Good Hunt

I apologize for the neglect I have shown towards my website and others. It’s been a long few weeks. Been sick. Been busy with work. The twins grow larger, my time away shrinks. Plus, I’ve not done a lick of good coyote or hog hunting when I have hit the woods.

Also, I’ve been working on a new project. I was hired by the local paper, the Lakeland Ledger, to helm the hunting section of their new website, PolkOutdoors.com. Money for writing about hunting – it’s something I’ve always wanted to do, but the wheels turn slow!

Anyway, I’m there now, but I will not abandon my baby here. I’ll still crank out the stories and whatever else jumps to mind. They prefer newsy things of local interest; not my 2000-word rants and long-form style. Nice part is, I can still write that here and link back to it.

In all honesty, there’s pressure to perform. I want this venture to be successful – and make money! The Hunting World is large tent, and no one can do it alone. It is my intentions to reciprocate the love those of you have shown me here. If there’s a topic of interest or tips or photos you’d like to share, feel free to drop me a line.

So check out the new website. I chose to title my blog "Good Hunt,” something buddies and I say after almost every hunt. Or at least I do.

Thank you again, sincerely, for all the support. I would not have achieved this without you!

Outdoor Blogger Network - Blogger of the Week

I am proud to share with you that the fine folks at Outdoor Blogger Network have selected Yours Truly as a Featured Outdoor Blogger of the Week.

I will accept my hefty monetary award with great humility and begin paying off my expenses from this season.

Seriously, I have not given a shout of thanks in a while, so I will in Oscar-winning format.

I thank the OBN for featuring me. This is a fantastic website for anyone who has interest in the outdoors. There's hunting and fishing and hiking and just a wealth of talented writers. It is impressive.

Would like to thank the Lakeland Ledger's Polk Voice, The Florida Times-Union, and Central Florida Online for risking the wrath of anti-hunters and allowing me to publish to their websites.

Thanks to USA Hunting Pros, Backcountry Sportsmen, and The Outdoor Show for tolerating me posting my blog entries on their Forums. Thanks to the other bloggers who are so supportive. Check out my Blog Roll. Proud to have these writers listed.

I'd like to thank all the readers. Thanks to God of all for the Great Outdoors, the friends who put up with me in camp, and my wife for whom I must purchase lavish dinners in order to go hunting...and thanks too, honey, for the bow, the duck prints and antique decoys, new boots, for not throwing away my Petersen's Hunting magazines, and recognizing I'm in deep thought when I sit at the computer grunting trying to think of another "joke."


I hope I didn't forget anybody!

I love to write. Love to hunt. It was natural. I tried to write my first story when I was 15. Petersen's actually paid me for an article once upon a time. This format does wonders as a creative outlet and provides an opportunity to share with others the adventures that await Out There.

Thanks for reading!

And thanks again!!!

Reviewing the 2009-10 Hunting Season

For me, the 2009-10 Hunting Season is finished. The Hunting FY ends after Turkey Season is kaput. It’s time to analyze this past year and commence preparation for next. Besides, my energy levels are toast, and I’m ready to put ‘er in port for a while. The May Malaise – an awful affliction related to Mono that renders one totally fatigued and incapable of arising at the butt-crack of dawn for any reason – is in total control now. So let’s take a deep breath and gander back at the year that was.


The Highlights

Gator Hunting, no doubt, was one of the most exciting times I’ve had. What a fun way to kick off a hunting season. A bunch of buddies in a boat, stalking the red eyes of Mr. Grins across Polk County lakes. Hooking into one of these bad boys is a thrill, and the teamwork required to put one in the boat safely is a huge part of the buzz . Neither of the gators we took on my tags will awe the serious lizard hunters, but for my inaugural season, it got no better.


A day in North Carolina will live forever around the campfire as long as I'm alive to re-live it for everyone's pleasure. I’d taken a snooze in the stand to fight back a foggy head from the late night drive into town and awoke to two does standing in the dried out soybeans. Two shots, two kills. While on the phone telling Carolyn about it, another pair came running up the length of the field. Cracked a third, and, figuring I shouldn’t get too greedy, let the other one walk. All shots were over 200 yards and filled my freezer for the winter.

