The Great Outdoors Is For Everyone.

Growing up in a small town in Tennessee was an awesome experience. Everyone knew everyone and most would bend over backwards to help one another when needed. Thanksgiving Day was hog killing day and the whole community would get together to help kill hogs. The young, the old and the willing, all came together to do whatever was needed and it didn't matter what the work was there was always enough help to get the job done and still have time to relax before bedtime. Going to the big city of Murfreesboro,Tn. was always a treat what with all the drive-thru fast food joints, big stores and the malls. People of all walks of life would ramble around up and down the sidewalks, with kind " Hellos " and " how ya doin ". The courthouse square was a kind of meeting place for the elderly on the weekends, where you could find from two to fifteen or more sitting around the courthouse lawn whittling on cedar wood, trading knives and good old conversation about the weather or any news worth bringing up in the conversation. Summer nights you could find folks sitting around on their front porches enjoying the whippoorwills, frogs, coon hunters with their dogs howling and the stars. Back then everybody enjoyed the great outdoors at sometime of day or night but these days it seems folks are in to big of a hurry to actually sit, relax and enjoy the outdoors as we used to in the old days. Sure lots of folks say they enjoy the outdoors but just to prove a point try this, after darkness falls go to your neighbors house and walk up to the front porch, if there's no one there try knocking on the door and chances are their in front of the television set watching a show. Now how many of you have sat on your front porch lately with a cold beverage and just listened to nature at it's best? or in early morning sat with a cup of coffee and watched nature greeting the morning light?. Even the city folks can sit by an open window and watch and listen to the sounds of nature ( and yes the city does have nature growing within it ). My parents are 85 and 86 years old and even they enjoy watching birds at the feeders, squirrels around on the ground and in the trees and deer playing as they cross the yard and drink from the pond. I know women who have hunted and enjoyed the outdoors since they were six years old and wouldn't give anything for their time spent there. I have grandchildren wanting me to teach them to hunt and fish and friends at work wanting to hunt and fish with me this year and my only reply I can give them is " we'll go " . I get out working in the yard or on my truck and from time to time I stop and take a break to enjoy nature around me.The great outdoors was given to us by God for our pleasure and enjoyment so whatever adventure or endeavor you decide on taking, get outdoors and relax and have a great time and leave the work behind you for awhile.

The Passing Of My Life Long Hunting Companion.

In the fall of 1976, I was just out of school and working my first full time job. Squirrel season had just opened and was a beautiful weekend. At this time in my life I had no clue as to what deer hunting was all about but things were about to change dramatically. As a child growing up I'd played with bows and arrows but in August 1976 while hunting squirrel I had my first encounter with a small herd of Whitetail Deer. Yearning for knowledge about the whitetail deer and growing up loving to hunt, I began searching every article I could fine in magazines and asking questions from local friends and farmers. This lead me to a family that kept popping up time after time and one that I'd gone to school with since the first grade. The family known by everyone in my home town of Lascassas, Tennessee as "The Dukes" would soon become my life long mentors, hunting family and second family. If I wasn't at home I was at the Dukes learning about whitetail deer and other wild game, fishing and life. The entire family ( father, mother, sons, daughter and even the grandmother )taught me everything I know today about hunting. The father ( Charles Duke ) who passed away 20 years ago was my biggest mentor but it was the youngest son ( Ricky Duke ) that was my hunting companion. Ricky was a year older than me but had hunted whitetail deer all across America since he was 9 years old. All the Dukes would limit out every year and with that kind of experience, classified the entire family as experts to me and well worth my time to learn from them. On Sunday February 1,2009, I received a phone call informing me that my life long hunting companion Ricky Duke had passed away of cancer. The news was devastating and all I've thought of since was the memories of our hunts and time together over the past 40 years. Though Ricky's astonishing accomplishments are all just memories for me now, they will live on in my heart, the woods and the fields forever more. You'll be dearly missed by all who's lives you've touched here on earth Ricky and may God be with you in your new hunting grounds though eternity.

