a shotgun

for a lady or for a youngster, he’ll purchase a .410gauge shotgun. In my opinion, the .410 is a gauge thatshould only be shot by experts because it has a verylong shot-strain and a very narrow pattern. If you pur-chase a .410 shotgun for a youngster or a lady, youhave chosen a gun that gives them the least opportu-nity for success in a dove field or with any other formof wingshooting. The only advantage for a lady or ayoungster is that the .410 has very little recoil. The.410 is so difficult to master that even most veteranhunters have difficulty!shooting a .410 with compe-tency. Instead, for new shooters, I recommend a 20gauge or a 28 gauge. Then I’ll have the new dovehunter shoot the lightest load he or she can buy. I rec-ommend a 3/4-ounce load in a 20 or a 28 gauge shell.These guns are comfortable and soft-shooting, andthe recoil is not much more than the recoil from a .410.

Choosing the correct camo patternfor where you are shooting will keep

doves from spotting you. Imagecourtesy of John E. Philips

029_001.qxd 9/22/13 2:24 AM Page 1


the job, or you’re not throwing it where the bass are!I’m going to give you 10 tips that I guarantee willhelp you be more successful when using a spinner-bait.

• Keep It Simple. Rig your favorite baitcastingoutfit with 17 lb test line and tie on a 3/4 oz spin-nerbait, White, or Chatreuse/White, and cast itaround the thickest cover you can find. Sure, thechances of snagging your lure are increased abunch, but your chances of catching a real wallhanger also go up dramatically! Never let the spin-nerbait sink out of sight. This will help you to seehow the bass strikes and learn more about catchingbass on spinnerbaits. Also, don’t set the hook when

you see the strike, wait till you feel thefish, as bass will really inhale a spin-nerbait and hold on to it for a longwhile.

• Blade Selection. Indiana bladesoffer a good choice aside from the tra-ditional Willow-leaf or Coloradoblades. The Colorado gives you a lot of“Vibration”, and the Willow-leaf willcreate a lot of “Flash”. The Indianacombines the best of both withoutoverdoing it one way or the other. How-ever, there are those times when youneed the Vibration or the Flash, for ei-ther dirty water or thick vegetation.The Colorado is very good at attracting“stubborn” bass to the lure and theWillow-leaf retrieves better throughgrass.

• Tandem vs. Single Blades. While a single spinwill produce more vibration, a tandem spin will as-sure that at least one blade will spin continuouslywhen banging through brush. If a single spin bladequits spinning the bait lays on its side and will hangup. What makes a spinnerbait relatively snag free isthe constant spinning blade(s) keeping the lure up-right so that the wire arm protects the hook. Thetandem produces more flash as said earlier, and italso has two blades giving the lure more “lift” al-lowing it to be retrieved more slowly without hang-ing up. But the single blade works better if you needa drop or fall in your retrieve, like alongside a stumpor dock piling.

• Lure Color. Again, keep it simple to start with.Use White in clear water during sunny days; Char-treuse and White for dirty water on sunny days; Blueand/or Chartreuse for clear water on overcast days;and solid Chartreuse in dirty water on overcastdays. Any Bright Color will work in muddy water nomatter what sky conditions are.

• Blade Size. Bigger blades give of more vibra-tion which helps in some situations such as if windor current has stirred up the water. Then use biggerblades for more vibration and flash. If the water iscalm and not much wind or current, use smallerblades with less vibration and flash. Fish will‘spook” easier in shallow clear water with big noisybaits. But those same big noisy baits are great forbumping through treetops in 10 to 15 feet of water.

• Dressings. Plastic trailers are good and evenpork rind is a good choice. But plastic trailers re-main the same all day long while pork tends to dis-

color and dry out, needing to be changed more of-ten. I prefer silicone skirts over living rubber, as sil-icone offers a larger selection of colors and lastslonger. I also try to stay away from trailer hooks ifpossible as they are harder to fish in cover and makethe lure hang up much easier.

• Wire Arm. Spinnebaits come in many sizesand have different sized wire shafts. The smaller di-ameter wire shafts provide more vibration and flex-ibility with less fish lost after the hook-up, but thelarger diameter wire shafts are more durable inheavy cover , but can help the fish to come un-hooked when thrown around as the fish thrasheswhile fighting after the hook is set.

• Weather Conditions. Low light days are al-ways good spinnerbait days, especially if there is alittle chop on the water surface. But, the oppositecan also be true. Sunny days push bass to hide un-der or behind objects to be in the shade, and a spin-nerbait will call them out of hiding to strike at thelure. As I mentioned, the wind comes into play in abig way for spinnerbaits. If you are fishing with anyother type lure and the wind picks up, putting a“chop” on the water’s surface, opt for a spinner-bait and chances are you will not only catch morefish, but maybe even bigger fish, as the wind willcause them to go on a feed!

• Location. Location of cover is the key elementwith spinnerbait fishing. In shallow water swim thelure through the brush, or a log the side of fallentrees (a personal favorite tactic of mine) occasion-ally rolling it over to the other side of the log. Pull thelure more slowly through the deeper branches keep-ing it near the structure and only cranking fastenough to keep the line tight. Retrieve the lure alongweed edges and keep it positioned as close to thegrass as possible, occasionally “clipping” a strandof weed for effect! 10. Confidence. Using some of the tips I have linedout for you and drawing on your own experience,nothing beats having confidence in the lure and/orpresentation you use. A big One Oz spinnerbait slowrolled along a log, or a ledge/drop-off, or over thetop of deeper vegetation is my go to bait that I havethe most confidence in and it pays off by catchingmore fish. The spinnerbait will catch fish in mostany waters, under most any conditions, providingthe fisherman is consistent and selects the righttype of spinnerbait for the given area. Use a spin-nerbait more often, gain confidence in this versatilelure and you’ll become a true believer like me.

Bob Park is the owner of Raptor Premium Spinnerbaits.

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BUT TERFLIES AT MDC GORMAN

DISCOVERY CENTERBy Bill GrahamMonarch butterflies and

their magnificent migrationsfrom the heartland to Mexi-co will provide a hands-on,scientific event 10 a.m. to2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21, at theMissouri Department of Conservation'sAnita B. Gorman Discovery Center,4750 Troost Ave., in Kansas City.

Scientists throughout the UnitedStates put tiny paper tags on butterfliesand record information about the insect,

such as where captured and tagged. Ifthe tags are found, they include a contactaddress to report the find. Thus theflight patterns and numbers of orangeand black butterflies are tracked. Theymigrate south during winter to a forest-ed mountain area in Mexico. Their de-scendants come north in spring and pro-duce the butterflies admired in summer.

Monarch Mania activities at the Gor-man Discovery Center will include talkson how the caterpillar undergoes meta-morphosis into a butterfly and what isknown about migration patterns. Partic-ipants may also have the chance to tagand release a monarch butterfly.

For more information, call 816-759-7300 or go to mdc.mo.gov/discov-erycenter.

M D C C O N F I R M S M O U N T A I N L I O N

S I G H T I N G AT P EC K R A N C H I N

C A R T E R C O U N T Y by Candice Davis

The Missouri Department of Con-servation (MDC) has confirmed thesighting of a mountain lion on its PeckRanch Conservation Area in CarterCounty. The confirmation is based on a trail camera photo taken Aug. 26.

According to MDC’s Mountain Lion Response Team, mountain-lion sightings have beenoccasionally confirmed in Missouri and likely will continue. Evidence indicates these moun-tain lions are from other states to the west of Missouri that are passing through in search ofmates or territory. MDC has no confirmed evidence of a breeding population in Missouri.Mountain lions are naturally shy of humans and generally pose little danger to people, evenin states with thriving breeding populations. Although mountain lions are protected by law,Missouri’s Wildlife Code allows people to protect themselves and their property if they arethreatened.

For more information, visit mdc.mo.gov and search “mountain lion.”

A monarch butterfly searches for food during late summer.

Tagged monarch butterfly.

Photos by Noppadol Paothong

031_001.qxd 9/19/13 3:39 PM Page 1


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MDC education programsopen the way for new

hunters in MO’s outdoors by Bill Graham

Hunting is a treasured tradition in Missouri withskills often passed down by generations of familiesand friends. But hunting is also a sport that welcomesnewcomers. The Missouri Department of Conservation(MDC) offers a Hunter Education Program and class-es, workshops or special hunts. Participants learnhow to hunt with skill, safety and ethics.

“Safe firearms handling and hunting is the numberone thing we teach,” said Jake Strozewski, a conser-vation agent in Livingston County and hunter-ed in-structor.

Hunters born on or after Jan. 1, 1967, and who are16 or older, must successfully complete an approvedhunter education course to qualify to buy firearmshunting permits. Since autumn brings a new round ofhunting seasons, hunter education classes fill upquickly, so new hunters who need to be hunter-ed cer-tified should take the course early to avoid the fallrush.

For more information on MDC's Hunter EducationProgram, visit www.mdc.mo.gov/node/3095!or con-tact your local MDC office.

MDC recently revised its Hunter Education coursefor student convenience and to emphasize hands-ontraining. Students can take the first part as an onlinecourse, or with a printed manual, or by signing up fora four-hour classroom session. The second part is amandatory, four-hour, hands-on skills session with anexam. Students rotate to stations where they demon-strate their ability to safely handle firearms and am-

munition.Students completing the course receive a tempo-

rary certificate so they can immediately start huntingwhile their hunter education certification card is be-ing processed.

Youths 6 through 15 may hunt without hunter edu-cation certification when accompanied by a qualifiedadult mentor. Mentors are required to be hunter-edu-cation certified, unless exempt by age. MDC recom-mends that youth begin hunting with an adult mentorto become familiar with hunting and terminology be-fore taking the course. Hunters who have completedan approved hunter-education course in another stateare not required to take Missouri’s Hunter Educationcourse.

MDC also offers an Apprentice Hunter Authoriza-tion to let people 16 years of age and older try huntingwithout requiring certification as long as they huntwith an adult mentor certified in hunter education,unless exempt by age.

Special youth hunts or outdoor skills events are of-fered in various seasons. Conservation partners andMDC staff often cooperate to help introduce youngpeople to shooting sports. Go to www.mdc.mo.gov!andcheck the newsroom or the regional pages for infor-mation.

For example, volunteer hunter-ed instructors andStrozewski partner to offer an annual youth dove huntfor ages 10 to 15 at the Poosey Conservation Area,from 4 p.m. to sunset on Sept. 1. Hunter-ed teachersmentor the youths. Participants attend a safety meet-ing but do not need hunter-ed certification since theyare with mentors. For more information on that hunt,call 660-646-6122.

“We’ve had people that were new to hunting, per-haps the child was interested and the parent brought

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them,” Strozewski said. “We teach them and theywent out and had an awesome time.”

MDC also offers classes and workshops that can in-troduce adults to hunting or help them sharpen skillsif they are experienced. For example, the Lake CityShooting Range near Independence will offer an Effec-tive Wing Shooting class Sept. 20 and Sept. 21. In-structors will talk about best applications for non-tox-ic shot, chokes, shotgun patterning, judging distanceand hunting skills. The Parma Woods Shooting Rangeon Sept. 8 will offer a class on Hunting the White-tailed Deer.

Hunting is a sport that requires knowledge aboutgun safety, nature and outdoor skills. But these skillscan be learned and MDC classes can help people getstarted or improve success. Contact your local con-servation office or watch the MDC web page for moreinformation.

MDC began providing hunter education in 1957 andhas trained more than 1.1 million students. Sincehunter education became mandatory in 1987, therehas been a reduction of hunting incidents by morethan 70 percent. Missouri is among the top five statesin annual hunter education graduate numbers.

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If you own or manage forest land, you mightwant to take a look at the newly created, vol-untary forest-management guidelines beingdeveloped in cooperation with the MissouriDepartment of Conservation (MDC).

MDC is asking for comments about theguidelines from anyone with an interest inMissouri’s public and private forests. Theseguidelines are strictly voluntary but aredesigned to assist private land owners in man-aging their forest resources.

“We want these guidelines to be under-standable and practical for anyone to use,” saysMDC Resource Forester Mike Bill. “Toachieve that, we want everyone with an interestin management of Missouri’s forest to be ableto read the guidelines and tell us what theythink about them.”

A draft version of the Missouri ForestManagement Guidelines is online for publiccomment at mdc.mo.gov/node/23881 nowthrough Nov. 15.

Bill helped coordinate development of theguidelines, a process that took approximately18 months. Contributors included public andprivate foresters, fish and wildlife biologists,

botanists, landowners and representatives ofMissouri’s forest products industry. This groupwas made-up of 30 representatives from 16organizations.

The guidelines provide advice on how tocarefully manage forest resources to protect andenhance soil and water quality, visual quality,wildlife habitat, rare plants and animals, histor-ical and cultural resources, and forest health.The document also outlines why a well-man-aged forest is important to all these resource ele-ments.

“It’s our job to do everything we can toensure that future generations of Missourianshave the same or better forests than we havetoday,” says Bill. “You can’t do that without sci-ence-based management, and you can’t do itwithout active citizen support and landownerparticipation. More than 80 percent ofMissouri’s forest acreage is privately owned. It isabsolutely critical that we engage landownersand the people who work and play on privateforest land.”

More information about Missouri forestsand forest management is available atmdc.mo.gov/your-property.

MDC SEEKS COMMENTS ON FOREST-MANAGEMENT GUIDELINES

by Jim Low

Photo by David Stonner,courtesy MDC

Missouri Westernwildlife students win

2nd international awardby Bill Graham

For the second time in three years, TheWildlife Society Student Chapter atMissouri Western State University willreceive an international award for excellence.The 2013 Outstanding Student ChapterAward from The Wildlife Society will bepresented during the Society’s annual con-ference Oct. 5-10 in Milwaukee, Wis. Theirchapter advisor will also receive a top honor.

“It’s really exciting,” said ChapterPresident Ben Olsen. “We were the first uni-versity student chapter in Missouri to winthis, and to win it twice is awesome.”

Cary D. Chevalier, chapter advisor andbiology professor, was named by TheWildlife Society as the International ChapterAdvisor of the Year. This is the first time thata chapter and the advisor have won theaward in the same year. Only five studentchapters have won the award twice or more.The Missouri Western students also won in2011.

The Wildlife Society includes more than10,000 members, with most in the UnitedStates and Canada, who work in wildlife,conservation and environmental professions.

The Missouri Department ofConservation (MDC) is a partner with theMissouri Western chapter. Many activitiesoccur at the MDC Northwest RegionalOffice, which is on the Missouri Westerncampus. Students shadow MDC employeeson the job. They also work on service orresearch projects. One key to the group’s suc-cess is that the undergraduate students areworking with professors to do research on agraduate student level, said T.J. Peacher, anMDC conservation education supervisor.Most students also graduate as certifiedwildlife biologists under Society guidelines,which is usually accomplished in post-gradu-ate work.

“The kids get good experience,” Peachersaid. “They get to use real-world applica-tions.”

The chapter’s 40 members also provideassistance for projects at Squaw CreekNational Wildlife Refuge and Swan LakeNational Wildlife Refuge in northwestMissouri.

“All of our partners have great staffs,including MDC, and they do a lot to helpour students,” Olsen said.

But the chapter also owes a great deal of itssuccess to Chevalier.

“He goes way above and beyond to help usand puts in a lot of long hours,” Olsen said.“He leads by example. Students run thechapter. But he does everything with us.”

033_001.qxd 9/19/13 9:47 PM Page 1


nentially with my interest in wildlife photography.(I now use an 80-400mm VR most commonly, anda 500f/4 as my “big gun”.)

Q: Every photo has a story. Unfortunately, youcannot tell every story at this event. Give us ateaser about one story you will tell…

A: I’m always amazed at what animals seem toknow that humans don’t…what they can senselong before we can. Take a look at the photo I call“Eagle’s Nest at Sunset.” What wrong with thenest?

Q: What is the most surprising thing you'velearned about the animal kingdom?

A: “Free as a bird” they say—ha! I’m continu-ally surprised at how hard life is in the wild. From a40-50% infant mortality rate to the dangers ofmigration to the daily fight to find food and avoidpredators, I am just amazed by how strong willed,resilient and adaptable animals are.

Q: Where are some of your favorite places toshoot?

A: Oh, The Nature Conservancy EmiquonRestoration is a favorite place for migrating birds.Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge is very goodfor geese, ducks and shore birds. Banner Marsh isgreat for mute swans and geese. River Beach Roadin Chillicothe is a good place to look for winteringeagles. Forest Park Nature Center in Peoria is agreat place, especially for wild turkeys. Andour/your backyard is good for a variety of birdsand furry critters.

Q: Give us a tip or two to help members whomight want to improve their photography skills.

A: My #1 tip is: Don’t ask Jayne! My wife is as in-terested in my subject matter as I am, but doesn’tknow—or want to know—about the technicalphotography part. Seriously, though, if your localcamera shop offers classes, take advantage ofthem and look into any local camera clubs. I’vegotten to hear and meet several big name profes-sional photographers brought in by the PeoriaCamera Club each spring. You should definitely ex-periment with lighting. Side lighting, for example,can provide depth to your image. And back lightingcan be interesting and dramatic. Also, make sure

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local wildlife photographer on October 17 at 6:30 p.m.

Nesting eagles, charging cougars, shy birds,mighty bears—each of wildlife photographer JimMiller’s images tells a unique story. He specializesin capturing unusual moments in the so-calledeveryday lives of animals, big and small, and each

image has its own story. Hear the stories behindthe images from the pho-tographer himself andbrowse an extended col-lection during a specialexhibit to benefit WTVP,your public televisionstation, Thursday, Octo-ber 17 at 6:30 p.m. inthe WTVP Studio. Opento the public. Donationsrequested at the door.Photographs will beavailable for purchase.All proceeds benefitWTVP.

Jim Miller is not anaturalist. He is not a bi-ologist. He even shiesaway from being calledan artist. He calls him-self an amateur photog-rapher, a fellow naturelover with his wife Jayne,and a person with an ac-tive interest in the worldaround him—what pub-lic television calls a life-

long learner. Through his photography, Jim com-municates his passion for wildlife and the knowl-edge he has gained from years of following andtracking his subjects and their habitats.

WTVP-Public Media for Central IllinoisWTVP-Public Media, Central Illinois’ PBS sta-

tion, has been serving the community since 1971through broadcast, services and educational out-reach.

Located at 101 State Street, Peoria, IL 61602,(309) 677-4747

Now, WTVP also provides quality educationalcontent to the world at www.wtvp.org, Facebook(facebook.com/wtvp.org) and Twitter (@WTVP).

Meet Jim Miller, An Accidental PhotographerHe’ll be in WTVP Studios on Thursday, Oct. 17

at 6:30 p.m.WTVP sat down with wildlife photographer Jim

Miller to find out more about what makes him“click.”

Q: Jim, your photo collection is vast and varied -- everything from dangerous animals like cougarsand bears to simple backyard squirrels. How didyou first come to be interested in wildlife photog-raphy?

A: Completely by accident. Our old Instamatic110 camera broke right when all four kids werecoming home to visit. I needed something to getphotos of the family while we were all together, soI went to Peoria Camera and picked up a 35mmNikon with a detachable lens. After the kids left,Jayne and I took it along with us on birding walks tohelp us identify species we didn’t recognize.Things just took off from there. I realized prettyquickly that the 50mm lens that came with thecamera wasn’t sufficient for that! I’ve noticed,over the years, that my lenses have grown expo-

“Moments in the Wild”The Photography

of Jim Miller

Eagle nest at sunset

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that your subject’s eyes are open, in sharp focusand have a catch light if possible. This will makeyour subject look alive. And my most important tipto aspiring nature photographers? Don’t skimp onyour tripod and head. Always use the heaviest thatyour spouse can carry. (A little tip I picked up fromRod Planck, a professional nature photographerfrom Michigan.)

Q: We know it's like choosing a favorite child,but tell us your current favorite photograph.

A: That’s easy—our wedding photo! Of my ownwork, there are dozens I truly care for. The non-typical ones stay with me. Like the one of thebrown bear taking a nap in the middle of a streamusing a hummock as a pillow. How often do you seethat? And there’s one of a Little Green Heron witha fish in its beak. It’s special, not because LittleGreen Herons are uncommon, but because they areso shy that managing to capture a close up imageof them is so unusual.

What: Moments in the Wild – The Photography

of Jim MillerWhen: Thursday, Oct. 17, 6:30 p.m.Where: WTVP Studio, 101 State Street, PeoriaHear the stories behind the images from the

photographer himself and browse an extended col-lection. Donations requested at the door. Photo-graphs will be available for purchase.

About Jim MillerJim Miller was born and raised in Rockford, Illi-

nois. After earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Me-chanical Engineering from the University of Wis-consin, he joined the Navy in the Aviation OfficerCandidate Program. He served nine years on ac-tive duty as a Naval Flight Officer, flying as a bom-bardier and reconnaissance navigator in carrier-based jets.

While still in the Navy, he earned a Masters ofBusiness Administration with a major of Quantita-tive Analysis from Ohio State University. After theNavy, Jim joined Caterpillar Inc. in 1969 as a DataProcessing Programmer. He moved through the

company and the technology for 32 years, retiringin 2002 when he was in Middle Management in In-formation Technology. During this time, Jim wasalso a part-time instructor teaching computerprogramming and related courses at ICC in EastPeoria, and John Carroll College and ClevelandState University when he was Data ProcessingManager for Caterpillar’s Lift Truck Facility inMentor, Ohio. Jim also served in the Naval Re-serves until 1997.

Jim and his wife Jayne have been married since1979. They have 4 children and 8 grandchildren.They are both nature lovers and are active in sev-eral conservation organizations. They enjoy fish-ing, biking, vacations and cruises—always with acamera.

Jim currently serves on the Board of Directorsof the Peoria, Emiquon, and Illinois Audubon Soci-eties. He is also on the Board of the Illinois River

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Road National Scenic Byway. They are both chartermembers of The Nature Conservancy’s EmiquonCorps of Discovery.

Jim’s wildlife photography has been published ina variety of publications. Although he considershimself retired and says he hasn’t done much workfor a few years now, he can still be enticed to givewildlife presentations to schools and organiza-tions.

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GROUNDBREAKING SERIES NARRATED BY TOM SELLECKDiscovery Communications and GaiamVivendi Entertainment Announce theRelease of North America on Blu-ray

Disc and DVD on October 1

Universal City, CA – Discovery Communicationsand Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment announced todaythe release of North America, a Discovery Channellandmark natural history series produced by WildHorizons Ltd. and narrated by Golden Globe© winnerTom Selleck (“Magnum P.I.”), on Blu-ray Disc andDVD on October 1. In this iconic series, witness first-hand the wide scope of incredible dangers challeng-ing our diverse and tenacious continent.

Join the adventure as Discovery Channel journeysdeep into a hidden world, crossing impossible moun-tains and endless deserts, diving into unexploredforests and crashing into rugged coasts to discoverEarth’s most spectacular wildlife. North Americashowcases the unforgiving and brutal, yet beautiful,continent and the boundless rewards it offers forthose brave enough to take on this land and call herhome. After five years in the making, using state ofthe art equipment, North America premiered on May19, 2013 and was recorded as Discovery Channel’shighest natural history performance since Life in2010.

"Both Discovery Communications and Gaiam

036_001.qxd 9/23/13 1:15 AM Page 1


Whitetailsis my

PassionBy Kevin Boyer

MONSTERPLOTS.NET Hello my name is Kevin Boyer

and I have been hunting for over 40years. I’ve been raising whitetailbucks for about 8 years now, not tosell but for me to learn as muchabout the whitetails as I can.

I started filming all wildlife butmostly whitetail deer and turkeyback in 1990 with a big VHSrecording camera and every sincethen I have had a camera with mewhen I go to the woods.

During the days I work as a UnionHeavy Equipment Operator local#841. The main thing I like aboutmy job is it allows me plenty of timeoff for hunting season most years Iget 30–90 days of hunting. I boughtmy first property in 1984, developedit and sold it 15 years later. Then Ibought two more farms that I havebeen developing along with myclient’s properties. I do land consul-tations helping to set up the area tobe the best!whitetails paradise. Thisalso allows you to hold a lot morewildlife in general on your property.

I have been sharing my experi-ences of what I have learned, what Iknow works and what is a waste oftime with others through Seminars.I have held seminars & workshopsin Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, IowaOhio, Wisconsin & West Virginia. Ialso do individual Land Consulta-tions where I come to the propertyto meet the land owner and walktheir property with them I map outwhat I would do if their propertywas mine and I wanted to make itthe very best it can be. I also mapout color coded food plot areas andhunting sites, stands or blinds andthe best enter and exit routs to eachof them along with the only windsto hunt them with. I put the plan to-gether in a packet with all of this in-formation for the land owner so thathe or she can make any changes atthe pace they want to. Over the years I have seen a lot ofgimmicks and gadgets in the hunt-ing arena. I needed a hunting blind

to take youth hunters out and mydaughter now that she was oldenough to go hunting, so I startedshopping. I! looked at what was onthe market and what the prices were,and then decided to designmy own blind and build afew for our property.

Next thing I knew every-one that saw my blindswanted a couple for theirselves and Boom! The EliteHunting Blind Companywas started and it has beencrazy ever since!

This hunting season besure to check out my blindand give them a look beforeyou buy your next blind.Don’t wait until the lastminute do it today. Eachmonth our inventory is sell-ing fast.

EZ-Big Game Lift is an-other product I use that I hadbought a few years ago. Ilove how well it works mak-ing what was once an impos-sible job of loading a 200+pound deer on my 4-wheel-er or in the back of my truckby myself to a 5 second jobwithout ever breaking asweat. Now no more backaches from straining to lift. So I decided to investigatemore about the lift, and metGeorge, the owner and de-signer of the lift. I!then pur-chased the company andhaving the lifts made here in the U.S.A and sellingthem on the website atwww.ezbiggamelifts.net

Be sure to watch the video and get your order in today! Then when youhave a successful hunt theloading up is a breeze foryou.

Check out the Real World Wildlife Seed Company & Real World Whitetails Company that I am co-owner of to find my contact info for products

or Land Consultation. Give me a call with any questions at: 217-232-0722 • MONSTERPLOTS.NET • EZBIGGAMELIFT.NET

Meet Kevin Boyer

with his beautifulmounts.

Learn morefrom Kevin on how he

killed thesebig bucks andthe productshe owns andrepresents.

037_001.qxd 9/23/13 12:39 PM Page 1


THE THE MORNING MORNING

IS MINEIS MINEBy: Wayne Baughmanw e d a n c e 2 @ p i ke n e t . n e t

For More Information Call:(217) 868-2950

Or Write To:P.O. Box 1371 • Effingham, IL 62401

www.anthonyacres.com

O n Be au tifu l Lake Sara

• Fishing• Water Sports• Golf• Family Fun• Reunions• Business Meetings• New Rooms

Anthony Acres on Lake Sara hasGreat Fishing forLargemouth Bass,

Channel Cat, Crappie, Bluegill,

White Bass & Walleye!

completed. The remodeling has resulted ina stunning, bright lodge like appearancewith light pine planked walls and six paneldoors. A nice selection of outdoor art com-pliments the walls.

Although the building has served twoother agencies over the years who ever didthe original design created an exterior thathas a modern look and it fits the new oc-cupants business profile quite nicely.

Whitetail Properties came to Pittsfieldsix years ago and have established them-selves as a premier brokerage for selectlands. Manner of fact their sales in 2012reached a near quarter of billion dollars.

They are currently licensed in 18 stateswhich is measure of their effectiveness.

I was in their office recently and the re-ceptionist was constantly on the phonehandling inquiries. I also had a chance tobriefly visit with one of owners and it was apleasant exchange that fortified the basisfor their sky-rocketing success.

The sculpture in front of the entrywaysays volumes about the type of businessthat Whitetail Properties encompasses.The idea for the sculpture came from the 4owners of the business when they collabo-rated on a symbol that signifies the primaryfocus of their business. It should be notedthat the company also operates a video pro-duction

company that produces a special huntingvideos that are aired on the SportsmanChannel with a viewing audience of over30 households.

North Woods Carvers based in Oxford,Wisconsin produced the sculpture frommassive white pine logs imported fromCanada. The work was done in sectionsand then laminated together. Apparentlythis is a technique that minimizes crackingof the wood as weather conditions change.

The sculpture is not only a real compli-ment to Whitetail Properties but to Pike

Charlie’s Cycle Supply“Specializing in 4-stroke Service”

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County as well. It helps highlight the factthat we are the number deer hunting desti-nation in Illinois.

If you happen to be down this way taketime to stop and take a look. The buildingis easy to find, it is adjacent to the post of-fice, just off the city square.

The website is very informational aboutproperties listings, see: www.Whitetail-Properties.com

See a Whitetail Properties agent ad fromJoe Gizdic & Ben Plattner in this editionof ASO on page 115.

State of the Art Shooting Range…Open to the Public!

American Firearms & Ammo Supply8919 N. University St. • Peoria, IL • 309-683-0111

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NEW INDOOR RANGE OPEN!

It is the Wow Factor!The life sized sculp-

ture of two massivebucks sparring isdrawing the attentionof hunters and non-hunters alike.

The sculpture isdisplayed at the entry-way of Whitetail Properties new officebuilding in Pittsfield. It is certainly appro-priate for the business that specializes inmarketing recreational as well as agricultur-al lands. The company relocated whentheir business growth demanded morespace to accommodate their sales and serv-ice staff.

Before moving into the new facility acomplete renovation of the interior was

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Dan Perez, one of the owners of Whitetail Properties is justly proudof the fighting bucks sculpture that compliments their new building.

038_001.qxd 9/19/13 11:39 PM Page 1


Resident Archery Deer and Fall Turkey Per-mits: Resident combination archery deerpermits, resident antlerless-only archerydeer permits, and resident archery fallturkey hunting permits are now availableover-the-counter from DNR Direct licenseand permit vendors. Find a vendor nearyou at this link: http://dnr.illinois.gov/DNRDirectMonitor/VendorListing.aspx

Non-Resident Deer and Turkey Permits: The remain-ing non-resident 2013 Illinois combination archerydeer permits, as well as non-resident antlerless-on-ly archery deer permits and non-resident archery fallturkey permits, are available over-the-counter(OTC) from DNR Direct license and permit vendors.Find a vendor near you at this link: http://dnr.illi-nois.gov/DNRDirectMonitor/VendorListing.aspx

Youth Deer Permits: Resident and non-resident Illi-nois Youth Firearm Deer permits are available over-the-counter (OTC) from DNR Direct license and per-mit vendors. The Youth Deer Hunt is now a three-dayseason -- Oct. 12-14 during the Columbus Day week-end.

Controlled Pheasant Permits: Information is nowavailable online for hunters to apply for 2013-14 Illi-nois controlled pheasant hunting opportunitiesavailable at 19 IDNR sites. Fifteen of the sites areoperated by the IDNR, while four other sites are man-

aged by concessionaire T. Miller, Inc. Forapplication information, check the IDNRwebsite at www.dnr.illinois.gov orwww.tmillerinc.com.

Illinois State Parks Guide: The latest edi-tion of the Illinois State Parks guide isavailable in print and online. The booklet isa useful guide to an eventful day in a statepark picnic area, a weekend at a state parklodge or campground, a hike in a state for-

est, a ride on a state trail, or hunting and fishingtrips to a state fish and wildlife area. The IllinoisState Parks guide is posted on the IDNR website inPDF format at http://dnr.state.il.us/publications/pdf/00000715.pdf

To order a free copy of the booklet, visit the IDNRpublications webpage at www.dnr.illinois.gov/publi-cations

Pere Marquette State Park ScheduleSundays in October 6, 13, 20, 27-Brunch served 10am-6pm-Fall Colors Cruise from Pere Marquette Marina

Hop aboard the Hakuna Matata Tour Boat for afun & educational 45 minute ramble up, down & allaround the river! Have a seat on the lower deck whichfeatures large windows for your viewing pleasure, afull service tiki bar, restrooms, heat & A/C. -Parasailing from Pere Marquette Marina

Experience the thrill of floating through the airwith Captain Andy’s Parasail as you take in breath-

taking views of the River Bend. This fun and safe ac-tivity includes exciting take offs and smooth landingsprovided by trained and licensed personnel. $75 perperson. Parasailing may be cancelled at any time dueto inclement weather, high water, low water, or dan-gerous winds. Call 618-786-2331 to reserve yourride!

Find more info at: www.pmlodge.net

Wingshooting Clinics: The IDNR and participatingpartners sponsor wingshooting clinics at sitesthroughout Illinois to help improve the shooting skillsof participants. Youth/Women's clinics are designedto teach participants basic firearm safety and thefundamentals of wingshooting. Hunter clinics are de-signed to enhance the wingshooting skills of huntersand provide sound wingshooting practice tech-niques. Upcoming clinics will be conducted on week-ends through late October. For a complete schedule,check the webpage at this link:http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/landmgt/programs/wingshooting/WingshootingDates.htm

Doza Creek Waterfowl Hunting: Waterfowl huntersshould be alert to a regulations change in effect forthe 2013-14 waterfowl season at the Doza CreekWaterfowl Management Area. Doza Creek WMA is atrolling motor-only site for use during waterfowl sea-son. The new rule states “All outboard motors fixedto any vessel will have to be inoperable by either re-moval of the prop or fuel tanks.” The Doza Creek

IDNR NewsbitsICF Raffle: Tickets are available now for the 2013 Illi-nois Conservation Foundation Raffle supportingyouth programs at the Torstenson Youth Conserva-tion Education Center in Pecatonica, IL. Raffle tick-ets are $100 each or three for $250. Raffle prizes– including a grand prize of up to $100,000 – willbe presented at a drawing in Sangamon County onNov 1, 2013. The raffle is being conducted in accor-dance with the Raffles Act. All business operationsof the raffle take place exclusively in SangamonCounty. Raffle tickets are available online at www.il-cf.org!and by mail at:! ICF, One Natural ResourcesWay, Springfield, IL 62702-1271.

New Hunting and Trapping Digest: The Illinois Digestof Hunting and Trapping Regulations 2013-2014edition is now available at many IDNR license andpermit vendor locations. The digest is also postedonline in PDF format through the IDNR website at thislink: www.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/Documents/HuntTrapDigest.pdf

Firearm Deer Permits: Permit applications will beaccepted through Sept. 9 for random daily drawingsfor 2013 Illinois firearm and muzzleloader deer per-mits. For details, check the IDNR website atwww.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/deer.

75 Foot Indoor Shooting Range For Firearms, Air Guns & ArcheryOffering a Variety of Leagues & Classes, NRA Basic Pistol Classes, One-on-One Instruction, Gun Rental, Full Line of SuppliesBuy, Sell, Trade, Special OrdersFOID, NRA, ISRA APPLICATIONS ALL AVAILABLE!

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MARINE PARTS & SERVICETohatsu

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039_001.qxd 9/20/13 12:14 AM Page 1


Tom’s Bait Shop403 Walnut St. • Beardstown, IL 62618

Walking Distance from Beardstown Marina!Live Bait • Tackle • Boating Accessories

Local Fishing Information(217) 323-BAIT

Spoonie’s Bar & Grill103 3rd St., Historic London Mills, IL

309-486-3574New Owner: Dena Hook

Serving from 5pm Nightly:Wed. Taco NightThurs. Livers & GizzardsFri. Catfish, Chicken, Steak, Seafood, Frog Legs

M-F Lunch Specials • Open 7 Days a Week!

WMA is a 460-acre sub impoundment managed formigrating waterfowl and is managed as part of theKaskaskia River State Fish and Wildlife Area locatedin Baldwin, IL. For more information, contact thesite superintendent at 618-785-2555.

Trail of Tears State Forest: Prescribed fire will be uti-lized this fall, during October and November, in por-tions of the Trail of Tears State Forest in Union Co. topromote a healthy forest habitat. Short-term clo-sures of one to two days may occur within the NorthForest Road portion of the site. The areas in questionare adjacent to Fire Trails #30 - 39. Visitors cancheck the IDNR website for closure information, orcall the Trail of Tears site office at 618-833-4910prior to their visit.

Sangchris Lake Trapping Permit Drawing: One trap-ping permit will be awarded at a public drawing to beheld on Sat., Oct. 19 at the site headquarters of

Sangchris Lake State Park, 9898 Cascade Road,Rochester, IL 62563. Registration for the drawingwill begin at 10 a.m. at the site office, and the draw-ing will be held at 11 a.m. Trapping will be permittedin the designated area from the statewide openinguntil Jan. 25, 2014, and include the extended springseason for mink and muskrat through Feb. 15, 2014;and, beaver and otter trapping, which are allowedthrough Mar. 31, 2014. A 2012 or 2013 trappinglicense or trapper education card will be required toregister for the drawing. Two names will be allowedon the permit and registrants must be in attendancefor the drawing. For more information about trappingopportunities, contact Sangchris Lake State Park at217-498-9208.

Trapping Permits Drawing in Pittsfield: The IDNR willconduct a public drawing for the allocation of threeFurbearer Trapping Permits --- two for the RayNorbut State Fish and Wildlife Area in Pike Co. (onefor the main site near Valley City and the other for asatellite property near East Hannibal) – and theother permit for Weinberg-King State Park - Spunky

Bottoms Unit in Brown Co. The drawings will be heldat the IDNR Pittsfield District Field Office at 7 p.m.on Wed., Oct. 16. Registration will begin at 6 p.m. atthe office, which is located on Highway 106 West inPittsfield. The permits will be valid for a two-yearperiod. All persons entering the drawing must have acurrent 2013 trapping license in possession. Theperson whose name is drawn must be in attendance.Trapping will be allowed on the sites in conjunctionwith the statewide season dates and regulations.Some restrictions may apply. For additional info. callWeinberg-King State Park (217-392-2345) or theIDNR Pittsfield office (217-285-2221).

Clean Vessel Grants: The Illinois DNR is solicitingapplications for grants to be awarded through thefederal Clean Vessel Act grant program. Local gov-ernments and operators of private marinas, boatyards and yacht clubs may apply for the grants tobuild or upgrade marine sewage disposal systemsand renovate pump-out stations used by recreation-al boaters. These grant funds help provide facilitiesfor boaters to dispose of their waste in an environ-mentally safe manner. Applications must be sent tothe IDNR by November 1, 2013. The Department willforward proposals to the U.S. Fish and WildlifeService for consideration. Applicants whose projectsare approved will be reimbursed for up to 75 percentof allowable expenses to construct or renovate sta-tions and waste reception facilities. Grant funds aregenerated from excise taxes on fishing equipment,import duties on tackle and boats and motorboatfuel taxes. Detailed information about the programand application forms are available by calling 217-782-2602 or by writing the IDNR Federal Aid andSpecial Funds Section, One Natural Resources Way,Springfield, IL 62702-1271.