My first Georgia quail hunt won’t be withdrawn from the memory banks anytime soon, either. On a beautiful plantation with my soon-to-be-wife and in-laws, we had a fantastic shoot. The dogs worked hard as did the guides. It’ll be hard to let another December pass without a bobwhite extravaganza included.


A few others – the annual Christmas hunt in Sarasota County. Close friends and a perfect stress reliever after the busy holidays. Hunting in Levy County with long-time hunting buddies. It’s always more of a steak and bourbon affair, but I did pop a couple hogs.

The Lowlights

Missing the turkeys. You can surf back through my archives on this. And I still have another punishing tale to write once I muster the strength to do so.

Bow season. It was so blazing hot through September and October; the deer movement was about non-existent in Manatee County. On my last bowhunt in January on public land, it was the coldest day in the last 30 years in the Sunshine State.

Duck season was disappointing as well, but mostly from my lack of attendance. The few times I did make it out, the birds just didn’t cooperate. Friends still make these trips worth while.

The Enemies

Mother Nature proved, once again, what a fickle wench she can be. The extreme heat, the extreme cold. Just a weird weather year. The acorns didn’t fall until late, and the pollen in the Spring was intolerable. With the rain in between, some of the best-laid plans crumbled.

Something New


We went over gator and quail hunting. A trip to Lake Toho in September to shoot moorhen was fun – bet I can scrounge up some interest for a .410 tournament this next go-round. I scouted plenty of WMA’s I had not been on and look forward to hunting in the coming years.

My Hunting Plans for 2010-11

The quota season is getting close. Applying for hunts at…oh, wait, I’m not saying! Potentially, this year’s deer season can stretch from July to February with careful planning. There’s talk of bowhunting the heat and lightning in the South Zone for velvet bucks this August. Gator hunting permits will go online soon. You can bet my name will be in that hat. There’s a fleet of coyotes on my lease that I’ll have to tangle with sometime soon, as well as herds of hogs that need thinning. Gonna try to plant a dove field. Will also forgo bowhunting during that week in September when the early duck season is open. North Carolina in November is a-go. And who knows what else, especially with turkey. The hope is a strong tonic against the malaise.


Finally, thanks to everyone who reads my nonsense on a regular basis or even stops by, tricked by a fancy headline. The Lakeland Ledger runs a feed through its site, and I apparently haven’t written anything too offensive to change that. Same with Central Florida Online helmed by Marialice Quinn, a big supporter and source of encouragement. Trying to get the Orlando Sentinel to run a feed - feel free to e-mail them on how you feel about this.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention followers on blogspot, Backcountry Sportsmen, USA Hunting Pros, The Outdoor Show, FS Forum, NWTF, Mossy Oak, Florida Fish and Hunt, and The Wildlife Pro Network.

If any of ya’ll have any suggestions or tips to share about the site or hunting, holla. (And you can always subscribe by using the application on the right side of the page!)

Kinda weird chaptering the last nine months into such a short article, but rest assured, they were a fun nine months, regardless of how the hunts turned out.

Cheers to you and your hunting seasons!

Saying Thanks and Shout-Outs

Have a large weekend planned. Saturday I will be participating in a charity clay shoot. Not a great wingshot, but it's certainly fun. Then on Sunday I'm heading down to Sarasota County for an afternoon hog hunt. Thank the Lord!

Before I take off for the weekend, I want to recognize a few websites that have helped me out this week in getting my hunting blog spread around. It is much appreciated.

First I'd like to thank Marialice Quinn at Central Florida Online. She was an editor when I wrote my old PolkVoice blog and sought me out when she got involved with CFO. Always supportive, I can't thank her enough for her help, and I encourage you to visit her site.

Next, I would like to mention two nice ladies who maintain excellent hunting sites and have offered words of encouragement for mine. Marian Love Phillips at Marian's Hunting Stories, etc., etc., etc. authored a very nice post endorsing TWL a couple days ago. Please visit her page - it's big on deer and big on big deer! And plenty more.

