The sporting club hierarchy needs your help
It’s time to do some torch-passing.
Dan Ladd
No late-season gobbler, but….
This hunter bids farewell to gobblers until fall.
You can never be too safe in the turkey woods
New York hunters are generally a safe bunch, but the statistics we often boast about should never cause us to let our guard down.
A little luck on opening day
For this hunter, there is nothing better than the early days of turkey season with the cooler temperatures, limited foliation and lack of insects. It’s a wonderful time to be in the turkey woods. Slinging a gobbler over your shoulder on the way out is icing on the cake.
The final approach to turkey season
The goal is to find birds to hunt during the first two or three days of the season.
A pair of six-hour canoes
I still remember a PBS show called Cottage Country where I saw an episode over 25 years ago that demonstrated how to build what was known as the “Six Hour Canoe” from one sheet of 4×16 marine plywood (or a pair of 8-foot sheets). Eventually, in 2003 I built one. It was at a two-day workshop at what was then the Adirondack…
Permanent Daylight Savings Time: What if?
What would it mean for us outdoors folks if the House and President Biden approve?
Enjoy winter while you can
Is it just me, or has this winter gone by fast? It seems like only yesterday it was deer season and the holidays were just ahead. Now, we’re counting the days until March 20, when spring arrives and maybe even more-so, the April 1 trout opener. I like winter, and always have. I grew up snowmobiling, which was one of…
Some whitetails have it easier than others
Around here, there’s plenty for deer to eat, but that’s not the case in the mountains.
Last call for comments on proposed fishing regs
Time is quickly winding down for the Feb. 6 public comment deadline regarding a series of freshwater fishing regulation changes that could affect nearly every angler in this state.
Preparing for winter power outages
One late December morning, my wife Adrienne and I woke up to find the power had gone out. A nasty, over-night windstorm was the culprit. Ours is a log home, and takes a while to cool down. Still, within minutes, I was firing up the wood stove – something I’d be doing anyway – only without my morning coffee. Fortunately,…
Ice situation not looking good
But we’ll be turning the corner on winter before you know it.
Another Adirondack deer season comes to a close
It was sad to see it end and this hunter feels like he left something in the woods.
Shooting – but mostly not shooting – does
This hunter often finds himself undecided when an opportunity on an antlerless deer presents itself. Sometimes he pulls the trigger, but more often than not, he doesn’t.
Whitetails are tough critters
If you do all the right things following a hit and still don’t recover a deer that continues to move, take some resolve in the animal’s natural healing ability and that you may encounter it another day.
The Strange Stuff files
Tucked away in my files is a folder entitled “Strange Stuff” that is mostly full of letters from, and about a guy known as “Adirondack” Jack Leach, who lived in Utica. How I came to know Jack is a story all its own. The short version is that I was contacted in 2006 by an ESPN reporter who was doing…
Too hot to handle
New York could use a hard frost, and soon. It’s been an extremely warm autumn thus far, with temperatures running 10 or 15 degrees higher than average. Even where I reside in the Southeastern Adirondacks, we’re just on the tail end of a two-week run where temperatures have been in the 70s during the day. There’s a bit of a…
Twilight in the autumn hunting woods
First light is obviously not sunrise. For the sake of terminology, there is civil twilight, nautical twilight and astronomical twilight to consider, which all occur before the official sunrise, and after sunset. Here’s how it all can impact turkey hunting success.
What are you doing to celebrate National Hunting & Fishing Day?
Got plans for the fourth Saturday in September? If not, you should have because it’s National Hunting & Fishing Day, which is also one of New York’s free fishing days. For sportsmen, NHFD should be something they pay homage too, perhaps even forging a little awareness on behalf of our outdoor heritage. It seems like any given day is “something”…
Frontier Town: The Adirondack campground with a state park feel
Like many kids who grew up in the Adirondack region, or even nearby, I visited Frontier Town as a youngster. In its day, Frontier Town was an exciting western theme park with cowboys and Indians, train rides and robberies, a rodeo and wildlife. But eventually the place fell on hard times and closed, a big loss for the Essex County…
What is wrong with people?
The title of this post says it all, and please pardon me for venting. But I just can’t get over how lazy and bold some people are becoming when it comes to littering. And, it seems like as the popularity of outdoor sports grow, it’s only getting worse. A few weeks ago I went for a hike one morning in…
Tracking summer turkeys
New York’s spring turkey hunting season may have ended two months ago, but like deer hunting, I am starting to find myself becoming a year-round turkey man. Being able to regularly observe summer flocks in recent years is surely part of the reason. Two years ago some strategic logging was done on my property and one of the intentions was…
The ‘power’ of technology
As I write this, I am up at the Bassmasters Elite Series tournament in Waddington, N.Y., along the St. Lawrence River. Since it’s not too awful far from home, I thought I’d take a ride up and spend the afternoon covering the tournament and the weigh-in. Usually when I attend tournaments I book some time on a media boat, which…
Here comes a busy summer season
The summer season has arrived and with it, comes more and more people. If you live, or more importantly, recreate in a place that attracts outdoor-types, don’t expect to have it to yourself anytime soon. School’s out, July 4 weekend is looming and things are going be busy well into autumn. Summer outdoor activities like hiking, biking, kayaking and even…
Looking ahead to hunting season
(Photo by Jerrod Vila)Another turkey season is well behind us now and hopefully most of the talk centered around wild turkeys is that of seeing hens with plenty of poults along our travels. That is something that is always good news for the seasons that lie ahead. As soon as one hunting season is over, I’m always looking ahead to…
On the road again
While I was glad to see national and state-level COVID restrictions eased, I was also hesitant to throw the caution we’ve all been practicing for over a year out into the wind. But as the the month of May progressed and I found myself away from home for a series of events, I have to admit that the sense of…
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