When the surgeon told me last summer that I had cancer, the first thing I asked him was whether or not I could be in my stand for the November Rifle Opener. He said I undoubtedly could. He was true to his word. Last season, I shot a respectable buck … Continue reading →
I turned 64 over the weekend. The whole tribe dropped over to wish me well. My favorite present had to be the new Stormy Kromer that Angus gave me. It’s Hunter Orange. This is my second Stormy Kromer. It all started a couple of years ago when I was getting … Continue reading →
I’m trying to catch up on all of what has happened in the previous months. I discovered a draft of an entry I was about to make just as this whole cancer thing kicked off. You see, I was scurrying about in mid-March, trying to get the pieces together for … Continue reading →
The Fall 2021 Kentucky Hunting and Trapping Guide got posted to the KYDFWR website a couple of weeks ago. Click on the image to get the whole thing I have not found any big changes this year pertinent to Zone1 or the Northeast Region. Be sure to read the rules … Continue reading →
From an email: Oh great shaman! I’ve been offered a rifle for deer hunting that is in 308 Winchester. Is that a good choice? Should I hold out for a 6.5 Creedmore? I guess my 308 WIN experience is perverse compared to most folks. Don’t take me wrong. I don’t … Continue reading →
I’d just made it home from the hospital a few weeks ago, and I was weak enough to feel super-glued to my recliner. Moose and Mooselette stopped over to see how I was doing. I was so happy to see my most honorable #1 Granddaughter. With Chemo Camp I’d been … Continue reading →
Yesterday, I completed my last visit to Chemo Camp. Moose snapped a picture. It ain’t all that pretty. I’m down a good 40 lbs. I’d just had a good stiff hit of anti-nausea drug dumped into my IV line. However, I’m fairly confident the treatments have killed the Cancer. The … Continue reading →
Mind you, I still consider myself the luckiest guy out there. It was just by chance they measured my HCG Turmor Marker back in early April and found the cancer was back. I had my third round of Chemo in the bag for Father’s Day– roughly about the date I … Continue reading →
A while back, I found a site called Deep Art. You feed it a couple of pictures and basically tell it: “Make this pic look like that pic.” It cogitates for a bit and then spits out a third picture that resembles the first pic, but rendered in the style … Continue reading →
Every year I get asked what’s a good deer rifle. I’ve been writing deer rifle recommendations for close on to two decades. Rather than beat that horse again, I want to discuss the scope. Honestly, I am by no means an expert on rifle scopes. However, I’ve been dealing with … Continue reading →
I figure now would be a good time to let y’all know how it’s going. I did not want you to be thinking I was all curled up in a ball somewhere with tubes coming out of me in all directions. The truth is, I’m feeling pretty darn good approaching … Continue reading →
From E-Mail (name withheld on request) Oh, High and Lofty Shaman! . . . I notice you have several pictures on your site of rounds loaded with green-colored bullets. I take it you do powder-coating. How does that work? I see all over, but it all looks way too complicated … Continue reading →
Have you ever had a hard time getting a chambering out of your head? Let me tell you my story. See if this sounds familiar. Let’s start back to 30 or so years ago. Back then, I was only deer hunting with 30-06 in Kentucky and 12 Gauge slug in … Continue reading →
Cancer has a nasty way of screwing up a Turkey Season. I did not want to call things off entirely. As it was, I left the oncologist’s on Thursday of Opening Week with a firmed-up treatment schedule and rode straight out to camp. Friday AM is when I nailed my … Continue reading →
Walking out from the Honey Hole the other day presented me with a bit of a logistics problem. I had only a half-mile or so to walk, but I was schlepping a 23 lb bird on my back. I am due to start chemo on Monday, and I must admit … Continue reading →
This did not take a whole lot of editing, but it turned out pretty well. I was out earlier today in the fog and managed to bring a gobbler in and close the deal. Some quick notes. First off, the extraneous pops and cracks is water dripping off the trees. … Continue reading →
I had to call it quits last weekend. The trip out and back to the Honey Hole aggravated the leg, which had been the reason I spent the early part of last week in the ICU. I did not mind it much. Sunday thru Wednesday was cold or rainy– or … Continue reading →
The 2022 Kentucky Spring Gobbler Season started about as well as any. It rained overnight but stayed in the mid-fifties. The last shower evaporated a few miles from us just as we were heading out. It looked like things were going well. They did, just not for me. Angus and … Continue reading →
. . . Or Life Comes at you Fast. . . . Or something like that. The countdown clock just passed 1 Day, One Hour, and 1 Minute to the Spring Gobbler Opener. I’m leaving for camp some time this morning. The past couple of weeks have been a bit … Continue reading →
Saturday AM, I finally had everything assembled to get my first shot off with my Pedersoli Brown Bess. Things went off without a major hitch. I even managed to dig up some FFG Goex that I purchased in 1986 to use in the inaugural shot. The powder worked like it … Continue reading →
#1 Granddaughter, Mooselette, attended the 2022 Yute Opener with her Grandpa. I took her out to the Honey Hole in hopes of recording something for a podcast. It wasn’t much of a hunt; we did not expect it to be. Mooselette did not even bring a shotgun. We had fun. … Continue reading →
This is the first podcast of 2022, and it is a good one. I got out to the Honey Hole just as a roost of hens to my left was pitching woo to a roost of gobblers to my right. Over a half-hour the loudest gob and the most vocal … Continue reading →
The first attempt to cast balls for the Brown Bess ended with mixed results. The Lee .69 cal mold cast perfect balls for what would be standard paper cartridges, but that assumes that the shooter would be jamming multiple rounds down the barrel without any cleaning. For precision shots, I … Continue reading →
The KYDFWR’s Spring Rules are out. There is nothing particularly new regarding turkeys. Spring Gobbler season still starts on 4/16/22 and you can still take 2 birds. However, keep your ear to the ground for next season. The KYDFWR is considering changes to combat declining turkey populations. The only big … Continue reading →
Requiem for a Turkey Load I really cannot remember the last time I blew my wad at paper. It must have been ten years ago. I’ve been shooting pretty much the same load at turkeys since 1996, Federal Premium 3-inch 12 Gauge 2-ounce #4. The boxes have changed. The load … Continue reading →
