aso magazine nov. 2013

Subscribe to ASO Magazine! 12 BIG Issues…Only $18.95! See pg. 6. ISRA.org

INSIDE:! Over 80 Stories!! Moonshiners! A.K.’s Dirt Church Exclusive!! Ed DeVries, Illinois Bow Fishing! Dan Vinovich, Only in the Rut!! Dave Evans, Camp Holiday! Lots of Waterfowling & Deer Hunting!

ASOMagazine.com

November 2013

OUTDOOR FOLKS

LOVE ASO!

Remember Our Veterans November 11th!

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2 ADVENTURE SPORTS OUTDOORS “THE VOICE OF THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN” November 2013

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NEW! MONROE COUNTY IL 99 ACRES LOCATED NEAR VALMEYER ILCropland and WoodedRiver bottoms hold a large turkey and whitetail population!Contact MANAGING BROKER WAYNE KELLER at 618-407-1679or [email protected]. List Price $2950 Per Acre

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©Copyright 1994Published monthly by: Red Nose, Inc.Harry & Cathy Canterbury, Owners

TREMONT OFFICE1408 Downing Ct. • Tremont, IL 61568

(309) 925-HUNT (4868)Home Office: (309) 925-7313Harry’s Cell: (309) 360-0487Cathy’s Cell: (309) 370-6922

E-mail: [email protected] Web: ASOMagazine.com

Call Toll Free: (877) 778-HUNT(4868)[email protected]

Terri Sweckard309-241-6591 • [email protected]

Carroll Gentry • So. IL Rep. • 618-988-8230Billing: [email protected]

PRODUCTION - AD CREATION & LAYOUT:

Becky Fee - Graphic Artist (309) 642-2402 • [email protected]

NOV. 2013 • ISSUE #204

Deadline for ASO editions is the 10th of each previous month.

Please send only digital media files.

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See Online Gun Selection! We Buy & Sell Guns &

Archery Equipmentwww.FreddieBearSports.com

ON THE COVER:The cover shot is by Jim Miller a

freelance photographer from Dunlap,Illinois. Sending Jim a big thanks for giving ASO this beautiful cover

photo for November. His dad Harry Jr (aka Bud),shot ducks all up anddown the Illinois River.My Great Grandfather HarrySr. was the same when it cameto duck shooting.

I still have my Great Grandfa-ther’s Lefever Damascus 12 gageside by side. It will be passed downto the next generation just as it hasbeen for years. I have dad’s Brown-ing A5 and I have my grandpasModel 12. I pick them up through-out the year to look at the scratches.I wonder where that scratch camefrom and when was the last timegranddad shot his last duck. I alwayswas sentimental about those things,and I feel I was blessed to have suchrespect for old guns like that.

All guns have a history and I amnot talking about guns that wereused in a crime. If you think about itthat is as close as we can come to re-membering those we loved at theirfinest. If you are lucky, you haveyour granddad’s gun or your dad’s,you know exactly what I mean.

I heard stories about my GreatGrandfather going by train in theearly 1900’s from Peoria to Sum-mum Illinois near Astoria. He wouldstay at the Raker family home andwould hunt quail in the hills and hol-lows of Fulton County. He wouldstay for a few days and return hometo Peoria then go back to work at theStockyards. That old gun I have wasthere and went on the train many atime. That is just one story I know

Canterbury Talesdone. Still pumping water and haul-ing stuff to the island and I guess wewill all season. The prospects lookgood with the weather and with themigration.

We have teal, sprig, mallards andwidgeon, spoonbills and ruddyducks at the club and I hear they arepulling out of the Dakotas now. Thesurveys say we have more ducks onStewart Lake than we had over thelast ten years at this time, over 8000.

I have been duck hunting since1965 and have seen just about everytype of season there is. They were allgreat, sometimes we shot a lot some-times a few but duck hunting is notjust shooting, but all it has to offer.

One of our members Greg Nelsonnick named Spoonbill, stayed at thecabin working on blinds just beforeseason opened. I forgot to tell himhow to turn the heat on and it wascold. Being the ingenious duckhunter he is he took his boot dryersand stuck them in the covers. Thento keep his head warm he put a reg-ular lite bulb over his head. I amlooking forward to a fun season withthis group of guys we have. Theyworked real hard on the blinds andeverything else at the club. If theywork half as hard duck hunting theyshould do well.

This time of year always bringsme back to why I love to waterfowlhunt. You all heard me talk about mydad Jack Canterbury and some ofyou knew him. Dad loved it like noone I know. And dad was about asgood of a wing shot as they come.

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Contents may not reflect opinions of Red Nose, Inc.

Finally the duck blinds are built,the decoys are strung and every oth-er thing that has to do with duckhunting is almost ready. I have beento the club more times than I cancount. We still have a lot of otherthings to do but the big jobs are

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Cont’d. on pgs. 8-9

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GUIDE TO ASO WRITERSGUIDE TO ASO WRITERS7 ......Mom's Recipe: Thanksgiving Dinner, Deep-Fried Turkey8-9 ....Canterbury Tales continues. 10 ....John Ackerman, The Motley American Army that Saved the Nation13 ....ISRA: Rich Pearson, Campaign to Dismantle Concealed Carry14 ....Norman V Kelly, Peoria: Way Back In 195116 ....Wisconsin DNR: Mississippi River is Open for Duck Hunting17 ....Concealed Carry Calibers: Pros and Cons 18 ....Mike Roux, Overlooking the Obvious20 ....Bob Murray, Meandering Murrays: My Biggest Ever 21 ....2013 Quail Hunting Illinois Forecast 22 ....NOVEMBER Outdoor IL Calendar of Events 23 ....Bernie Barringer, Deer Hunting: Morning or Evening?24 ....Union Pacific Railroad Reminds Hunters don’t hunt Railroad property25 ....Dave Shadow, Physical Fitness Increases Hunting Success 26 ....Father & Son Team Win Ranger Boats PMTT World27 ....Colby Simms, SimmsOutdoors.com: Late Fall SI Fishing30 ....Bob Park, Fall Lure Selection 31 ....Bill Graham, Felony Conviction in Illegal Wildlife Spotlighting31 ....Jim Low, Hunters check 600 deer in Urban Hunt32 ....Jim Low, October 2013 Missouri Conservation Action33 ....Missouri waterfowl hunting forecast: Loads of ducks! 34 ....AK Thompson, Moonshiner Spencer Balentine, Silver Trail Distiller37 ....Kevin Boyer, Whitetails is my Passion38 ....Wayne Baughman, IDNR ATV Sticker Registration Law 39 ....IDNR Newsbits41 ....Woo's Corner, A Fun Month to Fish 42 ....Babe Winkelman, Lindy Rigging Walleyes, Plain and Simple43 ....Daniel Vinovich, Only in the Rut 46 ....Dave Herschelman, Happy Day in the Deer Woods! 48 ....Bill Cooper, Get Ready for Waterfowl Season…What to Expect49 ....18-foot Oar FishSea Serpent Found!50 ....Don Dziedzina, Catfish and the Rock River Fall Bassin’51 ....CPO Reports AUGUST 201355 ....Roland Cheek’s Campfire Culture: The Elusive Summit 56 ....Kirby Schupp, Gunsmithing58 ....Ray Simms, Last Chance Bass

60 ....Peoria Veterans Day Parade Monday Nov 11th62 ....Ed DeVries, BAI News 64 ....Ted Nugent, Cravings of the Predator Kind65 ....EHD found in Illinois Deer again in 2013 66 ....Steve Welch, My Favorite Month Is Here, Break Out the Big Baits68 ....Emily Hauter, Water on Route 1369 ....Gerald Sampen, Do You Like “Horns”? We Have Them. 72 ....Jason Mitchell, Walleyes on the Rim 73 ....Archery Double Coyotes 74 ....On Point with Chuck Martin, Meat Dog, Deluxe 75 ....Norman V. Kelly, The Dog Pound Caper Part One 76 ....Deer Creek American Legion, Veterans Day Dinner77 ....Tonelli’s Duck/Goose Hunting in Northwestern Saskatchewan78 ....Wade Bourne, Manitoba Marsh!Magic 81 ....10 Easy Ways to Improve Your Waterfowl!Season83 ....New Decoys for!201384 ....2014 Plans for Illinois Deer & Turkey Expo 85 ....Dr Dave Samuel, The Changing World of Whitetails 87 ....Derrek Sigler, Brushing in a Layout Blind,88 ....Jason Houser, Muskrats are Worth the Effort89 ....Dominic Lolli, Hunting Alaska90 ....Dan Gapen, Long ago, on a small Stream 92 ....YOUTH DEER HUNT TROPHIES! 93 ....ASO Christmas Gift Ideas, 2013 Running of the Santas94 ....ICF Offers 2014 Wall Calendar94 ....Yeti Coolers, the Best Gift95 ....Keli Van Cleave, Pink Outdoors: Come to Colorado 96 ....Debbie Park’s 3 lb bass & Eric Hilst’s daughters in field97 ....Anita Williams, We Dream Too; Disabled Youth Hunt98 ....Marlene Odahlen-Hinz, It’s the Small Things that Count 100....Fishing with Pat Sullivan 101....Kris Winkelman Recipes 102....Mark Melotik, 5 Tips For Realistic Antler Rattling 103....Bob Hendricks, Hunting Blind 104....Big Oak Hunting Paradise Hosting Wounded Warriors Hunt105....Mary Ann Vance, Real Estate Chatter 106....Rayjus Outdoors, Oak Lawn Community High School Bass Tourney107....Chuck Gabbert, Helping Stroke Victims to Enjoy the Outdoors 108....Woo Daves Wounded Warrior Tourney 110 ....Dave Evans, Minn. Memoirs: Places, Part I: Camp Holiday112 ....Angelo Stambene, Colorado hunter, unique approach to training dogs113 ....Jack Hart, The Good Ole Days Part 10 Opening Day 114 ....Dave Genz, Adding to the Ice Revolution, Part 1 115 ....PETA Slams Duck Dynasty Stars for Popularizing Hunting117 ....Dan Galusha DAN’S FISH ‘N’ TALES®, Open Water Gift Ideas 119 ....Catfish Skinner, Jim Zilch at Spoon River Drive, Bernadotte 120....South Fulton Co ATV Fun Run

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For the internal turkey brine:3/4 cup chopped onion 3/4 cup chopped celery 3 to 6 tablespoons chopped garlic 4 tablespoons unsalted butter 2 tablespoons (or more) choppedhot peppers from pepper vinegar 2 tablespoons Worcestershiresauce 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon cayenne 1 tablespoon black pepper 1 cup chicken stock

For the turkey:1 recipe for internal turkey brine 1 14-pound turkey 1 tablespoon of cayenne or favorite Cajun spice 5 gallons of peanut oil or lard (approx)

Preparation:1. 8 to 24 hours in advance, make the brine by

sauteing onion, celery and garlic in butter untiltender. Add hot peppers and Worcestershire, then

stir in the salt, cayenne and blackpepper. Add the chicken stock andbring to a boil.

2. Strain into a bowl, press-ing the solids to extract as muchjuice as possible, to yield about 11/2 cups.

3. With monster hypoder-mic, inject the turkey's breast infive places and each leg in oneplace.

4. With your bare hands, rub the cayenne intothe turkey's breast under the skin. Omit if you

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don't like the flavor -- though it's very mild in thisquantity.

5. Refrigerate, uncovered, for 8 to 24 hours.Or if you prefer, you may fry the bird immediately.

6. On the day you plan to eat it, remove theturkey from the refrigerator, place it in the emptyfryer pot and cover with water. Then empty thepot, measuring the water to find out how much oilyou'll need (usually about 5 gallons for a 14pounder).

7. Dry the pot very thoroughly and fill it with thesame amount of oil or lard, attach the extra-longthermometer and heat the oil to 350 to 375degrees. Just before lowering the bird, turn off theflame to make absolutely sure that Mr. Peanut'sessence won't start a fire. Then pierce the turkeywith its holder and lower slowly into the oil. Boil for49 minutes or longer (3 to 3 1/2 minutes perpound).

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Mom’s Recipe

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stuck it in the mud and tied a redhandkerchief on the stock so theycould find him. They had to have atractor with duals to get him out ofthe field; it was a whole day affair. Iam one of a few who remembersthat story who is still around.

A friend of mine bought that gun30 years ago from the Ellis estateand when he passed away I waslucky to have bought it at his auc-tion. I can’t believe it but I only paid$200 for it. But only I know the his-tory and when I am gone no one willknow the history of that old gun.Each gun has its own unique storybut is usually lost in time. Next timeyou pick up a gun from your familyremember those who carried it andwhat stories came with the gun.They would appreciate that I amsure. I can still see dad holding thatold A-5 Browning.

We just celebrated our 20th year ofbeing on Channel 47 PBSTelevision. It has been a lot of workbut has been also a lot of fun, espe-cially meeting all the nice people inthe outdoor world. I was lucky tohave met a guy by the name of JimMiller. Jim retired from CAT sometime ago but is far from retiring. Jimtook up photography and has taken a

about. There has to be many otherstories about that old gun but nowlong forgotten in time.

Another gun I now own andbought at an auction of a close friendof mine was a Model 12 Winchester.In 1975 at the old Red Nose GunClub on Duck island farm Fred Ellisand Bill Friedman were hunting withthat gun in the field after a snowstorm. They were dressed in whitemeat cutters coats and standing inthe snow. It started raining and it gotreal muddy. The mud made their feet3 times their size and it was hardgoing. Fred was 65 and Bill was near80 but both were in great shape.

The ducks were eating the corn outof the manure that passed throughthe cattle that were grazing in thefield. When you cleaned those ducksthey smelled like cow manure. Theywere having a great shoot with a fewmallards down, when each shot aduck and they went after eachother’s kill. When Bill turned aroundhe could not see Fred. He walkedover to where he was and found himdead. He had died of a heart attack.Being over a half mile away fromthe road Bill took the model 12 and

lot of wildlife pictures. He not onlytakes great pictures but knows a lotabout his subjects. In Oct. weattended a display at Channel 47’sstudio in Peoria. I was amazed atsome of Jim’s work. He did a semi-nar on wildlife Photography and itwas extremely interesting. If youlike the Pintail on the cover it wasshot by Jim. Like I said earlier aboutmeeting great people Jim is one ofthose guys. Thanks Jim for the useof that beautiful photo for ASO’scover.

Well I am writing this editorial theday before Duck Season opens. Ihave the truck packed with food,guns, shells, ATV and about everyother thing I need or don’t need. Iam excited about the big day and ifit is like any other opener I will notsleep too well tonight. I will be thereto turn on the heat so Spoonbillwon’t freeze to death. The hunterswill need those boot dryers!

Remember Veterans Day Nov.11th. Have fun and a safe huntingseason.

Happy Thanksgiving!Keep your Powder Dry and your

Worm wet. Harry

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Harry’s dad Jack Canterburyopening day in 1966 at Rednose Duck Club.

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The Motley AmericanArmy that Saved

the Nation“We fired our guns and the

British kept a'comin.There wasn't nigh as many as

there was a while ago.We fired once more and they

began to runnin' onDown the Mississippi to the

Gulf of Mexico.”The Ballad of New Orleans

by Jimmy Driftwood

I love the movie “The Dirty Dozen”.The idea of a group of completely differ-ent strangers coming together against allodds to defeat a common enemy isstamped into every American.

And if any American General everfaced such a motley combination of per-sonnel it was Andrew Jackson in NewOrleans during the War of 1812.

The fact that Andrew Jackson foundhimself in New Orleans was curiousitself. President James Madison and hisadministration never trusted or likedJackson and as such they only promotedhim out of desperation and lack of anyother qualified individual. But eventhen, if they had to promote him, hewould not be placed on the front lineson the east coast but assigned to the wildfrontier west, far from the war and more

importantly far from them. His militarydistrict would include the Louisiana,Mississippi and Tennessee Territories.

But the British changed all of thatwith their war plans for 1814. TheBritish plan for the year called for threemajor offensives with one coming fromCanada, another striking at Washington,and the third hitting New Orleans.While the thrust from Canada wasdefeated at the Battle of Plattsburgh, theoffensive in the Chesapeake region sawsome success before being halted at FortMcHenry. A veteran of the latter cam-paign, Vice Admiral Sir AlexanderCochrane moved south that fall for theattack on New Orleans.

New Orleans was a major prizebecause if the British could control NewOrleans, they would also gain control ofall of the territory that touched theMississippi River and its tributaries. As

such, even if the British did not win thewar, if they could control New Orleansthey could block American expansionacross Central North America to theWest Coast.

President Madison and his staff paidvery little attention to New Orleans.While assigning General AndrewJackson to defend the area, they assignedto him only a small unit of troops; 968US Army Regulars, 58 US Marines and106 Seamen of the US Naval Battalion.Knowing that if the British came his wayhis small force would not be able to stopthem, General Andrew Jackson sent outrequest for assistance from the state mili-tias. In response to his request came for-ward 1,352 Tennessee Militiamen, 986Kentucky Militiamen and 150Mississippi Militiamen. LouisianaTerritory contributed 1,060 Militiamen,including 462 free slaves. Finally, 52Choctaw warriors came to join his rag-tag army.

His army of 5,194 now included 4.5times more volunteers than professionsoldiers. His large militia force includedFrench speaking Cajuns, Indians, freeblacks and even pirates from theCaribbean under the infamous JeanLafitte. His pirate fleet’s cannon wheretaken from the ships for use on land andincreased not only the amount ofartillery at Jackson disposal but vastlyincreased the quality. Jackson alsogained the benefit of the critically expe-

rienced pirates that knew how to maxi-mize the usage of the artillery.

Facing this motley Army underGeneral Andrew Jackson was the highlyorganized and professional British.Under the command of Major GeneralSir Edward Pakenham, the British Armytotaled over 11,000. The vast majorityof this British Army had just defeatedNapoleon Bonaparte and his FrenchArmy. After defeating the man manyconsidered the Military Genius of alltime, the American Army was of littleregard to the British and the thoughteven less of the militia. This same forcehad already seen success in the east whenthey burned Washington DC.

On Dec. 23, 1814, a small Britishforce of 1,800 under the command ofGeneral John Keane landed on the eastbank of the Mississippi River just 9miles south of New Orleans. Rather thanimmediately attacking the then unde-fended city, General Keane insteaddecides to wait for re-enforcements. Thismistake would cost the British dearly asit gave General Jackson the time heneeded to organize a defense.

When he learned in the afternoon ofthe British landing, General Jacksonstated “By the Eternal they shall notsleep on our soil”. He then planned anight attack and assigned a third of hisarmy to carry out the attack. Orderinghis few ships in the Mississippi to startdown river to bomb the British position,

010_001.qxd 10/24/13 8:27 AM Page 1


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guided only by the light of the Britishcampfires Jackson’s army attacked.When the battle came to a standstill,Jackson ordered his army to retreat to aposition about 4 miles south of NewOrleans. While the losses on both sideswhere about equal from this first attack,the resulting shock of this daring nightattack caused more caution and delay inthe British advancement.

General Jackson’s new position con-sisted of formable earthworks and defen-sive batteries along Rodriguez Canal. ByJan. 6th, his ramparts, five feet high andup to 20 feet thick in places, ran thelength of the open plantation groundfrom the Mississippi River on the west tothe cypress swamps in the east. Eightbatteries and a forward, riversideredoubt – designed to fire enfilade alongthe front of the breastworks – defendedLine Jackson, as the Rodriguez Canaldefenses came to be called. Across theMississippi River – a mile wide at thispoint – Commodore Daniel Pattersonarranged nine marine guns in four firingpositions to deliver enfilading fire intothe 500-yard-deep American primaryengagement area. Additionally, Jacksondeployed Choctaw Indian scouts toscreen and defend in the severely restric-tive eastern swamps where the ramparts

could potentiallybe flanked.

In the face ofo v e r w h e l m i n gdefenses and aclearly definede n g a g e m e n tarea, MajorGeneral SirE d w a r dPakenham, theBritish groundforces com-mander, consid-ered movingacross the riverand look foranother path to New Orleans rather thanattack the earthworks. Vice Admiral SirAlexander Cochrane, the senior com-mander of the invasion force, however,overruled him, arguing that it wouldtake too long and that there were notenough boats to support the move.Besides, he argued, the American Armywas too small relied too much onuntrained militia to stop the BritishArmy.

On the evening of Jan. 7th, GeneralPakenham ordered his artillery forwardto engage the Jackson Line. While ini-tially impressive, the American artillery

responded quick-ly and drove theBritish from thefield. For thenext day, Jan.8th, GeneralPakenham laidout a very com-plex plan ofattack. It calledfor one smalldivision to crossthe Mississippiand start the bat-tle by taking theA m e r i c a nArtillery position

commanded by Commodore DanielPatterson. With that completed, thosenewly seized American artillery gunswould then be turned against theAmerican’s Jackson Line across the river.With this complete, the main attackwould take place as one division with themajority of the troops moved towardsthe center of the line as a secondary forcewould attack along the MississippiRiver.

On the morning of Jan. 8th, theweather at first looked to be assisting theBritish. A thick, heavy fog rolled intothe area and cloaked the movement ofthe British army as they move towardsthe American lines. But quickly itchanged. First, the British division thatcrossed the river to attack the American

Artillery position found the MississippiRiver wider than thought because offlooding and also the current strongerthan anticipated. As a result, the boatslanded the division too far away fromArtillery position to lead off the battle.

As such, the main assault was orderedsince it would be concealed by the fogand thus protected from the AmericanArtillery position. Then about half wayto the American Jackson Line, the fogsuddenly lifted and exposed the Britishto a clear sunny day, making them with-in range and perfect targets for theartillery. When they closed the distanceto 500 yards, the American line openedfire with their artillery. Once within 300yards, the American sharpshootersopened fire. They fired their rifles inthree to four ranks, rotating such thatone rank was nearly always firing. Afterthe first volley, volley-fire was aban-doned in favor of individual efforts, withthe Americans firing and loading asquickly as possible. The British wereunprepared for these tactics and theresults were devastating.

Within no time, the British Generalsleading the forward division where allkilled. Unable to remain in the rear anylonger, General Pakenham rode into thefield with his aide to salvage the battle.Gibbs reported that his men no longerobeyed him, so Pakenham took charge.Riding into the field amongst the routed

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is taking an important step towardimproving Off-Highway Vehicle(OHV) access by announcing todaythat the new OHV Usage Stampwill be available in early 2014 atDNR Direct license and permitpoint-of-sale vendor locationsthroughout the state.! The annualstamps are part of the IDNR sus-tainability funding package passedlast year and will be sold beginningin January.! The stamps will bevalid from April 1, 2014 throughMarch 31, 2015.! The stamps willbe issued concurrent with fishingand hunting licenses beginning inthe 2014-15 season.

Funds generated through theOHV Usage Stamp are expected tototal between $700,000-$800,000annually.! Those funds will be used

to develop public-access trails forOHV use in Illinois, and to capturemore than $1 million in unutilizedfederal funds available for motor-ized trail development and mainte-nance through available matchingdollars.! Because Illinois has notbeen able to match these federalfunds with state dollars, IDNR hasbeen unable to provide single-pur-pose OHV recreation trails.!

Illinois law now requires that anannual OHV Usage Stamp be pur-chased and displayed prominentlyon the forward half of off-highwayvehicles, including all-terrain vehi-cles (ATVs), off-highway motorcy-cles, and other motor-driven recre-ational vehicles capable of cross-country travel on natural terrain.!

The annual OHV Usage Stampfee will be $15.00, plus a $0.50issuance fee to the point-of-salevendor.! The IDNR plans to pro-vide discount fees for lower-pow-ered OHVs for youth riders. TheIDNR also intends to add severalother exemptions to the OHVUsage Stamp, including all stan-dard golf carts, OHVs used bybona fide commercial businesses,and OHVs used by qualifyinghunters with disabilities.

The expiration date on the annualOHV Usage Stamp will be March31 each year.

Exemptions to the OHV UsageStamp requirement include:

• OHVs operated on lands wherethe owner permanently resides(exemption does not apply to clubs,associations, OHVs operated onlands leased for hunting or recre-

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• OHVs used for activities asso-ciated with farming or livestockproduction;

• OHVs owned and used by unitsof government;

• OHVs used for sanctionednational/international competition;and,

• OHVs used on OHV-grantassisted sites on which an Off-Highway Vehicle Access Decal isdisplayed.!

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NATION…Cont’d. from previous pg.and fleeing soldiers, he cried, “Shame!Shame! Remember you’re British!Forward, gentlemen, forward!” Inspiredby their general’s presence, a number ofsoldiers resumed the charge, led by SirEdward himself; he was then immediate-ly shot from his horse, which was itselfalso shot. Undaunted, he commandeeredhis aide’s horse and charged a secondtime, upon which he was shot a second,and third time.! Mortally wounded, hefell and was carried from the battlefield,but not before issuing a final order tocommit the reserves. In executing thatorder, however, the bugler was wounded,and the reserves were never activated.

By the end of the battle, a little overtwo hours after it began, every BritishGeneral and most of the command staffinvolved with the main attack would bedied. The British suffered over 850killed and nearly 2,500 wounded duringthe battle. By contrast, the Americansendured 13 killed and 39 wounded.With the well organized, professionalBritish Army in complete disarray andrunning for their lives, the rag-tag, mot-ley American Army under the commandof the formable General Andrew Jacksonand saved New Orleans, preserved thewestern North America for the UnitedStates, and won the most decisive victo-ry of the War of 1812.

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012_001.qxd 10/27/13 9:32 PM Page 1


A N T I - G U N N E R S B E G I N C A M P A I G N T O D I S M A N T L E C O N C E A L E D C A R R Y

The anti-gunners are wasting no time in attempting to dis-mantle the concealed carry bill passed last spring. !Your help isdesperately needed to shut down the gun control movement’sef forts to strip you of your fundamental right to defend yourselfand your family from mug gers, murderers, robbers and rapists.

We also need your help to support 3 pro-concealed carry billsthat have been ntroduced.

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION CAREFULLY ANDTAKE THE ACTIONS LISTED TO HELP SAVE YOUR RIGHTS!

HB3646 – DANGEROUS BILL – Bans Concealed Carry in anyrestaurant that has alcoholic beverages on the menu. !Drastical-ly reduces your choices on when and how to protectyourself. !This bill is a foot in the door to create a growing list ofplaces where you will be prohibited from protecting yourself and

From theDesk of:

Rich Pearson,

ISRA ExecutiveDirector

your family from dangerous criminals.HB3 669 – DANGEROUS BILL - !This bill eliminates “safe

haven” provisions for areas near schools – meaning that youcould not even have a firearm locked in your trunk if you drive onto ANY property controlled by a school district. !Once again, thisbill would severely limit your self defense options and would makeyou a felon for doing nothing more than possessing afirearm. !Under this bill, you would have to leave your defensivefirearms at home if your plans called for you to enter any landscontrolled by a school district. !The real purpose of this bill is topave the way for sweeping prohibitions on concealed carry thatwould make self defense impractical and a serious legal risk formost Illinois citizens.

HB3675 – DANGEROUS BILL – This bill would severely in-crease penalties for persons found to be carrying firearms in re-stricted areas. This bill is designed solely to scare law-abidingcitizens out of carrying defensive firearms. This bill in no waytargets gang-bangers or other violent criminals.

SB2594 – DANGEROUS BILL – This is another bill that would pro-hibit carry in restaurants that have alcoholic beverages on the menu.

HB3651 – GOOD BILL – This bill lowers the burdensome 16-hour training rule to a more reasonable 8-hour requirement. Thisbill also eliminates the re-training requirements for carry permitrenewals. In short, this bill undoes that anti-gunners’ attemptsto discourage people from applying for carry permits by easingburdensome training requirements.

HB3650 – GOOD BILL – This bill provides forconcealed carry reciprocity between Illinois anddozens of other states.

HB3649 – GOOD BILL – This bill reduces the ex-

orbitant fees the State Police plan on charging people for permit appli-cations. !The state should not be allowed to price-gouge citizens whowant to defend themselves. This bill would make fees more reasonableand thus allow greater access to self defense for Illinois citizens.

HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO PROTECT YOUR RIGHT TO SELF DEFENSE:1. !Call your State Representative and politely tell him/her that

you are a law-abiding firearm owner and you do not want your rightto self defense diminished for political reasons. Ask him/her to voteAGAINST HB3646; HB3669; HB3675.

2. !While on the phone with your Representative, tell him/her thatyou would like them to vote FOR HB3649; HB3650 and HB3651.

3. !Call your State Senator and politely tell him/her that you are a law-abiding firearm owner and that you do not want your right to self defensediminished for political reasons. Ask him/her to vote AGAINST SB2594.

4. !Post this alert to any and all Internet bulletin boards or blogsto which you belong.

5. !Pass this alert along to all your gun owning friends and familymembers – ask them to take action as well.

6. Please consider a generous donation to the ISRA so that we can con-tinue to fight against those who would take your gun rights away from you.

If you do not know who your State Representative or State Senator is, theIllinois State Board of Elections has an interactive search page here: elec-tions.state.il.us/DistrictLocator/DistrictOfficialSearchByAddress.aspx

If you already know who your State Representative and State Senator areand just need the contact info, you can f ind that here:www.ilga.gov/house & www.ilga.gov/senate

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know for sure.The figures were printed in early 1951, so

they apply pretty much to 1950 as well. Thepopulation in Peoria, Illinois was 111,853and by 1951 my house in El Vista hadburned to the ground, and the City of Peoriawas a whopping 12.84 square miles. We hada massive Peoria County and I can tell youtoo many farms to count. In Peoria 92% ofus were born in America, and of the other 8%that were not, most of them were from Ger-many, England and Sweden. Since we be-came a city in 1845, we have been just about488 feet in altitude, meaning above sea level.There was always a joke in Peoria: “They didnot name Water Street Water Street for noth-ing.”

We had two major newspapers in town,and one that published on Sunday. We had3 weekly and two monthly newspapers, and Iused to deliver one of the weekly ones. Truthis I delivered about half of them and dumpedthe rest in the local dump… little brat that Iwas. We had four radio stations WEEK,WMBD, WIRL and WPEO. By then everycar a young guy drove had the radio on blast-ing away. His girl slid over nice and close andoff they went to Hunts or Kramer’s andcruised the downtown area most of the earlyevening.

As I tell you these facts try to comparethem with what isgoing on today inPeoria, Illinois. Thatis if you wonderwhere the jobs andoccupations went.

Peoria hadforty-eight hotels,that’s right, 48 for atotal of 1,500 rooms.We had a few motelsbut I only rememberthe Four-Winds outnear the MadisonGolf Course, I think.We had the samethree hospitals but atthat time they com-bined for 1,140rooms. We were amajor educatingtown and our kids

had no reason to grow up stupid like I did.We had 29 public schools which included 3high schools and two junior high schools.Now the Catholics should sure as hell be edu-cated because there were 16 parochial schools.They estimated that all together 21,000 kidswere in our schools. Of course we had BradleyUniversity and some business schools, the on-ly one I remember is Brown’s Business Schooland I think it is now out near Donovan GolfCourse, Mid State, I think.

We had five libraries and way back in 1845we had one and a couple of book stores, imag-ine that. Hey, have you seen a choo-choo trainlately? Well we used to have 14 RR companiesand even one that was electrical.

Thirteen companies served us with bus serv-ice, but remember until 1946 it was street cars.Like today, we had two airports and one ofthose was private. We had a lot of manufac-turers in Peoria that produced 995 differentproducts, the top four were Caterpillar, Le-tourneau, Hiram Walker and of course theyincluded Keystone even though it was in Bar-tonville.

Now the record shows 5 golf courses, butI’ll let you decide if that number was right in1951? We always had one of the best ParkDistricts in the United States, and we still do,covering 2,154 acres back there in ’51.Churches, wow, there was a time they outnumbered the saloons, do you believe that?

Well, in 1951 we had 118, think that wasenough? You should see the list of parsons, orclergymen, or whatever they called them-selves, I refused to count them.

What is amusement? Well we had a lot ofthat, some not so legal, but we did have theFun Palace Arcade, Prim Skating Rink, and alot of places to play pin ball. Bakeries, now Ialways loved those places, not that I ever hadany money to buy all that stuff. But there wasone in town that if we got there at the righttime in the morning those tossed out donutswere ours, even if sometimes we saved themfrom the garbage cans. I used to get a quarterfrom my mom for a long over due haircut inthe 1940’s. Now to me that was a fortuneand I was not about to waste that on my strag-gly hair so I went to the free chair at the Bar-ber College. Of course I spent the two-bits ona hot dog, a movie and Milk Duds. It was notlong after that that my mother cut my hairherself. UGH! Truth is that in 1951 therewere 85 barber shops in town employing onehell of a lot of barbers I can tell you that. Ofcourse the women easily topped that with justover 100 beauty salons, but they too were of-ten called ‘shops.’

We never played much pool because wenever had the money, but we liked to watchthose ‘pool sharks’ take on the suckers, but bil-liards and snooker bored us to death. We hadeight major places in town but most of the

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PEORIA: WAY BACK IN 1951

Anyone thathas read my his-torical storiesover the last thir-ty-twoYears, heard mylectures and ra-dio talks knowsthat I neverspoke beyond1950. No specialreason, I sup-pose, but I left in1951 for fouryears to single-handedly win theKorean War.Truth is I was a medic and ended up in theAzores, so I sort of lost track of old Peoria, Illi-nois.

In all those years I found out a lot about myaudiences and the People that bought all thosebooks and came to hear me talk about Peoriahistory. Facts, statistics and gangsters, that’swhat they wanted me to write and talkabout…and I did. After a lot of pushing, I fi-nally stepped into 1951, and this is what I

by Norman V.

Kelly

014_001.qxd 10/24/13 12:27 PM Page 1


larger taverns had a pooltable and a shuffle boardand some had slot ma-chines. Believe me, by1946 casino type gam-bling was long gone, butthe slots hung around.Hell that was not gam-bling anyway, it was anidiot’s game tolose…and they did.

I remember a bigbrawl we had when anew bowling alleyopened up on UniversityStreet: we fought somejerks over the right to setthe pens. We won. Iworked the first night. I got hit 3 times withthe damn pins and quit. I also hated the jerkthat was bowling on my lane. I just picked hisball up, walked out the back door and rolledhis ball toward some garbage cans and tookoff. We had nine bowling alleys but I only re-member two of them, Peoria Bowl on Jeffer-son and Peoria Auto Parts on Adams.

A lot of Chiropractors and fifteen werecalled Chiropodists and vise-versa because wedidn’t know the difference. My God, howmany of them do we have today? Of course

you have to look underPodiatrists, for the Chi-ropodists, huh? Cigarswere a massive businessthroughout Peoria’s his-tory, but in 1951 we onlyhad 9 left. Here is a busi-ness that was calledCleaners and Dryers, andwe had about 80 of them.Can you imagine that?Those and coal compa-nies, which numbered 25have slipped away. Dur-ing Prohibition we hadwell over two-hundredSoft Drink Parlors, manylisted as Confectionaries

but in 1951 we had 51, which did not sellbooze like they did in the twenties.

We had fourteen dairies, 93 dentists, andget this, fifty-three drug stores, and only oneof them was a Walgreen. Some of you havenever seen a ‘Service Station’ Of course wecalled them gas stations, but it was a timewhen they actually looked upon you as a cus-tomer. We had 213 of them, and I worked atone when I went to college. I used to say therewas a grocery store on every corner in Peo-ria…and there was, just like our saloons, but

in 1951 we ‘only’ had264. We had a lot ofself-service laundries,ten to be exact, andforty-one Music teach-ers and seven PianoTuners, one was GlenPurdue, rememberhim?

Radios were big, andwe had 21 radio repairshops and of coursesome of them got intothe TV business, whichreally started aroundthese parts in 1953. In fact it was Channel 43,WEEK-TV. Imagine if you can 171 restau-rants within the city limits. Well that’s howmany there were.

When I was a kid a new pair of shoes was asrare as a Christmas present and we had a tonof shoe stores, along with 33 repair shops andfive shoe shining places.

We called them bars, taverns saloon,dumps, dives, rat holes, bum hangouts, and ofcourse dangerous as well. We had 263 ofthem, up from the heydays of gambling in

Peoria all during WW 11. A lot of old guyswho think they are historians think they couldname all the theaters. Perhaps they are outthere but I just never met one yet.

We had the Apollo on Main, the Beverlyon Knoxville and the Crest out on prospect. Ihave included a couple that were not withinthe city limits. The Little was on Jackson,Madison on Main as well as the Palace. Thecute little Princess was on Adams. The Co-lumbia which was really a dump was gone by

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1951. The Rialto was on Jefferson andthe LUXE was in East Peoria. The Var-sity was up by Bradley and the Warnerwas on South Adams and by Szolds’, theAvon.

Other than all that there was not adamn thing going on in Peoria. Truth isI named just a handful of the things thatmade Peoria, Illinois one of the greatestlittle towns in all of America.

Editor’s Note: Norm is a Peoria His-torian, True-Crime writer and the au-thor of hundreds of fiction stories andtwelve books. Listen to WOAM, 1350AM Sunday mornings 7-10 where hejoins Harry, Rich & Bob with The RedNose Gang.

[email protected]

PEORIA… Cont’d. from previous pg. Wisconsin DNR: Mississippi River

Open for Duck Hunting

LA CROSSE, Wis. — Wisconsinwildlife officials said waterways inthe Upper Mississippi National Fishand Wildlife Refuge will be openwhen waterfowl season reopens thesecond weekend in Oct. although thefederal government shutdown hascreated some confusion for duckhunters. The U.S. Fish and WildlifeService has closed its 561 refuges aspart of the federal shutdown. ButWisconsin officials told the LaCrosse Tribune that hunters and oth-ers can use the Mississippi River forrecreational activities as long as theyenter from a state or private boatlaunch. “Basically, when it comes towaterfowl hunting, it is business asusual,“ Randy Stark, chief warden forthe Wisconsin Department of NaturalResources, said in a news release.“The only difference is that accesspoints to federal properties areclosed.“

The Upper Mississippi refuge re-mains open largely as a matter ofpracticality. It would be nearly im-possible for federal officials to closeoff a 240,000-acre refuge that runsmore than 260 miles through fourstates. “Most of their lands have afence around them,“ said John Wet-zel, secretary of the La Crosse Coun-ty Conservation Alliance. “Thatmakes sense, but it doesn't apply tothe river.“

Federal officials see the situationsomewhat differently than the state.They say land in the refuge is off lim-its, and boat landings operated by theU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service havebeen barricaded. Those still workingare less clear about the river. No sur-prise there.

Info from: La Crosse Tribune, www.lacrossetribune.com

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016_001.qxd 10/24/13 12:40 PM Page 1

anywhere in a variety of loads, from FMJs to hol-lowpoints and frangibles. It is accurate, withmoderate recoil in all but the smallest, light-weight pistols, and there is less chance of over-penetration. The round of fers a great balancebetween attacker-stopping power and it’s abili-ty to be fired and easily controlled in a smallerto moderate-sized handgun, which is why thiscaliber is so popular.

Cons: Some!shooters believe the 9mm is a biton the light side for serious defensive work, andwith lighter bullets there have been concernsabout failure to penetrate through heavy, lay-ered clothing or to stop a crazed, determinedattacker.

.40 S&WA cartridge that quickly became a winner is

the .40 S&W, and it quickly proved itself as afight stopper. Police agencies all over the maphave adopted it for good reason, so it’s defi-nitely a good choice for use by private citizensas well. I like the Remington Golden Saber 165-grain round best, but ammunition is of feredwith 135-, 155-, 180- and 200-grain bullets,too.

Pros: It moves a major class bullet out of thepipe at over 1,000 fps and hits like a hammer.Just about everybody makes a gun for this car-tridge, including a couple of revolver makers.

Cons: It has a sharp recoil that may be toughto manage for some people, especially in small-er framed handguns.

.45 ACPThe .45 ACP is arguably king of the street

calibers, and it has been winning close-quar-ters fights and military battles for more than acentury. There are soldiers, cops and TexasRangers who swear by it, along with legions ofarmed citizens who are still topside today be-cause they had a .45 and used it. I prefer a185-grain JHP and 230-grain FMJ rounds,stacked alternately in the magazine.

Pros: A variety of ammunition is available,and you can find it just about anywhere. Of evenmore importance in this day and age is it is af-fordable. Recoil is easily manageable in mostguns, and a center-of-mass hit can body slaman attacker.

Cons: None that I can think of except whererecoil in a smaller framed semi-auto might betoo aggressive for some shooters. The slightlylarger frame size of some .45s can also create

more challenges to concealing without creatingany imprint from beneath a shirt.

Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from the June 30, 2013 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.!www.gundigest.com


CONCEALED CARRY

CALIBERS: PROS AND CONSBy: Dave Workman

Probably the most commonly asked questionamong people looking for a defensive handgunand trying to decide which one to buy is “Whichone is the best?”

The truth is, there is no such thing. The bestgun and caliber combination will be what ap-peals to and fulfills an individual’s needs andcapabilities, and of course, budget.

Here’s a look at the pros and cons of threepopular concealed carry calibers—9mm, 40S&W and .45 ACP.

9mmThe 9mm is one of the most popular personal

defense calibers on the landscape, and so manyfirearms are chambered for the round—bigand small—that one can hardly count them.Ammunition has advanced over the years andthere are many loads in various bullet weightsranging from 115 to 147 grains. It has plenty ofenergy, though the frontal mass is not as im-pressive as that of the .40- and .45-caliberloads.

Pros: Ammunition can be found just about

About Dave WorkmanDave Workman is an author,senior editor of Gun Week,

communications director forthe Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep

and Bear Arms, award-winning outdoor writer,

former member of the NRA Board of Directors.

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For the better part of 20-years now I havebeen building a relationship with John Cald-well that far surpasses just being friends. Thisman and his wife Sue are undisputed mem-bers of our family. My children and mygrandchildren consider them grandparents.There are no finer people on God’s earth.

That having been said, John and I haveshared much, including 20 hunting seasons. Iused to guide deer, waterfowl, turkey and birdhunts for John when he owned and operatedTHE BREAK Hunting Preserve. Since hisretirement from the outfitting business wenow share the sport as hunting buddies.

The property I am about to describe neednot be identified in detail. Suffice it to say wehunt mostly in Adams County, IL. In hisoutfitting days we worked on hundreds ofacres the Caldwell’s owned as well and hun-dreds more that they leased. John Caldwellhas gone out of his way for two decades tomake sure my boys and I always have a placeat which to hunt. He has even included myother good friend Roger Lewis and his Son-In-Law Mike Hamski. John’s generosity is

unsurpassed.As I prepared for the 2012 deer season I

scouted the entire farm, as usual. We hadboth stands and blinds placed in all the rightspots and the deer sign was as prevalent asever. John did make mention of seeing a lotof deer this summer in the field directly infront of his barn. I had never considered thisspot just because it was so close to almost con-stant human activity. I did some pre-seasoninvestigation and found a deer trail and bucksign of significant proportion.

When I took John to the blind and showedhim the location he was amazed. He agreed itwas “Hunt Worthy” and said he was anxiousto get to try it out. We both also agreed thatit would only be a good evening spot. The tri-al for this blind was forthcoming since the first2012 Illinois Firearms Deer Season was just10-days away.