ICF Scholarships: The Illinois ConservationFoundation offers the Conservation AchievementScholarship to promote the value of our natural worldand encourage the next generation of leaders to

CARBON CLIFF BAIT & TACKLECARBON CLIFF BAIT & TACKLEWHOLESALE & RETAIL BAIT & TACKLE

IL Fishing & Hunting Licenses • Hunting & Trapping Supplies • Pond Stocking413 2nd Ave. • Carbon Cliff, IL 61239 • (309) 792-3460

“Serving SportsmenSince 1958”

engage in personal efforts to preserve and enhance asustainable outdoor environment. This opportunityis available to outstanding high school seniors inIllinois who have demonstrated effective, voluntary,long-term dedication to the preservation, protec-tion, enhancement and/or promotion of Illinois’ nat-ural resources. Three scholarships, of $2,000 each,will be awarded for the 2013-2014 school year.These scholarships are one-time awards that are notrenewable. Scholarship funds may be used for thefollowing expenses related to the two- or four-yearcollege or university degree that the scholarshiprecipient is pursuing: tuition; college/universityfees; textbooks; room and board at the college/uni-versity. Funds are mailed directly to the college/uni-versity of the successful applicants. The applicationdeadline is Nov. 30, 2013. For more information,contact the ICF at 217�785�2003 or [email protected]. Web link:http://www.ilcf.org/index.php/programs/scholar-ships

Follow the IDNR: Keep up to date with events andinformation on outdoor recreation and naturalresources in Illinois through IDNR postings onFacebook and Twitter. Find us athttp://www.dnr.illinois.gov/about/Pages/SocialNetworking.aspx

NEWSBITS…Cont’d. from previous pg.

CIRCLE M AUCTIONS2ND ANNUAL

FALL CLASSICOct. 25-26-27 (Fri-Sat-Sun)Antlers, Taxidermy Guns

& Sporting Goods!See ad on page 94!

www.CircleMAuctions.com

Services provided by this preserve will depend upon each individual and the type ofhunt they would like to have. Package prices are available upon request. Our goals areto provide a good hunting environment, and have a quality deer management program.

MACEDONIA GAME PRESERVEGuides & Outfitters 618/728-4328

Owner: Keith NealFrom Interstate 57 - get off at Benton Exit 71

Take Route 14 East - 11 miles to Macedonia sign, turn south, follow signs

w w w . m a c e d o n i a g a m e p r e s e r v e . c o mw w w . m a c e d o n i a g a m e p r e s e r v e . c o m

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040_001.qxd 9/20/13 12:14 AM Page 1


SMILEY’S SPORTS SHOP INC.Archery • Guns & Ammo • Fishing Tackle • Live Bait

Ammo by the Case Price • Full Line of Abu GarciaFull Service Archery Shop

See us on the web at: www.smileyssportsshop.com2049 Ireland Grove Rd. • Bloomington, IL

309/663-1133

Great Time for Top Water Fishing

The water is starting to cool down andbait fish are heading into shallow waterand right behind them are bass looking togorge before winter sets in. Don’t missout on the great top water action thismonth has to offer. A lot of fishermenthink that spring is the best time to fishtop water. But I have continually foundthe month of October offers some of thebest top water action. Like most fisher-man I just love to see a bass take a topwater offering that is one of the mostexciting things in the world to watch thatI can think of.

There are so many ways to coach a bassto hit top water and a ton of differenttechniques which work. You have yoursoft plastics like the Zoom Horny Toadfrog and Zoom Fluke. Then there are topwater lures which walk the dog like BassPro Shops’ XPS Slim Dog and ZaraSpooks. You have your popping baits likethe XPS Z-Pop or the Pop R. You alsohave your prop baits like the Devils

coat it with fly line treatment to keep itfloating and your baits will work a lotbetter.

There are a lot of small packs of basscruising the shallows looking for bait fishand these fish are subject to bite any timeof the day in cloudy or clear conditionsso don’t get into a mind set of just usingtop water baits early or late. A lot oftimes when you move into a cove or ontoa point you will flush the bait and run itright to the bank and this will create asmall feeding frenzy. I remember onebass tournament on Kerr lake where thatis all Guido Hibdon did for three days.He would run up on five different pointsin an area for three days and finished sec-ond in the tournament. He just keptrotating on the same five points fishingeach one for five to ten minutes over andover.

Like fishing anything with a top waterlure, you want to get a pattern going ifpossible. For instance, are the bass onmain lake points, are they on rock, arethey back in the creeks, are they bitingup river or down near the dam? Next youwant to figure out, do they want yourlure sitting still, moving slowly or mov-ing fast? Do they want a big lure or asmall one? Do they want a lot of noise ordo they want a quiet approach? Thereare a lot of different factors going intotop water fishing. But it is not as hard asit sounds to figure them out.

Let’s say you are fishing a Zoom Flukeand you want to fish it fast across the sur-face. I would rig it with a 5/0 Mustadwide gap hook and then when I want tofish it slow I go to a 2/0 or 3/0 hook.

WOO’S CORNERBY WOO DAVES

www.woodaves.com

WOOSHOES

Some times when you kill the Fluke youwant it to sink slow and then other timesfast works better so all you have to do isadd a nail weight to it for a fast fall.What I’m getting at here is with any ofthe baits. You can work all of them atdifferent speeds or use different sizes.Make the bait work to your advantage.Always remember, that if you are notcatching fish the bait is working you. Ifyou are catching fish you are working thebait.

Another thing to remember is to payclose attention to your Raymarine uniton your Nitro boat and stay in the depthyou are catching fish in as much as possi-ble.

Good luck fishing and be sure to thankany military personnel you see for a jobwell done and of course May God Bless!

MIDSOUTH TACKLEMaking Jigs Since 1978

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Horse and tiny Torpedo. Last but notleast you have Bass Pro Shops’ Kermyfrogs and of course an array of buzz baits.

The first thing I do when it is time tostart using top water baits is to rig theright action rods for the lures I’m using.On most of the hard baits I like to use aJohnny Morris 6’6” Carbonlite mediumlight action rod and with all my topwater fishing I want to use a 7.1.1 highspeed Johnny Morris baitcast reel. Onthe flukes and frogs I will go to a 7’medium heavy rod with the same reel.Now on the Horny Toad and Fluke Iwill use 17 lbs. Bass Pro Shops’ fluoro-carbon line and with the hard baits 17lbs. Excel line and on the regular frogs Iuse Bass Pro Shops’ braid. You want tomake sure on the hard baits to use regu-lar monofilament line and if possible

041_001.qxd 9/20/13 12:18 AM Page 1


BBLLOOOOMMIINNGGTTOONNBest Meat on Bunn Street!

2401 S. Bunn2401 S. BunnBloomington, IL Bloomington, IL

309-828-9731309-828-9731Get a GREAT BUY on Get a GREAT BUY on

Meat Bundle Specials!Meat Bundle Specials!Open: M-T: 8am-5pm

W-F: 8-6 • Sat: 8-4 • Sun: 11-3

Very, VeryVenison

Every time Iknock down adeer with the.300 Win Mag orput an arrowright through theboiler room, oneof the first thoughts that goes through mymind is the taste of grilled venison. Afterall these years, all those deer and so manywonderful meals, I have never lost myappreciation for the animal or the deli-cious protein he gives to me and my fam-ily.

Now let me make something perfectlyclear: I like a good cut of beef as much asthe next guy. But I like venison better. Inaddition to the fantastic flavor, there arecertain superior health benefits thatdeserve mentioning because of venison'slean character. With that said, considerthis... a 3-ounce cut of venison contains 3

grams of total fat and 1 gram of saturatedfat. Comparatively, a "lean" cut of beefcomes in at 15 grams of total fat and 6grams of saturated fat! That's a huge dif-ference, and one that makes it not surpris-ing that more and more fine restaurantsare offering their customers venison onthe menu as a healthier alternative.

But that's not all. Venison also reignssuperior in protein and vitamins. Thesame two cuts of meat yield 26 grams ofprotein for venison compared to 23 gramsfor beef. In VENISON vs. BEEF, thenutrient numbers are: 3.8mg vs. 2.3mgfor iron and .6mg vs. .3mg for vitaminB6 - both in favor of venison! The list ofhealth advantages goes on, but let's get onto better things - like flavor and owner-ship.

By ownership, I mean the sense ofaccomplishment that comes with sittingdown for a meal of something you've har-vested or caught. Imagine putting on awalleye fish fry for your family and abunch of friends. They rave about the fishand appreciate so much the fact that youwent out and actually gathered the pro-tein. That's a great feeling. It makes ameal that much more special.

The same is true with venison. Withevery delicious bite, everyone will appreci-ate you as the provider. More than that,when you (the hunter) sits down for din-

ner, every bite will spur memories of thehunt itself. What was the weather thatday? How did the deer come into thestand site? What kind of shot did youtake? Every detail of the hunt comes backto you as you enjoy your meal. It is thecelebration of the harvest!

Now, let's talk flavor. I don't know howmany people I've heard say "it's so gamey"when they talk about venison. And youknow what? They're right. Compared tobeef, there is a game taste, which is greatas far as I'm concerned. It's a deer after all.But here's the thing: the reason peopleclaim a "gamey" taste is because theyhaven't prepared venison as venison needsto be prepared. They cook it like beef,which is a different animal.

In order to enjoy the flavor that's therein every steak, people must prepare veni-son the way it's meant to be cooked. Mywife Kris is a magician in the kitchen, andmany of her venison recipes are availableat winkelman.com.

In the meantime, before you go thereand try some of those dishes, here's what Iwant you to do. Cut some steaks fromyour next venison tenderloin. Rub themup with any old steak rub you can buyfrom the grocery store. Let them sit for anhour or so to soak up the seasoning.

Next, heat up your grill to the max.Then take those seasoned steaks andthrow them on the fire and cook themfast. By fast, I mean sear them for a fewminutes per side and then dig in with

some sautéed mushrooms and a side ofgreen vegetables. That venison should bemedium rare to rare when it's done. If youhave an aversion to medium rare meat -well, then you just have to be brave andhave a single bite! It'll change your think-ing. If you cook it to medium or well-done, then prepare for tougher gaminess.

Venison, when pink in the middle butperfectly safe to eat, is hands-down themost amazingly tender and flavorful redmeat on planet earth. If you put it on aplate at the fanciest restaurant in NewYork City, properly prepared, then thatrestaurant would get five stars in the nextedition of the New York Times restaurantreview.

I wish you a safe and fruitful huntingseason, and good eating along the way.

Good Hunting.

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water, the Cat-fish put on thefeed bagcruising theshallows andflats, evenduring thed a y l i g h thours, insearch of ameal. Case inpoint……Thissummer, I wasfreed up for ac o u p l eevenings anddecided to hitthe lake for afun evening of cat fishing. As I turnedthe corner at dusk, I could see that an-other 100 people had the same idea.Lanterns glowed along the shorelinelike fireflies over the corn fields. Thisis not looking like too much fun. Icruised slowly past the other fisher-man looking for a small spot that wasnot already covered with stink baitand monofilament line. As I nearedthe end of the levee road, I asked afisherman what time he had to gethere to get a spot. He said, “his wifeand he had gotten there at 4:00 p.m.and sat in the hot sun just to capture

this little pieceof real estate.The boat rampwas full ofempty trailers,so I knew theflats must becovered withboats. Therewas only onething left todo, and thatwas turn thetruck aroundand head backhome to theair.

It’s now thefirst week in October. Dad and I hitthe lake at 7:00 a.m. Not another soul

by Daniel Vinovich

The northwest winds bring on thefirst hint of fall. The Ash trees arestarting their yellow glow and theHumming birds are headed south.These first signs of fall often pushmost outdoorsmen to the timber andfields Fifty degree night temperaturesand mid 70’s during the day are a bittoo high for me to hit the deer stands.Instead, I head to the river and a cou-ple farm ponds to stock up the freez-er with some Channel Catfish fillets.While most people think of the hotsummer months as Catfish time, inreality, this predator is just like theMuskie and Walleye. As water tempsdrop signaling the coming of hard

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Fall Catsin sight. After a quick unloading ofthe truck, the first rod was in the wa-ter and then a second and third. Dadgot out of his chair to talk to me as Idunked the last dip worm in the Son-ny’s Blood Bait. Whoosh…..Dad’srod took off across the ground like itwas snagged to the bumper of a car.“Sh#@,” he yelled as he watched hisrod disappear into the depths. Igrabbed a rod and started casting it ina direction I last saw his rod headed.“That was my favorite rod,” heyelled. Five casts later, I snagged themonofilament line and hauled his wa-ter soaked rod onto the bank. Hegrabbed it and started reeling. “Yep,”he said, “that SOB is still there.” Sev-eral moments later, a fat Channel lay

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flopping on the bank. This action

never quit until we had both our lim-its full and…..and it only took 2 hrs.The only other person we saw on thelake that morning was one lone duck

hunter adding a few wil-lows to his blind. Fastaction and no people, nowthat’s what I call a goodtrip on a public lake.

The equipment I use isfairly simply. I use a 7 footmedium action BPS rodwith a BPS bait castingreel loaded with 12 lb. testmono. The Catfish rig isalso simple. First, I slide a! once egg sinker on theline followed by a 5 mm.plastic bead. Next, you tieon a small swivel. The bead is thereto protect the knot from beingthumped by the sinker, which canweaken the knot. Next, take a 20 inchpiece of 12 lb. test mono and tie it tothe other end of the swivel forming asnell. At the other end of the snell,you add a small cross lock snap. Allthat is missing is the dip worm,which I tie a loop knot on and snap itto the snell. The rig is complete. Thereason I snap the dip worm on thesnell is I hate sticking my fingers onthat nasty dip worm to dry it betweenrebaiting because most dip bait won’tstick to a wet worm. So, after eachfish, I simple snap the wet dip wormoff and snap on a dry one, setting the

wet one in the sun to dry. Now, withclean hands, I can stop in the gas sta-tion on the way home for a soda andeveryone does not think I sh@! mypants because of the smell. So, don’tspend the first couple of weeks swat-ting mosquitoes and passing on deerbecause the temps are too hot to hang‘em. Grab a rod and some dip baitand head to the local pond for someFALL CATS. There ain’t nothing likea catfish fry after a cold winter dayon stand to warm the belly and soul!

For a guided Muskie trip yet thisfall, you can e-mail me [email protected] or call me at 309-267-8309, and good luck on the catsand in timber!

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044_001.qxd 9/23/13 7:52 AM Page 1


SUNNYLANDCAMPERS PREPPER AND

SURVIVAL TIPSStoring WaterBy Shannon Keith

How you all doin? Sunnylandcamper here. Harryasked me to do some writing on my prepper & survivalskills. I have been into the survival and prepping thingfor most of my life and also have worked in the musicindustry since I was 14 in one way or another. Rightnow I work as a DJ and host karaoke at locally. I havebeen involved in a lot of activist type things that Ibelieve in over the years.

I have a YouTube Page where I post videos on how todo things from starting a fire to making homemadewine. Check it out, look up sunnylandcamper onYouTube. There is a really big community of like mind-ed people that enjoy sharing skills. I hope to see youthere and be sure to subscribe, like, comment andshare while you are there.

I have been asked over and over again "what is aPrepper?" Preppers are people that prepare for badtimes. Bad times being anything from losing your jobto a full out government collapses. Most of you haveseen that TV Show on Preppers that make them looklike full blown freaks and I am sure some of them arebut not all by no means. I am also sure you rememberyour parents or grandparents having food stored in apantry or cellar. My Grandmother had a well stocked

supply of food in her basement. She had anything fromcanned food from the garden to store bought food. Iknow several people that stock pile just about any-thing you could imagine from water to toilet paper. I donot know when we lost the mindset of being able totake care of ourselves but it seems like everyone wantsBig Brother to take care of them anymore. I bet thepeople down south wish they would have had a fewthings stocked up when Katrina slammed them a fewyears back or out east when Sandy hit. In some ofthose places people are still waiting to be helped by BigBrother.

I know times are hard for most but it really don'ttake a lot to get started being a Prepper and you mightjust be one already and didn't know it. Being a Prepperis just like having car insurance, you hope you neverneed it but you sure are glad you have it when you do.You do not need to have a bunker, twenty years of foodand an AR15 with ten thousand rounds to get started,not that would be a bad thing by no means. All you real-ly need is a few weeks of food and water to get thatfeeling of preparedness and that's a good feeling toknow you can take care of you and yours in a bad time. Having a good firearm, ammo and some training is alsoa good idea. If you have food and water and no one elsedoes well I am sure you know who comes a knockinwhen times get hard...Yes Zombies. I know what you’rethinking Zombies are not real. Zombies are what we"Preppers" call people that are not prepared. They willbe out wondering around looking for food, water andsupplies. If you have those things they will do whatev-er it takes to get them. Imagine what a father would doto feed his starving wife and child, unheard of things I

am sure and you will want to defend yourself and fam-ily from those people let alone be able to hunt. I am nothere to scare you by no means just to wake you up.

Storing Water in 2 liter bottlesI know you all know that we can only last a few days

without it. I like to do things on the cheap or even free.This is one you can do for free. Water is an easy Prepto get started with. I am sure most of you drink soda oryour kids do. What you need to do is start buying it intwo liter bottles. You can buy the cheap soda for lessthan a buck, Try and find a cheaper container to storewater in. You may ask why not buy water already bot-tled. Those bottles are made to biodegrade faster thansoda bottles. I have heard from a few people in the pastthat they had several cases of store bought water andafter a few years they started leaking and made amess, one person had to replace a floor due to thedamage.

After the kids have drank all the soda you need torinse it out with hot water. You can use a little bleachwater if you want but try and stay away from usingsoap it is kind of hard to get the taste out. After youclean out the bottle just fill it up with tap water, andthat’s really about it. There is enough chlorine in citywater that you do not need to add any. If you SafetySally’s out there really think you need to add somethen you can add a drop or two. I have had water storedthis way for a few years now and have not had any trou-ble with it. I use it in my Bug Out Camper (BOC) all thetime.

Storing your water is pretty easy when using twoliter bottles, just find a space to dedicate for this pur-

pose. I have seen walls stacked five feet high withthem. I have seen it stored outside, in basements andin closets. It is important to have your water stored ina few different places. I have it in my camper, my homeand going to start stocking it at my Bug Out Location(BOL). You really want to have about fifty gallons ofwater stored up this way at each place. That is enoughto get you by for a short term emergency and of coursemore is always better.

There are a lot of other things one would like to havein bad times .I would like to go over some of thosethings and make videos to correspond to my articlesso readers and Subscribers can learn a little more.Just remember I am not a professional or do I claim tobe one but I have a lot of knowledge and skills I wouldlike to share with you all. It won’t hurt you to learn afew survival skills and know what kinds of things to doin bad times. Thanks for taking the time to read thisand I hope you are looking forward to the next issue asmuch as I am. Sunnylandcamper

045_001.qxd 9/22/13 2:47 AM Page 1


The long walk downthe field lane with corngrowing on one sideand beans on the otherthen an alfalfa field op-posite cut sorghumwas absorbed into myconsciousness in an-ticipation of the firstflying target opportu-nity! The knee jointsached a little and my eyesight was barely ahead offunctional as compared to years past! It was hard tobelieve another opener was here also foretelling anoth-er year closer to the end! Birds moved about in theearly daylight further fueling the anticipatory firstshot.

Suddenly, a dove shot past hidden by the smallMaple tree, one of many, growing around the cattleand horse pens worn down to hard earth devoid ofmost growth but full of water holes and manure pilesproviding a favorite spot for the foraging flying rocket!I pulled and took a snap shot despite telling myself toswing through with concentration – remarkably myseason has begun with success. Suddenly, anothertarget moved cross wind from North to South just

yards into the alfalfa field. My shot missed then thetop barrel blast connected! I had to climb through thefence and despite my sure mark triangulated by fen-cepost to corn field black spot did not reveal the dove.As the search continued, many more bogeys moved inand out of my zone of efficiency but they only served tofrustrate my search further as knocking another downat this point would or could lead to two missing doves.The next fifteen minutes proved this was not going tobe easy or quick as hole after hole was blasted into theatmosphere with no success on my intended target!Was this to be the activity for the morning? If so, itwas being wasted with my lack of prowess in shootingskill!

After moving to a better vantage point severalshots connected and like a duffer golfer, my selectivememory forgot the past misses and only rememberedthe successful shots. You really have to swing throughquickly and smoothly to connect, I told myself. Seeingthe steady bird activity calmed the nerves as it was ob-vious this morning would provide ample opportunitiesto shoot! No, this was not going to be a “wham bamthank you mam” hunt but it would be a titillating, an-ticipatory session calling upon all of your skills, includ-ing shot selection and control of nerves!

This Sunny day would be appreciated to the fullest.The wind was constant from the west with the temper-ature in the pleasant range. During the melee onedouble was scored. In addition, two fifty plus shotsfrom origin to final resting spot were recorded. Final-ly, the limit was attained! Improvement from lousy to

THE MOST GRACIOUS OF TARGETS!

by Dave Herschelman

mediocre in shooting efficiencyhad been attained. Severalswings were picture perfect! Mysuper special reloads fired frommy over and under used only forthis purpose did the trick! Goodunselfish companionship frommy hunting partner allowed mylimit to be achieved as I was af-forded the best shooting spotsmost of the morning.

Another day afield will bringfrustration or satisfaction or alittle of both in pursuit of thisgame bird. This “bird of peace”will submit to this barrage choos-ing to face the onslaught ratherthan cower from it. Often, they will survive making themost experienced of us face our shortcomings!

Although I have experienced great dove shootsamong many dozens of hunters spread over large ar-eas in fields designed to attract the winged rocketproviding almost non-stop shooting, I still prefer theisolation of hunting over natural environments thatattract the dove unaware of my presence. The agitat-ed birds can make more moves while zooming acrossthe sky than the most sophisticated of fighter jets of-ten making the ammo manufacturers happy! The sin-gle or pair approaching a familiar area makes for mucheasier shooting and less heartache to the psyche andpocketbook on spent shells!

As a young man living in Indiana prior to the open-ing of the Dove Season in this state, my hunting part-

ners and I would hunt on the Wabash River, on the Illi-nois side, finding sand and gravel bars the doves wouldfrequent often just before roosting for the night. Themystique of the water running over the gravel, aug-mented by a beautiful red sun setting after a gorgeousday afield still remain fresh in my memory. My oldRemington Magnum 870 with a thirty inch barrel andfull choke was not the most efficient gun for this pur-pose but many limits were had using my reloaded AAhulls and 7 ! shot charge! Another lasting impressionof those days afield would be my gradual loss of hear-ing culminated from years of shooting without ear pro-tection.

Get out and enjoy this remarkable game bird but besmart about it!

David Herschelman, September 11, 2013 PREDATOR GUIDE SERVICE309-347-1728 • 309-267-8309 • [email protected]

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Dave on a recent dove hunt.

046_001.qxd 9/20/13 3:33 PM Page 1

No Shortage of Fish in Devils Lake

Devils Lake, the North Dakota lakethat has grown more than six times aslarge in the past 20 years, continues toamaze anglers.! They show up from allcorners of the walleye world, and quick-ly learn they can fish their “hometown”methods and catch fish.

“The fishing is out of this world withtactics more diverse and unique thanmost walleye factories,” said pro walleyefisherman Tommy Skarlis.! Anglers thatfish slip-bobbers and live bait will beright at home on Devils Lake.! So willcrankbait trollers.! Those who love tocast cranks, spoons and spinners will beable to target hundreds of shorelinemiles plus humps, bumps and roadbedsunder 200,000-plus acres of water.! Jigfishermen will be in heaven when verti-cal jigging around the many bridges –especially when the wind blows, settingup current – or casting and retrievingjigs with live bait or plastics.! Live baitriggers will be doing the same techniquethat led Bruce “Doc” Samson to twoPWT wins on the lake.

Anglers may fish like they’re at home,or they can experiment with new tacticsand be in the fish zone almost immedi-ately.! Catching fish builds confidence.From ice-out in spring to late fall,walleyes are the number one target.! Ofcourse, white bass, northern pike andperch rank pretty high as well.! NorthDakota fisheries biologist Todd Caspers

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said, “Our July walleye sampling showsthe overall catch rate well above long-term averages.”!

Placing it in perspective, he said lastyear there were record high numbers of10 to 15 inch walleyes.! “The number of15 to 20 inch keeper walleyes increasedthis year over last,” he said.! “I’m look-ing for good numbers of eater walleyesthis fall and winter.”

The recent fisheries surveys will makeperch anglers smile.! The overall surveycatch rate is above last year, and five toeight inchers he said, “Are way up overthe long-term average.”! Caspers alsonoted, “Since our surveys began in 1992,we now have a record level of 12-inchand larger perch in the system, withmost of those being right at a foot longor slightly bigger.”

Two other species, white bass and pikeare also targeted by many anglers.! Whitebass numbers are higher than last year,but below long-term averages.! “The bigwhite bass from 15 to 18 inches are sig-nificantly above long-term averages,”Caspers said.! Pike are well above long-term averages, with loads of 21 to 27

inch fish biting everything.! “Those 28to 34 inch pike are at numbers higherthan last year and the big pike, over 34inches, are present in good numbers,” hesaid.! “There’s no shortage of fish inDevils Lake!”

What the experts are saying:! JohnnieCandle, Devils Lake guide and promot-er, “Walleyes remain relatively shallowall spring, summer and fall, makingcrankbaits and jigs dressed with plasticdeadly.! Snap-jigging, spinners behindbottom bouncers rigged with artificialcrawlers, swimbaits and trollingcrankbaits all work.”

Jason Feldner, Devils Lake guide,“Pitching crankbaits on wind-blownshorelines is a main-stay out here, butjigs and plastic work just as well.”! MikeGofron, tournament pro angler, “It’samazing how aggressive the walleyesreally are.! I use Northland MimicMinnows or Johnson Beetle spins overand through the weeds.”! Ben Mack,2013 Devils Lake Chamber ofCommerce walleye tournament winner,“I fish walleyes on Devils Lake like thebass guys do – casting and flipping totrees and weeds.”

Ross Sensiba, Devils Lake guide,“When casting cranks shallow (4 to 6feet of water), my standby is the RapalaCountdown.! They cast a mile in thewind and I reel them slow or twitchthem.”! Mark Bry, Devils Lake guide,“Casting is preferred, but when we haveto slow down, the number one methodis slip bobbers.! We stay in the strikezone and don’t snag like we might witha jig.”! Guide Johnnie Candle, “It’s com-ing to my favorite time of year when thecurrent around bridges really sucks inthe fish.”

Nine convenient public concreteramps are open with plenty of parking.A map is featured on devilslakend.com.The entire community is proud of themodern, air-conditioned fish-cleaningstation, a 20 x 32 building, located southof Ed’s Bait Shop on Hwy 20 (south ofthe City of Devils Lake).! It’s free-of-charge to anglers, and features twogrinders, a clean-up sink, regular andhandicapped bathrooms.! It can handle15 anglers at once, and is open 12months of the year – just like the DevilsLake fishing season.! Several outdoorfish-cleaning stations are situated atramps.

Devils Lake fishing guides targetwalleyes, white bass, perch and pike.! Tocontact guides and find the latest lakeconditions, fishing reports, lodging,activities, restaurants, tournament newsand resorts, check www.devilslakend.com, or call 701-662-4903.

Jason Feldner with a nice walleyefrom Devils Lake

047_001.qxd 9/20/13 9:43 PM Page 1

MEMORIES OF FALLTURKEY HUNTS

by Bill Cooper


leading into the kitchen anddining room.

I rapped lightly on thewooden door separating mefrom the smells wafting fromthe kitchen.

“Come on in Cooper,”echoed the crackly voice ofJohni Kohler. She alwaysrose first, before Lou, startedcoffee and the makings ofbreakfast.

The heat and aroma of thewood stove in the corner hitme in the face as I opened thedoor. Cozy. Peaceful.

“Time to eat, or just coffee”?! Johniasked as usual.!

Breakfast sounded wonderful, but Ianticipated turkeys in the draw thismorning and didn’t want to be late.

“Coffee sounds good. It’s really coolthis morning. A hot cup of coffee be-fore I go out will give me good luck,”I answered.

Silently, I knew I would have timefor breakfast with Lou. He relished ourearly morning vigils and often held mespellbound with his descriptions of thebattles he endured while serving withthe Marine Corps in the south Pacificfor the duration of WWII. Too, he waskeen on politics and the state of theeconomy.

A growly “mornin’”, from Lou, star-tled me causing me to burn my lips onthe first sip of hot coffee.

His rosy cheeks looked afire and hissparse, tousled, gray hair stood like aspike.

“Lou, youcould putyour pants onfor goodnesssake,” Johnichided.

“ C o o p e r ,you ever seena man in hisunderwear?”

“A fewtimes,” Ic h u c k l e d .“But, neverwith legs likethat.”

“See, it’ssettled,” Loug r o w l e d .“But, youdon’t have todegrade mybody, Cooper,just becauseyou were abig shot Army

Lieutenant. You missed the big war,you know.”

Yeah, I knew. Lou reminded me ona regular basis. He also reminded meoften that we quit in Southeast Asia,when we should have fought hardfrom the beginning.

“Politicians war,” Lou said always.“Korea wasn’t much better,” he al-most always added. “We took the warto the enemy In WW II.”

The smell of bacon, eggs and toastteased my taste buds. I settled for onemore cup of coffee.

“What you huntin’ today,”? Louqueried.

“Turkeys, fall turkeys,” I replied be-tween sips of coffee. “Need to get go-ing. Will be light soon.

“Yeah, it is fall,” Lou continued, ig-noring my signal I needed to leave.“Had our first fire last night. Feelsgood this morning, don’t it?”

It did indeed, as did the coffee, thebreakfast smells, conversation with acouple from a different generation anddifferent times. They leveled a solemnrespite to the world situation, but edi-fied a staunch air of confidence inthemselves and people who agreedwith them.

The chair legs grated across thewooden kitchen floor as I scooted itback to prepare to leave.

“You got time for one more cup ofcoffee,” Johni suggested.

“Really gotta scoot,” I politely de-clined. “I want to get in the woods be-fore the birds fly down. That makesthe hunt a whole ton easier.”

“You don’t shoot ‘em outa the treesdo ya?”, Johni asked.

“No”, I chuckled. “Actually, I scarethem out of the tree and then call themback in. That is the fun of fall turkeyhunting.”

“Doesn’t make any since to me,”Lou kept talking as I went out thedoor. “Why would you scare some-thing off you wanna shoot? Coffeewill still be good by the time you get

A coarse cluck echoed from thetreetops in the ravine below me, an an-swer to the first course yelp I hadmade in the predawn of the cool, Oc-tober morning. Turkeys used this par-ticular ridge on a regular basis. I hadkilled many there over the years.

Aromatic smells of coffee mixedwith the punky smell of freshly cutwood as I creaked open the screen

door onthe backporch ofmy neigh-bor’s farmh o u s e .C a n n e dgoods lined wooden shelves on theporch and a half bushel of farm raisedapples blanketed a corner by the steps

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back. Shouldn’t take you long, withall you know Lieutenant.”

I shook my head as I stepped intothe fading darkness. I would have tohustle to the woods if I was going !toget set up before the birds flewdown to begin their daily routine.The draw I wanted to check first laydown the ridge only 150 yards fromthe farm house. I double timed thefirst hundred yards along the edge ofthe pasture, but under the conceal-ment of overhanging limbs.

Utilizing dark shadows and avail-able cover, I slowly crept to withinforty yards of the lip of the ravinewhere I had found turkeys roostingso many times before. Today Iwould try a new tactic to me. Ratherthan scatter the birds from the roostand attempt to call them back, Iwould allow the flock to fly downand then desperately try to call theentire flock to me. Other huntersclaimed they were having good luckwith the tactic. At the least, it wouldbe a new experience in the turkeywoods.

My woodlands camo had workedfor years and I thought little about itas I applied a few smears of facepaint to break my face shine.! Wordsof a team leader from long ago

jogged my memory. “Freshen thatface paint before we exit the chop-per. No room for error on these longrange patrols. We expect lots of ene-my movement down our trail. Wewill be very close, within a few feet.We are to count ‘em, not shoot ‘em,”he instructed.

My heart raced. My war hadn’tbeen a piece of cake, either. Swornto silence for 35 years, no one knewof my war. Few do today, but I likeit that way. Lou never knew. I justkept listening to stories about IwoJima, Tarawa, Tinian and Saipan.!

I readied my shotgun, pointed inthe direction I expected the turkeysto come and went into concentrationmode.

I floated a series of three soft,coarse, yelps towards the directionof the ravine with my mouth call. Ihad high hopes this day of killing awild turkey gobbler.

A coarse cluck broke my se-quence. A gobbler had answered im-mediately.

To hide the shine from the whitesof my eyes, I squinted. A slightmovement in a treetop 40 yardsdown hill caught my eye. My griptensed on the gunstock.

A couple of minutes later I mut-

tered a pair of soft tree yelps. A henresponded. I called again and twomore birds kee-keed in return. I hadslipped into the flock’s bedroom, buthad made it only by the skin of myteeth in the fading darkness.

The conversation continued be-tween me and the birds for the nextten minutes, before the flock beganto fly down from the roost. I keptquiet as I watched individual birdsmake awkward attempts to land onthe forest floor. It was comical towatch as young birds crashed intoone another and collided with smallsaplings.

The old hens soon began theirlong serenades of assembly calls toround up the scattered poults. Pitifulsounding kee-kees of lost young-sters filled the woods with eeriewhistles and shrill cries.

I had kept my silence. The gobblerstill clung to the limb here he hadspent the night well away from theflock of hens, jakes and poults. Theflock had reassembled and beganfeeding through the woods awayfrom me.

I heard the unmistakable heavywing beats of the gobbler and then athud on the ground. My grip on myshotgun tightened again. He landed

close, 30 yards out. I caughtglimpses of his black body as he rus-tled his feathers and picked at theseeds from a beggars lice plant.

So slow as to not be detected bythe keen eyes of an old gobbler, Imoved my shotgun left and slippedthe safety off silently. I spit out aloud, raspy “cluck”. The birdsnapped to attention, stone still star-ing in my direction.

The bead of my shotgun was al-ready where I knew his craning neckwould be.!

A shiver settled over my body as Ilistened to the flopping bird in thedry leaves of the autumn woods. Itwas 20 minutes after legal shootinghours.

“Coffee still hot?” ! I hollered asthe screen door of the back porchslammed behind me. The kitchendoor swung open as I laid the gob-bler by the apples on the porch floor.

“Dang, L T, do you know how toset up an ambush, or what?” Loubarked.

“That old warrior died in theravine, huh?” Lou quizzed.

“Yeah, Lou he did, like some oth-ers I have known. “How come ittook you Marines so long to takeGuadalcanal?”

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FALL BASSIN’b y D o n D z i e d z i n a

Our weather has been mild and I feel safewriting about bass fishing instead ofswitching gears and getting into deer or up-land game hunting.

Over the years, it’s been seen on televi-sion and talked about on the radio whereoutdoor personalities are fishing for basswith their lure of choice being a spinner-bait.!

Many have posed the question, “If I hadonly one choice, what lure would it be?”Most all will say a spinnerbait.

Spinnerbaits are good lures and there’sno doubt about it. !They are great forsearching for fish, they’re easy to use, andthey have a variety of ways they can beused.! Spinnerbaits are quite unique in that

they glide through the weeds and brush, ahiding place where bass are often foundwithout getting hung up.! They truly are aversatile fish catching lure.

Unlike the smallmouth bass that relate torock, the largemouth can most often befound relating to weeds.! Find weeds and youwill probably find largemouth bass.! Use aspinnerbait and you’ll most likely catch one.

Whether it’s in a lake or river, there willbe spots that have weed patches.! The key isto present your bait properly.! Do that andyou will catch some fish.! Let me rephrasethat.! Do that and you’ll catch a lot of fish.

Let’s look at a weed patch in a lake or riv-er and analyze our approach.

Early on in the day, chances are that basswill be found between the shore and the in-side edge of the weeds.! They’ll be foragingfor crayfish and minnows found in the shal-lows.! This will be your first place to try.! Ifyou can get close to the bank, cast and re-

trieve along the edges of the weeds.! Thiskeeps your bait in the strike zone longer.

As the sun gets higher in the sky, the fishwill move into the weeds for cover. !Bass willuse weeds for cover, for shade, as a hidingplace from larger predatory fish, and as am-bush points to prey upon smaller fish.

So as the sun goes up, your spinnerbaitneeds to go in… into the weeds.

At midday when the sun is at its highestpoint, bass will be on the deep side of theweed patch only if they missed their callingto migrate back to their deep water sanctu-ary.! The important thing to rememberabout largemouth bass is that they love tohang out in the weeds.

Spinnerbaits are great lures to work weedpatches.! They’ll easily go around theirsides, on the top of them and even throughthem.! But remember that willow leaf bladedbaits will have less hang ups in the weedsthan a Colorado or Indiana bladed bait.

A good spinnerbait will flutter its way tothe bottom.! A good technique to catch bassduring the day is to retrieve it over the topsof the weeds then let it free fall once itreaches the edge of the patch on the deepwater side.!! A presentation like this will of-ten have the bass jumping on the spinner-bait as it falls down the outside edge of theweeds.! Its fun to see the bait hit the water,flutter down then either disappear or flashover to one side.! When the rod loads up,cross their eyes and it’s “FISH ON”.!! Hangon because sometimes they’ll come flyingout of the water.

Making a presentation around the out-side edge of the weed patches is as simple

as a steady retrieve.! Let the bait sink a lit-tle though.! What so many anglers like aboutthis type of fishing is that they can oftensee their lure coming back to them.! Again,when the flash of the blades disappears andthe line gets heavy with a bass on the otherend the fight is on.

A quick retrieve over the tops of weedscan also bring that spinnerbait into the cat-egory of a buzzbait.! You’ll need a high speedreel, like 7:1, for this to work well withoutwearing out your wrist in five casts.

Spinnerbaits and largemouth bass; it’skind of like salt and pepper, peanut butterand jelly, or milk and cookies.! They justseem to go together so well.

Set out a couple spinnerbaits and leaveeverything else at home the next time you gofishing.! Hit the weed patches on your fa-vorite lake or river and hold on to your hatbecause you’re about to enjoy some greatlargemouth bass fishing with spinnerbaits.

I know we’re at the doorstep of the hunt-ing season but don’t hang up your fishingrods just yet because great fishing is notthat far away.

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July 10thREGION I

A Lyndon man was charged with pollution of water-ways after he cut down a large tree and pushed it intothe Rock River.! The tree floated downstream in theflood level waters until hanging up on theProphetstown State Park Boat Ramp.

A Rock Falls man was issued a citation for allowinga 6 year old boy to be in a watercraft on the HennepinFeeder Canal without wearing a personal flotationdevice.! The boat operator and another adult fishermanwere running jugs for catfish close to midnight in asmall cluttered Jon boat.

Two District 6 CPOs patrolled the Illinois River nearOttawa. !Two citations were issued for violating a nowake area and several written warnings were issuedfor equipment violations.

