Asian Noodles with Sliced Tenderloin and Avocado

1 lb. trimmed/butterflied venison tenderloin (1/2" thick)
1 tablespoon avocado oil
1 whole avocado
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted
1/2 lb. pasta of your choice
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup diced carrots
3 shots of Sake (one for cooking, two for drinking)
Sauce: 
2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup reduced sodium soy sauce

1 tablespoon Siracha

1 teaspoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon ginger
1 tablespoon sesame oil

     This recipe is not difficult, it is easy to make and even easier to eat. I can promise you that there will not be many leftovers after taking your first bite of this dish. Start by boiling your water and cooking the pasta. While your water comes to a boil saute your carrots, peas and garlic in a large skillet on medium high heat. (you can add broccoli, bok choy or any other vegetable you prefer as well). When you have the vegetables going make the sauce below by adding all ingredients and whisking together until the brown sugar is dissolved. Add pasta to boiling water with a pinch of salt and cook until aldente'. Drain the pasta and add to the skillet with the sauteed vegetables. Before adding the pasta deglaze your skillet with a shot of Sake. Incorporate both elements and then mix in your sauce and lower the heat to low until it starts to thicken and coats your noodles. In a large cast iron skillet bring a pat of butter or a tablespoon of avocado oil to a searing heat. Cook your tenderloin for about 1 minute per side or until you get a hard sear and it's cooked to a medium rare (you may get some residual cooking when you add it to the noodles). When your steak is cooked, remove from the heat and let it rest for five minutes before slicing. Plate by creating a nest of pasta and vegetables, lay the sliced steak and sliced avocado on top of the pasta and garnish with a dash of Siracha and a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds. Take a shot of Sake and try not to eat the entire meal without sharing with friends!


Sauce:
Combine brown sugar, Siracha, soy sauce, fish sauce, ginger and sesame oil. Whisk together in a large bowl and set aside. (your steak can be marinated in this same sauce)

