Monday, February 23, 2015

A winter's walk

By Mac Arnold
RTO Editor

"We walked to the mounds before the dawn. Upon the frozen snow our feet stayed, except for the occasional sunken missteps.

"It was at the turnaround point that I noticed tracks had followed mine from the previous night's adventure in the woods to the back 40.

"Augie, our black Lab, had stayed off to the sides for the most part and had not ventured up front. The tracks in question were canine but appeared somewhat smaller, so he was ruled out as the culprit.

"A momentary pause was taken under the black sky and twinkling stars. The sting from below zero wind chills started to put a bite on my cheeks ... a coyote? Perhaps.

"Possibilities of a four-legged stalker danced around my mind until I hung up the dog leash once inside the shelter of the garage."

-- An excerpt from Mac's Night Travels

OK, there is no such literary piece but it is good fodder for a future work.

Didn't even really think about it until today (Feb. 23) when my wife told me of her morphine-induced dream at the hospital last night, where wolves jumped out of the wall and began to pounce while she was trapped in a bed that folded up on her.

The missus is recovering after complications from gall bladder surgery in the former Mercy Medical Hospital in Monroe, which now is ProMedica Monroe Regional Hospital.

As I told her: she dreamt it. I lived it.

OK, not wolves. But maybe something.





Wednesday, February 11, 2015

I can dream, can't I?

By Mac Arnold
RTO Editor

After my shift here in Toledo on Tuesday night, I will be swinging by the mailbox to send out the annual miracle draw that is the Maine moose lottery.

Couldn't tell you exactly how many years it's been since I've started putting in for this chance of a lifetime, but I'm thinking it's been at least a decade.

The scenario starts out in rugged back northwoods of  "The Pine Tree State." It's a chilly and damp November day. Specks of white from a recent snowstorm dot the hillside. There I am set up along a cut muddy two-track and out steps a monster bull. Seconds later I raise the Mossberg slug gun and drop him with a perfect shot straight into the boiler room.

I stand over the fallen beast in disbelief from his monstrous proportions and wide palms that make up his rack.

Honkkkkkkkkk!!!! Honkkkkkkkkk!!!!

Then I snap out of this tremendous moment and realize the light is green and someone behind me is ticked off because I haven't moved for 20 seconds.

Oh, well, a guy can dream can't he?



Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Staying on watch

By Mac Arnold
RTO Editor

Now that the February "Super Storm" has hit, now what?

How am I going to stay on watch for coyotes in the back 40?

It may be time to invest in snowshoes. Or I could just wait until the late winter to spring thaw. Not sure how long it'll be but I'm not one to just slip into a Rip Van Winkle slumber.

Thoughts of wading in a roaring river for steelhead sounds appealing. That can be a chilly endeavor as well.

But on Saturday, Jan. 31, back in the Monroe County coyote woods, the only signs of life were a couple of determined squirrels and nonstop hooting great horned owls.

A late start and bumpy quad drive over the torn up field probably didn't leave the gig to covertness. So what the thinking is for future dog gigs is a nice hike to the back 40 ... in March.

The snow definitely has made for an arduous walk, let alone with the frozen plowed field.

Might be time to try another venue, such as the Sanilac County camp. The 'yotes roam in numbers out that way.

Although more snow is expected this weekend. Ugh! Not a lot. Accuweather is calling for 1 to 3 inches. Yeah, sure, pile it on Old Man Winter.

Guess it's time to purchase the H.S. Strut DVD to while away the time until mobility returns to ye olde hunting grounds.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Lifting the January doldrums

By Mac Arnold
RTO Editor

A couple of beautiful things happened over the past two weeks: one was a couple of coyote gigs and the other was putting in for spring gobbler.

Nothing soothes the soul from midwinter cabin fever in Michigan like planning for turkey when the dogwoods bloom.

Ahhhhhhhh. Just saying, "spring gobbler season," brings warmth to my soul.

Yes, I went outside the box and applied for a unit where there are only 10 tags available, but if I do score I will be the only swinging Richard out there and that is very appealing. Last season was duel at the Sanilac County camp with another guy who has the personality like that of a squeaking styrofoam cooler in the backseat of the Jeep.

If it's not to be, then so be it. I'll live. The chucklehead won't make every gig I'm on, and the action is always fairly decent there. And if it heads in that direction again, I ought to pay a visit to Dairy Farmer Dave's just down the road, which has paid big dividends for me in thunder chickens and fall birds a few years back.

It's just that Dairy Farmer Dave can be a tad cantankerous at times.

***
Despite no coyotes being heard or seen, I was quite happy I finally got out on a predator hunt behind the
RTO photo by Mac Arnold

For sure I thought a coyote would be
prowling up from the gully below just 
like on the hunting show I saw the 
night before. But alas, none showed.
house Jan. 16 in Monroe County, Mich.

Even a couple inexplicably walking their dog in the adjoining field in the MIDDLE OF JANUARY didn't lower the happiness level. Well ... much. I'm sure that didn't help my cause. They are very wary. Something like that will close them down. 