A District 6 CPO responded to a complaint of a per-son cutting timber at Illini State Park in Great FallsCampgrounds. !Two men from Cicero were cited forpossession of alcohol in the campgrounds and one wascited for cutting down timber in the park.

A CPO in Henderson County worked a boat enforce-ment detail at Lake Argyle State Park.! Numerousboating violations were discovered during the detailand appropriate enforcement action was taken.

A CPO received a call reference of a subject takingshort bass on the Hennepin Canal at Lock 22 in BureauCounty.! As the CPO approached the subject, the sub-ject dumped a bucket of fish into the canal.! The sub-ject said he was throwing the small ones back.! It waslater found the subject had a plastic storage containerin the back of his SUV with an aerator running whichcontained 14 short bass.! The subject tried to blamethe short fish on his 12 year old son while his son plead-ed he did not keep any fish.! The fish were measured,photographed and released.! The subject was issuednumerous citations.

A District 6 CPO cited an individual for failing toimmediately release a largemouth bass that was wellunder the legal limit. The individual also had twoundersize smallmouth bass that he claimed his kids

had caught.! All three fish were photographed andreleased alive.

A CPO patrolled the Hennepin Canal Parkway andJohnson Sauk Trail State Park.! Three (Off Road)motorcycle riders were issued citations for illegallyriding motorcycles on the Hennepin Canal Parkwaybetween Colona and Geneseo.! Three citations wereissued at Johnson Sauk Trail Park for fishing without afishing license.! A subject was issued a citation fortaking game fish with use of a cast net at the SteelDam in Milan on the Rock River (net was seized).Multiple other boating written warnings and citationswere issued as well.!

REGION IIA CPO arrested a subject for fishing without per-

mission of the landowner.A CPO located a car parked in Kankakee River State

Park after the posted closing hours.! Using her K9, shetracked the subjects down to the Kankakee Riverwhere she found two of the three subjects unlawfully inpossession of smallmouth bass within the restrictedsize limit.

While patrolling the DuPage River, CPOs wereapproached by two bow fishermen that had located a.25 caliber pistol in the river.! The!pistol was broughtto the ISP crime lab for processing.!

REGION IIICPOs!arrested an Astoria man for!operation of

watercraft under the influence of alcohol!on LakeShelbyville in Shelby County!with a .122 BAC.

A CPO responded to multiple complaints called in tothe Moultrie County Sheriff's Office of a boater oper-ating erratically at Bo Woods’s boat ramp.! The CPOmade contact with the man and appropriate enforce-ment was taken.

REGION VWhile patrolling Saline County State Fish & Wildlife

Area!a CPO observed three ATVs using the local biketrail as a jump. While the ATVs were circling into the

box; some of which were undersized smallmouthbass.!!!!!!!!!

A CPO conducted Mississippi River patrols assistedby USCG J.Landheer onboard an IDNR Patrol Boat.Multiple boat safety inspections were conducted onRiver Pools 14-16 in the Quad City area.! This resultedin many boating written warnings and citations beingissued.! A Davenport, IA man was operating his boat(in a questionable manor) in front of! ModernWoodman Baseball Park while a River Bandits gamewas in progress.! This subject was stopped for a boatsafety inspection.! This subject was found to be intox-icated and arrested for OUI.! The subject’s BAC(Breath Alcohol Concentration) was over twice thelegal limit at .169% BAC.

A District 6 CPO was called to the Rock Cut StatePark campground regarding a camper fire. !Uponarriving on scene, the CPO discovered that a large,Winnebago motor home had become engulfed inflames and was completely destroyed. !The occupantsof the motor home escaped unharmed and this caseremains under investigation. !Agencies involved in thisincident were the Loves Park Fire Dept, North ParkFire Dept, Loves Park Police and IDNR Police.

A District 6 officer arrested five individuals forfishing without a license.

A District 6 officer assisted another officer inarresting three individuals who were unlawfully con-suming alcohol under age, and arresting one other whooperated a vehicle while revoked.

REGION IITwo Lake County CPOs investigated a fatal boat

accident involving three young boys that tipped over ina canoe.! It occurred in a private retention pond inMcHenry County.! One 12 year old boy couldn't swim


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JULY 2013neighboring field to make another jump over the biketrail, a stop was conducted and the ATV riders werecited for operating on the bike trail.

While on a boat patrol for Rend LakeFireworks,!CPOs were addressing a Florida registeredboat anchored to a pier fishing under the Route 154bridge. The boat was impeding traffic to the south endof the lake for the firework show. During the check itwas discovered the boat owner!was!a Florida resi-dent!and had falsified his application obtaining anIllinois Resident Fishing license. Citations were issuedand further investigation with the State of Florida ispending for additional charges.

A CPO checked fishermen at Dolan Lake, HamiltonCounty State Fish & Wildlife Area and discovered two11" largemouth bass on a stringer with catfish andbluegill. !Dolan Lake has a limit of one largemouth basswhich has to be 18". !A citation and written warningwere issued.

July 17thREGION I

District 6 CPOs conducted a boat patrol on LakeSummerset in Winnebago and StephensonCounties. !Five citations and eight written warningswere issued for violations of the Boat Registration andSafety Act.

A CPO in Henderson County worked the MississippiRiver in Henderson County.! Twenty citations and warn-ings were issued to boaters.

A District 1 CPO issued multiple citations and writ-ten warnings to three Prophetstown State Parkcampers.! Two of them were running bank poles on theRock River with no fishing licenses, out of a boat withan insufficient number of wearable personal flotationdevices.! The third was keeping fish in an unmarked live

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POLICE… Cont’d. from previous pg.and drowned shortly after capsizing.!

A CPO issued citations for a short Northern Pikeand a short Largemouth Bass to two subjects at DesPlaines pond in Wadsworth.

CPOs!conducted a boat patrol on the Chain O'Lakes on Friday, July 12.! The patrol resulted in numer-ous vessel inspections along with!two citations andseven written warnings for boating violations.

REGION IVA Madison County CPO attended the Illinois Youth

Police Camp at Principia College.! The educationaltrailer was used to teach at risk youths about the workConservation Officers do.! Other departments attend-ing included the IDNR Fisheries, US Coast Guard, USArmy Corps of Engineers, ISP, Madison County BombSquad, Alton K-9, and the ARCH helicopter.Approximately 85 youths were at the week-long camp.

After severe storms hit the area, metro CPOs werecalled to assist with motorists trapped on the highwaysin flash flood conditions on Saturday.! On Sunday,storms hit again in the Metro area.! CPOs cleareddebris and trees that had fallen over the roadways andchecked the safety of park visitors.

While assigned to work Lake Lou Yaeger, aMontgomery County CPO assisted the U.S. MarshalService in apprehending a fugitive.

Two Montgomery County CPOs assisted Hillsboro

Rescue with a body recovery at Lake Glenn Shoals.Two District 13 officers were on patrol at Baldwin

Lake checking fishermen.! They observed three sub-jects fishing near the boat ramp.! After checking forfishing licenses it was discovered that one had alicense and the other two did not have a license in theirpossession.! They had a bucket full of various fish thatincluded one largemouth bass that was under the des-ignated size limit.! During the check, it was also dis-covered that one of the subjects had unlawfullyobtained a resident fishing license while maintaining aresidence in Missouri.! Subjects were cited for not hav-ing valid fishing licenses, fraudulent purchase of resi-dent fishing license and failure to immediately releaseundersized largemouth bass.!!

Two District 13 CPOs!arrested two subjects atHorseshoe Lake State Park for fishing with no valid ILSport Fishing License. !They admitted to not having alicense and being Missouri residents.! They also admit-ted to not having a fishing license in Missouri as well.

A District 13 CPO issued various written warningswhile patrolling the state parks in the St. Louis Metroregion for a variety of offenses including fishing, traf-fic, and state park regulations.

A District 13 CPO issued citations to three subjectsin the past week for unlawfully snagging fish at theCarlyle Lake Spillway.

A District 13 CPO issued citations to a man for

snagging 10 paddlefish below the dam of Carlyle Lake.! The Monroe County CPO worked two flood duty

shifts at Grafton, Illinois on emergency readinessstandby.

The Monroe County CPO finished five deer investi-gations from firearm deer season resulting in numer-ous tickets to multiple individuals.!!!!!!

The Monroe County CPO received a credible tipregarding a subject in the act of attempting to sellsnapping turtles to local bait shops. Respondingimmediately, the CPO discovered the initial complaintwas valid but several days old, however further investi-gation revealed additional information. !Logical rea-soning and knowledge of the area indicated severalpotential locations where the subject may have illegal-ly trapped the turtles. While checking several localponds, the CPO observed four fishermen at one ofthem and he approached to check their fishing licens-es. !As he walked past one of their parked trucks, henoted it matched the description of the turtler’s truckand it contained a cage with two red-eared slider tur-tles. When the CPO checked the first two fishermen,he determined one of the subjects was likely his sus-pect. !As he spoke with the subject, the remaining two“un-checked” fishermen departed in such a hurrythat they left their lawn chairs and some of their gearbehind. !The CPO relayed descriptions of the fleeingfishermen and their truck to another CPO who quicklytracked them down and discovered neither of themhad fishing licenses. The Monroe County CPO contin-

ued his interview and determined he did indeed havethe violator who attempted to sell the turtles. It wasdetermined the subject did not trap the turtles, butlegally caught them on hook and line. !However, inaddition to the attempted unlawful sale of the turtles,the subject possessed an over-limit of snapping tur-tles at his residence. Appropriate enforcement actionwas taken.

The Monroe County CPO and Washington CountyCPO were checking fishermen at a local state-man-aged lake when they encountered a group of threecompanions fishing together. One of the fishermen didnot have a fishing license, the second fisherman hadfalsified address information to illegally obtain a resi-dent fishing license and the third fisherman possessedan undersized bass, 3 1/8 inches short of the mini-mum length limit which was clearly posted 20 feetaway. All three subjects were cited.! After the violatorsdeparted; a nearby fishermen, (who was legal) voicedhis approval of the enforcement.!!

REGION VA CPO!assisted the ISP and Williamson County

Sheriff’s Office in recovering a man’s body from CrabOrchard NWR. It is believed the man passed from nat-ural causes and fell into the water. ISP is investigatingthe incident.

A CPO!recovered the carcass of a dead adult baldeagle on Interstate 57 in Alexander County, presum-ably struck by a vehicle.

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A CPO!closed an Alexander County case where thesubject!was charged with unlawful take of a largewhite tailed buck deer with a 30-06 rifle and checkingit in as an archery kill pleading guilty to unlawful takeof deer with a rifle and falsification. !He!was fined$500.00 and ordered to make $1000.00 donation tothe Conservation Police Operations Fund.

A CPO!responded to two ATV complaints from theMassac Co.!Sherriff's Office and a private landown-er. !The ATV's took off at a high speed when the CPOarrived at the location.

July 24thREGION I

A District 7 CPO completed a report of a vehicleand trailer which were fully submerged in BannerMarsh State Fish and Wildlife Area.! A fisherman wasattempting to launch his boat when his 2013 truckslid backwards down the ramp into 30 feet of water.! Alocal dive team and a tow truck removed the truck andtrailer.

A District 6 CPO arrested six individual for fishingwithout a license.

A District 6 CPO arrested seven individuals forswimming in a restricted area.

A District 6 CPO arrested an individual for unlawfulsnagging in waters closed to snagging.!

A District 6 CPO arrested three individuals forunlawful possession of alcohol in a nature preserve.

A District 6 CPO located a small Jon boat with twofishermen on a private pond.! Both individuals had afishing license, but there were no life jackets on theboat.! A citation was issued.

Two District 6 CPOs responded to a report of twoelderly gentlemen missing on the Illinois River. Theyhad left their residence the day before and had notreturned.! Neither man answered their cell phones.The Putnam County Sheriff’s Deputies had locatedtheir SUV and trailer in Hennepin.! After a short searchthey were found fishing about one mile south ofHennepin.! They said the fishing was so good theydecided to sleep on the boat.! They did not have any cellphone service where they were fishing.! The officerstold them they should have a float plan whenever theygo fishing e.g. let their relatives know where they are

going and how long they will be gone and also to calltheir relatives if they change their plans.

A District 6 CPO was contacted by Illini State Parkstaff.! They had an individual who had been in thecampground for 8 days and had not paid for the site.The staff had tried to make contact with the individ-ual, but he was never at the site when the staff wentby. They had also left several messages on thecamper’s door, but the individual never contacted thestaff.! The officer went to the site and was able toidentify the individual by the registration on thecamper.! The officer contacted a local police agencywho gave the officer the individual’s contact informa-tion. The officer was able to contact the individual byphone.! The officer explained the consequences ofleaving the campground and not paying.! The individualmet with the park staff and paid the next day.

A District 6 CPO attended court for two individualscontesting no fishing license tickets.! The individualsshowed up to court with fishing licenses, but the judgenoticed that the fishing licenses were purchased twohours after they were issued citations.! They werefound guilty.

District 6!CPOs focused on boat enforcement. !Thedetail was successful and resulted in two boats assist-ed, 33 written warnings and 9 tickets. The detail alsoremoved an!impaired operator who was chargedwith!OUI and had a breath alcohol content of .190.

A District 1 CPO was conducting fishing licensecompliance checks on Dept. Lands when she observedthree women fishing near a boat launch.! When theCPO approached and asked if they had caught anythingthey all responded, “No.”! The CPO asked if they hadfishing licenses and they all replied they did, but onebecame quiet and started staring at the ground.! TheCPO asked if she was ok and she responded she wasfine, she was just spacing out.! One of the womenexplained her license was back at the picnic table inher wallet so all four proceeded to the table.! She gaveher fishing license to the CPO. !When the CPO asked forthe other two licenses the women explained theyweren’t really fishing they were taking lessons andweren’t catching anything.! The CPO explained the def-inition of fishing and the requirements for needing afishing license and where they could purchase their

fishing licenses. Citations for fishing without a validsport fishing license were issued to the two women.

REGION IIA McHenry County CPO received a dispatch call

from ISP regarding local fishermen who had found anurn at the Chain O' Lakes State Park, Oak Point dayuse area.! Upon arrival, the CPO located the urn along-side the riverbank which still had the crematedremains of someone, which were inside a plastic bagand zip tied.! A circular metal tag with the cremationservices address and an identification number!for thedeceased was found nearby.! After notifying the localcremation service they provided a name and tele-phone number of the wife who had picked up theremains.! Evidently, after the man died his bodywas!donated to science and then cremated.! However,instead of spreading his ashes alongside the riverbankand disposing of the urn the wife just placed every-thing along the bank and left.!!When contact wasmade with the wife, she asked "Is the urn!empty?"When she was informed that the urn was not emptybut had the remains of her deceasedhusband,!she!stated, "Damn!! Can you just put him ina plastic bag and mail him to me?!!I live in Streatorand!it's too far to drive".!!!Several days later the wifecalled back and said she found someone to come gether husband.! Arrangements were made for pickup

later in the week.A McHenry County CPO arrested a subject at the

Chain O' Lakes State Park for possession of a BB gun,after the CPO drove by and observed the individualshooting the gun at his campsite.! The subject was alsocited for possession of alcohol in!a posted restrictedarea, drug paraphernalia, and cannabis less than 2.5grams.

A District 2 CPO issued citations and written warn-ings to three individuals fishing without permission ata gravel pit in McHenry.

A District 2 CPO issued a citation to a fisherman atMoraine Hills State Park for possession of a 6 1/2 inchLargemouth Bass where the limit is 14 inches.

A CPO arrested a subject for fishing without per-mission.

A CPO handled a call of an alligator in a subdivisionpond.!

REGION IIIA District 19 CPO made an arrest of two!subjects

while checking fishermen!at Homer Lake.! The twomale!subjects were cited for possession of cannabisand possession of paraphernalia.

District 11!arrested a Marshall man for DUI (con-trolled substances) on Mohawk Drive at Rte 40 inMarshall.! Subject was issued the following citations:


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POLICE… Cont’d. from previous pg. A CPO arrested a subject for OUI at Lake ofEgypt. !The subject blew .18

July 31stREGION III

A CPO!was en route to Lake Mattoon to checkfishermen and observed a truck parked in theroadway on the Shelby County line road.! He thenobserved a male subject standing in the ditch uri-nating and he threw a can into the bean field.! TheCPO conducted a!traffic stop and found the driverand two female passengers with open beer.! Thetwo females (Mattoon and Neoga)!were cited forIllegal transportation and the male passenger(Neoga) was cited for illegal transportation ofalcohol!and littering.! The driver was arrested forDUI and DUI .08 and cited for illegal transporta-tion!of alcohol. !The driver was transported to theShelby County jail.

CPOs conducted transition pistol training atthe Charleston Police Department Range.

REGION IVA CPO!was conducting boat inspections on the

Illinois River at Beardstown when he arrestedthree subjects for under!age possession of alco-hol.A CPO!was patrolling the Illinois River at Graftonwhen he observed a subject swinging from the skibar on top of the boat. After stopping the boat,the!CPO conducted field sobriety tests on theoperator. The operator failed field sobriety tests.A breath test revealed a!BAC of .10. The operatorwas also under age. The subject swinging from thebar was arrested for under age consumption andwas found in possession of a fake!ID.

A CPO!was checking fishermen at!PereMarquette State Park. !A check with the IllinoisState Police!revealed one of the subjects waswanted on a warrant.

CPOs!attended the duck blind draws atPittsfield and Quincy.

REGION VCPOs!arrested two subjects for fishing without

permission, fishing license not in possession,unlawful possession of cannabis, and!unlawfulpossession of drug paraphernalia,!near Zeigler.

A CPO cited a subject for allowing his son totake wild turkey illegally. The father was cited forunlawful possession of wild turkey and assessed a$500.00 civil penalty.

A CPO arrested a Missouri man for taking deerduring closed season, transporting an uncasedbow in vehicle, and hunting without license inJefferson County.

A Sgt. and CPO conducted a boating detail onthe Wabash River near Grayville. Multiple boatswere inspected and warnings for equipment viola-tions were issued. !Just prior to dark, a boatapproached the ramp with two toddlers not wear-ing lifejackets. !The CPO conducted an inspectionand gained probable cause that the operator wasintoxicated. !The subject was arrested and had aBAC of .10.

The same evening CPOs traveled to Rend Lake toassist District 14 with boating enforcement. !Bothofficers encountered subjects operating water-craft under the influence and their BACs were .09and .11.

A CPO responded to a TIPS report of a lady pos-sessing two coyote pups. !She stated she called theIDNR and was told she had to purchase a permit atWalmart in order to keep the coyotes. !The coyoteswere seized and appropriate enforcement actionwas taken.

A CPO cited two subjects for fishing withoutlicenses and issued six warnings for boating viola-tions at East Fork and Forbes Lake.

A CPO arrested a subject for OUI on Rend Lake.The subject blew .12.

A CPO arrested a subject for OUI on KinkaidLake.! The subject blew .18.

A CPO attended a multiple agency ginsengenforcement meeting in Missouri. !The meetingconcentrated on concerns and cooperationbetween state and federal agencies regarding gin-seng enforcement.

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5.! Illegal Transportation of alcohol by Driver6.! Possession/Consumption of alcohol by minor7.! Improper Lighting (One Headlamp)The man was taken to the Clark Co. jail.

REGION IVThe Monroe County CPO and District Sergeant

worked Frank Holten State Park and HorseshoeLake State Park on a Friday which had a low num-ber of park visitors but which was very productivefrom an enforcement perspective.! One subjectwas taken to jail on two warrants, four subjectswere cited for no fishing license, one subject citedfor littering, one subject cited for no childrestraint device in vehicle for a four year old child,and one subject was arrested and jailed for beingin the park after hours and possessing drug para-phernalia and felony possession of methampheta-mine and felony possession of a controlled sub-

stance. !In addition, numerous warnings wereissued for no fishing licenses, underage posses-sion of alcohol, and no valid driver’s license.!!!!!!

CPOs!assisted the Missouri Water Patrol andthe U.S. Coast Guard in searching for a woman whofell off the Golden Eagle Ferry. !Due to high waterand swift current it was impossible to dive or dragfor the body. The body was located a couple of dayslater 50 miles down river.! CPOs also assisted bygiving a breath test to the operator!of the ferryand gathering information from the workers on theferry.

REGION VA CPO also assisted Kentucky DNR with side

scan sonar on the Ohio River near Golconda for amissing 3 year old.

CPOs conducted boat patrol on Rend Lakeresulting in several boating violations beingdetected.

A CPO responded to a complaint at Sam ParrState Park of a subject using a motor over thehorse power limit restriction.! Two subjects werelocated in a small bass buggy with a motor over 10hp.! Multiple boating violations were found.

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obliterate species that could not adaptto new and different environments.One theory that seems to be gainingcredence is that the most recent—theone ending the reptilian period—camewhen a giant meteor crashed into theearth to bring tidal waves, send dustinto the atmosphere to blot out the sun,alter temperatures, and kill vegetation.As far as species die-offs, future fossilresearchers may rate the current spateof species disappearances as the thirdgreat period of mass extinctions in theearth's discernible history.

Yeah, it is said we clubbed the lastgreat auk to death in 1844, exterminat-ed the heath hen in the 1860s, and shotthe passenger pigeons to extinction by1914. In addition, paleontologistshave pretty much concluded that ourforefathers drove the last mammothover a cliff edge since the last ice age.And the last Mexican grizzly bear dis-appeared in my lifetime.

But the great acceleration in speciesdie-offs isn't as a result of our wantonkilling, but our wanton greed. It's notthat we don't treasure bull trout or cut-throat trout, but that we place morevalue on other species with whichwe're more comfortable.

Because lake trout inhabit mostcoldwater lakes in North America,

many Americans learned to fish forthem and feel more comfortable inknowing fish from "back home"inhabit lakes God stocked with otherspecies. So we play God and try toimprove on what He hath wrought.And we've destroyed the finest bulltrout and cutthroat trout fishery in allthe world!

Look what we've done: starlingsinfest our entire countryside becausesome English "gentleman" broughtthem to New England to make himfeel more "comfortable." Purpleloosestrife, dandelions, and Russianknapweed all jumped ship in NorthAmerican harbors to bring yet anotherOld World plague down on my yard.And my soul.

Were homogenizing the world withthe terror of our transport networksand the arrogance of our opinions.How anyone could, in the wildest oftheir pea-sized cerebrum, imagine thatwe Montanans needed to replace a fab-ulous unique-in-all-the-world fisherywith just another ho-hum lake troutfactory like exists in 30,000 otherplaces across North America, isbeyond my comprehension.

"Homogeocene" is how Universityof Washington biologist GordonOrions coined the era we're now in. He

C A M P F I R E C A M P F I R E C U L T U R E : C U L T U R E :

LAKE TROUT ARE FOR WUSSES

by Roland Cheekwww.RolandCheek.comThis land we call earth has apparent-

ly experienced great destructive cata-clysms during its existence. Fossilrecords identify that mass extinctionsof most of the earth's species occurredtwice since life arrived on earth. Thefirst was a great disaster during thePermian (somewhere around 225 mil-lion years ago), when 90% of all lifeon earth mysteriously vanished.!

The second cataclysm abruptlyended the age of dinosaurs, some-where around 65 million years ago.

Whatever the cause, its effect was to

Roland Cheek wrote a syndicated outdoors column (Wild Trails and

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coined it because the homogenizationof species may well be our worldwidelegacy for our children: coyotes, butno bobcats; lake trout, but no bulltrout.

Maybe you like lake trout. But Iliked bull trout, too. And my memorygoes back when fishing for thosebrawny grizzlies-of-the-deep was finersport than the wuss lake trout fishingof today.

Find Roland’s e-books on Amazon.com

055_001.qxd 9/20/13 10:20 PM Page 1


Everyone has a natural expectation that if something was working when last used, itwill be working whenever called upon at some later time. The car started yesterday,and will start today – except when it won’t – or is all of a sudden hard to start. Thegun would shoot and function during the last hunt, so the hunt next week should havethe same result. Was the gun exposed to rain during the last outing? How long sincethe last time a gunsmith gave the internals a good cleaning?

Fouling, old thickened lubricant, and corrosion are the three main components ofsluggish or impeded performance inside otherwise functional mechanisms. Brokenparts (including stray bits and pieces), wear or deformities of parts, and lack of prop-er initial fitting are the main detriments to mechanisms that should be otherwise reli-ably functional. The outside variable is condition(s) of the fuel, as it were. If gasoline

is contaminated or old, it may create hard start or rough run con-ditions, presuming that the engine will get going. There can besimilar degradations or exceptional conditions inbuilt to theprimer/shell components that interfere with proper function, suchas harder ignition - when compared to other cartridges.

One recent example had some failures to fire, according to theowner. Some test firing at the range failed to uncover the claimedissue, but another hand on the grip was able to discern that thefailure was that the trigger would not consistently connect i.e.reset – thus failing to fire. This seemed similar to stating that thecar sometimes wouldn’t start, but not mention that the key could-n’t always turn in the ignition. Finding the problem is aided byprecision in fault description. This situation of the trigger failingto connect was traced to an incomplete insertion of the trigger linkpivot pin, and the exposed tip of the pin (see arrow) draggedinside the frame and impeded full travel in the return stroke of thetrigger. The protruding pin also caused the trigger to be displacedto the opposite side and made burrs present along that side edge(see two arrows at the right) drag and add friction that increasedthe trigger impediment and failure to reset. Note that the pin endis below flush on the side with the burrs noted, and would havehad plenty of room for inserting the pin fully, if someone had paidmore attention.

The trigger pin exposed tip was noted for making an impressionagainst the frame face from contact that left a circular burred edge(at the white arrow) that was conveniently dragging against thepin end. An adjacent scrape mark (at the black arrow) caused byanother part drew more suspicion of another condition inhibitingproper function. That situation was not likely to cause a failure tofire, but might have been able to disable the safety performance ofthe magazine trigger disconnect that could very well have gone un-noticed. In other words, a function issue being corrected allowedexposure of a concealed potential safety issue in need of remedy.

One (occasionally seen) function issue that reduces the shoot-ing effectiveness is when shells are sticking in the chamber afterfiring (requiring unusual efforts to remove) and that is preventing

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056_001.qxd 9/23/13 1:34 PM Page 1


reliable subsequent use. The shells seen here were swelling and sticking due to thechamber being cut excessively oversize. The normal situation has the shells swell just abit under firing pressure and then rebound slightly to allow free withdrawal. Oversizeswelling fails to have consistent rebound and/or the rebound does not clear a low sidepresent due to inaccurate chamber wall machining. Chambers are typically cut withfairly smooth and tapering walls so that as a fired shell is withdrawn, the gap betweenthe shell and chamber increases as removal progresses. The smooth finish is also usefulto reduce any incidental fouling that might stick to the walls and fill the gap and thusincrease friction.

Shells sticking due to poor chamber wall finish is not always due to the machining,but can also be caused by roughness from corrosion and the pits thus formed that mayremain. Here is a pair of views along a chamber rim edge that became severely cor-roded, and note also that the end view shows a chamber with plenty of dark residueand rusty lumps in need of polishing if there is to be any hope of shells ever being ableto pull free after being fired. Self loading rifles are notorious for having function issuesdue to cruddy chambers since the grip of the shell on a smooth chamber is all that istaken into account when the mechanism is designed. Due to progressive rust buildup,the friction overload eventually grows to a level that overcomes the extra functionalforce reserve.

The lack of smooth withdrawal of a fired shell is not something that only occurswhen rust or machined roughness is present. Here are some visual ripples that were left

from the shells swelling into the chamber wall pits that remained after heavy rustnuggets were scrubbed and polished out of the chamber that later contained theseshells during test firing. Shiny spots on top of the ripples were formed by the shellbeing pulled free and compressing the protruding dimples when they were yanked outof the pit depressions that allowed these to form. Chamber rust has been proven to dis-able a barrel for use and has caused many rimfire .22 rifles to have barrel linersinstalled to counteract the syndrome of stuck, swollen, and split cases.

The chamber problems caused by rust formation can be reduced by wiping out thechamber and leaving the bore open for at least several minutes after any firing hastaken place. Do not cap one end of the bore by either closing the breech or pluggingthe muzzle (or sticking the gun immediately inside a case) before the powder gassesand moisture remnants still inside the bore have a chance to evaporate. The dropletsof condensation are generally attracted to the chamber area due to extra mass andlower temperatures in that region in comparison to the rest of the barrel, so the cham-ber rust area is being fed by repeated exposure. The less moisture exposure that thereis inside a barrel and chamber, the longer that the basic surface will remain intact toprovide useful service.

Thanks for reading what a trained gunsmith with 30 years experience (and 10years of these articles) has to say. www.TheShotgunShop.net

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To target a legendary fish, on a legendarybody of water, during a legendary time ofyear, what could be better? Muskies are the ul-timate freshwater game fish, apex predators, atthe top of the food chain. Like tigers or killerwhales or polar bears, muskies have no equalin their watery world, big mean, toothy beaststhat strike and fight harder than almost allother fish that share their waters. To catch atrophy muskie is an ultimate accomplishmentin the sport of fishing. Southern Illinois’Kinkaid Lake has been consistently rated inthe world’s top 10 of muskie waters for over adecade, and it just keeps getting better.

*World Class FisheryKinkaid is a 2,750 acre manmade lake that

plunges to depths of over 70 feet, and boasts92 massive miles of shoreline. A long windinglake, Kinkaid is fed by many creeks, but thetwo largest are Kinkaid Creek and JohnsonCreek in the northern end. Kinkaid has excel-lent water quality, varied clarity, a good aver-

age depth, atremendous for-age base, a greatstocking programand manage-ment, a high localpractice of catchand release, andan abundance ofcomplex structur-al elements andcover options forfish to utilize forfeeding success. In essence, Kinkaid Lake has itall.

While Kinkaid is known as one of the verybest waters in the Midwest for largemouthbass fishing and crappie fishing, it also pro-duces good fishing for walleye, white bass,channel, bullhead and flathead catfish, carpand drum, bluegills and various other sunfishspecies, as well as smallmouth bass. But, themuskie fishery is what the lake is best known

for, truly world class fishing for the mightiestof freshwater sport fish. Kinkaid lies in theheart of the magnificent Shawnee NationalForest, a gorgeous body of undeveloped waterwith only one marina and no homes along itsshores. The surrounding area offers somethingfor everyone, a great place for a family or com-pany vacation, including some of the very bestmuskie fishing on planet earth.

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Colby with Drew Toohill anda 30 pounder taken with a

CST School N Shad.threadfin shad, golden shiners, spotted suckersand most of all, big gizzard shad. In fall, theshad and shiners school in huge numbers androam through the lake feeding on planktonand small bait fish. Being the apex predators,muskies use the very best structures and piecesof cover, ambushing their prey as it comesalong, and even actively hunting them downat times. Rocks, weeds and wood will holdthese fish in mid fall. We use a variety of lureoptions at times, such as crank baits, minnowplugs, topwaters, spoons, jigs and swim baits,

058_001.qxd 9/23/13 8:20 AM Page 1


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We primarily fish these lures on the 9’ TImedium-heavy split grip rods from TackleIndustries (www.TackleIndustries.com) andspool bait casting reels with 65-80 poundbraided lines. While trolling and jigging canproduce at times, casting reigns supreme in

Pro Staffer Andrew Veach displayinga nice fall south Illinois muskie taken

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Ray Simms caught this monsterKinkaid muskie on a CST Hatchet Shad.

the fall season, a thrill ride unlike anything elsein freshwater fishing. Casting for muskies inareas with high concentrations of shad andother bait fish is a great tactic, and often, you’lleven see muskie activity, numbers of muskiesin fact, working the same areas together, chas-ing prey. A sonar unit can be used to finddeeper holding fish and bait, while qualitypolarized sunglasses like the Master Anglerseries from Flying Fisherman(www.FlyingFisherman.com) helps spot fishholding in the shallows, even at long distances.

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059_001.qxd 9/23/13 8:18 AM Page 1


in Bernadotte if you are hungry stop for a grilled porkchop at the American Legion stand, and if it’s an Indi-an Summer in Fulton Co (which often happens duringthe Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive time) you can al-ways walk up to the window at the Bernadotte Café andorder an ice cream cone.

The park is full of a variety of vendors selling alltypes of crafts and other types of items. Be sure to al-ways watch for the red and white oval signs indicatingthey are a registered “Spoon River Valley ScenicDrive” vendor while on any part of the drive.

In Astoria at the south portion of the drive a varietyof local entertainment is seen from the town’s band-stand. In the park vendors sell a variety of crafts.

Ipava’s town’s park has vendors and the IpavaChristian Church features a quilt show with lots ofhomemade foods. Women have been making hand-made quilts there for years. The Easley Pioneer Muse-um highlights the history of the Ipava area includingCamp Ellis and a log cabin under construction is insidethe museum.

Along the Spoon River on a beautiful small site isDuncan Mills. The bakery there has small or largehomemade pies & baked goods. See a local wood-crafter Bill Whitehouse demonstrate & hear live dul-

cimer music by Steve Endsley whilevisiting. Try the delicious smokedturkey legs and beef & noodles.

In Smithfield downtown stop atthe Welch Art studio on Main Streetand find a variety of vendors includ-ing a flea market, crafters, and an-tiques. Famous for its chicken &noodles, the Smithfield Red BrickSchool is a must stop on the FallFestival, but don’t be in a hurry, es-pecially if it’s near lunchtime. Findvendors selling crafts inside the oldschool classrooms and gym. FultonCo native and wood carver BillSwango has his studio displaying hislife size busts of eagles, fish andother wildlife woodcarvings at theschool.

See homemade scarecrows onLewistown’s street lamp posts lead-ing to the Porter Park with a varietyof vendors selling homemade craftitems, vintage wares. LewistownVisitor’s Center there will be ven-dors, and the Rasmussen Black-smith Shop and the Narrow GageMuseums will be open.Just east of Lewistown is Marigold Meadows where vis-itors can see live horses plowing fields just as the ear-ly settlers did. There is wool spinning, soap makingand a blacksmith demonstrating. If you’re hungry youcan have a piece of pie cooked in a real wood stove in a

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The Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive in Fulton Co,Illinois and in the surrounding community of Elmwood,located in Peoria Co welcomes visitors to the 46th an-nual Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive. Mark your cal-endar for the annual Fall Festival which is Oct. 5, 6 andOct. 12, 13.

People of all ages visit the area during the annualSpoon River Valley Scenic Drive for a variety of thingsin the autumn time.

Whether you visit the area to see beautiful fall col-ors, visit and buy from craft vendors, stop at a fleamarket, grab some tasty homemade foods, everyonealways has their reason why they visit or keep return-ing to the annual Fall Festival.

The fall foliage can be some of the best, which oftenstarts with the richer tones at the north parts of thedrive and by the second weekend the southern portionof the drive also has deep colors of orange, gold andred which sets a beautiful backdrop for photographs.

See beautiful views of the Spoon River atBernadotte and watch the river flowing over a cementdam built during WWII when the prisoner of war camp,Camp Ellis was near Ipava. Just down river one of thefew remaining iron bridges in Fulton Co remains andsets a picturesque background for photographs. While

small log cabin. Travel northeast to Cuba for a won-

derful tractor show in the park on thesquare, find an historical exhibit ofthe coal mine once open near Cuba.The Cuba Park has vendors selling avariety of items for decorating,pumpkins, fall mums & much more.Just north of Cuba is the PleasantRow Orchard serving fresh applecider and other tasty treats. Justnorth on Rt 97 enjoy live gospel mu-sic and stories about the history ofthe newly restored Sinnett ChapelChurch.

Heading northeast to Canton find avariety of crafters and delicious atJones Park. Canton has many histor-ical sites such as the Dinky Engine onNorth 4th Ave at the former Chicago,Burlington, & Quincy Railroad Depot.

Find something sweet to eat beforeheading north, at the Sweet Shoppejust south of the Square for an old-fashioned ice cream soda.

Making your way north, make aquick trip east on Rt 9 to visit Breeds

Road where you won’t be disappointed with the an-tiques you find there. Back to Rt 78 north of Cantonwhere Ingersoll Manor hosts vendors selling theirwares. Then it’s on to Farmington where there arethree locations to see… so many things, in so littletime.

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Steve Endsley of Cantonplays his hand made

dulcimer for visitors tothe Duncan Mills area

last year. Endsley makesthe dulcimers and alsosells them. A number of

guest musicians visit andplay dulcimers and otherinstruments with Endsley

a long time vendor atDuncan Mills.

060_001.qxd 9/23/13 8:40 AM Page 1


kind of merchandise, crafts, or foods you may want.Crafters Corner is located inside the old FarmingtonHigh School. It hosts strictly all handcrafted waresboth inside and outside the building.

From Farmington travel eight miles north to Elm-wood on Rt 78 where in the center of town at the parkyou will find vendors set up. Around the town’s squarethere are a variety of local food restaurants with some-thing for everyone to eat.

From Elmwood go west on Rt 8 to Rt 97 south to Illi-nois 116 west going to London Mills to see a town full of

vendors. You can find chainsaw woodcarvings, an-tiques, crafts and more. If you are looking to see some-thing different in food, the folks there cook apple but-ter in a copper kettle while you watch. See live CivilWar re-enactors in London Mills along the Spoon River.

Traveling south on Co Rd 2 Pheasant’s Forever is awonderful stop to find beautiful Fenton Glassware, andnumerous numbered paintings including Ducks Unlim-ited. Hilltop Shoppe also is a good stop featuring an-tiques, collectibles and more; it is also located on CoRd 2.

Ellisville is the next stop with Native American Indi-ans set up displaying their teepees. They demonstrateflint knapping and other traditions. Ellisville has a vari-ety of vendors, foods and history to see, and don’t missthe local blacksmith and the Opera House local playwith mid-afternoon performances.

Moving on to the small village of Fairview, theFairview Historical Society has vendors set up in itsnewly restored building. Inside the library theWomen’s Club boasts the best caramel corn in FultonCo.

East of Lewistown is the Waterford/DicksonMounds area, on your way by stop in at Orchard Hill andget a bag of apples or gallon or apple cider. Then makeyour way to the Dickson Mounds Museum where youcan see the rendezvous with real live people re-enact-ing pioneer days and life how it used to be. If you havetime stop in the museum and take a tour.

Whatever it is that brings you to our area we wel-come you to come taste the treats, enjoy the scenery,do some shopping and relax in the country as you takethe Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive Fall Festival drive.

Only $5 to orderyour 2013 Spoon

River Valley ScenicDrive Booklet, find

all your favoritevendors today!

Mail your check orfor more info

write to:Spoon River ValleyScenic Drive, P.O.Box 525, Canton,

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w w w . S p o o n Ri v e r D r i v e . o r g

Many people ask us, “How do I begin your drive?”“Can you drive it in one day?” The answer for us issimple, no. The drive can be broken into two days orfour days dependent upon how much time you have.Usually it is done by the north half and the south half ofthe drive. Begin the drive at the closest point to whereyou live and start from there. The “drive” is a self-guided tour so the best part is you travel at your ownpace and start and stop wherever you wish.