My middle Stepson Spencer came homefrom his life and job in Chicago to hunt thefirst season. All three of us had an “Any Deer”permit as well an “Anterless Only” tag. Johncould only hunt about an hour on opening

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day and only saw a coyote.He was really looking for-ward to hunting the newblind on the second day.

I saw no shooters the firstday but Spencer had muchbetter results. On the firstafternoon Spence had achance at a great doe. Hedropped the deer and wentto it to assure it was dead.While happily standing overhis successful prize, move-ment caught his eye. A buckwas heading his way.Spencer has taken a bunch ofdeer in his short but produc-tive hunting career so heplayed his cards right and letthe buck come.

Identifying the buck asbigger than his current per-sonal best he decided to takethe deer. He stopped thebuck with a yell and put a 12-gauge slugthrough both lungs. The buck howeverflinched and ran out of sight in the failinglight of evening. Not wanting to push thedeer and lose the blood trail we decided tocome back in the morning and recover him.

Spencer slept-in on Saturday and met Johnand me at 9AM to look for his buck. I hunt-ed that morning without success but Johntook a nice doe. When Spence arrived wefound his buck which turned-out to be a great9-pointer. Needles to say we were all ecstatic.Spencer headed back for Chicago the next

morning…tagged out. I was unable to hunt Saturday evening due

to a commitment to take my Grandson Ay-den to an afternoon birthday party. As we satdown to dinner that night at 5PM my phonerang. It was John and he had hunted the newblind that evening and had killed a 10-point-er with which he needed help. Ayden,Makenzie and I headed to John’s to help himwith his buck.

The kids were excited to get to help holdthe lights and pull on the rope to assist Johnand me dress the buck. The fact that it was a

With a 32-inch neck this Adams County buck is thelargest deer Mike Roux has taken in over 45-years of

deer hunting. (Photo by John Caldwell)

Quail & Pheasant HuntingQuail & Pheasant Hunting

018_001.qxd 10/24/13 4:00 PM Page 1

we crossed the field to get John’s buck therewere four deer in the wheat, one of which wasa massive buck.

I did not hunt Sunday morning of the first2012 Illinois Firearm Deer Season because ofChurch and really did not intend to hunt thatevening because of the unusually high tem-perature. As I lay on the couch totally en-gulfed in the Packer’s football game Nancybusted my chops. “Are you going out thisevening?” she asked. I played like I did nothear. “You are not going to kill a buck fromthe couch,” she added. With a heavy sigh Igot up, got ready and took-off for a finalevening hunt.

I got in the blind about 3PM and only sawtwo doe the entire evening. Shooting hoursended at about 5:10PM so I decided to getout of the blind at 5PM to give myselfenough time to survey my location with myALPEN Apex binoculars one last time beforethe first season ended.

I stepped out of the blind and leaned myTHOMPSON/CENTER .50-caliber ProHunter against a nearby tree. I did a 360-de-gree scan of the entire area seeing no deer. Iclosed the blind and scanned again and againno deer. I took three steps and looked-up tosee a monster-sized buck 40-yards away step-ping out the cover.

The buck and I saw each other at the exact

nice buck was not important to John Cald-well. He is a meat hunter and the meat is allthat really matters to him. Like Spencer hewas now tagged-out and commented on howthe buck came from the exact location I hadpredicted when I showed him the blind. As


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John Caldwell finished his 2012 season with a 10-point buck.

(Photo by Mike Roux…assisted by Makenzie and Ayden Dietrich)

same time and he took off and began tip-to-ing across the flat field. He was not spookedtoo badly so I cocked my rifle and got myALPEN Apex scope on him quickly. As heput yardage between us I decide two thingsvery quickly; first I decided he was a trueshooter and second I decided not to take arunning shot. This was a quality buck andwith a four-day second season just two weeksaway I did not want to run this deer off thefarm.

Just as I decided not to take a running shotthe buck stopped, broadside and looked backat me not knowing for sure what hadspooked him. My Pro Hunter is sighted-indead-on at 100-yards and I estimated thedeer at well over 150-yards. I put thecrosshair flat on his back and touched-off themuzzleloader. When the smoke cleared I sawa huge white belly and four legs kicking in theair.

At that point I set the world speed recordfor reloading a muzzleloader and crossed thefield rapidly to get to the buck. He had ex-pired by the time I got to him with a lethalspine shot.

The animal was more than big; more thanhuge…it was massive. I told John as he cameto help me with my buck that this was likelythe biggest deer I had ever killed. This fact

was verified by my good friend Dan Veile atthe Butcher Block in Quincy. He told methat this buck yielded 116-pounds of usablemeat, making it the largest deer he and hiscrew had ever processed.

Another very interesting fact about thisbuck was his age. Most deer hunters knowthe best way to judge a deer’s age is by itsteeth. This buck had four really tiny teethright in the front on its lower jaw. Thesewere the only teeth in this deer’s head. Ijudged him at 8 ! maybe 9 ! years old.

Then everything started to make moresense. John and Sue saw a huge buck thatthey thought was a 10-pointer on the nightbefore deer season opened at the far end ofthe wheat field. John and I think we saw thisbuck the night before I killed him in the samewheat field. With no back teeth this buckcould no longer eat soy beans or a kernel ofcorn. It was living on the tender volunteerwheat in this field. I doubt seriously if hewould have survived the winter.

As John Caldwell and I stood over thisamazing buck just a few yards from whereJohn had taken a nice 10-pointer the eveningbefore we discussed the location and why wehad not been hunting it before. John’s com-ment was, “For years we have overlooked theobvious.”

019_001.qxd 10/24/13 3:59 PM Page 1

The MeanderingMurray’s

By Bob Murray


My Biggest EverIn the course of our travels, we have met

fisherpeople of all ilks. We have met prosand people who think they are pros. We’veencountered beginners and people who areso new to the sport they thought we werepros. One of the more curious breeds thatwe have met are the ones who have switched.

Cheryl and I have done about ninety-ninepoint nine percent of our fishing in freshwater and have loved it. We have done somesalt and brackish water fishing but alwayshave returned to our roots in the non-salinevariety of fishing. But! We have encoun-tered those “switchers” who have forsakenfresh water for saltwater action.

One thing that seems to be consistent witha commitment to any form of fishing is tohave a proprietary attitude toward ones par-ticular fishing preference. The most obvious

example would be (no disrespect intended)the snobbery of fly fishermen. I can fly fish,but I am not so concerned with it that I haveunderwear that matches the brand of mybacker line and I also recognize that otherforms of fishing provide legitimate outdoorentertainment.

That brings me to the “switchers" - peo-ple who have decried freshwater for saltwa-ter fishing. Why? I have my own theory…You can bass fish all day and getskunked…nada…zip…zilch. In salt water,you can be fishing for speckled trout orflounder and end up catching a stingray.Hunting Charlie Tuna can produce, “let meout of the boat - it’s a shark!" You neverknow what to expect.

I have previously chronicled trips to thegulf coastal waters and the excitement of

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catching red drum and speckled trout. Theinterest of a couple of these trips ended upbeing something other than fishing. On arecent trip however, I may have been bittenby that saltwater bug that infected so manyfishermen within driving distance of the gulf.

We are fishing what is called the Texacocut in Big Lake just south of Lake Charles,Louisiana. My friend Jim Keenan decides tofish a ‘poppin cork’ over his weighted liveshrimp. I chose to fish on the bottom withabout a quarter ounce of split shot two feetup from a number four “C” hook.

If one of us starts crankin' specks or hope-fully red fish, the other will switch. This isprime redfish season and we have hit the lakewith high hopes of limiting out.

I strike first with a couple of sheepsheadand a croaker. Jim lands a nice speck that isbig enough for us to discuss how we aregoing to stuff it when we get home. Thatwas almost enough to get me to switch to the‘poppin cork'. I decided to give my rig a lit-tle longer to produce because I already hadon a shrimp that was big enough to be mylunch. Come on big reds!

Close! Everything had been a tap-tap kindof bite. You wait, give a little line, then setthe hook. My super-sized shrimp was actu-ally swimming my line around when it hit.Bang! No tap-tap. I set the hook and thegauntlet was down. My line began to peeloff my spinning rig. I waited for it to stop asI am used to short bursts of drag being pulledfrom the reel.

After what seemed the equivalent of about

one hundred yards stripping off, I looked atJim and said something along the lines of“this is big!” It headed for some pilings andI tried to turn it so the barnacles on the oldstructure wouldn’t cut my line. The waterswirled behind the boat. I turned my dragup a couple notches in the middle of the nextrun.

I am fishing with a Tennessee fishin' stick.It is the kind of rod that needs the reel to betaped to the handle. Where you put it is dic-tated by the weight of the reel. TheBrowning rod is doing well. The reel isdoing well…I am worried about the tape. Ican feel the reel begin to move under mystraining fingers. I’m not a negative personbut I am thinking something is going to hap-pen and I will lose this fish. I reel in someline only to goad him toward the pilingsagain. I pull sideways and turn it away pray-ing nothing is going to break.

I don’t fish with this rig very often and Ihate to admit that the line on it is about fouryears old. The sun flashes off the swirl abovethe fish…I still haven’t seen what it is that ischallenging my skills.

Jim has the net in his hands already. All ofa sudden, the net doesn’t look very strong.Light aluminum, scrawny green mesh…pitiful against whatever it is on the end of myline. According to Jim, the grin on my facestretches from ear to ear at this point. Thewater swirled again.

It hits home to me that this fish is bigenough to make the water swirl on the sur-face from a depth that doesn’t allow us to see

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2013 QUAIL HUNTING FORECAST

The prolonged winter and cool spring of 2012/13dealt quail a difficult hand as they tried to hang on formore temperate weather. !While late, when summerdid arrive, nesting quail in many states found re-newed, lush forb cover due to the increased precipita-tion in the spring. While excess precipitation may havehampered early breeders, it was a boon for quail withlater hatches as vegetative cover is ideal for broodrearing and a welcomed change from last year’sscorched landscape.

Weather can conspire against quail, but its habitatloss that has the long-term and most unmistakable ef-fect on quail populations. More widespread than anyweather events in recent years are the results of ac-celerated upland habitat destruction. Moreover, it’sdestruction that’s continuing on a daily basis, as Con-gress hasn’t yet heeded quail hunters' – and othersportsmen and women’s – calls to pass a Farm Billwith strong conservation provisions; including a na-tional “Sodsaver” initiative to protect native prairie,and re-link crop insurance payments to conservationcompliance.

While it is a long row to hoe in order to get back towhere quail once were, quail populations in manystates are seeing population increases for the firsttime in years, albeit if only in localized areas. Addi-tionally, the positive momentum and support contin-ues to grow for quail recovery. At the time of publish-

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native grasses, plantedfor habitat, must be fre-quently managed withprescribed fire, strip-disking or herbicidetreatments to maintainsome ‘bare dirt’ so birdscan maneuver under-neath the canopy. Areaswith lots of annual weeds, especially ragweed, are alsogreat quail habitat when located next to more perma-nent cover.

The most productive quail regions in the state con-tinue to be south-central and west-central Illinois.Hunters that have access to good habitat should stillenjoy a successful season.

Season Dates: November 2, 2013 through January 8, 2014 (North) November 2, 2013 through January 15, 2014 (South)Daily Bag Limit: 8Possession Limit: 20 after the third dayField Notes: This year, observers recorded an averageof 0.71 quail per route (birds per route) on the 54 sur-vey routes. Quail were recorded at 34 percent of thestops (percent occurrence). Both the number of quailcounted and the number of stops where quail wereseen or heard were slightly higher in 2013 than 2012surveys. Q u a i l F o re v e r . o r g

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FORECAST Illinois – Good on good landscapesAccording to the 2013 Northern Bobwhite Status

Report distributed by the Illinois Dept of Wildlife, cool-er than average temperatures and above average pre-cipitation was prevalent in most of the state duringthe early quail nesting season. This likely had a nega-tive impact on nest success for many birds during thistime-frame. Dry conditions followed from late Julythrough the end of September which may have allowedsome late-nesting and/or re-nesting birds to success-fully fledge broods later in the summer.

Last year’s drought and relatively mild winter (ex-cept for the severe weather in March) contrasted witha wet and cool spring in 2013. Spring brought aboveaverage rainfall and severe flooding in some areas ofIllinois. Below average temperatures continuedthrough mid-summer until early August. The secondhalf of August and September were very hot and drywith very little precipitation across most of Illinois.Above average temperatures and below-normal pre-cipitation continued as fall began.

The key to a successful 2013-14 quail season forhunters is finding high-quality habitat. Focus areasshould include a mixture of row crops, small grains,legumes and grassland (excluding wildlife-unfriendlyfescue and reed canary grass). One of the pitfalls forquail habitat is grass that is too thick and rank. Even

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it. Yep! I am grinning from ear to ear.After the next run, I can feel it begin totire. After another minute or so I am ableto start to pump it in. We catch our firstglimpse. We’re both grinning from ear toear.

The big black tail of a huge black drumturns it and makes one last attempt to es-cape from something it doesn’t under-stand. I slowly bring it around and coaxit toward Jim and the waiting net. Thenet looks completely inadequate and be-tween exclamations of awe and expletives,we discuss if the fish will fit in the net.

Jim makes a perfect head first grab ofmy prize and has to hoist it from the wa-ter with the net handle straight up anddown because the fish is so heavy andhanging part of its thirty seven inchlength from the net. It weighs in at justunder 45 pounds.

Since I have been writing I have notbeen inclined to write in gratuitous prod-uct mentions, but I have to give credit toBerkley for that 4-year old 12 lb. test FireLine. A lesser line would have had mewondering what it was the got away.

I know everyone is keeping the out-doors neat and clean so I’ll ask a specificquestion to the Amoco Oil Co. Will youtell me why you have an old ship in Cal-casieu Lake that is partially sunk and rust-ing away instead of disposing of it?

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South-Central Zone; dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/waterfowl/Pages/default.aspx• ‘Super Saturdays’ youth event, Ill. St. Museum, Springfield, 11 am-3 pmmuseum.state.il.us/events

Nov 10• Beaver, river otter trapping seasons open,South Zonednr.illinois.gov/trapping/Pages/default.aspx• Raccoon, opossum, skunk, weasel, mink,muskrat, fox, coyote and badger trappingseasons open, South Zone

Nov 10-12• Ill. Conservation Foundation Kim PresbreyMemorial Pheasant Hunt, Rend Lake Resortwww.ilcf.org

Nov 13• Ill. St. Museum Science Series lecture, 1011 E. Ash, Springfield, IL; 7 pmmuseum.state.il.us/events

Nov 15• Ill. Endangered Species Protection Boardmeeting, Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie,Wilmington, IL; 10 a.m.; 217-785-8687

Nov 16-17• Youth Waterfowl Season, South Zonednr.illinois.gov/hunting/waterfowl/Pages/default.aspx

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Nov 2-3• Youth Waterfowl Season, South Central Zonednr.illinois.gov/hunting/waterfowl/Pages/default.aspx

Nov 5• Beaver, river otter trapping seasons open,North Zonednr.illinois.gov/trapping/Pages/default.aspx• Raccoon, opossum, skunk, weasel, mink,muskrat, fox, coyote and badger trappingseasons open, North Zone

Nov 8• Night Hike at Dickson Mounds Museum,6:30 p.m.-8 p.m., Lewistownmuseum.state.il.us/events

Nov 9 • Opening day of waterfowl season,

Nov 22-24• Firearm Deer Season (First Season segment)dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/deer/Pages/default.aspx

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Deer Hunting: Morning or Evening? By Bernie Barringer

Are you are morning person or a night owl? Sometimes getting up early is well worth it,other times, not so much.

I had really gotten myself into a pickle. I had chosen my stand wisely enough. I was situatedalong the edge of an alfalfa field and the deer were feeding in the field each evening. I glassedthe field and watched a buck emerge from a trail in the woods and enter the field. I looked atthe wind direction forecast and hung my stand accordingly.

The following evening I was sitting above that trail watching a few does filter by me,overflowing with optimism that it was just a matter of time before I would be dragging thatbuck back to my truck. A half hour before dark, my eyes roved across the dozen does and smallbucks in the field, just in time to see the object of my hunt join them! He had used a differenttrail.

He was out of range, but several does and a yearling buck were within 25 yards. I couldn’tpossibly get out of the treestand without being detected. Spooking these deer now would blowthe whole operation for the future. To make matters worse, my truck was parked on the otherside of the open field. Things did not end well that evening, but I did learn some importantpoints from the experience.

You might say the best time to hunt is whenever you can, and I suppose that would be true,but most of us have real jobs and we have to choose when to hunt. There are pros and consto hunting mornings or evenings, and the optimal time varies based on the times of the yearand deer activity patterns. Let’s take a look at the options and try to sort out some of thecomponents so you can make an informed decision on choosing your hunting time wisely.

Morning hunt prosI love watching the woods come alive as daylight sweeps over the land. That alone might be

reason enough for me to hunt mornings, but there are more practical reasons to be in the stand

022_001.qxd 10/24/13 6:48 PM Page 1


I love watching the woods come alive as daylight sweeps over the land. That alone might bereason enough for me to hunt mornings, but there are more practical reasons to be in the standat daylight. Bucks that have been out carousing all night are often caught off guard when thesunlight touches the treetops. They suddenly have a quickness to their step and they start tofocus on heading back to secure bedding cover. Doing this in a bit of a rush causes them to takemore risks than they might usually.

My best buck was taken in just such a scenario. I caught him sneaking back towards thethicket where he normally beds, but he couldn’t resist stopping at a scrape I had just freshenedwith urine. The first two hours of daylight are peak movement times for bucks that are cruis-ing for does during the rut. I am in the stand every morning I can be during November.

Hunting near bedding areas is great in the morning because it allows you to sneak into a tree-stand in the dark that you wouldn’t normally be able to get into while the deer are bedded.Some places simply allow you to get in position easier without being detected in the early morn-ing.

Morning hunt consThe flip side of that coin is the possibility of spooking deer already in the bedding area by

sneaking in during the predawn darkness. Unlike in the evening, deer often filter back into thebedding areas during the early morning hours well before daylight. Game cameras positionedstrategically will help you make a decision on hunting these spots by showing you when the deerare moving down the trails.

Another con of morning hunting anywhere is the difficulty of getting in position quietly. Youcan move much more quietly in the daylight than you can in the dark. Plus, a light, even a smallone, can be seen by a deer from a long ways away. Their eyes pick up about 50 times as muchlight as ours do, so even a small headlight looks like a beacon to them from some distance away.

Evening hunt prosWhen on a bedding-to-feeding pattern, deer movement is often very predictable. This is espe-

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cially true during the early part of bow season and the late part of the season when their pri-mary focus is food. Unlike the early mornings I mentioned when they sometimes trickle in overa few hours, their evening movements are often coordinated and very visible as they move downthe trails all at once, heading to fill their empty bellies. More whitetails have probably beenkilled in the last hour of daylight for this very reason than at any other hour of the day or night.

Another obvious advantage to the evening hunt is the ease with which you can sneak intoyour stand location. If you’re heading in during the daylight, you can often get yourself in posi-tion several hours in advance to allow your scent to dissipate somewhat.

Evening hunt consThe number-one disadvantage to hunting in the evening was shown in the classic example I

mentioned earlier.You often have deeraround you whennighttime settles in.Once you spookthem getting out ofthe stand in the dark,your odds of shootingone from that standsignificantly dimin-ish. That is particu-larly true with maturebucks who have verygood memories anddon’t take chances.You may not see thatbuck in that locationfor the remainder ofthe season.

Another disadvan-tage of hunting in theevening is that youwill be tracking yourdeer in the dark, butafter all, tracking adeer any time canhardly be considereda negative!

So choose yourhunts and your hunt-ing time wisely. Youhave only a few timesat each location tomake it happen andeach time you hunt astand there are littlethings that cause thatlocation to haveslightly less effective-ness. Whether it’s themorning or evening,play each card care-fully and don’t wasteyour hunts by goingout at the wrongtime.

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tracks, you can be hit by the locomotiveor a rail car," added Bray.

In an effort to educate the publicabout grade crossing and pedestrian safe-ty, UP established the Union PacificCrossing Accident Reduction Educationand Safety (UP CARES) program, whichbrings together communities in a collab-orative and caring effort to promote rail-road grade crossing and pedestrian safe-ty. Union Pacific is committed to foster-ing public safety through various out-reach channels, such as communityevents, paid advertising and media out-reach, !education and enforcement activ-ities and coordination with OperationLifesaver. UP CARES activities include:

• Grade crossing enforcement with lo-cal, county and state law enforcementagencies;

• Safety trains that provide local offi-cials a firsthand look at what locomotiveengineers see daily while they operatetrains through communities and

• Communication blitzes that educatethe community at events, or via mediaoutreach and paid advertising.

Hunters are not the only ones drawnto railroad tracks – hikers, bikers, fisher-men and snowmobilers are, as well.

Anyone choosing to walk on or nearrailroad tracks could face a tragic conse-quence. Last year, 433 people died and411 were injured while trespassing onrailroad property throughout the UnitedStates according to the Federal Railroad

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OMAHA, Neb. -Union Pacific Rail-road urges hunters to resist the tempta-tion to hunt on railroad property thisseason. Wildlife will migrate and feedalong the edges of freshly harvestedfields, making these areas prime huntingspots. With many fields adjacent toUnion Pacific tracks, hunters find it verytempting to hunt on or near the tracks.

"Too many people have been injuredor killed trespassing on railroad propertyover the years. As part of our UP CARESpublic safety initiative, we want to re-mind hunters that walking on or nearrailroad tracks is extremely dangerousbecause you never know when a trainwill come along," said Robert Morrison,Union Pacific Chief of Police.

"It can take a mile or more to stop atrain, and, by the time a locomotive en-gineer sees you on the track, it is too lateto stop," said Dale Bray, Union Pacificdirector – public safety.

"Locomotives and rail cars overhangthe tracks by at least three feet on eitherside of the rail. If you are too close to the

Administration.People who enter railroad property

can be arrested for violating trespassinglaws. They could serve jail time and/orhave to pay a fine. Do not become a sta-tistic; stay away from railroad tracks dur-ing this hunting season.

About Union PacificUnion Pacific Railroad is the principal

operating company of Union PacificCorporation (NYSE: UNP). One ofAmerica's most recognized companies,Union Pacific Railroad links 23 states inthe western two-thirds of the country byrail, providing a critical link in the glob-al supply chain. From 2007-2012,Union Pacific invested $18 billion in itsnetwork and operations to supportAmerica’s transportation infrastructure,including a record $3.7 billion in 2012.The railroad’s diversified business mixincludes Agricultural Products, Automo-tive, Chemicals, Coal, Industrial Prod-ucts and Intermodal. Union Pacificserves many of the fastest-growing U.S.population centers, operates from allmajor West Coast and Gulf Coast portsto eastern gateways, connects with Cana-da's rail systems and is the only railroadserving all six major Mexico gateways.Union Pacific provides value to itsroughly 10,000 customers by deliveringproducts in a safe, reliable, fuel-efficientand environmentally responsible man-ner.

024_001.qxd 10/25/13 12:23 AM Page 1


Unfortunately watching a ball game whilepushing the remote control buttons doesn’tbuild up much endurance even if you’re runningback to the cabinet or refrigerator regularly. Ashunters we sometimes don’t place enough im-portance on our own state of physical fitness.This lack of “fitness” has several negative ef-fects on our hunting experiences. The level of

fitness needed for your particular hunting ac-tivities may be entirely different from that ofanother hunter. Your age and ability (or disabil-ities) may also dictate the level of fitness possi-ble. Either way, I’ll bet it can be better than it ispresently. If you are extremely active in yourwork or summer activities, you may not need toget a bit more in shape for hunting season, butthat is not the case for most of us.

This “fitness level” is all governed by thespecies you pursue, the geographical location,terrain, and mode of transportation as well asmany other factors. A hunter going afterbighorn sheep hunting may need to be in superbcondition while some guy who hunts behind hishouse and walks a couple hundred yards to aground blind may not need much preparation.Both however may find themselves tracking awounded animal or dragging one out of thelargest ravine within miles. These unexpectedstresses are when many problems arise.

Even the effort in climbing into a tree standwith all your extra clothing and gear can be morestress than you’re accustomed to. As the sea-son progresses most of us tend to carry moregear than is really necessary, but the extraclothing is definitely needed.

Cold weather just adds to the stress level in-volved in these activities and every year huntersare found who have succumbed to unexpectedstresses. There are lots of statistics on just howthe dropping temperatures add stresses on ourbodies from lower oxygen contents and the

added effort of walking in more burdensomeconditions. The “bottom line” is we need to im-prove our physical fitness before stressing our-selves following the start of hunting seasons.

Becoming more physically fit also improvesour ability to function well when the time comesto perform properly upon the appearance ofthat big buck. We’ve all raised our bow of gunonly to have a deer sense movement and“freeze” us in that position. It’s unbelievablehow heavy that thing gets within a very shorttime. When the time comes to proceed with theshot, you’re shaking too bad to do it well. Prac-ticing holding the gun or bow in a suspended po-sition for long periods of time will greatly im-prove your ability to cope with this situation.

Taking extended walks on uneven terrain willalso build up some needed endurance. If possi-ble wear your backpack and/or carry a similaramount of extra weight to simulate your huntingexperiences. Setting up a ladder in your backyard and climbing it repeatedly will build up legand arm muscles and also leaves you better pre-pared to climb to an elevated stand. Be carefulin practicing as well during actual hunting expe-riences.

Another very important effect of physical fit-ness involves the importance of controllingodors while walking as well as at your destina-tion. This is especially true in the early seasonwhen higher temperatures increase perspira-tion levels. If you’re sweating like pig while walk-ing in, you’ll likely build up a large circle of odor

around your stand and much farther downwind.Better conditioning should reduce this perspira-tion level. Wearing less clothing while walking toyour stand. Then slip on the added clothing atyour stand. This will help control odor levels.Couple some fitness with some scent controlspray and hope for the best.

Getting into a bit better condition is a goodgoal even if we were not anticipating the arrivalof hunting seasons. Good Hunting!

AREA HAPPENINGS:Lake Mattoon: The local catfish club held an

event on 08-24-13 with 12 boats participating.–Scott Nation and Dale Stuart took first placehonors with 23 pounds of whiskered critters –Bob and Matt Tate placed a close second with19lbs 4 oz. – Nob Hibbs, Nick Brown and DamienMcConkey, all of Decatur, placed third with 19pounds even -- The “big cat” award went to Pa-tricia Kelley and Sue Harris of Gays at 8 lbs 4oz.

Lake Mattoon: The local catfish club met on09-07-13 with 8 boats participating. – JeffSmith and John Hibbs of Dalton City and Decaturtook first place honors with 39 pounds 2 ounces– Kevin and Cody Smith placed second with32lbs 2oz. – Scott and Rita Nation of Gaysplaced third with 31 pounds 4 ounces -- The “bigcat” award went to Jeff Smith and John Hibbs10 lbs 2 oz.

Its Health, Happiness, and Hunting

Physical F itness Increases

Hunting Successby Dave [email protected]

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from work to fish this event and it paid off. They caught a 39’, 43.50” Hybrid Tiger and a

37 “on Sunday to take the win. The team usedShadzilla soft bodied baits in long weed beds thatwere in 6’ – 10’ of water close to marinas to enticetheir fish. The two men pre fished for two days andconnected on a musky. They saw baitfish in thearea and liked what they saw and worked these ar-eas throughout the event to create their success.

Mark quoted “The anglers that fish the Profes-sional Musky Tournament Trail are such great indi-viduals to meet and compete with they make youfeel welcome and you learn so much. This is what itis all about.” The father and son team broughthome the Ranger Boats World Championship tro-phies and a Ranger 619 Fisherman, Mercury Out-board and Ranger trail trailer valued at over$40,000.

Congratulations to the father and son teamthey really made a memory to tell their friends andchildren and grandchildren for years to come!

In second place were Spencer Berman and MattQuintano the local fishing guides from St. ClairShores, MI. with the Ranger Boats Big Fish of theday for Saturday a 47.75” Brute which also madethem an extra $500. The two anglers also caughta 43.50”. These two gentlemen had a great yearbeing the most consistent team of the year win-ning the prestigious Top Gun team of the year hon-ors. Great job!

In third place were two 18 year old brothers Jakeand Alec Germann of White Bear Lake, MN. who

caught three muskies a 34.75”, 35.75” and a40.50” trolling crank baits. In fourth place wereJames Stella and Nick Cammarata who caughttheir fish on musky train Crank baits. Theirmuskies were 34” 37.75” and 40.50”. Roundingout the top five with a 41.75” and a 45” caughtjigging bondy baits were Ross Korpela of Carlton,MN and Chad Mitchell of Inner Grove Heights, MN.

The big fish of the day was caught by John Ryanand Howard Van Zant of the Schaumburg, Il. area.

Tournament Director Tim Widlacki thanks all ofthe PMTT’s fantastic sponsors, especially RangerBoats for their continued support of not only thePMTT but the entire sport of musky fishing.

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The best musky fishing professionals from allover North America competed for the biggest prizeof the year the world championship on Lake St.Clair this past weekend.

The 35 teams fished what could be the bestmusky fishing destination in the world it was aperfect match. The weather cooperated with theanglers by bringing in upper 60 to low 70 degreeweather with a mixture of sun on Saturday andclouds and wind on Sunday.

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026_001.qxd 10/26/13 8:50 PM Page 1


Southern Illinois produces not onlysome of the hottest fishing in the state, butsome of the hottest fishing in this part ofthe country, for numbers of fish and bigtrophy caliber specimens too. Late fall of-fers the last chance for hot action for anumber of species in the region, by headingto the southern end of the prairie state.

*It’s Almost OverKnowledgeable anglers know that late

fall is it. While we certainly do catch fish in

the winter, and sometimes big ones, actionusually slows considerably in winter and re-mains so for several months. Still, the cli-mate of Southern Illinois is absolutelynothing like that of the northern end of thestate, and weather is often so mild, thatwe’re still fishing in tee shirts, and some-times, even in shorts, throughout much ofNovember, or even into early December!Late fall can offer fantastic fishing opportu-nities for muskies, stripers, walleyes, bass,whites and more, in Southern Illinois.

LATE FALL SI FISHINGLATE FALL SI FISHINGHOT LATE SEASON FISHING IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS

BY: COLBY SIMMS WITH ANDREW VEACHPhotos by: The Colby Simms Outdoors Photography

www.ColbySimmsOutdoors .comwww.ColbySimmsOutdoors .comCont’d. on next pg.

*Primary Target SpeciesWarmer water species like largemouth

bass and smallmouth bass usually remainquite active throughout all of late fall.White bass can also bite well at this time ofyear. Cooler wa-ter species suchas muskies andwalleyes remainactive, even inwaters that arequite chilly.And, striper ac-tion often picksup in late fallwhen water tem-peratures drop.Since our staff ismade up of someof the very fewactual full timep r o f e s s i o n a lguides in South-ern Illinois,we’ve been ableto spend at r e m e n d o u samount of timeon the waters ofthe region.

And, whileour outfittingoperation hasstaff guides formost species atmost waters insouthern Illinois,we’ve come tofind that a fewspecies and a fewwaters reallystand out here,our favorites.The best ofSouthern Illinoisfishing revolvesaround thesespecies men-tioned, and theregion has three

bodies of water that offer farbetter fishing than most, asthe best of the best fisheries inSouthern Illinois, which areCedar, Kinkaid and Mur-physboro Lakes.

*Kinkaid LakeAt the top of our list is Lake

Kinkaid. For over a decadenow, Kinkaid has been con-sidered one of the world’s top10 muskie fishing waters.Kinkaid muskie fishing canbe absolutely incredible, pro-ducing many big trophy class

fish, including numerous monsters overthat magical 50” mark for our team. But,the action on Kinkaid is even better, withincredibly high muskie catch rates, in a

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shown.

027_001.qxd 10/27/13 12:36 PM Page 1


fact, with few walleye fisheries in the area,Kinkaid is definitely the place to go, and,no water, for a significant drive in any di-rection, can match Kinkaid’s walleye sizepotential.

Kinkaid is also one of the best bass fish-eries in the Midwest too, producing large-mouth bass for our team in recent years toover 9 lbs! High numbers of bass can meanfast action. The largemouth bass fishing ishard to match in the region, but, Kinkaidis the area’s only lake with smallmouthbass. Thanks to a state stocking program,Kinkaid now harbors some very nice small-ies, and this fishery is getting better by theyear. White bass can also found at Kinkaid,and in some impressive sizes. All of thesespecies remain active at Kinkaid through-out all of the late fall period.

*Lake MurphysboroThe smallest of these waters, Lake Mur-

physboro is best known for its big trophyred ear sunfish and bluegills. But, LakeMurphysboro bass fishing can be excellentas well. Largemouth bass are the only blackbass species present in this lake, but theyexist here in impressive sizes and numbers,meaning fast action and a shot at a trophyfor visiting anglers in late fall.

*Cedar LakeCedar Lake is a true SI gem, producing

body of water that’s literally prefect for thisspecies. Kinkaid also harbors some very bigwalleyes, including double digit trophies.While anglers typically have to work a littleharder for this species, than the rest of thelate fall favorites, they are sometimes re-warded with a marble eye for the wall. In

good fishing for a variety of species. CedarLake is quite possibly the best trophystriper water in the entire state. Cedar is theplace to go, when in search of a trophy Illi-nois line side, and has great potential toproduce the next state record striped bass.Largemouth bass fishing is also very goodat Cedar, with the lake producing greatnumbers of bass and some big trophy cal-iber fish too, with largemouth bass to over8 pounds! Cedar can offer up wonderfulopportunities for late fall anglers, and thesespecies remain highly active through this

season.

*Get Out ThereLate fall is a special time, and we still

have some dates available for late seasonguided trips and lakeside lodging, includ-ing packages to target multiple species, onone, two, or all three of these beautiful wa-ters. This is the time to get out on the wa-ter as much as possible, in order to take ad-vantage of the last of the year’s hot action,before it gets cold and many of us comedown with a bad case of cabin fever. Re-gardless of where you go, simply spendingtime in God’s great outdoors is purerestoration for the soul, in this busy worldof today. So, get out there…

SI… Cont’d. from previous pg.

Ray Simms landed this huge Kinkaidbass on a Colby Simms Tackle

Hatchet Spin.

CSO Pro Staffer Craig Fisher showsoff a big fat late fall white bass that

he caught on a CST Flash N Spin!right after

releasing a smallmouth bass.

COLBY SIMMS is an internationallyrenowned award winning writer,

record holding fishing guide, awardwinning TV personality, and a

multiple-time tournament circuitchampionship title holder. He’sFounder & Owner of the Colby

Simms Outdoors group of businesses offering unique topquality American made lures, media services, professional

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[email protected]

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Tamer Bass Rods from Tooth Tamer Rod Company are excel-lent graphite rods for largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, spots& all black bass species, as well as for white bass, and some oth-er temperate bass fishing as well. These are now the rods thatyou see me using to land giant bass on the many regional & na-tional TV shows I host & star in across North America and be-yond. These high quality rods are extremely light in weight andvery sensitive, to detect even the slightest of bites with verticalpresentations from inactive bass. But, they’re strong and toughenough to go toe to toe withpower tactics, like my favoritetechnique, spinnerbait fishingfor monster bass. They facilitatelong accurate casts, offertremendous hook setting powerand come with Pac Bay Minima3 Guides, suspending webo reelseats & comfortable split gripcork handles. I’ve been makingmy living fishing for over adecade, and count on TamerBass Rods on a daily basis.

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CSO Team Member!& Staff Guide!Walt Krause releases a big Cedar striper.

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029_001.qxd 10/27/13 12:34 PM Page 1


the depths ranging from 2 feet down toabout 12 feet deep. Some of these lureswill have diving lips on them and somewill be lipless. Reasons for these choices arethat Fall Bass are feeding heavily on Shadand smaller Baitfish like Bluegills andCrappies this time of year in an effort to“Fatten Up” going into their inactive peri-od during the winter months.

The first reaction by many fishermenmight be that these baits are primarilysummertime “search” baits and have beenput away for the season. If this is yourframe of thinking, then you are Dead

Wrong! Many times each falland early winter, I have caughtnumerous lunker sized Bass us-ing these weapons as my pri-mary tool. Lures like a Luhr-Jensen Speed Trap, RC 2.5 or3, Big O, and even Rat-L-Trapsand Rattle Spots are tops on mylist. The differences in thesetypes of lures are distinct and Iwill explain further.

The Speed trap, Big O, andRC 2.5 and 3 lure types have adiving lip, with and withoutrattles inside and a wide bodyon them. Sometimes the fishmay decide the either want ordon’t want a noisy bait. Also,these baits have a wide wobble

action and moves a lot of water when be-ing retrieved. You can stop these lures inmid-retrieve and depending on the type,they will either slowly float upward andback a bit. Or they will “suspend” whereyou stop them. Both of these techniquesare very deadly in the fall and sometimes,the longer you can suspend a lure withoutmoving it, you literally drive Bass crazyand they will smack the lure with unbe-lievable force! The floating baits most like-ly will feel like they have “loaded up” witha heavy weight as the Bass inhales it on therise.

The Rattle Spots and Rat-L-Traps arethinner lures and come again in both rat-tling and silent, as well as sinking and sus-pending models. The other difference isthat these lures have a very tight wobbleand move a bit less water than the fat bod-ied lures. And again, Bass for whatever rea-son sometimes want a silent lure over a rat-tling model, and I can’t explain why. But,this is the reason you should stock bothtypes in your tackle box. Also, in both thefat bodied and lipless lures, I stick with 2or 3 Shad patterned colors and some kindof Chartreuse or Firetiger pattern.

There are times that even with Bluegills,Crappies and Shad present and beingpreyed upon by Bass, those same Bass arereluctant to hit a Crankbait! This is thereason I also rely upon my favorite “Go-

To” bass bait…the Spinnerbait! I willchoose a bit larger size, usually a 1/2 or 3/4ounce Raptor Premium Spinnerbait in adouble silver or gold willowblade model.My color choices would be any of the Shadpatterns in the lighter more transparentversions for clearer water and/or any of theBaitfish patterns like Bluegill, Crappie orGreen Perch for more stained water. I willrun these lures through the outer branchesof laydowns in deeper water or along theouter weed lines next to the last breaklineleading to deep water. Occasionally let thelure “die” and “helicopter” down as itdrops along the tree trunk, into openingsin the branches or at irregular spots in theweed lines. Many times the Bass will reallysmack the lure on the fall and then thefight is on to get the Bass out of the cover!Make repeated casts to all sides and anglesof the cover you are fishing to ensure youhave targeted the area completely. Anddon’t hesitate to throw those before men-tioned crankbaits into the cover also! Ifyou aren’t getting hung up occasionally,you aren’t fishing where the Baitfish are,and the Big Bass live!

Start fishing in the 2-3 foot depth rangeand work your way out to deeper wateruntil you locate the Bass’ preferred depthand then narrow your offering of lures tothat one special pattern and/or type thatthe Bass want to eat more than all the oth-ers. Once you establish that pattern, thenthe fun begins. Also, don’t expect to find aBass behind every clump of weeds, or eachbranch of a laydown. The fishing will def-initely be much slower and more tedious,but when you tie into that fish of a life-time, you can look back and know it wasall worth it as you hold up a “wall-hanger”and take that picture you will show off andbrag about to all your buddies!

As the water temperature dips into thelow 50’s to high 40’s, this pattern willhold. Once the temps drop into the low40’s, the Bass have most likely moved intotheir deep water holding pattern and thatis a different situation and another articleI’ll touch on in another article.

Bob Park is the owner of Raptor Premium Spinnerbaits.

Find more info at: raptorpremiumspinnerbaits.com

(309) 694-1774 and is now a co-host on ASO’s Red Nose Gang

Radio show broadcast every Sunday morning from 7 - 10 a.m. on WOAM,

1350 AM radio & online at:www.ustream.com search rednosegang

(rednosegang all one word!)

Fall Lure SelectionBy Bob Park,

Raptor Premium SpinnerbaitsBeing the maker of various kinds of

Spinnerbaits, it may come as a surprise tomany people that my first choice in a lurefor fishing the fall transition period wouldbe a Crankbait! My favorite choices wouldbe a crankbait in the 3/8 to 1/2 ounce sizerange, and measuring about 2.5 to 3.5inches long. I want my crankbait to run in

Fizards is a revolutionary NEW fish attractant that will change the way you fish. Fizards has a fizzing scent trail from your favorite lure regardless of your fishing style. Fizards is moldable, pliable, and infused with fish attracting shad oil. Fizards hitthe water and begins to dissolve while it releases air bubbles and an unprecedented scent trail from any lure in your tackle box.

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FELONY CONVICTION OBTAINED IN

ILLEGAL WILDLIFE SPOTLIGHTING CASE

By Bill GrahamChillicothe, Mo. -- Two Liv-

ingston County men have beenconvicted in felony wildlife casesinvolving illegal spotlighting ofraccoons from a motorized vehicleand the illegal sale and intent tosell raccoon pelts. The case beganwith arrests in December 2012 byMDC agents and recently conclud-ed with a prison sentence for onedefendant and probation for anoth-er.

Lester L. Hines, 52, of Avalon,pleaded guilty on June 11 to illegalsale of wildlife with a value greaterthan $500. During the investiga-tion, Hines admitted that he and anassociate had spotlighted and killedraccoons while riding an all-terrainvehicle and that they planned tosell the pelts. He also told investi-gators that 57 pelts were sold earli-er. On Aug. 13, he was sentenced inLivingston County Circuit Court toseven years in prison. Sentencinginvolved non-wildlife relatedcharges.

Billy F. Hicks, 53, of Avalon,

pleaded guilty on July 9 to illegalsale of wildlife with a value greaterthan $500. On Sept. 16, a judgesuspended imposition of a four-year prison sentence and placedHicks on four years of probation.His hunting, fishing and trappingprivileges were also revoked forfive years.

On Dec. 17, 2012, a conserva-tion agent noticed Hines and Hicksriding in a van in Livingston Coun-ty. He knew both were convictedfelons and neither man had a validdriver’s license. The MissouriHighway Patrol was notified and atrooper stopped the van. A conser-vation agent arrived on the scene tohelp search the van and found 125raccoon pelts. Those pelts were lat-er valued by a fur buyer at $1,023.During a subsequent investigation,Hines told agents that all the rac-coons had been shot while usingspotlights while riding on an ATV,which is illegal under the WildlifeCode of Missouri. Firearms, drugparaphernalia, drug residue, spot-lights, and a raccoon carcass wereseized during a search of the sus-pects’ home and garage.

MDC encourages citizens to re-port tips about poaching to Opera-tion Game Thief at 1-800, 392-1111. Rewards are available for in-formation leading to an arrest of agame-law violator, and all informa-tion is kept confidential.

sure is lighter and the potential fordeer-vehicle accidents and proper-ty damage is greater.This year’s harvest was below av-erage for the urban portion, whichbecame part of the firearms deerseason in 2003. Over the urbanhunt’s 11-year history, smaller har-vests have been associated withwarm weather. For instance,hunters shot fewer than 600 deerper year in 2007, 2010, and 2011,when high temperatures averaged83.7 degrees during the urban hunt.In 2004, 2005, and 2009, whendaytime highs averaged 61.9 de-grees, the harvest averaged 1,719deer. This year’s temperature aver-aged 72.2 degrees.