-Enjoy and Good Hunting

The Wait Is Over

     I head up one row several hundred yards and turn back walking slow and steady back down the next watching the seeds of what will be this year's food plot hit the freshly tilled, fluffy soil. With each splash of the seed into the ground I cannot help but think about what this plot will turn into and what big buck I may or may not see in it. Turning soil, planting food plots, creating bedding areas, making sanctuaries, hanging stands and strategizing for the season's hunt has quickly become as important to me as the hunt itself. I love standing on the family farm and looking out on the land as a blank slate, wondering what can we change for this year and how we can make the hunting one percent better than the year before. Now the plots are planted, the stands are hung, and the trails are cut. All that is left is to lye in wait for opening day.
     With all of that being said, you can plant the most beautiful plots on the best piece of property and grow the biggest deer but if you are not prepared for the season both mentally and physically you are not going to have much success. On top of that you need to have your equipment ready, and have a game plan in place for when opening day comes. The season here in Pennsylvania is only six weeks long and that does not give us much time to put one of the big boys on the ground. There are a lot of ways to go about it but I wanted to briefly give you a run down of my gear and how I am planning for success this fall.
     My biggest passion right now is hunting with a bow and arrow, I recently bought a traditional recurve bow but I'll leave that rabbit hole for another day. My archery season begins sometime around June getting my bow tuned and starting to get in some reps a few times a week while we plan out our fall planting strategies. I am currently shooting a Mathews Helium, Victory RIP 350's, Slick Trick 100's and a Scott's Archery Lil' Goose. I am constantly toying with my equipment and trying to improve wherever I can. With that being said, getting your bow tuned and shooting accurately is probably the most important factor in an archery season's success. You need to make sure that you are dialed in and confident when the moment of truth comes. The next piece of equipment that I dial in are my clothes. Between hunting the hot openers in Louisiana to Montana in late September I have quickly realized that a hunter's clothing can make or break your hunt. If you are going to be more than a fair weather hunter you are going to need the right gear. You will need a solid rain suit, light and quiet. I personally choose to wear Sitka gear from head to toe. I have found nothing that compares to the quality and durability of the product. I love the patterns and the way it breaks up my silhouette in all situations. Past the rain suit you will need layers. Layers are the key to being comfortable in all temperatures and conditions. I like to start with a Merino wool base layer. My base layer is super light weight so that I can wear just that during the early season. From there I will added a medium weight outer garment and as the season drags on and gets colder I throw on a third outer layer. I do the same on my legs, base layer and then a thicker outer layer depending on temperature. The last piece of clothing that is overlooked are boots. They are a bit more important in the western big game hunting but you do need the proper boots for the conditions. I started wearing Kenetreks' Mountain Extreme last year and I don't see myself switching for a long time. They have 400 grams of insulation which is perfect for me because I can wear them for early season but they have enough warmth to get me through even the coldest sits during late season if I pair them with the correct socks.Once my bow is dialed and I have the clothes that I need I will move onto the smaller parts of equipment that I use. I think the most overlooked piece of equipment for a whitetail hunter is a good pair of binoculars. I cannot tell you how many times I have picked out a small amount of movement or have seen a piece of an ear or an antler because I upgraded my binos. I didn't realize what I was missing until I started elk hunting with my little brother and he was using 15X binos. Obviously we don't need that level of magnification as Eastern states whitetail hunters but quality glass can make your hunt much more enjoyable and more successful. I am currently running the new Zulu 7 10x42's by Sig Sauer. For an archer in 2018 a range finder can be as important as any tool in your bag. Make sure you are buying quality optics. When it is rainy and cold you want a product you can depend on, I use the Leupold RX-1200.
        After you have those essentials taken care of you need to fine tune the little things. Now that I am married with  a daughter coming home safely is of the utmost importance. You cannot take tree stand safety too carefully, I always wear a harness from the time my feet leave the ground until I climb down for the evening. I just switched to a lightweight MUDDY harness that I can wear between my base and outer layers. It stays out of the way and doesn't bind or get in the way between my legs or when I draw my bow. If I am using a climbing tree stand to hunt some of the farms around my area I like to opt for a little bit heavier stand with a big platform and a comfortable seat for long sits. Some guys like to go super light weight but none of my walks are all that far so I opt for bulky but comfortable, I am currently using the Summit Goliath SD.
     Last but not least are the contents of my pack. The most important thing in my pack for morning hunts is my thermos of coffee. Seriously. Staying awake and alert is the most important part of my morning hunts. The deer are still on the move and I like to be on top of my game for those first few hours of the morning. I also have a nine month old daughter now so being tired is just a way of life. Not to mention drinking a cup of coffee on a beautiful fall morning fifteen feet in a tree stand is probably one of the greatest feelings on the planet. I am also using the grunt call with multiple settings, a doe in estrous bleet can from Primos and some rattling antlers (sheds that I found) for the pre rut when I feel like I have a good chance to rattle in an interested buck. I keep two knives on me at all times, one for gutting and skinning and one for more fine caping cuts. I also make sure to have extra batteries for my range finder and headlamp. If you have ever been walking to or from your stand in the dark and your light goes out it is not a very cool feeling. I usually carry some deer scent in my pack from Code Blue but now that we are doing most of our hunting in a CWD area we can't carry urine scents. To round out my pack I carry a small hand saw for last minute trimming, extra bow rope, a second release aid, knife sharpener and some snacks.
     My gear list continues to grow and change as I learn more about what I like and what products work best for me. I have so much fun tweaking my equipment and learning from other hunters and what they are using. I am sure that I will make some changes as the year goes on and we transition into late season but for now I have it all pretty dialed in. If you are reading this and have some suggestions on new gear to try please let me know. I cannot wait for Saturday to arrive and watch yet another sunrise from twenty feet up!

-Good Hunting

Venison Gravy with Garlic Mashed Potatoes

    One of the best things about harvesting a deer or an elk and butchering it yourself is that you get to pick exactly how you would like to treat each cut of meat. When I am butchering the hindquarters of mine I like to save at least one super tender roast and cube it up for one of my favorite winter time venison dishes, venison gravy over garlic mashed potatoes. This dish is extremely easy to make and I can promise you it will feed an army and warm you up on a a cold winter evening. 

Ingredients:

2 lbs. cubed venison
2 large carrots (peeled and chopped)
1 white onion (chopped)
1 green bell pepper (chopped)
2 cups frozen green peas
3 garlic cloves (minced)
2 qt. chicken or beef stock
1 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup red wine (optional)

Spices:

Montreal Steak Rub
Sea salt
Fresh cracked black pepper
1 tsp.onion powder
1 tsp. garlic Powder
1 sprig fresh Thyme
1 sprig fresh Rosemary
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. Cajun seasoning
Fresh chopped parsley

Preparation:

   Marinate cubed venison in Montreal Steak Rub, onion powder, garlic powder and Cajun seasoning. 