Now on to our road trip… Farmington hosts ReedPark, Farmington West and Crafters Corner each ofthese locations are large and have many vendors. AtReed Park find handcrafted vendors, food vendors andhosts local musicians. Farmington West is a very largearea full of all kinds of vendors where you can find any

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Members of the London Mills Community Association serve warm

apple butter made in a copper kettle.Each year as a tradition membersmake the popular apple butter forvisitors to buy while on the drive.

One of the few remaining ironbridges still stands in Bernadotte

over the Spoon River and is a popular photography location while

on the Spoon River Valley ScenicDrive. The bridge is located near

the park in Bernadotte.

A carver shows his hand made carvings inside the Rasmussen Blacksmith Shop in Lewistown

during last year’s Spoon River ValleyScenic Drive. The Blacksmith Shop,located on Main Street in Lewistown

is open from 9-5 during the Fall Festival for visitors to see

demonstrations in blacksmithing,and a variety of vendors inside as

well as the history of the shop.

061_001.qxd 9/23/13 8:39 AM Page 1

B A INews

B y E d D e V r i e sGreetings to all and happy hunting sea-

son to all from the BAI!!While many archers will be putting their

bowfishing gear away for the year in favorof their hunting bows there is still plenty ofgood bowfishing for those who cant getenough fish sticking. The cold temps bringmany big fish back into the shallows and

2nd team Pokaho - 732lb (Greg Pyle,Justin Harper, Clay Rhye)

3rd Shot in the Dark - 502lb (DerekCarlson, Jim Ed Gill, Tanner Taylor)

4th The Poon Toon Crew - 410lb (Wes-ley Hutchins, Timmy Broadway, NickMatlock)

5th Woody's Hillbilly Bowfishers -312lb (Don Blakely, Forrest Blakely, RyanDeWitt)

6th SI Slingin' Fools - 198lb (CyleHarner, Carley Childress)

7th Slay 'Em Outdoors - 136lb (JarretKumorek, (William) Jarod Hall, JeremyThomas)

Mr. Carp (Chuck Litecky) did not weighin

XXX Bowfishing - DNF (Ryan McKin-ney, John Guess, Trevor Stafford)

Numbers!1st Team Pokaho - 84!2nd Team Nocked Up - 613rd The Poon Toon Crew - 354th Woody's Hillbilly Bowfishers - 335th(tie) Shot in the Dark - 295th(tie) SI Slingin' Fools - 297th Slay 'Em Outdoors - 25Mr. Carp - a few (His words, not mine.)XXX Bowfishing - DNF

Big/Small FishBig Fish - Derek Carlson! 38lb BigheadSmall Fish - Jarod Hall 1lb 6oz Gar

Ladies Division1st Amy Young - 32lb2nd - Carley Childress - 22lb3rd Gretchen Steele - 21lb 15oz

LAKE SHELBYVILLE BIG BUFF BEATDOWN RESULTS

Before we talk about our first annualtournament on Lake Shelbyville, we wouldlike to take a minute to introduce ournewest area reps for central Illinois, Dougand Darrell Perry and Shane Workman ofPerry Twins Outdoors. These guys are newreps but they jumped in and set up one of

we were welcomed with open arms and fishdisposal was handled by the town. Thereare great boat ramps there and its close tosome of the best bowfishing in the nation.Thankyou Rosiclare!!! And we would alsolike to thank BAI Directors Amy Young,Jeremy Pease along with BAI area repsWayne Swim and Greg Pyle for the hardwork they put into this shoot and the greatwork they do for the BAI and bowfishingin southern Illinois! And as always, hugethanks go out to all who take part in ourshoots!

The tournament had several divisions in-cluding numbers, Big 30, Big and SmallFish and a Ladies Division. Here are the re-sults;

Ohio River Championship final results:BIG 30

1st Team Nocked Up - 812lb (WayneSwim, Cole Whitehead, Chris Eggers)

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thins out the weeds. Common carp are es-pecially active during the cooler monthsand offer great bowfishing for as long as thebowfisher can handle the cold temps. Sofor the diehards out there, there is plenty ofbowfishing yet to come!

CABELAS OHIO RIVER CHAMPIONSHIP

The BAI held its 3rd annual CabelasOhio River Championship out of RosiclareIllinois last month and some very impres-sive asian carp were harvested. But beforewe give you the results we would like tosend a special thanks to the town of Rosi-clare for their continued hospitality. Again

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fish, big gar, big carp and big buffalo. Acomplete AMS Fishhawk bow/reel combowas awarded for each of the big fish com-petitions.Here are the results of the LakeShelbyville Big Buff Beatdown!

1ST Place-J AND G HAMMER TIME143.10 LBS

2ND Place-DUSK 2 DAWN 133.4 LBS 3RD Place-REDNECK YAUT CLUB

115 LBSBIG BUFF-3 WAY TIE DUSK 2

DAWN, NOCKED UP , J AND GHAMMER TIME

BIG GAR-SUCKER BUFF 20.8 BIG COMMON-RED NECK YAUT

CLUB 7.2

KIDS BIG FISH-TEAM RICKTER 17LBS BUFF

SMALL GAR-HANKINS 1.6 LBS!And we want to send a big thankyou to

our sponsors who donated to these shootsand to all our tournaments this past tour-nament season. Bowfishing companies andlocal sponsors are not huge corporationsbut they sure donate like they are. They arevery generous people who deserve our sup-port so lets remember them when buyingbowfishing gear! MILLRICH OUT-DOORS- KNIGHT AND HALE- AMSB O W F I S H I N G - B O W F I S H I N G

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OUTDOOR SHOW SEASONIS COMING UP!

The BAI is planning on a busy fall/win-ter outdoor show season and we will be hit-ting shows across the state. As always wecan use as much help at these shows thatwe can get. We will be setting up on waterranges at several of them and hundreds ofkids will take a shot at submerged foamfootballs with real bowfishing gear. Theshows are fun and really help the sport socheck our website, forum and FB page forupcoming shows and let us know if youwant to pitch in!

IllinoisBowfishing.net

the best tournaments this state has seen.Food was provided before and after theshoot, great prizes, free T-shirts for all whotook part in the shoot, amazing trophiesand most importantly a fun friendly shootwhere everyone had a great time. So it goeswithout saying that the BAI sends bigthanks to Doug, Shane and Darrell for allthey have done for the club and we lookforward to working with them for manyyears to come. And a special thanks to allwho pitched in to help at this shoot. Dontmiss next years everyone, its going to be agreat one!

This years shoot was a Big 10 formatwith prizes for overall big fish, youth big

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gar lie of “animal right’s” took hold inthe dumbest segment of society.

No wonder they call it dope.Now I am well aware that myfellow hunting, fishing, trap-ping conservation Blood-Brothers reading and celebrat-

ing this ridiculously obviousself-evident truth know damn

well that there is no need to statethe obvious amongst us, but I disagree.

At the very root of America’s demise asmanifested by the most power abusing, mostcorrupt, most racist, most criminal regime inAmerica’s history under Barak Obama andhis gunrunning Attorney General et al, is thespiritually bankrupt denial on all fronts thatI am convinced !began with the dishonesty inour own shooting sports community/indus-try.

The same clowns in our sport that feignedshock with our celebratory honesty of“whack em and stack em” and other cute,fun statements joyously celebrating success-ful hunts were the same clowns that told usnot to wear camo in public or initiate theconversation about hunting or guns.

These are the same soulless clowns thatbegged us not to display our dead deer in theback of our trucks or hang them where theycould be seen by sensitive non-hunters.

I am convinced that that depth of dishon-est apologetic spinelessness was at the core of

W H E N I ND O U BT IWHIP IT OUT

By I kill. I kill a lot. I like killing a lot. I like

killing a lot a lot. I feed many, many peopleand balance many, many acres. I’m a killer.It’s my job. It is probably the most perfectjob known to mankind. Tooth fang and clawis also my religion, and in my religion wedon’t kill people, we kill food. Excuse mewhilst I adjust my bloody halo, again.

As I stated most emphatically in my musi-cal masterpiece THE GREAT WHITEBUFFALO way back in 1970 and everynight on stage each summer since- “It hap-pened longtime ago, in the new magicland.The Indian and the buffalo existed hand inhand. The Indian needed food and skins fora roof, but they only took what they needed,millions of buffalo were the proof.”

Hello! So there is no Buffalo 101 course inthe American school system? No wonder epi-demic gluttony, slovenliness, obesity, denialand dishonesty runs rampant in our runawaydecaying culture rot. No wonder the big vul-

the ever expanding curse of denial thatopened the floodgates to everything wrongwith America today.

Only a society so stoned and stupid tothink that animals could somehow haverights before, during or after a BBQ, thatthere would be an official category ofAmericans who have “given up looking forwork” or an embarrassing list of “jobsAmericans are not willing to do” or that itwould become some vile badge of honor tobe happy to milk as many years’ worth ofunemployment as possible instead of takingone of the many jobs available across thecountry, to use foodstamps for bling, hair-dos, manicures and pedicures, wigs, dope,booze, meth, crack, cash etc etc etc, that themedia has so lost its mind to equate the legaluse of a firearm to save innocent lives to thatof paroled gangbangers slaughtering eachother in the gunfreezone of Chicago, and Icould go ad nauseum ad infinitum, is proofpositive that a growing segment of Americahas lost it, lost it completely.

And I faced the enemies of America beforemost would, when conducting media inter-views way back in the 1960s where inter-viewers would condemn me for being a gunnut and a deer hunter.

Thank God I was raised by a tough ass USArmy Cavalry drill sergeant who taught meto never backdown and stand my ground nomatter what. I immediately crushed thesedoped up punks with facts and logic andunlimited common sense that self-defenseand venison were two of the most perfectthings is life, and that they should beashamed of themselves for claiming other-wise.

I went Peirs Morgan on many idiots longbefore there was a Peirs Morgan. It really wastoo easy, but oh such fun destroying their liesand insanity. Made for great media then andmakes for great media now. I think I will kill

more.I know the title of this piece is WHEN INDOUBT I WHIP IT OUT and obviously Ihave never been in doubt. But if indeed anyof you are ever in doubt and run into the ran-cid cult of denial freaks out there, and youare inclined to not ruffle feathers or appearconfrontational, I beseech you to reconsider.

If ever in doubt when encountering brain-dead buffoons, do not let such an opportu-nity go to waste, and by all means, do whipit out.

Whip out the facts, whip out the truth,whip out the common sense you believe in.And whip it out like you mean it. We owe noone any apologies, we owe no one any toler-ance for lies and fantasy driven nonsense.

What we owe is standing up for what webelieve in with 100% confidence andauthority to crush the dangerous lies anddenial that has nearly destroyed the last bestplace.

In the street terminology of my life; kill.Kill the lies, kill the BS, kill the nonsense.And during the hunting season, kill lots offood. Kill as much as you need and are legal-ly allowed to kill, but by all means, kill on.

Even considering the killing orgy I enjoyeach season, statistically, believe it or not,during my average 200 plus days each year ofhunting I actually don’t kill enough. I failedto kill 25% of does last season on both of myproperties, and God knows I need to killmore varmints. I’m such a slacker.

Sending a ton of pure venison jerky to thewarriors of the US Military each year isn’tquite enough. I’m going to get serious thisseason and whip it out more and better. I’mnot in doubt, but I will whip it out anyway.Visit tednugent.com for a plethora ofNugent writings and activities. When indoubt……….

T e d N u g e n t . c o m

064_001.qxd 9/22/13 3:40 AM Page 1


HAVING SUCCESS ON THEFIRST DAY OF DEER SEASON

Sometimes it takes more skill and woodsmanship to take a buck early in theseason than in November when lovesick

bucks seem to stumble into almost anybody’s bow range.

By Bill VaznisHang ’em High

Diehard buck hunter Terry “Junior” Witkop advises, “…It is imperative you first have exclusive access to your hunt-ing property. Nothing can inhibit your success faster thanto have someone else patrolling the property spreading theirscent and spooking bucks off their normal routines.

“Secondly, you must learn the topography so well thatyou know where a buck is holed up during daylight hours,where he is likely feeding, and the routes he takes to andfrom those feeding areas. … I start by scouting year round,often glassing from a distance as the season nears. I try notto bump bucks from their normal routines…. “I also shed hunt in the spring to learn which bucks mayhave survived the gun season, then in early summer I set uptrail cameras overlooking likely buck security routes. …

“I erect my treestands well before opening day, and hangthem up to 30 feet off the ground. This keeps me out of abuck’s line of vision and helps keep swirling winds fromdistributing my scent into my bow zones.

“As the season nears I avoid my hotspots and do notclimb on board unless all conditions are in my favor.”

QDM Chris Hamm, national sales manager for HHA Sports,

believes tagging a buck in the early season requires year-round preparation.

“On the 80 acres of land I manage myself, I plant foodplots that consist of a healthy mixture of grasses, turnips,and various clovers that appeal to bucks all during the year.

I also set up five or six trail cameras to help me keep tabs ondeer travel patterns. I then stay out of the area as much aspossible so that I do not educate the deer. …

“I get my stands set up early in the spring so that thebucks get used to the stands, preferring 16- to 20-foot lad-der stands.…

“My neighbors and I practice Quality Deer Managementand regularly exchange information on buck sightings andbuck travel routes. This type of cooperation helps me keeptrack of racked bucks in the area. … I pass up 1.5- and 2.5-year-old bucks, holding out for at least a 125 P&Y or bet-ter. Passing up smaller deer helps insure a good crop ofmature bucks season after season.”

Lay Off The Estrous Doe Lures David Milazzo, president of Tree Stand Buddy, starts

scouting in the spring. “As the season approaches I glassopen areas from a distance looking for entrance and exittrails to preferred feeding areas to help me choose anambush site. This also helps me keep track of harvestschedules which can dramatically alter deer feeding andbedding routines as the season unfolds.

“I shoot a couple of summer leagues,” adds Milazzo,“but in August I switch to practice broadheads andbegin practicing in full bowhunting attire from a tree-stand at a full-size deer target. This keeps my eye sharp.When a buck walks past me, I know I can make theshot!

“… I avoid using estrous deer lures in the early sea-son. We have many deer in my area, and any strangeestrous orders, especially when does are not yet cominginto heat, tells them something is wrong.”

065_001.qxd 9/22/13 10:13 AM Page 1


straight line across the front of theboat. I use a Pflueger President ul-tra light spinning reel and we spoolit with eight-pound Fireline Crystalbraided line. The braided line al-lows you to fish a line that is thesame diameter as three-poundmono and as strong as fifteen-pound mono. With no stretch youcan feel the crappie breathe on theline and fish a jig much deeper. Weroutinely fish twenty-thirty feetdeep in the winter.

Folks look at my Deep Ledge Jigand say are you really catchingcrappie on a quarter-ounce jig. Youcan probe the deep brush so muchbetter and rather than jigging yourjig up and down we swim it backand forth trying to make contactwith a heavy branch in the brushpile. Once you do the crappie nailit once it climbs over the branch. Itis a ball to feel that thump onbraided line.

Most folks think that crappie aresomething you target in the springonce the Dogwoods bloom. OnLake Shelbyville we are a floodcontrol lake and in the spring weare constantly fighting water lev-els, cold rains and weather patternsthat are all over the place.

Fall Colors andGreat Crappie Action

By Steve WelchI love this time of the year. The

trees on Lake Shelbyville are infull fall color and during the weekyou hardly see a soul. These are thedays I truly love my job. I get tosee Bald Eagles every day. Thecrappie are putting on the feed bagand I am able to put in my threeseat system and get out my eleven-foot crappie rods and go jiggingwith my Deep Ledge Jigs. Youdon’t need to carry a ton of tackleand just three rods will get the jobdone.

My new Yar-Craft tiller boat real-ly shines with this set up. I have atwenty-foot boat with a 200-horsetiller steer. No console getting inthe way and a wide-open boat toload with tasty crappie. The boat isnice and deep so older clients feelsafe. When I got this boat we in-stalled two extra pedestals up on

the front deck on each side of meand slightly behind me. This allowsus to hover over brush and all threeof us can probe the deep brush andI can see his or her jig on myLowrance depth finder so I know ifeveryone is fishing the right depth.

With the cooler weather the crap-pie will hit a jig and there is noneed to bring minnows. My DeepLedge Jigs really work well. Weworked hard to perfectly balancethese jigs and put in inset eyes tofurther entice the crappie. We alsouse a small number four EagleClaw light wire hook so when youget hung up you can simplystraighten the hook. This year weeven went one step further and puta small willow blade on it and thebig crappie love this jig.

The way we rig our rods is sim-ple. I have the clients use aneleven-foot Todd Huckabeetrolling rod, which is a very stoutrod. Then I use a custom Norm’srod that is nine-feet long and withthis system we are all fishing in a

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Starting in October and gettingeven better once we get into No-vember and December. The fallcrappie fishing is the best I see onthis massive reservoir, way betterthan the spring and I wouldn’t wantto be any other place in Illinois. Itis that good!!!!!!

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ASO rep Alan Johnson ofPekin with a nice flounderhe caught salt water fishingoff St Augustine, FL. Alan& his wife Pat celebrated

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067_001.qxd 9/23/13 8:56 AM Page 1


Industrial Park

chance for us to spend time togeth-er as a family. This year while wewere tailgating at Lambeau Field,the family parked next to us let usknow that they had just receivedtheir season tickets after being onthe waiting list since 1980. I havenow been on the waiting list for 19years and cannot wait for the daythat I get to have my season ticketsto continue this family tradition.

Our annual trip to Wisconsin isjust one of our family’s traditions,and though most families have amain tradition for Christmas andNew Years, one of our most impor-tant traditions is hunting on open-ing day of hunting season. On Sep-tember 1, my family, along with afew groups of family friends, goesdove hunting at 8 am on our farm.My mother usually cooks a coffeecake for us all to eat for breakfastbefore going out to start our hunt.After heading down to the field andshooting our limit of doves, weclean the birds as a group and cookthem for lunch with potatoes andonions.

The traditions I mentioned in-volve sports and hunting, and these

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hobbies usually work out great astraditions; however, if one of theseis not up your alley, you could al-ways make a tradition of doingsomething else, such as workingout or game night. A great way tostart traditions such as these is tojust make a weekly habit of doingsomething with family friends oryour own extended family, andeventually these occasional habitscan turn into full-blown traditionsthat everyone involved cannot waitfor.

The best part of traditions is thesocial interactions one can havewith others. Social interaction is abig aspect of living a healthy life,and helps contribute to an overallhappier you by spending time withpeople you enjoy. One could sayit is not really what the tradition isthat is most important, but whomyou are acting those traditions outwith. So, take the time to call afriend, call a cousin, or sit downwith your own family and brain-storm for ideas that you could alldo together and hopefully make atradition out of.

Emily Hauter graduated fromSouthern Illinois University with a

degree in Community Health Education. She was a swimmer forthe Salukis and specialized in the

butterfly. Emily is an accomplisheddog trainer and guide for Sunny

Slope Hunt Club. She just becamea Certified Health Education

Specialist. Her goal is to combineher athletic background with health

education to coach people to improve their health and stay activeand healthy. Emily can be reachedby email at: [email protected]

TRADITIONS!

The weather outside is beginningto cool down a bit, allowing us togo out and enjoy ourselves withoutbreaking a sweat. One of my fa-vorite things about cooler weatheris football. Each year, my familygoes to Wisconsin to watch theGreen Bay Packers in openingweek of training camp. This hasbeen a tradition in our family formany years and is an important

Victoria, ILDAILY CAMPING & FISHING OR

SEASONAL MEMBERSHIPS AVAILABLE

Contact Rick: (309) 781-8312 www.cabinfeveril.com

By Emily Hauter

Adventure Medical KitsSportsman Series

Whether stalking big game or the elusive trout,hunters and fisherman can arm themselves withconvenient, portable kits stocked with supplies forall types of ailments. Adventure Medical Kits of-fers a complete line of kits for the active out-doorsman. Each product features the Easy AccessPocket System, a patented system that makesfirst aid kits faster and easier to use. Just open thekit, fold out the clearly labeled pockets and at aglance choose and open the one you need. Not surehow to treat an injury? The kits come standardwith treatment instructions inside each compart-ment. The Sportsman kits start at $26.00.

w w w . a d v e n t u re m e d i c a l k i t s . c o m

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OUTDOOR CONNECTION

By Gerald

A. Sampen

Waterfowl Season…Hunt Them Where They Come From!

MANITOBA (MBH8)Located in Manitoba's most abundant pothole

region and they are beneath one of the largest fly-ways in North America. Their 1st class staf fincludes 5 guides with over 150 years of combinedexperience and their cook Sandi, who in their offseason cooks for a world famous fly in fishinglodge. Their reputations to succeed exceed mostexpectations. They are a full service lodge provid-ing 3 meals a day with snacks, fully guided huntswith all decoys provided and transportation to andfrom Winnipeg. Their lodge is loft style with a largeviewing deck on the lake that boasts some beauti-ful sunsets and panoramic views. They providesatellite television, limited internet access andthey can accommodate parties of up to 10.Their work ethic is world class. Whether cluckingin a flock of geese, high bailin' a weary old greenhead, or scouting a field for tomorrow's hunt youwill be amazed with the drive to produce the mostmemorable hunts. Their staff will give you and yourparty 100% from the moment you arrive every-thing is looked after. The only thing they can'tcontrol is Mother Nature, but rest assured they areworking on that! Located in the Prairie Potholeregion of Manitoba, they are a waterfowlers’ para-dise. The landscape is scattered with small lakes,sloughs and potholes. Puddle ducks gorge them-selves in barley, wheat and pea fields while mal-lards dive bomb potholes. Snows and blue geese fillthe morning skies as well as abundant residentand migrating Canada geese.

Hunting Package Includes:• Transportation to and from the

Winnipeg International Airport canbe provided.• Benelli Super Black Eagle 2 righthanded 28" gun rental.

• Decoys and blinds• Professional guiding.

• Lodging and meals• Taxidermist questions• First class service.• 3 day packages.• Limits: 5 dark geese, 8 ducks and 20 whitegeese. Possession limits are 15 dark geese, 16ducks and 60 white geese.

Day 1:• Arrive in Winnipeg.• Purchase licenses and shells.• Do any necessary shopping.• Three hour scenic drive out to the lodge - arriv-ing between 6:00 - 7:00 pm.• A large Manitoba style dinner will be waiting foryour arrival.• Your guide will inform you on the style of huntplanned for the morning hunt.

Day 2:• Light breakfast (early).• Hunt• Lunch 12:30 pm.• Your guide will inform you on the hunt styleplanned for the afternoon duck hunt.• 2:00 pm we depart for the duck hunt.• 4:00 pm the birds should start to arrive.• Back to the lodge for dinner.• Your guide will inform you on the style of huntplanned for the morning hunt

Day 3:• Light breakfast (early).• Hunt• Lunch 12:30 pm.• Your guide will inform you on the hunt styleplanned for the afternoon duck hunt.• 2:00 pm we depart for the duck hunt.• 4:00 pm the birds should start to arrive.• Back to the lodge for dinner.• Your guide will inform you on the style of huntplanned for the morning hunt.


Only 1000 Tickets available!$25 each or 3 for $50

GOOD LUCK!!!!

24 Days of Christmas2013 Raffle

ALL Proceeds to Benefit Our Local Youth Programs!

24 Days of Christmas2013 Raffle

One Gun or Gift Card Winner Daily…December 1st thru 24th!

Sponsored by: Grand Prairie Chapter #730 Pheasants Forever

Only 1000 Tickets available!$25 each or 3 for $50

Date Day Prize01-Dec-13 Day 1 $250 gift card02-Dec-13 Day 2 Fishing Trip for 4, Driftwood Lodge Lake Kabetogama, MN03-Dec-13 Day 3 $250 gift card04-Dec-13 Day 4 Remington 1187 12ga shotgun 05-Dec-13 Day 5 $250 gift card06-Dec-13 Day 6 Heritage Fortress FS-18 18 Gun Fire Safe 07-Dec-13 Day 7 $250 gift card08-Dec-13 Day 8 Ruger LCP 380acp pistol 09-Dec-13 Day 9 $250 gift card10-Dec-13 Day 10 Mossberg Silver Reserve shotgun 11-Dec-13 Day 11 $250 gift card12-Dec-13 Day 12 Horton Prohawk Crossbow 13-Dec-13 Day 13 $250 gift card14-Dec-13 Day 14 Bushmaster AR15 in 223 caliber Rifle 15-Dec-13 Day 15 $250 gift card16-Dec-13 Day 16 Ruger American 22-250 caliber Rifle 17-Dec-13 Day 17 Remington 887 12ga shotgun 18-Dec-13 Day 18 $250 gift card19-Dec-13 Day 19 Mossberg Tactical 22caliber Rifle 20-Dec-13 Day 20 $250 gift card21-Dec-13 Day 21 Franchi I-12 26" Satin Walnut 12 ga semi-auto shotgun 22-Dec-13 Day 22 Winchester SX3 12ga 3” 23-Dec-13 Day 23 $500 gift card24-Dec-13 Day 24 Beretta 686 Silver Pigeon S 12ga O/U

ALL Proceeds to Benefit Our Local Youth Programs!24 Days of Christmas 2013 Raffle Info:1. Begins December 1, 2013 - Final Day is December 24, 2013.2. Each day's winning Ticket Number will match the Illinois Daily Lottery Midday Pick 3 number drawn for

that day.3. Winners will be contacted by phone and/or email. Winners will be listed on our facebook page.

(ie. John G, Toluca)4. A complete list of the prize for each 24 days may be requested by email to [email protected]. A complete list of the winners (ie. John G, Toluca) for each 24 days may be requested by email to

[email protected]. All firearms are located at our FFL Dealer. Fees incurred for the transfer of firearms must be paid by the

winner to the dealer.7. Answers to any questions may be requested by email to [email protected]

GOOD LUCK!!!!For Tickets Call:

Dwight 309-463-2318 • Greg 309-493-5201Mail: Dwight Aussieker, TreasurerPO Box 4 • Lacon, IL 61540-0004 Email: [email protected]

Additional info may be available at: facebook.com/GrandPrairiePFTickets also available at: Kenyon’s Place in Lacon

069_001.qxd 9/22/13 11:04 AM Page 1


You can count on us to provide the finest guidesyour money can buy. Also, rest assured you andyour party will be taking home your limits beforethe guides take one bird. Let our excellent guidesfocus their experience and expertise to ensure youand your parties hunting success!

Minnesota HuntsRegular and Late Season Goose Hunts- This

hunt gives you a two bird daily limit. You will usetop quality heated pits with full visibility of decoy-ing birds. All clients will enjoy the new club housefacility after a day’s hunt. Bird cleaning as well aslodging or hotel accommodations are availableupon request. Corporate, small groups, individualsand people with disabilities are all welcome!

Fall Goose Hunts- You will enjoy a five bird dailylimit in scouted wheat, hay or sweet corn fields onthis hunt. Half and full day hunts are available andplease ask about our duck hunts. People with dis-

O.C. … Cont’d. from previous pg.

equipment and best of all sportsmen’s’ cama-raderie. In our operation, we shoot for all of theabove. Not only have we expanded into seven dif-ferent states and two Canadian Provinces, wehave also quadrupled in size and are dedicated toinvesting in quality fields, equipment and decoys.We strive for a superior hunt for all of our guests.For a hunting experience you won’t forget, comehunt with us.

Your GuidesSuccessful goose hunting requires experienced

and professional guides, as the birds you’ll bedealing with are very intelligent! Our guides arethe most experienced in the area. Most of theguides have been hunting their entire lives inthese fields. Together, we have over 100 years offield experience, which is converted into successeach and every day! Listen to the guides provide asymphony of sound designed to seduce the geeseand bring them right inside with wings set to land.

Alan Thompson, Agent623 E. Jackson • Macomb, IL 61455

Bus.: 309-833-2400Cell: 309-333-0100www.Alansf.com

Max Thompson, Agent108 N. Orange • Havana, IL 62644

Bus.: 309-543-6248Fax: 309-543-4899

www.Maxdthompson.com

Day 4:• Light breakfast (early).• Hunt.• Lunch 11:00 am.• Will take deposits for the next season.• Will hold your same dates for the next seasonuntil Jan. 1st without deposit.• Depart for Winnipeg.• Pick up your processed birds on the way into

Winnipeg.

4 Day Waterfowl Hunt$2,500 plus 12% tax

Price Includes:Decoys and blinds, Professional guiding, Lodgingand meals, Airport pickup/return in Winnipeg.Price Does Not Include: Taxes – GST (5%) and PST(7%)

For more information on Manitoba hunting lawssee the Manitoba Hunting Guide (we hunt in GameBird Zones 3 and 4).

Sandhill cranes are extremely plentiful in ourPothole region and we will accommodate any of ourguests who would like to experience a ManitobaSandhill crane hunt. The daily limit is 5 and thepossession limit is 10.

Minnesota, Missouri North & South Dakota, Texas,Manitoba, Ontario (MOH3/MNH2)

A waterfowl hunting experience should includequality fields, experienced guides, top-notch

The“Cabin”

The “Cabin” Features:• Rustic Pine Millwork• Six-Panel Pine Doors• Vaulted Ceilings• EL Baseboard Heat• Tile Floor - Kitchen/Bath• Cedar Siding or Log Siding• Pine Wood Floors• Pella Dbl. Hung Windows

• Natural Hickory Cabinetry• Rustic Lighting• Modular Construction• Ready for Occupancy

Approx. 3 Days After Delivery

• Buyer Must Provide Foundation & Hook-Ups

You can own the vacation home of your dreams for less than you think!

866-937-5544 • www.csihomesonline.com

Building Top Quality Homes for Over 38 Years!CSI Manufacturing, Inc.

PO Box 138 • Cambridge, IL 61238

070_001.qxd 9/22/13 11:03 AM Page 1


Get your pond or lake ready for Fall!

Mel’s Sporting GoodsMel’s Sporting Goods• Custom Built Bowstrings• Pro Shop• Indoor Range

• NOW SELLING FIREARMS!520 S. Elm • Flora, IL 62839

618-662-8663618-662-8663

HOURS:M-F 10am-7pm

& Sat. 9am-4pm

Rt. 50 to Flora, Main St. South over tracks, right at 3-story Self Storage

abilities are welcome!

Missouri HuntsSpring Snow Goose Hunts- This hunt provides

liberal bag limits on scouted fields. You will beusing state of the art electronic callers on largedecoy spreads. Your experienced snow gooseguides will get you the highest bird ratio perhunter. Half and full day hunts are available.Please ask if you require lodging. Bird cleaning isalso available as well.

Fall Duck and Goose Hunts- This hunt allows youa six duck daily limit, 20 snows and blues dailylimit, two Canadian geese daily and two speckledbellies daily as well. Duck hunts take place in steelpits on flooded corn fields and goose hunts aredone in lay down blinds. Lodging and bird cleaningare available. You will have the use of state of theart duck decoys and equipment and experiencedguides. As with all of our hunts, people with dis-abilities are welcome!

North and South Dakota HuntsSpring Snow Goose Hunts- These hunts offer

liberal bag limits and plugs are not required onyour gun. Hunts are conducted on large decoyspreads and layout blinds. These hunts also offerthe highest bird ratio per hunter. You will be ingroups of eight per field, with experienced guidesthere to help you. Half and full day hunts are avail-able. Please ask about lodging and bird cleaning.

Texas HuntsTexas Duck, Goose and Hog Hunts- Located in

the heart of peanut country in north centralTexas, just an hour north of Abilene. This area win-ters an excess of 500,000 to a million geese! Atsunrise, be prepared to enjoy a morning full ofclose range shooting as hundreds of geese hoverover the decoys. It’s not uncommon to see pin-tails, mallards and widgeon mixed with Canadian,specklebellies and snow geese. Also enjoy hoghunting! Bird cleaning and lodging are available.

Manitoba HuntsDelta Marsh Fall Duck and Goose Hunts- Hunt

Canadian geese, specklebellies, snow geese andducks with experienced guides! You will have theuse of state of the art equipment and decoys. Huntall species of ducks and geese in one hunt!

Ontario HuntsSpring Snow Goose Hunts- Enjoy liberal bag lim-

its and no plugs on this exciting hunt. You will behunting in groups of eight per field with experi-enced snow goose guides. Half and full day huntsare available. Please ask about lodging and birdcleaning.

2013 Rates (MOH3/MNH2)Spring Hunts

We now offer all inclusive packages includinglodging and bird cleaning for $1100. This includesa 3 1/2 day hunt with 4 nights lodging. Thisapplies only to our Missouri, North Dakota andArkansas locations. Our Missouri location alsohas a full service bar and restaurant onsite foryour convenience. Our guides also are onsite inthese locations.

We also can do our normal daily hunt rate for$175 per day or $500 for 3 days.

North Dakota: Goose and Duck huntsPrices: $1100 - 3 day hunts and $1800 - 5 dayhunts. Lodging included.

can be covered by travel insurance at your discre-tion, strictly optional but Outdoor Connection hasit available.

Outdoor Connection is also associated with aworldwide rescue service that is second to none.

If one of our clients happen to experienceunforeseen problems it is “piece of mind” to havethat quality of help available. This great service isworldwide!

Minnesota: 3 day hunts start at $1200 per person

NOTE: Last month I mentioned the variety of over 300

pre-inspected outdoor adventures scattered overmuch of the world that Outdoor Connection repre-sents. Most of them are hunting and fishing butthere are also many other outdoor adventuresavailable.

I want to mention that all of these adventures

If you are interested in any of the adventures featured in this article or in any of the other adventures that Outdoor Connection offers give us a call. These

adventures make excellent gifts for high school and college graduations, weddings,birthdays, anniversaries, etc. Gift certificates available. Time to get your

name on the books for 2013 and 2014 now.Your Outdoor Connection Agent: Gerald & Jeanne Sampen

4 2 1 O l i v e S t . E m d e n , I L 62 6 3 5 • 2 1 7 - 3 76 - 3 8 73 g e ra l d @ o u t d o o r - c o n n e c t i o n . c o m

071_001.qxd 9/22/13 11:02 AM Page 1


about the snap and crackle of a realwood fire but not so thrilled withbending, blowing and hyperventilat-ing to get it going and keep it at fullblaze? Problem solved, people: Nowthere is FiAir.

FiAir (fire + air) is a compact,hand-held, battery-powered blowerwhich enables users to get their woodfires to full blaze in two minutes andcharcoal users to reach cooking tem-peratures in half the time.! UsingFiAir’s point and shoot operation,users can generate continuous airflow

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1 9 9 2 F o r F 1 5 0 X LT S u p e r c a b , 4 x 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 3 9 0 01 9 97 F o r d F 2 5 0 X LT S u p e r c a b 4 x 4 D i e s e l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 78 701 9 9 8 F o r d 2 5 0 X LT Re g u l a r C a b 4 x 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 6 9 5 01 9 9 9 F o r d F 1 5 0 X LT S u p e r c a b , 4 x 2 , w / T o pp e r . . . . . . . . $ 79 9 01 9 9 9 F o r d F 2 5 0 X LT S u p e r c a b 4 x 4 , V - 1 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 8 9 9 01 9 9 9 F o r d F 2 5 0 X L S u p e r c a b , 4 x 4 , M a n u a l T ra n s . . . . . $ 6 5 0 01 9 9 9 F o r d F 3 5 0 X LT C re w c a b 4 x 4 D u l l y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 1 0 , 9 9 02 0 0 0 F o r d F 1 5 0 X LT S u p e r c a b 4 x 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 8 0 4 02 0 0 0 F o r d F 2 5 0 X L Re g u l a r c a b 4 x 4 w / S n o w P l o w . . $ 6 9 0 02 0 0 1 D o d g e R a m 2 5 0 0 S LT Q u a d c a b 4 x 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 1 0 , 4 3 02 0 0 2 C h e v y S 1 0 C re w c a b 4 x 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 79 9 02 0 0 3 F o r d F 2 5 0 X LT S u p e r c a b 4 x 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 78 8 02 0 0 3 F o r d F 3 5 0 X LT C re w c a b 4 x 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 1 3 , 3 6 02 0 0 4 F o r d E x c u r s i o n E d d i e B a u e r 4 x 4 D i e s e l . . . . . . . . $ 1 6 , 6 6 02 0 0 4 F o r d F 2 5 0 L a r i a t C re w c a b 4 x 4 D i e s e l . . . . . . . . $ 1 5 , 73 02 0 0 4 F o r d F 3 5 0 X LT Re g u l a r C a b 4 x 4 D u l l y D i e s e l . . . $ 1 5 , 5 0 02 0 0 5 F o r d E x p e d i t i o n E d d i e B a u e r 4 x 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 1 3 , 6 9 02 0 0 5 D o d g e R a m 2 5 0 0 S LT Re g u l a r c a b 4 x 4 . . . . . . . . $ 1 5 , 7 702 0 0 6 F o r d F 1 5 0 X LT S u p e r c re w 4 x 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 1 4 , 8 8 02 0 0 6 F o r d F 2 5 0 X LT C re w c a b 4 x 4 D i e s e l . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 2 5 , 5 0 0

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world-class engineering team put the case throughdozens of torture tests to guarantee that no water can

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One of the biggest issues con-sumers face when purchasing arugged, extreme protectionaccessory is interference withimportant ports, touch screensensitivity, sound quality andmore. The OBEX preserves the

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We dare you to drop your device while guarded withthe OBEX. Really. The Polycarbonate andThermoplastic Polyurethane impact-proof case is mil-itary-tested under the MIL-STD-810F test which eval-uates the case from 6-foot drops at multiple angles. Ifit can survive this test, it can definitely survive youreveryday bump, fumbles and drops.

The OBEX is also available for the Apple iPhone 5and Samsung Galaxy S3.

The OBEX for Samsung Galaxy S4 available in Q3 for$79.95 ($89.95 Combo) at www.seidioonline.com

Seidio Presents OBEXSeidio Presents OBEXOBEX is the ultimate defender

against water, dust, dirt andmore; Redesigned with a slimmerprofile.

Great Gift Idea for theOutdoorsman !

Seidio, a leading manufactur-er of professional mobile acces-sories, unveiled the OBEX forSamsung Galaxy S4 at theShowstoppers CTIA in Las VegasMay 20. It’s a custom-madewaterproof and drop-proof casefor the S4, and the ultimate defense against the ele-ments. OBEX (Latin for “Barrier”) earned its nameafter a series of rigorous tests proving that water,dirt, dust and drops are no match for this protectivecase. +-

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The OBEX is a must-have item for the adventurers,outdoorsmen, travelers, and vacationers. Seidio’s

FiAir flames campfires to a roar

By Greg Gerber“FiAir,” which harnesses the power

of air to improve the performance offire,! weighs just 5.6 ounces and isonly 9.2 inches long, but the deviceworks to help start campfires quickly.