Missouri’s six portions offirearms deer season total 42 days.The remaining portions of Mis-souri’s firearms deer season are:Early Youth (Nov. 2-3), November(Nov. 16-26), Antlerless (Nov. 27-Dec. 8), Alternative Methods (Dec.21-31), and Late Youth (Jan. 4-5).

www.MDC.mo.gov

H U N T E RS C H EC K 6 0 0 D E E R I N U R B A N H U N T

by Jim LowJEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -– The

Missouri Department of Conserva-tion (MDC) reports that hunterschecked 600 deer during the UrbanPortion of Missouri’s FirearmsDeer Season.

County harvest totals during theurban portion were: Boone, 77;Cass, 39; Christian, 9; Clay, 30;Cole, 33; Franklin, 57; Greene,104; Jackson, 33; Jefferson, 64;Platte, 9; St. Charles, 98; and St.Louis, 47.

Female deer made up 83 percentof this year’s urban portion har-vest. Hunters are only allowed toshoot antlerless deer during the Ur-ban Portion. This focus on harvest-ing female deer is designed to con-trol deer numbers in urban and sub-urban areas, where hunting pres-

031_001.qxd 10/27/13 1:29 PM Page 1


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October 2013 Missouri Conservation

Actionby Jim Low

The Mo Conservation Commission met Oct. 3& 4 in Kirksville.

The suspended hunting, f ishing, and/ortrapping privileges of 38 Missouri residentsand 2 nonresidents for Wildlife Code viola-tions.

Those whose privileges were suspended are:Dennis Baklashev, Lake Ozark, fishing, 5

yearsTrevor Barnes, Braymer, hunting, 9 yearsClayton J. Beall, Clarence, hunting, until 7-

12-2015Michael L. Bennett, Bunker, hunting, 3 yearsJohn Burlingame, Kahoka, hunting and fish-

ing, until 7-25-15Dorel Chobanu, Sedalia, hunting and fishing,

3 yearsConstantin Ciobanu, Hughesville, fishing, 9

yearsFred Clark, Macon, hunting, until 9-10-15Clint E. Clayton, Raytown, all sport privi-

leges, 2 yearsJef frey D. Copas, Sedalia, all sport privi-

leges, 1 yearSeth Cunningham, Green City, hunting, 1

year

Darrell L. Eckhof f, Potosi, hunting, 3 yearsGary B. Garman, Monett, all sport privileges,

1 yearJustin G. Head, Chi l l icothe, hunting and

trapping, 4 yearsMichael E. Hefner, Spring field, al l sport

privileges, 1 yearHarland Igou, Independence, all sport privi-

leges, 4 yearsRyan S. Jacobs, Brunswick, all sport privi-

leges, 1 yearJeremy D. Kendzora, St. Joseph, all sport

privileges, 1 yearJordan L. Kinder, West Plains, hunting and

fishing, 1 yearAlexander Kozlov, Nixa, fishing, 6 yearsRadu Kukosh, Sedalia, fishing, 3 yearsJoshua Luechtefeld, Leslie, hunting, 1 yearYuriy Matsyokha, Green Ridge, fishing, 17

yearsLayton E. Metcalf, Cape Fair, hunting, 1 yearKendall W. Monroe, Cherryville, hunting, 1

yearJames R. Moore, Jr., Calhoun, hunting, 1

yearTien D. Nguyen, Jef ferson City, fishing, 1

yearDerek M. O’Brien, Hannibal, hunting, 1 yearAlexsandr Postevka, Spring field, hunting

and fishing, 2 yearsCorey J. Pudivitr, Doniphan, hunting, 3 yearsPeter Rukosunev, Henderson, Colo., fishing,

1 year

Lindel l W. S anders, Winona, hunting, 3years

Colby S. Shelkop, St. Joseph, hunting, 1 yearMichael J. Shepherd, Center, fishing, 1 yearJere D. Smith, Warsaw, fishing, 1 yearHeath A. Swindle-Reich, Spring field, hunt-

ing, 3 yearJosh Teel, Bucklin, hunting, 4 yearsVasiliy Tsipan, Sedalia, fishing, 1 yearTroy W. Watkins, Troy, all sport privileges, 1

yearVitaliy Zubkov, Woodborn, Ore., fishing, 3

yearsThe Commission also approved the suspen-

sion or revocation of all hunting and fishingprivileges of 270 people who are not in compli-ance with applicable child-support laws. Privi-leges suspended for noncompliance are rein-stated once the Division of Child Support En-forcement notifies MDC that suspendees havecome into compliance with the required laws.Suspended privileges of 165 people under theprovisions of the Interstate Wildlife ViolatorCompact.

Imposed a hunting privilege suspension of 3years for one Missouri resident who injured an-other person in a hunting incident. The huntersmust complete a hunter-education t rainingcourse before restoration of privileges.

Reinstated the hunting privileges of Scott W.Sales, Trimble.

Next regular meeting set for Dec. 12 & 13 inSt. Louis.

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MDC hosting Rifle “Sight-In”Day Nov. 9 at Scrivner Road

Conservation Areaby Joanie Straub

COLUMBIA, Mo. —MDC encourages hunters incentral Missouri to prepare for deer season by“sighting in” their favorite deer rifle Nov. 9 from8 a.m. to noon at Scrivner Road Conservation Area(CA). This is a free event open to the public.

MDC hunter education staff will be on hand toassist the public to safely sight-in their rifles tomake that great shot on opening day.

Coffee and doughnuts will be served in theparking lot and targets will be provided.

Throughout Missouri, the MDC provides bothstaffed and unstaffed shooting ranges for shoot-ers that are safe for sighting deer rifles or prac-ticing other shooting sports. The MDC ranges are agood place to teach youngsters and a safe placefor accomplished shooters to enjoy firearm shoot-ing skills.

For more information, contact MDC OutdoorSkills Specialist Brian Flowers at [email protected] or 573-815-7901, ext. 3388.

Scrivner Road CA is south of Russellville onRoute AA, then east on Scrivner Road. Turn left onScott Road.

To find the closest MDC range, go online to mdc.mo.gov.

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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Ducks are abundant. Thetable is set for them at many state-managed wet-land areas. If the weather cooperates, duck!huntingcould be excellent in the Show-Me State this year.That’s the word from the Missouri Department ofConservation.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates thisyear’s total number of breeding ducks at 45.6 mil-lion. That is down 6 percent from last year’s recordnumber, but still 33 percent above the long-termaverage. Mallard numbers were estimated to be10.4 million, down 2 percent from 2012 but up 36percent long-term. Long-term trends for other pop-ular duck populations in this year’s survey include:Northern shoveler +96 percentGadwalls +80 percentRedheads +76 percentBlue-winged teal +60 percentGreen-winged teal +51 percentCanvasback +37Widgeon +2 percentNorthern pintail and scaup -17 percent each.

With numbers like that, you might think goodhunting is assured. But without quality habitat andfavorable weather, a boom year for waterfowl num-bers still can turn into a bust for hunters.

The habitat picture at state-managed wetlandareas is generally good, with plenty of water and fairto good crops and moist-soil vegetation available atmost areas. Exceptions include:

TED SHANKS CONSERVATION AREA (CA), whereflooding damaged levees and will prevent floodingthe southernmost part of the area. The area has norow crops, but millet and moist-soil vegetation havedone fairly well.

COLUMBIA BOTTOM CA also sustained significant

flood damage. Row crops will be scarce, but moist-soil vegetation has done well since floodwatersreceded in June, and water levels should be normal.

MARAIS TEMPS CLAIR CA, where extended highwater wiped out row crops, but moist soil plants arein good shape, and water levels are expected to benormal.

EAGLE BLUFFS CA lost early crops to flooding, butthere was time to replant and they are expected toprovide fair to good food for ducks. Sparse naturalcover will make layout boats or blinds the best wayto hunt some pools.

FOUR RIVERS!lost all its row crops and most of themoist-soil vegetation to flooding. Late plantings ofbuckwheat and Sudan grass in Draw Units 1 and 2fared poorly due to lack of rainfall. The 16 to 18 par-ties that go out on opening day will find little food orcover, and shallow water may limit accessibility withlarger boats. Ongoing construction in Unit 4 willmean that much of the unit will remain dry. Therewill be some walk-in hunting opportunities in Pools17, 18, 19, and 20. Unit 3 will offer some of thearea’s best hunting this year. Moist-soil vegetationgrowth was good in this unit, and it currently isholding 250 to 300 acres of water, with more pos-sible with favorable weather.

Schell-Osage CA lost much of its moist-soilgrowth, but the outlook here!is better. Schell-Osage!still has decent habitat around permanentblinds and in some other places, because floodingdidn't last as long here as at Four Rivers.

The overall picture at Grand Pass CA is good. Thearea has good crop growth and good moist-soil veg-etation. Summer flooding wiped out crops at CoonIsland, but it still has fair to good moist-soil vegeta-tion.

Montrose, B.K. Leach, Otter Slough, Ten MilePond, and Little River CAs also should generally havegood hunting this fall. On the other hand, althoughFountain Grove, Nodaway Valley, Bob Brown, andSettles Ford CAs have fairly good habitat condi-tions, drought could affect the ability to pumpenough water to flood wetland pools at these areas.

Updated!information about hunting conditions at

MISSOURI WATERFOWLHUNTING FORECAST:

LOADS OF DUCKS!by Jim Low

the Conservation Department’s managedwetlands is available atmdc.mo.gov/node/9627.

Weather is the final factor – andalways a wild card – in determiningwaterfowl hunting success. The bestwaterfowl seasons have a series of coldfronts that push waves of new ducks intoMissouri from farther north throughoutthe hunting season. The worst-case sce-nario is a strong, early-season cold frontthat pushes the ducks into Arkansasbefore Missouri hunters have muchchance at them. Another less-than-idealpossibility is a late fall, when ducks arrivelate in one or more of Missouri’s threehunting zones and leave soon after.

Missouri’s waterfowl seasons are setto coincide with the average peak ofmigration in previous years. This year’sseason dates are:North Zone: Youth season - Oct. 19-20Regular season - Oct. 26- Dec. 24Middle Zone: Youth season – Oct. 26-27Regular season - Nov. 2-Dec. 31South Zone: Youth season – Nov. 23-24Regular season - Nov. 28-Jan. 26

Whether these dates coincide with peak migra-tions and how long ducks and geese linger in theShow-Me State this year won’t be known until theseason is history.

Details of duck and goose hunting regulationsare available in the 2013-2014 Waterfowl Hunting

Digest, which is available wherever hunting permitsare sold, at Conservation Department offices andnature centers, or online atwww.mdc.mo.gov/node/5646/.

More detailed information about hunting condi-tions at state-owned wetlands is available atmdc.mo.gov/node/9627. For information aboutthis year’s duck and goose population surveys, seehttp://bit.ly/12AgOjx.

033_001.qxd 10/26/13 12:22 AM Page 1


It all started with a very particular sound –Clunk-Clunk-Clunk. Spencer Balentine, mastermoonshiner and owner of Silver Trail Distilleryin Hardin, Kentucky, recalls one of his earliestmemories. Balentine, then around 5-years-old,was on a moonshine run with his father. His feetwere dangling over the front seat and beneathhim on the floor were glass jugs of moonshine,happily clunking together over the bumpy backroads of Kentucky.

“That sound was magic,” Balentine said.Not too long after that his father, Thomas

Balentine, was on his last run in 1959, when theFeds finally caught up with him. He was pushinghis 1954 Chevy to the limit and tearing Hellthrough the Between the Rivers area, now knownas the Land Between the Lakes, while beingchased by Federal Agents. The government haddeclared they had had enough, and even hiredprofessional football players to try and run themoonshiners down by foot.

Thomas had to make a decision – get caught orditch his vehicle. After some NASCAR qualitydriving, the theory is that he drove the Chevy in-to the Cumberland River (now Lake Barkley). Hehad joked later in life that “it takes exactly 6 min-utes for a ’54 Chevy to sink.” After a many-hourslong trip across the bridge, having to hang overthe side several times beneath the noses of Fed-

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with Silver Trail Distil leryBy A.K. Thompson

eral Agents, Thomas managed to make it home.Bloodied and bruised he stood in the kitchen, andafter a few minutes of silence, he shook his headand said, “That’s it.”

What was then a way of life for many “Be-tween the Rivers” folk, running gallons of 100-proof moonshine, was quickly and quietly wipedout as the Tennessee Valley Authority bought upall the land, built the Kentucky Dam and floodedmany towns. Spencer, the culture and heritage ofmoonshine in his blood, decided to keep withfamily tradition, and has on some level been inthe business for 28 years. In 2011 Balentine madethe decision to “go legal,” and Silver Trail Dis-tillery was born, and so was the runaway hit Dis-covery Channel program, Moonshiners, on whichBalentine is featured as a mentor and friend toTim Smith.

Spencer, along with his wife Sheila and her sis-ter, Sandra, make and bottle every jug of moon-shine by hand. They use only organic corn, whichhe purchases from the Amish, and only pure Ken-tucky water (from his own 180 foot deep well),which has been black-light treated and filtered.Balentine thinks the quality of moonshine inKentucky all started with limestone – simplyKentucky has some of the best natural water inthe nation, and that makes for good-drinkin’shine. He also still uses a traditional copper still,

which he says adds another dimensionto the flavor of his “1950’s Style Moon-shine.”

Recently I had the absolute pleasureof a private tour of the distillery withSpencer, and the opportunity to ask hima few questions, and let me tell you,LBL Moonshine gets 100% DirtChurch approval as the “Best Moon-shine in the World,” as judged two-years running, winner of the Interna-tional SIP Award. Amen – this is goodstuff.AK: Why do you think the show

Moonshiners took the Nation by storm?What is it about moonshining that is soendearing to the everyday person?

SB: I think it’s like country music –people watch and think to themselves,“I can do better than those guys.” Pluswhen you add in the element of illegal-ity and the vast history of it – it’s likewatching the threads that make up theAmerican fabric. Plus it’s cool!

034_001.qxd 10/27/13 2:17 PM Page 1


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AK: Aside from working your stilland spending time with your busi-ness, what are your other hobbies?What do you enjoy when you’renot!making ‘shine?

SB: I write screenplays and TVcommercials. I still race dirt bikesand street ride. I have won 7 Nation-al Sportsman Cross Country titles,one Moto-Cross title, plus Rider ofthe Year in 2007. I also have riddenthe perimeter of the lower 48 states.

AK: How has the television show

affected your day-to-day life? Whatis it like to become an over-night“celebrity” simply because of whoyou are and what you’re passionateabout?

SB: The show has changed my lifetotally – from having body guards atthe events in Florida (being rushedthrough 1,500 people waiting to meetus) to dining with the Governor at themansion, to sitting in the Jim Beamboardroom. It has been humblingwhen people call me a living legendfor going legal and winning the 3

moonshine world gold medals andtouching when avid show fans greetme as family with tears in their eyes.People drive here from all over thecountry to see the spot where Tim &Spencer looked for the car. My storyis being put into “The American His-tory book of Moonshine,” set to bereleased in 2014 on Lyons Pressworldwide. My screenplay dialogueis detailed in the Screenwriters Bibleand my pitch letter example is used

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Summer Sausage • Jalapeno & Cheese Summer SausageSlim Jims: Mild or Bold (With or Without Cheese) • Polish Kielbasa with cheddar cheese

Breakfast Sausage • Jerky • Bacon • Bologna • Dakota Brats • Italian Sausage

A $20 deposit is required on all orders.Open 7 Days a Week Oct. 1 – Jan. 17, 8am-8pm

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Now Accepting:

& Debit Cards

** We accept deer up to one day after final season -- Hours subject to change in Dec.

as a pep talk in live seminars.! Unbe-lievable – don’t wake me!

AK: I got the sense that family isincredibly important to you, and her-itage. Is that the key to success inlife? What are your thoughts on therole family plays in the moonshiningculture?

SB: The whole thing was begun asCont’d. on next pg.

035_001.qxd 10/27/13 2:22 PM Page 1


Hamm’s TavernHome to Generations of Hunters & Fishermen

Located on Rt. 100Near Anderson Lake Conservation Area

Serving Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner! 7 Days a Week • Open 12noon on Sun.

New Owners: Donnie Hamm & Geno Saal Call: 309-759-4100

you would like to add, any futureprojects? For instance, what are yourplans with!LBL bourbon?

SB: We’re planning a high end99% corn-based bourbon in theSpring – The name is in remem-brance of LBL’s largest town – LBLFine Golden Pond Bourbon (92Proof).

I’m sure many of my readers haveenjoyed a sip or two of moonshineover the years – I know I have, but Imust truly tell you that LBLMoonshine is the best I’ve ever tast-ed. Spencer told me the key to really

tasting and enjoying moonshine, andI’d like to share it with you. First youtake a sip – not a swallow. Close yourmouth and gently swish the moon-shine around, then let is slowly easedown your throat until you feel thewarmth of it hit hitting your belly.Then open your mouth slightly andyou will taste the natural goodness ofthe corn and feel the cool-ness of the clear waterroll through your cheeks.

Can I get anotherAmen!?

Spencer is currentlyworking to open theSilver Trail Distillery

Located on over 750 Fulton & 200 Logan Co. Acres!Fishing • Weekend Cabin Retreats • Reunions

Global Headquarters, LBLMoonshine Museum and WelcomeCenter in Aurora, Kentucky. It shouldbe open sometime in November, soplease plan a visit! You can also visithis website: www.lblmoonshine.comor look for Silver Trail Distillery onFacebook. I am certain LBLMoonshine will be available some-

where near you soon. Iknow they just signed adeal with a distributor inChicago (even Al Caponeloved and ran Spencer’sfamily recipe!).

I want to leave youwith a quote fromSpencer that I think pret-ty well sums it all up:“Moonshine, it’s anAmerican Love affair.”

Friend Dirt Church on Facebook!

Questions/Comments:[email protected]

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a way to honor and remember myfamily. Starting in 1996 I lost thethree key people in my life in rapidsuccession. My fiancé, then mom anda few months later my dad. I gotthrough those dark days with a quotefrom President Teddy Roosevelt afterhe heard his wife and mother weredying – “Black care rarely sits behinda rider whose pace is fast enough.”Sixteen years later, I’m still ridingthat horse!

AK: Finally, if there is anything

MOONSHINE…Cont’d. from previous pg.

036_001.qxd 10/27/13 2:16 PM Page 1


Whitetailsis my

PassionBy Kevin Boyer

MONSTERPLOTS.NET Hello my name is Kevin Boyer

and I have been hunting for over 40years. I’ve been raising whitetailbucks for about 8 years now, not tosell but for me to learn as muchabout the whitetails as I can.

I started filming all wildlife butmostly whitetail deer and turkeyback in 1990 with a big VHSrecording camera and every sincethen I have had a camera with mewhen I go to the woods.

During the days I work as a UnionHeavy Equipment Operator local#841. The main thing I like aboutmy job is it allows me plenty of timeoff for hunting season most years Iget 30–90 days of hunting. I boughtmy first property in 1984, developedit and sold it 15 years later. Then Ibought two more farms that I havebeen developing along with myclient’s properties. I do land consul-tations helping to set up the area tobe the best!whitetails paradise. Thisalso allows you to hold a lot morewildlife in general on your property.

I have been sharing my experi-ences of what I have learned, what Iknow works and what is a waste oftime with others through Seminars.I have held seminars & workshopsin Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, IowaOhio, Wisconsin & West Virginia. Ialso do individual Land Consulta-tions where I come to the propertyto meet the land owner and walktheir property with them I map outwhat I would do if their propertywas mine and I wanted to make itthe very best it can be. I also mapout color coded food plot areas andhunting sites, stands or blinds andthe best enter and exit routs to eachof them along with the only windsto hunt them with. I put the plan to-gether in a packet with all of this in-formation for the land owner so thathe or she can make any changes atthe pace they want to. Over the years I have seen a lot ofgimmicks and gadgets in the hunt-ing arena. I needed a hunting blind

to take youth hunters out and mydaughter now that she was oldenough to go hunting, so I startedshopping. I! looked at what was onthe market and what the prices were,and then decided to designmy own blind and build afew for our property.

Next thing I knew every-one that saw my blindswanted a couple for theirselves and Boom! The EliteHunting Blind Companywas started and it has beencrazy ever since!

This hunting season besure to check out my blindand give them a look beforeyou buy your next blind.Don’t wait until the lastminute do it today. Eachmonth our inventory is sell-ing fast.

EZ-Big Game Lift is an-other product I use that I hadbought a few years ago. Ilove how well it works mak-ing what was once an impos-sible job of loading a 200+pound deer on my 4-wheel-er or in the back of my truckby myself to a 5 second jobwithout ever breaking asweat. Now no more backaches from straining to lift. So I decided to investigatemore about the lift, and metGeorge, the owner and de-signer of the lift. I!then pur-chased the company andhaving the lifts made here in the U.S.A and sellingthem on the website atwww.ezbiggamelifts.net

Be sure to watch the video and get your order in today! Then when youhave a successful hunt theloading up is a breeze foryou.

Check out the Real World Wildlife Seed Company & Real World Whitetails Company that I am co-owner of to find my contact info for products

or Land Consultation. Give me a call with any questions at: 217-232-0722 • MONSTERPLOTS.NET • EZBIGGAMELIFT.NET

Meet Kevin Boyer

with his beautifulmounts.

Learn morefrom Kevin on how he

killed thesebig bucks andthe productshe owns andrepresents.

037_001.qxd 10/27/13 7:09 PM Page 1


THE THE MORNING MORNING

IS MINEIS MINEBy: Wayne Baughmanw e d a n c e 2 @ p i ke n e t . n e t

For More Information Call:(217) 868-2950

Or Write To:P.O. Box 1371 • Effingham, IL 62401

www.anthonyacres.com

O n Be au tifu l Lake Sara

• Fishing• Water Sports• Golf• Family Fun• Reunions• Business Meetings• New Rooms

Anthony Acres on Lake Sara hasGreat Fishing forLargemouth Bass,

Channel Cat, Crappie, Bluegill,

White Bass & Walleye!

IDNR ATV Sticker Registration Law

Stop the bandwagon I want to get on…

The issue of the ATV stickerscontinues to ferment in our neck ofthe woods. Although a few folks arejust accepting this latest tax in-crease (and that is just what it is )there are plenty of others that aregetting a belly full of these “little”fees.

Although farmers are supposed tobe exempt from the sticker require-ment while operating their ATV’son their farms there are plenty ofquestions yet to be answered.

For most farmers an ATV is justas much a part of their equipment asa tractor. Today’s farm operationsare often spread across a lot of ter-ritory. In addition to operating theirprivately owned land a high per-centage of farmers are leasing farmland from others.

Often the leased land is some dis-tance from the “home” place.

ATV’s are frequently used thru outthe year for crop inspection, check-ing on livestock, hauling farm sup-plies, carrying spray equipment toremote areas and a host of othersmaller tasks necessary in farm op-erations.

Now for some of the questions Ihave been asked by farmers.

Will I be expected to buy a permitto travel to and from and on leasedland?

What about a family member notinvolved in the farm operation us-ing the ATV?

If I decide to go hunting on someof my leased land will I need a per-mit?

Will I need a permit if I leasesome of my land to hunters thatwant to use my ATV to haul in theirdeer?

It is easy to see some of the com-plications involved with the “stick-er” program.

I lease my farm ground to aneighbor that lives a couple milesaway from my place. He uses hisATV on a regular basis to run overto check on the crops. I have a sideby side that I use from time to timeto check on my cattle. It is neces-

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sary for me to travel a quarter ofmile on our county road to get tothe farmstead pasture land. Both ofus have the question, are we pro-tected with the farmer exemptionclause?

By the way I checked in at the lo-cal Wal-Mart on the status of thesticker program. As of the end offirst week in October the stickerswere not available. The lady thatoversees the sporting goods depart-ment has tried the IDNR website anumber of times to no avail.

Now, on to a more positive re-port. The deer herd is flourishing.Every morning I see anywherefrom a half dozen to a dozen along-side our county road. There is quitea spread in ages this year. I saw ear-ly born offspring nearly as big astheir mothers and a good number oflate born fawns. Rather unusual. Idon’t have any archery hunters thisyear. I have had guys wanting tofirearm hunt but with my free rang-ing cattle I don’t want to take therisk of a cow being killed by a way-ward shot.

Get out there and enjoy whatMother Nature offers.

Until next month… Wayne

State of the Art Shooting Range…Open to the Public!

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038_001.qxd 10/26/13 1:06 AM Page 1


dor near you at this link:h t t p : / / w w w . d n r . i l l i n o i s . g o v / L P R /Pages/LicensePermitVendors.aspx

Illinois Waterfowl Digest: Review thisseason’s Illinois waterfowl regulationswith the Illinois Digest of WaterfowlHunting Regulations, available online onthe IDNR website at this link:w w w . d n r . i l l i n o i s . g o v / h u n t i n g /Do c uments/DigestWater fowlHuntingRegulations.pdf

Annual Pheasant Hunt at Rend Lake Nov. 10-12:Join hunters from throughout the state at scenicRend Lake Resort on Nov. 10-12 for the annual KimPresbrey Memorial Pheasant Hunt, hosted by theIllinois Conservation Foundation. Enjoy an after-noon of trap, skeet, and five-stand shooting at theRend Lake Shooting Complex, followed by anevening pairings reception on Nov. 10, then a fullday of pheasant hunting on Nov. 11. Lodging andmeals are provided. Proceeds benefit ICF youthconservation education programs. Register onlineat www.ilcf.org or phone 217-785-2003.

ICF Wall Calendar: Order the beautiful 2014 Illi-nois Conservation Foundation wall calendar today.If you relied on the former OutdoorIllinois wall cal-endar, you’ll definitely want to pick up a copy ofthis calendar. Proceeds from the sale of the 2014ICF wall calendar will support youth conservation

education programs in Illinois. The 9” x12” calendar contains stunning photog-raphy of Illinois wildlife and natural re-sources and can be purchased for $15, ortwo for $29, or three for $41.25. Orderonline at www.ilcf.org or by phone at217-785-2003. Checks and money or-ders can be mailed to Illinois Conserva-tion Foundation, ATTN Wall Calendar,One Natural Resources Way, Springfield,IL 62702-1271.

Trapping at Beaver Dam: Two trapping permitsawarded at a public drawing Oct. 28 at BeaverDam State Park, Plainview. Trapping will be per-mitted in the designated areas from the statewideopening until Jan. 25, 2014, and include the ex-tended spring season for mink and muskratthrough Feb. 15, 2014 and beaver and otter trap-ping, which are allowed through Mar. 31, 2014. A2012 or 2013 trapping license or trapper educa-tion card was required to register for the drawing.For more information about trapping opportuni-ties, contact Beaver Dam State Park at 217-854-8020.

Trapping at Horseshoe Lake (Madison Co.): Sixtrapping permits were awarded at a public drawingon Oct. 28 at the site headquarters of HorseshoeLake State Park, Granite City. Four permits allo-cated for Horseshoe Lake State Park, and trappingpermitted from the statewide opening, with the

exception that during waterfowl season live trapsand land sets only will be permitted.

At the close of waterfowl season, all trappingwill be permitted following statewide regulations.The remaining two permits will be allocated to thesatellite site Gabaret, Mosenthein and ChouteauIsland Area. Statewide regulations will be in ef-fect for this area, including the extended springseason for mink and muskrat through Feb. 15,2014, and beaver and otter trapping will be al-lowed for all areas through Mar. 31, 2014. A 2012or 2013 trapping license or trapper educationcard will be required to register for the drawing.For more information about trapping opportuni-ties, contact Horseshoe Lake State Park at 618-931-0270.

IDNR NewsbitsResident Archery Deer and Fall Turkey Permits:The Illinois Archery Deer and Archery Fall Turkeyseasons opened Oct. 1, 2013 and con’t to Jan. 19,2014. Resident combination archery deer per-mits, resident antlerless-only archery deer per-mits, and resident archery fall turkey hunting per-mits are available over-the-counter from DNR Di-rect license and permit vendors. Find a vendornear you at this link: http://dnr.illinois.gov/DNRDirectMonitor/VendorListing.aspx

Non-Resident Deer and Turkey Permits: The re-maining non-resident Illinois combination archerydeer permits, as well as non-resident antlerless-only archery deer permits and non-residentarchery fall turkey permits, are available over-the-counter (OTC) from DNR Direct license and permitvendors. Season dates are Oct. 1, 2013-Jan. 19,2014. Find a license and permit vendor near youat this link: http://dnr.illinois.gov/DNRDirect-Monitor/VendorListing.aspx

Remaining Firearm Deer Permits: Those Illinoisfirearm and muzzleloader deer permits remainingavailable following the close of random daily draw-ings will be available over-the-counter (OTC) fromDNR Direct license and permit vendors now thruDec. 8 (or until quotas are exhausted). Find a ven-

75 Foot Indoor Shooting Range For Firearms, Air Guns & ArcheryOffering a Variety of Leagues & Classes, NRA Basic Pistol Classes, One-on-One Instruction, Gun Rental, Full Line of SuppliesBuy, Sell, Trade, Special OrdersFOID, NRA, ISRA APPLICATIONS ALL AVAILABLE!

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See Details on page 69!

Berges Pruning ServicePrecision Pruning & Trimming

Ron Berges: 309-287-6408

- Branches off of roofs- Dead branches removed- Low hanging branches lifted- Cleanup & removal

Branch out and give me a call!

039_001.qxd 10/28/13 1:57 PM Page 1


Tom’s Bait Shop403 Walnut St. • Beardstown, IL 62618

Walking Distance from Beardstown Marina!Live Bait • Tackle • Boating Accessories

Local Fishing Information(217) 323-BAIT

Spoonie’s Bar & Grill103 3rd St., Historic London Mills, IL

309-486-3574New Owner: Dena Hook

Serving from 5pm Nightly:Wed. Taco NightThurs. Livers & GizzardsFri. Catfish, Chicken, Steak, Seafood, Frog Legs

M-F Lunch Specials • Open 7 Days a Week!

CARBON CLIFF BAIT & TACKLECARBON CLIFF BAIT & TACKLEWHOLESALE & RETAIL BAIT & TACKLE

IL Fishing & Hunting Licenses • Hunting & Trapping Supplies • Pond Stocking413 2nd Ave. • Carbon Cliff, IL 61239 • (309) 792-3460

“Serving SportsmenSince 1958”

NEWSBITS…Cont’d. from previous pg.

Services provided by this preserve will depend upon each individual and the type ofhunt they would like to have. Package prices are available upon request. Our goals areto provide a good hunting environment, and have a quality deer management program.

MACEDONIA GAME PRESERVEGuides & Outfitters 618/728-4328

Owner: Keith NealFrom Interstate 57 - get off at Benton Exit 71

Take Route 14 East - 11 miles to Macedonia sign, turn south, follow signs

w w w . m a c e d o n i a g a m e p r e s e r v e . c o mw w w . m a c e d o n i a g a m e p r e s e r v e . c o m

H U N T Q U A I L , P H E A S A N T , H U N T Q U A I L , P H E A S A N T , C H U K A R , D O V E & T U R K E Y !C H U K A R , D O V E & T U R K E Y !

Archery, Firearm, Muzzleloader, and Late-Winter/CWD Seasons CWD Sampling: Deer hunters statewide in Illinois are encouraged to allow samples to be taken for chronic wasting disease(CWD) testing from adult deer they harvest. The following locations are serving as CWD sampling stations, taking samples from entire deer or deer heads from Oct. 1, 2013-Jan. 20, 2014:

The following sites are serving as self-serve drop-offsites where hunters can fill out a sample submission cardand leave adult deer heads:

Test results will be posted by hunter phone number onthe IDNR web site at: http://dnr.state.il.us/cwd

Follow the IDNR on Facebook and Twitter!

LISTEN TO THE REDNOSE GANG!

Sunday Mornings 7-10am onWOAM 1350 AM Radio & Online at: UStream.com(type in rednosegang)

Call in number: 309-693-2900

040_001.qxd 10/27/13 3:02 PM Page 1


SMILEY’S SPORTS SHOP INC.Archery • Guns & Ammo • Fishing Tackle • Live Bait

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309/663-1133

A FUN MONTH TO FISH

For me November is such a great timeto fish. Hunting season is gettingcranked up and you can usually have alot of water to fish by yourself, whichjust doesn’t seem to happen much any-more. The bass are really schooling nowand all you have to do is get in 20 to 30feet of water and watch yourRaymarine clear pulse sonar and findschools of bait fish on or close to thebottom. The bass will be right along-side there with the bait fish. I just lovethe new E-series with the hybrid touchscreen that Raymarine has come outwith. The multifunction displays areunbelievable and the great picture that itgives you of the bottom and fish, I meanit’s like watching a fishing show onyour big screen television.

I’m planning on catching fish fourdifferent ways in November. I will beeither jigging spoons, working ZoomFlukes slowly, or cranking hard baitsand football jigs.

is not to give up on a flat, if it has baitfish in it then most of the time it will bean afternoon bite.

Crankbaits can be good this time ofyear but you want to get your lureretrieve really going fast and then reallyslow it down. I like to use flat baits likethe Bass Pro Shops’ Flat Crank and theShad Raps which work great in colderwater. I also will try the lipless baitslike the XTS Vibrator and a Rattletrapwhich can also be awesome. The keyingredient here is usually a slow to amedium retrieve. It seems to me anyarea with rock in it is a great place tostart fishing.

But my favorite way to fish inNovember is with a jigging spoon. I usethe 3/4 oz. Bass Pro Shops’ Strataspoon on calm days and prefer the 1oz.on breezy days. I fish with the Silverspoon on most days, but the gold can bethe ticket to punch a lot of times. Ialways try to be prepared and carry bothcolors. This month, when I am jiggingthe spoon I like to use Bass Pro Shops’17 lbs. test fluorocarbon line especiallywith the technique I like to fish. I wantto attach a swivel to the spoon not onlyfor line twist but it also makes the spoonflutter much better. Jigging a spoon isan excellent technique to learn. Just ridearound the lake in your Z-8 Nitrowatching your Raymarine unit untilyou find bait fish on long taperingpoints, channel swings or flats in deep-er water. If the balls of bait fish are nearthe bottom then you will also find bass.Now I put my Motorguide Tour editiontrolling motor in the water to positionmy Nitro right over the bait and then I

WOO’S CORNERBY WOO DAVES

www.woodaves.com

WOOSHOES

drop my Strata spoon to the bottom. The main thing is don’t jerk the spoon

up, just raise it about two feet off thebottom and drop it, feeling it to the bot-tom. If you feel a tick, set the hook hardand get the bass in the boat, as soon aspossible. You don’t want to play withhim, just reel em right up and swinghim in. If you have a partner, get himready with the net because 90% of thefish are lost right at the boat. This issuch fun fishing. For one thing, younever know what is going to be on theother end when it comes up, anythingfrom bass to stripers or crappie, whiteperch, and even catfish.

Give it a try and you will be hookedfor life. So good luck with your fishing.Be sure to thank any military personnelfor a job well done. If you need a truckto tow your Nitro check out hendrick-cars.com. May God Bless!

MIDSOUTH TACKLEMaking Jigs Since 1978

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If I’m fishing a jig I will use a 3/4 to1oz. Bass Pro Shops’ football jig witha Zoom big chunk and I almost alwayslike to use it in black/blue. I like to fishthis rig with a Bass Pro Shops’ 7’4”heavy action Carbonlite flippin’ stick. Inormally just crawl it along the bottomon structure. The bites are usually slowbut the fish are big, so hang on.

When I’m fishing the Fluke I’m pri-marily fishing with a 7’ Carbonlite rodwith medium action and using 10 to 12lbs. Excel test line. I’m going to be fish-ing the Fluke on a stop and go retrievetrying to imitate a dying shad and thestrike will always come on the fall. I’mgoing to use a pearl or Elway color anda 5/0 wide gap Mustad hook. This canbe deadly in the back of flats especiallyif it warms up and you see signs of fishchasing shad. One tip on late fall fishing

041_001.qxd 10/26/13 1:40 AM Page 1


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LindyRigging

Walleyes,Plain and

SimpleIf you've ever

felt that "thump"when a big walleyehas taken the bait... if you've ever seen yourline spit out the spool on an open bail as awalleye makes a run... if you've ever leaned infor a hookset after your line has tightened...and if you've ever dipped the net on a bigwalleye on a Lindy Rig... then you know.Fishing with Lindy Rigs is the finest, simplestway to deliver live bait to walleyes. No doubt.

I remember when the Lindy Rig was born,right here where I live in the Brainerd Lakesarea of central Minnesota. Some of the bestwalleye men who have ever wetted a linemade it legendary. And if I had to guess atthe number of walleyes I have caught on aLindy Rig, I honestly couldn't give you a

number. It's in the several thousands.Even though the Lindy Rig technique is

famous, I know there are people out therewho have never tried it. So I wanted to intro-duce you to the basics, and offer a few riggingpointers along the way. For those who doknow about it, read on anyway, because areturn to the fundamentals is always a goodthing.

As I mentioned above, the Lindy Rig is alive bait delivery method. It is most oftenassociated with night crawlers, leeches andminnows. Although sometimes crayfish,mudpuppies, or even frogs have been LindyRigged. From your rod tip down, this is whatthis simple setup includes: on your main lineyou thread a slip sinker. The original LindyRig sinker has a telltale shape that allows it to"swim" with stability while resisting snagsfrom rocks and other structure. As noted, it'sa "slip" sinker, meaning it has a hole throughit that allows it to slide up and down on yourline. After threading it on, you tie on a sim-ple barrel swivel. The swivel is your sinkerstop that also prevents line twist when drag-ging live bait (which can often corkscrew asit's being pulled).

On the other split ring of your swivel, youtie on what's called a snell. A snell is a lengthof fishing line (usually monofilament or fluo-rocarbon) with a hook attached to it. Snelllengths vary to whatever your preference is.And length choices often vary based on water

clarity, the aggressiveness level of the walleyeson a particular day, and other factors. A 3-4foot snell is average.

Sometimes the choice at the end of the lineis a basic, small hook. Sometimes it's a hookwith a second "stinger" hook attached. Or, asis the choice of many walleye anglers, theoffering is a spinner rig with colored beadsand a spinner blade (Colorado, Indiana orWillow style). Whatever setup you go with,this is where you affix your live bait .

When fishing with leeches, the hook pointgoes right through the "sucker." With min-nows, typically they're lip-hooked - althoughsome anglers like to hook them through thecenter of the upper back to make themappear more distressed as they get pulledalong sideways. Tail hooking them workstoo, so they're being pulled backwards. Withcrawlers, they're usually hooked through thesnout. But sometimes, when fish are particu-larly negative and just nipping at tails, hook-ing a crawler "wacky style" through the mid-dle of the body can result in better results. Itmakes for a fatter profile in the water (withtwo dangling ends) and because it effectivelyshortens the length of the crawler by 1/2, itcan reduce short strikes.

After the Lindy Rig is all set up withsinker, snell, hooks, spinners, bait, etc., thenext step is presenting the bait on structurethat's holding walleyes. You simply openyour bail and drop the Lindy Rig to the bot-tom, then slowly troll or drift at a speed thatkeeps the bait hugging bottom. A 3/8-ouncesinker usually works great at most depths andspeeds. For faster trolling or Lindy Rigging in

very deep water, switch to a 1/2-ouncesinker.

As you troll or drift along, have your bailopen with your line on your index finger. Assoon as you feel a "thump" or "tap, tap" dropthe line and give the walleye a free spool. Ashe runs, the line flows through the slip sinkerso he never feels that weight. After giving himsome time to ingest the live bait (times varybased on the feeding mood of the fish), clickover your bail; wait for the line to get taught;then set the hook.

It's that easy!In addition to walleye fishing, Lindy

Rigging works for a lot of other species aswell. Fishing pike with Lindys and big suck-ers can be dynamite. It's a great way to pres-ent baits to bass (often referred to as a"Carolina Rig"). Even some redfish andsnook anglers use derivatives of Lindy Rigs insalt water.

But hey, we're talking about walleyes here,and for my money the most deadly and sim-ple bait delivery technique there is for 'eyes isthe venerable, magical, diabolical Lindy Rig.

Good Fishing.

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Perched high inthe top of an oak, itgave a great viewof the surroundingfields. As a morn-ing stand, it suckedbut in the after-noon, it was a hot-tie. Having no lessthan 10 scrapes inits view, it was arattling monster.The sweat rolleddown my face. Istopped to wipe itand reposition mypack. Again, I won-dered who had putthe bricks in my pack. The addedweight of the hundred and fiftyinch plus rack strapped on my packfelt light at the house but now wasforcing me deeper into the mud.My mind wandered as I pushed on.

I thought taking a direct paththrough the field was my best en-trance to the stand, but now I washaving second thoughts. No, this isthe best route. No chance of bust-ing any decoys I might have bed-ding in the tall grass around thefield waiting for the last hour tofeed. What you might call does I

call decoys becauseas soon as they hitthe field to feedthey bring the buckslike a flock of mal-lards into the de-coys on a coolmorning. The mem-ories flashedthrough my mind asthe steps got shorterand the mud tried topull off my boots. Looking ahead, Iturned my head tocatch an old standlocated to my left.That old dog almost

killed me a couple years ago. I wascarrying my climber in to hunt the

by Daniel Vinovich

The November north winds hadarrived bringing with it a slow colddrizzle. The leaves had long sincefallen and the fields were picked.This is the start, I thought to myselfas I trudged through the chiselplowed field on a early afternoonin November. Twenty pounds ofmud had adhered itself to myboots. I kept wondering why I had-n’t put my pack on a diet becausesurely it had gained 10 pounds. Theend of the field looked so far away.I had a stand there in the distance.It had only been hunted a couple oftimes before the corn had beenpicked. It has always been left forthe first week of November.

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Only in theRut!

back cut when a big 10 pt. emergednose down a mere 60 yards aheadof me. I hit the ground hoping hehad not seen me. Back into the tim-ber he went. I struggled to look fora tree straight enough to take theclimber.

Again, the buck appeared nosedown along the edge of the field.He still had not seen me laying inthe stubble. His persistence couldonly mean one thing; a hot doe wasin the area. There it was a spindlycherry tree right by the edge of thefield. I rose from my crouched po-sition and trotted to the tree.Quickly dropping the stand, Ihooked it to the tree. I hooked mystring to my bow and slammed my

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feet into the climbing straps andstarted up at 12 feet. The buck

reappeared farther down the edge. Istopped hugging the tree hopingthe intoxicating scent would keephis head glued to the ground. Back

into the timber hewent. I pulled upthe bottom of thestand. At 15 feet,for someunknown reason,my feet slippedout of the strapsand down wentthe bottom half ofthe climber.Damn it. I hadforgotten to tiethe short ropeconnecting thetwo halvestogether.

Suddenly, Ifelt the top half ofthe stand letsloose sending medown the tree 15feet onto myback. I just laidthere looking intothe tree topsafraid to move. Iwiggled my leftfoot and then the

right. Okay. They seemed to be inworking order. I lifted my left arm.All was good. I reached for abranch and pulled myself onto mefeet. No broken bones. The downcoat in the back of my pack hadprotected me from the 6 inch log Ihad landed on. I immediately wentinto a fit of fury kicking the standand cussing at the top of my lungs,“no good rotten!@$%&*()%$#$!”