Combine all of your chopped vegetables into one bowl and season liberally with salt, pepper and a bit of the seasonings used to marinate the venison.

Cooking:

   Begin by heating your butter and olive oil on high heat in a cast iron pan. Once the pan is searing hot add the cubed venison and stir constantly until the the cubes have a hard sear on all sides. When the venison is seared, remove it from the pan, set it aside and immediately add your vegetable mix. While sweating the vegetables be sure to scrape the bottom of the skillet, that's where all of your flavor is right now. When the vegetables begin to change color and stick to the skillet, add about half cup of chicken stock or red wine to deglaze and continue to scrape your skillet while doing so. 

   Next add the sprig of thyme and the sprig of rosemary and continue the process of cooking down the vegetables and then adding chicken stock several times until the onions develop a jelly-like consistency. At this point add your cubed venison back to the dish and add the remainder of your chicken stock and red wine. Bring the stew back to a simmer, cover and cook for another 2 hours adding liquid occasionally until the meat is pull apart tender. About 30 minutes before serving add your 2 cups of frozen green peas. 

     Sprinkle Cajun seasoning and fresh chopped parsley over the top of the stew, and serve over rice, or my favorite, garlic mashed potatoes. The last step is to pour your self a cold pint of Guinness and enjoy! 

-Good Hunting

The Return

     When I was little I remember making fires in the evening with my dad and he used to tell me that when you could hear the wood start to crack you knew that it was lit and your fire was about to be roaring in short order. You knew that it was no longer just the paper burning and in no time you would be watching the beautiful orange and blue flames as they warmed you to the core. As I sat in the backyard and built a fire of my own after shooting a few final practice arrows I started to hear my dry wood crackle and I knew my fire was about to be ablaze. I sat there sipping on a cold one and realized that the Pennsylvania opener was only days away. I thought of generations past and the tradition that comes with the opening of deer season in the North. Just like my fire, my burning desire to hunt is ablaze and I cannot wait for the first sit of the season this Saturday. 

     As many of you know I just recently moved back to Pennsylvania from Baton Rouge where I resided for the last ten years. I loved the lifestyle down in Cajun country. The people, the culture and most of all the food was indescribable. But there is just something about being back in the mountains with autumn upon us that breathes new life into my soul. When you see the leaves changing color as fall approaches you cannot help but think ahead to what this season may bring. What encounters will I have this year? Will all of the long hours on the tractor and time spent prepping fields and stands give me the opportunity to kill a gnarly giant this fall? Well, in just a few short days these questions, along with many others, will be answered. 

     The best part about being back up North is the opportunity I have once more to spend time with my father getting our family farm ready for hunting season and learning the ins and outs of crop management and preparation from him. We have spent countless hours since the end of turkey season with our minds focused on October 1st and having everything ready for that first morning. I have been running cameras the last few months so that we can choose our shooters and which bucks we want to let grow for another year. This also gives us a great chance to inventory the health of our deer herd. You need to be prepared to pass a nice buck if he is too young. The only way to grow true mature bucks is to let the young ones walk and grow.

  

     The last piece to this opening day puzzle is to make sure that your weapons, both physical and mental, are as sharp and oiled as they can possibly be so when the moment comes to make that shot you are prepared to make it count. There is a bow hunter named Cameron Hanes who I follow on social media that is gaining popularity at a record pace in the hunting community for his success as an elk hunter and more notably his insane workout regimen. This guy runs, lifts weights and shoots his bow seven days a week in preparation for elk season. He just finished a two hundred mile mountain marathon to get his body both mentally and physically ready for the strains of hunting season. His sole purpose in life is to dominate on the mountain and become the ultimate hunter. I have been using his success to fuel my own preparations.

     

     I have made it a personal goal of mine to become the best archer I can be this year and that has included shooting my bow religiously and training my body on a daily basis. I want to become the top predator and it takes immense dedication and focus to do so. I have been spending countless hours, shooting arrow after arrow while listening to the combines harvest corn and imagining a Booner standing broadside. There is something so simple yet so surreal about hearing your shot thwack the target and looking up to see that it was delivered right where you intended. The flight of an arrow is an ancient visual that as a bow hunter is the essence of what we do. 