Love the taste of charcoal-grilledfood but hate waiting for the coals toturn white enough to cook? Crazy

072_001.qxd 9/22/13 11:22 AM Page 1


coalition partners in theFamilies Afield program.

To achieve its mis-sion, Families Afieldfocused on removingbarriers such as agerestrictions that were

preventing sportsmen and womenfrom passing hunting on to the nextgeneration. Families Afield alsoencouraged states to establish anapprentice hunting license—a “trybefore you buy” concept that allowednewcomers to go afield with an expe-rienced mentor before completing ahunter education course. Cumulativesales of apprentice hunting licenseshave surpassed 1 million.

Today, 35 states have approved leg-islation making it easier for newcom-ers to try hunting with an experiencedmentor.

“I don’t know that sitting in a class-room for two or three days wouldhave sparked the same interest [in myson] as getting out in the woods andgetting experience deer hunting,”said Greg Wasilewski, Seth’s fatherand mentor.

Added parent Andrew Wecker, whomentored his daughter and son, “Ifyou have a parent out with a child,something good is going to happenfrom that, and for this family huntinghas been a good thing for us.”

Program organizers say adding 1million new hunters has had a rippleeffect on overall participationbecause having a new hunter in afamily often means other familymembers and friends become moreactive hunters or are reactivated.

Nearly 200,000 apprentice licenseswere sold in 2012, according to a sur-MBSMidwestern Building Supplies, Inc.

The Building Contractors’ HeadquartersWhere quality matters!

3 LOCATIONS:508 East Pearl St. • Tremont, IL 61568Phone: 1-800-221-5370 or 309-925-2911

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240 North Bower St. • Macomb, IL 61455Phone: 309-836-8058

vey of state fish and wildlife agenciescommissioned by the Families Afieldpartners. That brings the total since2006 to 1,006,269 apprentice huntinglicenses, making Families Afield oneof the most successful hunter-recruit-ment programs.

Most apprentices are youth, butincreasingly adults have taken advan-tage of apprentice licenses to deter-mine if they enjoy the activityenough to complete the hunter educa-tion course required to purchase ahunting license on their own.

The Families Afield partners willbe celebrating this “1 million mile-stone” in the coming weeks byreleasing key findings regarding theeffectiveness of the program. Asnoted by the latest Families Afieldvideo, “It took five years to reach 1million new hunters, but with yourhelp we can reach 2 million a wholelot faster.”

Experienced hunters and those whowant to try hunting should checktheir state’s hunting regulations forinformation about apprentice huntinglicenses. More information aboutFamilies Afield can be found atwww.FamiliesAfield.org.

About NSSF®The National Shooting Sports

Foundation® is the trade associationfor the firearms industry. Its missionis to promote, protect and preservehunting and the shooting sports.Formed in 1961, NSSF has a mem-bership of more than 8,000 manufac-turers, distributors, firearms retailers,shooting ranges, sportsmen's organi-zations and publishers. For moreinformation, visit www.nssf.org

Dave's Trading Post , Inc.333 Derby St. • Pekin, IL 61554

(309) 353-7522OPEN: Mon-Fri.10am-5pm • Sat. 10am-3pm

BUY ! SELL ! TRADEGold • Silver • Platinum • Diamonds • Guns

Indian Relics & Wood Decoys

Dave's Trading Post , Inc.333 Derby St. • Pekin, IL 61554

(309) 353-7522OPEN: Mon.-Fri. 10am-5pm • Sat. 10am-3pm

BUY ! SELL ! TRADEGold • Silver • Platinum • Diamonds • Guns

Indian Relics & Wood Decoys

Major Milestone forFamilies Afield—1 MILLION NEW

HUNTERS!National Program Reduced

Barriers, CreatedOpportunities for NewcomersNEWTOWN, Conn. -- The future

of hunting is brighter today than itwas nearly a decade ago thanks to theextraordinary success of FamiliesAfield, an innovative program thathas introduced 1 million newcomersto hunting.

This impressive number demon-strates that interest in huntingremains high and that what’s neededto spark a lifelong passion for huntingis a proper introduction enabled bystate regulations. With success inhand, Families Afield’s call to actionis this: If your state offers an appren-tice hunting license, make it a pointto bring a newcomer along this hunt-ing season; or if you’ve never gonehunting before, seek out a mentor andgive it a try.

Launched in 2004, Families Afieldwas developed to increase the num-

ber of hunters toensure a promisingfuture for the traditionof hunting and conser-vation. Hunters pro-vide the lion’s share ofsupport for conserva-tion through the purchases of huntinglicenses and excise taxes paid onsales of firearms and ammunition.

“I wasn’t really sure if I wanted tobe a hunter, so my dad told me wecan get this apprentice huntinglicense and we can see if you like it,”said youth apprentice hunter SethWasilewski in a new Families Afieldvideo that features youth and parentswho have taken advantage of the pro-gram. Seth, who took his first deerthat day, went on to complete hishunter education course and contin-ues to hunt—a progression followedby so many other mentored hunters.Families Afield is a model of cooper-ative effort by several major organi-zations. The program was founded in2004 by the National Shooting SportsFoundation, National Wild TurkeyFederation and the U.S. Sportsmen’sAlliance. The National RifleAssociation and CongressionalSportsmen’s Foundation are also

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073_001.qxd 9/22/13 11:27 AM Page 1


ON POINT WITH CHUCK MARTIN

EXCUSES…EXCUSES…EXCUSESThe definition of a successful quail hunt

varies. Some say bagging the limit is the ulti-mate. Some say great dog work makes the perfecthunt. Others insist companionship and safeshooting is what makes a successful hunt. Themeasuring stick one uses is not nearly as impor-tant as the internal satisfaction achieved when ahunt goes well.

I have been very fortunate to have had manymemorable quail hunts that encompassed all thepositive elements of our favorite daylight pas-sion. I thank God daily for those days afield.However, having experienced frustrating quailhunts more often than I care to admit, I thoughtmaybe you would like to hear some of my collec-tion of excuses I have used and heard others use.

Perhaps some of these might hit close to homewith you.

Excuses for less than a successful quail huntmight be:

Regarding one’s shotgun….forgot to load,wrong choke, wrong shells, gun is too heavy, gunis too light, stock too short, stock too long, gunjammed and, the one I hear most often from otherhunters, forgot to release the safety. Duh!

Perhaps none of the above applies to you. Inthat case, please read on.

Regarding one’s hunting apparel…hat toosmall or too big, no hat, vest or coat too loose ortoo tight, boots too big or too small, leaky boots,broken or untied boot strings, wet pantlegs or theexcuse I really hate….wet socks. YUCK!

While controlling the weather is impossible,decent hunting weather is critical to a successfulquail hunt. But if it is too hot, too dry, too windy,too calm, too sunny, too cloudy, muddy, too warmor too cold, the degree of difficulty rises expo-nentially.

Add snow, rain, sleet and fog to the weathermix and one might as well stay home in bed andpull the covers up!

Everyone knows that without good habitat agood quail hunt is hard to come by. Habitatrestoration is one of the primary objectives ofQuail Unlimited. Some habitat excuses I have usedto explain an empty vest at the end of a long dayare… too much fall plowing (this one applies tomany parts of Illinois), too dusty, too much winterwheat plantings, too wet, too much escape coveror not enough escape cover, some cover is too“thin” ( an Arkansas term I learned) and my leastfavorite, the dreaded, “NO HUNTING” SIGN

TACKED ONTO A TREE.Some of my hunts have

been spoiled by predators.We all are aware that man isnot the only pursuer of thebobwhite quail. Owls, hawks,raccoons, opossum, snakes,coyotes and wild turkey eatquail eggs, hatchlings andmature birds. With all thesepredators chasing ourbeloved game bird is it anywonder the wild bird popula-tion is dwindling? Next timeyou fail to bring home a fewquail use the excuse of natu-ral predation. No one canargue with that one.

Poor dog work is anotherexcuse I hate to use butmust admit I have done so afew times. We have all heardthe old adage, “That dogwon’t hunt!” I feel it is near-ly impossible to have a good hunt without gooddog work. And even good dogs can have a bad dayonce in a while. Some dogs are too young, tooinexperienced, too old, too fat, too fast, too slowor poorly trained. Others hunt for themselves,range too far, do not cover enough ground, areeasily distracted, have poor noses, will not mindor will not retrieve. A few dogs will not hold pointor honor another dog’s point. I have owned jeal-ous, timid, hard headed, pointers and one gun shydog. (He was given to me and I gave him rightback!)

Ultimately, hunters must be accountable fortheir own preparation for and behavior during thehunt. At the end of a long unproductive day, I havebeen known to offer one or more of the followingexcuses: Not enough sleep the night before, notenough breakfast, or too much breakfast. I have

also complained I was either thirsty or hungry atsome point during the day which caused me tolose my concentration. I have also complained thesun was in my eyes (a carryover from my LittleLeague baseball training), I slipped or tripped, myhands, ears or feet were cold, I was out of positionand I was not ready for the flush. Hard to imagine,right?

Bottom line is quail hunting is like any otherathletic activity where concentration is critical topersonal performance. Being physically and men-tally ready to perform to the best of one’s abilitycan overcome most of the above mentionedexcuses. But just in case your next hunt does notgo as well as you hope, open this issue of QU andfeel free to use any of these excuses. Did I men-tion heat stroke, or backache, or swollen knee orblisters on both feet or….?

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stretching greenhead. What the dog learned that daywas that!it had to clamp down extremely hard to keepthe duck in its mouth. This was not a positive lesson.The pup simply was not yet ready for that type ofconfrontation.!

Introducing your retriever to real birds prior toactual hunting is an important training component.Think about it: if all you use during training sessionsare bumpers, what's a young dog going to do when!hefinally gets hold of an actual duck, goose, orpheasant? The smells and the feathers are going to beall new to the dog. He's probably going to getextremely excited, perhaps overzealous. And a hard-mouth!habit can be the result. Even bird wings tapedto a bumper are better than nothing. But real birdsare best because they help condition your dog to thetexture, smell, and taste common to wild game.

What do you do when you are convinced your doghas hard mouth? Some trainers are of the opinionthat all retrieving should be stopped until the problemis addressed. One camp suggests using anelectronic!collar to correct the problem. Anotherinsists that a structured force-fetch program beintroduced. Either can work. But be careful on bothcounts, because if not done properly these methodscan lead to!other issues. There are no snap-of-the-finger fixes. When in doubt, contact a professionaltrainer, discuss the problem at hand, and proceedaccordingly. In many cases, hard mouth can be cured,but only if!you go about it the right way.

DOUBLE TROUBLE Want to witness a spiritedexercise in developing hard mouth? Send tworetrievers after a single downed bird. When huntingwith multiple dogs, be smart and have them taketurns.

S u p p o r t D U a t D u c k s . o r g

Preventing Hard!MouthAdvance preparation is the best way tokeep your retriever from mangling!birds

by Gary KoehlerMost waterfowl hunters do not mind if their

retriever brings to hand birds that are a bit rumpledor missing a few feathers. But no one likes beingpresented with a duck that has been mauled by hisdog. If the bird is not fit for use as table fare, theretriever is not doing its job properly. This habitualproclivity to mangle waterfowl or upland birds iscommonly called hard mouth.

Many professional trainers believe that hardmouth can be a hereditary affliction. When selectinga puppy, by all means check out the parents first.Still, there is really no surefire way to tell if a dogis!going to be predisposed to damaging birds once itgrows up. That part likely falls in the luck-of-the-drawdepartment. There are, however, precautions you cantake while training your retriever puppy that!may helpprevent the dog from developing hard mouth.Common sense applies in most cases.!

Last summer, while walking in a local park, Iwatched as a youngster played towel tug of war with agorgeous golden retriever pup. After back-and-forthyanking and jerking, the boy elevated the gameby!quickly spinning in circles, thus lifting the dog offthe ground and sending it airborne. The puppy,hanging on for dear life, had its jaws locked in a deathgrip on its end of the towel. The point here is!that youshould resist the temptation to play tug of war withbones, chew toys, leashes, bumpers, or towels.Games of tug of war only teach your dog to bite downhard on whatever is in its mouth, which is!not a goodthing for a dog that makes its living picking up birds.

On a hunt several years ago, one of my companionshad a young Labrador retriever just beginning its firstseason afield. This was an extremely well-mannereddog and it was obvious that the guy haddedicated!many hours to training his treasured Lab.Shooting commenced early. A wing-tipped mallarddrake fell just outside the decoys and the pup wassent to retrieve the duck, which put up an incrediblefuss. Every!time the dog picked up the duck, it wouldwiggle free and the pup had to start over, not surehow to handle this wing-flapping, foot-kicking, neck-

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Deer-Creek American Deer-Creek American Legion Post 1276 Legion Post 1276

NewsNews && EventsEvents

An American Legion for ALL Americans…

PUBLICWELCOME!

Fun TimesBy Terri Sweckard

The Deer Creek Legion is the place to be this fall& winter for some Sunday fun. Whether you wantto take part in the Turkey Shoots or come out towatch your favorite sporting event. We have thegames on for all your Football & Nascar enjoy-ment.

Sundays we will be serving up our New,build your own Bloody Mary drinks, it’s ameal in itself! They are becoming quite pop-ular, some say the best around.

Enjoy other drink specials like: PBR & 2strips of bacon for only $2 or the unique tasteof Maple flavored Crown Royal with 2 stripsof bacon for only $4.

Come to our Delicious Breakfast availablefrom 6:30 until 10:30 on the 1st Sun of eachmonth!

Starting in Oct. sign up for our winter dart league, thats on Thursday nights. DC Legion always has something going on during the weekends. Live Music,Steak fry dinners, Pan fried chicken dinners, maybe a benefit. Check our sched-

ule & see what is going on. We have a nice pavilion for those of you that wantto enjoy the beautiful fall weather. Take a drive out to the country this fall andmeet some friendly folks, enjoy some beverages & become familiar with theDeer Creek Legion. The public is always welcome.

Mark your calendar for Friday Nov. 1 the Halloween party & costume con-test, all participants need to be here by 8pm for judging. We have some tricks,treats & fun up our sleeves so stop by for a great evening. Plan on taking a scaryhayrack ride through the Spooky trail at 10pm. This is sure to be an event youwon’t want to miss…lots of fun!

The members and families of the DeerCreek Legion, Post-1276 would like togive a big thanks to Adam Winchesterfor all his hard work making the CarShow & The Dunn family benefit a suc-cess. Adam was the one who got this carshow lined up & the proceeds went toour new Commander, Josh Dunn, hiswife Rae Lynn & their beautiful daugh-ter Jenna. Jenna was born with somemedical problems. Thanks to everyonewho contributed their time and workedbehind the scenes or came out to supportthis worthwhile cause. The Dunn fami-ly feels very blessed to have become apart of such a wonderful organization.

Josh has made a difference in our legion since his membership and we feelblessed to have him as well. Thanks to everyone involved & thank you Adamfor your huge part in this event, we couldn’t have done it without all your help.Jenna is doing well & we can’t wait to watch her grow into a wonderful smil-ing happy child that she was born to be. We were so glad we could help makea difference in this family’s future.

Remember Rock Stars for Wyatt and save your recy-clable trash that earns cash for Wyatt!

That is what American Legions are supposed to be allabout, helping local families, the community & all ourVeterans that enable us to live the life we are blessed tohave.

God Bless You All!

Come On Out & Support Your Come On Out & Support Your Local American Legion! Local American Legion! 31473 American Legion Dr.31473 American Legion Dr.

Deer Creek, IL Deer Creek, IL (309) 447-6776(309) 447-6776

OCT. CALENDAR OF EVENTS:OCT. CALENDAR OF EVENTS:Sat. 5 ..............Marshall Benefit Aux meeting 3pm Sun. 6 ..................Legion Breakfasts 6:30-10:30 Sat. 12 ....................................Turkey Shoot 11-? Sun. 13 ....................................Turkey Shoot 11-?Wed 16 ......Family meeting 6 pm SAL Meeting 7pmSat. 19 ............Steak Fry 5-8 Band Motown JunkiesWed. 23 ..............................Legion Meeting 7pmSat. 26..Williams Benefit Band, Dave Chastain 8-12 Sun. 27 ............Tazewell Military Rights Team 11-?

PUBLIC ALWAYS

WELCOME!GRILLOPEN

NIGHTLY!

Kids love the TurkeyShoots! Here is GageSweckard, shooting

a 410 at the Sept Shoot.Thanks to Mike Losher

& Jack Baugh for helping him. Bring the family out so everyone

can shoot!

076_001.qxd 9/22/13 11:47 AM Page 1

WATERFOWL WATERFOWL 20132013October 2013 ADVENTURE SPORTS OUTDOORS “THE VOICE OF THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN” 77

they order one like it.Certainly, personal preference is

important when buying a new call,but ultimately, hunters should makea selection based on what they needas well as what strikes their fancy.

"Hunters should select a duck callaccording to where and how theyintend to use it," explains Rick Dunnof Echo Calls in Beebe, Arkansas. "Options that canaffect a call's tone, range, and sharpness include highor low volume; ringing or mellow tone; single or doublereed; and acrylic, wood, or polycarbonate construc-tion."

Hunters who call over long distances, such as openlakes and big rivers, should select a call that is louderand higher in pitch so the notes will carry farther.Conversely, hunters who call mostly to close ducks inenvironments like flooded timber, potholes, andbeaver ponds should pick a call that is softer in vol-ume and pitch. In these environments, "reach" is lessimportant, and sounding "ducky" is more important.

"Choosing between a single-reed and a double-reed call is a matter of personal preference," Dunnsays. "Single-reed calls have more range and are moreversatile than double-reed calls, but they are also a lit-

tle more difficult to master. Double-reed calls take more

air to blow and don't have as muchrange as single-reed models. Butmost double-reed calls have a ‘sweetspot' that sounds very realistic topassing ducks."Most duck calls sold today are madeof acrylic, wood, or polycarbonate.

Acrylic is very dense, and Dunn says acrylic calls aretypically sharper and louder than those made of woodor polycarbonate. Many open-water calls are acrylic.

Wooden calls are usually softer and mellower thanacrylic calls, and they are a good choice for close-upcalling situations. Polycarbonate (molded plastic)calls fall between acrylic and wood for sharpness andloudness.

Dunn adds that acrylic calls don't require as muchcare as wooden calls. "Wooden calls are porous, andthey tend to absorb moisture and swell," he explains."They should be taken apart after each hunt andallowed to air-dry. But because of the high density ofacrylic calls, they won't swell, and they produce veryconsistent sounds."

And finally, what's the difference between a $140custom call and a $30 mass-produced call? "You can

call ducks with both," Dunn says. "But custom calls can be finessed more. They are capableof making soft whines and other subtle sounds thatmass-produced calls can't make. A custom call canalso be tuned specifically to a hunter's calling style."

So when choosing a new duck call, consider thesevariables: distance, volume, type of material, andcost. After working through these options, apply the"sounds good" test to make the final selection. Then,if you are like me, all that remains is coming up with agood name.

Call Tuning SimplifiedAny hunter who has ever taken apart a duck call

knows that putting all the internal components backtogether in the right position can be more difficultthan you might think. That's why it's a good idea tomark the original placement of the reeds, tone board,and wedge with a magic marker before disassemblingthem.

Primos Hunting Calls has gone one step further bydesigning their Wench series duck calls with a patent-ed reed relocation system. The call's interlocking reedassembly takes much of the guesswork out of call tun-ing.

S u pp o r t D U a t D uc k s . o r g

CHOOSING A DUCK!CALLHOW TO FIND THE RIGHT CALL TO MATCH YOUR ST YLE OF!HUNTING

by Wade BourneOver the years, I've made a

practice of naming my duckcalls. The two I use most fre-quently are Dominator andConvincer. To me, they aremore than inanimate instru-ments made of acrylic and wood. Instead, they havelife and personality. They embody my hopes and helpme (sometimes) fulfill my hunting dreams.

Other hunters probably don't go to such lengths in"bonding" with their calls, but I'd venture that mosthave favorites they value greatly, which is why pickingout a new duck call is such an important exercise.So what goes into the decision? How does a hunter siftthrough the myriad combinations of brands, materi-als, and styles to select the one call that's best for himor her? Many hunters subscribe to the "sounds good"method. They blow a new call at an outdoor store orsport show, and if it sounds good, they buy it on thespot. Others may like the way a friend's call sounds, so

Photo by Avery Outdoors

077_001.qxd 9/22/13 12:52 PM Page 1

tion in a manner applicable to thoseunique circumstances.

When it comes to ducks and decoyspreads, perhaps the best advice isEastwood's words. No one rig and itsvariables of numbers, placement,movement, type, species, sex or anyof a dozen other factors, works all thetime; however, there are a handful ofelemental spreads that will produceunder most conditions, coast to coast.Every time? No, sir, but with enoughconsistency as to qualify them as OldStandbys.

Coots!I look at coot decoys and their role

in the waterfowler's arsenal in threeways. First, there aren't many menbrave enough to deploy an all-cootspread, and as such, all-coot spreadsare few and far between. Thus, theso-called good ducks don't encountersuch rigs often and theoreticallywon't hesitate to decoy.

Second, all-coot spreads areextremely natural in appearance.How many times has your fancy mal-lard or mallard-mix rig been out-shone by 30 live coots? When I'vedone it, I've set 20 to 25 coot decoysin a tight-feeding mass, with a mini-mum of two pair of those tethered tojerk cords. A pull of the string sets thewhole knot to thrashing as if to say,"Hey! There's a pile of good eatsdown here!" Birds, particularly wid-geon, can't seem to resist.

And finally, there are coots and thepublic land waterfowler. I mean, whoisn't going to give a wide berth to theman who arrives at the ramp with abag full of coot blocks over his shoul-der?


Duck Commander guys for over eight yearsnow,” said Jordan. “It’s remarkable what theyhave built throughout the company’s 40-yearhistory. We’ve been fans and believers in all theydo for many years, and we look forward to help-ing them continue the growth of the DuckCommander brand.”

“An area that has really grown quickly forDuck Commander is product licensing,” saidRealtree VP of Licensing Brad Schorr. “Ofcourse, this is one of Realtree’s core strengths.Thankfully, we’ve built a strong level of trust

with everyone in the Duck Commander and BuckCommander camps, and we are really pleasedthat they asked Realtree to support this part oftheir business.”

Duck Commander products featuringRealtree camouflage are already found widely inthe market place. This strengthened partner-ship will ensure that consumers find an evengreater selection of the DuckCommander/Realtree products they want andneed.

“Working with the Realtree guys on newproducts was an easy business decision,” saidDuck Commander CEO Willie Robertson. “Notmany companies have a better grasp on thestart-to-finish product cycle, and it’s clearthey’re in business for the long run. It’s a realpartnership that gives me one less thing toworry about.”

Companies interested in licensing DuckCommander and Buck Commander products areasked to contact Realtree here:http://www.realtree.com/company/duck-com-mander-licensing-and-licensing-application.

Realtree & Duck CommanderStrengthen Partnership

Realtree President and CEO Bill Jordanannounced today a strengthening of the busi-ness partnership between the Realtree andDuck Commander teams. Beginning immediate-ly, Realtree will assume primary administrativeduties related to the licensing of DuckCommander and Buck Commander products.

“We’ve worked closely with Phil and all the

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5 FantasticDuck Spreads

There are a handful of elemental spreads that will

produce under most conditions

by M.D. Johnson Clint Eastwood said these words in

his movie, Heartbreak Ridge, as heattempted to ready his raw recruitsfor the rigors of combat. What DirtyHarry was spotlighting was theimportance of noting the situation,evaluating the situation, and onlythen, reacting to that specific situa-

078_001.qxd 9/22/13 1:09 PM Page 1

lived under arock for thepast 40 years,has made hisliving and hisr e p u t a t i o ncrafting andblowing duckc a l l s — t o l dme in no un-certain terms,"If I had tochoose be-tween a duckcall and a jerkcord, I'd

choose a jerk cord 100 percent of thetime." Coming from a World Cham-pion and the Champion of Champi-ons…well, that says a whole lotabout jerk cords.

The problem with even today's ul-tra-realistic decoys is they lackmovement. Throw a simple-to-make,inexpensive, and very portable jerkcord into the mix, and you've elimi-nated this problem entirely. I'm withBuck on this one, regardless of whator where I'm gunning.

My favorite: The Random Place-ment Theory

My personal favorite rig for pud-

dlers? Well, in most cases, I'm walk-ing into my hunting area, so my rig issmall in number – a dozen, perhaps18 at the most. Species and sex? I runa little bit of everything in terms ofspecies, including widgeon, gadwall,shovelers, ringnecks and three sub-species of teal, as well as the obliga-tory mallards and pintails. As forgender, mine's a 50/50 mix of drakesto hens, give or take; however, I willuse drake spoonbills and sprig be-cause the white does show at a dis-tance.

And now, the arrangement itself.Under most circumstances, I sub-scribe to what I call The RandomPlacement Theory of decoy rigging.Standing in front of my blind for theday, and taking into consideration thewind direction, I randomly pitch de-coys until they're gone, minding notto throw any more than 30 or so yardsfrom my hide. Then I go back to theblind, give the dog a Little DebbieSnack Cake, pour a cup of coffee andsettle down to wait. After all, I huntso as to relax. It's not, as Mr. Gardnersays, rocket science.

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makes yourspread differ-ent than allthe rest. Yourmallards lookdifferent, your'cans look dif-ferent, andyour Canadas,they look dif-ferent, too.The sameSteve Suttonwho reli-giously clipshis smew andLabrador duck decoys to the mainlines fashions his fakes from wood,cork, and old crab floats. FreddieZink carves details and paints mirrorimages of Canadas so real, you'dhave to ask which is wood and whichis flesh and blood. Eastern Washing-ton's Ben Holten, a wonderful youngman and talented taxidermist, huntsover self-worked stuffer Canadas. It'sall about realism, and at the risk of re-peating myself, it's all about givingthe birds something different.

Be a jerk!I'll never forget the day Buck Gard-

ner—NOTE: Buck, in case you've

Try a unique speciesA unique "possibly occurring or

secondary" species within your duckspread serves a couple purposes. Sixwidgeon, sprig, grey ducks, or spoon-bills in your blocks separate your rigfrom the countless all-mallard rigsthat birds have encountered through-out the season. A small knot of blue-bills off to one side or a cluster offour or five drake pintails not onlyaccomplishes this air of distinction,but these species' predominantlywhite coloration makes your spreadhighly visible. It stands out, and that'swhat you want it to do.

It's nice, too, to know that if you doencounter these non-mallards, youhave those same non-mallards inyour spread. It's like Steve Sutton, anavid sea-ducker from WashingtonState who includes a European smewand an extinct Labrador duck in hisscoter spread, told me. "If," he saidwith a laugh, "a smew happens by, Iwant to know that I've got at least onesmew decoy out there."

Roll your own decoysMaking your own decoys, like in-

cluding a unique species in yourspread, accomplishes one goal whenthe blocks are put into the field—it

Photo by Michael Carion

079_001.qxd 9/22/13 1:07 PM Page 1


SHINING THE SPOTLIGHTON!SPECKS

With a pair of refuge areas nearhis home in central Kansas, water-fowl guide and hunter Zach Simonhas the opportunity to watch migrat-ing speckle-bellied geese stage bythe hundreds of thousands as theywing! their way from the arctic to

wintering areas in Texas andLouisiana.!

"I started hunting the birds while Iwas still in high school, and I gothooked," says Simon. "They are aton of fun to hunt – to decoy, to call– and I feel pretty fortunate to beable to see the magnitude! of num-bers around here each year."

Along with Flatland Waterfowl(www.flatlandwaterfowl.com) co-owner Phil Freeman, Simon hasbeen guiding specifically for speck-le-bellies near the Cheyenne Bot-toms and Quivira National Refugethe past 6! seasons, and along theway he has enjoyed helping many

hunters take their first speck. But asunique as an experience as huntingspeckle-bellies can be for others,putting together a hunt doesn't re-quire!much of a novel approach.

"Speckle-bellies generally feedtwice a day like any Canada or snowgoose," says Simon. "So huntingsuccess depends heavily on findingthe "X" where the birds are hittingthe ground. It's not thatdifferent!that what you'd do for anyother kind of waterfowl hunt."

Once he's found a large concentra-tion of birds, though, Simon willwait until the birds leave, as theirexit strategy might determinewhether or not the field is all it'scracked up to be.

"If they all get up at once and theyhaven't been spooked, it might bethat they've eaten out that particularfield or they just didn't like whatwas in that particular field," says Si-mon. "But if they peel!out in smallgroups to head back to the refuge,chances are they'll be back the nextday. Once in a while you'll getburned, but that's why they call ithunting."

Like many other hunting scenar-ios, Simon says that the birds willdictate decoy set-ups the next morn-ing.

"Specks are often some of the firstbirds to arrive here in centralKansas, so early season hunts we'llonly use speckle-belly decoys withsome Canadas thrown in," says Si-mon. "As the season progresses,and! the snows and little Canadasstart to show up, we'll start addingthose to our spread."

Late season set-ups, Simon says,will include up to 1200 full-bodieddecoys – 600-700 snows and 400-500 speckle-bellies and Canadas –with the bulk of the dark geese de-coys on the downwind side ofthe!spread.

Simon will start to blend snowgoose decoys in with the darks to-ward to the middle of the spread – a"salt and pepper" mixture where hewill also hide the blinds – and theline of white continues towardthe!upwind side of the spread.

"The speckle-bellies tend to wantto land short or in the middle, so it'simportant to have your blinds to-ward the downwind side of thespread if you want a shot at thosebirds," says Simon. "The snowswill!almost always want skip to thetop, so you they maybe aren't de-coying, but they are providing great

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have that blob of white so they cansee your spread."

Even with such a massive decoyspread, Simon says that speckle-bellies don't need 3 or 4 guys blow-ing calls to get their attention.Often one hunter, mimicking thesounds of a lead bird, is all it takesto!draw the geese in close.

It's a trait that custom speckle-belly call maker Bill Daniels saysmakes hunting the birds so enjoy-able. Learning to call speckle-bel-lies, however, can prove to be a

shots straight overhead."Even if snow geese aren't a target

for the day, Simon says that thewhite decoys are especially impor-tant for grabbing the attention ofspeckle-bellies later in the season.

"I think that the specks feel safehanging with the snows, and we likethem for the visibility," says Simon."When these birds come off therefuge and head out to feed theywon't fly 1 or 2 miles, they'll!fly 25miles to find the field, and if theyget off line a little bit, it's nice to

challenge."Blowing a speck call takes a lot

of air, incorporates the hands tocreate the back-pressure and tothrow the different sounds, and youhave to grunt or growl – you haveto add your voice to the air,"says!Daniels. "It just takes a littlebit to get used to it, but once youdo, you'll love how the birdsrespond to the sounds."

Daniels – who has been designingthe speckle-belly line of RicelandCustom Calls (www.ricelandcus-tomcalls.com) with co-ownerJames Meyers the past three years –says that there are two basic callsfor! calling speckle-bellies: a two-or three-note yodel, and the cluck.!

Similar to calling other water-fowl, Daniels says that listening tothe sounds of real birds is the bestway to master the different vocalinflections made by speckle-belliedgeese.

Watching the birds as theyapproach the decoys and keying inon the response from a lead bird,Daniels says, is the only way toknow what really works and whatdoesn't.

"Calling at a speck is the closestthing I've seen to calling at a mal-

lard – they both will work to thecall – so you've got to learn to reada speckle-belly just like you woulda mallard," says Daniels.!

"But you're watching and listen-ing to one goose, and as long as thatbird keeps talking to you, you keeptalking to it until it is close enoughto shoot. If he starts to flare or slideaway, you cluck hard!or back off -whatever you need to do differentlyto get his attention back."

Blowing a speckle-belly call isnot just for show, especially whereDaniels hunts in southwestLouisiana. Hunting pressure givesspeckle-bellies critical ears when itcomes to calling, and Daniels saysif!you're not on top of your game,the guy in the next blind over whois will be seeing more of the action.

"If you want to have successhunting specks, you've got to knowhow to call," says Daniels. "Butevery day is different, and that'swhy I love calling and huntingthem so much; some days theywant to be! called all the to thedecoys, other days they're not thatinterested in much more than acluck. But that's not that much dif-ferent than hunting any other duckor goose."

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081_001.qxd 9/22/13 3:47 PM Page 1


Yeah, Dad.No problem, Ithought.

BOOM! Therifle spoke,sending meback into hislap, the emptycasing rattlingaround on thefloor of the met-al blind. My earsrang and my vi-sion was momentarily blurred and dad was sayingsomething I couldn’t understand.

All the deer, hundreds of them it seemed, had evap-orated into the brush at the report of the rifle. Out inthe field lay one small doe, half of her head missing. Ididn’t know.

But even at that age I did recognize the value of alife. We thanked her for her’s and I didn’t dare leaveher side until we were picked up after dark, even asthe coyotes’ wails grew closer.

In my teens, the Woodsmaster slowly became mine.I hunted with that rifle, cared for that rifle, and stillcherish the memories and scars it has left for eterni-ty. But just as the eternal evolution of the cycle of lifecontinues its quest on a never-ending sphere, the riflehas become my father’s again—back to its rightfulowner.

Dad has never been too crazy about shooting adeer. It’s more about sunrises and sunsets, the worldwaking up in all its glory, and the wild creatures right-fully going about their business. Life is visceral. Themessage in the wind and what our Maker is trying tosay. “If you listen closely, you will know,” dad alwayssaid.

The flutter and utter explosion and whistling ofwings was what got his blood boiling. Cutting feathers!From Labs to setters then pointers, back to Labs andnow with Brittanys, watch ‘em run son and watch ‘emwork. You might learn something. I’m always learning.

When I turned 16, a family friend gave me a bolt-ac-tion Remington .30-06 he’d won in a golf tournament.

THE OLD WOODSMASTER

By Hunter WorthOftentimes the guns with the most scars in your

safe are also the most storied.Hoppe’s #9 and gunpowder are the strongest

smells tied to my memory. The old wooden gun case inour basement still holds a stronger smell in my memo-ry than does the case itself. Back then, there werefewer guns in our repertoire, just enough to fill eachslot, and just enough for the birds we chased and theoccasional deer we hunted.

Dad had one rifle then. It was a .30-06 RemingtonWoodsmaster that my mother bought him on theirfirst anniversary. I seem to recall she found it at asporting goods store that also sold hardware and end-less cups of coffee to the old men who loitered aroundthe front desk. Hughes Hardware. Mr. Hughes used togive me a penny for the gumball machine every timedad took me by. Back in different times, of course.

I killed my first deer with that gun sitting in his lapoverlooking a scendaro in Texas. It was a small doe,but she was mine and the story and the memory never

seem to get old.We had been hunting with a family friend who was

part owner of a big ranch just outside Alice, way downby the Mexican border. Deer were everywhere. I wasseven years old and had only deer hunted a few timesaround North Alabama and southern Tennessee wherewe were lucky to see a track during the course of anentire day. When three does fed close enough to thetall shooting house where we sat, Dad gave me the nod.I crawled over into his lap and shouldered the big rifle.Back then, it was the biggest and most awesome thingin a seven-year-old’s eyes.

“Now make sure you put the crosshairs on thebiggest doe,” Dad said. “Do you see her?”“Yes.”

“Okay. Whenever you’re ready.”I’d never had proper instruction about where to

shoot a deer. We didn’t have all the training videosback then and it wasn’t until a few years later thatOutdoor Life became an integral part of my existence.Perhaps that was the very moment—sitting in dad’slap, my pulse pounding in my head as I steadied thegun—when the outdoors truly pulled me to her bos-om and laid out the path I didn’t know I’d one day walk.

The does were facing us, their heads down andfeeding.“Whenever you’re ready,” he repeated. “And makesure you pick out the biggest one.”

It was black,synthetic, andwith a newS i m m o n sscope, not theold Redfieldwith crookedcrosshairs Iwas so used toon the Woods-master. Ashappy as I waswhen I opened

the box to a brand new rifle that had never been firedbefore, something was amiss. The grips weren’tchipped, the action wasn’t worn. There weren’t anyscratches or dings to tell the story of the time dad rat-tled up a big buck in the early dawn of Thanksgiving 18years ago.

I had begged and pleaded for him to let me carry thegun into the woods that frosty morning. I looked for-ward to settling into our spot, inserting the magazineof perfectly aligned brass-cased rounds, and workingthe action, putting that first one into the batter’s box.

We walked down a steep hill into a bottom where wehad seen a lot of sign while scouting the weekend be-fore. Halfway down, walking on my heels, I slipped andmy feet went higher than my head as I hit the groundshoulders first—the shoulder where the Woodsmas-ter found itself sliding against a covered rock thatchipped the wooden stock.

Tears welled up in my eyes as my dad sat down be-side me with his hand on my shoulder. Boy, was I aboutto be in trouble. Calling up my courage, I looked into hisface. He was smiling.

“One day, we’ll look back over this gun and listen tothe stories she’ll tell,” he said. “Let’s just sit still for afew minutes and the woods will let us know what to donext.”

I was thankful for the gift of a brand-new rifle, andstill am. I’ve never been one to turn my nose up. It’sjust that certain things, each with their own quality,affect me differently. Give me the story of a life, notthe riches of a wealthy king.

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082_001.qxd 9/22/13 4:44 PM Page 1


IDNR ANNOUNCES STATE &FEDERAL SITES TO BE OPEN

FOR YOUTH WATERFOWLHUNTING SEASONS

Youth Hunt Weekends Precede Start ofRegular Waterfowl Seasons in Each Zone

SPRINGFIELD, IL – A number of Illinois stateparks, fish and wildlife areas, conservation areasand recreation areas will be open to youth water-fowl hunting during the 2013North Zone YouthWaterfowl Hunt, Central Zone Youth WaterfowlHunt, South Central Zone Youth Waterfowl Huntand South Zone Youth Waterfowl Hunt, the IllinoisDepartment of Natural Resources (IDNR)announced today.! Federal sites that fall underthe IDNR waterfowl administrative rule that willbe open are also listed below.

At most sites, regulations that apply duringthe regular waterfowl hunting season apply dur-ing the Youth Hunt (hunters should check forsite-specific regulations, including changes inlegal shooting hours).! During the Youth Hunt, thebag limits are the same as during regular sea-sons.

As part of the Youth Hunt, hunters age 15 oryounger may hunt ducks, geese, coots and mer-gansers as long as they are accompanied by anadult at least 18 years of age. The accompanyingadult cannot hunt these species, but may partic-ipate in other open seasons.

Youth hunters must have a hunting license orApprentice Hunting License. The youth hunter orhis or her accompanying adult must have a validFOID card. The supervising adult does not have tohave a hunting license if they are not huntingother species. Youth hunters age 15 or youngerare not required to have a state or federal duckstamp.