Just then, I looked up only to seethe buck standing 40 yards awaywatching my antics. I looked downtrying to see where my bow hadlanded. There it was right under thestand. The buck turned and wentback into trailing mode, his noseburied into the wet grass not evenpaying attention to the brown pileof leaves that had just erupted. Ibent down and grabbed the bowsetting the arrow back onto theflipper rest. Not even checking tosee if it had survived the fall, Islipped off my pack. This deer wasgoing down old school spot andstalk.

The wind was in my face, and Icould still hear the buck gruntingand crashing through the brush justa couple hundred feet in front ofme. I struggled to see him. There

he was. His rack glowed like a lightstick in the fading light.

Quickly, I looked for a bit ofcover to approach his position. Tenyards in front of me was a bit of tall

grass. It might be just enough towork my way into shooting range.Step by step, I moved closer to theclumps of grass. Suddenly, I felt a tug at my hip.

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The old man is earning hiskeep! It’s been really great

having my dad in the field with me.

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044_001.qxd 10/27/13 3:29 PM Page 1


grass. It might be just enough to workmy way into shooting range. Step bystep, I moved closer to the clumps ofgrass.

Suddenly, I felt a tug at my hip. Damnit. The thin rope used to pull up my bowwas still connected to my belt and wasstill tied to the bottom of my bow form-ing a nice U-shape that had hooked arose bush. To one knee I dropped fum-bling with the knot. I finally got it untiedfrom the bow. I could still hear the buck.He was so close I could smell the ruttingscent his glands were emitting.

The grass clump was only 5 moreyards. My boots grabbed for real-estate.I knew if I could get there I would beable to see him and maybe get off anarrow. Wait, there was movementahead. The clump of grass I so longed toget to was moving. Up jumped a fat doe.Her eyes were glued on me. I froze.

She just stared me down until sheheard the buck headed back her way.She wheeled and ran 25 yards into thefield. Her suitor saw her and headed ona dead run towards his prize. She turnedher head looking at the buck that had puton the breaks and was staring with lovestruck eyes. I drew my bow centeringmy pin just back and low off the shoul-der and tapped the release.

The arrow was off to its target. Thenock glowed upon its release from thelauncher. My eyes were tracking it like

it was in slow motion. Suddenly, it start-ed gaining altitude. Mud flew as bothwhitetails exploded at the sound of thebow string. The arrow looked as if itwas a missile headed to some unknowntarget on the other side of the trees. Itwas headed up, up and away.

By now, the buck and doe were head-ed back into the timber but my arrowwas headed to the moon. Its red glowingnock disappeared as it entered the woodline 300 yards away. I looked at my bowwondering what the hell happened.What looked good obviously was not.Something had been bent, not knowingwhether it was the aluminum arrow orthe bow.

Just then, a pain went ripping throughmy right foot. My toe had been brokenupon impact with the stand after theswift kick on the cold steel. I limpedback, looking at the mess at the bottomof the tree. I grabbed a sit on a nearbylog and pulled my good cigar from myshirt pocket. The cigar that was only tohave the seal broken open signaling BigBuck Down was glowing in the pres-ence of utter defeat. Broken bow, bro-ken toe. “ONLY IN THE RUT,” Ithought to myself…“ONLY IN THERUT!!!”

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Congratulations to Jayci Campbell, 8 years old, who shot her first

deer…From a treestand in Pike Co.,less than an hour into youth seasonwith a 20 gauge. Way to go Jayci!

Thanks to Grandparents Rod & Jane Getz for sharing

Jayci’s trophy with ASO!

045_001.qxd 11/14/13 2:33 PM Page 1


Several yearsback a coworkerof mine, afterhounding me foryears for the op-portunity to huntdeer with me herein the state of Illi-nois, was finallygiven my permis-sion. John was ec-static over this opportunity. Although he isan experienced deer hunter from themountains in the state of Pennsylvania, hewas still looking for a spot in Illinois topursue our larger version of the species.Only my closest relatives and very few oth-ers have ever been given my blessings tojoin in the Illinois Firearm Deer Hunt onmy personal hot spots. After all, I pur-chased the land, set all the stands and spentthousands of hours on the stands to deter-mine the activity of the deer on my terrain!

John was quite willing to abide by myhunting guidelines of not shooting smallerbucks and waiting for the larger of the

species. He was always appreciative of theopportunity and more than pulled hisweight in the chores associated with keep-ing the camp going. He was one of fewwho could endure the basic living condi-tions present in my aged travel trailers usedfor this purpose.

Several years had gone by with John be-ing successful in shooting his share of ani-mals during the seasons. We were a littlelate in getting to our intended destinationfor the opener in traveling from our campin Brown County to our location of choicein Schuyler County. It was already shoot-ing time as we trekked across the cut cornfields and through the wooded ravines be-tween our barn yard parking spot and in-tended stands.

John was provided a stand locationknown to intersect the travel corridors thebucks in the area used largely due to thethick vegetation and terrain features. Mylocation would be a mere one hundred andfifty yards distant to the north. I would usemy climber to secure the perfect vantagepoint. Less than a decade earlier, the pre-vious owner of this acreage, shot the secondlargest twelve point Buck killed in the stateon this very location! Would this spot de-liver now?

Although, the fast paced entry into the

HAPPY DAY IN THE DEER WOODS!

by Dave Herschelman

woods had elevated my body temperatureand caused heavy perspiration, my bodywas cooling as motion ceased and the windwas catching me full force in the stand,sucking the warmth away! I chose to getinto my coveralls but found the new pair ofRocky Boots too big to pull the pant legover as I fought to dress on the platform ofthe stand. Stand movement activity duringthe best time of the morning is always arecipe for trouble in the whitetail woods! Ifinally untied the boots and pulled themoff and got the coveralls in place and wasjust ready to put the boots back on when aloud shot rang from what had to be John’slocation. I strained to look in that direc-tion for any sign of what had happened.

I could hear what sounded like a crashand caught movement to my south in asmall deep creek bed but could not be sureof the activity? Suddenly, a mature doe ad-vanced with a medium sized eight pointerin close pursuit and behind this entouragea smaller buck bringing up the rear. My as-sessment was that the eight point deer hadbeen given an instant promotion due tocircumstances beyond his control and hewas intending to make the most of it!

John had exited his stand and was ap-proaching my location when he blurtedout, “I don’t know what I shot but it lookslike an Elk”. Instant jealousy pervaded mybody as I had spent numerous hours on

that very stand with nothing to show for it.John has had success in less than five min-utes time! I climbed down and approachedthe bucks’ location in the creek bed. Hewas a dandy! John and I, after congratula-tions we were able to drag the deer up thehill and into a cornfield which provided ac-cess by a truck and trailer. As we drug thedeer, my envy subsided largely by the sheerjoy and elation in John’s reaction to hissuccess and his constant thanking me forhis opportunity! His success was my suc-PREDATOR GUIDE SERVICE

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cess from that day forward. Although many years have passed since

that day, if I were to call John today, hewould immediately begin to tell the tale of“the Buck” and his gratefulness for theopportunity. Life has changed for both ofus over the years and many tribulationshave stood in our paths but to know thisevent will be forever engrained as a pleasant

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memory in Johns’ repertoire of history isvery satisfying to me. Although I haveplaced numerous hunters in opportunitieswhereby they were able to take the Buck oftheir lives, many forget this fact and theysoon forget the act of shooting a deer bygun or bow is only the half of it as locationis the primary predictor of success.

It was John’s attitude that cured my jeal-

ousy and selfishness in allowing others tohunt with me. Although I am still selectivein my partners, my attitude is to be happyfor others as their success is my success! Ilearned far more from John Kolash than helearned from me and I will always considerhim a true friend.

David Herschelman, October 14, 2013

Lake Springfield Christian Academyheld their first “Father/Son”

Archery Shoot Sept. 13 & 14, 2013.EZ Livin’ Sports Center friendsDarin Neal (Back row, 5th from

right side) and his son Luke Neal(6th from right, back row) attendedthis event. Congrats to Luke taking2nd place in the adult 3-D Division.LSCA will host a Father/Daughter

Shoot along with anotherFather/Son shoot next year.

Thanks to Connie from EZ Livin’Sports Center in Milan for sharing

this fun day with ASO!

Congratulations to 14 year old Jessee Baugh

for shooting this doe during Youth Deer Hunting weekend in

McLean County. This is his 2nd deer. His proud parents are

members of DC American Legion.Jessee enjoys the turkey shoots at

the DC Legion. He helped outmany small kids at their

50th anniversary celebration with the Jakes Take Aim trailer

that was present from the NWTF.Thanks to ASO Rep Terri Swecard

for sharing Jessee’s trophy with ASO!

047_001.qxd 10/28/13 2:38 AM Page 1

GET READY FOR WATERFOWLSEASON…WHAT TO EXPECT

by Bill Cooper


ure they have killed lots of ducks in thepast and that they will continue to doso in the future. Allen Treadwell, BassPro Hunting Team member and pastOlympic shooter, will quickly tell anyhunter that he keeps his shooting skillssharp by shooting often. Waiting froma season closure until a season openerto begin shooting again is a surefireway to insure poor shooting in the duckblind. Being sharp improves your baglimits, reduces cripples and saves onthe cost of shotshells. And, we must re-alize that our duck hunting populace isolder than ever. Slower instincts needmore practice.

Inspect your gear to make sure it is inperfect working condition. Time on theshooting range will help pinpoint prob-lems with your firearm. Have a quali-fied gunsmith make any needed repairswell before opening day.

Decoys may need a touch up, too.Dirty dekes should be washed andcleaned. If they have a dull, lacklusterappearance, spray them with WD-40.It will clean them thoroughly and re-new their appearance.!

Boats, motors, trailers and blinds canbe another issue on opening day if notcared for ahead of time. Each itemshould be gone over thoroughly. Boatsshould be checked for leaks and shinyspots if they are camoed. Paint is easi-ly touched up with any of the camospray paints. Stencils are also avail-able.

Motors are especially vulnerable tositting for long periods of time. Hope-fully you added a fuel additive and

changed thelower unit oilbefore storingyour rig forthe winter.Spark plugsand filtersmay need tobe replaced,too.

Trailer wi-ring is highlysusceptible tobreakdowns.Check tomake surethat all lightsand signalsare working.It could saveprecious timeyou need toget to yourhunting desti-nation, ratherthan having

an early morning discussion with apolice officer.

Trailer bearings are another sourceof possible problems. Check them tomake sure they have plenty of grease.

Blinds are great tools of duckhunters, when they work properly.Metal parts can rust and break or lock-up. Preventive maintenance takes careof most of these problems. Again, alittle WD-40 in the right places willdeter the headaches. Touch-ups maybe needed on the camo as well. A littlepaint, camo cloth or vegetative covershould fill the bill.

Good news for duck huntersThe sound of whistling wings is mu-

sic to every duck hunter’s ears. Water-fowl hunters across the country areanxiously awaited the news for water-fowl numbers for the 2013-14 season.Those numbers are released by theU.S. Fish and Wildlife service in lateJuly.

Teal numbers have seen dramaticincreases in the last few years, leadingthe Missouri Department of Conserva-tion to raise the daily limit from fourto six birds for the upcoming Septem-ber teal season.

Water is essential to successful duckrearing. Pond counts on the Northernprairies were outstanding in 2011 cre-ating huge opportunities for ducknesting. It was the second largest pondcount recorded and the ducks respond-ed. Mallards were up 15% over theprevious year and 40% over the longterm average. Gadwall were up 10%

Plan AheadOur earliest duck season has come

and gone. Those delightful early mi-grators, the blue-winged and green-winged teal, began migrating in Au-gust. Most states in the Mississippiflyway had early September seasonopeners for the fast flying ducks.Teal limits are up from 4 ducks to 6 inseveral states. Waterfowlers anxiouslyawait the early teal season every year,because it is their first opportunity ofthe year to hit the marshes and warm

up the retriever.Teal season is thepredecessor of bet-ter things to come.However, gettingstarted off on the right foot is essentialto maximizing your duck huntingpleasures. Taking stock of a few issueswill improve your earliest duck huntsconsiderably.

One of the most neglected aspects ofpre-season duck hunting is hunters’failure to practice shooting. Many fig-

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and 96% over the long term average.Green-winged teal were up 20% and74%, respectively, while blue-wingedteal showed a 37% increase and a 94%increase over the long term.

Missouri hunters experienced someexcellent teal hunting last year as vastnumbers of birds made the annual mi-gration south. I had one of my bestyears ever as large flocks of birds ar-rived at my hunting destination almostdaily. September, 2013brought!the!biggest flights of teal I haveever seen.

Pond counts across the Northernprairies were down considerably in2012, as much as 49% in some regions.“The Dakotas have carried a dispropor-tionate amount of duck production inthe last few years,” according to JonDenvy of Delta Waterfowl. “If we getdry here and lose the upland nestinghabitat, we just will not produce thenumbers of waterfowl that we have pro-duced since the mid-1990’s, and thatwill have an impact on hunters every-where.”

Mike Szymanski, a waterfowl biolo-gist with the North DakotaGame!and!Fish Dept. reported June 10,2013 that duck populations were down17% from 2012. "Duck numbers arestill really good, well above the long-

term averages," he said. Duck!numbersare similar to estimates over the lastdecade.

Trouble may be looming on the hori-

zon, however. Massive numbers ofacres are being lost to duck productionin the prairie pothole region because ofthe cuts in funds for CPR lands. Farm-

ers are converting the subsidized landsthey had in CRP to crop production.This trend will not bode well for duckproduction in the upcoming years.!

18-Foot Oar F ish/Sea Serpent DiscoveredScience instructor Santana spotted something shimmering about 30 feet deep while snorkeling during a staff trip in Toyon Bay at Santa Catalina Island, about two dozen

miles from the mainland. She spotted something out of a fantasy novel: the silvery carcass of an 18-foot-long, serpent-like oarfish. The female snorkeler dragged the giant carcass by the tail for more than 75 feet to prove to co-workers she had seen a legendary fish floating underwater. Jasmine Santana of the Catalina Island Marine Institute needed more than 15 helpers to drag the giant sea creature with eyes the size of half dollars to shore on Sunday.Staffers at the institute are calling it the discovery of a lifetime.The picture, released by the Catalina Island Marine Institute, taken on Sunday, October 13, shows the crew of sailing school vessel Tole Mour and Catalina Island Marine In-

stitute instructors holding the giant fish found in the waters off Toyon Bay on Santa Catalina Island, California. 'We've never seen a fish this big,' said Mark Waddington, senior captain of the Tole Mour, CIMI's sail training ship. 'The last oarfish we saw was three feet long.'Because oarfish dive more than 3,000 feet deep, sightings of the creatures are rare and they are largely unstudied, according to CIMI.The obscure fish apparently died of natural causes. Tissue samples and video footage were sent to be studied by biologists at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

049_001.qxd 10/27/13 11:24 PM Page 1


CATFISH AND THE ROCK RIVERb y D o n D z i e d z i n a

During the dog days of summer,those who love to fish are always look-ing for a new hot spot.! There is onethat I learned about and it just gets bet-ter and better as the fishing seasonseems to be shutting down. ! But I’mnot talking about bass, walleye ormuskie fishing.! I’m talking catfishingand I’m talking the Rock River.Fall fishing is great on the Rock Riverand believe it or not, it’s just as good inNovember and December.!

Some bass and walleye anglers willtell you they had a great day on the wa-ter when they caught 4 or 5 fish in the3 or 4 pound range.! They’ll be doing

cartwheels if they got a 6 pound bass orwalleye.! Muskie anglers we’ll often behappy if they see one swirl on theirbait.! I think an avid catfish angler willlaugh at all this.! Why?! On the RockRiver (as well as other locations) they’ll

catch channel cats in the 10 poundrange and shrug their shoulders aboutit.! They get excited when they have a15 pounder or larger.! Flathead anglersprobably get more 20, 30, and 40pound fish than any muskie anglerwould hope for.

Here in Illinois, the Rock meanderssouth from the Wisconsin state line byRockford and continues through resi-dential and farmlands all the way downto the Mississippi River in the QuadCities area.

I had the opportunity to fish the riv-er below the dam at Rock Falls andSterling.! The river here is easy to navi-gate and there public ramps are easilyfound.! And for being a place to get cat-fish, it has grown to be one of my fa-vorite destinations here in Illinois.

Avid cat anglers most always anchorto stay on their catfish holding spots.They’ll place the boat up river from thelocation that they want to check out.They’ll set out an anchor, and then fishout the back of the boat.! One thingabout anchoring though, you’ll needsome very strong rope, have some chainbetween the anchor and rope and havean anchor that doesn’t easily snag in bigrocks.

I don’t want to paint too rosy ofa !picture here for you.! Fishing is fish-ing and it’s not called catching.! Somedays the fishing is good, some times itcould be better.! I’ve been on this riverin the Rock Falls area a few times andhad good days and bad days.! I guess it’s

best to say that the better the cat angleryou are, the better you’ll do on theRock River.

I’d never profess to be a catfishing au-thority.! But I keep an open mind andam always anxious to learn.! I do mybest to get out as often as possible andlearn what I can to improve my catch.To become a better angler, get out onthe river with a catfishing guide.Watch, listen and learn.!

Bone up on catfish angling by read-ing every article you can find.! Catfish-ing magazines and books are plentifuland you have to believe me here; themore you read the more you’lllearn. !The more often you get out, thebetter you’ll do. That’s the ticket to get-ting more fish.

By studying the art of catfishingyou’ll learn about rigging, boat posi-tion, bait selection, and more.! You’llalso get an education on when to go forcatfish and where.

“A lot of people don’t believe that wecan anchor in one spot and catch fifteento twenty inch channel cats one afteranother, all day long.” one catfish guidetold me.! “And when I tell them thatthe time to do that can be in October,November or even the dead of winter.They just think I’m kidding them.”

It’s true though.! In the fall and win-ter catfish anglers can catch dozens up-on dozens of cats from one winteringhole on a river.! The fish just stack uplike cord wood and if you can findthem, you’re in for some heavy action.

If you’d like to give the Rock River atry, there’s a free boat launch about 5miles west of Rt. 40 on Rt. 30 (west ofRock Falls/Sterling).!

Spend a day on the Rock River andyou will quickly learn that the RockRiver is truly a catfish haven.! But that’snot all.! You’ll also see that great fishingis not that far away.

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August 7thREGION I! (2 Weeks)

Two District 6 Officers responded to a missing 56year old fisherman on the Illinois River near Hennepin.The fisherman had been fishing the day before and failedto return home.! The next day his wife contacted the localpolice department who contacted the officers.! The offi-cers and a Putnam Co deputy found the fishermandeceased in his boat.! An autopsy is being conducted todetermine the cause of death.

A CPO received a complaint of subjects taking illegalfish at a dam in Whiteside Co. The CPO responded andbegan checks of the numerous fishermen.! The CPO locat-ed a subject who was in possession of an undersized wall-eye and had an over limit of smallmouth bass all of whichwere undersized.! The subject was issued 3 citations andhis fish were seized. The CPO continued checking fisher-men and soon located 2 other subjects in violation.! Onesubject was in possession of 2 undersized smallmouthbass and the other had an undersized walleye.! The sub-jects were issued citations and their fish were seized.

A District 1 CPO conducted fishing compliance checkson Lake Galena.! A Galena man was issued a citation forfishing without a valid sport fishing license.

A CPO completed watercraft safety inspections inCandlewick Association Lake in Boone County.! Thirteenmotorboats were inspected in a four hour span and nineviolations were addressed.

CPOs worked a security detail at Lowden State Park inOgle Co.! The Hell’s Angels Annual Rally was based out ofRockford this year.! Multiple law enforcement agenciesworked together to ensure the safety of the general pub-lic throughout northern Illinois.!!!

A District 1 CPO conducted vessel safety inspectionson the Mississippi River Pool 13.! Equipment violationssuch as: failure to wear engine cut-off lanyard, batteryterminals not being covered, not having a soundingdevice, PFD not being accessible, and improper display ofvalid registration number were addressed.!

Officers from District 7, with assistance from CPOsfrom Region 3 and 4, conducted a detail during the WhiteTrash Bash on “ParaDice Beach” in East Peoria. Twoarrests for operating watercraft under the influence weremade.! Assistance was also provided by FonDuLac ParkPolice and the Tazewell County Sheriff’s Dept.

A District 1 CPO conducted a fishing compliance checkon the Apple River in rural Jo Daviess Co.! When asked for

his fishing license, the Illinois resident provided aWisconsin fishing license.! When asked if he had anIllinois fishing license, the man said “No.”! When askedwhy he didn’t have an Illinois fishing license the man stat-ed he thought the Wisconsin license was good for theentire United States, except for Lake Michigan, whichwould cost $10 more. The man was educated on Illinois’license requirements and given a citation for fishingwithout a valid sport fishing license.

A District 1 CPO conducted fishing compliance checkson the Mississippi River in East Dubuque.! Two Iowa resi-dents were issued citations for fishing without valid non-resident sport fishing licenses.

A District 6 officer arrested three individuals forunlawful snagging in waters closed to snagging.

A District 6 officer arrested two individuals for unlaw-ful entry to a posted restricted area.

A District 1 CPO used a boat to assist Lee Co Sheriff’sDept locate a pipe bomb which had been found floating inthe Rock River.! The PVC pipe bomb was located by boatand secured on shore.! Rockford Bomb Squad was calledfor proper disposal of the bomb.

A District 7 officer arrested a Danvers, IL resident foroperating a watercraft under the influence of alcohol.!

A CPO stopped a motor vehicle speeding 15 mph overthe posted limit in Rock Cut State Park in WinnebagoCounty.! Additional violations discovered during thecourse of the stop included the vehicles registrationbeing expired, no proof of insurance for the automobile,the windshield was obstructed and the driver failed tonotify Secretary of State of address change.

A District 6 officer conducted an inspection of amews (raptor facility) for an individual going through theprocess to get his falconry license. The mews must meetfederal and state standards prior to a falconry licensebeing issued.

A District 6 officer completed an investigation involv-ing reality TV show hunters during the 2012 deer sea-son. The officer had been contacted by a retiredConservation Police Sergeant who had watched anepisode of their show.! During the episode two of thethree individuals were hunting with crossbows.! From thefoliage, the retired sergeant believed the hunt had takenplace during the first part of the archery season and acrossbow permit would be required.! With the assistancefrom the Springfield staff, the officer was able to deter-mine that all individuals hunting with a crossbow had the

numerous questions and assisted park staff with theperformance of their duties.! The blind drawingsoccurred with no incidents.

District 10 CPOs with the assistance of District 9 andRegion 1 conducted another detail during the annualRedneck fishing tournament.! During the course of thetwo day detail, approximately 100 boats were inspected.Numerous written warning and citations were issued forboating violations.

REGION VA CPO cited a Crappie Guide working on Rend Lake for

not having a 2013 Passenger for HireLicense.!!Corrective action was also taken!for operationof a watercraft without!required equipment.

CPOs arrested!two operators for OUI while on RendLake boat patrols.! A CPO arrested an out of state opera-tor on Saturday for OUI.! He was operating a personalwatercraft creating a wake in a no wake zone.! He!regis-tered over the legal limit at .14%.! A CPO arrested a manoperating in Gun Creek on Sunday for OUI-Drugs.!!Whileon a stop for a no wake violation, three and a halfcannabis joints!were found.! In addition to OUI and nowake the man was cited for possession of cannabis and apersonal flotation violation.!!!!

CPOs worked an Asian Carp fishing tournament on theWabash River.! Several carp were taken and multipleboats were inspected.! Two citations were issued forequipment!violations.

A CPO investigated a subject possessing a raccoon.While there a check thru ISP revealed the subject had anactive Order of Protection and the protected party waspresent.! The subject was cited for possessing the rac-coon and transported to the Fayette County jail.

August 14th REGION I

A CPO completed background investigations of 3CPOT candidates for the upcoming academy class.


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AUGUST 2013required crossbow and deer permits, but none of themhad purchased a hunting license or habitat stamp.! Theofficer made contact with the hunters. They stated theynormally have an individual ensure they had all therequired permits and licenses because they hunt in somany different states. However, admitted as hunters,they have to know what is required to hunt in each state.Enforcement action was taken.

A CPO in Henderson Co investigated the unlawful tak-ing of whitetail deer and turkeys in Hancock andMcDonough Counties.! Multiple citations are pending.

A CPO cited two subjects for illegal take of over thelimit of crappie.! Two subjects had a total of 108 crappiewith 15 being the legal limit.

REGION IVA CPO responded to a boat accident in the Bath chute.

The operator fell asleep and collided with debris in thewater.! Both subjects were ejected and suffered onlyminor injuries.! The operator was cited for careless oper-ation of a watercraft.

A CPO responded to a Target Illinois Poachers (TIPS)complaint in Morgan County. The TIPS complaint advisedthat an illegal commercial net was catching migratorywaterfowl, turtles, etc.! The CPO located the net, andafter an investigation, found the owner of the net.! Thecommercial fisherman was issued citations.

Received a raccoon complaint at Lake Petersburg.While conducting boat patrol on Lake Springfield,

CPOs checked a fisherman for a sport fishing license. Thefisherman did not possess a fishing license and was alsowanted on a warrant for failure to appear on an aggravat-ed DUI.! Subject was taken into custody and transportedto the Sangamon County jail.

District 10 CPOs were accompanied on boat patrol ofLake Taylorville by News Channel 20. CPOs explained ourmission and objectives of the duties of CPOs.! CPOs con-ducted numerous boat stops and issued appropriate cita-tions for safety violations.

District 10 CPOs were assigned to Sanganois andSandridge State Forest blind drawings.! CPOs answered

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POLICE… Cont’d. from previous pg.A CPO patrolled Knox Co area DNR sites, including

Buffalo PHA, Victoria PHA, T-Lake PHA, PheasantsForever Fields, Snakeden Hollow, and Spoon River StateForest.

A CPO began an investigation concerning a complaintof a fisherman waving around a handgun in HendersonCo.! Two fishermen were questioned at Putney’s Landingabout where they had placed their bank poles in thebackwaters of the Mississippi River by an armed fisher-man at the boat ramp.! A suspect has been identified andlocal CPOs will be working with area law enforcement toestablish a case against the suspect who has a lengthycriminal history and a revoked FOID status.

Two District 7 officers worked the Peoria area overthe weekend of August 10 & 11.! Officers focused prima-rily on recreational boat enforcement and patrollingdepartment lands.! 17 citations and 12 written warningswere issued.

A District 1 CPO issued a citation to an Albany man forbeing in possession of a walleye that was in the protectedslot limit for pool 14 of the Mississippi River.

A District 1 CPO issued citations to a Chicago womanfor being in possession of two illegal undersized small-mouth bass on the Rock River in Whiteside Co.! This wasafter the complainant advised her that the fish were tooshort and that she should release them.! She insteadburied them in ice underneath her catch of Fresh WaterDrum.

Two District 1 CPOs conducted a sport fishing detailfrom their boat on the lower Rock River near theSterling/Rock Falls Dam.! They were concentrating theirefforts in an area where complaints have been filed for

fishermen keeping short smallmouth bass, short walleye,and taking over limits of both.! The CPOs ended up issu-ing 15 citations, a written warning, and civil penalties tomultiple fishermen for the above violations.Enforcement action was also taken on a few fishermenfor not having sport fishing licenses.!!!!!!!

A District 6 officer was patrolling Starved Rock StatePark at night when he saw headlights.! The lights weremoving in different directions in a grassy area.! The offi-cer approached the vehicle and made a traffic stop.! The18 year old female driver had decided to do some off roaddriving in her Jeep in the park.! Enforcement action wastaken.

Two District 6 officers conducted a boat patrol on theIllinois River.! Several boat safety checks were conductedand many equipment violations were found.! One boathad two children under 13 years old not wearing PFDs, theboat also did not have any PFD’s for the 3 adults onboard.! Enforcement action was taken.

REGION IIIA CPO arrested a Monticello man, acting as a guide on

Lake Shelbyville for two clients, for over limit of crappie< 1O" in length.! The guide and clients possessed eightcrappie!in excess of the legal the limit.

A CPO arrested a Tuscola man for failure to release 3short large mouth bass, and for over-limit of crappie <10".! Subject possessed 18 crappie over the<10"!length!limit and 13 crappie over the overall limit forLake Shelbyville.! Subject was issued multiple citationswith a must appear court date in Shelby County.

A CPO and Sgt, while on boat patrol on Lake

Shelbyville in Moultrie Co stopped a Dewey man for oper-ating a boat with expired registration sticker andimproper display of registration.! The man was found tobe OUI (Operating Under the Influence of Alcohol) with a.203 BAC.! The man was issued citations for: OUIAlcohol, OUI with a BAC greater than .08, Operation of anUn-numbered watercraft, improper passenger locationwhile underway and failure to transfer certificate ofnumber.! The man was also issued four written warningsfor boat equipment violations.

A CPO arrested a Neoga youth and an Effingham youthfor careless operation of a watercraft and youthful oper-ator/no safety certificate.

REGION VA CPO cited a subject at Forbes State Park after a

verbal altercation near the beach broke out.! One of thesubjects was seen driving out of the area and was foundto be a suspended driver.

A CPO patrolled the Wabash River and came upon twoelderly fishermen stranded after their boat broke down.He towed them!back to shore.

A CPO assisted Fayette County Sheriff with a subjectwho was mauled by his 800 pound black bear.! The sub-ject suffered a broken hip, broken femur, and multiplelacerations but is expected to recover.! The bear was shotby a family member before officers arrived.

A District 16!CPO discovered a fresh pile of trashdumped along a creek at the Kinkaid Spillway.! Whilelooking for clues in the pile he overheard the JacksonCounty Sheriff's Office talking about another trash pileelsewhere in the county.! Having found some addresses in the pile of trash the!CPOproceeded to that location.! At the location a subject was

observed cleaning out a building.! When interviewed bythe!CPO the subject admitted to dumping trash at theSpillway and 3 other areas in the county.! The subject wascited for pollution of waterways by the!CPO and immedi-ately cleaned up the mess.! The Jackson County Sheriff'sOffice referred their case to the Jackson County healthdept where the subject faces fines up to $1500.00 oneach dump site.! The subject informed the!CPO that hewas going to lose a lot of money on this job.!

CPOs!cited 2 subjects who were in possession of 4short largemouth bass.! 3 of the 4 bass were document-ed as short illegal, the fish were released.!

A!CPO cited a subject at Kinkaid Lake spillway fishingwithout a license.!

A!CPO assisted Union Co and ISP attempting to locatea female who had pulled a pistol on a subject in ruralUnion Co and fled in a vehicle.!!!

A CPO!arrested a boat operator on Rend Lake for oper-ating under the influence.! His BAC was .11%.! AnotherCPO arrested another operator!for OUI at South Marcumon Rend Lake while waiting for the first CPO to returnfrom the jail.! His BAC was .13%.District 14 patrolled!the area and rivers around theInsane Clown Posse's gathering! at HogRock.!!Enforcement action was taken for issues at!Cave-In-Rock State Park and!on the Ohio River.! !!!

August 21stREGION I

While on boat patrol on the Rock River in Ogle County,a District 1 CPO stopped a boat for an improper passen-ger location.! The CPO conducted a safety inspection andobserved the operator to be consuming alcohol. The CPOgave the operator some field sobriety tests and deter-

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mined the operator was safe to be operating.! The CPOissued the operator two written warnings for the passen-ger location and battery terminals and released them.About three hours later, the CPO was checking boats atthe boat ramp and observed a subject operating up to thedock, drinking a beer.! As the CPO approached, the oper-ator put his beer down. The CPO recognized the operatoras the same person he had stopped earlier for the pas-senger location and determined he had continued drink-ing beer throughout the afternoon.!! This time the opera-tor was found to be under the influence of alcohol andarrested for OUI.

While patrolling Mississippi River Pool 16, a DistrictSergeant and CPO observed a boat come “whipping” outof a small chute.! Conducting an inspection on the water-craft, the operator was arrested for operating a water-craft under the influence of drugs and for possession ofcannabis/drug paraphernalia.!!!

While patrolling along the Hennepin Canal, a CPOobserved a vehicle that was not properly displaying validregistration.! Conducting a traffic stop on the vehicle,the driver was arrested for DUI.!

While checking fishermen along the Hennepin Canal, aCPO arrested 2 subjects for possession of cannabis anddrug paraphernalia.!

A District 7 officer responded to a fish kill along theWest branch of Panther Creek in Woodford County.! Anestimated total of 29,258 fish were killed over a 4.5 milestretch of creek.! 21 different species were killed afteran unknown amount of swine waste was discharged intothe creek.!

CPOs worked a boat patrol for the 4th annual“Floatzilla” event in the Quad Cities. Floatzilla is anattempt to set a world record of the most canoes andkayaks all holding on to one another at the same time.The event starts early in the morning with differentlaunching points for the boats.! They all converge atSunset Marina in Rock Island at 2:00 p.m.! It appearsanother attempt will have to be made, but fun was had byall.! Boater assists were made by various agencies whena canoe or kayak would tip over but no serious injurieswere reported.

A Dist 6 CPO given a call in reference to a hawk thatwas struck by a semi and was still alive stuck to the semi.The CPO was going to meet the semi driver at a rest areaon I 80.! When the CPO entered the parking lot of the restarea a subject flagged the CPO down.! A male subject wason the ground unconscious.! EMS was notified.! A Navycorpsman on leave was attending to the victim.! The sub-ject appeared to have committed suicide by taking a

large amount of prescription drugs.! The subject wastransported to a nearby hospital.! ISP has taken over theinvestigation.

Two District 7 CPOs conducted boat patrols on theIllinois River and checked watercraft for safety equip-ment compliance.! Various violations were found rangingfrom personal floatation device violations to no compe-tent observer while towing.! Appropriate enforcementaction was taken.!!!

District 6 officers arrested a male for illegally har-vesting ginseng.! The male illegally dug up 61 ginsengplants from a nature preserve three weeks prior to sea-son.! The male additionally failed to plant the plant’sberries and did not have a ginseng harvest license.! Hewas issued five citations, fingerprinted, and evicted fromthe state park for 90 days.

A CPO in Henderson Co investigated a complaint ofillegal commercial fishing on the Mississippi River inHenderson County.!6 illegal hoop nets were seized duringthe investigation.! Multiple citations are pending.

A CPO in Henderson Co responded to a complaint atBig River State Forest.! A truck was observed drivingaround a series of barricades to access a closed portionof the park.! The driver was cited for being in a restrictedarea and failure to display proof of insurance.

A District 1 CPO received a phone call from a local ani-mal shelter in reference to an animal brought to theirshelter.! The person who brought the animal to the shel-ter thought it was a "wild ferret" since it was runningacross her front porch eating the cat food.! In order tocatch the animal, she put the cat food in a cat carrier andwaited for the animal to go inside.! She then shut the doorand took it to the shelter.! The staff at the shelter imme-diately recognized the animal as a mink and told the ladyto take it back to where it came from.! She refused andimmediately left the animal with the cage at the shelter.The staff tried to get her license plate number but it wastoo late.! The staff contacted a CPO and permission wasgranted to relocate the mink to a nearby wooded area.!!!!!

A District 6 officer issued citations to 3 individualsfor climbing the canyons at starved rock.

REGION IIA CPO!cited one individual for possessing a walleye in

the protected slot at Wilmington Dam. The walleye was22" and the slot is!between 18" to 26".

A CPO!responded to ongoing dumping complaint onprivate property.! An off-duty Will Co Forest Preserveofficer witnessed 2!individuals dumping yard waste on!aproperty notorious for dumping.! The officer was able to

get a description of the vehicle and it occupants.The!CPO arrived at the suspect’s house as they weredoing yard work.! The individuals insisted they had per-mission from a construction company to dump on theproperty.! However, they were unable to provide thename of the construction company and stated it wasnearly 3 years ago!they!got permission to dump. The!CPOinformed them that he had an open complaint letter fromthe company that no one was allowed to dump on theproperty.! The suspects were cited and given a mandato-ry court appearance.

A CPO handling a boat inspection investigation dis-covered that the boat was actually stolen out ofWisconsin but due to an error had not been entered intoLEADS.! The actual owner corrected the reporting issueand arrangements are being made to return the boat toits owner.

A District 2!CPO arrested a subject while fishing onthe Fox River in McHenry County for no fishing licenseand obstructing identification after the individual pro-vided a false name and date of birth.

REGION IVA District 10 CPO, patrolling the Sangamon Co

Conservation Area, observed several people fishing andOff Road vehicles being ridden on state property.! Upon

contact with the fishermen, none had the required fish-ing licenses. The fishermen and off road vehicle opera-tors were cited.

A District 10 CPO cited an outfitter for insufficientrecords during a commercial inspection.

A District 10 CPO patrolled Sangchris Lake State Parkand Christian County issuing citations and warnings forviolations of the Illinois fish code.

A District 10 CPO patrolled Christian County conduct-ing inspections on sport-fishermen and enforcing IllinoisATV laws by issuing written warnings for park and fish-ing.

A Christian County CPO patrolled Sangchris LakeState Park and Taylorville Lake issuing citations andwarnings for boating, fishing, and outfitting violations.

A Christian County CPO patrolled the district issuingwarnings for fishing and ATV violations.

A CPO patrolled the Salt Creek area and SangamonRiver.! The water level was perfect for canoeists.! Severalvessels were inspected with only one fishing violationdetected.

CPOs patrolled the Illinois River around Meredosia.Several fishermen were found without the requiredlicenses. Citations were issued.

A Monroe County CPO handled a complaint of squirrelhunting out of season. The elderly violator lived in a rural

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POLICE… Cont’d. from previous pg. checking fishermen at Rend Lake.! Several groups of fisher-men were cited for a variety of violations including snag-ging.! A one hitter box with cannabis, two pipes and a bag ofcannabis were seized during the checks.!

August 28thREGION I

A CPO was on patrol in Johnson Sauk Trail State Park.The CPO observed 3 young men fishing at the site lake.! Asthe men left the area they left trash at the site and one ofthem threw a bottle into the lake.! The CPO made contactwith these men and determined none of them had a fishinglicense.! Each person was issued 2 citations (6 citationstotal/ no fishing license/littering) and they have a manda-tory court appearance in Henry Co Court in September.

A District 1 CPO was checking bank fishermen at theCastle Rock State Park overlook when he discovered onesubject to be in possession of an undersized smallmouthbass. The subject was issued a citation and the dead fishwas seized.

A CPO investigated a baiting complaint in District 7.! Atip from a concerned citizen prompted the officer to checkon a potentially baited dove field.! The complaint wasunfounded as it related to dove hunting.

REGION IICPOs wrote several citations during a netting detail in

Kane Co. !Citations were issued for cannabis, netting sportfish and fishing without a license.!

CPOs caught an individual smoking cannabis at Chain O'Lakes State Park. !The man was also found to be fishingwithout a license. !

A CPO cited four subjects for fishing in a restricted area.A CPO cited two subjects for illegal possession of under-

sized bass.A CPO arrested a subject for illegally dumping household

garbage in a rural area of Kankakee County.

REGION IIIA CPO observed a!vehicle!stopped in the roadway.!!A!sub-

ject came out of a ditch and got into the passenger area.The CPO observed several subjects in the vehicle and con-ducted a traffic stop.! The subject in the passenger seat hadbeen picking clover blossoms.! The CPO observed fishingequipment and asked if the group had been fishing.! Theytold the CPO they had been fishing in one of the Corps ofEngineer ponds and!had five large-mouth bass that theykept.! The driver told the CPO all the bass were over the 14inch legal limit and then showed the CPO the bass.!Thelargest bass measured 13 inches and the smallest measuredjust over 9 inches.! The CPO issued a citation for under legalsize bass taken from a Corps of Engineers pond.

A CPO stopped a Douglas Co man and woman operatingATVs on the roadway with open alcohol in Douglas Co.Enforcement action was taken.

While checking fishermen at the Clinton Lake Spillway aDistrict 19 Officer observed a fisherman move from hislocation as the officer approached.! When the officer got tothe location that the fisherman left he observed a greenmedicine vile on the ground.! When he asked the fishermanabout the vial the fisherman stated that it was there whenhe got there.! There was a green leafy substance in the vile.When taken off to the side and asked about the vile the fish-erman admitted that it was his and that it was cannabis.When the officer asked where his pipe was the fishermanretrieved a glass pipe out of his pocket and gave it to theofficer.! Citations were issued.

Other District 19 Officers wrote ten written warnings onfish and boating violations; and!4 citations for park/alcohol& littering violations.! 2 hunter safety courses were con-ducted in Vermilion Co.

REGION IVDistrict 10 Officers worked preseason migratory game

birds including flight inspections.A CPO investigated an illegal dumping of deer case in

Menard Co.! The dead deer was dumped from a local deerfarm.! The CPO obtained a confession and charges are pend-ing.

District 10 CPOs conducted enforcement on subjectsillegally fishing in Menard and Sangamon Counties.! Chargesranged from written warnings for no fishing licenses toarrests for fishing in restricted areas.

A Sangamon Co subject was arrested on a warrant afterbeing checked for a fishing license.! The subject was trans-ported to the Sangamon Co jail where he later posted bond.

A CPO completed a records inspection on a deer andturkey outfitter in District 10.! The Outfitter was cited fornumerous violations and was instructed on how to correctthem.

A CPO!was checking sport fishermen along theMississippi River.!2 fishermen did not have sport fishinglicenses. During the check, the CPO smelled the odor ofcannabis and observed a pipe in the arm of the chair. Duringa search, he found a second pipe and two containers ofcannabis. The 2 fishermen were arrested for possession ofdrug paraphernalia and possession of cannabis. !A 3rd sub-ject who was not fishing was also arrested for the same.

A CPO!was called to assist the Missouri Water Patrol atan Illinois Marina with 2 subjects who were messing withsomeone else's trot lines. During the assist, they smelledthe odor of cannabis. The subject admitted to smokingcannabis and gave them permission to search his vehicle.They found a pipe and some cannabis in the glove compart-ment.

A CPO!interviewed a subject reference to taking!two deerwith!resident deer permits when the subject was a nonresi-dent. !The subject admitted to shooting a ten point buck anda doe. The subject was issued citations for unlawful takingof deer and the ten point buck was seized.

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town and was illegally trapping and shooting squirrels in hisbackyard.! He openly admitted killing and eating about 15squirrels although he was well aware that squirrel seasondid not open until August 1.! The violator (who appeared tobe a lifelong outdoorsman) stated he thought he could do sobecause a county board member told him (incorrectly) thathe could shoot and trap them because they were a “nui-sance”.!! Written warnings were issued and the countyboard member was contacted regarding wrongfully author-izing the taking of squirrels out of season.!!!!!!!!!!

While on boat patrol on the Kaskaskia River, two District13 CPOs stopped a boat that had 4 passengers. The opera-tor had no life jackets on the boat and he was cited for fail-ure to have PFD's.! He was also issued three written warn-ings for various other boat infractions.