I didn't see any tracks headed out there either so the thinking now is that I need to be in the back woods where I watched him come out a couple of times during deer season. And also, one time, where he howled 40 yards from my setup. 

We will meet again.

***
For the next hunt, Friday, Jan. 23, I did make it all the way to the back 40 in behind the house in Monroe County. 

Unfortunately, I think all the other errands I ran via the quad, stirred up too much noise. 

After having a handful of fall hunts disturbed by oblivious trail walkers from the adjacent property, I finally posted the back lot line with a blessing from the property owner. Enough is enough.  Especially when on two high-profile hunts -- opening day and second day of deer firearms season -- the hikers came cruising through without any blaze orange on at all.

It's just plain ridiculous. And disrespectful.

Anyway, again no coyotes came out to play but questions in my mind about whether the H&R .223 was still on were eliminated when I did a little varmint control on a opossum 80 yards out. Dead critter.

I thought that it could provide bait for later in the hunt but later I saw conflicting information on the Internet on whether they'll even go after pink-eyed satin rats.

But by far the highlight of the hunt that afternoon was after I cruised over on the quad to confirm the kill, up flew a snowy owl from the oaks lining the frozen plowed white field. The enormous wingspan was awe-inspiring. The giant owl must have been scoping the opossum the whole time, which was acting strangely by pacing around in circles.

With late winter and milder weather approaching, more hunts await.








Thursday, January 15, 2015

Best of 2014

By Mac Arnold
ROA Editor

It may seem a bit harsh of me but this veteran outdoorsman is quite happy to put 2014 in the trail behind me.

Additionally, I now consider the 2014 hunting season a wash.

It's too bad because it showed so much promise early. But the end was so ... disappointing.

I don't know how else to put it. Maybe frustrating also would be fitting.

This unveiling of Rockin' The Outdoors with Mac's Best of 2014 in mid-January is quite belated, most likely from disgust and maybe some lethargy.

Lethargy has taken over likely from putting in some serious time in the deer woods over the autumn months and into winter. With the Monroe County countryside in Michigan covered in a layer of white and daily temperatures hovering around zero, now is the time for relaxation and hope for spring, mainly with spring bringing heavy, long-bearded toms.
RTO Photos by Mac Arnold
Well lookie here, guess what was 
just a step ahead of Augie and me
during a chilly walk one night?


It won't all be curling up under a blanket, with hot joe watching football and hockey. There will be time allotted for attempting to knock down Wile E. Coyote, which is one critter I've yet to bag. This is a very necessary endeavor with much evidence and howling providing the incentive, along with a desire to keep them off the deer herd behind the house.

So let's get this list out of the way first, shall we? And I'll stop my bellyaching.

3. AUGIE LEARNS THE ROPES: Holding up the bottom, was an uneventful Dec. 1 bird hunt at Petersburg State Game Area, yet one that has big ramifications for the future. It was Augie the black Lab's first time out under live conditions. Although we didn't have any flushes, I still got an opportunity to see how he would handle ranging in the field and live fire. He passed with flying colors.

2. MAC LEARNS THE ROPES: Coming in at No. 2, was a grouping of three successful goose hunts -- one in September and two in October for a total of three in the bag -- at the new hot spot at the sub's pond, which is a huge draw for all types of waterfowl. More importantly, I learned how crucial the wind's role is for setting up in the right position so when the geese liftoff from the pond, they fly past the setup. They prefer to take off and land into the wind. Also, I found great success in the Browning 12 gauge with Black Cloud's No. 2 shot. It was very effective.
1. ARCHERY SUCCESS: At the top of the Best of 2014 list was the first archery kill I've had since 2011.  And we're not talking crossbow here, which I imagine would be acceptable for someone of my circumstance with having two torn rotator cuff surgeries and all. About 15 minutes before legal shooting light the evening of Oct. 23 in walked a nice doe and right into one of my prearranged shooting lanes between a tall oak and a sapling a mere five yards from the stand. (Just how I like it.) I really couldn't have drawn it up any better. Despite the shot ... let's just say it was a little high, the big girl dropped right in her tracks. When I got down, it freaked me out how big she was. What a horse, but those seem to be rule these days at the Sanilac County deer camp. The freezer is full.



Augie tears it up in a DNR
planting at Petersburg
State Game Area.




Tuesday, November 18, 2014

1st-half report and beyond

By Mac Arnold
ROA Editor

While dipping Oreos into a hot cup of joe with the glow of the artificial fireplace radiating off my side, I bring you the yearly first-half deer season report.

Unfortunately, it looks like it will be another buckless season for this graybearded deer hunter.

What was supposed to be a celebration of 20 years of deer hunting with Mac Arnold over various media outlets, will instead likely be an occasion of embracing gratitude for taking a big doe Oct. 23 and possibly another doe later in the season. Just like last year.

I don't know how many times I've learned over the years that I get two or three opportunities on bucks, usually in October and into November, and how I do with those determines the season.