Let The Gathering Begin

With the closing of deer hunting season across the states we're faced with a question of what to write about next?. Most of us write about our hunting experiences and adventures while outdoors. Now we have the opportunity to advance our writings. We have an opportunity before us to expand our knowledge and unite this great nation of Outdoor Bloggers. This union has been a long time coming and has been wanted by so many of us that the time for action is finally here. Kristine at the Outdoor Bloggers Summit has so far been doing all the work to get these Regional meetings up and running, with a select few of devoted members willing to coordinate a meeting in their area. Now she is asking for our help and support to make these Regional Meetings become reality. With the weather changing and spring coming soon, I'm sure that just about anyone can find a park, a picnic grounds with a pavilion or some sort of public facility which can be used to facilitate one of our Regional Meetings. We have far too few meeting locations at present for as many bloggers as we have and we desperately need more meeting locations in states everywhere. You don't have to do all the work on your own, alot of you say " I'll do what I can to help " . Well now is the time to help and make a big difference for everyone. Get Motivated, get your brain to thinking on a daily basis about the Regional Meetings and start putting something together in your area. Kristine will be providing the guidelines to go by, use them and create some of your own. Read the postings on the Outdoor Bloggers Summit and get these meetings started into a forward direction. Recruit others in your area to help you and discuss the possibilities of where to have your meeting. In choosing a meeting site you will need to know how many people the site will accommodate, are they handicapped equipped, easily accessible, well marked on the streets and highways for easy location by all attending, what amenities they have, are they sheltered, If it's a park do they have camping areas with water, electricity and showers- if so what is the cost per camp site, can we get cut rates for our group attending, are there food stores near by for the campers to use, what time the park opens and closes,are night time campfires allowed and is wood available. Check every possibility and the amenities for your site carefully and thoroughly before selecting it. This won't be an easy task by far but the overall outcome will all be worth the time and troubles once the Regional Meetings come forth and are started. Lets all do our part in getting these meetings started. I know it will take some time to organize a meeting but it won't happen if we don't talk locally with each other and get something started. One question I will be e-mailing Kristine with is " How large of a radius area should each Regional meeting encompass as a base starting point for members of the group? ". In the mean time start contacting some of your local members to help you coordinate a meeting in your area. I was thinking of the Cumberland Mountain State Park or maybe The Smoky Mountain State Park for members of Tennessee. I'll know more after I contact a few members from the Tennessee area and hopefully be able to get a Regional Meeting started in Tennessee.

A New Year, A New Adventure, A Unity So Wanted

A new year has fallen upon us and with it comes the essence of a brighter future for us all. We have a chance at a new beginning and the ability to start over or add to our existing quest and dreams. A new adventure has come into our midst and is one that is sure to bring with it new insight to everyone of the blogging world. As we embrace this new adventure, we unite together to create groups around the world that will allow each of us to become closer not only as groups but as a whole. We've each come a long way since creating our websites. We've created a window into our own world around us which has allowed others to know only a portion of who we really are. We now are at a point of which our readers and visitors and our friends want to know more about us and we of them.This is why the concept of the " Outdoor Bloggers Summit Regional Meetings " is being formed. Groups around the world, coming together having fun and making new friends for life. Although these meetings are still in the process of being formed it is of the utmost importance that we all do everything and anything we can to help get these meetings formed and become a member for life of the closest group or chapter in your area. Perhaps as things progress within each chapter, visits to other chapters can be accomplished and eventually all the chapters can come together in one central location for the " Outdoor Bloggers Summit Convention " uniting bloggers around the world.

Obligations With A Challenge Issued.

In the past several weeks I've visited several websites posting articles about deleting links that are no longer in operation or not functioning properly. As writers of the world we have an obligation to our readers to properly maintain our websites which includes the links and ads we list on them. A lot of times we add links to our websites because we like the site and find their information valuable both to us and our readers. Sometimes it's just to gain more readers to our websites but for whatever reason we still have obligations. We often get so involved in posting articles and stories that we forget to check all our links periodically. We add links and add links and before you know it we have links on our websites we don't even have time to visit anymore. We end up visiting only a select few out of many that we have listed and the older links fall to the wayside of unused links on our websites. Our websites depict a reflection of who we are and we owe it to our readers to give them our best. I'd like to issue a challenge to all the writers to start by January 1, 2009 and starting with your first link in your list go through each link, leave a brief comment of your visit and if the link doesn't work properly or is pulled remove it from your list. This challenge should be completed by all writers by no later than January 31, 2009. Let's give our readers the respect they deserve and clean up our websites for a more enjoyable viewing and reading.