A District 13 officer is investigating a fatal boat acci-dent that occurred on the Mississippi River.! Early Fri, morn-ing a call was received that a tug pushing 15 barges had afishing boat lodged in front of its barges.! A passing tugnoticed the vessel and radioed to inform the other tug of itspresence.! The fishing vessel was unoccupied when it wasdislodged.! Investigation pointed to the registered owner ofthe vessel being the only person on board.! Search and res-cue efforts were started.! On Saturday, the District 13 Sgt.and a CPO located the missing fishermen in the MississippiRiver.! IDNR and U.S. Coast Guard are working together onthe investigation of the accident.

A St. Clair Co CPO assisted in the recovery of a manfound by fishermen floating in Horseshoe Lake State Park.The ISP are investigating the incident as a possible homi-cide.

A District 13 CPO was off duty and at home when hereceived information about a TIPS complaint concerningtwo men snagging below the spillway at Carlyle Lake.! TheCPO went to the area and observed two young men activelysnagging fish.! They were both spoken with and both admit-ted to snagging and knew it was illegal.! Both were issuedcitations.!

A Monroe Co CPO was checking fishermen at a local Fishand Wildlife Area when he encountered a fisherman return-ing from the lake in his Jon boat.! The CPO assisted the manwith loading his boat onto his trailer and then performed aboat safety inspection and checked his fish. The man hadcaught and kept 3 obviously undersized bass. An identifica-tion check revealed the subject also had a suspended dri-ver’s license and had driven his truck and boat trailer fromout-of-state to fish in Illinois.! Further checking alsorevealed the subject did not have insurance on his truck. Thetruck and boat and trailer were towed and citations wereissued for the fish and traffic violations.

A Monroe Co CPO was foot patrolling a rural timberedcreek bottom for squirrel hunters and possible fish andgame violations when he observed two men walking in acreek. The CPO identified himself and discovered one of themen possessed a loaded 9 mm handgun in his back pocket.(They claimed it was for protection from mountain lions.) Itwas further discovered both men possessed drug parapher-nalia and cannabis. The drug items were seized and appro-priate enforcement action was taken.!!

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begin the ascent before daylight. But it waslate during a ten-day hunt into the BobMarshall Wilderness.

Up to this point elk had been slowresponding to my most eloquent vocaliz-ing. !Neither had they left "rubs" or mud-died wallows or criss-crossed game trailswithin our valley. With elk hunting goodbut elk "getting" poor, we decided to try forone of the big mule deer bucks sometimesspotted on our mountain. That those buckshung out around timberline daunted us, inour ignorance, not at all.

Up we trudged. Up the avalanche chute,clawing through a thick forest of smallsaplings. Up through the shoulder-highmenzesia brush and into the ancient spruceforest. Up above the forest, onto the rockledges and the steep beargrass-covered slopes.Up onto a spur ridge leading still further upto the main summit.

We ate lunch on the spur, swallowing thelast dregs from our water bottles and dan-gling our legs into the abyss from which we'djust clambered. At last we pushed to our feetand trudged on, always eyeing a summit thatseemed to retreat as we pursued. I stoopedand picked up a small stone from theridgetop. The stone had what appeared to bea clamshell the size of a pocketwatch embed-ded in it. Alex stopped to see why I'd halted,then began searching for his own clamshellfossils.

It was over an hour later before either of uscould break away to continue our "hunt."When we did, it was to peer toward our stillelusive mountaintop. Trudge a few steps,then pant. Trudge a couple more steps, thenpant (oxygen was short up here, and myhunter accused me of leading the way so Icould get first crack at breathing). Anotherhour went by before we had the summitnearly in our grasp.

With our goal so near, we still sprawled ona tundra slope to let our lungs processenough air to push on the final leg. Whilewaiting, I pulled binoculars from my packand glassed the mountainside we'd traversedon our way up. "Well I'll be!" I muttered.

"What do you see?" Alex asked.I handed him the glasses. "See that cave

that's directly under where we ate lunch. Seewhat's there?"

It was his turn to mutter, "Well, wouldyou look at that rascal!"! That rascal was adandy mule deer buck, lounging not morethan thirty feet below where we'd paused forlunch. When he turned his head to peerdown canyon, we counted five points on oneside, then when he swung back to gaze at weretreating hunters, five on the other. Iguessed that the spread was near thirty inch-es.

"Want to go after him, Alex?! We mightget him down before dark."

My hunter swiveled to gaze up at our elu-

C A M P F I R E C A M P F I R E C U L T U R E : C U L T U R E :

The Elusive Summit

by Roland Cheekwww.RolandCheek.comNo casual observer would've picked us out

from a distance--tiny bug-like dots trudgingup the vast mountain. Actually, we were twogray-haired guys on a mission, crawling up anear-perpendicular slope we hoped wouldtake us to a lofty summit that floated some-where up there 2,500 feet above our camp.Earlier we'd grinned and shook hands andpledged allegiance to the God of the moun-tain--and the fact that both of us would liketo reach the top before cashing in ourremaining cardiac chips.!

One of the dots was a hunter, the other hisguide. It was never clear whose idea it was to

Roland Cheek wrote a syndicated outdoors column (Wild Trails and

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In addition, he scripted and broadcast a daily radio show

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sive summit and shook his head. "I've cometoo far not to go on up." Then he grinnedand added, "And you're my guide, so you'llhave to go, too."

Standing on top of "our mountain" con-cluded one of our most “successful” hunts!

Roland Cheek • P.O. Box 1118Columbia Falls, MT [email protected]

Find Roland’s e-books on Amazon.com

055_001.qxd 10/26/13 12:59 PM Page 1


This is the age of speed, and everyone expects that things are accomplished everfaster, all of the time. You can get false teeth in one day, so why should gun repair takelonger? The parts that are needed to fix the problem are probably just collecting dustin one of the shop drawers, right? What do you do when that expectation doesn’tmaterialize and who do you blame for the delay that is obviously unwarranted? Afterall, this gun was imported for two whole years back in the 60’s, so what’s the problemof locating parts 50 years hence?

It seems that every gunsmith has the same story that anxious shooters want theirdelivery post-haste, and the workload that you have already in house is not a point tonote – for them, at least. When passing the local body shop the day after a hailstormand 50 cars from the dealership down the road are there on the lot, the delay is open

and obvious. What about the workload sitting in the back of thegun shop not seen while dropping off a repair? Does that meanthat there is no work in front of this job being left?

It is unlikely that a shop wants to have delays for repair com-pletion, since all understand the uncomfortable situation of hav-ing to wait for something to be done. The trouble is that few willappreciate the scope of the problems and stumbling blocks thatimpede timely return, and that there are too many that expect thattheir problem deserves to be fixed in a hurry. How can the situa-tion be resolved where one expects their job to be placed at thefront of the line ahead of whatever jobs are already there and haveowners with their own apparent needs? Who gets to be first, andwhat about the next one that comes in and expects to get your spotat the head of the line?

Parts procurement creates unique difficulties that are especiallyinherent in low production, obsolete, imported, or even customfirearms and their cousins that require almost every part to be sub-stantially hand fitted to the mechanism. Uniqueness can greatlyconsume time in the search for the last place on Earth that has thatone part remaining that will return the gun to service. So the partthat was represented to fit properly finally arrives - and whenchecked - sometimes is incorrect in some dimension or was madefor a different caliber or size or model. Who pays for the time andexpense for returning the incorrect part, and the subsequentsearch continuance by necessity to keep the time lost from goingdown the drain and still has the gun not working?

Here is one woeful example of such a time waste: a replacementfiring pin, spring, and retaining pin arrived for an obsolete importthat lacked these parts when purchased by the new owner.Examples of these shotguns were last brought over in pitifullysmall numbers a decade ago, and the search time landed at the cur-rent importer of newer models where this unfortunate discrepan-cy started.

The firing pin tail was a bit larger than the hole in the bolt, butpeeling a bit off the diameter is not a big deal. Something else did-n’t seem right, and the spring turned out to be too large to passthrough the hole in the bolt. Too bad that the hole can’t be drilledopen to let the spring fit through. Maybe another spring can befound for substitution.

(pic #1)

The retaining pin also was a bit off specification, in the fact thatone end was headed but there was no place provided at the pinhole end because the main pin hole was all one diameter and alsohalf again smaller than the pin. There might be a need to make aretaining pin, too.

Gunsmithingwith Kirby SchuppThe Shotgun Shop • PO Box 212 • Arnold, MO 63010

[email protected] • theshotgunshop.net

P A R T S P R O B L E M S , D E L I V E R Y D E L A Y SP A R T S P R O B L E M S , D E L I V E R Y D E L A Y S

056_001.qxd 10/28/13 2:54 AM Page 1


At the point of checking the firing pin compatibility for fit, it was placed upon thebolt for overall comparison, and something didn’t seem quite right. A 3” long pinwon’t work for a bolt more than 3/8” longer, especially when the tail end (blue arrow)must protrude out the back enough to clear the bolt slide tail (white arrow). The tailis meant to protect the mechanism from accidental firing if the hammer falls prior tothe bolt slide being fully forward and the locking block seated. The firing pin tip(black arrow) is not near the front face of the bolt where it should be (red arrow), andthe firing pin stretcher seems to have been misplaced. Spring wrong, retainer wrong,and now the firing pin is completely incorrect, so three strikes...

This shop takes on jobs that others would either refuse outright or places such anexorbitant bid that the shooter refuses rather than having them reject the job as un-doable. Those types of jobs can have unknown factors that resist estimating precisework times, and the presence of multiple such jobs places the idea of estimated deliv-ery dates in a spot that could render any hopes as moot. If you had a need for backsurgery, do you want the surgeon that has no waiting due to having few other patients,or the one that has done plenty of difficult operations – and therefore is sought byquite many sufferers to provide service with expertise and higher success rate? The pre-vious articles here in the Adventure Sports Outdoors and also at the website are evi-dence of abilities and successful outcomes, as well as the informative exposure of prob-lems caused by rushed work and inexperience that arrive here for remedy.

Archived articles can easily be found online at asomagazine.com, and when at thehome page, click on the top link that says “READ ASO”. The most recent half-dozenfront covers dated by month are displayed at the top of the page, and near the pagebottom you will see listed the earlier editions back to January 2011. Once you click onthe issue link, a number list is displayed of PDF files, one per page. The gunsmithingarticles by me are all going to be on pages 56 and 57, but note that they may suggestauto-save as only the page number. Suggested re-naming is to have the issue year andmonth to place before the page number and “save as” (example 2013, 03, 56 for March2013 page 56 and same with 57, now article saved - that edition). Summary:1. asomagazine.com2. “Read ASO” at top - click3. Choose issue, starts 2011 at the bottom4. Displays number list vertically 5. pg. 6 is author index6. Choose page to view7. Rename page to save8. Gunsmithing articles: pages 56 and 57

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057_001.qxd 10/28/13 2:53 AM Page 1


Bass fishing is not done yet! Even thoughwe’re not far away from cold weather, andthe end of the time when numbers of an-glers hit the water with regularity, big bassare still on the prowl, and will remain so forsome time yet.

*The SeasonLate fall can produce some of the biggest

bass of the year. While the cold of winter isnot far away, the cooling waters of late falltrigger bass to feed, in an attempt to fattenup even more before the more lean timesarrive. While winter usually means slowerfishing, for game fish living in waters farbelow their optimal temperature range, latefall can be something altogether different.

The end of hot bass action may be taper-ing off in the last half of October in Cana-da and across portions of the far northernUnited States, while action doesn’t slowuntil well into December in much of thesouthern States, or, not at all down in Mex-

ico. Still, acrossmost of the bass’range in NorthAmerica, and es-p e c i a l l yt h r o u g h o u tmost of theMidwest andcentral UnitedStates, Novem-ber is the monthfor late fallbruiser bass ac-tion.

*Let’s Get EmContrary to what some might think, late

fall is still a time for power fishing tactics. Aslower and more vertical approach can cer-tainly take bass at this time of year, but ourteam has found that using aggressive tacticscan be even better. Even though watersmight be quite cool at this time, they’re

usually not nearly as cold as they’ll be inanother month or two, when winter’s icygrip is planted firmly upon much of theland of the bass. Fish can be surprisinglyactive, and while it’s rare, we’ve even takenbig trophy class bass on top water luresduring this period!

Horizontal moving baits that mimic theprimary forage that bass utilize in fall is theway to go. What this means is employingswim baits, swim jigs with paddle tail shadsor curly tail grubs and other baitfish mim-

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Ray Simms with a late fall!largemouth takenon the Colby Simms Tackle

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LAST CHANCE BASSLAST CHANCE BASSBASS FISHING IS NOT DONE

YET IN LATE FALLBy: Ray Simms with Walt Krause

Photos by: The Colby Simms Outdoors Teamwww.ColbySimmsOutdoors.com

Colby with a big fall smallmouth taken on a

CST Hatchet Spin.icking plastic trailers, casting spoons, bladebaits minnow plugs and cranks, and ofcourse, our favorite lure, the spinnerbait.These kinds of lures mimic shad, ciscoes,shiners and other bait fish species far betterthan others, the preferred prey of most bassin most waters, especially in fall.

*Late Fall LocationLate fall can be a time of change for bass.

Usually, the early portion of late fall meansthat the largest concentrations of active

058_001.qxd 10/27/13 4:10 PM Page 1


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bass are in the shallows, often still far up inthe backs of creeks and river arms, bays,pockets and coves, where they activelycruise, and hunt shallow to mid depth flats,shelves, secondary points, and graduallytapering shoreline banks. Often, at somepoint during this period, usually in thelater part of late fall, many of the bass willbegin to migrate toward classic winteringlocations, usually while still remainingactive and feeding heavily, as they followschools of bait fish out of the more con-fined areas of waters.

They move toward the deeper main lakebasin type areas, where many spend winter

Colby Simms Outdoors!TeamMember!John Risius!displays a big

late fall bass.CSO Pro Staffer

Chris Shannon caught this fall bruiser.

along steep sloping break lines, primarypoints, the edges of offshore humps, anddeeper creek and river channel ledges.Additionally, on waters with vegetation, wealso often see a major shift in the use ofcover by bass. While some bass are usuallystill using water grasses and weeds in theearly part of late fall, they gradually beginto use this cover less and less as it continuesto die off, eventually focusing on rock andwood cover options.

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ings, but this time can produce some of thebiggest bass of the year. So, make sure notto miss it, and the beauty of the water andwilderness, as autumn slowly fades away.God bless and cast away…

*Cast AwayBy late fall, anglers often have a lake,

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RAY SIMMS is a highly accomplished & internationally renowned sport fishing pro &media personality, working as a TV show co-host & guest star, multiple champion

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Everyone is Invited to come to the

Veterans Day Parade on Monday, Nov. 11, 2013

The Parade is held in Peoria to hon-or all Veterans that have served andthose that are currently serving ourcountry.

The Parade will start staging atBryan and Monroe Streets at 8:30 amand will kick off at 10:00 am sharp.The Parade will travel down Monroeto Main Street, around to AdamsStreet arriving at the CourthousePlaza where there will be a full Cere-mony at the WWII Memorial. Hopeto see you and the whole familythere.

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060_001.qxd 10/27/13 6:26 PM Page 1


Congratulations to Eldred Nehmelmanof Green Valley, IL who claimed a pair

of titles in the Adequan Select AmericanQuarter Horse Association World Champion Show in Amarillo, TX.

Nehmelman won the world championcrown and the first place intermediate

title for three year old stallions. He showed his 2010 bay stallion

Sinatrafied at the Tri-State Fairgrounds to earn the two titles in the halter class.

(left)The parade

is fun for all ages!

(right)Wayne

Erickson Jr. Active Duty

4 Tours War On Terror

(left)One of themeaningfulfloats in the

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(below)Veterans…

WE THANKYOU!

061_001.qxd 10/27/13 6:25 PM Page 1

B A INews

B y E d D e V r i e sGreetings and happy hunting season to

all from the BAI! And happy fall while weare at it! Fall is a great time for bowfishing,cooler temps, clear waters, less weedgrowth and lot of big fish hitting the shal-lows for some end of the year warmth andfood before the big freeze sets in. And wehave been getting quite a few good fish al-

a great marina run by good people, if youwant to bowfish the river its a great place tostart.

SHABBONA LAKE UPDATEThe BAI has been working with the ID-

NR on getting the season increased atShabbona from May/June to tear round.By the time you read this the regulationsshould have been changed as latest wordfrom the DNR Fisheries division says thatthe rule changes have passed all notices andare about to be adopted. This is great newsfor those who bowfish out of small boats orcanoes as this lake has a 10 HP motor re-striction. And it has some real big carp!Check our forum at www.illinoisbowfish-ing.info for the latest and when the rulesare officially adopted. And enjoy these newbowfishing opportunities brought to youby the IDNR and YOUR club the BAI!

That’s it for this month. The outdoorshow season is coming up fast so plan onstopping by one of them and visit ing withthe BAI. And remember the BAI is a freeclub dedicated to promoting bowfishingand having fun! If you’re not a memberjoin up! You will be glad you did.

I l l inoisBowfishing.net

na in Wilmington Ill. This year shoot wasalso a benefit for long time member DaveTribe to help pay for some of his medicalbills after suffering a dangerousaortic! aneurysm! requiring several openheart surgeries. We raised close to $800 forDave and more importantly Dave is wellon his way to recovery and already back onthe water sticking fish. And we stuck somefish at the season ender! The DesPlains riv-er is one of the best bowfishing waters inthe Midwest and proved itself at the shoot.Winning the shoot for the second year in arow was Steve Bailey and Dennis Day ofteam Spearing Nemo. Steve also took bigfish honors with a 43lb grass carp.!SecondPlace went to team Aquaholics, Troy EvansTony Infusino and Bill Runchey, and!thirdplace went to team Rickter! (Rick UrbanDave Thacker Jake Sweitek.

Big gar went to team Perry Twins Out-doors, Big Buffalo went to Rick Urban andBrian Paulson who tied. Big CommonCarp went to Rick Urban and big bigheadcarp went to Jake Sweitek. Big shad alsowent to Perry twins outdoors. We had agreat BBQ before the shoot and some greattimes! Special thanks goes out to Harry andthe 3 Rivers Marina for donating a one yearramp pass to the benefit shoot. 3 Rivers is

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Ed DeVries took these Late Season Grass Carp from The IL

BAI Member Sheila Walkerwith a Late Season Bighead

ready this fall. November first is the start ofthe annual Cabelas Winter League Big FishContest! !The contest is similar to our AMSSeason Championship contest where youcan enter pics of fish shot between Novem-ber 1st and March 1st on our forum for achance at some great prizes including Ca-belas gift cards. Get all the rules atwww.illinoisbowfishing.net in out big fishcontests section. Its alot of fun and 100%free to all our members. So register on theforum and join the fun!

END OF SEASON SHOOT RESULTSThe BAI held its annual End of Season

Shoot last month out of the 3 Rivers Mari-

2014 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 5.3L 4x4 Crew Cab

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062_001.qxd 10/27/13 6:57 PM Page 1


Schrock Repair, Inc.Schrock Repair, Inc.1422 US HWY 150 • P.O. Box 10 • Goodfield, IL 61742

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Dennis Medley of Morton with a late

Sept. bass over 6#.Caught on a 3-inch

purple puddle jumperplastic bait by Ozark Fishing

Company.

Full Service Restaurant Serving Steaks, Seafood & More!Tues.-Sat. • Lunch 11-2 • Dinner 5-9

Tues: Chicken Dinner Special & Excellent Pasta DishesThurs: All-You-Can-Eat Walleye • Fri. & Sat.: Roasted Prime Rib

410 Locust St. • (309) 244-9488www.OldeTowneGrilleDelavan.com

Historic Downtown Delavan, Illinois

BAIMember

SteveBailey

with his 3 Rivers

Grass Carp

BAIDirector

TroyEvans

with his 3 Rivers

GrassCarp

Bring your Trophy to Harley Grove!

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DUCKETTES ANNUALLADIES NIGHT OUT

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063_001.qxd 10/27/13 7:07 PM Page 1


imminent. They wait for the fallsolstice to get critters moving

better in order to optimizetheir chances of a closeencounter and the rewardsof straps.

With the curse of atwo week vacation allotment

so typical in America, it sure-ly is wise to wait for the best two

weeks. Wiser yet to take more timeoff. Afterall, how much stuff does oneneed?

But for me, there is simply no way onGod’s good green earth that a mere four-teen days, of sixty or a hundred for thatmatter, could possibly tame the savagepredator beast in this old guitarboy.

I figured it out a long time ago in mybowhunting addicted youth that my lifewould be balanced and prioritizedbetween brutal, ferocious Chuck Berryinspired rock-n-roll gone mad and themagic time in the woods with my bowand arrows. Good Lord can a kid get anyluckier than that? No.

Make it perfectly clear that I work myass off royal all year long. I still performroughly 80 dangerously hi-energy con-certs every summer, (down from 350 ayear in my youth!) conduct powerhousemedia interviews nonstop throughoutthe year promoting logic and self-evi-

Cravings of thePredator Kind

By Silence. Stillness. Clarity. Life. Could there possibly be any other sit-

uation or environment as peaceful, raw,primal and perfect as a treestand? No.

If ever there was a place where we canbe at once poised to pounce and kill, yetnearly comatose, in suspended anima-tion, flatline like relaxed, it is the soulcleansing peaceful perch of our predatorambush throne.

God knows I have maximized my treetime for 65 years so far, and yes, afterprolonged vigils where no game is seen,boredom does indeed become a realthreat, but if one dedicates oneself totruly appreciating such abundant bless-ings, boredom can’t hold a candle to thebuzz of nature and the ensuing stimulithat surrounds us in the lap of God.

Say HALLELUJAH!I know a lot of bowhunters who don’t

even bother hunting until the pre-rut is

dent truth while obliterating the lyingleftist America hating scum with crow-bars of evidence and history. I write NewYork Times Best Seller books, writehundreds of articles for conservativewebsites and many great sporting publi-cations. I compose killer lovesongs allyear long, train uppity LabradorRetrievers, cater to Mrs. Nugent inces-santly, constantly communicate withkids and grandkids and family and elect-ed officials nationwide, !work on trucks,and tractors, and lawnmowers andATVs, sight in guns, test guns andammo, train with guns, conduct charitywork for every imaginable children’s andmilitary charity, fill feeders, fix fence,run a year round trapline, produce ouraward winning Ted Nugent Spirit of theWild TV show for Outdoor Channeland others, record killer records, andamongst all this ultra-fun insanity, I stillmake sure I hunt 300 days a year.

Say HALLELUJAH! Again.You see, that entire list of adventure

happens to take place at home, on ourbeloved SpiritWild Ranch in centralTexas. Except for the touring part, andthen even a lot of those days as well, it isall handled at home.

I say HALLELUJHAH! Again.With more than 6500 concerts under

my belt, I literally hate to travel. Somany, many years ago I decided I wouldlive where I hunt, and hunt where I live.

It’s all at home. Unlimited hog hunt-ing, varmint hunting, exotic hunting,rabbit hunting, squirrel hunting, andyear round trapping represents the onlyhopeful ! cure or antidote for my insa-tiable hunting cravings.

I know of a select few who have it asbad/good as I do. Razor Dobbs of RazorDobbs Alive TV on Outdoor Channel is

just about as hunt crazy as I am. He toolives on a piece of sacred unlimitedTexas hunting grounds and he neverstops.

My other BloodBrother Scott Youngis a professional and very deadly USDApaid hunter that never quits. His heartypack of Rocky Mountain Bluetickhounds surely run and chase and treeand kill more bears and cougars than anypack of hounds that ever lived. This guyis a killer.

Each of us must decide what we wantout of life, and pursue it at the level ofintensity we choose. I’m sure there aremany more gungho hunting guys outthere, and maybe even some that have itworse/better than I do. To each his own.Go for it.

And to each and every one of you, Ioffer a big congratulations for identify-ing your American Dream and going forit.

These surely are the good old days ofhunting in North America and beyond.It is a target rich environment for thoseof us who are driven to participate in theannual seasons of harvest, as we balancethe herds and the land, keeping our pre-cious renewable wildlife resources in theasset column of life.

I don’t want to hunt. I need to hunt. Ihunt because I am a hunter. I’m doingGod’s work here. We pay the way whilefeeding ourselves and families and fellowman the most nutritious protein theworld has to offer.

Kill em and grill ya all. Let the game never end.

T e d N u g e n t . c o m

064_001.qxd 10/26/13 1:17 PM Page 1


Include a name and contact phone num-ber as well as the county, number of deaddeer, sex (if known) and specific location ofthe deer (distance/direction from the near-est town or intersection of two roads).

Maps showing the distribution of EHD-related deer mortality reports as ofSeptember 30 in Illinois for 2013 and 2012are presented below....

EHD FOUND INILLINOIS DEERAGAIN IN 2013

Deer disease spread by biting gnats

not as severe as last year

SPRINGFIELD, IL – An outbreak ofEpizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) hasbeen ongoing again this year in white-taileddeer in Illinois, though not as severe orextensive as in 2012. A total of 403 deermortalities have been reported from 51counties as of September 30, according todata compiled by the Illinois Departmentof Natural Resources (IDNR). This com-pares to 2,043 deer reported as probableEHD deaths from 76 counties at the sametime last year.

EHD is a viral disease, spread by bitinggnats, which can cause high fever andsevere internal bleeding in deer. Whileoften fatal to deer, EHD is not hazardousto humans or pets. EHD-like symptoms incattle have been reported where EHD hasbeen confirmed in deer. Cattle can be suc-cessfully treated with medications.

Heaviest hit Illinois counties in 2013include Woodford (68), Jo Daviess (64),Pike and Adams (35 and 29, respectively),

as well as Fulton (32). Of interest is thefact that the hardest hit counties from lastyear (Cook, Macon, Shelby, Coles, andCalhoun) are reporting little if any EHDthis year, a result of resistance to the diseasewithin the local deer populations thatresults from exposure to the virus.

Drought conditions tend to exaggeratethe impacts of EHD, as limited watersources tend to congregatethe deer in areas wheregnats and the virus are pres-ent. There is no effectivemanagement treatment forthis disease. An insect-killing frost ends an EHDoutbreak as the gnats neces-sary for transmission of thevirus between deer are nolonger present.

EHD is neither new norunique to Illinois. Firstidentified in 1955 inMichigan and New Jersey,EHD and a similar diseaseknown as blue-tongue areregular events in the south-ern United States. Theneighboring states ofMissouri and Iowa are alsoreporting EHD-related deermortalities this year.

Hunters and landowners

who find sick or dead deer that they sus-pect may have resulted from EHD areasked to contact their nearest IDNR fieldoffice to make a report. Discoveries ofEHD-related deer mortality may also bereported to Doug Dufford, IDNR WildlifeDisease and Invasive Species ProgramManager, at 815/535-2875 or [email protected].

065_001.qxd 10/26/13 1:35 PM Page 1


strong butt section but the tip is stout enough tohold a 1/4-oz. jig without bending. I need that be-cause we pop those jigs from cover all the time bysnapping the rod quickly and a light rod wouldbreak.

Like I said we pop those jigs from cover all thetime and you cannot have a line with stretch in itso we use Fireline Crystal braided line in eight-pound. This gives you line as strong as fourteen-pound mono but as thin as three.

My knew boat the Yar-Craft 2095btx tillerworks great for guiding but I took it a few stepsfurther and put in two more pedestals up on thefront deck so I can bring my clients up front withme and this way we can nose up to a brush pile alldip our crappie jigs into the brush pile and I cansee their jigs on my Lowrance HDS and tell them ifthey are the right depth or not. If you pull along-side a brush pile you never know if everyone is inthe brush or at the right depth. I tell anglers that acrappie hit will feel like you have been smacked onthe back of the hand and a tree will be a totally dif-ferent feeling so try and differentiate the two.

All my buddies told me I was nuts to get rid ofmy big Ranger Bass boat for a 200HP tiller. It justgives you so much more room I told them. Now allof them have ridden in it and agree it is a muchbetter guide boat. Bass boats just don’t have roomfor my minnow tank that I carry all summer. I needto be able to carry 15 to 20 dozen minnows everyday and have them on air pumps and keep themcool. I have two Mr. Bubbles 12 volt air pumpswired in under my dash and I installed 1/4 inch

My Favorite MonthIs Here, Break Out

the Big BaitsBy Steve Welch

Everyone that knows me will tell you he is acrappie fishing fool. He lives for it tolerates otherspecies but can’t wait to get out that jig pole andfeel that thump of a big crappie. I set my wholeboat up for just this purpose. Three anglers set-ting in comfort and pulling in those big tasty slabs.

Through the years I have handled tons of crap-pie over two-pounds and a few over three but I nev-er tire of feeling that thump of potentially my firstfour pound crappie. I go on vacation to spots wherethey live. Yes a fulltime-fishing guide goes on vaca-tion to do more fishing. It is all I know and would-n’t enjoy myself on vacation if I weren’t fishing.

The month of November Lake Shelbyville is myfavorite place to be on this entire earth. The crap-pie are putting on the feedbags and a three or evenfour-inch bait isn’t too big. Anglers think I amcrazy when I go up to Chicago to the Tinley Parkfishing show and they see the baits I routinely useto catch big crappie.

A few years ago my partner and I came up with a

unique shaped jig called the Deep Ledge Jig. It hasinset eyes to accept prism eyes and it is perfectlybalanced so it will hang horizontally and this allowsit to bump into branches without getting hung up.We make a huge 1/4oz. jig and believe it or not thisis the one I use most of the time. For those non-be-lievers we make smaller 3/16, 1/8 and 3/32 in thesame Deep Ledge Jig head shape. I like the big jigfor two reasons. First of all we swim this jig backand forth in brush or down trees rather than jig itup and down like most folks work a jig. We try andhit a branch and then climb it over and this trig-gers a crappie strike. Second crappie are sightfeeders and they can just see this big jig easier. Iuse it even in three-feet of water for that samereason.

I also like to get out my biggest plastic baitsduring this time frame. I like Midsouth’s big tubesthat measure about two and a half inches. LakeFork has some larger baits I like as well. The shadthe crappie eats are very large in the fall so I tryand match their size. I have even been known touse bass tubes as long as four-inches.

My 1/4-oz. jigs require a heavy action jig poleand one just can’t find the right action for this so Irely on a custom rod made by Norm Vanblaricum.You can get any action you want but I have himmake me a number nine fly rod weight. This has a

www.LakeShelbyvilleGuide.com

After a full day of fishing, come to the Spillway MotelAfter a full day of fishing, come to the Spillway Moteland relax in one of our clean, comfortable rooms.and relax in one of our clean, comfortable rooms.

All rooms include a microwave, refrigerator, cable TV, A/C &heat, Wi-Fi, coffee pot, direct dial phones, clock radio & bath

with hair dryer. All rooms have 2 beds....Ask for 3! Pets allowed for nominal charge, however has to be in asmoking room. Park near your room…Our large parking area has free electrical hook-ups! Ice and soda available.

Nearby restaurants.BAIT SHOP ON SITE & MOTEL OPEN YEAR ROUND! BAIT SHOP ON SITE & MOTEL OPEN YEAR ROUND! 1/2 mi le to beach and 9th St reet boat launch.1 /2 mi le to beach and 9th St reet boat launch.Wi th in walk ing d is tance to r iver and spi l lway!Wi th in walk ing d is tance to r iver and spi l lway!

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BOOK YOUR FISHING TRIP WITH STEVE TODAY!

217-762-7257 Cell: 217-840-1221

LakeShelbyvilleGuide.com

plastic tubing all over the boat and put in quickchange disconnects so I can put a minnow bucketanywhere I want in the boat and have a good airsupply. All my clients have commented on this sys-tem even over my depthfinder setup of fourLowrance HDS systems all networked with side im-aging and down imaging on both the rear of theboat and the front. I have had 360 imaging forthree years by putting a structure scan transduc-er on the foot of my trolling motor. This really helps

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2013 Tohatsu Motors In Stock!

Angie Wilson showing off her & Larissa Hamm’s stringer

of crappie on 09/19/13.

066_001.qxd 10/28/13 12:04 AM Page 1


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ILLINOIS’ LARGEST POLARIS DEALER2013 Polaris IndustriesSportsman® 500 H.O.

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Car Corral Offers New & pre-owned ATVs, Ranger/RZRs

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irt Stirling's grandsons,Tony and Damon,

showing off their mess ofcrappie on 10/05/13.

Cooper, Chip's grandson,trying to heft the

string of fish caught on 09/21/13.

BOOK YOUR FISHING TRIP WITH STEVE!217-762-7257 Cell: 217-840-1221

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when leading up to a new down tree. You can seethe fish hiding in the branches.

Like I have said for many years November andearly December are your very best months to chase

crappie so why not give my website a look see foravailable openings or just give me a call and wewill set something up so you can get in on this fan-tastic crappie fishing.

Chris Brackett’s really nice 8-pointer, 151 inches with Northern Alberta Outfitters. Chris said, “I made a 52 yard shot

and the buck only traveled 40 yards after the shot.”View this hunt and many more on Chris Brackett's TV show

“Fear No Evil” Friday nights at 8pm on The Outdoor Channel or check out his website at www.FearNoEvil.com.

067_001.qxd 10/28/13 2:58 AM Page 1


work. Heart disease can effect anyone, but if you ex-

ercise just 20 minutes a day you can help pre-vent this disease from harming you. It is stillproven to work even if you walk 10 minutes onyour lunch and then another 10 minutes after youget home from work. Also another good way tostay away from heart disease is by eating a bal-anced and healthy diet. If you would like to havea more personal program to see what you can doto be more heart healthy visit mylifecheck.org bythe American Heart Association. When you getto the site it will ask you some questions. Answeras many as you can and then the website will giveyou a personalized plan to the things that youneed to improve upon.

My water ordeal was like a cardiac stress test.I passed but still broke a sweat and was verynerve wracked. Talk to your doctor to make surethe simple exercise that can put you in to goodcardiac shape is safe for you to dive into. Thisway you will be safe should you dump a truck loadof water bottles in the busiest intersection inSouthern Illinois!

Emily Hauter graduated from SouthernIllinois University with a degree in

Community Health Education. She wasa swimmer for the Salukis and

specialized in the butterfly. Emily is anaccomplished dog trainer and guide for

Sunny Slope Hunt Club. She just became a Certified Health Education Specialist. Her goal is to combine her

athletic background with health education to coach people to improve

their health and stay active and healthy.Emily can be reached by email at:

[email protected]

Industrial Park

good to me and has done much to help me get ajob in the health education field since I graduat-ed in May. The week before the Heart Walk I prac-tically moved into her house so that I could helpdesign some of the displays for the booths as wellas run a bunch of errands while she worked in theoffice. I really had a blast, but there is one thingthat I will not forget.

On the Thursday before the Saturday heartwalk Beth went with me to pick of the water fromour donating sponsor. When we arrived, theysaid that they did not have the paperwork, andwe could not get the water until a specific personwas back from lunch. They told us that we couldcome back in about thirty minutes and sheshould have returned. So we went and ran anoth-er errand and then came back about forty min-utes later.

When we returned they told us that the paper-work was filled out incorrectly so they were goingto have 20 oz bottles instead of the smaller onesthat we usually get. Pretty soon there was a fork-lift coming around the corner stacked eight foothigh with water. The bottles were loosely placedin these blue plastic holders that did not stackvery well.

Beth and I looked at each other and then at theforeman and the production manager that wasstanding there with us. The foreman noticed our

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uneasy looks and said don't worry we are going towrap them. That made Beth and I more comfort-able, so the foreman wrapped the stack withplastic and then loaded the pallet into the backof my truck with the forklift. When he was fin-ished he told me that I should be good to go andnot to stomp on the gas.

Beth and I hopped into the truck and slowlywent on our way. We took the back roads so thatwe wouldn't be holding up traffic. I was goingabout 35 mph when Beth looks over at me andsaid "Emily you can go faster, I have done this be-fore and it won't fall."

I looked at her like she was nuts and said"when I hit 40 mph it begins to sway in thewind." After that she didn't argue with me.When we reached the highway we just drove a fewmiles in the slow lane. We stopped at the lightand then slowly started to turn left, I was goingturtle pace but that didn't matter. In the middleof the busiest intersection in Southern Illinois Ispilled over 450 bottles of water everywhere. Iimmediately pulled over to the side of the roadand hopped out, Beth hopped out the other sideand called 9-1-1 so that we could have a copcome and block the road. Along with about fourother people I began to pick up all the water.

In the whole extravaganza we lost less than 25bottles of water, no wrecks occurred, and notone bottle of water hit a car. That was the moststressful part of the week, but now I can laughabout it.

I really want most of you to understand that Iput in over 60 hours of volunteer time for acause that I think people should really knowabout. I have done a lot of work with the Ameri-can Heart Association, and I know that the mon-ey goes to a good cause. They even fund researchat SIU, I am sure that they are doing somethingthat just about everyone can either benefit fromor knows someone who can benefit from their

WATER ONROUTE 13

My last semester of college at Southern IllinoisUniversity, I did my internship with the AmericanHeart Association. It was a great experience andI met some great people I will never forget. Thecorporate events director for Southern Illinoisand Southeast Missouri, Beth Walker, and I havebecome very good friends.

Last month I worked with Beth to put on herSouthern Illinois Heart Walk. She has been so

By Emily Hauter

BOOKING GOOSE HUNTS!Pits on Water, Corn or Bean Fields

Lodging available!Located 13 miles east of Galesburg, IL

Near Snake Den Refuge, Victoria, ILContact Rick: (309) 781-8312

www.cabinfeveril.com

Buy S&PFresh/Frozen

Scents!

068_001.qxd 10/26/13 3:45 PM Page 1


OUTDOOR CONNECTION

By Gerald

A. Sampen

DO YOU LIKE “HORNS”?-WE HAVE THEM

NOTE: This month we are featuring 2 mid-range(Elk Outfitters). One also has mule deer as well.Many of the pre-inspected, quality outfitters andlodges we represent often have other hunting pos-sibilities included.

Example…..A top quality Texas (White Tail)outfitter also offers a great opportunity for wildboar, predator hunting and some of the bestwaterfowl and sand hill crane hunting in Texas.

Here is an approximate tally of horn“Opportunity” lodges we can book for our cus-tomers……Elk-28, Mule Deer-30, White TailDeer-38, Antelope-16, Moose-24, and Caribou-12.

We have Elk Outfitters that range in price fromtop of the line in New Mexico – 5 days /$11,000 toColorado Elk Mule Deer Combo “drop camp”$1,600 and etc.

Give us a call!! Remember we’ve been there!!!!!

Mid-Range-Elk Outfitter In S.W. Colorado (AlsoHave Mule Deer) (COH11)

Dave H. owns and operates this Colorado outfit.He has been hunting the outdoors for many years,and has had the opportunity to hunt around theworld. “As an outfitter, my number one priority isto make your elk, deer or bear hunt something youwill enjoy. My job is enjoyable because I can helpmake your guided hunt in Colorado come true.

I know there are many outfitters to choosefrom, and appreciate the time you have taken to

consider us for your big game hunt.Come join us for a great family

atmosphere, good food, comfort-able lodging, and most of all tohave a great hunt. Our goal is tomake your guided hunt an event to

remember for many years to come.For many it may be a once-in-a-life-

time hunt. Your guided hunt is as impor-tant to us as it is to you!”

We offer clients fully guided and self-guidedhunts. All of our hunts are "fair chase" on a pri-vate ranch. Fully guided hunts include lodging,meals, and 2 to 1 guide to hunter ratio. Self-guid-ed hunts area available by request. Prices mayvary for a self-contained cabin and/or trespassfees. 1 on 1 guided hunts and added hunting daysmay be arranged for an additional fee.


Only 1000 Tickets available!$25 each or 3 for $50

GOOD LUCK!!!!

24 Days of Christmas2013 Raffle

ALL Proceeds to Benefit Our Local Youth Programs!

24 Days of Christmas2013 Raffle

One Gun or Gift Card Winner Daily…December 1st thru 24th!

Sponsored by: Grand Prairie Chapter #730 Pheasants Forever

Only 1000 Tickets available!$25 each or 3 for $50

Date Day Prize01-Dec-13 Day 1 $250 gift card02-Dec-13 Day 2 Fishing Trip for 4, Driftwood Lodge Lake Kabetogama, MN03-Dec-13 Day 3 $250 gift card04-Dec-13 Day 4 Remington 1187 12ga shotgun 05-Dec-13 Day 5 $250 gift card06-Dec-13 Day 6 Heritage Fortress FS-18 18 Gun Fire Safe 07-Dec-13 Day 7 $250 gift card08-Dec-13 Day 8 Ruger LCP 380acp pistol 09-Dec-13 Day 9 $250 gift card10-Dec-13 Day 10 Mossberg Silver Reserve shotgun 11-Dec-13 Day 11 $250 gift card12-Dec-13 Day 12 Horton Prohawk Crossbow 13-Dec-13 Day 13 $250 gift card14-Dec-13 Day 14 Bushmaster AR15 in 223 caliber Rifle 15-Dec-13 Day 15 $250 gift card16-Dec-13 Day 16 Ruger American 22-250 caliber Rifle 17-Dec-13 Day 17 Remington 887 12ga shotgun 18-Dec-13 Day 18 $250 gift card19-Dec-13 Day 19 Mossberg Tactical 22caliber Rifle 20-Dec-13 Day 20 $250 gift card21-Dec-13 Day 21 Franchi I-12 26" Satin Walnut 12 ga semi-auto shotgun 22-Dec-13 Day 22 Winchester SX3 12ga 3” 23-Dec-13 Day 23 $500 gift card24-Dec-13 Day 24 Beretta 686 Silver Pigeon S 12ga O/U

ALL Proceeds to Benefit Our Local Youth Programs!24 Days of Christmas 2013 Raffle Info:1. Begins December 1, 2013 - Final Day is December 24, 2013.2. Each day's winning Ticket Number will match the Illinois Daily Lottery Midday Pick 3 number drawn for

that day.3. Winners will be contacted by phone and/or email. Winners will be listed on our facebook page.

(ie. John G, Toluca)4. A complete list of the prize for each 24 days may be requested by email to [email protected]. A complete list of the winners (ie. John G, Toluca) for each 24 days may be requested by email to

[email protected]. All firearms are located at our FFL Dealer. Fees incurred for the transfer of firearms must be paid by the

winner to the dealer.7. Answers to any questions may be requested by email to [email protected]

GOOD LUCK!!!!For Tickets Call:

Dwight 309-463-2318 • Greg 309-493-5201Mail: Dwight Aussieker, TreasurerPO Box 4 • Lacon, IL 61540-0004 Email: [email protected]

Additional info may be available at: facebook.com/GrandPrairiePFTickets also available at: Kenyon’s Place in Lacon

069_001.qxd 10/28/13 12:53 AM Page 1


tions are our specialty.We have intimate knowledge of the terrain, the

wildlife, and the history of the Salmon River Valley.Because of this fact, a large percentage of ourclientele are repeat and word of mouth customers.Our camps each have at least four large wall tents.They are equipped with wood stoves, lanterns, andcots with four-inch mattresses. Each camp has alarge cook tent/eating area manned by an experi-enced camp cook. These cooks are all long timeemployees, and are locally famous for their excep-tional camping cuisine and meal time anecdotes.Our camps furnish one guide for every twohunters. Your comfort, enjoyment and success areour top priority.

