Did you go deer hunting or deer shooting last weekend?  I often get criticized for making a distinction, but it is an important one to me.

    I grew up going to dove shoots and going quail hunting. That shows the difference pretty good.  Dove shoots are hiding on a field or water hole waiting for the doves to come to you. Quail hunting means going out to look for the birds, usually with dogs.

    To find quail, you must know something about their movements and habits. To shoot doves, you only have to know where they feed or water.

    I admire anyone willing to put in the time and effort to learn the habits of a big buck and do everything needed to get a shot at him.  It takes hours of study and work. 

    I have no problem with folks putting out a corn feeder then shooting a deer that comes to it. It is legal. But it is shooting, not hunting. I don’t think I could be real proud or brag about such a “trophy.” 

    Planting food plots is the same thing, it just takes more effort. You plant something the deer want to make them come to you to get shot. If you like that, I have no problem as long as it’s legal.

I worry young folks are taught to place all their emphasis and efforts on killing, not the whole hunting experience.  I see pictures of kids five and six years old with their first deer. Great. But hopefully their training will go past that point. At that age all they did was sit where told and make a shot. At least they probably have some training on hitting the target.

I am proud of the first buck I killed when I was 18 years old. I had actually patterned him and placed a climbing stand in the right place to get a shot.  Some of it was luck but it did take some effort.  I spent the whole archery season and the first three weeks of gun season learning about him. Back then that was a lot – each season lasted four weeks!  No corn involved. His full shoulder mount hangs on my office wall.

I have killed much bigger bucks, but they were all just by accident, or “luck.”  Linda and I both love venison so for years I preferred shooting a doe. I would shoot any legal deer. I still do.  And I wait near a corn feeder. I do not hunt them I wait for them to come to me to go to my freezer.

The biggest is a big nine-pointer I shot on my hunting club years ago. And I was a little embarrassed.  In 1985, I nailed two boards between forks in a sweetgum tree and put in spikes to climb up to the simple stand of one 12-inch-wide board.

That stand was on an old fire break between a hardwood bottom and a pine hillside.  And I killed more than 30 deer from it, it was on a natural feeding area transition to a bedding area.

I had a slight view of an old logging road about 100 yards up the hill but had never taken a shot at any deer on it. And it was rare to see a deer walking down such an open road.

That day during rut I was about to climb down from the morning hunt. I glimpsed movement on the road and when I looked in my scope I could see a deer walking along. I glimpsed horns, so I waited on a clear shot and made it. When I got to the deer I was surprised by the size of the rack.

As I loaded the deer another club member stopped, looked at the deer and said “You got him.”  It was a big buck he had been hunting all season, had seen several times but had never had a good shot.

I had killed his trophy with no special effort; it was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.  And I do have the antlers – on the wall of my garage. I take no pride in killing that deer.

I learned to hunt squirrels growing up so I’m somewhat prejudiced.  It took time to learn their habits and what to expect at different times and even on different days.  That training helped me kill my first deer and some more after it.

I encourage parents to take their kids hunting. And even take them shooting. But please teach them that there is more to hunting than just killing something.  Video games teach them enough of that!

After deer season, try squirrel hunting. It can extend your time in the woods and is great teaching tool.

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“Schools out schools out, teacher let the mules out.” On the last day school back in 1962 I was not too sensible but was as excited as a twelve-year-old could be so I sang such nonsense.

    All I could think of was seemingly endless days ahead of fishing, building treehouses and huts, damming Dearing Branch, camping out, swimming, climbing trees and just generally growing up wild in Georgia.

    At that age I would climb anything without fear. Dearing Elementary School was an old brick building and each corner had decorative recesses about two inches deep every three feet or so going up the side. 

    I usually hung around school to ride home with daddy, the principal of the school. For several years, as soon as everyone else left the last day of school, I would go out and climb up on the roof. It was like my own private world, with many toys lost up there during the year.

    I also found a way to get into the area above the ceiling. I had to be very careful to step on the rafters, a misstep would put me through the fiberboard ceiling tiles.

    I found the old school bell there, suspended in front of a vent to the outside. It was long unused, I never heard it ring.  I wonder if it still hangs hidden out of sight.