     We shall see what the upcoming season brings, only time will tell what adventures lie in store. 

 As a friend recently told me, "If that doesn't get your fire burning, your wood is wet."

-Good Hunting

Cajun Hideaway

       In a hidden corner of the world there is a small camp where land meets water and the wild swamps of Louisiana form a small haven tucked away from the world. It is a place where cayenne pepper and cold beer come together to form a sweet partnership. A Cajun heaven unlike few that I have been to before. To get to the camp you must travel down what seems like an endless dirt road stricken with potholes and covered in mud tire tracks. After about the seventh song on George Jones greatest hits you will come up on what looks like just another hunting camp. You have the usual posted signs riddled with bullet holes and as you drive down the road you can almost taste the history of this place. It is a deer camp that Cajun families have been coming to since before the 1950's.

      As we made a right into the camp ground I could not help but be taken back by the nostalgia of the place. No electricity, a small amount of running water and the air filled with familiar smell of creole' seasoning. We unloaded our gear and headed into the house which was fronted by a covered kitchen equipped with antique cast iron skillets and what looked like a stove that had been there long before most of the nearby alligators were born. To say the least this kitchen had probably been producing world class Cajun cooking for the last forty years. As we peeled back the swinging screen door you could hear the wood stove cracking and I was all of the sudden taken back to twenty years ago when the smell of cigar smoke and home cooking filled my grandmother's house. I had to choke back a few tears laying in bed  thinking of how much the smell of the cabin reminded me of my late grandparents. After an unbelievable supper filled with Cajun shrimp stew and the best green beans known to man, I drifted off to sleep thinking about the adventure that the next morning would bring.

      Although this camp was built for deer hunting we were after a much different creature, one with a green head and bright orange feet. You see, when the Mississippi River begins to stretch its banks and the Atchafalaya Basin begins to come up, this property becomes an absolute honey hole for mallards and pintails. It is one of the few places on earth that you can find green heads and pintails cupping up through flooded timber at the same time. In my short five or six years of duck hunting I have seen nothing like it. As we cut the engine to the four wheeler the dark flooded timber was teaming with mallards. The silence of early morning was broken with feeding chuckles and loud raspy cadences. If you could not get excited to hunt ducks at this point you might as well stay home and watch the latest installment of Bill Dance Outdoors. This was the antithesis of why I get up and hunt in the morning. As we began to set our decoy spread you could hear nothing but quacking and the beating of wings as birds began to buzz us long before the sun rose. All duck hunters know that the time between getting setup and waiting for first shooting light are some of the longest minutes of the season. After what seemed like hours sitting there beneath the large cypress trees my buddy Beau picked our first mallard of the trip off the water. A short time after, while fixing the decoy spread I was able to make a good passing shot on another drake and have him fall almost in my waders.

      It was such a promising start to the morning and to the weekend that I could not help but feel like we would be back at camp in about thirty minutes with eight mallards in tow. But as is the case late in the second split I could not getting passing birds to commit to our spread. By the time these birds make their way down from the Midwest the boys in Missouri and Arkansas have given them a pretty good education on what is and what is not a flock of real ducks sitting on the water. I know a lot of great hunters in Arkansas and if these birds can make it past them that they are sure going to be tough to hunt. Now, I will be the first to tell you that I will not be bringing home any calling championships in the near future, but I was able to get some birds to work. After a couple of hours watching thousands of birds tornado into a timber hole about five hundred yards from where we were, we determined that we needed to do a little scouting for the next morning's hunt. What I witnessed next will stick in my mind for as long as I live. As we began to approach this oasis ducks began to get up five to six hundred at a time. The sound of their wings leaving the water was almost deafening. It was like a scene out of a movie. It made me feel even a bit worse about only killing two ducks that morning, but after seeing this I was determined to get on them the next morning in that new location.


     After another delicious supper of grilled pork chops and rice dressing I was ready for another fresh  morning of chasing mallards. This would be the last hunt of the season and one that I would not soon forget, for the wrong reasons. As we rode the four wheeler out to our new spot for the morning we suddenly got behind another group of hunters that seemed to be heading in a similar direction. It was a bit odd because as I stated this was a deer camp and no other hunters had been hunting the ducks recently like we had been. I had a very empty feeling when I saw those hunters, but my partner assured me that they would be going to a different property and would not be near us. As I had suspected though these boys had no intention of hunting on their property and must have seen and heard all of the birds that we had been working the past few weekends.