Could This Be A New Record Buck.

This photo was sent to me by my son-in-law with a caption " Maybe a new world record ". The buck was taken by Rodger Jarvis in Deckard, Tennessee during the last muzzle loader hunt and I just wanted to post it for all to see what a fine buck was taken from Tennessee as we don't have many bucks this size taken here. Congratulations to Rodger Jarvis on such an outstanding buck.

Up Close And Personal ( Concluded ).

The story behind this buck is that he's really not rubbing that tree at all. In all reality that buck is already dead. He was placed by the tree for photos before dressing it out and the photo posted was taken standing over the deer to show the antlers better. This buck was taken by my future son-in-law one morning using 12 gauge slugs and he really didn't even know he had hit the buck until he saw him fall some 60 yards after the shot was made. He didn't know how big the rack really was until retrieving the buck but he knew he was big. Turned out the buck had eleven points total with a eighteen inch spread between the widest point of the main beam. He was hunting a farm he had just acquired for hunting and only knew there was supposed to be some good deer on it. I've been hunting the farm next to it and have yet to see my first deer.

Up Close And Personal?

Have you ever just sit and watched a deer come in to your stand and wonder how close he'll get before scenting you. Now I usually don't use any kind of scent blockers, I smoke while on stand and I move around a bit, all of which I know are bad things to do but check out the buck in the photo above and tell me what is wrong with this picture. I'll give you more information on the picture in my next post just to set the record straight and fill you in on him.

Hunting A New Snowfall.

Monday morning December 1st, a new snow was on the ground. At first daylight I was in my stand trying to bare the elements of the wind and freezing cold. With a temperature of 17 degrees and winds blowing at 5 - 10 mph. it didn't take long for me to decide that I wasn't going to be in the woods long before I was ready to head for the house to warm up. I braved the weather for four hours before giving in to my bodies needs and climbing down from my stand. Slowly I made my way back into the field which was were the truck was parked and then found out that the wind was blowing even worst in the wide open. Luckily my hunting partners were already at the truck waiting on me to come out and came driving to my rescue from the cold.The bad news was the truck didn't have any heat but it did get us out of the cold wind and it wasn't long before we were back home with a hot fire going in the fireplace and trying to warm ourselves back up. Although none of us seen any deer this morning there was another hunter on the farm that took a nice wide six point buck just above my partners stand sites. Above you will find a couple of photos from this hunt.

The Sweet Success Of VICTORY.

Saturday morning, November 29, 2008, I got up this morning thinking of going hunting again so as usual I put on the coffee, checked the weather and my e-mails but then it hit me, I just wasn't feeling like going hunting due to having to work a twelve hour shift this night. Instead I set here at the computer writing on my blog about my Thanksgiving morning hunt. Long about 9:00 a.m. my wife told me we had to go to town to pay bills and pick up some vittles ( groceries to you city folk ). At 9:30 a.m. my dad called me up to tell me there were three deer in the lake bed grazing. Now we had two special antlerless quota hunts ( November 28 - December 2 and December 3 - 7 ) which were in conjunction with the regular buck only time frame. However if you were a landowner you could take a doe during this qouta hunt. Now even though I was about to go to town I quickly seized the oppurtunity to capitalize on this moment. I grabbed my rifle, drove to dads house and parked in front so as not to spook the deer, jumped out and moved into shooting position along side the back corner of the house. I raised the rifle as the deer looked on at me and took aim then squeezed the trigger and the doe staggered then bolted off into the thick cover of the grown up lake bed. Pausing just a moment to talk to my dad about the deer I then walked to the lake bed and began tracking blood. Across the field and into the thick growth and brairs, over and down the stream then further out across the grown up lake bed. When I finally found the doe she was at the far side of the lake bed next to the wood line. I worked my way back thru the brush to dads house, got my truck and drove to the other side of the lake bed, loaded my doe and took her to the checking station, got my permanant tag, placed it on the doe then drove home and hung her up in my back yard. After gutting the doe I left her hanging as the weather was cool enough to prevent spoilage. Tuesday I'll have to dress the doe and package the meat for the freezer as Wednesday I have to return to work. The sweet sucess of VICTORY was mine at last and hopefully I'll be able to take a second doe during the second antlerless hunt. Pictured above is my doe in the field.