    I think I tried to climb every tree on our farm.  One “fun” activity was to climb a small sweetgum maybe 20 feet high and get one of my friends to chop it down. It was a crazy ride as it fell and you had to be careful since your body weight would make the tree turn as it fell, making you hit back first under the tree if you didn’t jump to the side at exactly the right time.

    I am surprised I lived through some of those years and one tree climbing almost killed me. I had climbed a big sweetgum at the corner of our hog pen fence.  The wire fence had boards and post holding it up and had been patched by old barn boards.

    A limb broke or I lost my hold and fell, back first.  I hit the ground looking up at the top of jagged 2/4 that I had missed by inches. I came “that close” to impaling myself.

    Most of our activities were not so dangerous, although many required hard work, more than we would have wanted to do if productive around the farm.  But we were having fun, not working.

    Dearing Branch came under the fence at our property line, widened out in a sandy area then got narrow where it ran between two trees.  Every summer we tried to dam it to make a pond, the narrows at the trees made a natural place for it.

    We tried piling sand for a dam but the natural flow would soon wash it away.  We improved our efforts by bringing croker sacks and filling them with sand. They held up longer but the water flow would soon eat under and around them.

    We spent endless hours dragging an old railroad crosstie a couple hundred yards through the woods to the branch. We would drag it about ten feet and stop to rest. Those things are heavy!

    It made a great base for our dam.  That summer the crosstie and sandbags worked to make a pool about 30 feet long and 15 feet wide. And it was deep enough to come up to the chest of a skinny-dipping 12-year-old.

    Our swimming hole lasted several weeks until a heavy summer thunderstorm dumped enough water into the branch to wash even the crosstie away.

    I fished Dearing Branch a lot, too. I made myself a “fly rod,” a stick with some fishing line tied to it. My hand tied fly was made with chicken feathers and some of mama’s sewing thread on a #6 bream hook.

    I have no idea what it looked like but I caught many tiny bluegill and hornyhead chubs by dabbling it on the surface of deeper holes in the branch.  I guess my trembling it made it look like a bug on top of the water.

    I had a wonderful childhood outdoors.  It helped that our tv got only two channels and those black and white shows were not much interest until after dinner, when I watched a couple hours of such shows as Bewitched, The Flintstones, Twilight Zone, Bat Masterson and The Beverly Hillbillies.

    At that age, I don’t think anything would have kept me inside though! I am sorry most kids nowadays don’t get to experience such fun outside.

If You Are A Walleye Fisherman, Consider Rivers from North to South: The First Choice for Early Spring Fishing

The great thing about fishing is that it can be done anywhere with water, from farm ponds to oceans and everything in between, including flowing rivers and streams. Fishing for many species in the current offers a great chance to catch more predictable fish as they use the current to find forage.

For those in the northern region, it also offers the first chance to launch the boat in open water, and for those further south, it’s a great opportunity to catch grouped-up springtime fish. That’s why a Wisconsin guide primarily targeting walleye in the early spring, Troy Peterson, and a bass fishing champion from Alabama, Dustin Connell, can find common ground in their love for springtime river fishing.

A First Chance at Open Water

After a long and cold winter, things are warming up slightly in the North Woods. Many of the lakes still have a covering of ice, but the rivers are free and clear, meaning it’s time to launch the boat for the first time of the year. This is the scenario Troy Peterson finds himself in currently, and he’s ready to target walleye on the Fox and Wolf rivers.

“We have two main river systems here, the Fox River near Green Bay, which is a destination for trophy walleye, and the Wolf, which is more for your ‘eater’ size walleye, and we fish them both this time of year,” he said. “The best days are sunny days when those fish move up super shallow. We throw a lot of hair jigs tipped with plastic or fathead minnow, blade baits, and Rippin’ Rap-style baits and try to make a lot of noise.”

After a long winter, many of these walleyes are hungry and can be fairly predictable in their locations, but Peterson also utilizes his electronics to find them.

“That shallow water warms up quicker, and on sunny days, they are up shallow. During low light conditions, we’re looking for transitions and targeting the deep holes adjacent to shallow sand flats. I’m talking a foot or two of water at times,” he said. “A lot of those places will be on the bends of the river, inside bends where the current wraps around and creates a little bit of an eddy and some slack water. We also use side imaging quite a bit because there are so many places these fish can be, and you won’t be able to see them without electronics because of how shallow they can be at times.”