Our aim is to provide you with the most suc-cessful vacation possible!

BearOne animal you are certain to see in our area is

O.C. … Cont’d. from previous pg.

Mid-Range Elk Outfitter in Idaho-Salmon RiverArea (IDH2)

We are located on the North Fork of the SalmonRiver, a branch of the famous River of No Return.Our area encompasses a large section of theSalmon National Forest, F ish and GameManagement Unit 21. Miles of diverse, pristine,majestic landscape loaded with wildlife and recre-ational opportunities. Our operation proudly co-operates with federal and state agencies to con-serve these valuable resources.

We will provide you with hunting and fishingopportunities, as well as give you quality mountainbiking, back packing, hiking and horse pack trips.Our trips are ideal for adventurers of all ages whoare looking for exciting outdoor experiences. Yourcomfort and safety are high priorities with us. Youplace yourself in the capable hands of licensed,experience guides and each trip is personalized tofit the most discriminating of tastes. Family vaca-

Alan Thompson, Agent623 E. Jackson • Macomb, IL 61455

Bus.: 309-833-2400Cell: 309-333-0100www.Alansf.com

Max Thompson, Agent108 N. Orange • Havana, IL 62644

Bus.: 309-543-6248Fax: 309-543-4899

www.Maxdthompson.com

Information About Hunting in Colorado-If you were born after January 1, 1949, you

must have a Hunter Safety Education Card.-You will be hunting in game management units

70, 71 and 711.-Non-residents of Colorado must purchase a

non-resident tag for the species and season thatthey will be hunting.

-Hunters must wear at least 500 sq. inches ofblaze orange. A cap and vest are OK on muzzle-load and rifle hunts.

-Meat processing and taxidermy are theresponsibility of the hunter.

-All Deer tags are "draw only"-All Elk tags for 1st and 4th rifle are "draw only"-Elk tags for 2nd and 3rd rifle may be pur-

chased over the counterObserver rates: $100 per day, per person—

includes lodging andmeals

Limits ofLiability: All pricesand informationquoted in this file aresubject to changewithout notice. Allprices are subject totax.

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PO Box 138 • Cambridge, IL 61238

070_001.qxd 10/28/13 12:54 AM Page 1


Get your pond or lake ready for Winter!

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a bear. They are plentiful. They roam the hillsfreely in the spring searching for fresh greensprigs. At that time we try to lure the animalswith our three generation family secret bear baitrecipe.

Experience and location of bait ensure a suc-cessful bear hunt more times than not. Bear inIdaho are black bear, but they come in any colorfrom deep black to blonde and all colors inbetween. With this type of hunting, you are likelyto see a bear very close. It can be the experienceof a lifetime! Although we only do guided bearhunts in the spring, you may see a bear in the falland a bear tag can be included in a combinationdeer or elk tag hunt if you desire. It would trulybe a great addition to your fall hunting package.

CougarThe ghosts of the wilderness are the cougar.

They are an ever present, yet highly elusive cat,which makes them one of the prizes of thehunter. Our guide and his hounds have an uncan-ny talent for routing out those hidden animals.Cougars are very plentiful but camouflage wellwith the surrounding terrain. We don't see themoften due to their slinking nature, but to hunt oneis truly an experience to remember. Make sureyou bring your camera to record your uniqueadventure.

Each morning your guide will pick you up andyou will be off on the hunt!

Depending on weather and road conditions youwill use 4X4 vehicles, snow mobiles or sometimeson foot to designated hunting areas. Both bearand cougar hunting are physically and mentallydemanding sports. After a full day of hunting,you'll want to relax in comfort with a hearty meal,a hot shower, great companionship and a cozybed.

DeerThe mule deer hunt is a short but exceptional-

ly exciting one for us. We have a special huntingarea picked out for this particular five days. Ourexperience in the area has proven that the muledeer concentration is highest in this special areaat the exact time the season begins. There isnothing more awe inspiring than a large muledeer buck in your sights. We will work very hardto see that you have this experience and are suc-cessful.

We set forth for camp via 4 X 4 vehicles.Horses are saddled and packed at our first camp,located eight miles up Hull Creek Road. Sevenmiles of horseback riding (approx. 3 hours) endsat Grizzle Spring Base Camp. There will be atleast three guides in camp and no more than sixhunters in one camp per hunt. Guides takehunters out on foot in the morning and again inthe early evening. Most hunting takes place with-in 1-2 miles of camp.

ElkThe sheer magnificence of the creature known

as the Rocky Mountain Elk leaves us speechless.These great royal animals roam the forest mead-

ows and deeps and are truly kings of theirdomain. We respect these giants of the moun-tains so much that we invite them to feed withour livestock in the late winter when their ownfood supply is short. We feel we know the habitsand behaviors of this regal herd in a more inti-mate way due to being able to observe them in thedeep winter months.

Our tents are set up in advance in accordancewith Forest Service regulations. 3-6 person tentsare for sleeping, stocked with 4 inch foam matson cots and one large tent houses the cooking anddining accommodations. All tents are heated withwood stoves to keep the chill out.

Guides take hunters out on foot in the morningand again in the early evening. Most huntingtakes place within 1-2 miles of camp.

2013 RatesElk Hunting Rifle: $3,500 per person7 day hunt, Oct 15 – Nov. 8Archery: $3,500 per person 7 day hunt, Sept. 1-30

Rocky Mountain Elk/Deer Combo - Rifle$3,500 per person, 7 day hunt, Oct 15 - 22

Mountain Lion Hunts$5,500 per person7 day hunt with dogs, Dec 15 - Feb 15

Bear Hunts Lodge based, baited hunt $2,600 per person, 7 day hunt, May 1 – June 30

Non Hunters $150 per dayAirport Pickup add $200

*A wolf tag can be purchase with a cat hunt (pro-vided the wolf quota hasn't been met). If the

Pack Trip $200 Per Person Per Day Plus 9%Tax: Price includes overnight tent accommoda-tions, food, etc. Items of a personal nature andsleeping bags are not included. Trip may be cus-tomized to fit the client’s needs.

hunter kills both a cat and wolf there is an extra$500 trophy fee for the wolf. If hunter kills a wolfand NO cat, there is NO fee.

If you are interested in any of the adventures featured in this article or in any of the other adventures that Outdoor Connection offers give us a call. These

adventures make excellent gifts for high school and college graduations, weddings,birthdays, anniversaries, etc. Gift certificates available. Time to get your

name on the books for 2013 and 2014 now.Your Outdoor Connection Agent: Gerald & Jeanne Sampen

4 2 1 O l i v e S t . E m d e n , I L 62 6 3 5 • 2 1 7 - 3 76 - 3 8 73 g e ra l d @ o u t d o o r - c o n n e c t i o n . c o m

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You don’t always have to be the firstangler to fish the Boot on Mille Lacs orKnight Island on Lake of the Woods toexperience great walleye fishing early inthe season.! Granted, like any locationsthe bite diminishes drastically as pres-sure builds so half of walleye angling isjust thinking of locations that mighthave fish and haven’t had all the activityyet.! GPS Chips sure have made that alot more difficult.! You see the troublewith the Chips is that everybody else hasthem to!

Back in the day, not everybody knewhow to reach or find all of these offshorelocations that load up with fish.Everybody relied on shoreline structurebecause they could reach the spot andeyeball enough landmarks to find itagain.! Back in the day, the people thatknew about the offshore stuff and wereable to find it had gold mines all tothemselves.! Now flash forward a fewyears.! There are just not that many

secrets, most of the spots aremapped and can be bought byanybody.! The result has been ahuge shift towards offshorestructure.! Guess what has hap-pened now?! There are some real-ly good shallow patterns that aresometimes more dependablethan the classic and renown off-shore patterns because of thepressure aspect.

If there is a trend that we areseeing on the really big lakes, ithas been that some of the steadi-est opportunities for big walleyeshave been coming along the shal-low rim of the shoreline.! For themost part, the shallow water con-nected to the shoreline is amorning and evening bite onmany lakes but not always.What these locations are howev-er as everybody races offshore isoverlooked.!

Finding locations that are over-

2 0 1 2 F o r d F 1 5 0 L a r i a t S u p e r c re w 4 x 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 3 5 , 8 4 02 0 1 2 F o r d F 1 5 0 X LT S u p e r c re w 4 x 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 2 9 , 9 9 02 0 1 2 F o r d F 1 5 0 X LT S u p e r c re w , 4 x 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 2 5 , 9 9 02 0 1 1 C h e v r o l e t 2 5 0 0 S i l v e ra d o LT Z C re w c a b 4 x 4 . . $ 3 7 , 4 702 0 1 1 F o r d R a n g e r X LT S u p e r c a b 4 x 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 1 4 , 8 4 02 0 1 1 H o n d a C R - V S E 4 x 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 1 6 , 8 5 02 0 1 0 F o r d F 1 5 0 X L Re g c a b 4 x 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 2 0 , 78 02 0 1 0 C h e v y 1 5 0 0 S i l v e ra d o LT C re w c a b 4 x 4 . . . . . . . . $ 2 4 , 8 8 02 0 1 0 L i n c o l n N a v i g a t o r E l i t e 4 x 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 3 7 , 5 0 02 0 0 9 F o r d F 1 5 0 F X 4 S u p e r c re w 4 x 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 1 8 , 8 8 02 0 0 9 F o r d E s c a p e X LS 4 x 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 1 2 , 9702 0 0 8 G M C 1 5 0 0 S i e r ra S L E Re g c a b 4 x 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 1 9 , 3 3 02 0 0 8 D o d g e R a m 1 5 0 0 S T Q u a d c a b 4 x 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 1 8 , 4 4 02 0 0 8 C h e v y 1 5 0 0 S i l v e ra d o LT Re g c a b 4 x 4 . . . . . . . . $ 2 1 , 8 8 02 0 0 8 C h e v y 1 5 0 0 S i l v e ra d o LT Re g c a b 4 x 2 . . . . . . . . . . $ 1 3 , 5 5 02 0 0 8 F o r d Ta u r u s X S E L AW D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 1 4 , 4 8 02 0 0 7 F o r d F 2 5 0 X LT C re w c a b 4 x 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 2 1 , 7 702 0 0 7 F o r d F 1 5 0 L a r i a t S u p e r c re w 4 x 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 2 1 , 8 8 02 0 0 7 L i n c o l n M K X AW D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 1 6 , 8 8 02 0 0 6 F o r d F 3 5 0 A m e r i l l o C re w c a b 4 x 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 2 1 , 6 70

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water. Any outside point or inside turn with

any kind of rock is a classic walleye mag-net on just about any lake.! These loca-tions get a lot of attention especially atfirst ice.! Many anglers will work theseclassic gravel or rock locations betweenten and twenty feet of water.! An adjust-ment that is difficult for some anglers todo and is worth a try is to slide evenshallower and closer to shore especially iffishing pressure cools the spot off.People often automatically assume thatthe fish pull out deeper and progress off-shore but you will be surprised howoften fish do the exact opposite.! The

looked is often the key.! I have oftenstressed that the best fishing happens tothe person who finds the fish.! What canmake walleye fishing “inshore” intimi-dating can be just the amount of shore-line to cover.! Large shallow flats or gen-tly tapering shorelines just don’t havethe obvious spot that screams at you todrill a hole.! Much different ball gamethan zooming in on a classic mud humpor reef and picking it apart with less thana dozen well aimed holes.! Here is theother beauty of shallow water, the varia-tions are subtle yet important and oftendon’t yet show up on chips.! There arestill some really great secrets in shallow

WALLEYES ON THE RIMBy Jason Mitchell

Each early ice season is almost a spacerace in regard to reaching spots furtherout on fishable ice while still being safe.Simply put, there are just spots that weknow will be good and usually, the firstpeople on those spots are going to catchsome really nice fish.! This phenomenahappens on Lake of the Woods, MilleLacs, Devils Lake and several othermajor walleye fisheries.! The spot we canhardly get to always seems to pull atanglers’ curiosity the hardest.! What sur-prises many anglers however is on justabout every fishery, there is a percentageof fish that remain fairly close to shoreand typically shallow at first ice.!

The author believes that inshore opportunitiesare some of the best kept secrets for bigwalleyes on many large natural lakes right now.

072_001.qxd 10/28/13 1:50 PM Page 1


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downfall can be that the fish move or areactive for very short windows but we havestuck a lot of big fish way up inside onthis pattern on several large, predominatefisheries.

Other classic shallow water goldminesfor big lakes are any sand bars or sandflats that have a nice sharp lip or break onthem that plunges down into deep water.Large flats especially if there is some weedgrowth can hold a staggering about offish but little dips, depressions or troughswithin the flats are often the sweet spots.!

This article isn’t necessary to convinceyou to fish shallow or inshore but rathercontemplate options that aren’t gettingpressure.! There are times when I havewasted a lot of time trying to find differ-ent fish or patterns and finally admittedthat I would have been better off fishingright in the pack.! There are other timeswhere you can pounce on a location firstor figure out some little detail that willkeep you successful as more anglers gath-er around.!

We have some really great offshorememories but what we are seeing is thatas more anglers use and understand GPSwith map chips, the inshore locations gettouched less and less and over time, thetide starts to go the other way.! We arestarting to have massive locations to our-

selves, we are often finding large schoolsand aggressive fish that have seen no pres-sure and we are finding big fish.! What isironic is that this will happen for a whileand then more people will be on to thesepatterns and over time, these locationswon’t be as productive because there willbe more people doing it.! !!

What we will be looking for than issome other under the radar pattern wherewe can find fish that have been avoidingpressure.! Fifteen years ago, the go tomove was finding structure off shore foruntouched fish and big fish.! Now if Iwere to put my money down, I would layit on the shoreline in water shallowerthan what most anglers’ feel comfortablefishing.!

More and more in the future, the cur-rent trends and attitudes of fellow anglerswill often have as much influence onstrategy as the fish themselves.! In otherwords, you won’t just be able to thinklike a walleye, you also have to factor inpressure.! The trump card is a lack ofpressure.! Fish that haven’t been workedover make you look good.! The fish com-pete against each other and larger schoolsget competitive and aggressive bydefault.! When the fish get beat up a lit-tle bit, that competitive nature drops dra-matically.!

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ArcheryDoubleCoyotes

A Georgiabowhunter calls

in and shoots two coyotes within

minutes of each other

The afternoon ofSeptember 19th startedoff a little rough. I gotoff work later than Ihad anticipated and hadto rush to get to mytreestand. After finallygetting settled in, itwasn't long before Isaw three good bucks,one of which was a big8 pointer that myselfand a friend, had bothbeen trying to kill since opening weekend.

The deer seemed very timid and they were in quite a hurry, so I never got ashot. I soon found out why. There were two large coyotes following the groupof deer. About five minutes or less after the deer had gone out of sight, the coy-otes came in, as if on a string, on the same trail as the deer offering me a shotat less than 20 yards.

I picked up my Mathews Z7 Xtreme and I let an arrow fly at the larger one.He hit the ground instantly. The smaller one ran off through the woods about100 yards away. I didn't have a fawn distress or any kind of coyote call in mybag so I began to lip squeak as loudly as I could to try to draw the other backin. It worked like magic! He came back down the same trail with his ears perkedup and his head on a swivel, the only place he wasn't looking was up.

This proved to be his demise as I sank a rage broad head into him as well. Ofcourse I would've loved to shoot the big 8-point buck, but a double coyote killwith a bow...yea I'll take it!

This story is from a reader of Predator Xtreme!GrandviewOutdoors.com

073_001.qxd 10/28/13 1:09 AM Page 1


ON POINT WITH CHUCK MARTIN

“Meat Dog, Deluxe!”For obvious reasons we called him Big Boy. His

head was way too big for his body which was waytoo big for his legs which were way too big for hisfeet which were…you get the picture and it wasnot pretty!

He was flat out ugly even as a puppy. We pickedhim from a litter of nine. It must have been a sym-pathy selection yet something about himscreamed, “PICK ME!”

As he grew he became even uglier. As a liverand white pointer he had huge spots of liver thatcovered most of his torso and tail. Yuck!

Even his points were ugly. He liked to place hishead and nose very close to the ground. His tailwas straight out not up. He cared nothing aboutstyle as his primary mission was finding quail and

he was superb at that.Somewhat unsure of the actual definition of

the term, meat dog, I sincerely believe Big Boywas the consummate meat dog. In his prime, hewas our most reliable, consistent productive dog.He possessed one speed….a slow trot which hemaintained all day every day. His range was aver-age but he knew how to cover quail habitat.

He rarely needed to rest, eat or even relievehimself during our frequent all day hunts. Solidbut not flashy, he was equally adept in handlingcoveys and pinning singles. Big Boy rarely made amistake.

His points while far from picturesque werealmost always productive. However, I distinctlyremember one point I was certain would be false.I had just walked through a short, sparse stand ofweeds no higher than 12 inches. Since I had notseen Big Boy for a few minutes, I instinctivelyturned around. Not more than ten feet behind me,my dog was stretched into one of those butt uglypoints I so loved to see. Two more steps towardhim and a big bunch of bob whites burst forthfrom the short grass. Those birds should haveflushed when I walked past them but theyremained grounded until Big Boy did his thing.Two that should have stayed on the ground addedto the weight of my game vest.

In his best season, that deluxe meat dog, hunt-ed 38 days in 10 weeks. We lost count of the cov-eys he found, the points he made and the numberof birds we brought home. One number I doremember was three. That was the number ofdowned quail he failed to find and retrieve. He

hunted “dead’ better thanany dog I ever saw. He wasrelentless pursuing adowned bird that tried to runor hide. I saw him pull birdsout of hollow logs, creekbanks, rock piles, culvertsand a freshly cut stack offirewood.

Some hunters like to findtheir dog pointed while oth-ers like to see their dogpoint. Watching him sneakto a point made me questionfield trial judges who lookaskance at meat dogs whosimply get the job done. Itwas thrilling watching himbegin that slow but steadycreeping at the first hint ofquail fragrance. When hefroze he would stretch hisneck and straighten thatugly liver spotted tail. It wasa thing of beauty to me.

For over 12 years, Big Boy was our “go to” dog.In all kinds of Illinois winter weather, old reliableanswered the bell. Born to hunt, he was literally abird finding machine. That is until heartwormsinvaded his body.

Treatment for heartworms, then, was poisonand lots of it. Our vet had to fill Big Boy withenough poison to kill the heartworms and hopeour beloved dog did not expire during the ordeal.The process eliminated the heartworms but theside effects to our wonderful dog were devastat-ing.

Our most valuable performer lost most of hishearing ability and sense of smell. The next sea-son afield he no longer responded to our whistlecommands. For the first time in his life he experi-enced difficulty locating downed quail. His stami-

na was diminished. He never lost his desire tohunt but the heartworms had significantlyimpacted his hunting skills.

With precise clarity, I can remember his finalhunt. A couple of early morning typical Big Boyugly points made it memorable. His last coveycontact, near sundown, still stands out in mymind’s eye. He was jogging straight toward uswhile navigating a slight rise in a field of weedyclover. Not more than forty yards from us he ranright through a large covey. Birds scattered inevery direction. Big Boy appeared oblivious to theflush. Apparently, he did not smell, hear or, maybeeven, see the birds. He never broke stride. Henever looked back. He kept jogging toward us.When he reached us, we put a leash on him andwalked him to our vehicle. We realized a greatmeat dog’s hunting days were over.

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But that was not to be tonight, no,my job was to do a littlereconnoitering…you know, checkout this guy…see what he was up to.Hell, there must be something to therumor, I mean here it was Fridaynight and all of the employees werelong gone. So, what was this littledude doing there? Trust yourfriendly Shamus to find out. I don’tget $25.50 a day plus expenses fornothing.

THE INTRUDERI mean this guy gets out of his car,

pretty as you please, walks betweenthe two buildings and I lose him.Real cool like, I saunter over, take alook see left and right and trot up tohis car. I peek around the car to lookdown the sidewalk that leads to theoffice. The dude had vanished! WithSherlockian precision, I deduce hemust have gone inside. I’m rightagain. I sneak silently along side thebuilding and take a look inside fromthe side door. Alls I see is hisexpensive leather jacket tossed overa chair. I wait. I hear the damn dogsyapping inside, but I don’t seenothin’. I wait some more. Thenthere he is! I duck down wait aminute and pop back up. The olddude is now sitting on a chair withthis Boxer dog sitting in front of him.I strain to hear because I can see thatthe guy is talking to this dog. That’sright, the big mutt is lookin’ up atthis guy like a damn NormanRockwell painting, listening to thelittle old guy. After the talk the dogwalks circles around the man whoremains on the chair. Mr. Boxer thensits in front of the guy and accepts abig hug. I wish I could hear what hewas saying to this dog, but I can’t.

The Dog Pound CaperPart 1

by Norman V. KellyAs an old retired private

investigator I took it upon myself tocheck out the rumors swirling aboutthe local animal shelter. There wouldbe some risk connected with thisinvestigation, but PI’s are bravesouls. So, I did this for you. You’rewelcome.

On a dark and stormy night inApril, a Friday, it was, I made myway down in the north end nearWoodruff High School, to the end ofPerry Avenue. Scary and certainlyhaunted Springdale cemetery’s oldentrance is right there as well. Now Ipicked Friday because this is thenight that the strange goings oninside the animal shelter had beenreported. Well, not reported, youknow, rumored. So I dressed in myblack turtle neck sweater, blacksweats and my black stocking cap.Of course if I had to, I could pull itdown over my face. I parked so Icould see the entrance to the shelterand waited. I wish I had a cigaretteand some coffee. Truth is I don’tsmoke or drink coffee. That’s ashame because all private dicks doboth, Sam Spade, Phillip Marlowand Chance Coogan to name a few.

I’m there, what, twenty-minuteswhen I see a big fancy car pull intothe parking lot of the shelter. It wasone of them big jobbies, you know, aCaddy or a Lincoln. I grabbed thebinoculars and zeroes in on the perpas he got out of the car. Hell, he wasa little dude, silver-white hair. Nodoubt I could take him if I had to.

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dogs on Friday night at the Dog Pound. He notonly hangs out with them…he talks at greatlength to them. Why? Who is this character?Fortunately I got theguy’s license number and the wherewithal to track himdown. I told you, I don’t get the bigbucks for nothin’.

BE SURE TO PICK UP YOURCOPY OF ASO in DECEMBERFOR PART TWO OF NORM’SSTORY. “What is this old dude upto?”

Editor’s Note: This is a work offiction by Historian and true-crimewriter Norm Kelly. You can hearNorm and the Red Nose Gang onSunday mornings 7-10am WOAM,1350 AM Radio Plus Listen & Seeon Internet at: www.ustream.comthen type in rednosegang. The instudio radio show comes right up.

Our friend and monthly contributor to ASO, LESTER RENCH, is sobusy caring for his Central Illinois K-9 training services that we

asked his friend Norm Kelly to fill in for him.The guy and his pal disappear to a

back room and I stay hunkereddown. I can’t wait to see what thischaracter is gonna do next. There heis again. On the end of a leash he hassome kind of German shepherd mix,a young dog, but not a puppy either.The guy sits, and the dog sits in frontof him just like the other dog. Theold dude is pointing his finger in thedog’s face, I can hear his voice, but itis muffled. What in the hell is this allabout? The dog is now looking at thefloor, so I guess he was beingscolded. The old guy then hugs thedog, pats him on the head and standsup. The dog then walks in circlesaround the man then they both sitdown. I hear the voice again, then ahug and off they go. Well hell, a copcar might just pull into the lot anyminute, so I cop a mope. This PIbusiness is tough on the knees, I cantell you that.

The rest of that night, with the helpof a couple of BUDS, I ponder whatI had seen. A man, apparently awealthy man, is hanging out with

075_001.qxd 10/26/13 5:40 PM Page 1


Deer-Creek American Deer-Creek American Legion Post 1276 Legion Post 1276

NewsNews && EventsEvents

An American Legion for ALL Americans…

PUBLICWELCOME!

VETERANS DAY MON, NOV. 11TH

Chicken & Noodles served over mashed pota-toes with green beans. Free for all Veterans &only $5 for other guests. Serving from 12pm-2pm

Drink specials all day. Come out to the DCLegion on Veterans Day, have a great meal, visitwith good folks and show your support to our localVeterans.

WED. 27 THANKSGIVING EVE PARTY LIVE BAND, CADILLAC JACK, 7-11PM

BANQUET ROOM AVAILABLE FOR RENT!Deer Creek American Legion is a great place to host your Holiday parties,

Christmas parties, Family celebrations, Weddings, Retirement parties monthlyclubs, etc.

This all purpose room has everything you need to cater your event. Privateentrance, rest rooms, stage for music or presentations, ample seating & kitchenavailable upon request. Full service bar available & plenty of Free parking.Priced low at only $250 a day, makes it affordable to host almost any event. Located in the country between Peoria & Bloomington near Goodfield exit.

This is an excellent location, only 10 min from I-74, right off 150 it is easy tofind. Call (309) 447-6776 for details.

Come out to enjoy our NEW BIG SCREEN TV. Everyone is invited! ForYour Viewing Pleasure!

Come watch your favorite sporting event & enjoy a beverage with us. This holiday & through the winter we will be warming you up with our

“NEW “coffee & hot chocolate drinks. Many delicious flavors to choosefrom, available on weekends.

The dart leagues are in full swing, playing every Thursday evening startingat 7pm.

Stop by & support your favorite team & visit with friends.

REGISTER FORCONCEAL

CARRY CLASSES Basic & Advanced Firearm

Instruction for Conceal Carry Class November (Sat. & Sun.)

16-17, 23-24 & 30 & Dec. 7 & 8. Call with any questions or to register for a class. Classes will continue

through the winter months. See Illinois Carry Conceal Instructor Group ad onpage 53. Kevin Moody will be teaching classes at Deer Creek American Legioncall him at: 309-642-0582. In the Roseville Illinois area contact instructor ChrisLewis at 309-333-8822. Thane Hunt will be teaching classes in theFarmington/Canton area he can be reached at 309-657-5820.

Remember Rock Stars for Wyatt and save your recyclable trash that earnscash for Wyatt that goes toward NF research!

That is what American Legions are supposed to be all about, helping localfamilies, the community & all our Veterans that enable us to live the life we areblessed to have. God Bless You All!

Come On Out & Support Your Come On Out & Support Your Local American Legion! Local American Legion! 31473 American Legion Dr.31473 American Legion Dr.

Deer Creek, IL Deer Creek, IL (309) 447-6776(309) 447-6776

NOV. CALENDAR OF EVENTS:NOV. CALENDAR OF EVENTS:Sat. 2 ................................Aux meeting 3pm - Steak Fry for Travel Softball 5-8pmSun. 3 ..................................................................Legion Breakfasts 6:30-10:30 Mon 11 ........................................................VETERANS DAY Food & Drink specialsSat. 16 ..............................................Illinois Conceal Carry classes 8 am-3:30pmSun. 17 ..............................................Illinois Conceal Carry classes 8 am-3:30pmWed. 20 ................................................................................SAL Meeting 7pmSat. 23..............................................Illinois Conceal Carry classes 8 am-3:30pm,

LIVE BAND Project Voodoo, 8-12mid. Sun. 24 ..............................................Illinois Conceal Carry classes 8 am-3:30pmWed. 27 ..........................Thanksgiving Eve Party LIVE BAND, Cadillac Jack, 7-11pmSat. 30 ..............................................Illinois Conceal Carry classes 8 am-3:30pm

LIVE BAND Cadillac Jack, 8-12mid

DEC. CALENDAR OF EVENTS:DEC. CALENDAR OF EVENTS:Sun 1 ..................................................................Legion Breakfasts 6:30-10:30Sat. 7 ................................................Illinois Conceal Carry classes 8 am-3:30pmSun. 8 ..............................................Illinois Conceal Carry classes 8 am-3:30pmSat. 14 ..............................................................................Turkey shoot 11am-?Sun. 15 ..............................................................................Turkey shoot 11am-?

PUBLIC ALWAYS

WELCOME!GRILLOPEN

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By Terri Sweckard

076_001.qxd 10/26/13 9:59 PM Page 1

WATERFOWL WATERFOWL 20132013November 2013 ADVENTURE SPORTS OUTDOORS “THE VOICE OF THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN” 77

ASO friends Joe & Donna Tonelli of Spring Valley had a wonderful trip,

40 some days in northwestern Saskatchewan.The weather was mild and hunting fantastic!

Here are some photos from a duck hunt & another successful

goose hunt. AWESOME HUNTS!Thanks for sharing with ASO!

077_001.qxd 10/26/13 10:14 PM Page 1

and other essentials. Brie was nestledon a blanket!on the back seat. Wewere two hours' drive from potholecountry, and we were eager to getthere, find some ducks, and set up foran afternoon!shoot.

On the way, though, we had animportant side trip to take. I wantedto visit Big Grass Marsh, DU's first-ever wetland restoration projectin!Canada.!

Ducks Unlimited was founded in1937 by a small group of hunter-con-servationists who were concernedabout trends in wetland loss and aresulting!decline in waterfowl num-bers. These men understood thatmany of North America's ducks andgeese are hatched on Canadian wet-lands, so they set!about raising fundsto preserve these crucial habitats forthe future of waterfowl and the sport-

ing traditions cherished by waterfowlers.Big Grass Marsh near Gladstone, Manitoba

(west of Lake Manitoba), was their first under-taking. Originally spanning 100,000 acres, thismarsh was!drained and cleared for agriculturein the early 1900s. However, instead of the fer-tile fields local farmers had envisioned, BigGrass Marsh!soon deteriorated into a desolatetract of silt and dust. In 1938 DU Canadarestored more than 12,000 acres of the marsh,which remains an!important waterfowl produc-tion and staging area.!

Bob Grant met Scott and me in Gladstone andtook us on a driving tour of Big Grass Marsh. Aswe stood on the bridge over the channelthat!supplies water to the marsh, I had a senseof reverence for the efforts of DU's foundersand the millions of sportsmen and -women whoover the!past 75 years have worked selflessly toconserve this continent's wetlands and wildlife.Big Grass Marsh was the first step in a verylong!journey.


morning, though, only an occasional duck wasflying by.

It was mid-October, and we were in the famedMinnedosa pothole region of southwestManitoba. Bob is manager of operations here forDucks!Unlimited Canada. He calls this area the"best of the best" in prairie nesting habitat.And this year especially, water and adjacentupland!cover had been plentiful. The ducks hadresponded by bringing off one of the strongesthatches in recent memory.

But even in the best spots, duck hunting canbe dicey. The birds can change locationsovernight. They can get temperamental aboutworking to!decoys, or changing weather canbring unexpected surprises, like the suddendeparture of the ducks that had been using thismarsh. Even in this!storied country the starshave to align properly for hunters to experiencethose dreams hunts all waterfowlers seek.

I was beginning to chill. The water was closeto the top of my waders. It seemed like the windwas getting stronger and the sky emptier.My!confidence was declining along with my com-fort, and then I saw them—50 or more mal-lards pitching into a patch of flooded willows afew hundred!yards to the west. Maybe there washope after all.!

Where It All BeganSeveral months earlier I had made plans to

travel to this area to get a head start on the new

season. I also wanted to check outfreelance!hunting opportunities on the manylocal Ducks Unlimited projects. DU Canada ownsdozens of tracts in the Minnedosa area that areopen to the!public. What's more, hunting pres-sure on these projects is very light. Most shoot-ing in southwest Manitoba is done on dry grainfields, where!mixed bags of geese and ducks aretaken from ground blinds. This leaves the pot-holes largely undisturbed—an ideal situationfor waterfowlers who!enjoy gunning over water.

I phoned Scott, a longtime friend and DUCanada's director of operations on the prairies.Scott loves his work, and he also loves to pursuethe!fruits of his labor. He was quick to volunteerhis services. "I'll pick you up at the Winnipegairport, and then we'll head west," he said.!

"Just bring your waders, shotgun, huntingclothes, and personal gear. I'll have everythingelse."

In Winnipeg, I met Scott at the curb outsidethe terminal. His truck was loaded with decoys

MANITOBA MARSH!MAGIC A

waterfowler's pilgrimage tothe CanadianDuck Factory

and the birthplace

of DU's conservation

work

By Wade BournePhotography By Rick Adair

The gusts were whipping the bulrushes backand forth over my head, their shadows like danc-ing tiger stripes across my parka. The blow wasfrom!the northwest and cold—a migrationwind. Based on what Dr. Scott Stephens and Iwere seeing, or not seeing, many ducks in thisarea had hitched!a ride on it and headed south.!

Scott and I had waded into this wetlandbefore dawn, tossed out a bagful of decoys, thenhunkered down on marsh seats a few yards backin the!reeds. His seven-year-old Lab, Brie,watched anxiously from her dog stand.Yesterday afternoon Bob Grant had seenstreams of mallards using this!marsh. This

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glassed several marshes and found a few duckson most of them, but no concentration on any.Bob!looked perplexed. "We had a ton of ducks onthese marshes just a couple of days ago," hesaid, "but it seems that a lot of them havemoved out.!

Sometimes we get a lull between when the lo-cal birds leave and the northern migrants ar-rive. Looks like that may be the case now."

Just my luck. We were in one of the best duckspots in North America with the man who knowsit probably better than anybody, and we'd hita!lull. Talk about bad timing!

Still, Minnedosa at its slowest is better thanmost duck hunting areas at their peak. We de-cided to keep looking for the best possiblespot.!Then we'd set up and see what the windsblew our way.

Finally, after an hour and a half of driving, wetopped a rise and bore down on a large marsh

that held around a hundred mallards and anequal!number of bluebills. "We're running out ofdaylight," Scott said. "I think we should givethis spot a try."

Bob and I agreed, and soon we were waderedup and packing decoys from Scott's pickup. Thewind was howling from the northwest, and themallards!were crowding the pond's westernbank to get out of the blow. There was a borderof thick bulrushes—perfect for cover. The lowsun would be at!our backs. The setup looked ide-al. As we walked in, we flushed several dozenmallards. Soon we were perched on marsh seatsa few yards deep in!the cover, watching our de-coys scuttle in the chop.

In the next hour, action wasn't fast but it wassteady. Ducks began trickling back into themarsh, and we traded shots, taking a mixed bagof 14!mallards, gadwalls, and bluebills. We alsodowned two Canada geese that came head-on toour calling.!

I had a good feeling as we picked up the de-coys in the fading light. We'd had a nice start toour hunt, and I was on the Canadian prairie—the!heart of the Duck Factory—with two ami-able, highly capable hunting partners. Therewas only one more thing I could ask for. "Bob,you know a!good local restaurant?"

"I do, indeed," he answered, and we headedback to town for a hot meal.

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right!ones. The best way to do this is to drive theback roads and watch the ducks' flight pat-terns. When you find a marsh they're using inthe!afternoon, you return there and set up tohunt the next day."

Bob had already located a spot for the follow-ing morning's shoot, but Scott and I were eagerto get out this afternoon. We quickly piledour!shotguns and gear into Scott's pickup andheaded into the countryside. Scott and Bob hadalready enjoyed several good hunts during theseason,!which was now some six weeks inprogress. And I had broken the ice—figurative-ly—a few weeks earlier, shooting teal inLouisiana. Still, our!adrenaline was pumping aswe started driving and looking for ducks. Thosehunts were then. This one was today.

Hitting a LullFifty miles later we had a reality check. We'd

A Freelance Hunter's ParadiseFrom Gladstone, Scott and I followed Bob far-

ther west to the town of Neepawa, on the east-ern edge of the Minnedosa pothole country.Here we!checked into a motel and quicklychanged into hunting clothes. Bob also briefedme about the region's waterfowling opportuni-ties.

"The best hunting in southwest Manitoba lieswithin a 50-mile radius of Shoal Lake," Bobsaid. "This area is dotted with thousands of pot-holes!that were formed when the glaciers fromthe last Ice Age retreated from this area. Theyleft behind enormous blocks of ice that meltedslowly,!leaving depressions that gradually filledwith water from rain and snowmelt. Today thesesmall wetlands constitute some of the verybest!waterfowl nesting and brood-rearing habi-tat in North America. Ducks Unlimited Canadaowns some 100 conservation projects in thisarea and has!easements on another 150."

Bob explained that in late summer, localducks collect in large flocks and begin feedingin nearby fields of wheat, barley, and peas."They will!roost on potholes and fly out to thefields at dawn," Bob said. "Then they will returnto water around midmorning. Hunters who lo-cate these!loafing areas can toss out a few de-coys, hide in adjacent cover, and enjoy somegreat shooting when the ducks come back."

Effective scouting is the key to success."There are many potholes, but they don't allhold birds," Bob said. "You've got to find the Cont’d. on next pg.

079_001.qxd 10/28/13 1:26 AM Page 1


Another CurveballThe next morning Bob was confident

that a large concentration of birds wouldstill be using a 50-acre pond on a DUproject he'd scouted west of!the town ofMinnedosa. We arrived on site beforesunup, hiked to the upwind side, andtossed out our mallard decoys. Scott alsostretched a long!line of canvasback decoystoward the center of the pond. Bob hadseen several cans and redheads here, andwith luck the decoy line wouldfunnel!some in close to our hiding spot inthe bulrushes.

But nature tossed us a curveball. As the

sun rose, a thick fog developed. Soon wecouldn't see 10 yards. The ducks werethere—we could hear!their wing beats asthey flew by. Occasionally a duck pitchedout of the murk, and we came up firing.By 11 a.m. we'd downed nine birds, amix!of puddlers and divers.!

After lunch at a historic hotel in thefarming town of Rapid City, we contin-ued searching for birds. We drove scoresof miles and checked!several marshes, butwe never found the concentration wewere looking for. More and more itseemed that Bob's pronouncement of alull was! accurate. We finally decided toset up on a beaver pond where we hadflushed a few dozen mallards. Bob con-

tinued scouting while Scott and I!hunted.Our bag for the afternoon was seven.

Bob was optimistic when he picked usup at dark. "I found a wad of mallardsresting on one of our marshes and feedingin a grainfield nearby,"!he informed us. "Ithink we'll have some action tomorrow."That was good news to sleep on.

The next morning the wind was blow-ing harder than ever, and the temperaturewas close to freezing. The sky was clear aswe set our decoys. There!was only one el-ement missing. The mallards Bob hadseen the previous afternoon weren't here.Only an occasional bird flew across themarsh. In! the first hour of hunting webagged one lonesome greenhead and aCanada goose that came to our calling.

Right after the goose fell was when wesaw the mallards swoop into a nearby tim-ber hole. Bob said there was anothersmaller pothole there that!was more pro-tected from the blow. As we talked aboutmoving, another flight pitched in to jointhe first group. That's all the convincingwe!needed to pick up and head in theirdirection.

Thirty minutes later we were huddledbeneath thick bushes bordering the smallpond. Our decoys were set where duckshad flushed upon our!arrival. Now maybeour luck would change.

A few minutes later a small flight ofmallards dropped into our spread withoutcircling, and we downed three.!

And that was it. Only one other bunchappeared over the next two hours, andthose birds settled across the trees in an-other nook of the pothole.!

Our luck had run out, along with ourhunting time. I had a plane to catch backin Winnipeg. We had to pack up andleave.!

The slip. That's what the ducks hadgiven us. Oh, we'd bagged several, and I'dgotten a firsthand look at this storied partof prairie Canada—so! important to wa-terfowl and so tantalizingly available tohunters. But many of Manitoba's duckshad headed south just as I was comingnorth. I'd!come to the right place but atthe wrong time. That's just how duckhunting is sometimes.

I took solace in the knowledge that thisafternoon I would be flying back homeand leap-frogging ahead of the migration.I'd be waiting on the! ducks' winteringgrounds when they got there, and thistime they would hopefully play by myrules. Soon it would be Minnedosa mal-lards in!Missouri rice fields and Kentuckyflooded timber, and this time I wouldhave home field advantage.

As I boarded my plane in Winnipeg Iwas optimistic both for the days aheadand the seasons to come. The Minnedosaarea, and especially the DU! projectsthere, were in prime condition—lushwith water and upland cover, and theyhad yielded an abundance of waterfowlthis year. And thanks! to the hard workand generosity of DU members every-where, the habitat conserved on DU proj-ects will be there in perpetuity. From BigGrass Marsh!to Minnedosa and beyond,the vision of DU's founders has come tofruition. There's still much work to do,but there's also much that's been! com-pleted. I just wish those farsighted gentle-men could come back and see what theystarted.!

Plan Your Hunting Trip Online DucksUnlimited Canada (DUC) recentlylaunched Waterfowling.com, a website allabout hunting ducks and geese in! thatcountry. The new site features a GISmapping component of DUC projectsthat can be accessed through GoogleEarth. These projects represent! only asmall sampling of the more than 8,880DUC projects encompassing more than6.2 million acres of wetlands and wildlifehabitat across!Canada.!

The website also provides links to awealth of other important informationfor waterfowlers, including the latestprovincial hunting! regulations, requiredlicenses and permits, and professionaloutfitter associations (for those who wishto hunt with a guide). Moreover, this!siteprovides timely updates about DUC'sconservation programs and Canadian wa-terfowl habitat conditions as well as triv-ia, recipes, tips, and!more. Support DucksUnlimited at: Ducks.org

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2. Ready the MachinesVandemore also stresses the need

to have all mechanical tools inspect-ed before the season starts."You don't want to discover that yourpump or motor is malfunctioning orthere are issues with your well on theday you need to start putting water onthe ground," he cautions. "Same goesfor boat motors or!any other mechan-ical gear – test those items out in theoff-season to ensure that all is run-ning properly."

3. Brushing Blinds

It pays to get an early start cuttingbranches to camouflage permanentblinds, Vandemore says, and whileyou're at it, don't be afraid to cut anextra trailer-full or two to have onhand for touch-ups! throughout theseason.

10 Easy Ways toImprove Your

Waterfowl!SeasonHere's why you need to

be!preparedMost waterfowlers are aware of the

need and the process of preparing forthe upcoming season. What manydon't know is that there are benefits tostaying on top of off-season tasks.Here are 10 reasons you should hitthe ground running when the 2013waterfowl season kicks off in yourarea.

1. Early ScoutingLate summer to early fall is the per-

fect time to start scouting for placesto hunt, according to veteran Missouriduck and goose hunting guide TonyVandemore.

"Hit the road or hop in the boat andstart scouting now to find those areasthat are holding water or have a goodfood source," he says. "Make a list ofthose places that look good; it willsave you time by! giving you greatplaces to start your scouting when thebirds arrive in the fall."

"This way you don't have to cutany more during the fall," Vandemoreexplains. "If you wait until the mid-dle of the duck season to get extralimbs from a pin oak that has alreadychanged colors, it seems! that theleaves don't stay on nearly as well aslimbs that have been cut earlier."

4. No Surprises for SparkyIf you bought a new accessory for

your hunting dog during the off-sea-son, now is the best time to introduceit.!

"The hunt on opening day is not theplace to be introducing a dog blind ora stand to your retriever," says BenFujan, an Avery pro-staffer fromSouth Dakota. "It is super easy tobuild that new toy into! your dailytraining or exercise routine, even ifit's just in your backyard. Your part-ner will be much more comfortableand confident using it, and that willlead to smoother hunts in the fall."