All waterfowl hunters, including those partici-pating in the Youth Hunt, are required to register

Cache River SNACape Bend SFWACrab Orchard NWRCypress Pond SNADeer Pond SNADevils IslandDog IslandHorseshoe Lake SFWA (Alexander County)LaRue Swamp Mermet Lake SFWAMississippi River Saline CountySielbeck Forest SNAUnion County SFWA

For more information on Illinois waterfowl sea-sons, check the IDNR Digest of Waterfowl HuntingRegulations 2013 -14, which is available at IDNRoffices and online through the IDNR web site at:www.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/Documents/DigestWaterfowlHuntingRegulations.pdf

For hunter fact sheets online go to:dnr.state.il.us/lands/landmgt/hunter_fact_sheet/index.htm

Mississippi River Pools (All located in CentralZone)Momence Wetlands State Natural Area Pekin Lake SFWAQuincy BayRay Norbut SFWARice Lake SFWASanganois SFWASangchris Lake State ParkShelbyville SFWASpring Lake SFWAStarved Rock State ParkWeinberg-King State Park - Spunky Bottoms Unit Woodford SFWA

2013 South Central Zone Youth Waterfowl Hunt(Nov. 2-3) State and Federal Sites Open:Campbell PondCarlyle Lake SFWAKaskaskia SFWAKinkaid Lake SFWAMississippi River Pools (All located in SouthCentral Zone)Oakwood BottomsPyramid State Park (Captain, Denmark, Galum,and East Conant Units)Rend Lake Project Land and WatersTen Mile Creek

2013 South Zone Youth Waterfowl Hunt (Nov. 16-17) State and Federal Sites Open:Bluff Lakes

with the Harvest Information Program. In order toregister with HIP, hunters will need to have theirhunting license number available. Hunters shouldregister for HIP at the license vendor when theybuy their hunting license or by calling 1-888-6PERMIT (888-673-7648) or online throughthe IDNR website at !!www.dnr.illinois.gov

The lists of state and federal sites to be openduring the Youth Waterfowl Hunts in the North,Central, South Central and South zones arebelow.

2013 North Zone Youth Waterfowl Hunt (Oct. 12-13) - State Sites OpenChain O’Lakes State ParkDes Plaines State Fish and Wildlife Area Lake DePue SFWA Sinnissippi Lake Wildlife AreaMississippi River Pools (All located in North Zone)William W. Powers State Recreation Area

2013 Central Zone Youth Waterfowl Hunt (Oct. 19-20) State and Federal and Private SitesOpen:Anderson Lake SFWABanner Marsh SFWABraidwood Lake SFWAClinton Lake SRACoffeen Lake SFWAEmiquon Preserve (The Nature Conservancy,Fulton County)Freeman MineHenderson Creek SFWAHorseshoe Lake State Park (Madison County) Horseshoe Lake State Park (Madison County)(Gabaret, Mosenthein, Chouteau Island Units)Kankakee River State ParkMarshall SFWAMarshall SFWA - Sparland UnitMarshall SFWA - Duck Ranch UnitMazonia SFWAMeredosia LakeMississippi River Area (MRA) - All sites managedby MRA

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which also occupied spacenormally available for expouse. That expansion workwill be completed this Octo-ber.

• “Second, any time anevent moves to a new exposi-tion facility, there is a steeplearning curve. It takes a cou-ple of years of working with afacility and its staff to achievemaximum efficiency in use ofspace and in attendee trafficflow, automobile parking sit-uations, etc,” Helgeland ex-plained.

• “Third, the square footage differentialbetween the 2012 expo and 2013 expo washugely misleading. The differential wasconsiderably less than it appeared.”

There were several factors, generally un-known to those making comments or send-ing emails, which led to inaccurate com-parisons and mistaken conclusions, Helge-land said. Most of the commentary fo-cused on apparent physical size of the expoand the space available, ticket sales flowand parking.

“Not everyone – attendees or exhibitors– is fully aware of the reasons for the recentsite moves,” Helgeland noted. “This mustbe addressed, so everyone will understandwhy we have done what we have done,

what is possible and not pos-sible, and what we will bedoing in Springfield.”

The Expo has been inthree facilities in the last fouryears. “From the outside,this would make the expoappear unstable,” Helgelandsaid. “It is not. It is stableand strong. The moves wereunavoidable.”

Background informa-tion on the moves:

• Bloomington – TheExpo was moved to the In-

terstate Center from Peoria in 2000 be-cause market research showed that Bloom-ington, because of the confluence of threeI-system highways, was a preferred loca-tion, and the Peoria Convention Centercost twice as much as the Interstate Cen-ter.. The move verified market research --attendance increased by nearly 14% theExpo’s first year in Bloomington.

Then, in 2010, half of the InterstateCenter and half of the parking lot weresold. As a result of the sale, the Expo lostnearly 40% of its exhibit space and thesame percentage of parking space.

“We had no choice but to move the Ex-po,” Helgeland said. “We weren’t interest-ed in down-sizing the expo, and neitherwas anyone else. It was going good.”

Return to Bloomington to what remainsof the Interstate Center? Not a chance,Helgeland said. After subtracting neededsquare footage for seminar rooms, deercontest measuring and display, and otherspecial displays, there would be far lessbooth space available than in Springfield,and far fewer parking spaces.

Other Bloomington sites were checkedbefore the Expo moved back to Peoria;

none were suitable.• Peoria – The Convention Center had

been expanded, but only a late March datewas available. “We decided to try it any-way, because the facility was larger thanBloomington’s Interstate Center and it ap-peared that the expo would continue togrow,” Helgeland said.

That growth did not happen. In fact, at-tendance in 2011 dropped nearly 14%,telling expo managers that, for whateverreason, a significant share of Illinois resi-dents didn’t really want to go back to Peo-ria.

Attendance in 2012 dropped another35%, due mainly to the 83-degree weatherbut also due to the continued disinterest ingoing to Peoria. “In two years, expo atten-dance dropped a total of 50 percent.That’s not good for the future of any ex-po,” Helgeland said.

The lower attendance and large amountsof unused space created a misleadingroominess. In addition, the second yearthe crowd changed, for whatever unknownreasons -- fewer buyers, more tire-kickersand just-looking’ attendees. This, under-standably, turned off most of the ex-hibitors, who had counted on 93 percent ofthe attendees, according to market re-search, buying their products and services.With more exhibitors with product to sell,but only half the expected number of po-tential customers, exhibitor sales tanked.

Peoria did not have an acceptable earlierdate available. It has fees and taxes thatother cities do not and some unusual citylaws regarding live animal display thatcaused problems.

• Springfield is the only suitable expo fa-cility in central Illinois. Because of the cen-tral location, it is maximally available to alarge majority of Illinois deer and turkey

2014 Plans for Illinois Deer & Turkey Expo

SPRINGFIELD, IL –As the producersof the Illinois Deer & Turkey Expo devel-op the 2014 version of that expo, they notethat the move to Springfield in 2013 was anecessary move and a good move, but notwithout development pains. “Attendanceincreased from the year before, but as ex-pected there were some bumps in theroad,” notes Glenn Helgeland, the expo’sexecutive director.

“As we prepare for the 2014 expo (Feb-ruary 21-22-23), the rough spots are beingsmoothed out,” Helgeland said. “Themanagement team did extensive post-eventsurveys of attendees and exhibitors andhave made plans that address all areas ofconcern. We reviewed all emails receivedafter the expo. We are now in the processof implementing the 2014 plans.”

“Some of the problems were unavoid-able, for three reasons,” Helgeland ex-plained.

• “First, there was construction inprocess, which took away space. ThePrairie Capital Convention Center (PC-CC) had begun additions and improve-ments in the building, so some space wasblocked off and considerable constructionequipment was stored within the building,

084_001.qxd 9/22/13 5:00 PM Page 1


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2013

2013

hunters. The Chicago area is too expensive,and there’s not enough population in thesouthern part of the state to support an ex-po.

The Expo had been held at the StateFairgrounds in Springfield in 1992-93-94but outgrew all heated buildings there, ne-cessitating the first move to Peoria, in1995. At that time, the Prairie CapitalConvention Center was occupied on theweekends the Expo needed, and the Inter-state Center didn’t yet exist. “So we had nohesitation moving back to Springfield be-cause of the success the Expo had there ear-lier,” Helgeland said. The 2013 attendanceincreased from 2012.

Misperceptions involving the PCCC?First, the Expo is on two floor levels,

making it appear half the size it actually is,simply because you can see only one floorat a time, and thus only half the Expo at atime. Second, the 2012 Expo in Peoria hadthe most floor space ever, much more thanwas needed, and the most exhibitors. Withattendance down to half of what had beenexpected, there was a misleading spacious-ness.

The 2013 result? Half of the totalSpringfield expo space ended up beingcompared to a floor space that was muchlarger than needed. That’s an inaccuratecomparison that brought about inaccurateconclusions to some attendees.

MISSISSIPPIHUNTERS TAKE

ANOTHERRECORD GATOR

by Daniel XuThe Magnolia State’s record books took

a beating last week with two groups ofhunters laying claim to two different behe-moth alligators both weighing more than700 pounds. On Sunday those record-sizedreptiles were yet again eclipsed by an evenbigger 741-pound beast out of the Missis-sippi River. According to The Clarion-Ledger, the new record was harvested byDalco Turner, who was accompanied byJohn Ratcliff, Jennifer Ratcliff, and JimmyGreer. The hunting trip, which took placenear Port Gibson, was originally meant tobe a celebration hunt for John Ratcliff andhis bride-to-be Elizabeth Greer. Greer wasforced to cancel on the trip and Ratcliff in-stead took his future father-in-law for agator chase.

“It was around midnight when we ini-tially saw this one,” said Turner. “Wepassed it by the first time. We really didn’tthink he was big enough to go after.”

As luck would have it, the team eventu-ally turned back due to the number ofboats crowding the area. The gator they

passed byon theirfirst sweepwas stillthere andthe huntersscrutinizedit moreclosely thistime. Real-izing justhow largethe animalwas, Turn-er’s teamh a s t i l yhooked thegator.

“He brokethree lines,and I had the only hook that stayed in himthe whole time,” said Turner.

It ended up dragging them deeper intothe river, viciously biting at the boat when-ever it had the chance. Eventually thehunters were able to bring the animalalongside the vessel and kill it. As with thetwo other record gator catches in recentweeks, the hunters then ran into a problemgetting the behemoth ashore.

“We couldn’t even pull him onto thebank,” said Turner. “We tried to pull himwith the boat, we tried everything.”

The hunters called in additional handsbut it still took another 30 minutes to getthe reptile loaded. Ricky Flint, an AlligatorProgram coordinator with the MississippiDepartment of Wildlife, Fisheries andParks, certified the catch as the new staterecord. Alligator season has been a busytime for Flint, who also certified the tworecord catches last week. The alligatormeasured in at 13 feet and seven incheslong.

Image screenshot of video on clarionledger.com

085_001.qxd 9/22/13 5:06 PM Page 1

A canine’s nose is 4,000 times as powerfulas ours. It would be futile to think that we wouldever be able to beat it 100 percent of the time.All we can hope for is to trick it just long enoughfor it to step on the trap’s pan.

The first thing I do when I get out of bed is puton clean clothes. I do not want to put on clothesthat have food, dead animal and gas stink allover them. However minute these odors are tous they will definitely get the attention of a coy-ote or fox.

We all have to eat while running a trap-line,and our vehicle, rather a truck, boat or ATV willneed gasoline. These odors can be eliminatedwith a little advance planning. I avoid dinerslike the plaque. The odors of greasy eggs, friesand burgers tend to stick with one. If we aresensitive to these odors, what do you think ca-nines think of them? To fight your hunger needspack a breakfast and lunch that can be ate onthe go. Prepare a couple sandwiches, bags ofchips and some snacks the night before. Whattrapper has time to stop at a diner anyway?

The last task of running my trap-line beforereturning home is filling up my vehicle and/orgas cans. Any gas odor that gets on me is no bigdeal. My clothes will be washed that night and Iwill have a shower before the night is over.

Personal hygiene will help with odors to somedegree. When I shower at night I use scent-freesoap and shampoo. There is no need for per-fumed soaps on the line. Also leave thecolognes alone for date night with your wife. Abig coyote will not be impressed with your OldSpice cologne.

When washing my clothes I either use bakingsoda or a scent-free detergent. I often use the

Ask any out-doorsman if odorcontrol and pre-vailing winds areof importance to asuccessful outing,and you are likelyto hear yes. If youdo not, that per-son is not suc-cessful too often.Unfortunately, itis mainly big-game hunters and predatorhunters who are concerned with the wind direc-tion and odors. Sadly, a lot of trappers do notassociate wind direction and odor control withrunning a successful trap-line.

Raccoon, beaver, muskrat and mink trappersdo not have a lot of concern when it comes towind and odor. These furbearers could care lessif a human was present a couple of hours priorto their arrival. It is the canines that will thinktwice before approaching a set that is saturat-ed with human stink.

There are several precautions that can betaken by the trapper to reduce the amount ofodor left behind at a set. These will never elim-inate all the odors but they will certainly help.

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By Jason Houser

Ducks Unlimited applauds improvements in Great Lakes fundingANN ARBOR, Mich. – Aug. 2, 2013 –

Ducks Unlimited appreciates the passage ofan amendment to provide $210 million tothe Great Lakes Restoration Initiative(GLRI) program. Previously a subcommitteehad reduced funding for the successful pro-gram to $60 million.

"We're grateful for the leadership of Rep.David Joyce (R-Ohio) and Rep. CharlieDent (R-Pa.)," said Becky Humphries, direc-tor of DU's Great Lakes and Atlantic office."The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative ismaking real changes in the region, changesthat improve recreation for sportsmen andwomen, but also by providing cleaner water,more habitat and improved economic out-comes."

The U.S. House of Representatives Com-mittee on Appropriations was able to approve

the funding for the federal program via anoffset from fees collected from extending theselloff of helium rights.

GLRI is a federal program designed to tar-get the most significant problems in theGreat Lakes ecosystem, including habitatconservation, invasive aquatic species, non-point source pollution and contaminatedsediment.

"The improvement to the GLRI appropri-ation is an important step forward,"Humphries said. "But we'll continue to workwith legislators to get back to the $300 mil-lion level. This program is an important pieceof conservation in the Great Lakes for DucksUnlimited and our members."

Ducks Unlimited Inc. is the world's largestnon-profit organization dedicated to conserv-ing North America's continually disappear-ing waterfowl habitats. Established in 1937,Ducks Unlimited has conserved more than13 million acres thanks to contributions frommore than a million supporters across thecontinent. Guided by science and dedicatedto program efficiency, DU works toward thevision of wetlands sufficient to fill the skieswith waterfowl today, tomorrow and forever.For more information on our work, visitwww.ducks.org. Connect with us on ourFacebook page at facebook.com/DucksUn-limited, follow our tweets attwitter.com/DucksUnlimited and watch DUvideos at youtube.com/DucksUnlimitedInc.

086_001.qxd 9/22/13 5:46 PM Page 1


same detergent towash my clothing thatI wear on the trap-line that I use to washmy hunting clothes.You do not need tosmell like a patch ofspring flowers whenyour clothes come outof the wash. Once myclothes are washedand dried I storethem in a rubber tote until needed again. Thiswill prevent them from becoming contaminatedwith foul odors.

A lot of scent is left behind at a set becauseof the use of gloves or lack of. At the beginningof season I buy a dozen of brown jersey gloves.The first thing I do is wash the gloves and storethem in a plastic tub marked clean gloves.These gloves are only used for making sets.They do not come in contact with animals, lureor bait. If they do they go in a tub marked dirtygloves. Every 3 or 4 days I wash the gloves inscent-free soap and they go back in the cleanglove tub. A dozen gloves will last me the entireseason. When applying lure and bait I use rub-ber gloves. The rubber gloves never come incontact with a clean trap.

Clean traps are a must. Traps that have beencontaminated with animal blood and urine,lures and baits likely to not to catch fur like aclean trap would. If an animal gets a whiff of a

dirty trap they willmore than likely digthe trap up withoutever getting caught.Whenever you checkyour sets and find atrap that has beendug up, nine timesout of ten it was be-cause the predatorsmelled it.

Just like my gloves,I have two tubs for my traps. One for cleantraps and one for dirty traps. I never use a trapafter it has caught an animal until in their des-ignated tub and so do the dirty ones. My cleantraps never come in contact with an animal, orlures and baits.

A couple of easy fixes to reduce human scentare: rubber boots and a kneeling pad. Deerhunters have known for years the effectivenessof rubber boots whenit comes to reducinghuman odor. Thesame works withtrappers. Rubber willcover the approach toyour set. The secondis a kneeling pad.Made out of rubbers,they will help concealhuman scent whenyou get to your knees

to make a set. A sec-ond benefit is thatthey help protect yourknees from the hardground, and wet,muddy areas that youmight be working in.

The quicker you canmake a set the quick-er you will be able toget out of the area.The least possibleamount of time in the area means the leastpossible amount of odor left behind. Practice inthe off-season making sets. You will be sur-prised the amount of time you can shave offmaking a set with a little practice.

The last thing to be done is to make the setas early in the day as you can. Most coyotes arecaught during the night hours. By making yourset early in the day, most, but not all of your

scent will disperseby the time a coyoteor fox visits yoursets.

Deer hunters knowthe importance ofprevailing windswhen choosing astand site. You donot want a big buckto come downwind ofyour stand and im-

mediately bust you.The same holds truewith trappers. Whenmaking a set, youwant your intendedtarget to smell thelures and/or baityou have applied atyour set.

If you know thecoyotes are routine-ly traveling a partic-

ular path that runs north to south and the pre-vailing winds are from the west, you do not wantto make the set on the east side of the trail. Itwould be a waste of time to apply a lure at a setif it will never be smelled.

Vision alone is not always enough to entice acoyote or fox to investigate your set. Sure, thesight of a bleached bone at a flat set or thefresh dirt at a dirt hole set will get the curiosi-ty of a wily coyote it is not always enough to lurehim in.

A combination of the visual attractants aswell as lures and baits are needed equally for agood set. This is one time you want odors atyour set, especially coyote or fox urine, luresand bait.

There are two types of trapping odors: thegood and the ugly. Put the good ones to work foryou using the wind and discard the ugly with alittle planning. Your fur shed will fill up quickerfor it.

087_001.qxd 9/22/13 5:46 PM Page 1


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089_001.qxd 9/22/13 6:38 PM Page 1


The MigrationBy Dan Gapen Sr.

At first the squawking seemed faintand unknown in its distance.Moments later a blurry grey lineappeared on the Dakota skyline.

Then, a more distinct clatter couldbe heard. It seemed to come from therapidly appearing grey line; a linewhich now wavered up and down ina rhythmic motion.

Geese -----? Maybe?Yes, it was a migration of snow

geese. Behind the first line come oth-ers too numerous to count.

Inside, my stomach chilled a bitand flipped. Yup ----------geese ontheir two week long migration fromthe Arctic Tundra regions of Canadahad arrived. There certainly had beenstopovers on their way, but here, nearDevils Lake, North Dakota, theyshould finally settle in for a spell. Astay which might see Bobber Anne,my gunning partner, and I gatherenough to fill our winter larders.

My heart tripped as I glanced atAnne, now sheltered behind an oldberry bush along the fence next to therutted grand farm road we’d set upon. Behind us a long watery slough

lay still and quiet in the late day sun.The only movement were soundsmade by several pairs of red wingedblackbirds who flitted and chirpedamong the ponds cattails. Slowly thegeese crept towards us as the orangesun settled on the western horizon.

“Anne hold on! Let them come.They seem ready to land.” I request-ed as the geese, now a block awaybegan to pitch and sway, as the twoblack long line was eyed.

Moments later the geese wereabove us dipping and flipping in theirrush to water. If I knew anythingabout goose hunting we may be in fora good shoot, maybe more if weplayed our cards right.

Within fifteen minutes an estimated4000 snow geese hit the water, someno more than 150 yards from our hid-ing spots. The brushy fence line heldgreat blind cover.

To our right, across the gravel road,a cut pea field, held feeding mallardsand gadwalls. This may just be aspot for our newly arriving geese tofeed in. We’d not shoot, just wait andsee what developed.

As these thoughts crossed my mindtwo small flocks of geese, six to ten,who’d followed the main group, set-tled with the mallard, not making it to

the pond.Ideal!!! Conditions for a good

shoot were building. We’d hold offtonight and plan for the morning.Cut pea fields are always a magnetfor feeding waterfowl.

Prior to the geese, Anne and I hadbeen picking off the odd mallard orGadwall as they traded betweenwater and pea field. In all we hadfour mallards, two teal, and threegadwalls.

“Anne, let’s leave this alone and let

the sunset. The geese will hold, I’msure. In the morning we should havea great shoot.” I commented as weboth hunkered down and enjoyed thescene about us.

According to the TV weather reportfoul weather was on its way tonight -even better! We could get lucky andhave the shoot of the year if weplayed our cards right. With the sundown we left and sneaked our wayback to the van.

Morning dawned cold and heavy

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090_001.qxd 9/22/13 7:09 PM Page 1

have failed, many morehave been successful.Planning and patience isyour key to success. It’shard to hold off shootingwhen geese, seeminglythe size of dinosaurs,pass overhead but if pa-tience is applied and youwait for birds to positionthemselves downwindaway from the flock be-fore you fire, rewardscan be over whelming.

So it was the nextmorning on our brushyfence line on a dirt roadin central North Dakotanear Devils Lake. No

other hunters found our spot and not asingle decoy were used. We took 21/2 limits each of geese and enoughducks to fill our freezers, all becauseof the ability to carry the patience andplanning on the spot at the time.

Hopefully, this column will inspiremy readers to try it the old fashionedway pass shooting with care. Untilnext time I want you to relax, savorand enjoy our Great Outdoors. It’syours to protect and save.

GAPEN.COM


“Ok Anne, you take thebig lead snow and I’llhome in on that giantblue in the flock’s mid-dle. Don’t shoot butonce, unless you’re sureof your target.” I request-ed as the birds increasedin size.

As they crossed theroad on our downwardside we raised and fired.Both of us shot twotimes. Four birds col-lapsed stone dead. I’dtaken a pair of blues, myfavorite bird and Anne apair of snows.

Upwind, to our right,nothing happened on the pond. Thesound of our shots had carried awaydownwind not effecting the goosepod. We continued to follow the rulesset down and collected a near limit ofgeese plus six more ducks. As morn-ing sun increased and the north windsettled the decision to let well enoughalone was made. With back packs fullof birds we sneaked back to the van.There’d be another shoot available to-morrow, all things being equal andweather conditions continued bad.

Though some of this type of shoots

down along the roadway,ideal for covering thesound of our shots.

Picking a spot 25 feetapart in some very thickbrush we settled in. We’dbe 100 yards downwindfrom the direct line be-tween pond and pea field.From here we’d pickbirds coming on ourdownwind side only, asgeese migrated from thepond to feed. Once set-tled in it was but minutesbefore a flock of 20 roseand headed for the peafield. They passed 75yards upward from where

we held. The wind was having someeffect on their flight pattern but notenough. We would wait!

Finally, as wind and cloud cover in-creased a flock of 12 took off andpassed directly over us 20 yards high.

“Hold on Anne! Let’s wait till theypass us on our downwind side. It willhappen -just wait.” I encouraged mypartner.

Sure enough, three small flocks lat-er sixteen birds headed our way slip-ping with the wind. They’d pass overlow and twenty yards downwind.

with clouds and the be-ginning of a north wind.Ideal waterfowl weather.

Years of waterfowlhunting has seen thiswriter pull back fromutilizing hundreds ofgoose decoys and theheavy sets of duck de-coys. Instead, I have mybest rewards by simplyoutsmarting the birds intheir natural settings andunderstanding their reac-tions to present condi-tions. This was one ofthem. If Anne and I heldback from overshooting,picked shots that would-n’t flush the flocks and positionedourselves properly we might have aday long or two day shoot. That is,we might have as long as some biggunned, overzealous gunners didn’tstumble on ours find.

Adding to our advantage, a lowground fog had settled in over thepond, fence row, road and pea field.We would easily gain a shooting posi-tion on the fence without being seen.

Parking our van at the sections endwe cautiously sneaked up the roadditch. A morning wind now blew

‘Bobber’ Anne,Thumper & ayoung Blue

Dan & Thumper with two of his

favorite blue geese.

091_001.qxd 9/22/13 7:07 PM Page 1


a slow, steady re-trieve. The key is tomaintain the targetdepth at the correctretrieval speed.Most anglers adjustthe swim bait headsto help achieve thisgoal. However, Ihave found whenadding spinnerbaitblades, particularlywillow leaf, it allowsfor better depth pre-cision and greaterspeed control. It al-

so creates additional flash and vibration trig-gering more bites.

When targeting deeper fish, I start withnumber 3 willow blades on each wire with1/8-ounce swim bait heads on all 5-wires.Typically I use Keitech Swing Impact FATbaits in 4.5-inch on all 5 heads.

I Pair the Gillraker with 7’6” Heavy Car-rot Stix Micro Guide series rod, Team Lew’sSuper Duty low profile real with a 6.4:1gear ratio and 25-pound Toray Super Hardfluorocarbon line. This setup works well forcasting distance, depth control and increas-es the ability to fight fatigue.

The fluorocarbon line allows for long,smooth casts and a smooth retrieval process.The great sensitivity and precision depth

types of situationsand depths, whichcreates more bites.

Like most rigs ofthis type, the Gill-raker was originallydesigned to targetdeeper fish holdingto structure, sus-pended fish in anon-feeding modeand aggressive fishthat are targetingschools of bait fish.

This setup is typ-ical of the rigs seenand read about since Paul made them fa-mous on Lake Guntersville when he wonthe FLW Open event. In that tournament,he targeted deeper fish utilizing an umbrel-la rig paired with large swim baits. Sincethen, as is the case with most baits varia-tions options have flooded the market mak-ing it more effective and versatile. All thesenew possibilities also make it very confusingfor even the most experienced angler.

The Gillraker by design is a 5-wire systemthat incorporates a 3/8-ounce head on thefront at the line tie. Add extra depth by in-creasing the weight of the swim bait headsor decrease depth and speed with lighterswim bait heads.

Typically this rig is most effective during

control are due to the sinking characteristicsof fluorocarbon.

Make no mistake, targeting deeper fishwith this type of rig still requires an accuratecast. The goal is not to present the rig in anoffensive manner and spooking the targetedschool.

Utilize onboard electronics during thisprocess to cast to targeted structure withoutgetting hung-up or allowing the boat posi-tion to get out of line. I typically place mul-tiple waypoints with my Humminbird1198c SI and use visible track lines to main-tain pinpoint accurate with my boat posi-tion and cast direction.

Use weighted hooks rigged weedlesswhen fishing around brush piles or standingtimber to help eliminate constant hang-upsassociated with exposed hooks. When thebite occurs, sweep the rod in a smooth mo-tion keeping steady pressure on the fish.

Another small modification to the Gill-raker that helps when fishing gnarly types ofstructures is to remove the top 2 baits andreplace with Lunker Lure’s Vibratronblades. The Vibratron blades decrease thechance for snags and will add additionalflash while creating a tremendous vibration.

The flash and vibration help bass locatethe rig from further away. It can also createadditional bites in dirty water when visibil-ity is restricted and bass are using their lat-eral lines to help locate prey.

Getting the most outof your Umbrella Rig

by Chad MorgenthalerEven though fishing can be extraordi-

nary, locating a really good school of fish attimes can be very trying. Bass roam a lotand are found in varying depths, so estab-lishing the most productive pattern can bechallenging. But as we witnessed a few yearsago with Paul Elias, the umbrella rig canhelp close the gap and make locating andcatching giant bags of fish a little less tricky.

The umbrella rig has been a hot topicover the past few years, spawning a hugenew segment in the tackle industry. Onething for sure, whether you’re for it oragainst it – it’s here to stay.

I’ve been on the fence about the rig untilI took a good ole fashion, umbrella rig shel-lacking a while back. Since then, I have be-come well acquainted with the bait and thepieces and parts that make it so attractive tobass.

The bait that I have tweaked, twisted andtorqued the most is the Gillraker by LunkerLure. I use this umbrella rig as a tool to lo-cate bass staging in varying depths andholding to different types of structure.

With a few small modifications, the baitbecomes very effective in several different

092_001.qxd 9/22/13 7:42 PM Page 1


In the fall, just as many bass can be foundshallow as deep. They relate to differenttypes of structure, but they have the samething in mind – feed up for the wintermonths.

Unfortunately, fishing the umbrella rig inand around shallow water structure can cre-ate a lot of difficulties and frustration,which has brought about the need for seri-ous bait modification.

In my experience, compact rigs work bestwith all 5-wires shortened by approximately2-inches. I still utilize 1 blade per wire, butI increase to number 3! willow blades forshallow water rather than number 3 typical-ly used in deeper water. The larger bladesallow for additional lift making the baitmore effective in this situation. The mainobjective is to lighten the rig by replacingseveral components.

To target shallow water bass, I file thehead of the Gillraker decreasing the lead asmuch as possible without compromisingthe rig’s integrity. I then add 3 swim baitson 1/8-ounce weighted hooks and 2Vibratron spinner blades on the top 2-wires.

I also changeup my swim bait combina-tion by using 4.5 inch Keitech SwingImpact FAT for the center wire. For thebottom two wires, I prefer Zoom SwimminFluke Jr. The baits are smaller but will stilltrigger the same bite and the decreased

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resistance when retrieving the rig, makes iteasier to fish.

When fishing shallow with few obstruc-tions, I utilize Lunker Lures 1/8-ounce ballswim bait heads. This model has a springmolded around the hook shank that allowsfor secure swim bait placement, which willincrease the bite to catch ratio.

To help aid in the entire process of shal-low water umbrella rigging, I typicallyswitch to 7’ extra heavy Carrot Stix MicroGuide Series rod paired with Lew’s SuperDuty reel spooled with the same ToraySuper Hard fluorocarbon line.

The whole point to these modifications isto make this rig less cumbersome to throwand more like a spinnerbait, which is easierto fish and cast. The modifications allowfor literally no fatigue and precision casting.It offers the ability to cover a lot of waterquickly and efficiently while still maintain-ing the “shad school” effectiveness of thebait.

Hundreds of hours of trial and error havegone into creating these modifications. Ifeel they are adaptable to a variety of situa-tions with minimal amount of effort andexpense. They can be highly effective atlocating and catching fish during certaintimes of the year.

Always remember to keep an open mindwhile on the water and be prepared to makechanges to fit your specific needs.

A special “Thanks” to all of my sponsors:Jasper Engines and Transmissions, PhoenixBoats, Lunker Lure and Hawg Caller,Carrot Stix, Missile Baits, Humminbird,Minn Kota, Plano, Toray and SvandaChevrolet.

Make sure and checkout my web sitewww.chadmorgenthaler.com. You can alsofind me on FaceBook “ChadMorgenthaler” and Twitter@CCMorgenthaler and Facebook ChadMorgenthaler.

LanceDennison of Victoria

at the Depot Bait & Tackle

Shopin Victoria.

Lance caught

some nice eaters in a

private pond.

093_001.qxd 9/22/13 7:42 PM Page 1


The Weinbrenner ShoeCompany Reintroduces

Wood N’ Stream Outdoor Footwear

-- Wood N’ Stream provides a level of comfort in a hunting

boot that is unmatched in the industry --

MERRILL, Wis. – Weinbrenner ShoeCompany, a leading manufacturer and pio-neering force in the American footwear in-dustry, has announced that it will reintro-duce its Wood N’ Stream OutdoorFootwear line for 2013. Established in1957, Wood N’ Stream will offer both do-mestic and imported lines that featureproven technology leveraging Weinbren-ner’s extensive industry experience andmanufacturing capability for high value,high performance products. All Wood N’Stream styles will be available for purchasein retail outlets nationally starting in Sep-tember.

For nearly 60 years sportsmen haveknown the name Wood N’ Stream and thehigh quality, handcrafted performance out-door footwear it has produced. This yearWood N’ Stream introduces a new line ofhunting boots with a wide range of styles

that offer comfort technologies unlike any-thing that the hunting industry has everseen and a line that is made in the USA.

Both the true sportsman and the outdoorenthusiast will appreciate the superior com-fort, durable construction and quality ma-terials that go into each pair of Wood N’Stream boots. This year Wood N’ Streamintroduces industry leading innovations tothe outdoor footwear market with the Vis-ible Gel System (VGS) and the GEN-flex3Series. The state of the art, interactive VGSlessens repetitive impact stress in the heelwith three layers of shock absorption,which reduces stress on the knees and back,and can withstand 300 pounds per squareinch compared to the industry standard 75PSI is most competing footwear. The VGSexpands into a nine-layer system with the

GEN-flex3 Series, which eliminates thebreak-in period for a Goodyear Welt con-structed boot and gives you that “ahhhh”feeling from the first time you try them on.

“Sportsmen have enjoyed our perform-ance outdoor footwear since Wood N’Stream was first handcrafted by Weinbren-ner Shoe Company nearly 60 years ago.With a tradition of boots that are built towithstand the harshest outdoor conditions,we are adding a level of comfort that is un-matched in the industry to provide superi-or value for a high-quality hunting boot.There is a growing demand for domesticmade products and we are proud to intro-duce our American Heritage collection,with three new lines that are made righthere in the USA at a price point that ourcompetitors charge for boots importedfrom overseas,” said Weinbrenner Presi-dent Patrick Miner.

For 2013, Wood N’ Stream has createda wide range of styles that can be enjoyedanywhere outdoors. These ‘all-terrain vehi-cles for your feet’ offer options that includea Goodyear Welt construction, a widerange of insulation levels depending onyour climate (including 3M Thinsulate Ul-tra Insulation), waterproofing (X-StreamWaterproof and eVent), and Mossy OakInfinity camouflage.

The full line of Wood N’ Stream out-door footwear is now available prices start

at $99.99. For more information about Wood N’

Stream, visit: www.weinbrennerusa.com

Carrying on the family tradition of hunting at Fornoff Farms on

opening day with three generationsof dove hunters. Dave Fornoff withson Grant and grandson Andrew.Harry thanks Dave for including him on another great opening day

of dove season.

094_001.qxd 9/22/13 8:02 PM Page 1


by Keli Van CleavePinkOutdoors.comPinkOutdoors.com

The moisture over the Rockies was literally being squeezed from both sides by the high to the east and thedry air rotating in from the Great Basin around the upper-level storm. This squeezing resulted in a muchmore vertical profile of moisture than would have occurred without either system present. The high over theMidwest also drove additional air thousands of feet uphill from the Plains to the foothills and Rockies. Thisaction released extra moisture and further enhanced the rainfall.

The high over the Midwest acted like a giant roadblock and turned what would have been a several-hourevent into a week-long ordeal. The result was a plumeof heavy rain that re-fired on an almost daily basis fromColorado to surrounding states.

While the Flood of 1976 was more intense over asmall area, the Flood September 2013 lasted nearly aweek and covered hundreds of square miles. Rainfallexceeded 12 inches at a number of locations.

Despite the enormity of the damage and the dangersto residents, the excessive rainfall has provided relieffor our drought-stricken state and will alleviate the wildfire threat moving forward. However, it has put adamper on hunting and fishing for the next few months.

My guess is that this flood will be the most damaging ever in Colorado history. Part of this is due to howbroad the inundation was, from Colorado Springs to Wyoming. Population growth is also part of the story.Colorado now has 5.2 million people, almost double that of 1976.

Contact Keli at: [email protected] • www.KeliVanCleave.com

WOWWOWAdventure Sports Outdoors' Exclusive SectionFor Women...Taking The Outdoors By Storm!

Women’s Outdoor WorldWomen’s Outdoor World

Disaster Strikes ColoradoWhile I have been writing for this magazine for years, never did I

think I could document two natural disasters in my home State duringmy lifetime. The disastrous flood in 1976 in Colorado may have beenmore intense; the Flood of 2013 occurred over a much larger area andwas significantly longer lasting.

Flash floods in Colorado are uncommon, but not rare. The rugged ter-rain combined with access to moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and thetropical Pacific tends to stack the deck.

Moisture is drawn in from the Gulf, Pacific or both. The sun heats theground uniformly, but the higher elevations give rising thermals anextra boost, compared to lower elevations over the Plains to the eastand Great Basin to the west. As that air rises, it cools and forms tow-ering clouds. These clouds then release the moisture in the form ofheavy rainfall. Typically, these storms are short-lived and are pushedalong by strong winds high in the atmosphere.

During the Flood of July 1976, a small cluster of thunderstorms erupted. However, rather than movealong, the storms remained nearly stationary for several hours and centered over the Big Thompson RiverCanyon as well as Poudre Canyon; the very canyon in which I grew up.

According to the “National Weather Service”, the 1976 storm dropped 12 inches rain in three hours and8 inches of rain in 1 hour. The single wall of water rushing downstream along the Big Thompson River caughthundreds of people off guard and led to 145 fatalities and over $40 million in damage in 1976.

A little over three decades later, a similar, but much longer-lasting and more widespread flooding eventset up over Colorado and the event spanned Sept. 8-15, 2013.

LADIES! Send Your Photos to: Emai l : ASOCathy@gmail .com

Mail: 1408 Downing Ct., Tremont, IL 61568

My father looking through hisPink Alpen Optics at the flood

095_001.qxd 9/23/13 1:52 AM Page 1


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tattoos wouldbe visible dur-ing competi-tion — whichis believed to bea first for thepageant.

Vail said, “Iremember justasking God,praying forpeace and forthe things Ic o u l d n ’ t

change that I was being made fun of for andmore to grant me the courage to stand up formyself.”

“So when I was old enough and I wasthinking, hey, I want to share my story and letpeople know you can overcome anything.That’s when I decided I wanted to get a tattooof it—to remind me of my past and guide methrough my future.”

Vail entered her first competition just ninemonths ago on the advice of her commandingofficer. But when she was told she wouldn’t beable to use archery as her talent, she had topick another performance focus…and quick.

So chose to sing opera, “I’d never sungopera in my life,” Vail said.

But 48 hours later she had mastered aPavarotti piece she found on YouTube andwon the Miss Kansas talent competition.

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Sgt. Theresa Vail!While Theresa Vail didn’t become the

2014 Miss America —the tattoo-wearing,bowhunting, M16-shooting National Guardsoldier made it all the way into the top-10group of semifinalists Sunday night.

Theresa’s a senior at Kansas State Universi-ty (majoring in chemistry and Chinese) andhopes for a career with the FBI before settlingdown as a dentist for the Army. 22-year-oldTheresa has served in the Kansas Army Na-tional Guard for 5 years. With them, sheholds awards as Distinguished Honor Gradu-ate at the Army’s School of Ordnance as a me-chanic, and expert marksman with the M16A2 rifle.

Miss Kansas was a hit with folks after theylearned about her background, patriotism,and skills not typically associated with a beau-ty pageant contestant.

