O’Connor, one of the greatest hunters and writers of the 20th century and one of my heroes, wrote this in his 1967 book, The Art of Hunting Big Game in America: “That crafty old whitetail buck above the fireplace is a lot smarter and harder to come by than any Stone sheep or any tiger that ever lived." The simple and insightful writing by men who knew how to hunt and lived it is marvelous, isn’t it? Sadly, there are few hunting writers like that anymore. Worse, there are virtually no good-paying opportunities in the outdoor genre for men to hunt and write like that anymore.

Just in time for turkey season I ran across this blog with a series of creepy, horrible rattlesnake pictures. I guess they are rattlers, but I am not for sure…I have never gotten that close to one, dead or alive, thank God. Plus, I think they are Mississippi snakes, and they have giant rattlers down there. The snakes standing up freaked me out. I envision those evil things seeing me down through the woods and charging forward, slithering and dancing, and if that happened I’d have the big one and for sure be done. I don’t know squat about snakes, and don’t want to, but I texted my buddy Sarge, who has done a lot of spring habitat work in the South and [...]

I thought this video was bad ass from the start, but from a deer hunting perspective it’s most impressive from :50 to 1:57 seconds. The guy lugging the bike up the rocky hillside—amazing how lightweight and portable. And with those tube tires, the darn thing floats. We’ve all crossed streams and plodded across muddy fields like that. I could see cross-slinging a rifle or bow across your back with a small pack and riding the bike deep into inaccessible deer country. (Can’t tell how loud the motor is though…pretty loud I would think.) Watch till the end and you’ll see the guy break the bike down, store it in 2 sacks and stuff it in the back of his tiny foreign [...]