5. Focus on FiveThe five-note greeting call is one of

the first a duck hunter learns, and it isalso the one to know on opening day."Forget the fancy feeding chuckle – ifthere is one call to be comfortablewith, it's the basic descending, five-

note greeting call," Fujan says."When you can blow that call, youcan modify it for just!about any situ-ation: add volume for a hail call, addspeed for a comeback, soften it forworking birds up close or draw itdown to just a single quack for confi-dence or a lonesome hen type of call.If you!can blow a greeting call, youwill put more ducks in your decoys."

6. Off-Season Shape-UpThe hot days that bring summer to

a close are also the perfect time totake your dog to the lake for a swim,Fujan says, which is a perfect way toincrease physical activity before theseason starts.

"You can't expect your dog to gofrom the kennel to the marsh or thefield and perform without somehelp," says Fujan. "Swimming pro-vides a great workout for dogs and iseasier on the joints, but runningand!walking are good, too – anythingto make sure that your dog is in prop-er shape when the season starts."

7. Hardy HuntersGetting back in shape isn't just a

necessary step for hunting dogs, saysTexas hunter Dallas Branch. Over the

Photo by Chris Jennings, DU


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081_001.qxd 10/28/13 1:55 AM Page 1


with hunting partners, Stoltz says it'simportant to revisit hunts from pre-vious years.

"Try to take into account whatworked in the past and what didn't,and then make corrections to equip-ment or hunting locations accord-ingly," Stoltz says. "Looking backon previous years has also helpedme!identify how certain weather pat-terns produce better hunting condi-tions in certain areas and how theyimpact bird behavior."

10. Don't Forget the BasicsAs exciting as it is to see opening

day creep closer on the calendar,

past decade, the Avery pro-stafferhas gotten more serious about pre-season training.

"You read all the time about hav-ing your gear ready before the sea-son starts, but more important is get-ting yourself in shape," he explains."Waterfowl hunting can be a veryphysical activity, and your body!canwear down over the course of theseason. Running, lifting weights andproper nutrition before the seasonstarts will help you haul gearthrough those muddy marshes,which makes watching the sun riseover! the decoys in that spot no oneelse was willing to try and reach thatmuch more enjoyable."

8. Landowner RelationsInvesting the time to visit with a

landowner in the off-season can paydividends come opening day, ac-cording to Vance Stoltz, who huntsalong the Front Range of the RockyMountains in northern Colorado.

"Hunting land is at a premium inthis area, with more ground beingsold or developed for housing orleased every year," Stoltz says. "Wetry to maintain the relationship withthe landowner by stopping by!beforethe season begins. It just isn't fair tosee birds in a field, knock on a doorto get permission, hunt and thennever talk to that landowner againuntil there are birds in his field thenext year. Do! it right; take care ofthose landowners, or someone elsewill."

9. Revisit Hunts from Seasons PastWhether it's through reading a

hunting journal or simply talking

Stoltz adds that it is important to re-member the basics of pre-season to-dos.

"Obviously, you want to makesure your decoys are cleaned up andready to go, and if you've purchasednew shotgun shells or a choke,you're going to want to run thosethings through your gun to see howthey!pattern. But spread the tasks outa bit so you don't get overwhelmed,"he says. "Preparing for the seasoncan be as much fun as the actualhunts. It's fun to work on decoys andguns and calling – kind of an!exten-sion to the season – and it reallyhelps keep your head in the game."

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TIPS… Cont’d. from previous pg.

Mike O’Bryan with huntingbuddy Scott Chaney who is theArt Director at Cabelas, with

Rocky had a great day huntingat duck club in Putnam.

Kids of Central Gun Club Back row:

Carrie, Alexis, MorganFront row:

Kennadie & Paige

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DU Gear!Guide: New Decoys for!2013

Decoying ducks and geese with success hingesupon the creative tactics of the hunter and therealism provided by the decoys. Waterfowl 360covers the tactics, now you just need the decoys.The October Gear Guide focuses on new decoys toget you started—or to complete—your bestdecoy spread ever.

Avery Pro Grade Gadwall Decoys Avery's new Pro Grade Gadwall Decoys provide

the added realism needed for every hunting situ-ation. The permanent GHG Dura-Keel weightedkeels make these decoys self-right and ride flaw-lessly in the water.!!!Included in the pack: 1 Swivel Head Drake!2 Relaxed Drakes!1 Surface Feeder Drake!1 Content Hen!1 Surface Feeder Hen

Shappell® Jet Sled® Decoy transportation is an ongoing battle. The

Shappell Jet Sled may be the solution you've beensearching for. The durable sled offers the abilityto tow, drag or float your decoys into your huntingarea.!Dimensions: 54"L x 25"W x 10"H.!Camopattern: ATC™ All-Terrain.Features: Molded runners glide over mud, ice and water!Camo finish for total concealment!Rugged polyethylene construction!Made in USAWeight: 11-1/2 lbs

Hardcore Decoys – Full-body, Fully FlockedMallard Feeders

Hardcore Decoys has taken their full-body mal-lard decoys to the next level of realism by offeringa fully flocked version. These feeder decoys may

sleeve and!removable motion-decoy pouch. Don'tworry about losing the bag while setting decoys:the bag floats and the mesh bottom drains easily,leaving your hands free for any number of tasks.Lifetime guarantee.!Made in USA. Dimensions:54"H x 30"W. Camo pattern: Realtree MAX-4®.

GHG Quick Fix Decoy Cord!–!Black GHG's quick-fix decoy cord is a must-have for

any blind bag or boat box. Not only will it come inhandy when fixing decoy cords, but the durable,super-stretch cord solves any number of issuesthat pop up!when waterfowling.Features:Made from PVC O-ring materialWill not freeze, crack, rot or floatSuperior stretch and durability

GHG Pro Grade Full Body January MallardsGHG's Pro Grade January Mallards are

designed to feature the paint scheme's lifelikerealism. The late-season look and feel to thesemallard decoys make them an excellent additionto any decoy spread.

the added realism one might find on!any potholeor slough in the flyway.Included in the pack:One wigeon pairOne pintail pair!One green-winged teal pair

GHG Oversize Full Body Pintail Active Duck Decoy GreenHead Gear's full-body, active pintails

offer the high visibility pintails provide to a natu-ral-looking decoy spread. The lifelike motion fromthe RealMotion System adds movement in theslightest!breezes.Specifications: Length: 21.25 inches!Height: 13.25 inches!RealMotion System

Mojo Outdoors Backpack Losing pieces and parts of a Mojo duck in tran-

sit has been an issue for many waterfowlers. TheMojo Outdoors backpack solves these problemswith this multi-pocket backpack designed fortransporting Mojos. It!also serves as a functionalway to store your Mojo equipment, ensuringeverything stays together.

Splash Ultimate Floating Decoy Bag The Splash Ultimate Floating Decoy Bag was

designed for the waterfowler trying to hike intoremote locations to avoid the crowds. This packwill hold 36 standard decoys, and includes a gun

be what makes the decision for hovering mal-lards. Features: Size: 19.5" Tail to BillFully FlockedIncludes 6 Round Bases & 6 Run N' Gun StakesSets of 6: 4 Drakes, 2 Hens

GHG Pro Grade Pintail Duck Decoys GreenHead Gear's new Pro Grade Pintail

Decoys may be the final touch to your decoyspread for added realism and color. Offering mul-tiple head positions and durability, these decoysoffer the lifelike look!needed for any spread.!1 High Head Drake!2 Relaxed Drakes!1 Surface Feeder Drake!1 Content Hen!1 Surface Feeder Hen

Big Foot™ B2 Full-Body Specklebelly VarietyDecoy Pack

Big Foot's new B2 Full-Body Specklebelly vari-ety pack offers three feeders and three uprightwhite-fronted goose decoys. Sprinkle in severalspecklebelly decoys to add realism to any goosespread. Sets of 6.!Dimensions: 31"L x 10"W x15"H.

Final Approach® Gunner HD Duck Timber Pack Get your timber-hunting spread together with

the Final Approach Gunner HD Duck Timber Pack.The mallard and wood duck drake combinationset is ideal for late-season timber hunts wherevisibility is the key to!success.!Included in the pack:Four drake mallardsTwo drake wood ducks!

Final Approach® Gunner HD Pacific/CentralFlyway Puddle Pack

Final Approaches Pacific/Central FlywayPuddle Pack includes the species you'll find in theCentral and Pacific flyways. This option makesthe decoy-species decision for you and provides

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two corners of the Second Level.Not all the front corner space wasavailable in 2013 due to construc-tion, and for the same reason not allthe First Level rooms were used.

b) The building’s lobby is beingwidened and deepened; this in-creased space will be available foruse in 2014. The expanded lobbysquare footage will be more suitablefor exhibit space. Bathrooms will beincluded as part of this lobby expan-sion. That will be a relief, no pun in-tended. Also, banners on the Sec-ond Level will give directions to ex-isting bathrooms on the Third Level.

c) There will be expanded concession areas nearthe front of the Second Level exhibit floor.

d) The exhibitor shooting booths will be more vis-ible and accessible, and their location more easilyidentified.

e) Better use will be made of both ramps, and theareas in the back corners of the Second Level Exhib-it Area leading to them will be more open and wellmarked. To make better use of these wide ramps,photo contest displays may be positioned there. Inaddition, trophy contest deer display boards will bepositioned at the foot of both ramps, because deerdisplays draw traffic.

f) The use of the ramps and the space at the footof them will make more flat-floor areas available foradditional exhibitor booths, Steingraeber noted.The Second Level exhibit floor plan has been modi-

fied to add exhibit booths, open upall aisles from front of the floor toback of the floor, make all ex-hibitors more easily located, im-prove traffic flow, and make betteruse of space at the back of thefloor for bulk space exhibitors.There will be no bulk space ex-hibitors in the middle of the exhib-it floor as there was in 2013. Theyblocked traffic flow and visibility.

g) Tickets will be sold from kiosksimmediately outside both ends ofthe lobby. (“Outside kiosks havebeen used for years at the Wiscon-

sin expo in Madison. Attendance there is approxi-mately two-and-a-half times the Illinois expo atten-dance, and ticket sales flow smoothly, so we knowthe system works,” Steingraeber said.) There willbe more ticket windows for faster ticket line move-ment. Door prize registration tables will be immedi-ately inside the north and south lobby entrances.This traffic flow style will move more people fasterthan the ticket window format. Ticket windows inthe lobby will not be used.

It is intended that each booth will have two peo-ple, one operating a ticket window on the left sideand one on the right side. Two booths would thushave four rows of ticket buyers. Buyers would passthrough in straight lines. There would be no need tocut through lines of people waiting to buy a ticket,such as occurs at ticket windows.

h) Ticket sales will begin at least half an hour be-fore the expo opens each day; on Saturday this couldbe stretched to 45 minutes before the expo opens.Early ticket buyers will be bull-penned in the new,larger lobby, a particularly valuable factor in in-clement weather. “We begin selling early becausepeople are there to see an expo, not stand in line tobuy a ticket,” explained Glenn Helgeland, ExecutiveDirector and former owner of the Expo. Early ticketsales are standard procedure at the company’s oth-er deer-and-turkey expos.

i) There also will be advance tickets available; youwill be able to purchase online and print your ownticket in advance, then bring it to the Expo, Stein-graeber explained.

“You will be able to skip the on-site ticket line andgo directly to a ticket taker,” he added. That personwill scan your ticket with an I-pod barcode scanningdevice. This system was created after the 2013 Illi-nois expo; several thousand attendees took advan-tage of this service at the post-Illinois 2013 expos.

j) Parking – There’s plenty of parking spacewithin five blocks of the expo facility, but it obvious-ly needs to be marked better. One of the solutionswill be to give detailed parking information on ourwebsite, probably with downloadable maps. The Cityof Springfield website will also have this informa-tion. On-site signs, banners and/or billboards atvarious parking lots are also being considered.

Here’s the information that will be posted on theexpo’s website: www.deerinfo.com/Illinois severalweeks prior to the 2014 expo, most likely with adownloadable map.

PARKING: Total of All Ramps: 3,120PCCC: 600, (Prairie Capitol Convention Center)Hilton: 492, (across the street from PCCC)Others: 4th and Washington8th and Capitol (after 5:00pm M-F, all day Sa,

Su)6th and CapitolUnder Old State Capitol7th and Capitol4th and CapitolPLUS – 1550 Metered spots on streets. Meters

are free on Sat. & Sun. Plus after 5:00 pm week-days

MAPS:• Website for parking locations map:

www.deerinfo.com/Illinois/Lodging & Directions• Website for Parking Locations, hotels, shoppingand other Springfield details: visit-springfield illi-nois.com/Documents/2013MapSitesHotels.pdf

In December see more details on the Expo eventsplanned. Hope to see you at the Expo!

2014 Plans for Illinois Deer & Turkey Expo

Misperceptions involving the Prairie Capital Con-vention Center (PCCC)

First, the Expo is on two floor levels, making it ap-pear half the size it actually is, simply because youcan see only one floor at a time, and thus only halfthe Expo at a time. Second, the 2012 Expo in Peo-ria had the most floor space ever, much more thanwas needed, and the most exhibitors. With atten-dance down to half of what had been expected, therewas a misleading spaciousness.

The 2013 result? Half of the total Springfield ex-po space ended up being compared to a floor spacethat was much larger than needed. That’s an inac-curate comparison that brought about inaccurateconclusions to some attendees.

Now…keeping in mind that it takes a couple ofyears to learn to work with a building and its staff,and to use its space optimally, as stated in lastmonth’s background article, there are several worksin progress for the 2014 Field & Stream-OutdoorLife Illinois Deer & Turkey Expo, February 21-22-23.

a) Jake Steingraeber, the Expo’s Managing Direc-tor, noted that the 2014 floor plan will use more ofthe available square footage in both levels of thebuilding and in both ramps between the First Leveland Second Levels, the space at the foot of theramps, all the rooms on the First Level and the FirstLevel lobby, and make more efficient use of the front

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The Changing World of Whitetails

by Dr. Dave SamuelWhitetails look and act the same as they

did years ago, but the world they live in andthe activities that involve and surroundthem have changed dramatically in recentyears. Some of those changes are serious,while other impacts are just plain crazy.

Take "eating venison" as an example. Foryears hunters have taken the practice of eat-ing venison for granted. Shoot the deer,haul it home, butcher it and eat it. We've al-ways done that, and we still do because weknow that venison is healthy, safe and deli-cious. The fact that many of us butcher ourown deer doesn't change a thing. We haveno concerns about sharing our venison withfamily and friends, and we also share tons ofvenison with the less fortunate. Yes,"hunters helping the hungry" programs goon in every whitetail state, and we take thatfor granted. Giving meat to the less fortu-nate is just something that hundreds ofthousands of hunters do. At times like these,with homelessness on the rise, providinghealthy venison is more important thanever. Enter the government.In late February, the Louisiana Dept ofHealth ordered a soup kitchen in Shreve-

port to throw 1,600 pounds of venison intothe garbage. Apparently a patron of thatkitchen questioned eating venison, and thattriggered the Department of Health to rushin and destroy the meat. An e-mail sentfrom the Department of Health to FoxNews stated that "Deer meat is not allowedto be served in a shelter, restaurant, or anyother public eating establishment inLouisiana." No mention of the fact thatsuch activity has been going on in Louisianafor years. Anyway, the Department ofHealth official went on to say, "while weapplaud the good intentions of the hunterswho donated the meat, we must protect thepeople who eat at Rescue Mission, and wecannot allow a potentially serious healththreat to endanger the public."

Thank you, dear government, for savingus from ourselves. And who will protect themillions of hunters, family, and friends whoconsume that dangerous venison threetimes a week in their own homes and havebeen doing so for many years?

This craziness went even further. Thesoup kitchen meat was not returned to thehunters who donated it. Instead, the pack-ages were split open in the dumpsters whereit had been placed, and bleach was pouredon it to ensure that no animals or anotherhuman could consume it. Thank goodnessfor that. We can't have dogs or homelesscitizens foraging in dumpsters for food and

getting sick from eatingvenison.

How will this incident beresolved? First, the Depart-ment of Health will wishthey had never gotten in-volved in this fiasco. Politi-cians are infuriated with thiswaste of food for the home-less, and they will rememberat budget time. They alsowill find a legal remedy thatwill allow the continuedmeat donations to takeplace. It might take a while,but be sure that most every-one in Louisiana under-stands that this action was way over the top— and it will get solved.Soup kitchens are already having a roughtime getting venison donations because ofthe bad economy. Virginia, Georgia, Min-nesota, Wisconsin and Iowa are some of thestates reporting reduced venison donations.Some states reported reductions of morethan 50 percent for 2012. All blame theeconomy and the unemployment rate. Themillions of hunters that are out of workneed the meat for their families. Thoughthe economy is the big culprit, regulationsare also part of the problem. For example,Minnesota has a regulation stating that alldonated meat must be X-rayed for lead bul-

let fragments. No mention of a major studydone that showed that hunters who eat deermeat do not have elevated blood levels oflead. Thankfully, lawmakers there are look-ing to eliminate that problem, so futuremeat donations can increase. Also, Massa-chusetts states that all donated venisonmust be butchered in a state approved facil-ity.

At a time when people need food morethan ever, some common sense would helpin states that don't seem to understand thatmillions of pounds of wild game is eatensafely every year in America, without thehelp of government.


085_001.qxd 10/28/13 11:54 AM Page 1

antlered bucks). Sounds great, but there aresome folks who are questioning antler re-strictions. Our hunting population is ag-ing. In 1996, 7 percent of all hunters weresixty-five years of age or older. By 2011that number jumped to 11 percent. By2016 you can expect that number to go ashigh as 16-18 percent or more.

Now let's look at the percent of yearlingbucks in the harvest, a figure that antler re-strictions should cause to be relatively low.The average for the Northeast states in2011 was 48 percent, and Pennsylvania (astate that has antler restrictions) had 50percent of their harvest being yearlings.Note, most states (including Pennsylvania)that have antler restrictions allow youths toharvest any size buck. So what is the prob-lem?

We've got more and more older hunters,and we want fewer yearling bucks in theharvest. The problem is that we're hearingmore senior hunters in antler-restrictionstates asking to harvest any size buck. If thestate allows that, they will defeat the pur-pose of antler restrictions. Making the har-vest of yearling bucks more lenient messeswith the age structure of bucks. Managerswork hard to get a better buck age struc-ture, but you'll destroy that by creatingmore loopholes for hunters to kill moreyearlings.

A sign of the times? I hope not.

Photo credit: Roger Trentham/Getty Im-ages/iStockphoto/ThinkstockWhitetail Journal

Dr. Walt Cottrell, is a very experienced vet,and he is very knowledgeable about CWD.For several years, Dr. Cottrell supportedthe elimination of the sale of deer urine inPennsylvania. A recent finding accentuateshis concerns. As many of you know bynow, CWD was recently found on a gamefarm in Pennsylvania (and subsequently intwo other counties in the wild, apparentlynear other game farms). Relative to urine,here is the kicker. It has recently come tolight that this CWD-positive game farm al-so collected and sold deer urine. So, evenwithout conclusive proof that hunter-useddeer urine can spread CWD, you can seewhy politicians and those who write regu-lations, and deer managers, are concerned.Where will this end? I have no crystal ball,but it would not surprise me to see somekind of restrictions placed on deer urine inPennsylvania, even though enforcing themwould be difficult. If that happens in sucha huge deer hunting state, other stateswould probably look hard at the sale ofdeer urine. How those involved in the deerurine industry will react to this is un-known, but I'm sure they are concerned.

Antler RestrictionsOne last thing. As you all know, antler

restrictions are gaining in popularity withhunters. In most states where there areantler restrictions, at least 60 percent ormore of the hunters like it. Quality deermanagement leads to healthier deer,healthier habitats and healthier buck agestructure (that usually results in bigger-

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The Spread of CWDThe world of whitetails and whitetail

hunting has also been changed because ofchronic wasting disease. I wrote about thisin our April issue, but there are new devel-opments coming out of Pennsylvania. Oneof the things we do know is that the prionscausing CWD are found in urine andblood — so wear plastic gloves when youfield-dress your animals. Since it is foundin urine, one of the proposed ways inwhich CWD might be passed from onedeer to another is via urine. The suggestedway this would happen is that the urine isdeposited at scrapes, which are then visited

by other deer. We know that once on theground, these prions remain viable foryears. The thought is that if another deerlicks that urine and if that urine came froma CWD positive deer, this second deermight get the disease.

I understand the concern, but from myexperience deer don't lick scrapes, or theground, very often if at all, so the reality ofsuch spread is rather iffy. And research tosupport this scenario is far from conclusive.For example, in one study, saliva and urinefrom CWD deer was injected into mice.Almost all mice given the saliva got CWD.Only a few of those given urine got CWD.

However, the situation in Pennsylvaniaadds a new wrinkle to all of this. The Penn-sylvania Game Commission veterinarian,

WHITETAILS…Cont’d. from previous pg.

086_001.qxd 10/28/13 2:44 AM Page 1


Brushing in a Layout Blindby Derrek Sigler, Hard Core Decoys

You finally broke down, stepped up to the plate andsmacked a home run by buying a layout blind. You'vegone through the break-in steps, laying on a thick lay-er of mud, letting it dry and then shaking it off to killthe UV glare. Now you're ready to head out and hunt,right? Nope. There's more to it than that.

Camo is a great thing and it really has changed howwe hunt. Some of today's patterns are truly amazing,but even the best camo pattern in the world isn'tenough to fool waterfowl. You need to do more to hideyourself when hunting, and that is why blinds, like theHard Core Man Cave shown here, have stubble strapsbuilt in.

Matching the HatchI know, that's a fly-fishing term, but it fits. In fly-

fishing, you want to match the insects that are emerg-ing at that time. The same goes for brushing blinds.You don't want to hunt a green winter wheat field witha blind covered in corn stalk colors. It'll stand out likeMiley Cyrus at Phil Robertson's house.

Your blind has a lot of stubble straps. Use them! Istart out every season going through and starting witha "base layer" of blind material. I like to use fresh hayfrom my field. I don't try to cover the whole blind, but Ido try to give a good, solid layer I can build on when I hitthe field.

I used to try to bush the blind in completely when I

was in the field. This never worked right because I nev-er had enough time between setting decoys and drink-ing coffee. The first year I hunted with a layout, I no-ticed that as the season went along and more andmore brush was added to the blind, the more success Ihad. Might as well start off that way, right?

So with my base layer in place, I take a good look atthe conditions I'm hunting in. Early season, for me,means hunting fresh-cut alfalfa fields and some occa-sional oat fields. While these two plants look similarfrom a distance, up close, they aren't close at all, soyou have to be aware of that.

Another factor in matching the growth is the rain-fall. You can plan to hunt green fields, but if the raindoesn't fall and you have a scorching hot August, you'llbe hunting in a lot of brown, dormant grasses in earlygoose season. It doesn't take much rain, however, togreen a field quickly. I've started prepping blinds only

to have a weekend of rain and sun turn brown to greenfast.

One way around this is to have a good supply of ar-tificial blind material with you. Hard Core EZ Grass isavailable in several color combinations and can easilyfill in when local foliage is hard to come by.

CornfieldsCornfields are another animal. Hunting in corn

stubble can make your brushing job easy, especially ifyou were smart enough to go and grab enough stalksbefore they are all shopped up. I'm not above stoppinginto a local store and buying a bundle of stalks thatfolks use for decoration.

Blending your blind into a corn stubble field is trick-ier than you might think, though. Sure, you can coveryour blind up pretty quickly and easily with stalks andbe concealed, right? But are you really concealed? Try

to look at it from the perspective of a goose. You've gotthis field that looks right. There's a pile of your friendsdown there, feeding in the rows of stubble. But what isthat big pile of stubble right there in the middle? Seewhat I'm getting at?

Cornfields are planted in rows and have a symmet-rical look to them. Don't break the symmetry! I like toplace my blind between the rows as best I can. I linesides heavily with corn stalk stubble and I try to keepthe center of my blind darker, with sparse vegetation.When I know I'm going to hunt cut corn, I'll often layon a layer of mud, just like when I was breaking theblind in. Of course, you want to do this well enough inadvance so it dries. A trick if you're in the field is tosimply grab a big handful of dirt and rub it into the ma-terial.

Tools of the TradeI like to take a camera with me when I'm scouting.

You should always have a camera with you, right? Inaddition to taking pictures of birds, deer and othercool stuff, I'll take some good close-up shots of theground to use as a base for starting the brushingprocess.

Hard Core has a line of tools to help you brush yourblind, too. Everything from nippers to ratchetingpruners and even a machete is currently available at aretailer near you. The Hard Core Blind bags are evendesigned with a pocket for your nippers.

"I designed the bag with a pocket especially for yourpruners/nippers, because one of the first things youdo when you get in the field is touch up the blinds,"said Hard Core's Mike Galloway.

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087_001.qxd 10/26/13 10:39 PM Page 1


them. Over the last few years themuskrat population seems to have de-clined somewhat. The muskrat was thefirst animal I trapped and I still love totrap them today.

It does not take a big, powerful trapfor to catch and hold a muskrat. I eitheruse a 1 ! coilspring or a #110 conibear.One thing nice about the 1 ! is that itis also large enough to hold any coon ormink that happens to come along. Theconibear is my go to trap at den en-trances and runs.

If a trapper is not properly outfitted,it will not take long to become water-soaked. At the very least I will wear hipboots, and at times, depending on thesituation and how deep the water is, Iwill wear chest waders. Muskrat trap-pers have different opinions about wear-ing gloves, but I prefer to because I pre-fer the comfort of having dry, warmhands. Depending on how deep the wa-ter is I either use shoulder lengthgauntlets, or a pair of 14-inch gloves

Muskrats AreWorth the Effort

by Jason HouserM u s k r a t s

sold at pricesthis past yearat pricesmost trappershave neverseen, and willprobably notsee again forsome time.M u s k r a tprices willstill remain high for this upcoming sea-son, but do not look for them to be ashigh as what trappers were getting lastyear for big, well furred muskrats.

Muskrats are not a hard animal to trapif you can find a good population of

when the water is shallow. Another toolof the trade that comes in handy at timesis a small trapping shovel. This itemdoes not get a lot of use, but it comes inhandy when making a baited set that in-volves some digging.

When trapping other furbearers, suchas raccoons and coyotes, the baited setcatches more fur than what a blind setdoes. The opposite is true withmuskrats though. A trapper will catchfar more fur in a blind set than what hedoes in a baited set. The main reasonblind sets work so well is that muskratslive in an area that already that has plen-ty of food and there is no reason forthem to investigate a baited set.Muskrats tend to live in a pattern, visit-ing the same place every night. This iswhy blind sets work so well.

I normally use conibears when settingruns, den entrances and bottom edgesets. One of the best sets is when you areable to find the entrance to a den and seta trap in front of the entrance. Remem-ber that it is illegal to set a trap inside a

muskrat lodge. Runs are deep channelscaused by swimming muskrats. This is agood place to set and stabilize a #110.

Bottom edge sets became popular withmink trappers, but they are effective formuskrats as well. Especially when densand runs are hard to find. When walk-ing streams, search for a point that sticksout in the water. The point should bealmost vertical for best results. You willcome across a lot of points, so it mightbe hard to decide which one to set a trapat. The best point will be one that amuskrat cannot see around, causing himto hug tight to the point. Set and stabi-lize a conibear the furthest tip of theprojection.

Many muskrats have ended up in myfur shed using muskrat floats. Thou-sands of muskrats are caught each yearusing muskrat float sets. A float set isnothing more than a wooden platformwhich the muskrats can climb aboard toeat on. A normal float consists of two 1! coilsprings attached to the undersideof the float and an ear of corn used asbait centered between the two traps.When the muskrat steps on the trap’span and gets caught, the muskrat shouldend up in the water, and because of theweight of the trap it will not be able toclimb back on the float and will quicklydrown. Floats can be purchased frommost trapping supply dealers, or can eas-ily be made at home for very little ex-pense. It is not uncommon to catchdoubles on this set. This set is good atany location, but especially helpful whenno other sign is available to set a trap,even though you know muskrats arepresent.

Many coon trappers can tell you thatmuskrats are also interested and easilycaught at pocket sets. If you intend tomake pocket sets with the sole purposeof catching a ‘rat or two it is then timeto use a good muskrat gland lure, foodlure or a bait placed inside the pocket. Ifyou want your set to catch muskrats andany passing mink, leaving most of the

In the heart of historic Menard County,IL, RiverBank Lodge offers a unique andmemorable lodging experience. Locatedon the southern edge of Petersburg, Illi-nois, on the banks of the Sangamon Riv-er. We are very close to Abraham Lin-coln’s New Salem State Historic Site, aswell as the Jim Edgar Panther CreekState Fish & Wildlife Preserve.

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088_001.qxd 10/28/13 3:12 AM Page 1


coon be, make your pockethole no bigger around thanthe trap. Keep the openingthis size, but widen it out asyou go deeper into the bank.Slick up the side of the pock-et to give it the appearancethat it is used often and setthe trap just outside the pocket on aslide wire drowning system.

Muskrat trapping may not be as ap-pealing as a big old coyote might be, but‘rats are good for both the beginner andexpert trapper. Sets are easy and quickto make, and with a high population ofmuskrats it is easy to make some moneyon these little critters.

Hunting Alaska • Dominic LolliIt all started when a good friend of mine, Richard Compton, wanted me to go to Alaska to moose hunt.

At that time, I could not go, but “maybe in a year or two.” So, I started to save and made plans to go inSeptember 2013. !We were going to hunt about 120 miles north of Nome.

We lef t Macon on September 7 and flew to Nome. Af ter our arrival we had to wait until the pilot pickedus up and flew to camp; then wait until the next day to start hunting.

The first three days were kind of slow. Another hunter I was with shot his moose on the 1st day! On the 4th day, our guide sent us on a mission about 25-30 miles by Argo to pick up a moose they shot theday before. He said we could hunt up there on the way North and part of the way up; we spotted two nice groups of caribou. I passed on them because I wanted to get a moose first.

Once we got where we were going, we started glassing the mountainside and willows. It was getting later in the day, scouting two good spots where we had seen 5-10 cow moose, but no bulls. !Yet, our guidegave us another hour to glass the same spot.

F inally, we spotted a nice bull moose. We stalked him one mile to the willows to get within 350 yards. Then waited a moment while listening to the cows call the bull. The bull went right to the cow to giveme a good clear shot. With the bull at a little over 300 yards, I made a good shot with a 300 Winchester Short Magnum.

It was a hunt of a lifetime!Thanks so much to my guides, Justin, John and Tyler you all did a great job!

089_001.qxd 10/28/13 3:17 AM Page 1


Long Ago, on a small StreamBy Dan Gapen Sr.

Before I begin my tale from yearsago, I must apologize for the photosbeing all black and white.! But thestory still exists for you, my readers,to experience.! It's a tale experiencedwhen game and fish laws weren't asconfusing and complicated as theyare today.

Having traveled most of our Statesand much of Canada, all have thesame complexity and confusion intheir wildlife laws.! The bureaucracyhas gone wild; a strategy which pro-motes their own jobs.! Just try andread your game and fish laws oftoday.! They've become so congestedwith laws and by-laws of what to doand what not to do, that the averageoutdoors man will, without knowing,violate the law no matter how hard hetries!not to.! I believe it's about timewe sportsmen rise up and demandsimpler rules.! What the fish andgame people are doing is a SUREdestruction of our sport.

Enough said, now my tale.It began on an early day in

November of 1953.! My late friendDan Conn and I decided to float anArkansas River for white bass andlargemouth.! We'd just finished a floatdown the White River for trout, onewhich produced dozens of rainbowsand browns, the largest an eightpound brown.! While there, why nottry one of the lower white tributariesfor other species.! Inquiring at a localbait shop, always a good thing to dowhen in an unfamiliar area, we weretold to and how to contact an oldtimer named Ben Snuff.! It seemsBen was the best white bass angleraround and he would for a fee of$20.00 take us down one of hisfavorite streams.

Old Ben, his face wrinkled with thetest of time, met Dave and I the nextday at the Squirrel Creek landing.

"So you Yankees want to catchwhites, do you?" came our guide'sgreeting.! I assured the coveralledfarmer that was the case.

"Well, if you want whites one ofyou are going to have to help me netour bait.! We use bluegill, crappie andbass fry for bait here on the squirrel,"came our first instructions.

A block into our float, my firstexperience in a jon boat, we stoppedon a sand bank.! Reaching into hisnap sack Ben pulled out a long 20foot scene.! Wading out into the shal-low stream the old man, net end in

hand, began a slow circle while Daveand I held the other end.! Momentslater the scene held hundreds ofsquirmy minnow sized gamefish.! Today this would be illegal.Sorting through the hords old Benpicked out about 30 minnows he'dneed, mostly bluegill and bass fry.The rest were dumped back to carryon.

"Whites eat everything fellows butthey mostly enjoy these bluegill fry"our guide explained.

Off we went on down the meander-ing Arkansas stream.! At bend num-ber one, a high rock cliff held an 8foot deep hole.! Dave and I wereinstructed to cast our live bluegills,with a single split shot for weight, atthe foot of the rock and freeline ourbait.! It took less than a minute forboth of us to connect with scrappywhite bass.! Both were in the 2 to 3pound slot as would most of ourwhite bass catch that day.! We tookeleven fish out of that hole, thenmoved on.

Like so many anglers of those daysour guide used a Zebco spin castreel.! Dave and I had graduated andworked one of the newest reels, redand black open face Pflueger spin-ning models.! Three more stops and

Old Ben nets a white for me taken from the hole below the rock cliff.

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090_001.qxd 10/28/13 7:59 AM Page 1


and a couple huge crap-pies, along with whitebass and largemouth bassmade up our catch.! Benkept the cat, along withsix-largemouth and tenwhite bass to take home.All the rest were re-leased.! We stopped twomore times to work thescene to gather live bait,mostly small bluegill.

Our day ended as thesun neared the westernhorizon.! At the junctionof Coon Creek we weremet by Ben's wife Sarawho'd brought their beat-up old Ford pickup to car-ry the equally beat up jonboat home.! Ben was paidhis twenty dollars fee anda tip of ten.

Dave and I left happyto have experienced oneof the greatest fishingdays of our lifetime. !

So, if you ever havethe chance to fish with anold timer, recommendedby a local bait shop, doso!! It too, may see you,my reader, experience aday where fishing is whatits meant to be - a day ofrelaxing fun which willtake you back to yourroots.

Until next time, thishas been the Old Man re-questing you RELAX,SAVOR and ENJOY ourgreat outdoors.! It’s yoursto save for your grand-children.

GAPEN.COM

30 more fish; mostlywhite bass but severallargemouth, three ofwhich, along with twowhites would be kept forshore lunch.

About noon, westopped on a rocky/gravelpoint to cook shorelunch.! It was done overan open fire, similar instyle to the way I'd al-ways done it while guid-ing in Ontario.! Instead ofwalleye, we'd enjoy theflakey white meat ofbass.! ' TODAY EATINGBASS WOULD BE ASIN.'

In today's world we'dhave already violated thelaw four or five times.! Ashort rest on the gravelbank was in order afterlunch of about an hourlater we headed outagain. !

Ben's jon boat carriedone of the newest inven-tions in the fishing world,an electric motor, but henever used it.! Instead ourguide used a wood pad-dle, rejecting the use ofthe modern gear.! Itseems, one of the bankersfrom Little Rock had giv-en him the motor as a tip,after a trip with Ben.! Hefigured the devise mightimpress Dave and I see-ing we were Yankees.

Through the numeroustwists and turns the Squir-rel Creek, that day produced 80 to 90more fish.! One a 6 pound Channel Cat

The seine catch ofbluegill & bass fingerling used

for bait.

Squirrel creek got narrow at times

shore lunch of bass being prepared

Dave Conn holds up a largemouth, later to be eaten

for shore lunch

Ben, Zebco in hand holds up a white taken

on a Rebel lure

091_001.qxd 10/28/13 7:58 AM Page 1


Briar is a native Mackinaw boy who is having the time of his life living in Alaska! Briar (Ross)Reaktenwalt is now 9-years-old, but was only 5

when his family moved to Alaska. He caught thisSockeye Salmon this July in Soldotna, Alaska on

the Kenai River. This was his first time fly fishing.Briar ties all of his own flies and has all of his

own fishing gear! He knows everything there is toknow about the fish from their different spawningseasons, when they run & what you use to catch

them. Briar can tell you anything you need toknow! He absolutely loves Alaska & we couldn't

be more proud of him! He also loves duck hunting & has his own bird dog named Kimber.

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Congrats to 14 year oldMason Kleiber for taking

his first buck! He shotthis young 5-pointer on

Mon. Oct. 14 in McLeanCo. Proud dad Jeff

Kleiber took him huntingon a friend’s farm foryouth shotgun season. They both wanted to

share their excitementon this hunt with ASO!Thanks Jeff & Mason!KEEP ‘EM COMING!

Congrats to Kassidy Groeper for shooting this big doe

on Sunday of youth hunt in Peoria County. Kassidy is

14 years old from Williamsfield.Thanks to proud dad

Russell Groeper for sharing hisdaughter’s trophy with ASO!

GREAT JOB KASSIDY!

092_001.qxd 10/26/13 10:54 PM Page 1


Festival attracted more than 7,000 revelers, andorganizers of the 2013 “Running of the Santas” arepredicting a record 10,000 party-goers this year. Thissignature holiday extravaganza will kick off at 11 am atFinnigan’s Wake (“The South Pole”) located at 537N. 3rd Street, where event participants will preparefor a three-block “fun run.” !The 4 pm “fun run” pro-ceeds to the Electric Factory (“The North Pole”)located at 421 N. 7th Street.

The day-long festivities will continue with a hugeconcert and party at the Electric Factory. In additionto Tonic, there will be performances by Go Go Gadjet,Split Decision, LeCompt, Ken Kweder and many othergreat acts. Event sponsors will also host costume con-tests which will include the popular “Coolest Santa”and the memorable “Hottest Mrs. Claus” awards.

Tickets to the event are now available online atwww.runningofthesantas.com.

A portion of the proceeds will go towards benefitingtwo charity organizations: the Ellie Koerner LeukemiaFoundation and the FOP Lodge #5 Survivors Fund. Themission of the Ellie Koerner Leukemia Foundation is toprovide assistance to families who struggle to care fora loved one suffering from leukemia. The FOP Lodge #5

Survivors Fund wasestablished to providefinancial and emo-tional assistance tothe family membersof Philadelphia policeofficers who lost theirlives in the line ofduty.

THE RED STOCKING CHRISTMAS FUNDGet Your Holiday Gifts Lined Up Early &Donate to the

Journal-Star Christmas Fund! 12 Stories from Norm Kelly, ASO Writer & Peoria Historian…A Great Gift ONLY

$7 or $1 per story! Stories sent Electronically. Norm is a great writer! Help him to support

The Red Stocking Christmas Fund! Christmas 2012 they distributed over 5000 food baskets and 1700

stockings full of toys to Central IL residents in need, marking the 100th year of giving for this charity.

Contact Norm for details! norman.kelly@sbcglobal • 309-692-6387“Wishing an early Merry Christmas to

you and the KIDS!” ~Norm

Grady Christmas Tree FarmChristmas Trees • Grave Decorations Pillows • Cemetery CansWreaths • Gift Shop

Open 7 days a week!8am-4:30pm

Closed Thanksgiving DayGrady Christmas Tree Farm

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Kevin Ellis • 309-696-7069 • [email protected]

HOTTEST AND LARGESTANNUAL CHRISTMASTIME

EVENT IN THE COUNTRY RETURNS“2013 Running of the Santas”

Showcases 10,000 Santas and OtherColorful Christmas Costumes

“Running of the Santas Mega Festival,” the hottestand largest seasonal holiday event in the country isreturning to Philadelphia. The popular costume-inspired event will take place on December 7, whenthousands of Santas and Mrs. Clauses take to thestreets to partake in revelry and merrymaking.

“Running of the Santas” started in 1998 in thestreets of downtown Philadelphia when 40 closefriends decided to suit up in holiday décor and go barhopping. More than a decade and a half later, the“Running of theSantas” event hasgrown across theworld with more than20 host cities fromCalifornia to theshores of NewZealand.

Last year’s Mega

RUSSBE Reusable Bags • Great Stocking Stuffer!Environmentally friendly and fun alternative to packing snacks and lunch-

es in thin paper and plastic sacks. Besides food, these bags are good for stor-ing outdoor stuff. Attractively priced and packaged in sets of four. (twosandwich and two snack bags Only $5.99 +S&H) RUSSBE allows people to cutback on paper and plastic waste without breaking the bank. They are easy touse, simple to clean and convenient. They are also free of BPA, PVC, latex andphthalates. Each RUSSBE bag has the potential to keep hundreds of dispos-able bags out of our oceans, cities and landfills while keeping chips, cookiesand sandwiches fresh and ready to enjoy! RUSSBE helps keep the outdoorsclean while you are exploring the outdoors. After use just rinse out the bagand avoid littering or wasting paper. This new brand is available onAmazon.com. Let people know how they can save money and help the envi-ronment by packing their lunch in RUSSBE bags. Shop.Russbe.com

093_001.qxd 10/28/13 8:21 AM Page 1


Just in time for Holiday Gift Giving

ICF Offers 2014 Wall Calendar

SPRINGFIELD, IL - The Illinois Con-servation Foundation is pleased to an-nounce the 2014 ICF wall calendar is nowavailable. If you relied on the Illinois De-partment of Natural Resources’ formerOutdoorIllinois wall calendar for huntingand fishing season information, and forevents celebrating Illinois’ great outdoors,you’ll definitely want to pick up a copy ofthis calendar. Proceeds from the sale of thiscalendar will support youth conservationeducation programs in Illinois.

“The OutdoorIllinois wall calendar wasextremely popular with Illinoisans who en-joy participating in outdoor activities, andI’m pleased to announce that ICF hasstepped up to fill this void,” said MarcMiller, Chairman of the Illinois Conserva-tion Foundation Board. “Supporters pur-chasing this calendar will be assisting ICFas they build today’s youth as strong andinformed conservation leaders and stewardsof our environment.”

Supplies are limited, so order calendarstoday for prompt shipment. This calendarwill make the perfect holiday gift for youroutdoors friends and family.

The 9” x 12” calendarcontains stunning photog-raphy of Illinois wildlifeand natural resources andcan be purchased for $15,or two for $29, or threefor $41.25.

Order online at www.ilcf.org or by

phone at 217-785-2003. Checks and money orders can be mailed

to: Illinois Conservation FoundationATTN Wall Calendar

One Natural Resources Way Springfield, IL 62702-1271

2nd ANNUAL KIM PRESBREY MEMORIAL PHEASANT HUNT!

November 10-12, 2013BENEFITTING YOUTH

CONSERVATION EDUCATIONRend Lake Resort

11712 E. Windy LaneWhittington, IL! 62897

ICF is a multi-faceted 501(c) (3) organi-zation established in response to the firstIllinois Conservation Congress. Your pur-chase of a 2014 Illinois ConservationFoundation wall calendar will help providea variety of exciting youth outdoor recre-ational and educational programs in Illi-nois.

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094_001.qxd 10/28/13 8:38 AM Page 1


by Keli Van CleavePinkOutdoors.comPinkOutdoors.com

WOWWOWAdventure Sports Outdoors' Exclusive SectionFor Women...Taking The Outdoors By Storm!

