A little caution can go a long way

By Mac Arnold
RTWO Editor-In-Chief

As the hunting seasons creep closer and closer while the month of August wanes and sought-after tags reveal what hunts will be reality, I stumbled (for real) across a few items for the note board:

-- With it being summer, I'm fairly busy, and it's not often I get confined to the indoors and have a chance to watch the rundown of shows on the Outdoor Channel.

But with an upcoming ... (ahem) procedure, I was stuck to staying close to the bathroom while the appropriate elixirs were working their magic at cleaning out my pipes. Oh, so much fun.

Yet while watching these TV personalities, as I will call them not experts despite their accomplishments dwarfing anything I've yet to do, they confirmed a couple of Mac truthisms.

One of the first I heard was from the old Buckmaster himself, Jackie Bushman, who was talking with the Primos' boys -- Chris Ashley and Kevin Meachem -- that when it comes to hunting mornings on the full-moon "I just sleep in."

From what I've experienced despite what all the game finders always say is slow action.

Instead on the show, they went out midday and had pretty good movement.

-- Then next up on the "Crush" host Lee Lakosky mentioned the "October lull" while wondering where a few nice bucks were that he had pictured from his trail cam. (And it's crazy these days the technology on these things nowadays. Images on the camera at the tree. Right to the computer or phone? Video? It's unbelievable.)

I've noticed this same phenomena here in Michigan after the initial action once the season opens Oct. 1. By midmonth it's like, "Where they go?" And he said it doesn't pick up and "get good again until Oct. 26 or 28."

RTWO photo by Mac Arnold

Augustus helped me post signs in the 

woods. He loves the four-wheeler.

That last week in October has been decent to me as well. In fact, I often take days off to accommodate this promising time.

-- And lastly, I will wrap it up by offering a safety conscious tip based on what happened to me Thursday afternoon while putting up my own trail camera. Which I should have probably put off a day or two since I've had to fast for a day and a half. I was somewhat off-kilter. But that's not how I roll.

I figured since I have a few trespassers, or travelers because up to now the woods I hunt has only been somewhat posted, I would get this cam in the air and angled down. Just so if it does look tempting, the scoundrel will have to work for his ill-gotten prize.

Well, I had the tree steps in place, and I reached for the first step from on top of the quad.

Guess what? Yep, that seemingly sturdy limb came off like it was attached by scotch tape. Down I went but luckily my ninja catlike skills allowed me to land feet first.

The lesson here is to not be in too much of a hurry -- which is the story of my life -- and test branches for firmness BEFORE attempting to use them while climbing trees.