Hunting

Illinois 2020 Deer Harvest Report
According to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the 2020 Illinois deer hunting harvest is up slightly from 2019. There are still a couple of late season firearm hunts, and archery season ends in January, but here are some preliminary numbers… Firearm Harvest [...]Read more

Wild Turkey Kill Video – A Textbook Example of Patience
It takes dedication, stealth and most of all patience to kill a wild turkey. And that’s what Jason Hobbie demonstrated recently during the 2016 Illinois spring wild turkey season. I love hunting wild turkey in Southern Illinois in the spring. But a cold snap gave the birds [...]Read more

The Science of Tracking Wounded Deer – 5 Good Blood Trailing Tips
Tracking a wounded deer is more like forensic science or an exercise in CSI than it is an art form as some people think. By understanding how an animal bleeds from different wound types, you can better recognize blood trails after each shot. But in order to successfully recover [...]Read more

A Great Hunt Requires Great Footwear – How to Find the Best Boot for Hunting
There’s no question, one of the most important pieces of outdoor gear is good footwear. If you hunt, climb, hike or participate in any outdoor activity that involves moving and walking, then footwear is paramount. What you have on your feet will have a huge impact upon your [...]Read more

Know the Hunting and Fishing Regulations or Pay the Price – Illinois Game Laws
On the opening morning of the 2012 Illinois firearm deer season, two hunters in camp didn’t have any blaze orange. They claimed they didn’t know you needed to wear orange during shotgun season. Fortunately for them, I had a couple extra vests in my gear bag, which saved [...]Read more

Labette County Kansas Offers a Sportsmans Adventure
Until a couple weeks ago, I had never been to Kansas. But when I was invited to an event hosted by Labette County Tourism and the Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers (AGLOW) to hunt and fish in the heartland of America, I couldn’t pass up the chance. Rolling [...]Read more

LATE SEASON LESSONS – YOU’RE NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN
2014 was a tough deer season. Not because deer numbers were supposedly down. Things just weren’t going my way. A bad shot on a buck during bow season, and some good old “wrong place at the wrong time” kept me from scoring. Nonetheless, I was determined to put [...]Read more

BANGIN’ BUCKS AT THE BONEYARD
There is something about big racks that gets any deer hunter fired up. And I saw plenty of those this fall. The Boneyard Outfitters lived up to their name this season and did some major bone collecting on whitetail deer hunts, and it was a beautiful thing. Bowhunters saw some [...]Read more

THANKSGIVING PHEASANT HUNTING ACTION
Nothing beats the sound of a cackling rooster as he explodes from under your feet. And we saw plenty of that on our annual family Thanksgiving pheasant hunt. My sons Logan and Kyle, my sister Lynn and I put a serious smackdown on a pile of pheasants. Everyone was cold, but our [...]Read more

NATIONAL SHOOTING SPORTS FOUNDATION — A GREAT RESOURCE FOR SHOOTERS
If you are a hunter, shooter or shooting sports enthusiast, you need to tune your radar into the National Shooting Sports Foundation. We hosted Jennifer Pearsall on the Fishing and Outdoor Radio Show recently. Jennifer is the Public Relations Director for NSSF and talked about [...]Read more