Where it's at for the new year

By Mac Arnold
RTWO Editor-In-Chief

Change. That cosmic force that shakes the innermost souls of many of us, to include this rocker outdoorsman, is definitely coming.

I've had many challenges over the last two to three years and 2016 appears to be following the same suit.

Getting moved from a news position and inserted into the sports desk looks like the cutting edge one. Not so much with the work, but it's the scheduling that likely will be beyond troublesome to unacceptable.

And you thought this was just an outdoor/hunting/fishing blog.

Ha!

Well, it still is.

The past year saw limited success for the hunting endeavors here but there was at least one that will make the grade for a top hunt.

Everything came together for one evening deer hunt: mainly silence.

Most of the others were complicated by construction of a garage, chainsawing by a neighbor, yahoos walking their dogs at the nearby track and others if I think long enough about it.

But here for this year I want to stay in the positive. Positivity is the focus for 2016.

And on that one glorious night: scouting, tactics, shot and recovery all worked. So the 8-point I shot during archery season Nov. 7 in Monroe County, Michigan, will  reign as king of 2015 hunts. The others -- first downed goose with our black Lab Augie on Sept. 1 and the November deer hunt with the missus -- will fall in under the honorable mention category.

RTWO photo by Mac Arnold

Where as there were no deer taken on this
November deer hunt, it was still fun to share the

blind with wife, Stacie. The outing made the top

hunt list of 2015. To see the top hunt buck, look

it up under previous posts or my profile picture.

Where it's at for this year is the direction this blog will now take, and there is plenty to get excited about.

With the bitter mid-January wind battering the back glider while I clatter away madly at the computer  keys (OK, not really, but makes for good copy), planning and thinking up future gigs is what mostly gets me through the long Michigan winter.

On our twilight walks, Augie and I have run across a plethora of coyote tracks, so that's on tap for the soonest of adventures. Really, I've just been waiting for planets to align with the right day off and weather. When it's minus 5 with the wind chill, that is NOT the right timing.

From there the usual culprits will follow: steelhead fishing in March/April, the glorious spring gobbler hunts and more joy with the trials and errors of summer baaaaaaaaasss fishing.

I'm really hoping to reel in a nice steelie with Stacie. I think it would be a riot to see how she reacts to witnessing how large a fish they can be and what a fight they can put up. Of course, I would have a picture of such a fish had a rival not thrown a tantrum and ditched the film. But I will not go into that storied fish, much like the storied 8-point of this year. It's time to beat both of those accomplishments with future conquests.

From there, with a lock on Ohio and Pennsylvania properties to hunt, I'm hoping to add to the spring experiences and chase toms in three states. And when the baaaaaaaaaaass fishing season kicks off, here's hoping the waters of the River Raisin and others will not overfloweth like they did last year, which hampered the action big time.

As autumn approaches, I will preview those beauties of seasons then.

For now, stay upbeat and chase your dreams.