Once he locates a good fish population, Peterson finds that they are typically ready to bite, but he adds that presentation is key for targeting these fish.

“Usually, if you throw something in their face, they are going to have no problem eating it,” he said. “The issue with fishing in the river is the heavy current, which can put a big bow in your line, and you can’t present a bait properly. That’s why your line diameter is so important.”

His line of choice is a 12 lb Seaguar PEX8 braid, a micro-thin JDM braided line, and he goes against the trend of braid to a fluorocarbon leader and uses a straight braided line. “It’s so thin that you can get away without a leader and tie directly to your bait, and they can’t see it,” he said. “The ultra-thin diameter of that line is great for cutting the current and allows you to make extremely long casts, whether vertically jigging or just casting hair jigs or blade baits. That gives you a better connection for a proper presentation, which is critical.”

Connell’s Simple Approach to Rivers in the Spring

Two-time Major League Fishing REDCREST Champion Dustin Connell has racked up wins on various fisheries, but at heart, he’s a ‘river rat’ from his bass fishing upbringing. His 2024 REDCREST triumph was on the current-influenced Lay Lake in Alabama, and he’s fished the famed Coosa River his entire life. This has taught him plenty about catching bass in moving water, and he says the spring months are an outlier compared to the rest of the year.

“The biggest thing with river fishing is understanding how the current is running, but spring is the only time when you want to get out of the current,” he said. “You can still catch them in current seams and pockets, but around the spawn is the only time they are not right in the current. It doesn’t matter how nice the water looks; they are probably not in it like any other time of the year. But, when they are done spawning, they’ll be right back in it again.”

With this in mind, Connell approaches a river system more like he does a lake. “It’s a three-pronged approach for me that’s pretty simple,” he said. “I like a ½ ounce jig, a big spinnerbait, and something on the bottom like a drop-shot or shaky head. That will work for you in the spring anywhere on the Tennessee River lakes, the Coosa River chain, the Alabama River, or anywhere you are fishing with current during the spring.”

A tried-and-true jig is a simple bait Connell uses for its versatility on river systems. “I can fish current seams with it, I can fish rock piles, and I can pitch to laydowns with that same jig,” he said. “The spinnerbait is another important tool because it works well in dirtier water, which happens all the time on river systems with spring rains. For both the jig and spinnerbait, I fish them on 17 lb Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon; it’s so strong and casts great with either bait, much better than it will with 20 lb test.”
Finally, Connell says you can’t fish a river system in the spring without something fished along the bottom. His top picks are two finesse rigs, a shaky head, and a drop shot.

“All winter long, the bass are out suspended and chasing bait, and it’s like they say, ‘I need to sit down now,’ and start relating to the bottom more,” Connell theorized. “A perfect bait for targeting stump flats, gravel bottom, seawalls, or even bedding fish is with a finesse worm and a shaky head. I will use that and a drop-shot to slow down and pick apart that cover and throw both on a 21 lb Seaguar PEX8 braid with a 12 lb Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon leader; it’s the perfect setup of a thin line that casts great with plenty of strength.”

Fishing a river system is a great way to cash in on some great early spring fishing, whether for walleyes in Wisconsin or bass in Alabama and throughout the Southeast. Moving water of all forms is ideal for all predatory species, and right now is a perfect time to fish them.

Seaguar PEX8 is a micro-thin braid in high-visibility Passion Pink imported from Japan. It is available in 200 meter (219-yard) spools in sizes ranging from 12 to 33 lb tests. (Please check line diameter closely.)

Seaguar InvizX Fluorocarbon mainline is available from 4 to 25 lb tests on 200-, 600-, and 1000-yard spools.

Seaguar Tatsu Fluorocarbon mainline is available from 4 to 25 lb tests on 200- and 1,000-yard spools.

Seaguar Gold Label Fluorocarbon leader is available in 25- and 50-yard spools in 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 & 12 lb tests for freshwater use, complementing the 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 80 lb test leaders available for saltwater.

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