Hunting

In Illinois, this is one of the few times that bowhunters need to wear blaze orange. This coming Columbus Day weekend (October 11, 12 & 13) is Youth Firearm Deer Season in Illinois. Bowhunters need to wear the required amount of blaze orange— 400 square inches on the upper [...]Read more

If you are looking for a great place to hang a tree stand for deer season, you might want to search out some oak trees. 2014 is going to be the “year of the acorns”. Many oaks have an “every-other-year” cycle for increased acorn production. Kind of like how lilacs have more [...]Read more

When discussing wild game recipes, some people would ask me “How can you eat that?” Easy, really. I grew up in a hunting household where we ate wild game. We loved to hunt. And we ate what we hunted. No hidden secret or big mystery. With kids of my own ranging from 6 [...]Read more

Hunting is a privilege, a tradition and to many families, a legacy. It’s one of the best ways to unplug kids from the internet or video games and spend quality time in the outdoors. But there are right ways and wrong ways to introduce them to this great American pastime. Here are [...]Read more

If you are planning to take your kids hunting this fall, NOW is the time to get them into Hunter Safety Education Classes. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources offers TWO ways for young hunters to get certified- through their traditional instructor-led 2-day classes, or [...]Read more

The first case of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in Illinois was reported in Boone County in November of 2002. Since then, the disease has continued to trickle into the Illinois deer herd, mostly into the counties bordering Wisconsin. But now it’s here in Will County. A deer [...]Read more

My first memories of hunting are distant, but clear in my mind. I remember climbing into a deer blind with my Dad — pitch black, windy, and cold, climbing in the darkness to reach the safety of a wooden box high up in a tree. I remember falling asleep then being awaken with a [...]Read more

After a slow start to goose season due to warm temperatures, recent winter storms have finally pushed the Canada Geese south. According to my buddy Mike Brenczewski, there are more birds here in Northern Illinois at one time than he has ever seen. I had a chance to hunt with Mike [...]Read more

As I recall in 2011, the whitetail rut came early, and it looks to repeat that trend again this year. Reports from several bowhunters are backing up this projection. In addition to the physical attributes like this buck arrowed by my buddy Rick Drapak last Saturday night, there [...]Read more

They have been called the Gray Ghosts of September for a reason. There is a certain allure that doves have for wing-shooters. They are challenging to hunt, more specifically, challenging to hit. The season opens when it’s still t-shirt weather so you don’t have to [...]Read more