     What took place next was one of the most aggravating things that I have experienced during my brief career as a hunter. It is one of my biggest pet-peeves as an outdoorsman and the sole reason that I shy away from hunting in these big clubs and around a bunch of public property. As we sat in our blind silently and watched the other hunters setup decoys within shooting distance of us I knew that we were in for a let down. Not only were these guys trespassing, but they setup right on top of us. When the first birds of the morning circled and worked their spread Beau and I were showered with number four shot and from that moment I knew that our season was going to end with a let down. We were forced to either stay there and endure showering pellets or move and try to kill some birds in another hole. After they sprayed us the second time a yelling match ensued and I was ready to leave. This is not the way I wanted to end my season, but I could surely live to hunt another day. It was quite a let down to have such a promising hunt on such a beautiful morning end in such disappointment. I will probably never forget that hunt for those reasons and it makes me sad to think hunters could have such a lack of respect for another man's land. This is one of the reasons hunters get such a bad rep. People believe that we just go around trespassing and killing everything that moves. If we are going to keep our traditions we must abide by the rules and hunt using ethics and good judgment. Are these the lessons that we want to teach the young hunters coming up today?


      I hated to end my season with such an event, but overall it was an incredible duck season for me. I got to shoot birds that I had not yet harvested and experience some Cajun traditions that most people will never have the pleasure to. The one thing that this trip made me realize is that no matter how you start or end your season, once it is over you cannot wait for the next one to begin.

-Good hunting
     

 

Finish Strong

     There are not too many things that my Mom and Drew Brees have in common, but there is one phrase that both of them have uttered the majority of my young adult life, "FINISH STRONG." We all know that in life it is not how you start the game but how you finish it. In this instance I am talking about my own personal hunting season.

    

      I have hunted more hours and more days this year than I have in a long time. I put in countless, mosquito filled hours during the early bow season and really have not let up on the whitetails yet this season. I have had enough duckless hunts so far to last me for the next ten years but I have not let up on them either. The recent cold snap in the northern reaches has brought droves of birds to the southern states. This past weekend provided me with one of the better public land duck hunts I can remember. There were birds in the sky and they were actually listening to what we had to say. Soft chuckles and feed calls were making the greys and even a lone drake pintail commit to the decoys like Japanese planes in Pearl Harbor. I had been waiting all year to see ducks suspended in time over the decoys while my front sight covered up their breast bone. Teal were flocking and though we were not lucky enough to suck in any of the passing green heads it was great to see them down here for a winter vacation. The long hours we put in scouting and finding new holes were paying off. My patience was beginning to pay dividends and it looked as if the season could end with a bang.

 

     We were beginning to turn the duck hunts around and I was hoping the deer hunting would be next in line. The rut was beginning to peak and bucks were being spotted all over running does. Even with the rut peaking I still cannot get hooked on the deer down here like I can on the northern whitetails. Like I have said several times in past posts I am a whitetail hunter at heart and will probably always be. Louisiana though is not exactly the best place to pursue such a passion. I know there are many great places to hunt deer in the state but as a whole it just does not have the luster that the fall mountains provide for an avid bowhunter. Most of the season is spent swatting mosquitoes and when the rut finally does come around and the temperatures drop, the woods are filled with men covered in hideous orange vests toting high caliber cannons through the woods. As many of my northern readers know, the rut is a time for us bowhunters to enjoy the cool weather and sit in silence waiting for grunting bucks to run a hot doe past our set.

 

   Another aspect of southern deer hunting that does not quite sit right with me is the fact that most states in the southeast allow 'baiting.' Now I know this can be a very controversial subject throughout the country but to me personally it really takes away from the sport and the fair chase aspect that most purists love. Don't get me wrong, I have sat over a corn pile on a buddy's property and to me it just didn't feel right. I know that this does not guarantee success but when you bag an animal over bait I believe it does sour the success a bit. My apologies for venting about this issue it is just something that I strongly believe in.

 

   With all of these tough hunts this year I have been able to realize one thing. The failures that we face as outdoorsman make the good times that much better. I started the season with several tough duck hunts and now we have been killing our fair share of birds. I am scheduled to to hunt mallards in central Louisiana this coming weekend and I am expecting nothing but success. I have put in too much time to fail this year and I plan on finishing the season with success.