As a teen, Theresa found her strength andconfidence when she started hunting andcompetitively shooting, such is the reason shechose her platform. She! believes youngwomen will find independence and self-es-

teem throughparticipationi nactivities! thatgenerally onlyboys are in-volved in,such as hunt-ing, camping,shooting, etc.

T h e r e s aq u o t e s ,“When girlslearn theyhave what it takes to “hang with the guys,”they feel a sense of!internal strength, like theycan conquer the world and take care of them-selves. It is an immense! confidence-boosterand a great way for young girls to find them-selves. This takes them out of thepartying/drinking scene, and into the mostnatural of environments.

She’s also a skydiver, boxer, and a mechan-ic (or “grease monkey,” as she notes in herpageant video). She had to cease motorcycleracing after breaking all the fingers in her righthand, but Vail can still skin a deer and pos-sesses a fab squirrel stew recipe.

What turned many heads in the 22-year-old’s direction was what revealed in the swim-suit competition — and that again burststereotypes.Vail first announced on her blog that her two

Congratulations to Isabella Hilstfor shooting her first dove shoot.

She is the daughter of Eric &Cathy Hilst, which makes her

Harry’s second cousin.

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by A.K. Thompson “SOLD!”

S e p t e m b e r14th was a crazyday to say theleast. In the smalltown of Pawnee,Illinois sit a fewlarge QuonsetHuts, filled witheverything tomake the out-doorsman’s heart skip a beat – seized or aban-doned hunting property. About every 4 years thestate of Illinois holds an auction of these items totry and recoup some of the costs associated withinvestigations, day-to-day expenses, and to alsofunnel more funds into the Department of NaturalResources budget – every penny goes to good use,plus it is a great place to get your hands on somequality items at a good price.

This year saw hundreds of tree stands, a fewhundred pounds of antlers, tents, fishing poles,many bows, several boats and other odds andends. It was quite a sight to behold. With around700 registered bidders, myself included, everyitem was sold. I’m still kicking myself because Ididn’t go bigger on a Wenonah canoe, but I did gettwo boxes of antlers and a crossbow that Iam really excited about.

I will be crafting one-of-a-kind DirtChurch antler items, which I will sell in thefuture—start thinking Christmas pres-ents, folks! I had the pleasure of speakingwith Officer Steve Swance for a bit, and hefilled me in on the particulars of the auc-tion. Basically, there are several waysitems end up in the DNR clearing house inPawnee. The watercrafts are usually foundafter floods, and if they aren’t registered

properly IDNR has little chance of locating theowner. If the owner is not located, the boat endsup on the auction grounds. Tree stands (of whichthere were nearly 300) tend to be ones found onstate property without proper identification,which were left after season’s end.

It is pretty simple. If you break the rules, DNRcan, and will, take your stuff. The auction was aton of fun, but more than that it was an eye-open-er. It really is crucial to familiarize yourself withthe Hunting/Trapping and Fishing Regulationguides each year, as rules change yearly. I havealways kept one on the coffee table and one in thetruck, and read themcover to cover. As we allknow from taking ourhunter education certifi-cation courses, not know-ing the rules is not a validexcuse for breaking them.

Frustrating? Sure.Necessary? Yes. The rulesand regulations are inplace to keep hunters andfishermen safe – and toalso protect Illinois’ pre-cious flora and fauna, butyou already know that, so

I’m not going to preach. Basically, just the same asdriving a car, hunting, trapping and fishing areconsidered a privilege, not a right, by law—and aswe know, any privilege can be taken away if youdon’t abide the rules.

For as much as I loved seeing all the awesomebuys of the day at the auction, I know that behindmost of the items are stories related to poaching,spot-lighting, trespassing, unlicensed hunting andfishing, etc. The list of offences goes on and on. Sowhat is my take-away? I really just want to stressbeing familiar with the regulation guide books.They are free at many locations, and available for

free download on the website www.dnr.illinois.govThe website is also full of other information, aswell as a convenient place to purchase and printyour hunting/fishing license and order permits.This website, and the guides, takes all of theguesswork out of enjoying the outdoors in Illinois.

I don’t want any of my Dirt Church friends toend up with their property on the next auctionblock, so educate yourself and be safe out in thefield!

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097_001.qxd 9/23/13 2:03 AM Page 1


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children would crawl intomy lap and nestle secure-ly as I gently rocked themto sleep. As I think abouthow innocent they werethen, compared to thegrown-up challenges theyface today, I am joltedback to reality, and hunt-ing. A grey squirrelscampers through therows of corn, plucks anear, and drags it awayalong with the stalk. It jumps and zigzagsto the edge of the field, corn securely in itsmouth. It is storing up for the wintermonths and I delight in watching its an-tics. Methodically, I check the field forany sign of deer or movement alerting methat the deer are moving. No movement.I slowly shift and slide farther back intomy tree stand to watch, listen and wait.

Just about the time my stomach startsto growl with hunger, another rain squallmoves in and drenches the field. I amprotected a little bit in the oak tree.While some have fallen, most of the leavesare still on the trees. Wind has picked up,and I am getting bonked on the head byacorns. First just one or two then, ping,

ping, ping, the acornspelt me then drop to themetal tree stand beforebouncing to the ground.Ouch! I am going to sitthe storm out and stay inmy stand until the down-pour lets up.

About fifteen minuteslater, I see my huntingguide walking toward me.I gather my binoculars,range finder, back pack,

Ozonics, and bow, and climb down thetree. “See anything?” He whispers. “Nodeer, just a squirrel.” I softly reply. Hetakes my bow and as we walk through thefood plot, all of a sudden we see tracks inthe field, big tracks!

They are fresh and 15 yards from whereI sat. They have been made since the rainstorm and are crisp and deeply cut.

Surely they are from a big buck sinceno other tracks are beside them. I raisemy eyebrows and squeeze them together,puzzled. How could I sit in the stand nofurther than 15 yards away and not noticethis buck? Was it the squirrel that dis-tracted me? Was it the rain? Was it theleaves still on the trees that blocked myright side view? Did I nod to sleep andnot realize it? My mind is racing a millionmiles an hour trying to replay every

minute of the hunt. The obsession has begun for Grey

Ghost. It actually started three years agowhen I sat in this stand and saw a bigbuck right at dark but couldn’t manage tofire an arrow at him. That obsession grewas I found shed antlers last spring, andnow continues as he has eluded me onceagain. A doe would be great to fill myfreezer and gain practice, but I am strate-gically preparing for the next encounterwith Grey Ghost, a mysterious creature inthe mist.

Anita lives in Grand Rapids, MN andis the mother of two adult children.She has been a hairstylist for thirty

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Rain rhythmically bounces off the bowcradled in my hands. I’m not necessarilycold, just getting damp as my layeredcamouflage clothing absorbs the drizzle.It’s opening day of archery whitetail deerhunting season, and it doesn’t matterwhat the weather is doing; I want to sit ina tree and contemplate life. I not onlywant but need time to clear my head andthink about things important to me.

As I sit in the tree fifteen feet above theground, the sky changes from black to vi-olet and finally orange. The sun peeksover the tops of the oak trees. Birds chirpa cheerful good morning. A goldenstream of daylight pours onto the cornthat was planted to feed wildlife. Thefood plot is smaller than a football fieldand is surrounded by trees. Half-eatenstalks of corn wave rhythmically in thewet wind. The movement is comfortingto me as I watch the stalks gently swayback and forth.

It reminds me of the days when my

The Hunt for Grey

Ghostby

Anita Williams

098_001.qxd 9/23/13 9:06 AM Page 1


accompany her husband but after encourage-ment from other lady hunters in camp shebought a bow and the following year shot thebiggest bear of the season.

There are several reasons why I and theseother women keep coming back to The BearCamp besides the adventure of hunting thesemajestic bears. Once you arrive you’ll noticeseveral wall tents all of which have woodenfloors. Be prepared to be amazed when youinspect any one of the three cooking/diningtents. A full sized refrigerator, stove andmicrowave allow hunters to get as fancy orbasic with the cooking as they wish. Outsideeach tent sit gas grills for those who prefer toprepare their brats and burgers that way.Since I enjoy cooking I take full advantage ofthe well equipped kitchen and pass on whatcan be prepared on a grill.

Generators provide the electricity for all thelights, the kitchen appliances and the threechest freezers. On average, Boecher uses about9 gallons of gas a day to keep everything run-ning. Two stainless steel tables in the skin-

guild or slowing down on outdooractivities but not Miss Joy.

Elaine is a very skillful bowhunterand she arrowed an extremely nicebear this past fall after only one dayin camp. She is 78 and no strangerto the outdoors and hunting. Shehas been to the camp three years ina row and is a great ambassador for retiredwomen wanting to take up bowhunting. Herexpertise on local flora and fauna is amazing asis her commitment to bowhunting.

Then there’s Roxie who recently retired andjust started hunting with a bow. She now hasher first bear rug hanging on the wall. Eventhough her husband doesn’t hunt he willsometimes sit with her on stand. Heexpressed the pride he has in what Roxie hasbeen able to accomplish in just a few years. It’sgreat to be on hand to experience someoneelse’s success.

Denise, a retired nurse, is also a frequentvisitor to the camp. Photography is her pas-sion but she never hesitates to accompany herhusband out on stand with camera in hand. Itis not unusual to hear her heading out at themidnight hour to sit for hours capturing pho-tos of the incredibly beautiful night sky.Because of her career in health industry she isvery critical on how clean a place is and eversince her first visit she has given The BearCamp a “two thumbs up” rating.

Liz, a physics teacher from Ohio, used to

fortunate to have taken a bear. Previously I’dhunting with five other Canadian outfittersbut since I found The Bear Camp this is theonly place I now go to.

I was their first woman hunter but over theyears I’ve certainly not been their last ladybowhunter. During the past several visits tothe camp I’ve been privileged to share it withsome remarkable outdoors women all ofwhom are still very young at heart.

When the Boechers designed the camp Iknow they didn’t anticipate having so manywomen clients. Their goal was simply tomake this wilderness tent camp comfortablefor everyone. That is hard to imagine whenhunters see the amenities they provide whenyou consider that the camp is located about 30miles west of Armstrong, Ontario. Armstrongis probably 3-3.5 hours (approximately 140miles) from Thunder Bay along a road withmany breathtaking views but next to no reststops. While traveling this length of highwayit is not unusual to see an occasional moose orwolf. And there is plenty of time to listen toan audio book or to tune in your favorite sta-tion on satellite radio before reaching camp.

Miss Joy, who is 86, has been at this camptwice in the last four years accompanied by herson and grandsons. For her picking blueberries, riding 4-wheelers and fishing alongthe Jack Fish River are just a few of the reasonsI’ve seen her smiling face in camp so often.Most women her age are busy with a quilting

LADIES WELCOME!LADIES WELCOME!In the last 25

years that I’vebeen hunting bearwith a bow, I’vetaken my fairshare of these bru-ins as I’ve seentheir populationcontinue toincrease andextend theirrange. SinceOntario discon-tinued the spring

season I now just hunt these amazing creaturesin the fall and for me it is great preparation forthe whitetail season. Ontario’s season alwaysopens August 15 and I’m always sitting in atree on the first day. That means I have tohave my bow tuned and my shooting skillshoned before then. So while most whitetailhunters are just thinking about shooting theirpractice broadheads, I’ve put in my time at therange or at our target butt in the back yardmonths before in preparation for bear hunt-ing.

I’ve been going to The Bear Camp to huntblack bear in the fall since 2002 shortly afterDuane and Barry Boecher opened their out-fitting business. During each visit I’ve been

by MarleneOdahlen-Hinz


Tents at camp are very comfortable.

099_001.qxd 9/23/13 9:24 AM Page 1

they can be.Many of the sites are located near a small

stream, lake or pond and it’s not unusuallyto hear the gurgling of water as it gentlyflows over rocks or hear the splash of amoose as it passes through the area. Withaccess to over 800 square miles of primebear habitat the Boecher brothers knowwhere the big bears are likely to be found.In all my years of hunting here I have neversat the same site twice. Each year I choosea different spot and have been very satisfiedwith the quality of bear I’ve seen and takenwhile hunting. I’ve been fortunate enoughto have arrowed three Pope and Youngbears with them. This past year I shot mytwentieth bear that we estimated would tipthe scale around 380 pounds.

You won’t find a website for The BearCamp. Their reputation as being a topnotch outfit is fueled by word of mouth.One hunter told his wife he was planningon booking with the Boechers every yearuntil he dies. I plan to be back again nextyear and have been asked to set up awomen’s only hunt. I don’t think I’ll haveany problem finding a group of ladies whoare up for the challenge.

When not afield, there is a practice rangeavailable to check the accuracy of your pinsthat may have gotten jostled during thedrive to camp. An inexpensive fishinglicense can be purchased for anyone bitten

by the fishing bug. The LittleJack Fish River offers up somenice walleyes. Near camp thereare also small streams to fish fortrout. The wild blueberriesabound near camp and add a spe-cial addition to my morning pan-

ning tent are big enough to accommodateprocessing even the largest of bear. Thispast year I brought along my vacuum pack-er so that when I shot a bear I could boneit out and freeze the meat thereby savingme a lot of work once I returned home.

The icing on the cake is the shower trail-er the Boucher brothers have designed.The 40 gallon tank never seems to run outof hot water no matter how many huntersare in camp. The two separate showerareas with sink and counter allows forenough space for the hunter who wants touse a hair dryer, curling iron, electricrollers or a shaving kit. With all thesecomforts of home I have to remind myselfthat I’m in a primitive area and that thebrothers set up all of this just two weeksbefore their first group of hunters arrives.

Once unpacked either Duane or BarryBoecher takes you to one of their 53 activesites. After identifying the major trail thebears use entering and leaving the bait sta-tion they will help you select the best spotto cover that trail. While you are hangingyour stand or setting up a blind they willhelp clear shooting lanes. One thing I’venotices as I’ve gotten older is that I’m notas strong as I use to be so I now askBoecher to give my tree stand straps onelast tug to make sure they are as tight as


cakes.Until next month, don’t forget to take

your daughter, granddaughter or niecebowhunting.

LADIES… Cont’d. from previous pg.

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WOW!

100_001.qxd 9/23/13 9:23 AM Page 1

Panfish Monterey with Wild RiceIt's hard to go wrong with any kind of

baked fish dish, and I promise this one willnot disappoint! In addition to being deli-cious and hearty, it's also incrediblyhealthy.

3 garlic cloves (minced)3 tablespoons butter10-12 panfish fillets1/2 cup white wine or chicken broth2 cups monterey jack cheese shredded2 tablespoons fresh parsley (minced)Salt & pepper to taste2 cups wild rice cookedFresh dill (minced) for garnish

In a skillet, sauté minced garlic in butterfor 1 minute. Add fish and cook untilwhite and flaky. Place into to greased glassbaking dish and set aside. In the same skil-let, cook wine or broth cook until it'sreduced. Pour over the fish and top withcheese, parsley and dill. Bake for 10 min-utes until the cheese is melted. Serve atopcooked wild rice for a dinner you'll neverforget.

Fish and Bean SaladEven if you have kids who "hate salad,"

they'll go crazy over this dish! And here's ahint for any salad: refrigerate your platesbefore serving. A salad on a cold plate isjust a better salad!

16 ounces of navy beans1 cup fish (cooked and flaked)

1 cup fresh green beans (chopped)1 cup celery (chopped)1/2 cup red bell pepper (chopped)2 tablespoons parsley (chopped)3/4 cup fat free Italian dressing1/2 teaspoon purple onion (minced)1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leavesFresh greens for garnish

In a medium bowl, mix all the ingredi-ents and refrigerate. Place lettuce leavesand greens on a place a scoop of salad ontop of the greens. Enjoy!

Moose SpaghettiWho doesn't love spaghetti? I have yet

to meet one person. And with the rich fla-vor of moose meat, those Italians wouldwish they had moose walking around theircountry. No moose in the freezer? Thensubstitute ground venison and enjoy.

1 pound ground moose1 large onion (chopped)30 ounces of tomato sauce2 cloves garlic (minced)1 bay leaf1 tablespoon basil (minced) or 1 teaspoondried basil

2 teaspoons oregano (minced) or 3/4 tea-spoons dried basil2 teaspoons sugarSalt and pepper to tasteFresh mushroomsParmesan cheese shreddedSpaghetti noodles (Cook noodles accord-ing to package instructions)

In a skillet, cook and crumble groundmoose and chopped onion. Add theremainder of ingredients except cheese andnoodles. Reduce heat to simmer and coverfor one hour. Remove bay leaf. Serve overcooked noodles and sprinkle with cheese.

Venison Enchilada CasseroleDishes like this one are fun and easy to

make. They're even more fun to eat! It'swonderful comfort food and a way to bringa little heat to your family on a cold winterday. Hope you like it!

1 pound ground venison1 cup onion (chopped)1 tablespoon butter2 tablespoons garlic (minced)2 tablespoons flour1 cup beef broth1 tablespoons taco seasoning8 ounces tomato sauce4 wheat tostadas


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Monterey cheese (shredded)2 jalapeno peppers (sliced diced and seed-ed)1/2 cup chopped cilantro (reserve some forgarnish)

Heat a skillet and add venison andonion. Cook until crumbled and brown.Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a smallsaucepan melt butter and sauté garlic for 1minute. Sprinkle flour in skillet, stirringconstantly. Add broth, cilantro, peppersand tomato sauce. Bring to a boil and addhalf the tomato mixture to your venison(reserving the other half for later). Placeone tortilla in a 9-inch pie pan. Add onecup meat mixture and another tortilla, thenrepeat the layering and end with a tortillaon top. Spread remaining tomato saucemixture on top of the last tortilla and topwith cheese. Bake for 15 minutes. Garnishwith cilantro and jalapenos.

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hairless “coy-ote” in recentyears. Discov-ery Newsreports that agroup of scien-tists such asbiologist! BarryO ’ C o n n o r

believe that the “chupacabrasyndrome” is actually causedby! Sarcoptes scabiei, a skin-burrowing mite. The mite digs into a coy-ote’s skin and in great numbers can causehair loss or build a hard, leathery skin in thehapless canines. The loss of fur is a majordisability in coyotes and may cause the ani-mals to behave desperately, explaining theiraggressive nature towards humans and live-stock.

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for what the creature couldbe. Thompson later discov-ered from his neighborsthat the dog-like animalhad been seen before in theneighborhood, usually nearchicken coops. Based onphotos of the creature andreports of its activities, offi-cials from the Mississippi Department ofWildlife and Fisheries are pretty sure thatthe animal is in fact, a very ill coyote. Oneexplanation of the animal’s appearance isthe possibility of mange, but the residentsof Lena believe there is more to the story.

“They said it was one of them chu-pacabras. [...] That’s what I’d call it becauseit looks just like it,” Hewharrell said.

Hewharrel is not the first hunter to claimthat he may have killed a legendary chu-pacabra, a mythical creature that feeds onthe blood of goats and other domesticatedcreatures. Unlike other legendary animalssuch as the Loch Ness Monster or Bigfoot,sightings of chupacabras have only beenfrequent in the last decade or so. Many sci-entists consider the creature a cryptid, or ananimal that only exists in folk tales.

The residents of Lena are not so sure.“My dog, even when it’s dead, my dog’s

been scared of it,” Hewharrell said.Hewharrell’s catch is not the first case of

“Because these animals are greatly weak-ened, they’re going to have a hard timehunting,” O’Connor said. “So they may beforced into attacking livestock because it’seasier than running down a rabbit or adeer.”

Check out the video of this animal &more photos on the web.

Matt Hewharrellof Lena, Mississippiwas hunting forraccoons when hespotted a pair ofglowing eyes in thedark. He would lat-er tell WJTV thathe initially thoughtit was a coyote. Unlike a coyote, however,the creature was nearly completely hairlessand had a strange blue-tinted color. It wasfollowing Hewharrell between bales of hayin a neighbor’s barn when Hewharrell saidit started behaving aggressively.

“When I was standing right yonder, hehid right here. And I was seeing the teethand red eyes. It looked like he was going tojump down there and I didn’t give him thechance,” said Hewharrell.

The hunter fired once with his .22 andmade sure another round was in the cham-ber before going to inspect the strange ani-mal. When Hewharrell showed the carcassto the owner of the property, WayneThompson, both men had no explanation

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102_001.qxd 9/23/13 2:57 AM Page 1


-Stainless is not as easy to sharpen and keepsharp, I don’t feel like the steel is maintainable.Plus stainless: Won’t rust as easily.

How can you tell if the balance of a particularknife is best for you?

-Depends on knife use. If you’re going to throwit, it should be center balanced. Chopping knifeshould have weight forward. Field dress/ generalpurpose, I like handle weight so it doesn’t fall outof your hand.

What do you look for in a field dressing knife,also a skinning knife?

-Field dressing: Good point, 2 ! inch blade,with a small handle to maneuver while workinginside an animal large or small.

-Skinning: Point above center with a largeswooping curve.

What is the easiest way to sharpen a knife forthe average outdoorsman?

-Any of the KME / Lansky sharpeners that holdthe correct angle is a great way to start to keepyour angles correct until you are better at it.Maintaining on an Arkansas type stone. Mostimportant to finish on a strop.

Does the weight of a knife make a difference? -Yes. It depends whether is a chopping knife,

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I admit it I am a knifeman. I really appreciate agood knife for huntingand camping.

In order to tap into awealth of knowledge Icontacted L.T. Wrightmaker of Blind Horse knives and the following arehis answers and advice on finding just the rightknife for you.

What should an outdoorsman look for in aknife?

-First, it should be American made by a compa-ny that will stand behind their work 100%. I like aroughly 4 inch blade at least 1/8 in thick. It shouldbe large enough handle to be comfortable but nottoo large to be unmanageable. The sheath shouldsecurely hold the knife but be extremely comfort-able whether you are sitting, standing, etc. Readilyaccessible sheath at all times.

What is the plus and negative side of carbonsteel to stainless steel?"

-Carbon is easy to sharpen, to get a razor sharpedge. I believe it’s more user friendly all aroundand it is American made steel. Negative to carbon,it will rust.

What can one do to preserve their knife fromrust and corrosion?

-Keep it oiled well. Or force a patina by soakingit in apple cider vinegar or mustard to force a pati-na on the knife. If you don’t do that the carbon willchange colors.

What to look for in purchasing a hunting orcamping knife or all around knife?

-Always buy a knife designed around what isyour main task for that knife. Buy it with a job inmind.

bushcraft, etc. What to look for in a knife used for camping

chores? -Around a 4 inch blade. Large handle so hands

don’t get fatigued from squeezing knife all day. Ilike a saber ground blade.

Handle length and how a knife should fit in thehand?

-Depends on the task. Field dressing: smaller allthe way around. Bushcraft: larger handle thanhand so I have plenty of places to move my handaround for long term cutting.

What to consider when choosing a sheath forhunting? Camping?"

-Hunting: accessibility, you need to get to yourknife. Can you put it in and out with one hand?What type of retention? Depends on your personalpreference. button snap versus open top.

-Camping: Sheath that has the fire steel loopright on it, open grommet holes so you can tetheror tie small gear to it.

What to Lookfor in a Knife!!! By Bob [email protected]

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The Blind Horse Knives Frontier Trapper shown in saber grind.

The Blind Horse Knives Woodsman Pro excels in hunting, bushcrafting, and many other tasks.

103_001.qxd 9/23/13 3:09 AM Page 1


superior pointability. This coupled with pinpointaccuracy will make you a success either on theclays range or wing shooting,” adds John Parsons,Blaser Shotgun Manager.

The F3 Game is available in 12 or 20 gauge, withbarrel lengths of 28” or 29”. The overall weight isapproximately 7 lbs. The elegant Prince of Walesstyle grip with English forearm will make you theenvy of any hunting party.

Starting at a MSRP of $6,695, the F3 Gamecomes with wood grade 4 and is available in thepremium models Luxus, Grand Luxe, Baronesseand the new Baron with long velvet black sideplates and Wood grade 7.

NRA OUTDOORS TO AWARD ALBERTA WHITETAIL HUNT,

PRIZE PACKAGE VIA FACEBOOK CONTEST

Winner will go behind the scenes with NRA Out-doors on an inspection visit with one of its newestCanadian outfitters

Outdoorsmen and women who long for a chanceto work in the hunting industry can get a firsthandexperience seeing what it’s like, as well as hunt gi-ant Canadian whitetails by winning the NRA Out-doors latest Facebook contest.

NRA Outdoors will send one lucky winner to Al-

berta, Canada this November to be a part of theinspection team visiting one of the organization’snewest Canadian outfitters. As part of the in-spection process, the winner, along with a mem-ber of the NRA Outdoors team, will hunt some ofprovince’s top whitetail territory for a monsterAlberta buck.

The contest is now through noon EST onWednesday, Oct 9. To be eligible, entrants mustbe at 21 years old and possess a valid, U.S. pass-port. For a chance to win, entrants must”Like”�the NRA Outdoors Facebook page Face-book.com/NRAOutdoors as well as click on the“Contest” tab and enter name and email address.Once successfully entered into the contest, en-trants will receive an email confirming their en-try. The winner will be chosen at random from theentries and notified via email. Those who already“Like” NRA Outdoors on Facebook need only clickon the “Contest” tab and submit their contact in-formation.

The NRA Outdoors Alberta Whitetail prizepackage includes a fully outfitted hunt plusmeals, lodging and game prep. The dates of thehunt are Nov 10 - 17. The winner of the contestwill be required to purchase their own roundtripairfare to Edmonton, Alberta, as well as the re-quired licenses and tags (approximately $500).Taxidermy and costs associated with the ship-ment of trophies will be the responsibility of thewinner and are not included in the prize package.

www.NRAOutdoors.com

COLORADO STATE SENATORSOUSTED FOLLOWING GUN CONTROL RECALL VOTES

Two Colorado state senators were voted out ofoffice yesterday in a hotly contested recall votethat many are using to gauge the nation’s reactionto the passage of strict state-level gun controllaws earlier this year.Senate President John Morse and Senator AngelaGiron were both key supporters of Colorado’s newgun laws, which among other provisions requirebackground checks on private firearm sales andrestrict magazines to a maximum 15-round capac-ity. Both Morse and Giron, members of the Demo-cratic Party, will be replaced by Republicans.

Along with states like Ca, Conn & NY, Colopassed some of the nation’s strictest firearm lawsin the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy in December2012. While supporters of each state’s new gunlaws are facing heavy opposition and challengesfrom gun rights activists, Colorado was seen as aparticularly important test case due to the state’srelatively even numbers of gun-control-supportingDemocrats and Republicans advocating gunrights.!

The state had also been in the spotlight follow-ing an announcement from Colorado-based Mag-pul, a manufacturer of 30-round magazines andfirearm accessories, which indicated that theywould be relocating their business operations due

to the laws’ passage.While gun rights supporters are celebrating a

victory in Colorado, a bill was passed by the Cali-fornia State Assembly yesterday that would pro-hibit the sale of new semiautomatic rifles with de-tachable magazines. The bill is expected to quick-ly move through the state’s senate and onto signa-ture by Governor Jerry Brown.

BLASER F3 GAME SHOTGUNNOW AVAILABLE IN THE US

With hunting season here Blaser USA is pleased toannounce the launch the F3 Game version for the

North American market.by Blaser USA

Since the 2003 European introduction, theBlaser F3 Game shotgun has captured the fascina-tion of hunters across the continent. With doveseason fast approaching Blaser USA is pleased toannounce the launch the F3 Game version for theNorth American market.

“With the tremendous success of the F3 Com-petition line we are extremely excited to add theGame version to our product portfolio. This addi-tion gives us the opportunity to bring the shotgunthat has won National clay titles to the field,”states Blaser CEO Christian Socher.

“The total weight, balance and weight distribu-tion are key attributes that add to the shotgun’s

104_001.qxd 9/23/13 3:27 AM Page 1

"acid wash" DE filters at the time of thepool closing.! This is best to do in theSpring so that you can immediately runpool water through the system.! It is notgood to use muriatic acid on a DE filterand then just rinse it off and put it away.The acid may degrade the filter parts overthe winter.

• Plug return pipes and skimmer (see #5for skimmer details! and remove all hoses.

• Disconnect your pump and filter.Make sure that pump is totally drained outof any water. Turn pump upside downonce to make sure !! ! Remove any drainplugs from the pump.! It is a good idea tostore any small plugs or parts in the pumpbasket.! This way you will be able to findthem easily in the Spring.!! Store in a shedor garage.

• Some people like to remove the skim-mer box and install a winter plate with gas-kets.! If you do this, make sure it does notleak.! Yes, you will get wet doing this !Most people simply plug the skimmer holewith a black rubber plug or a gizzmo.! It iseasier.! You can let the water in the pool godown to the bottom of the skimmer if youlike - then you do not have to plug the holeat all.! This method is also OK, but realizethat the pool cover will sit lower in the pool- therefore you might want to use a coverthat is one or two sizes bigger than yourpool so that you have the extra materialavailable.! Any of these methods are OK -it is mainly personal preference.

• Blow up and install your air pillow.! Airpillows are usually used but are notabsolutely necessary.! They are a good ideain case the water in the pool freezes,expands, and breaks the pool wall. The pil-low takes up the slack.! However realize


Real Estate ChatterBy: Mary Ann Vance

School is infull swing andthe fall harvestis going strong.We are finallygetting a breakfrom the heat.As I write thiswe still have nothad any rainsooooo look out for maybe a snowy winter.At the end of the month we will celebrateHalloween and then it seems we fly toChristmas. Where has 2013 gone????

HOW TO WINTERIZE YOUR ABOVEGROUND POOL

• Locate all your winterizing supplies.This should include the cover, the air pil-low, the plugs for the skimmers (gizzmos orrubber plugs ), the winter plate ( if used )and your winterizing chemicals.! You needthese items for proper winterization. If youare using the green Gizzmos to plug yourskimmers, check them out and make surethat they are not cracked.! This is veryimportant when dealing with gizzmos.Gizzmos with holes or cracks will not work!

• Backwash the filter very well to clean itout.!! Drain DE filter tanks and leave back-wash valve open.! On sand filters, unplugthe filter drain plug and leave off. Put drainplug with other removed items in thepump basket. Make sure multiport valve (if any ) has no water in it. Blow it out witha compressor or shop vac if necessary.Please note that it is not recommended to

that this is somewhat rare. If no pillow isavailable, you can use tires, tubes, balls, orother air filled floating objects.! Throwthem into the pool to take up ice expan-sion. Tie air pillow at two places and posi-tion in center of pool. Tie strings to thepool wall so the pillow does not move dur-ing cover installation. If the pillow is leak-ing, either patch it or get a new one.Remember...the pillow is there to take upany expansion of the water which mayoccur due to freezing and possibly causingthe above ground pool wall to split.Pillows are NOT to keep the rain water outof the pool cover.! They will not do that.The rain water will always settle around theoutside of the pillow.

• Remove all deck equipment from pool,if any (ladders, rails, slides, etc.).

• Add chemicals. Mix any granular win-terizing chemicals in a bucket so that theyare totally dissolved. Dump mixture intothe pool. You want to avoid any undis-solved granules from settling on the poolfloor and staining the liner. This is veryimportant. If you are using any liquid win-terizing chemicals, pour them in the poolas well.! Test the pool for pH and TotalAlkalinity.! Adjust to normal levels usingpH PLUS or MINUS and ALKALINITYPLUS.! pH should be between 7.2 - 7.6and Alkalinity between 100-150 ppm.Make sure one of your winterizer chemicalsconsists of a SHOCK-type product.! Youwant the chlorine level in the pool to berather high (over 3.0 for wintertime).

• Place cover on pool and secure. Makesure that cover cable wire is tight so thatcover does not blow off or fall in pool.Make sure the pillow is still in the middleof the pool after cover installation. If not,reset cover and pillow.

DID YOU KNOW???Father's Day was first observed in

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105_001.qxd 9/23/13 3:36 AM Page 1


The BoJoLe Flutter Spoon: A Lure for All Species

By Brian BartonA little over three years ago, I made a phone

call to fellow catfisherman and friend JamesPatterson in Memphis, Tennessee to seekadvice on collecting skipjack herring for cat-fish bait. It was early summer and the Skipjackwere not biting our sabiki rigs or jigs. Duringour conversation James informed me of a lit-tle spoon that was absolutely deadly on catch-ing skipjack. He referred me to my now good

downstream directly behind an anchored boatusing a Carolina rig with enough weight tokeep the spoon on the bottom. Then I repeatthe same rod action as in calm water, except Iraise the rod rapidly instead of a slow steadylift. I try to fish holes and ditches where thebottom contour is slightly deeper and the cur-

spoon out and let it fall to the bottom. Thenlift the rod slowly to the 10 o clock positionand then allow the spoon to settle back to thebottom on a tight line. Unlike bass, catfishwill normally strike the lure while on the bot-tom or just as you lift it off the bottom.

When fishing current, I cast the spoon

friend Bob Rogers of Birmingham, Alabama.Bob, and his two fishing buddies, John andLee, developed this little spoon which hasbecome such powerful fish catching lure.Hence the name BoJoLe. After talking to BobI acquired a few of these spoons in varioussizes and colors. I have come to discover overthe past three years that not only will thisspoon fill a cooler full of skipjacks when otherlures will not; it also catches about every otherfish in the river. Since I started fishing theBoJoLe spoon I have caught catfish, bass,stripers, crappie, and couple big bluegill. Ihave found this spoon to be deadly on justabout everything when conditions are right.

I want to share with you just a few of themore common rigging methods and places tofish this lure. I will discuss water conditionsand specific areas and types of structure that Ihave found the spoon to be most effective.The spoon was designed primarily for fishing

the tailrace belowpower dams andstronger currents,however as I willdiscuss it willcatch fish in alltypes of water.This little spoonhas so much ver-satility it can befished at anydepth, any speed,and pretty muchany water condi-tions.

Since I primari-ly target catfishwe will start withMr. Whiskers.There are twoprimary methodsI use for catchingcatfish with theBoJoLe spoon. Incalm water Iattach the spoonto 10 pound testVicious monoand fish on a 7foot mediumaction BnM spin-ning rod. I alwaysuse a white spoonin clear water anda copper coloredspoon in dirtywater or at night.When available Iattach a two tothree inch strip ofcut shad or skip-jack to the spoonwith the skin sidefacing the bot-tom. Cast the

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106_001.qxd 9/23/13 10:09 AM Page 1


rent flows above the lying fish. If a catfishinhabits a hole, usually four or five lifts ofthe spoon is all he can stand before takingthe lure. This type of area is particularlygood in the heat of summer and dead ofwinter when catfish seek out these loca-tions.

The BoJoLe spoon is probably bestknown for its smallmouth bass and stripercatching ability. It is one of the most com-monly used lures in the fall along theTennessee River impoundments. Myfavorite way to catch these fish is to rig thespoon on a Carolina rig. The rig is mosteffective in the tailrace below power dams.I use a 15 to18 inch leader below a barrelswivel with a ! to 2 ounce weightdepending upon how strong the current isat the time. I anchor the boat just off aseam or eddy current where two turbinesflows meet. Cast the bait upstream at a45* angle to the current. Make a long castand allow the spoon to hit the bottom,then raise the rod tip and slowly retrievethe spoon while letting the weight rollacross the bottom. The fish will usuallystrike as the spoon flutters towards thebottom.

In calm water the spoon is deadly onschooling white bass and largemouths.When you begin to see fish busting baitschools on the surface move close enough

to cast a spoon into the middle of theschooling fish. Allow the spoon to sink acouple of feet then reel it back while slow-ly twitching the rod tip. The schoolingfish can’t resist the spoons flutteringaction even a midst thousands of the realthing. As far as colors go, I have caughtbass and stripe on every color I’ve fished atone time or another. My best advice is topurchase several different colors and sizesso you will have what the fish want at anygiven time. As a general rule, I want myspoon to be the same size or just slightlylarger than the bait that the fish are feed-ing on. BoJoLe spoons are relatively inex-pensive compared to most other lures ofits type so fisherman can afford to keep agood supply on hand.

The spoons are also effective at catchingwinter crappie when conditions are tough.When crappies are suspended over deepchannel ledges and brush they can some-times be difficult to catch with casting ortrolling techniques. At these times, tryingtying on a white or chartreuse spoon witha size 1 or 2 hook. Fish the spoon verti-cally just above or at the depth of the fish.For example, if the fish are 25 feet deep,lower the spoon down 23 feet and holdmotionless for a few seconds. Then twitchthe spoon in place for a few seconds andallow it to stop again. Sometimes it may

I have been blessed with a lot of good for-tune, but that phone call a few years agoto James Patterson to seek advice oncatching skipjacks ranks near the top ofmy good fortune list. Next time you visityour local bait shop pick up a few BoJoLeflutter spoons. I don’t think you will bedisappointed if you give them a try.

For information on guide service for catching

smallmouth, stripes, or catfish,contact: Brian Barton

www.brianbartonoutdoors.com

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take a few minutes but the fish will nor-mally take the lure out of frustration aftera few minutes.

Many years ago Tom Mann introduceda lure to the fishing world called the LittleGeorge. Its motto was “catches everythingthat swims.” For those of us that fishedthat little tail spinner back in the day, thatstatement was pretty much true most ofthe time. Since being introduced to theBoJoLe Flutter Spoons in my opinion it’sworthy of that same slogan. Under theproper conditions, and rigging tech-niques, I have seen it catch about everyfish in the river. Since becoming a guide,

Kevin Ellis • 309-696-7069 • [email protected]

107_001.qxd 9/23/13 1:44 PM Page 1


Go “All In” in DeadwoodDiscovering rich varietyand hidden fishing gems in western South Dakota

By Ted Takasaki and Scott Richardson

It’s a safe bet Wild Bill Hickok would have beenbetter off holding a fly rod on the bank of one ofthe streams around Deadwood, S.D., than he wassitting in a saloon holding two pairs of aces andeights, the deadman’s hand.

Deadwood still offers plenty of gambling oppor-tunity, but the town also deals out plenty ofchances to anglers for a full house of trout, wall-eye, perch, smallmouth bass and other fish.

Lee Harstad learned what a great spotDeadwood was for fishing when he arrived sixyears ago to be marketing director of theDeadwood Chamber of Commerce.

“Everybody knows about Wild Bill andDeadwood,” said Harstad. “There are so manystories like that, about how lawless it really was.It’s entertaining history, the Wild West and thegirls and the guns. But from an outdoor perspec-

they lie within the national forest so commercialand housing development is severely limited.Their shores are largely pristine, but they havegood boat launches, camp grounds and fishingamenities.

Sheridan is more of the recreational-type lakefor boating and water skiing. Pactola has big pikeand lake trout in addition to the other troutspecies. Deerfield is accessible by gravel roadsand entirely no-wake so anglers do not have tocompete with skiers or other water users. Still,the lake is large enough to hold splake and brooktrout.

“The perch population is on a boom atDeerfield, too,” Harstad said. “All area anglershave their favorite spots and anywhere onDeerfield would be mine.”

Fly fishing is done from shorelines.!Boaters usespinners and jigs or they troll. The water is crys-tal clear.!Trout like the flashy presentations.