Then there's I Don't Wear Pink Camo to the Woods by Kari Murray. You just should check this one out. There's all kinds of cool stuff going on here! She knows hunting.

Finally, in the spirit of my forthcoming hog hunt, let me pimp The Hog Blog by Phillip Loughlin. If you have the swine flu, this is the place for you.

Thanks again to everyone for their support.

TWL Classics - To the Hunt

Two years ago I started my volunteer outdoor writing service through a local newspaper's public blogging site. Unfortunately, through powers beyond my control, my archives from that source are gone and lost forever. Luckily, I saved rough drafts of my work on my computer, and once or twice a week I'll re-introduce a past column back into the wild of the World Wide Web. Enjoy!

Originally Published January 2008

My truck is four thousand miles past its last oil change. My knees and back are shot from miles of traipsing through palmetto flats and swamp bottoms. Worse still, my dog barely recognizes me, and I am all but broke from traveling so often.

And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

For me, hunting season is not just an opportunity to escape the house or work for a weekend - it is a passion, a way of life born from being raised in the outdoors of Polk County and Central Florida. I am one of the lucky ones. From September to April, I actively hunt throughout the Southeast for just about anything that has a sanctioned season. When not actually hunting, I’m actively researching new ways to spend more time in the woods.

Already this year I’ve hunted deer in three different states, and ducks in two. Chased hogs in South Florida with rifles and dogs. I’m catching gobbler fever and close to donning the vest, laying out the decoys in the front yard, and calling to the neighbor’s cat. I dream of Africa and constantly check prices for hunts on the Dark Continent as if I could afford it right now. If an outfitter offered hunts for a giant slug on some tropical Pacific island that runs hunters a merry chase and tastes good wrapped in bacon and grilled, I’d be scheming on how to get there and what rifle I should bring.

As I said, I am one of the lucky ones; however, writing about hunting – or fishing for that matter – is a unique task. One can write about football or baseball without ever taking a snap or swinging a bat in a meaningful way. Come to think about it, there are numerous major television networks, publications, and radio stations geared around this very model. To write about the outdoor life, an author must actively engage in these activities or the reader will color them a fraud.

This, of course, leads to some challenges when dispensing advice. Let’s suppose I write an article about how to harvest a deer in a particular place during a specific time of the year with a certain firearm I feel is the most adequate for the situation. Some will take it as the suggestion it was made to be, and others will read it as gospel and go out of their way to tell me I’m wrong. If you need proof of this, read the “Letters” section of any outdoor magazine. Or check online blogs and forums.

Another trouble with writing about hunting or fishing is within the game itself. Hunters and anglers go to great pains to try and predict what their quarry will do under certain conditions. Much ink has been spilled trying to explain the many wrinkles in deciphering game activity. I use this example all the time – I once read that a gobbler will never cross water to come to your calls, and that was true until one old boss tom did.

My point, if I am forced to make one, is that the best way to become a better hunter is to be in the woods and learn for your self. The ultimate goal of this blog is to help discover ways you can enjoy your pastime – to be active and enjoy the tradition and adventure of sport hunting. At the very least, hopefully I can help you slack off a few minutes of work discussing what you love to do.

Living in Polk County, this should not be too difficult of a task. We are fortunate to be surrounded by plentiful public land, and opportunities for private land access for a wide spectrum of game animals. The central Florida hunter is also blessed to be within a tank of gas or so away from some excellent hunting prospects to the north in states such as Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolina's.

Of course, there will be some advice-related topics as this is the nature of the outdoor writing business. Certainly, some people enjoy discussing different hunting strategies and equipment, and I hope to keep readers updated on dates of applications, special hunting opportunities, and any legislation involving our sport. But most of all, I want to use this forum to broaden the scope and bring into focus the multitude of hunting possibilities available to the Polk County outdoors person at a time when the sport seems to be at its least accessible point.

As we prepare to put another fall hunting season - hopefully a successful one - in the books and ready ourselves for the doldrums of February and the blissful return of spring gobbler, I’d like to propose a toast to our fortune in the woods and on the water. This naturally would be better around an oak campfire and with an actual drink in hand, but still - to the hunt, the memories of years past and the promise of the future!