A Buck Named Mordecai
“I had plenty of time to come up with a good story for the men at camp as I lay bleeding in the woods.”
Dear Deer
Dear Deer, Why do you make me chase you? If you only knew what I had to go through, the trials I must endure, the obstacles I must overcome in order to spend time with you, you would throw your hooves up in the air and surrender out of sheer pity. First, I have to get...
The Parson Lied
First published in the April 1939 issue of Hunting & Fishing magazine, and then in Tales of Quails ’n Such in 1951.
Whiskey from a Coffee Cup
“Camp…Four miles! Up, down, then up long way!” spoke my smiling Sonoran guide.
Life After Death
Poetic justice, I thought — that on the same mountain where I’d shot that bull in the heart before, I got hit in the heart. About mid-morning on a Montana mountainside the guide heard “Cody, just a minute.” He turned to see the hunter lean forward, then fall...
ICU Nurse Turns to Outdoors for Escape, Earns First Whitetail
An ICU nurse from Nebraska recently turned to the outdoors for an escape and found hunting success with her first whitetail deer. Amanda Peters refers to the outdoors as her “happy place.” The Lincoln woman is a cardiac intensive care unit nurse at Bryan Medical...
Deer Urine: Cologne of the Gods
South Carolina has recently passed laws restricting the use of deer urine. Not a day too soon, if you ask me–especially after the nightmare experience that I survived last year. Code Red. Code Blue. Miss Majestic. Doe in Heat. It goes by many brand names. But the...
A Soul-Searching Hunter Must Be Prepared For Surprises
In reflecting on the hunts of my past, I surprised even myself with hopes for the hunts still to come. It wasn’t long ago that my personal odometer turned 60. Other than a passing mention at an unrelated family gathering, no one seemed to care. That suited me just...
The Fanged Whitetail
Q: A friend told me he shot a whitetail doe that had small upper canines or bugling teeth like an elk. Not sure I believe him. When I asked about seeing the skull, he said it was at a taxidermist who was doing a complete skull mount for him. Is there really such a...