Harstad did a little exploring and eventuallyfound Belle Fourche Reservoir, located within anhour of Deadwood on the prairie surrounding thenorthern Black Hills near the reservoir’s name-sake town in western South Dakota.!Created byOrman Dam, Belle Fourche means “beautifulfork.”!Harstad calls it a “walleye factory.”

“Limits are common,” he said.!A slot limit is inforce, which means any fish from 15 to 18 inchesmust be released. “We’re catching a lot in the slotthis year, but seeing some into the mid 20s,”Harstad said.

Harstad feels right at home there.!He grew upon North Dakota reservoirs fishing for walleyeswith rigs, a tactic that is ef fective at BelleFourche.!As with all reservoirs, structure normal-ly consists of points.!The reservoir level has beendown the past couple years, allowing weeds togrow.!This year’s weather brought ample water,thus flooding the vegetation.!Rigging the weededges with ‘crawlers or leeches is ef fective,Harstad noted. A half-ounce weight is usuallyenough unless the wind deals itself into thegame.!Belle Fourche is a wide, round lake and

storms can come rolling seemingly out ofnowhere.

“You can be in for a ride,” Harstad said.!Onrough days, you might need three-quarters of anounce to an ounce of weight.!“You have to feel thebottom,” he said.!Drift or use a trolling motor tostay fairly vertical over the fish.

Other anglers have had luck trolling crankbaitsalong the contours and over a couple of largeflats.!Perch and shad are the primary foragefish.!The state allows two rods per angler.

“You’ll see guys doing it all,” says Harstad. “Ibelieve the key to that reservoir is being able to

tive, the biggest thing about Deadwood is that itis a base camp, a perfect place to go on a fishingadventure no matter what the season. Within anhour you can be on walleye, trout or bass.”

At first, Harstad, a native of Grand Forks,North Dakota, felt out of his element.!His favoritefishing involved live-bait rigging for walleyes.!Butthe first opportunity that presented itself atDeadwood centered on fly fishing or spinners fortrout.

Turns out that gold isn’t the only thingsparkling in legendary Whitewood Creek, whichruns through town.!Those quick flashes are sun-light playing off the sides of brook, brown andrainbow trout.

“The key,” says Harstad, “is to find the pools,be very patient and quiet.”

Spearfish Creek, which lies a few miles awayand higher up in the Black Hills, has “phenomenaltrout fishing,” Harstad adds. Rapid Creek has acatch-and-release-only stretch below PactolaReservoir that is rich in trophy trout. Harstad saidoverlooking other creeks, like Castle, Crow, Sand,Box Elder and French inside the Black HillsNational Forest would be a mistake.

With more than a million acres of public land,there’s no problem finding a stretch of streamwhere you can ‘play solitaire,’ just you and thefish. Stream fishing is best in spring when wateris fresh and flows are good, and again in fall.

If you’d rather fish trout on reservoirs, checkout Pactola, Sheridan and Deerfield. They all offergood trout populations. An added bonus is that

Local guide and professionalfisherman Tyler French with a

dandy walleye from SouthDakota’s Belle Fourche

Reservoir. Anglers of all stripeswill find a playground in and

around Deadwood. (Photo: Ted Takasaki)

108_001.qxd 9/23/13 10:23 AM Page 1


fish what you are comfortable with.!If you do,you can catch more fish.”

If walleyes aren’t your favorite fish to bet on,deal yourself into some of the reservoir’s yellowperch, catfish or smallmouth bass.!Perch arealso targeted on winter outings.

Not all Deadwood fun involves water.!The areais rich in Western history.!Many of the old-timebuildings have survived, including S aloonNumber 10, where Hickok was gunned down.Hickok’s killer was acquitted by an unof ficialminers’ court after lying by claiming Hickok hadkilled his brother.!His killer was later tried in anof ficial court of law and hanged.

Hickok is buried in Deadwood.!The townspeo-ple buried Calamity Jane next to him.!She had acrush on Hickok, who had been married tosomeone else.

The area also of fers miners’ camps andmuseums to visit.!Just 15 miles away sits thetown of Sturgis, the famous motorcycle destina-tion that att racts 500,000 cyclists everyAugust.

n Deadwood, “you’re in the entertainmentcenter of the region,” Harstad said. “We havegreat restaurants, great hotels, great casinoswith a lot of variety in the games and gam-bling.!There are plenty of places to go and eatand enjoy fine dining.!And bring a fishing pole.It is a great base camp, a great place to hangout.”

Odds are you’ll have more fun than Wild Bill,even if you are… holding aces and eights.

Fond du Lac resident Ray Groffexpected windy conditions and agood bite when he set out on thewaters of Lake Winnebago last week.What he did not expect was that hewould dig up a piece of Americanhistory.

“It was around 11 a.m. on Sept. 4and as soon as I saw the barrel I knewwhat it was,” Groff said.

The antiquated firearm had beensitting on the bottom of the lake forover 200 years before the anglercame along. He did not reel in theheavy, 47-inch-long gun! but insteadfound it dangling off his anchor.

“This is crazy. It’s like one of thosetall fish tales,” he recalled thinking.

The firearm’s bore shows signs ofits great age. Rust had eaten awaymuch of the barrel and a large sectionof the wooden stock had completelyrotten off. The object was coated in alayer of invasive zebra mussels.Remarkably, the original piece offlint included with the musket wasstill in place, half-cocked, as if wait-ing to be shot.

Groff speculates that the gun mayhave once belonged to a trapper from

the area 200 years ago, or was maybea prized possession of the WinnebagoIndians that used to live there.Around that time there was a smallFrench fur trading post along theFond du Lac River run by the explor-ers Augustine Grignon and MichaelBrisbois. The two men would buyfurs from trappers as well as tradewith the local Native Americantribes, exchanges which may have

included this particular item.Whatever the case, Groff says the

rifle is a catch of a lifetime and willbe proudly displaying it in his home.It will be unaltered except for a layerof sealant.

“I’m not going to start messingaround with it,” he said.

An interview with Groff can be seenonline at: OutdoorHub.com

Wisconsin Angler Finds 200-year-old Flintlock

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green. Usually by now we are seeing color begin tosplash here and there, and we have seen Labor Dayweekends with fall foliage. Unusual spring. Unusualautumn, thus far. Temperatures have remained asunseasonably warm as the spring was especially cold,delaying opening by two weeks. We have employed theair conditioners for only four days this year, althoughwe were in Pekin during some of the lake’s hottestweather. But this is Minnesota, and thirty degree tem-peratures are forecast for later in this second week.

Some signs of a late season are obvious. Theducks have almost disappeared, and I’ve seen only oneadult loon still with its youngster. Several large forma-tions of geese have flown over heading south. The lakelevel is very low due to a paucity of rain for two months.And some Association members have already begun to“disassemble” boatlifts, etc.

But all of the flower gardens still have their sum-mer beauty, even though their days are numbered.

The veryw e l c o m et w o - i n c hrain wee n j o y e dt o d a yr e f r e s h e dlawns andgardens, butdid little toraise thelake level.Gardens willbe tendeduntil the lastp o s s i b l em o m e n twhen potsand items ofd é c o r ,i n c l u d i n gthe requisitesolar lights,will bestored forthe winter.“Taking gar-dens apart”is a task asformidableas retiringf i s h i n gequipment,p r e p p i n gboats forstorage, andr e m o v i n g

docks and boatlifts.Speaking of boatlifts, mine has not been function-

al since mid-July. I’ve even had to don hip waders towrangle my boat into position for others to enter andto secure it to the dock and lift. Perhaps two moredock sections would alleviate the problem, but a dockthat long would also reach into our bulrushes. There isa very gradual slope from shore to the drop-off outsidethe rushes.

The “disappearance” of crappies and ‘gills isanother sign that autumn has arrived. They havechanged their feeding habits, gone deep and, wherefound, are not very hungry. After the glory days ofAugust and most of early summer, September hasbeen difficult. But it will get better and September isa good month for bullheads. Early darkness and fewmosquitoes make “bullheadin’”more attractive thanit is during the mid-summer months. Ah! The “onemore” autumn change is the loss of daylight – betterthan two hours less than during mid-June to July.

Sunset was as late as 9:15 PM, but now is at 7:40 PM.And no more 4:30 AM alarms! Sunrise is late at 6:50AM. Further signs that this is the “last hurrah!”

Yet another sign of the season was the GarrisonDucks Unlimited dinner. Paul Erickson’s WildlifeChapter continues to lead the state in fundraising andis among the Presidential Elite and Top One Hundred.Scott Anderson, Regional Director, credits thetremendous community support and pride which gen-erates hundreds of volunteers and attracts fundingand donations from many businesses. Doug Sampson,Bob Johnson, Willie Severson, Bruce Melin, and Iattended as usual. Doug and Bruce each won gunsfrom among the 65 which were distributed in variousways. Once again the “Fishing for Ducks” ice-fishingcontest was the chief fundraiser for Garrison and isscheduled for the first weekend in February next year.Harry, this would make a great TV show!

September has arrived and is swiftly passing byon its relentless journey toward the closing of thecabin and another Minnesota season. At this date, inthe second week, we see little evidence of theapproaching autumn in that the trees are still very

MINNESOTA MEMOIRSby Dave Evans

“Summer’s Last Hurrah”

Minnesota limit of crappies.

Dave with two primo crappies.

Bullhead feast

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An update on fishing, as time has passed since Ibegan writing this memoir: Crappies are appearing ina deeper drop-off near what used to be Greenhow’sResort! Not far from shore the water is 14-22 feetdeep, and crappies are usually there in the morning.However, they are slow to respond. Bruce Melin and Ihave been using (for the first time in a very long time)live minnows on either a small feather jig or a barehook with a small split-shot about a foot above. Thebait must be presented very slowly and just abovewhere the fish are congregating. This is slow but re-warding, and calm water really helps in staying on thefish when found. And this seems to be an early morn-ing crappie hang out, for evening fishing has been lessproductive.

Still, the ‘gills have been impossible to locate. Ican remember one week before closing several yearsago that Murray Brian, Darhl Brown, and I had greatsuccess with jumbo ‘gills drifting above a favoriteweed bed and dropping jig and waxie over the side ofthe boat. Actually we were being blown across theweeds even with an anchor down! Rough wind andrough water, but the fishing was wonderful! Perhapsthe sunfish revival will begin soon. Nothing fights bet-ter than a well-favored sunfish, especially on ultra-light!

Last weekend we enjoyed a bullhead feast withDoug and Kristi Sampson. Most Minnesota folks don’tappreciate the bullhead, and some are afraid of the“stingers” (whiskers). Good Grief! But Kristi hasjoined Katie and me for some bullheadin’, and she hascaught some prime specimens. So we all dined on

mayer, who will be driving the three-plus hours fromRed Wing, Minnesota. I’ve “pictured” them in a previ-ous issue. Dave was a classmate at P.C.H.S. (’62),and at our 50th Reunion we discovered that Red Wing,our stop-over place, was his home. So we have gottentogether several times, and now they will visit. Theclass of ’62 will have a 70th birthday reunion nextsummer. How time flies!

We wish more would find the time and the way tovisit. Sharing this place is a special pleasure, just as itwas to introduce friends to Nokay many years ago. Our“little piece of paradise”! Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Copyright 2013. You can reach Dave and Karen at:d p e va n s 5 4 4 @ g m a i l . c o m o r e va n s k a re n 8 5 2 @ g m a i l . c o m

“dinner” at the renewed Green Lantern. Next Sundayour guests for the day will be Dave and Marvis Birken-


those nasty bottom feeders.The last time Katie and I were out bullheadin’ I

thought she had hooked the King of all bullheads. Herrod was bent double, and she couldn’t move the fish.With the rod nestled in her stomach and lots of crank-ing it finally did come up and cleared the surface in asplash. I was sure it was the biggest bullhead in theworld! In the lighting we had, we didn’t realize until itwas finally in the boat that the King bullhead was ac-tually a dogfish! What great fun and anticipation inlanding it! What great disappointment in identifyingit! Dogfish are good for exciting, tackle-busting strug-gles, but little else.

We were visited for an afternoon/evening by mycousin Terry Deppert and Vickie Walker, who are fish-ing near Alexandria, Minnesota. Nice time spent and

Two of Garrison’s DU Ericksons

Grandkids! Camden & ColbyRafftery and Ella & Addy

Janssen. Feature story to come.

Bev Loman in center with babysurrounded by her family.

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with no penalty. Hobbles are used on all ofthe birds making the harvest rate verygood.

Field sizes are from five acres to fifteenacres, depending on the field cover. Onehunter and one dog start with three pheas-ants, six shot shells, and twenty minutes toharvest three birds. A scorekeeper accom-panies the hunter and starts a stopwatchand keeps the score for the final results. Itis a simple scoring system and lots of fun.Each bagged bird is worth twenty points.Each unused shell is worth six points. Eachpoint or flush is worth ten points. Each fullretrieve is worth ten points and each un-used minute is worth one point.

If your score is 138 or better, you andyour dog qualify for the Nationals in

PARTICIPATE INPHU DOG TRIALS!

Pheasant Hunters Unlimited has beenhosting dog trials for over twenty years, insix different states. We have had competi-tors come from twenty different states.Competitors have come from as far away asTexas, Pennsylvania and the Canadian bor-der. However, with the cost of travel, wehave limited our host hunts to four clubs;and they are all in Illinois.

This year we will have a hunt eachmonth, starting in November and runningthrough March. We will have two divi-sions, pointing singles and flushing singles.pointing breeds must point birds and theflushing breeds can flush or catch birds

National ChampionPointing Doubles 2013 BobLubben and Kory Kraus with BJ English Pointer.

2013 National Champion Pointing SinglesDon Deuel with Rock English Pointer.

2013 High Point Dog of the Year John Klemmwith Rem, German Shorthair.

March; where there is added money andnotoriety for your dog.

This year we have added a new featurefor hunters and owners who choose to havea shooter or gunner help them. Ownersmust still handle the dog but the gunnersmust shoot the birds.

We only allow twenty entries per field;however, we will have four different fields.Entry Fees are $150 per field, per run.Hunters can enter more than one dog perfield or enter the same dog in multiplefields. From the $150 entry fee, $50 goestoward prize money, which will be paidback in three places. First place will payback 50% of the prize money, second placewill pay back 30% of the prize money andthird place will pay back 20% of the prize

money.We have had grandfathers enter with

grandkids, husbands’ running with wives,and fathers, sons and daughters. Comecheck us out for a lot of fun and newfriendships. Some of the clubs have lodg-ing, so come the day before and practice insome of the fields. Once you have triedthese competitions you will find out howmuch fun they are, and enjoy the specialconnection that is created with your hunt-ing partner.

Check out our schedule below or go toour website for a full set of dates and

rules at www.phuhunt.comCall Terry Phillips for more

information at: 888-766-5460

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was a born true entrepreneur whoearly on realized the value of adollar and was very successful inhis youthful small business ven-tures selling magazine subscrip-tions, pigeons, rabbits and havinga paper route. He was always verycompetitive. He attended theUniv. of Missouri and graduated in1940 with a business degree.

His first exposure to the retailbusiness was in 1940 when hewent to work for a J.C. Pennystore in DesMoines, IA. He fell inlove with retail and spent 52 yearsin retail. He found out quickly heloved to sell and he had a knackfor it. He was 27 years old whenhe first started his own retail busi-ness venture in 1945 by buying aBen Franklin variety store in NewPort, Arkansas. That first storeresulted in his having a visionregarding discount selling and therest, as they say, is history. Theidea for Walmart came to fruitionwith the 2nd Ben Franklin varietystore that he bought inBentonville, Arkansas in 1950.The first true Walmart store was in1962 in Bentonville.

Sam Walton was a visionarywith tremendous confidence inhimself and his people and he was

the father of retail discount pric-ing as is evidenced today by allthe big box stores that try to com-pete with Walmart. His discount-ing practice and success has alsoeven influenced the fast foodindustry with McDonald’s,Wendy’s and Burger King promot-ing their one dollar specials. His#1 priority was taking care of thecustomer and offering them thebest price possible and we con-sumers are the big benefactors ofSam Walton’s vision. I wouldsuggest that if you are in businessor want to start a business that youbuy this book if you have notalready done so. There are manylessons about business that aregiven in this fine book and it canbe a fine inspiration for all entre-preneurs.

Owning and running a businesstoday is vastly different than inthose good ole days and thoseowners that don’t have the rightpersonality and theconfidence in them-selves will havedifficulty in sur-viving. Takingcare of the cus-tomer is still a #1priority as well as

providing excellent service.Running a retail business is defi-nitely not easy and the owner mustalways be crunching the numbers.Owning your own business, how-ever, can be very rewarding andsatisfying. There is nothing likebeing your own boss provided youhave all the entrepreneurial traitsthat Sam Walton had. Those goodole days in the 1950’s and 1960’staught him a lot and he used thathard earned knowledge to createhis retail empire that benefits allof us consumers today and tomor-row as well as future generations.

If you are interested in purchas-ing this book one source is: abe-books.com and that site has manycopies of his book for sale at lessthan $5. whichincludes the shipping &handling.

The Good Ole Days PT. 9Retail Business:

Sam Walton & WalmartBy Jack L. Hartph. 309-888-4071 [email protected]

I just finishedreading SamWalton’s memoir,‘Made In America’which is his storyabout how he start-ed his Walmartempire. I was very

interested in reading about how hegot into the retail business consid-ering that I have always been anentrepreneur and have spent myadult life helping people start theirown businesses. He could veryeasily have titled his book TheGood Ole Days because most ofhis book is devoted to his tellingof his early experience in the retailbusiness. His book was written in1990 and 1991 just before he diedin 1992 from cancer.

Sam Walton was very energeticand ambitious as a youngster and

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King Me a River

Chinook salmon are brutesin size as well brawny in battle; especially when

fresh from the inland seas By Mitch Eeagan

It’s well known fact the environment of a river isever changing. Trees tumble. Rains fall and load theriverbed. Slowly, holes fill-in while others take shape.

This time of year, though, Great Lakes tributariescan be altered so abruptly that you can actually smellthe difference in the air. At least that’s what happenswhen some of the Great Lake’s largest and mostvicious predators invade them overnight. Yes, there issuch a thing as a migration of fish so massive you canliterally smell their unique scent wafting from the sur-face.

The species? Chinook salmon…. Or king salmonas they’re known on the west coast and Alaska. Thesefish are brutes in size as well brawny in battle; espe-cially when fresh run from the inland seas. It’s all youcan do to land one in a fast-flowing river any time ofyear, let alone when they are ticked.

Why the all rage? Because just the night before theywere suspended over deep water near the mouth of the

inlet; contented and atop the food chain. Suddenly,they’re in less than 10 feet of water; quickly usingstored energy in the current, and getting more aggres-sive by the moment, preparing to defend their right tospawn.

Tactical facetsTechniques for hooking up with the king of Great

Lakes salmon are seemingly endless. The two mostpopular tactics, however, are drifting with fish roeunder a float and casting hardware like bodybaits,spoons and spinners.

Enter guide Kyle McClelland, high-school studentfrom Fife Lake, Michigan. He spends countless hourschasing trout and salmon of the rivers(http://www.chromechasing.com/). This young gun’sa guru of drifting big chunks of skein (fish eggs stillbunched tight in their membrane) under a float, whichChinook have a hard time passing up.

“Even though golf-ball-size globs of eggs are notnaturally found drifting in the current this time ofyear, salmon will eat it. But you still have to make theskein flow downstream perfectly with the current,”McClelland insists.

His go to? With a 9-foot medium-action St. CroixWild River in hand, McClelland drifts chunks ofskein—wrapped onto a razor-sharp size-2 treble tiedto a 2-foot leader of 10-pound-test fluorocarbon—with just enough weight pinched onto 12-pound-testmonofilament mainline so his float rides fifty-percentsubmerged.

Unlike when bobber fishing for panfish—when youwant your float to be neutrally buoyant for detecting

ter thin enough that the current won’t affect the drift.Heavy monofilament is thick, making it hard to castand easily seized by the current.

Missing in actionSo what do you do if you get to the river and find

you’re in-between runs? Hit the mouth of the river; it’swhere salmon congregate and stage before makingtheir mad dash.

The same artificial lures work wonders here, too.When it comes to rods, however, this is where thelonger St. Croix Premiers will achieve the casting dis-tance needed. The real key to success is making sureevery cast lands where the fish are schooled up. Andthis is where today’s electronics come into play.

Humminbird’s Side Imaging was a real game chang-er when it came to seeing and catching Great Lakessalmon; and now even more so with the new 360Imaging. With either technology you can literally seefish suspended high in the water column, and then fol-lowing by plugging a waypoint over the school without

light biters—fishing large bait in current requiresextra buoyancy so that the swirling eddies don’t false-ly pull the entire rig under.

Lob the bait upstream of a hole, letting it drift alongwith the current, all the while reeling in any slack. Thesmack is quick and poorly managed line will be causefor bites missed. Slack line also has a tendency to getcaught up in the surface current and will pull youroffering down river faster than what nature intended.

Set the hook hard and be prepared to chase thatfish downstream. Chances are you’ll lose it in a logjam, but that’s okay… you’ll hook another. These fishare aggressive, and if one thug’s ready to strike, a newone will more than likely be right behind.

Cast awayRummaging through my own Plano tackle totes, I’ll

first grab a Bomber Long A, which has the side-to sidewide wobble that attracts vicious strikes. Banana-shaped lures like Yakima Bait’s Flatfish and ReefRunner Ripsticks fit this bill as well.

You might also consider in-line spinners sized formuskies, such as a size-5 Mepps Aglia and size-6 BlueFox Classic Vibrax. Wide-bodied spoons that ride high-er in the water column, like Acme’s 3/4-ounce LittleCleo and Lindy’s 4-inch Original Viking spoon, forinstance, also waggle through the water just right.

Over all, a lure requires a cast slightly up and faracross stream, with a retrieve just fast enough to allowthe bait to run with its built-in action. The abovemen-tioned lures don’t run very deep; but not to worry,Chinook are known for rising to the occasion.

When casting lures, light- and medium-action rodsare not going to be enough. This is time to break outthe medium-heavy to heavy-action sticks or chance ashattered blank and a broken heart. Beefed up line anda heavy-duty reel are in order, too.

St. Croix’s series of Premier rods have the strengthto land powerhouse salmon. The 7-foot models are justthe right length for precision casting (shorter rodsbetter for accuracy, longer better for distance) andhave the backbone to land big fish.

In general, 30-pound-test superline has the valorto withstand the shock of the strike, yet with a diame-

Strikes are often savage when spawn-run Chinook

salmon get hatin’-on shallow running bodybaits.

Photos by Mitch Eeagan

PUBLIC AUCTION!Wed. November 6 • 9am

Hunting Ground for SaleApprox. 41 Acres north of Princeville.

Auction will be held at the Presbyterian Church339 Santa Fe Ave. Princeville, IL

Great hunting land with approx. 15 acres tillable and 4 acres in CRPThis is one parcel out of a multi parcel farm sale. Contact: John Leezer, ALCBroker, Maloof Farm & Land(309) 286-2221www.illinoisfarms4sale.com

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can withstand a twisting, turning 20-plus-pounder, and the makeup of the meshing andshape of the net promotes a live release, if that’syour choice.

Hit it!If the fight of your life is on your to-do list, con-

sider fishing tributaries of the Great Lakes thisfall. Drift a chunk of skein or cast a lure through ahole and hang on. (And I mean hang on!)

Mitch Eeagan is an outdoor writer who livesamongst the cedar trees in the swamps ofMichigan’s Upper Peninsula.

ever having to motor over them.

Grand finally A word of warning: Catching a limit of Chinook

salmon, or even one for that matter, goes wellbeyond line, lures, rods and reels. Once hookedand the fight is close to over, you need to get thatfish in the net. And these fish are big. A wimpy netwill cause nothing but chaos.

A net with a heavy-duty handle, yoke and meshis needed to scoop and lift these bullies from thedrink; my overall choice is a Frabill 26-inch by 30-inch Conservation Series landing net. The frame

There’s no messing around with salmon on the spawn. Be

prepared with a stout and reliable landing net, such as

a selection from Frabill’sConservation Series.

Salmon savant Kyle McClelland uses golf-sized-gobs

of eggs to attract aggressiveChinook salmon.

Which Country Boasts the Most Hunters in Europe?

The answer may surprise you. For the traveling hunter, Europe offers many unique opportunities, whether itbe tracking ibex in the mountains of Spain or roaming through the wilds of Tuscany in search of wild boar anddeer.Some, however, may be surprised to learn the nation of France boasts the most hunters of any country in Europe.According to Le Figaro, there are over 1,224,000 licensed hunters in the western European nation, where thesport is second only to soccer.

For French hunters, fall marks a return to the countryside with the start of the hunting season. France hadonce experienced a major decline in the number of hunters, but recent surveys may signal a reversal of thistrend.

For the last five years, officials saw an increase of 20,000 permit holders per year, a significant number fora country with a population of 60 million. The National Federation of Hunters (FNC) reports that the sport isincreasingly popular with the younger generation as well as city-dwellers.

The Pyrenees Mountains, which separate France and Spain, contain some scenic views and unique huntingopportunities.

Newcomers to hunting say that affordability and closeness to nature are major draws. Pascal, a first-timehunter who is a computer engineer in Paris, said that hunting allows him to discover the excitement of huntingafter a lifetime in the city.!Although rules and regulations may differ from the United States, hunting remainssteeped in tradition and a sporting heritage.

Although the country may not be as famous asneighboring Spain or Italy for their hunting cus-toms, France contains 40,000 hunting associa-tions and a large variety of legal game. The sport-ing opportunities in the south of France are con-sidered some of the best in all of Europe, and pro-vide both local and Parisian chefs with cured gamemeat. Many visiting hunters come to France for achance to take trophy animals on the French sideof Pyrenees Mountains or the dense forests dot-ting the south-central province of Lozere.

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116_001.qxd 9/22/13 11:00 PM Page 1


“C-P-R Alone”The phrase of CPR (Catch, Photo-

graph and Release) has been with us forseveral years, and through those yearshas slowly grown more popular. Onedraw back has been taking a photowhen fishing alone.

Many people have asked me whotook certain photos in my articles, orwhy didn’t I tell the person’s name thattook the photos. The answer to both isthat I take a lot of my own photos. Insome cases the person has looked at mestrangely, and said they found it hard tobelieve I got such a photo. However,we are in the age of digital cameras,computers, mini tripods, self-timers,and remote controls.

If a person has at least a digital cam-era with self-timer, and a mini tripod,they can easily master taking self photosbefore releasing their catch. It helps ifthe self-timer has the capability of atleast a 10-second delay. Shorter timesmake it next to impossible to get readyfor a good shot. It also helps if there isa feature for setting a series of self-timed shots. Whatever you use, make

jects, or can be spreadto make a better base.This unit has an extraattachment, whichscrews into the cam-era’s tripod receptacle,and then makes it pos-sible to have a quickconnec t /d i s connec tunit. If there is a situa-tion where there will bemore chances for pho-tos, or if wanted to beprepared in advance,connect the tripod, andleave it until the end ofthe outing.

Setting up for theshots can be tricky, es-pecially when having awiggling fish. A bit of

practice comes in to play to do a lot ofthis one handed. It is best to try outsome of the areas to place the cameraprior to going fishing. For example, inthe bass boat there are a couple of goodlocations generally used – spread thetripod legs out on the back seat orclamp the tripod legs on the back of theback seat. Be sure that they hold wellenough, which is another reason to testthis in advance before getting over wa-

Ice fishing with aportable flasher is wellknown, but it can also

be used in a similarmanner in open water

conditions.

sure to take more that one shot, or se-ries of shots.

Then review and take more if needed.This is why it is best to have a camerathat does not turn off the self-timermode after every shot – it should be amodel that requires either the photog-rapher to manually turn the feature off,or it goes off when the camera is shutoff. Just remember not to take toolong, as you want to get the fish back in

the water as quickly aspossible. In fact, ifneeded and available,place the fish in an aer-ated livewell while set-ting up for a shot.Then to make remov-ing the fish less stress-ful, use a Frabilllivewell net, which hasa unique design andnet to quickly andsafely capture the fish.

The cameras arefairly much up to theperson’s choice. Infishing you wantsomething that will besmaller, but haveenough features forgood photos. I’ve usedseveral different cameras, in the lessthan $200 range, with one, my currentNikon P510 that is over that pricerange, all of which have done greatjobs.

When selecting a tripod make sure itwill balance properly with the camera.Some cameras are weighted to one sideor the other, which can cause a problemdepending on the location of the tripodconnection. I use a mini tripod withflexible foam legs that wrap about ob-

DAN’S FISH ‘N’ TALES®By Dan Galusha

This is a nice bass caught on the Power FishN reel, that was captured

with a self-timed photo on shore.

My favorite mini tripod withflexible foam legs, and a

quick-release attachment to bescrewed to the camera’s

tripod socket.


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about any spot – a seaton the front deck,stump, clump of weeds,etc. Now, set the timer,press down the shutterpart way to focus(depends on model ofcamera), press the rest ofthe way to start the tim-ing process, and get inthe shot to pose howeveryou wish. Again, get allof this done as quickly aspossible to preserve whatyou are trying to do –catch, photograph and“successfully” release.Now we will touch on

the other two thingsmentioned – remote andcomputer. The remoteis a very nice feature, butnot available on a lot of

cameras, especially the lower dollar units.This feature allows the person to set andtake the photos as they want, which canbe fantastic when hooking and landing afish. That is if you don’t get to excitedand forget to take the photo, which hap-pens a lot.

The computer is the big plus. This iswhere the photo can be edited, and themain element is cropping. The afore-

mentioned use of the wide-angle lens iswhat allows the photo to be cropped suc-cessfully to a good photo. Photos takenwith more mega pixels will have betterresults after being cropped. It will be as ifa zoom was used. My cameras are capableof producing 8 to 16 mega pixel photos.All will crop well, but the 14 and 16 arethe best. For anyone just starting, orgoing to upgrade, the camera models withmore mega pixels should be considered.

You can improve some of your shots bygoing to a program setting on the camera.I’ve reset the exposure many times on theNikon P510, especially when in ice fish-ing conditions where the light bouncingoff of snow and ice can wash out a lot ofthe photo.

If further enhancement and improve-ments are desired, then use a good photo-editing program. With the right pro-gram, and a little practice, unwanteditems in the background can be removedand replaced, along with all sorts of otherimprovements. A program with theadjustment of D Lighting is a great tool.You may even be able to make yourselflook a little younger – if only we couldmake that apply to real life. My CorelPaint Shop Pro and Nikon View NX2may be good, but they haven’t perfectedthat one.

Whenever fishing, whether it is with a

buddy, or alone, grab the camera andpractice C-P-R. It is photographing thefuture of our sport.

If you have any questions about this oranother fishing subject, drop me a linethrough the Dan’s Fish ‘N’ Tales® web-site at www.dansfishntales.com, whichalso provides a link to the AdventureSports Outdoors website, and has a view-ing area to watch some of my old videos,as well as one on the Power FishN Proelectric fishing reel.

Until next time, get out on the water,and enjoy a great day of fishing.

ter. I’ve also wrappedthe tripod legs aroundthe pedestal of the frontdeck’s pole seat, if a shotis wanted towards thestern of the boat.

Shoreline fishing is adifferent challenge, butwith a little thought itcan be done. I use mytackle boxes; tree limbsand whatever else can beused as a fastening base.As with the bass boatseat, the tripod will bespread out to balancethe camera on the tacklebox, or as the pedestal,the tripod’s legs will bewrapped about the limbof a tree or bush, or dock railing.Whatever you use, be sure the camera issecure and safe.

Taking the shot is easy at this point,especially if the camera has a fairly wideangle lens. Take a look at where you aregoing to shoot. I’ve found ice fishingshots to be a little easier at this point, sincethere is an ice shelter to use as a shootingpoint, but you can do the same with

Using the tripod and camera onthe large back deck seat in a

Ranger RT178, and the NikonView NX2 editing program tocrop and adjust D Lighting,helped get a good self-timed

on-the-water shot.

Sometimes the self-timer can beat theangler to the shot, as can be seen

here when everything was not ready.

C-P-R…Cont’d. from previous pg.

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The 2 Million Bikers to DC Ride The 2 Million Bikers to DC Ride October 2013 ADVENTURE SPORTS OUTDOORS “THE VOICE OF THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN” 119

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My wife and I came across information about the 2Million Bikers to DC ride scheduled for Wednesday,Sept 11th in Washington DC. !A group had formed andcreated chapters for each state on Facebook to helprally support to bring bikers to DC for a massive show-ing of support for the men, women and children thatwere murdered 12 years ago. !A previous announce-ment of an initiative to have a Million Muslim March onSept 11th really set the wheels in motion for the bikersto come together to honor those that were murdered. !

Our Freedom of Speech is one of the most funda-mental rights we have in this country and there was astrong feeling that a protest being organized on Sept11th by the muslim organizers who’s leader had pro-Is-lamist posts on Facebook was disrespectful to thosethat lost their lives due to the actions of the IslamicTerrorists. !The 2 Million Bikers to DC group was alsoconcerned about the government not adhering to ourConstitution and infringement on individual rights.

After much consideration and prayer, I made a de-cision on Friday, Sept 6th that I could no longer standon the sidelines and just talk about the issues. ! I real-ly needed to make the ride to DC to show my supportfor this movement. !Previously, the longest motorcycleride I had taken was about 150 miles. !I had concernsabout how my body would handle the ride and the factthat I was going into this journey without anyone I

knew. !But, to stand up for my children and future gen-erations, it was time to ride!

With the unwavering support of my wife, I left onSunday afternoon for Indianapolis to meet up with thegroup leaving from there on Monday morning. !WhenM o n d a ymorning ar-rived, I head-ed to the rallypoint and wasthe 3rd biketo arrive.There was afather andson alreadythere. ! Theson had justtraveled 14hours the daybefore fromS o u t h w e s tMissouri onhis bike to attend. !Others traveled down from NW In-diana to join in, as we waited, more arrived, many vet-erans from the Air Force, Army and Marines. !

The patriotism and enthusiasm for the ride was in-credible with everyone having similar stories about the

feeling that we need to honor the people that have diedand send a message to Washington. !Out of this group,I have made some incredible friendships with someoutstanding people that I know will last a lifetime.

Our group of 12 bikes was given a police escort tothe interstateto begin ourtrip east. Theescort by thehighly sup-portive localpolice deptwas incredi-ble. We hadpeople pullingover, honking,waving andt a k i n gvideo. !Onceon the high-way, we sawpeople with

signs on overpasses. !The show of support from ourfellow citizens was very humbling.

After stopping in Zanesville, OH for the night, we gottogether and discussed plans for the next day. !We hadplanned to wait for some other groups to join us. !How-

ever, we decided to leave early to go to the Flight 93Memorial in Shanksville, PA.

The Memorial was very thought provoking. !As Iwalked the Memorial by myself, I could not help butthink deeply about what these men and women weregoing through as they wrestled with how to deal withtheir plane being taken over by terrorists. !The feelingsof one’s helplessness and terror their loved ones musthave felt when they were able to reach them byphone. !I learned about a man that was scheduled toring the bell on the New York Stock Exchange that fate-ful morning.! Instead he took the doomed flight out sohe could get home to see his wife and kids.! In the faceof death, these individuals put a plan together whichincluded waiting until they were over open area to min-imize loss if life on the ground should the plane crash.

When you see the thought process and action thatthese people took, you really realize how big of Hero'sthey really are. !In their time of need, our governmentwas helpless to do anything for them. !They had to takematters into their own hands. !How many of us are pre-pared to do this? !How many of us are willing to do this?

Soon I was back on the bike heading to DC with justthe wind and thoughts about what I had just visit-ed. !Plenty of time to think about the sacrifices somany have made to make this country great. !From ourFounding Fathers to Veterans to ordinary people like

The 2 Million Bikers to DC Ride By Doug Nord W e R e m e m b e r 9 / 1 1

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those killed on Sept 11th. !These thoughtsmade my feelings even stronger that I was apart of something really special. !In the rightplace, at the right time, with the right groupto send the right message. !Now the questionwas how many like minded Patriots wouldgather together the following morning - Sept11th.

The memorial ride was scheduled to leave alocal Harley Davidson dealer at 11:00 am. Anew friend Dale that I had met only a few shorthours before, stayed with me down near therally point. !We got up early and when we got tothe dealership, we were in the 1st 70 bikes toarrive just after 7 am. !

Pretty soon the dealership was packed fullof bikes, then they started filling 3 lanes ofthe road for bike parking. !This continued formore than a mile.! We didn't realize until laterthat so many bikes showed up and that theycouldn't get them all staged since the 3 lanesof the road was packed all the way back to thehighway!!

I would like to note that when we signed ourwaiver for the ride, we were given the name ofa person that died on 9/11 to ride with us.! Iwas honored to have 2 names:! Arlene Babaki-tis and Catherine Fagan who were both mur-dered in the World Trade Centers.

DC police estimated that 1.2 million bikeswere in town. !The reality was that the ridewas not as important as just showingup. !Coming together showed the unity of somany Americans who came from all parts ofour country.

I talked to so many wonderful people thatwere there for the ride. !People from all walksof life that had a calling like me to get out andmake a statement, to show our respect forthose that were murdered. !In front of my bikewas an older veteran on a motorcycle that hadalready rode 1,600+ miles from Texas totake part. !We even had a bike from Alaska! !Icould go on and on with so many great stories.

The support from the local authorities wassuper.! They helped guide us out for the ridearound the outer loop of DC, cheered us onand took video. !!The ride was not scheduled togo directly down into the heart of the City be-cause a formal permit was not received. !But,very large groups broke off and headed downinto the Capitol area to show theirsupport. !Back at the dealership, I heard thatit was some of the Veterans from the Elite fighting units that headed down into the Capitol. !

The next morning I got up and left early for the ride back. !I ended up riding straight back from DC which was around780 miles. !Again, another great opportunity to sit by myself with a bucket on my head to think about the blessing wehave been granted. God watched over me as I had a wonderful ride and didn't experience any back issues at all! !

As I rode along, I prayed that this was not the end, but the beginning of bringing our Nation back to our founding val-ues and adherence to the Constitution. !Values like life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Plus protection of our rights,like the right to bear arms, right to worship freely and much more. !These are not just things that need to be protectedand fought for today, but every day. !For many of us, our time left to fight for our kids and the future generation’s rightsis not that long. !Today is the day to take a stand - not tomorrow. !For tomorrow never really comes as tomorrow only be-comes Today!

God Bless!Doug owns Nord Outdoor Power in Bloomington. He is an ASO sponsor, Support his business. See ad on page 123.

DC… Cont’d. from previous pg.

Bert Whistle, owner of Whistle’s TremontRoofing, snapped this photo when he &

his friend Bob Metternich attended.

Doug Nord at the H.D. Shop

FromTwitter

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