     Every year we as hunters believe that "this is the season." We think that this year will be the defining year in our hunting careers. Well let me say this, many state's hunting seasons have come and gone and from what I have seen through several different social media outlets some amazing trophies were taken this year. Down on the bayou we have just a few weeks left and I plan on filling tags and making these coming weekends some of the best I have had. As many have said over time it is not how you start but how you close. What ever you may be chasing this weekend enjoy the ride and do not take it for granted. I am going to tell all of you what my mom has told me since childhood, whatever you are doing "Finish Strong."

 

 

-Good Hunting


 

Sharpening The Blade

     If many of you are like me, you are currently caught in a transition period between wrapping up your fishing season and beginning to focus on what hunting adventures the early fall may bring. Like many people in the outdoors there is not one type of hunting or fishing that I focus on or consider my favorite. Although I do spend the largest quantity of my time targeting the elusive whitetail, there is not a species of animal that I don't want to pursue with either a bow or a fishing rod.  However, for every season of the year  there is a certain species or tactic that I like to make my focal point. It is at this point of the year, early fall, that I find myself trapped between the excitement of the bass and redfish bite and the thoughts of pursuing 'ole mossback' through the forest with the stick and string. Besides the amazing October fishing in Louisiana and deer season ramping up there is one thing that I cannot seem to get out of my mind, duck hunting. When I first moved to Louisiana seven years ago I though people were crazy for giving up perfectly good whitetail season to try and shoot a few birds. Why would anyone want to spend a morning shooting a three pound bird when I can chase down one hundred and fifty pound fur bearers that could yield me fifty pounds of choice red meat? It did not take me long to realize what all of the hype was about. There is a camaraderie in the duck blind that cannot be recreated in any other type of hunting. Unlike most big game hunting duck hunters are able to cut up and talk without the worry of spooking animals. I have even experienced a few cold mornings that have been accompanied by a propane stove topped with eggs and sausage. Duck hunters, not only down south but throughout the country, are a bit of a different breed. As they say in the Wizard of Oz, a die hard duck hunter, is "a horse of a different color." Like the avid flyfisherman they rise before dawn and spend the day standing in the frigid water, lying in wait for possibly a few minutes of excitement. I am not seasoned enough to call myself a duck hunter but I do consider myself 'in traing'. Every minute I spend practicing my calling or strategizing for the next hunt is an opportunity to get ready for that moment when the next generation asks me for guidance.  

     No matter what your quarry, if it is an overnight trip there is going to be some type of camp atmosphere after the hunt. Camps can range from multimillion dollar lodges to a few straight wall tents around a camp fire. Though I prefer the latter any hunting camp will do just fine. There is nothing I enjoy more than the time shortly after a great hunt or a great day on the water sharing the stories of the day with those around you and the excitement of thinking about doing it all again. One thing I truly enjoy is strategizing after a failed hunt or a tough trip. I like to conceive other tactics that could improve my chances of being successful the next time around. How can I do better next time? Were we throwing the right baits? Do I need to hunt a different stand with a different wind? There is nothing more rewarding than finding the answers to these questions, turning around and having success. Like I have said numerous times before, that is the difference between  the best hunters and anglers in the world and those people that consider themselves the best in the world. These professionals were not just born with great instincts and outdoor skills. They developed them over years of trial and error and learning from those that had come before them.
     In summary, whatever critters you may be chasing through the woods or the streams this year, remember that being in the outdoors and following in the footsteps of your forefathers is what it's really all about. It does not matter if you are hunting the deep gorges out west for trophy muleys or chasing swamp donkeys in the lowlands of South Carolina. If you are in the woods or on the water you can always find a way to improve your skills and learn from those around you. Do not be one of the "know it all" outdoorsman that so many of us despise. Be humble, enjoy yourself and the company that you keep. Also, do not limit yourself to one species or one tactic. Enjoy the thrill of figuring out other game and the different ways to pursue them. Broaden your horizons and broaden your skillset. Make this season the most successful and most memorable few months of your life. Like I have said many times before, stay patient and stay driven.

-Good Hunting.

Congratulations to my good buddy Chad Bell who hunted countless hours during the southern Illinois rut before bagging this beautiful 4x4. This guy is a diehard hunter and a student of conservation. The hunting community cannot have enough people like him, this deer is testament to his hard work and persistance.