Strike three. All three came from the spot behind the house in Monroe County.

The first chance came in early October as a buck came in under the stand in the waning light of dusk and I couldn't quite make out the size of the antlers beyond a wide four-point, so I passed.

As November turned, on the seventh, I got to confirm he was a bigger buck in the daylight. While I was walking out after a morning sit on the stand, there he was staring at me 20 yards away in the fallow field's dry brown wavy grass. I backed into low brush on the woods' edge, took off my stand and pack, got the release and tried to grunt him into the one shooting lane I had. After a few nerve-wracking moments, he bolted.

So when 15 minutes had gone by and I was sure he moved on, I mounted up and headed out.

But there he was. This time on the other side of me along the woodline but 30 to 35 yards out. Once more I slipped back into the cover and grunted at him. This time he was coming and right where I needed him. It was a longer shot than I like with the compound bow but it was too good of a chance to pass up. I let the arrow fly and I'm not sure if the tall feathery grass ate it up or it zinged over his back. He didn't flinch. It was the proverbial deer-in-hunter's eyes look. A clear miss one way or the other.

He took off toward the woods and I nocked another arrow for what would be a shot I like at 15 yards if he took the trail in front of me but he went in farther and there was a fallen tree that obstructed the shot.

The third time was not the charm the next day even though I did hit him but with a bolt from the Parker crossbow. All the drawing back on the compound the day before from the ground injured my surgically repaired left shoulder.

With 50 minutes in the bag, I got down out of the tree stand and found good blood along with half the bolt broken off. After 200 yards, there still was no deer. I backed out to resume the search the next day.

Another nearly two-hour search along the blood trail on Nov. 9 for 200 yards, proved futile as well.


RTO Photo by Mac Arnold
This had all the makings of
being deer No. 49 but alas it
wasn't to be. 
I found some comfort in a question and answer from a bow hunting quiz in the October edition of the American Hunter, which said: "You struck a deer with your arrow and it bounded off. You think it was a good hit but aren't sure. You waited two hours then blood-trailed the deer for 300 yards on steady drops. It never bedded down. Which of the following is most likely true?

The answer was A. "You made a flesh wound or a non-vital hit above the lungs. ... While exceptions always exists, if a deer goes more than 300 yards without bedding, the chances the hit was fatal greatly decrease. Continue the search anyway, and hope for the best."

Bingo. This was totally my situation. It never bedded.

I considered calling in a dog tracker but after showing him the picture of the blood, he said, "That looks like the same blood we've been on for a mile and a half tonight and we never did find the deer."

So as far as me snapping a three-year buck drought, it could be the shooting match as they say.

Of course, who knows what the late season holds. Anything is possible.








Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Sorry, I've been away

By Mac Arnold
RTO Photo by Stacie Arnold
A new day has arrived with the big Sanilac County, Mich., doe transported
on top of the Jeep Oct. 23. I'll have to admit, it's easier done with a truck.
RTO Editor

Yes, it has been a while between posts.

But I've been hunting.

Imagine that, here it is late October and your blog editor extraordinaire is out hunting?

With the fat doe bagged Thursday, Oct. 23, at the camp in Sanilac County, Mich., this season is kicking in nicely.

The Wasp broadhead anchored on a Beman arrow launched from the Martin compound bow did the trick.

A neck shot dropped the girl right in her tracks. Had a premonition the kill would be a neck shot, and here it happened. Strange how things like that happen.

And I did say compound bow in this day and age of rampant crossbow use. Not bad for a guy who has had torn rotator cuff surgery on each shoulder.

Now don't get me wrong. In fact, the morning of the kill the weapon of choice was the Parker crossbow.  Yet, somehow, in the early morning autumn fog when I pulled the trigger with a fat doe in the crosshairs, the crossbow failed to fire.

Seems it wasn't cocked correctly.

Need to follow up on this because a hang fire on a doe is one thing but if it happens on a 10-point, it could be sickening.

***
For the vacation after-action report, I was out in the deer woods five of the 11 days I had off work.

Another morning was spent along the goose pond, and one shot put more breast meat in the freezer for jerky I plan to make for the November deer gun season.

Really only had good deer action the evening the big doe was taken. For about an hour, a decent buck -- couldn't make out points -- chased seven or eight does around 80 yards from where I was perched in an oak tree.

And in October, if the Halloween deer hunt comes off as planned, it will be 12 outings total, with whitetails seen four times split between the Sanilac County camp and the spot behind the Monroe County house.  A buck that appeared to be no more than a fork horn was passed on by this editor at dusk in Monroe.

Hopefully the sightings and the action will pick up, which is expected once the temperatures drop as November winds begin to blow.

It still has been warm most days with it being a ridiculous 79 Oct. 26 that had me not even bother unloading the gear in the Jeep at the Petersburg State Game Area and move on to other endeavors. Just too dang warm.

***
On a side note: Some readers may notice a slight name change to the blog. That is because the old name was similar to another outdoorsman's name for his television show and enterprise.

To tell you the truth, I like this one better. What do you think?