Women’s Outdoor WorldWomen’s Outdoor World

Come to ColoradoWhen one thinks about returning to nature and soaking up its beau-

ty during the winter months, one of the places that spring immediatelyto mind is the state of Colorado. It features some of the best and pris-tine wilderness areas in the world, and it’s easy to find some wonderfulwinter fishing destinations in Colorado.

While you cannot hunt in Rocky Mountain National Park, you will findthere are quite a few other areas that will present you with some won-derful hunting opportunities. Here are a few of those places that youmight enjoy.

Shadow Mountain Outfitters is close to Denver, and offers somegreat big game and turkey hunting. You will find some great bird hunt-ing with Brandon Hiatt as well.

Fishing is also very popular in the winter months, and you will findthat Colorado has a host of great locations to catch the big one. Thearea around Grand Lake and Rocky Mountain National Park has aplethora of spots that might appeal to you including the Fraser River, where you should be able to land rain-bow trout, brook trout, and brown trout. The Meadow Creek Reservoir, located east of Tabernash, is anoth-er haven for trout, especially out in the deep waters. At Lake Granby, you should be able to find salmon aswell as trout.

If you want to get out and enjoy our beautiful mountains on a different level. Cottonwood Country Tourswith Chris Burandt offers everything from half day snow-mobile excursions for families, all the way up to all-inclu-sive multi-day extreme adventures with personal instruc-tion from the best riders in the sport. Chris is a two timeX-Games Medalist and Backcountry Specialist.

LADIES! Send Your Photos to:

ASOCathy@gmail .comMail: 1408 Downing Ct.,

Tremont, IL 61568

Annual ICF Pheasant Hunt • Rend Lake, Nov. 10-12This is a great event!! On Sun., Nov. 10, you’ll enjoy an af ternoon of trap, skeet,

and five-stand shooting at the Rend Lake Shooting Complex, followed by an eveningpairings reception.! Then on Mon., Nov. 11, af ter a great breakfast in the Rend LakeResort Great Room, you’ll spend the morning and af ternoon in the field (with lunch

at noon), followed by an evening banquet at the resort.! Enjoy breakfast Tues.morning, then head for home with your cleaned birds. Sign up today and don’t missyour chance to join hunters from throughout the state for the annual Kim Presbrey

Memorial Pheasant Hunt, hosted by the Illinois Conservation Foundation, on Nov.10-12 at scenic Rend Lake Resort.!That’s shooting, hunting, two nights lodging,

meals and a great time at Rend Lake, all for $625 per person ($675 at the door).Proceeds benefit ICF youth conservation education programs.!

Register right now:! online at www.ilcf.org!or phone 217-785-2003.!

Chris Burandt

Contact Keli at:[email protected]

Colorado hasan adventure

waiting foreveryone!

095_001.qxd 10/28/13 8:54 AM Page 1


Gamber Cove…Gamber Cove…With Over 10 Well-Stocked Fishing Lakes, Miles of Hiking Trails, Berry Picking, Mushroom Hunting, Swimming Pool, Shower House, Shooting Range & Club HouseCamping: Full Hookups or Primitive,

Near Victoria, IL

309-879-2490 • 309-696-0172www.gambercoverec.com

Call Ray Gamber to get your

membership lined up today!

Enjoy 315 Acres!

Congratulations to ASO friend Deb Park with a beautiful 3 Lb Bass. She caught this bass while husband Bob was live on the air with the

Rednose Gang Radio fishing report. Deb told Bob, it is the largest Bass she has ever caught to date.

Quite an exciting moment shared with the listenersand the guys in the studio! Way to go Debbie!Read articles by Bob Park in ASO on page 30!

Hear Fishing Reports from Bob & The Rednose Gangevery Sunday morning 7-10 am on WOAM 1350 AM

Radio & LIVE online at: www.ustream.com enter:rednosegang. Call in # 309-693-2900

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Erika with Sam and awhole lot of morelmushrooms.

Sisters Isabella and Erika Hilst.

Bet that was a great hunt!

Eric’s father

Wes Hilst of Havana is Harry’s

Uncle.

Proud dad Eric Hilst with beautiful daughters Erika and Isabella.

096_001.qxd 10/28/13 9:09 AM Page 1


PEPSI SUPPORTS WOMEN IN THE OUTDOORS!

The dream began last summer. Agroup of hunters, led by TikeSutherland, gathered weekly to form acommittee that would give away trophywhite-tail deer hunts to youth withphysical disabilities. We gatheredsponsors and hosted a fundraising ban-quet on August 10 in Cohasset,Minnesota which raised enough moneyto award two hunts.

Ashley Weston, of Cohasset, was thefirst chosen to hunt deer at Sutherland’sten acre high-fence wildlife farm. Thecommittee members met with Westonand her family at Pizza Hut in GrandRapids the night before her hunt.Ashley had this to say about her oppor-tunity “I don’t know if I will be able tosleep tonight because tomorrow I get toshoot a big buck.” Ashley has neverhunted before and is excited to be cho-sen to participate in the hunt. We say aprayer of blessing for her hunt and tellher what to expect.

Ashley arrives at the Sutherland farmbefore sunrise and marvels at the plat-form Tike has arranged for her wheel-chair. She settles just in time for the

bucks to start moving. Weston noticesthe buck that she wants, sets her sighton the deer, and pulls the trigger. Theshot connects and her trophy buck goesdown. “It all came together”Sutherland said. “It was a big successand to see the smile on Ashley’s facewas worth it all.” Ashley realizes herdream of hunting a trophy whitetaildeer, and shoots a deer bigger than hergrandpa’s largest buck.

Two weeks later, Dylan Klampe ofGrand Rapids is chosen to be the sec-ond hunter to participate in a We

Dream Too… hunt. Klampe has neverhunted before and is not sure what toexpect on his first-ever hunt. The com-mittee met Dylan and his family thenight before the hunt at Sammy’s Pizzafor dinner. Dylan can’t get the smileoff his face, as he radiates excitement.His mother and I visit over pizza andshe says she never dreamed her sonwould be able to hunt trophy whitetaildeer. We say a prayer and iron out theplan for tomorrow’s hunt.

Dylan climbs in the stand and canhardly believe his big day is here.There is a chill in the air, but Klampe iscomfortable. Tike reassures Dylan thedeer will move and he needs to be pre-

pared to take a shot. Things can happenquickly. The leaves rustle as the bucksstart moving. Dylan raises his gun,locks in on the deer he wants, andreleases the safety. Next, he places hisfinger on the trigger and pulls it back.Boom! Dylan starts to shake and Tikebeams. “I have a big heart for youthwith disabilities, and am thankful tohave the opportunity to do thesehunts.” Sutherland told me later as herelived the hunt. Congratulations,Ashley and Dylan, on your trophy bucks!

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097_001.qxd 10/28/13 12:03 PM Page 1


[email protected]

For a Free Catalog, Call: 217-376-3873

Gerald & Jeanne Sampen421 Olive St.

Emden, IL 62635

I T ’ S T H EI T ’ S T H ES M A L L T H I N G SS M A L L T H I N G S

T H A T C O U N TT H A T C O U N TPreparing for a

hunting trip takestime and effort.Making a list andthen checkingeach item off as Ipack helps to in-sure that I haveeverything I’llneed. For thepast 10 years I’vebeen bear hunt-ing with TheBear Camp near

Armstrong, Ontario. That list I originallycompiled has been lengthened and tweakedafter each trip but has continued to helpmake it easier to get organized for my annualhunt.

I’ve listed items that over the years I feel area must to include but which many huntersdon’t even think would be necessary. Noneof the items take up space but I guarantee youthere will be a time when you say you were

glad you took the time to include the follow-ing items.

Mosquito coils. Weall bring Therma-CELL® and severalcans of mosquitospray for when thoseannoying insects arebad. Using a ThermaCELL® in a closedspace is not recommended by the manufac-turer. I also find I have to reapply the sprayrepellants during the day especially if I’msweaty. What a lot of us forget about is howto rid the tents of those buzzing critters whenwe try to sleep. Here is where those mosqui-to coils are perfect. Lighting just a two inchstrip will clear out the tent in just a few min-utes and you won’t be bothered by that an-noying buzz from the mosquitos that sneakin after dark as you are trying to drift off.One box of these coils will last for severaltrips to the outback.

Mouse traps. Apackage of twomouse traps can bepurchased for under$2.00 and if youwatch store flyersthey can be foundeven cheaper. Itdoesn’t take mice

Customer Service Index #1 at Watkins Marine for ‘08, ’09, ’10 & ‘12!

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For more information about “We Dream Too” or to apply

for next year’s hunt, visit:www.tikestrophysausage.com

/we-dream-too/

DREAM… Cont’d. from previous pg. Anita lives in Grand Rapids, MN and isthe mother of two adult children. She hasbeen a hairstylist for thirty years. Her emp-ty nest allows time to pursue interests of bowhunting, fishing, travel, and photography.She is on the founding board of We DreamToo, donating trophy deer hunts to youthwith disabilities. Follow her on Facebook,YouTube and huntervids.com.

~ DREAM TEAM ~DUCKETTES ANNUAL LADIES NIGHT OUT

FRI. NOV. 8Hosted by River City Duckettes

All Proceeds to Benefit Ducks UnlimitedDoors Open: 5:15pm

Cocktails & Game Play: 5:30-6:45pmDinner Served: 7pm • Live Auction to Follow

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by MarleneOdahlen-Hinz

098_001.qxd 10/28/13 12:42 PM Page 1


Until I’veincluded wireties in my backpack and utili-ty kit I haveused dental floss, crochet cotton and twine to

phones for the time.I bring a small oldfashioned wind upalarm clock on everytrip because I know Iwon’t have to worryabout recharging thebattery on my phone.There are even wrist watches with built inalarms that also work well. I just happen tolike to know what time it is when I wake upduring the night.

SIRIUS Radio. Thissome may consider aluxury item but Iwouldn’t be withouta subscription tosatellite radio. Thereare stretches of high-way on the way toArmstrong, ONTwere I can getabsolutely no recep-tion on my cell phone, On-Star or the truckradio. Once in Armstrong there is a radio sta-tion but information and entertainment islimited. I want to keep up on current events(even my favorite sports team) while I’mhunting and this is the way to do it. SiriusXM has a 6-month introductory offer that isextremely reasonable as well as great renewalrates. It’s worth considering.

Wire Ties. It amazes me that not every hunterknows the value of having a supply of wire tieson hand. For temporary repairs or securinga tag to a bear is so easy and convenient.

long to find a small hole to invade your spacewhether it is a tent or a bunk house. Years agoI hunted along the English River where theoutfitter has purchased summer homes onvarious islands that the original owners nolonger used. The cottages were lovely butsince they were only occupied during huntingseason the mice had made it their home aswell. My mouse traps worked overtime onthat trip.

Filet knife. Most outfitters will have a goodsupply of skinning knives but I make sure Ibring along my filet knife for those times I cantake a side trip to do a little fishing. Nothingmakes memories like fixing a meal of freshlycaught walleye or trout on an open fire. Infact I bring all my skinning and boning knivesplus a knife sharpener on every hunt. I’m useto their feel in my hand and I know they willdo the job I need them to do.

Vacuum Packer. Only in the past few yearshave I made sure there is room in the truck formy vacuum packer. The Bear Camp usesgenerators to keep the camp’s lights burningbright and the freezers cold, so I know elec-tricity is available. Now instead of just skin-ning and quartering my bear I can bone it out,then package the steak, chops and stew meat.These smaller packages freeze more quicklythan when the entire front and hind quartersof a bear are placed in a freezer. Air can cir-culate better around the smaller bags and pre-vent spoilage. Packaging the meat this wayalso saves room in the amount of coolers Ineed to bring along to transport the meathome. A big plus is that I don’t have to dealwith disposal the carcass when I return toMinnesota. All that’s left to do when I getback home is grinding the remaining meat foruse later in chili and casserole dishes.

Clothes Line. This is the number one item Imake sure gets included when packing for anytrip. I’m a stickler about scent control. Eventhough I treat my hunting clothes with ScentKiller® before I go there are still times when Iwant to freshen them up. I’ve even gone so faras to throw in some clothes pins and hangers.It’s easy to cut a sampling to use in proppingup the sagging line that can get heavy with theweight of my hunting clothing. When yousee other hunters in camp using your line youknow it was an item they’d wished they’d havebrought along as well.

Clock. So many people rely on their cell


attach tags to my bears.

When space is at a premium these items areeasy to include and will come in handy moreoften that you may think. A successful huntmany times hinges on the little things.

099_001.qxd 10/28/13 12:24 PM Page 1


Large Firearm AuctionSun. Dec. 1st • 9:00 a.m.

South Rt. 45 • 2601 Lakeland Blvd. • Mattoon, ILFrom Interstate 57 – Take Exit 184 North 2 Miles

Preview Sat. Nov. 30th 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. • See Complete Sale Bill for Full Listing, Photos, Terms & Conditions at:

Ron Baker, Jr., FFL Dealer (217)274-5056 • Hank Bauer, Auctioneer (217)259-5956 • Bauer Auction Service, LLC. Lic. #440000242 • (217)459-2806

950 Guns - - 2 Auction Rings!Partial Listing:6 Kimber & Cooper rifles; Win. Pre 64, Model 70’s; Browning Hi Power Safari’s; Rem. 600’s, 660’s, & 700’s; Win. 70’s in rare calibers; Winslow custom .30-06; Sako’s; Ruger 77’s; Custom bench rest guns; Custom German sporters; Savage bolt action rifles; Win. 71 Deluxe; Win. 86; Win. 92’s & 94’s; Ruger #1; Sharps Old Reliable .45-70;

Ballard sporting rifle; Marlin 95’s, .45-70; Springfield MIA & M1 Garands; Several AR & AK style rifles inc/Colt; Win. 40x; Win. 52’s; U.S. German, Jap & Russian bolt action military rifles; Anschutz rifles; SKB’s; Win. 61 short only, oct. brl.; Low wall musket; Boys rifles; Win. 42’s inc/pigeon grade SR & Deluxe VR; W.C. Scott high grade 16 ga. dbl. Parker V grade12 ga.; Browning Superposed & Citori’s; Browning BSS 12 & 20 ga.; Rem. 1100’s; Browning A5 20 & 16 ga, 2 brl. sets; Slug guns;

L.C. Smith 00, 12 ga.; Colt SAA’s inc/U.S. Calvary Ainsworth; Colt Gov’t. U.S. & civilian 1911’s; Python; Several old Colts in orig. boxes; 50 nice S&W hand guns of all descriptions; 5 German Lugers; Rem. Rand 1911-A1 w/British proofs; 7 Kimber 1911 hand guns, most NIB; Glock’s; Sig’s; S/A; Beretta’s; Browning hi power 9mm; High Standards; 40- Ruger hand guns inc/flat top Black Hawks; Taurus Judge; Military hand guns; Gun safe; Oak gun cabinet; Ammo; Parts; Knives; Hunting & Military Collectibles

ASO’s good friend Pat Sullivan has been doing a lot of fishing and co-hosting ASO-TV fishing segments. Pat also did two ASO-TV cooking tips.August had ‘Poor Man’s Lobster”: bluegill filets cut into strips and cooked in 7up, served with drawn butter, delicious. Sept. show he prepared

pan fried crappie using Old Bay seasoning and Dixon’s Fish batter, excellent. See the shows on www.youtube.com/asomagazine then to the videopage. Find Pat at Kelleher’s Irish Pub & Eatery on State & Water St. on Peoria’s Riverfront! Here are a few moments of fishing with Pat…

Ralph Henderson, TJ Angelo & John Kunskie

Pat’s grandkids helping clean the fish! Patrick with a bluegill.

Sean caught this blue gill.

Pat &Cal with a couplecrappie

ChuckGalbertwith Cal

We caught 67 crappieblue gill & small bass.

They had to throw this one back. Pat Sullivan withanother nice bass.

Ralph Hendersonwith a nice bass.

100_001.qxd 10/28/13 10:20 AM Page 1

Fast Crappie GumboI had to put “fast” in the title of

this dish because I mean it… it’squick to make and so worth it! Ilike it best with crappies, but anyfreshwater white fish will workand make you and your familyhappy.

1/4 cup butter1/2 cup onion (chopped)1 small green pepper (chopped)1/2 cup celery, chopped28 ounces can tomatoes1 can okra1 cup water1/4 tsp. dried thyme leaves1 lb. crappie fillets (cooked) cut insmall pieces2 cups rice (cooked)Salt and pepper to taste1/3 tsp. crushed red peppers

Melt butter in saucepan. Addonion, green pepper and celery.Sauté until tender. Add tomatoes,okra, water, thyme, red pepper, saltand pepper. Simmer for 15 min-utes. Add fish. Cook another 10minutes until fish flakes. Spoon1/2 cup rice in soup bowl. Pourfish mixture over the top and digin!

Baked WalleyeBoy oh boy are you going to

enjoy this simply delicious wall-

eye. Serve it with a bed of wildrice and a nice fresh green saladnext time you’re having friendsover for dinner.

4 walleye fillets6-8 tbsp. melted butter1 tbsp. lemon juice1/3 cup mushrooms (sliced)2 tbsp. finely chopped onionGarlic powderSalt and pepper to taste

Dip fish in melted butter, salt,pepper and lemon juice. Place fishfillets into shallow baking pan.Sprinkle garlic powder over. Placeonions and mushrooms over thetop of fish, then drizzle on anyremaining butter mixture. Bake at350˚ for 15-20 minutes until fishflakes.

Wild Turkey Noodle SoupI always say, if you need to feed

a big group – let them eat soup!This kettle is a big hit at deer campwith our family. Feel free to putwhatever veggies you like in there

too. That’s the beauty of soup…you can just keep adding stuff thenit gets better and better.

1 whole wild turkey (skinned,cleaned)6 quarts water1/8 cup salt3 tbsp pepper1 tsp crushed garlic1 medium onion (chopped)2 stalks chopped celery4 chopped carrots1 bag egg noodles

Simmer the turkey carcass, salt,pepper, garlic and onion in a largepot for one to two hours. After that,remove all the meat from the car-cass and place it back into thebroth. Add the celery and carrotsand simmer with the lid on foranother 30 minutes. Stir in the eggnoodles and simmer for another 20minutes.

Mallard AppetizerThere’s a reason duck season andfootball season coincide. Next timethere’s a game on television andyou’re having friends over towatch, wow them with this “app.”


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Place a chestnut in the middle ofeach breast strip, wrap, then wrapthat with a piece of bacon. Securewith a toothpick. Marinate them insoy sauce and teriyaki sauce for 2hours. On a cookie sheet, bake at325˚ for 40 minutes or until baconis brown.

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101_001.qxd 10/28/13 10:26 AM Page 1


P.O. Box 212 • Arnold MO 63010 • [email protected]

Choke work for all barrels and gauges, including thin barrels and chrome-lined bores

STEEL SHOT and TURKEY, Shooting match barrel work, including“factory legal” specials to pass choke test plug gauges

Choke tubes fitted and super-long forcing cones for all gauges, backboring and chamber work

Smoothbore slug accurizing and combination barrel conversions

Youth shooter modifications: fittings for short stature, cushy recoil pads, and more

Serious home protection, defense improvements for guns

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In extreme cases, it may be best to leave theantlers at home. Soft grunt calls ordoe/fawn bleats should be the betterchoice.

• Produce rattling closer to the ground.Whitetails know that whitetails don’t climbtrees. Ultra-realistic rattling should occuron the ground, made possible from a tree-stand by rigging a pair of antlers to a thincamo rope. It's an extreme technique thatcan bring cagey bucks those last few yards.

• Consider adding a buck decoy to yourstand site. Incoming bucks will be lookinghard for the "combatants." A deer decoywith a medium-sized (110-inch range) rackjust might help lure in — and preventspooking — incoming bucks of varioussizes.

• Create a calling/rattling scenario. Upthe realism factor (and prevent boredom)by creating calling "scenarios." As the peakof the rut nears, start your sequence with afew grunt calls, mimicking a buck hound-ing a doe. Then add a loud antler crash asa "challenger" springs on the scene. Later,after more rattling, adding "grunt-Wheezes" helps mimic tired bucks,exhausted from the struggle. Think emo-tion.

BowHuntingWorld.com

by Mark Melotik

Bowhunters have known about the effec-tiveness of antler rattling for years. Unfor-tunately, so have the trophy bucks we seekto attract. A game plan to dupe rattle-warywhitetails begins with refining technique.

• Start most sequences by calling softly-merely "tickling" the antlers. This will pre-vent spooking close-in bucks, and it may beall the volume needed on those calm, "pin-drop" mornings and evenings. Conversely,don't be afraid to generate volume whenit's really needed, on more blustery days.How loud? It's hard for anyone to dupli-cate the power and rage generated by twotrophy bucks. Go nuts.

• Know where not to call. Best rattlingresults will come on remote or well-man-aged tracts, especially those with a qualitydoe-to-buck ratio, the closer to 1-to-1, thebetter. Knowing where not to call is almostas crucial. In areas of high doe-to-buckratios (less competition for breeding) orhigh hunter pressure (lots of rattling),bucks will likely be leery of the technique.

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Keltner Auction ServiceFARM LAND • REAL ESTATE

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Gray squirrel huntingseason opens in Florida

Tallahassee Florida wildlife authoritieshave opened the state's gray squirrel hunt-ing season. The state Fish and WildlifeConservation Commission announced theseason runs Oct. 12, 2013 on private landsand runs through March 2, 2014. Thesquirrels are members of the rodent fami-ly and can grow up to 20 inches long.They like wooded areas and spend most oftheir time on trees.

Hunters who want to look for graysquirrels on wildlife management areasshould consult with the FWC, as opendates vary. There is no open season in Florida for tak-ing fox squirrels, which tend to be larger and have cinnamon colored bellies andtails. - See more at: www.grandviewoutdoors.com

BUY RAFFLE TICKETS TO WIN CASH & GUNS!Grand Prairie Pheasants Forever 24 Days of Christmas! See page 69!

CHRISTMAS AUCTION & DINNERFri. Nov. 15, 2013 • Huge Auction with 2 rings running!

Auction 6 pm • Grilled Chicken Dinner 4-7:30pmHeld at the Otto Center (1/2 mile south of Arthur, Illinois)

All Day Bake Sale, Free Coffee & Door PrizesFurniture, Quilts, Horse Related & Outdoor Items, Tools, Toys & Misc.

102_001.qxd 10/28/13 10:43 AM Page 1


place mantle as a reminder of thatexciting close up hunt.

It wasn’t that many years agothat you had to say it under yourbreath if you hunted from theground, but more and more huntersare finding out that ground blindhunting is more and more effectiveespecially with the array of groundblinds on the market to choosefrom.

It is important to know where toset a ground blind up . Assumingyou have pre scouted your huntingarea or at least know where thedeer activity is centered you canstart from there. Never set a groundblind up that will sillouette youagainst your background. Deer seewell enough to pick you out on askyline where there was nothingthe day before. Instead positionyour blind! in or against a woodedbackground so that the blindbecomes part of the backdrop andblends in well. Trim any branchesthat will prevent you from shootingbut don’t strip the area bare aroundyour blind so that the blind sticksout like a sore thumb. Try to keepyour blind area as original as possi-ble.

I don’t have to tell most of youdeer hunters how miserable it can

Silver Dollar…One of the Peoria Area’s Oldest Watering Holes

Drink Specials Everyday! Full Menu with a Fabulous Breakfast!M-F 7am-11pm • Sat. & Sun. 7am-2pm

Owners, Mike & Kathy Morris invite you tocome by for a drink and delicious meal!

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I hunt from theground, alwayshave and mostlikely alwayswill. With theexception of onelittle ladder standabout six feet tall all of my! otherwhitetails have been taken from theground.

My ground blinds have includedstacked hay bales, burlap camocloth stretched between a few polesto simply! sitting in a portable chairwith my back up to a tree.

In more recent years I have pro-gressed to! the pop up portableground blinds. One in particularcalled the Ameristep! Dog Houseblind has accounted for a couple ofbucks with one being arrowed atone yard. No that is not a missprint, the distance of the shot wasone yard. The hide from that buckis beautifully draped over my fire-

your tools of the trade such as rat-tling horns, calls, and an extralayer of clothing if need be.Organize your blind so that every-thing is reachable and above allelse that you can draw your bow orshoulder your firearm when need-ed.

This year I am using theAmeristep Intimidator II blind andthis blind has more room than anyblind I have used thus far. The win-dows are screened and the blind isvery well lined for long lasting use.

There is nothing more enjoyablethan sitting in my blind as comfort-able as can be knowing I am wellhidden and ready for when Mr. BigBoy comes strolling by. Giveground blinds a try who knows youtoo may arrow a buck at one yard!

get sitting out in the open on a coldday with a cold wind, or rain orsnow. I have experienced all ofthose scenarios and they are anendurance test of how long you canstand it without going back to thetruck and a warm heater.

In a ground blind you will findyou can hunt in conditions that willsend many hunters home. The blindshelters you from the elements andthat bone chilling wind. Manyground blinds are designed to helpkeep your scent in allowing for thedeer to come in close for a cleanshot. An all day sit is not all thatbad if you have a comfortable chair, some sandwiches and coffee andif the blind is high! enough you canstand up! and stretch if you need to.Most have enough room for all

HuntingBlind!!!

By Bob [email protected]

Listen & See ASO’s Red Nose Gang RadioShow broadcast every Sunday morningfrom 7-10AM (CST) on WOAM, 1350 AMradio & online at: www.ustream.com

Search for rednosegang (rednosegang is all one word!)

CALL IN # 309-693-2900

Have your deer processed by the best!Visit our website:

www.housermeats.comfor prices & hours

We make 4 kinds of salami, bratwurst,Italian, jerky, hot stixs & mild stixs,

deer donation information, maps & more!HH OO UU SS EE RR MM EE AATT SS

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Midwest Gun Collectors ShowNov. 2 & 3 • East Peoria Convention Center, Rt. 8

BUY – SELL – TRADE(See details in ad on page 28)

103_001.qxd 10/27/13 2:30 AM Page 1


Hunters arrive Wed. Nov 6thmorning and shoot begins around1pm. Banquet to follow Wedevening at club house. Thurs.morning hunt after breakfast, lunchserved at 12noon. Then on toFunk’s Grove for deer hunting.

This Wounded Warrior Huntis hosted by Wayne & LoisConrady at Big Oak HuntingParadise in Lincoln, Illinois.Upland Game Hunt includesovernight accommodations and3 meals served.

Thanks to John Deere forsupplying a Gator & RohlfsImplement will provide a newKubota RTV utility for trans-portation for the hunters to andfrom the field.

Questions on Hunts call Wayne!

Lots of hunting opportunities available…

Book your hunt at Big Oak today!

Deer – Turkey – QuailPheasant – Chukar

Big Oak Hunting Paradise2058 Old Route 121Lincoln, IL 62656

(217) [email protected]

Big Oak Hunting Paradise in Lincoln Hosting

Wounded Warriors Special Pheasant, Quail & Chucker Hunt

Nov. 6 & 7, 2013 (Wed & Thurs.)

Register for Conceal Carry Classes held on Saturdays atthe Big Oak Hunting Paradise club house. Class taught byAnita Chapman, who is a certified instructor with the state

of Illinois to book a class call: 309-830-7182

104_001.qxd 10/28/13 10:51 AM Page 1

counter-clockwise.• Wash the WindowsYes, it's a tedious job, but washing the

windows inside and out twice a year--spring & fall--rewards you with sparklingviews, unobstructed light, and the opportu-nity to check for cracks and damagedcaulking. Use a commercial window clean-er or make your own by mixing 1/4!cup!ofwhite vinegar with 1 gallon of water. News-paper makes the best "cleaning rag" be-cause it's absorbent and won't leave lint,but wear gloves to protect your hands fromthe newsprint.

• Rearrange the FurnitureChanging the! furniture! arrangement is

an easy way to give your rooms a new lookand feel for the winter. Pull seating piecesclose to the! fireplace! to create a coziermood, and bring out soft chenille or fleecethrows to ward off the chill.

• Make Windows AirtightAccording to the U.S. Department of

Energy, 10 percent of the air that leaks outof a house exits through the windows.Caulk around window frames and applyweatherstripping between the sash andwindow frame to eliminate air leakage.

• Put Up Storm WindowsInstall storm windows to reduce air leak-

age year-round. You can find storm win-dows with vinyl, wood, or aluminumframes and glass or plastic panes.

• Clean the GuttersWhether your gutters have become

roofline planters like this one or have sim-ply accumulated a season's worth of fallenleaves, get them cleaned out before winterrains and snows arrive.

• Check Smoke Alarms and CarbonMonoxide Detectors


Real Estate ChatterBy: Mary Ann Vance

N o v e m b e rstarts the busyholiday season.We just finishedup Halloweenand as usual Ienjoyed all ofthe kids comingto my hometrick or treat-ing!!! Thanksgiving will be here before weknow it and this year we don’t have the 4weeks before Christmas so you can onlyguess how soon that will be here. I want towish everyone a Blessed Thanksgiving andenjoy the fall season before giving in to therush of Christmas!!!

PREPARING YOUR HOME FOR WINTER

• Convert your fireplace to GasNothing communicates home-loving co-

ziness like a fire in the! fireplace. Unfortu-nately, traditional woodburning! fire-places! tend to lose more energy than theyproduce, pulling heated air out of thehouse and sending it up the chimney (andburning wood adds to air pollution). If youhave natural gas or propane heating, con-sider having gas logs installed.

• Call the Chimney SweepAll woodburning! fireplaces need to be

cleaned and inspected before winter.• Put the Ceiling Fan in ReverseCheck your!ceiling fan!for a switch that

allows you to reverse the direction of blademovement to turn clockwise instead of

Experts recommend replacing the batter-ies in smoke alarms twice a year, and ifyour smoke alarm is between 5 and 10years old, replace it with a new one. Thereshould be at least one smoke alarm onevery level of your house and one in or neareach bedroom.

• An Easy FixEven though only 2 percent of air leak-

age is through electrical outlets and switch-plates, every little bit counts, and insulatingoutlets is easy and inexpensive. Checka! hardware store for outlet gaskets (alsocalled insulation gaskets).

• Have the Furnace InspectedCall an HVAC professional to check the

fan belt that runs the!blower, vacuum outdust and debris, and oil the bearings if nec-essary. Buy enough filters to see youthrough the winter months and changethem monthly--when filters becomeclogged with dust.

• Time to Go Tankless?Conventional! storage! water heaters use

energy to keep the tank full of hot water atall times; a tankless heater provides hot wa-ter only when you need it, which requiresless energy thus saving you money.

• Plug Hidden LeaksAbout 30 percent of the cold air that

leaks into your home comes through holeswhere pipes, vents, or electrical conduitsrun through the!walls, ceiling, and floors.Check under sinks in the!kitchen!and!bath-room!and in the basement for gaps aroundpipes, and fill them in with an insulating

foam sealant. Small gaps can be effectivelysealed with caulk.

• Protect Pipes from FreezingTo minimize the possibility of water

freezing in your plumbing pipes causingthem to burst, wrap each pipe in a! blan-ket! of foam insulation. Check hardwarestores for these foam tubes, which have aslit on one side. Just cut the tube to thelength you need, pull the slit open, andpush the tube onto the pipe. If the slitdoesn't have self-adhesive edges, use ducttape to secure it.

• Add InsulationCheck the attic to see whether you need

to add insulation -- experts recommend adepth of about 12 inches. Ultra Touchfrom Bonded Logic is an eco-friendly,formaldehyde-free insulation made fromthe scraps and waste left over from themanufacture of blue jeans.

We maintain a staffed office in Tremont,Monday through Friday, 8:00 to 4:00.Evenings and weekends are available by ap-pointment.

MaryAnn(309) 925-3545

Toll Free: (800) [email protected]

maryannvance.com

And Auctions!And Auctions!And Auctions!

3812 EVERGREEN CT • PEKIN • $274,9003812 EVERGREEN CT • PEKIN • $274,900• Awesome property with

acreage!• Updated kitchen with an

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insulated, heated and cooled

22895 BROADWAY RD • MORTON • $425,00022895 BROADWAY RD • MORTON • $425,000• Magnificent property--

must see to appreciate!! • Large rooms throughout--

all newer tile and carpet • In ground pool with new

liner, cover and pump. • Large 96 x 40 storage shed

with partial concrete floor

NEW LISTING!

NEW LISTING!

105_001.qxd 10/28/13 10:59 AM Page 1


Rayjus Outdoors who provided the trophies andgif t bags for the kids. A special thank you alsogoes out to the Illinois Department of NaturalResources for preparing the site for this tour-nament.

Additional pictures of the event can be seenat the Spartan F ishing Team Facebook page.

in, the fishing was hot! We were fishing a largeweed flat and the fish were choking down ourstick baits, but most of the fish were just shortof the 12 inch minimum” Neubauer said.

This tournament was made possible thanksto the I l l inois B.A.S.S. Nation club UniqueBassmasters who conducted the weigh-in and

113 ACRES FOR SALE

Prime Hunting (deer, turkey, duck, goose) and Fishing on this acreage

that includes timber, pasture,45 acres tillable and

4 acre lake that is 35’ deep & fully stocked.

Easy access off Route 8 at end of Legion Hall Road

in Washington. Washington School District,

Zoned agricultural.

For Information Call: Ryan Blackorby,Traders Realty309-657-6787

A steady stream of teams began to arrive tothe conservation area at 5:20am. As teamsregistered, each student angler received a gif tbag from Rayjus Outdoors containing merchan-dise from Mercury Marine, Power Team Lures,Ferrara Candy, Bizz Baits, Cruncher Baits,Culprit, Berkley, and Lake Fork Tackle. By7:05am, all 48 boats were in the water and thetournament was underway by 7:18am.

The weather on October 12 was variable. Themorning started sunny and temperaturesquickly reached 70 degrees. By late morning,however, the clouds rolled in, winds picked up,temperatures dropped, and and every so of ten,a cloud would open up with a steady rain.Despite the crazy weather, 33 boats out of the48 taking part in the event weighed fish.When a bad cast ends up being the best cast ofthe day…

Hinsdale Cent ral High School duo Jef fHopkins and Christian Sona won the tourna-ment with 7.52 pounds. More impressive thantheir victory was how they won the tournament.Jef f Hopkins caught the tournaments big bassby trying to cast under a dock. He explains “Itried casting my green stick bait under a dockbut instead got it through a crack in the dock.It was dangling there and a big bass came up

and swooped at it twice. The third time henailed it! We trolled over to the dock, grabbedhim, and got him out.” The bass weighed in at3.14lbs, making it the largest bass caught inthe four year history of the tournament! For hiscatch, Jef f was awarded a beautiful bass printdonated by Bass Pro Shops in Bolingbrook, IL.

Reading the weather…Luke Jasper and Jake Lepczynski of Lemont

High School paid close attention to the chang-ing weather to help them claim second place.J asper stated, “in the morning, when theweather was warm, we caught our fish on topwater frogs in the weeds.” Lepczynski went onto explain “as the weather got colder, weslowed things down and we started catchingthem on green pumpkin shaky heads and wackyrigs.”

Rounding out the top five…Minooka High School claimed two top five fin-

ishes, with Luke Brozovich and Colton Welchfinishing in third (5.92lbs) and Dan DeGraafand Noah Arnold taking fif th (5.20lbs).Brothers Matt and Tyler Bomba from ProvidenceCatholic claimed fourth place with 5.88lbs.

The Oak Lawn High School team of JohnNeubauer and Jon Metelski finished in 17thplace with two bass. “Before the clouds rolled

106_001.qxd 10/28/13 11:24 AM Page 1


Helping Stroke Victimsto Enjoy the Outdoors

By Chuck Gabbert

I volunteer to take stroke survivors fish-ing at the stroke camps. Many of theseguys and gals haven't been fishing sincetheir strokes. They just light up when theycatch a fish (usually a small blue gill), butwho cares, it's a fish.

It's something "normal". There's noth-ing better than being in the outdoors witha fishing pole in your hand enjoying goodcompany. With any luck we catch a fewand I clean and send fillets home withthem or they will cook them at camp. Ialso have a guy that I take goose huntingwith me. He doesn't hunt (yet) but we arehoping he will.

Tell everyone to think about how theywould feel if all of the sudden they could-n't go out to hunt & fish or get out in the

woods or on the water. That's part of whatkeeps me and others doing it year afteryear. It makes the volunteer feel good too.Sure you might say you don't have thetime or you need to get some work done.

If YOU were in these guys’ shoes youwould hope that someone would maybegive up their yard work day or their foot-ball day or maybe even a day in the treestand to take YOU fishing. Believe me itsworth it and they will talk about it all yearuntil they show up again next camp tolook for you again.

You don't need to wait for a camp or anorganized operation to make someone’sday though, just step up and take a strokesurvivor or disabled individual into theoutdoors with you. It's a little bit of workbut it's a whole lot of fun and you canprobably wet a line yourself while you'reat it.

Unlimited Commercial

Call Michael O’Bryan309-687-5069Cell: [email protected]

3622 N. Knoxville Ave.Peoria, IL 61603www.CommercialPeoria.com

15 acres of timber with small pondnear Edelstein, $15,000/acre.

148+ acres Dunlap, IL, All or part! 5 ± acre lots on 40 acre

lake, Canton, IL

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REAL ESTATE & RECREATIONAL

GROUND NEEDS!

Mike & RockyHome for Sale in Beautiful Southern Illinois!Outdoorsman’s Dream!

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ONLY 1 MILE FROM KINKAID LAKE &

22,000 Acres of Public Land & Many Other

Recreational Opportunities!

3014 Ava Rd.Murphysboro, IL

Call Keith: 618-924-8211 For more info or to see the place!

950 Sq. Ft. Homeon approx. 1/2 Acre…Good Opportunity for a Family or a Hunting

& Fishing Club!

A stroke camp shot with Harry, Chuck & David. Randy Randall-hat, Lorraine

Rohman-hat, Janet McGonagle,Dennis Albrecht-blue, Bruce Custer,

volunteer in orange.

Dennis Albrecht

Randy, Janet, Lorraine

Hunters Paul Califiore, NickOres,!Chuck Gabbert & Shawn

McCadden had a great time hunting in South Dakota.

C.T.Gabbert Remodeling and Construction inc....Thanks to Chuck for sharing his experiences. Retreat & RefreshStroke Camp continues to assist communities across the country in building support for their stroke survivorsas well as providing stroke awareness programs. This integrated approach to communities across the countrywill not only benefit the stroke community, but will also benefit the public. For more information, review

w w w . s t r o k e c a m p . o r g

107_001.qxd 10/28/13 11:43 AM Page 1


Woo Dave’s WoundedWarriors/Super KidsFishing Tournament

and Fund RaiserWoo & Patti Daves hosts an annual fishing

tournament to raise funds for Wounded Warriors& Super Kids. Labor Day Sept. tourney raisedaround $4,000!from!donations and auctioningoff items that were donated by Nascar teams,Bass Pro Shops and local merchants.! Raising$2,000 to go to the Freedom Alliance/WoundedWarriors and $2,000 to the Super Kids.!

RIGHT: 1st Place winner, Wounded Warrior John Moore and

boat Captain Farron McDaniel

2nd Place: Jessie Clark

with boat Capt. Kelly Robinette

2nd Place: Jessie Clark with boat Capt. Kelly Robinette

3rd Place

Mackayla’sBig

Fish!

Two Wounded Warriors, Ed Rose anddaughter Mickayla with boat

Capt. Bo BoltzTHANKS TO ALL WHO PARTICIPATED!

108_001.qxd 10/28/13 12:41 PM Page 1


• 12 wooded acres Just 3 miles from I-474 airport exit, Peoria, IL.Beautiful, large country home with 60x40 coach house/horse barn & 2-car attached garage located in Limestone School District & onlyfive minutes from shopping area.

• 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, Master suite on main level • 25’ cathedral ceiling with 2 skylights • Floor to ceiling stone fireplace in great room • Large kitchen/dining room with high end

appliances, hardwood floors & French doors leading to rear deck

• Beautiful family room in lower level with brick fireplace, wet bar, walk out to patio with fire pit & gazebo

• Huge office or hobby room with built-ins • 2-functional laundry facilities • 4300 sq. ft. of living area & lots of storage!

For Sale by Owner: $499,000View More at:

http://outdoorparadisepeoria.tumblr.com

Call for an appointment! 309-697-4471 • cell 309-678-0133 • cell 309-657-3709

Hunter’s Paradise

109_001.qxd 10/27/13 2:22 AM Page 1


Resort, and Gibbon’s Point, which thenbecame Greenhow’s Point Resort. Today,only Twin Oaks still offers cabins for rentand several mobile home areas, mostly forweekenders.

With the passing of the traditionalsmall resorts, we began to notice the lack ofout-of-state license plates. Now the cara-van consists of cars, trucks, and SUVs, usu-ally hauling boats or water toys, exiting theTwin Cities en masse on Fridays and hur-rying back sometime Sunday. The traffic isfrequently horrendous. Oh, out-of-statersstill come, but so many fewer places arehere to welcome them.NOT SO FAST!

Through my association with theGarrison Wildlife Chapter of DucksUnlimited, I have come to know Paul andTherese Erickson, proprietors and hosts atCamp Holiday Resort and Campground.The resort is only a few miles from Nokay,between us and Garrison. One can visit

Camp Holiday on line at campholiday.comor on Facebook, but I recently took a brieftour with Paul and Therese and came toknow the Resort more personally.

On beautiful Turtle Lake, officiallywithin the Deerwood, MN, radius, CampHoliday offers twelve cabins, a seven- room“reunion home,” aprivate northwoodsvacation home, and40 campsites. Cabinshave 1, 2, or 3 bed-rooms and fullkitchens, bathrooms,charcoal grills, firepits, picnic tables, HDSatellite TV, WI/FI,and more!

The “Northwoods Vacation Home” issecluded on the east shores of Turtle Lakeon 30 wooded acres: 6 bedrooms, 4 1/2baths, massive rock fireplace, three-seasonporch, deck overlooking the lake, privatebeach, swim raft, dock, and much more.

The campground has 40 sites with 6 onthe lake. Full hook-ups to water and elec-tricity are available,and tenters are wel-come as well. Firerings, picnic tables,etc. go with thecampground.

Fishing onTurtle Lake is out-standing, whether

When first we visited Minnesota, wetraveled on two-lane roads and were part ofa caravan of cars and station wagons(remember those?) from Illinois, Iowa,Missouri, Indiana, and other Midwesternstates, all, usually, heading for a family-owned resort. “Mom and Pop” places wesay today. When we came to Nokay in1953, four such resorts were located alongthe western and northern shores: our HugoLarson Resort, Twin Oaks, Nokay Lake

MINNESOTA MEMOIRSby Dave Evans

“Places, Part I: Camp Holiday”

Therese and Paul Erickon

Camp Holiday’s Welcome Sign

The Erickson Home

Camp Holiday Cabins

110_001.qxd 10/28/13 1:06 PM Page 1

one wants bass, northern, or panfish, andTurtle connects to Partridge Lake, afford-ing more opportunities for a variety of fish-ing action.

Lake Mille Lacs at Garrison, the Wall-eye Capital of the World, is only 3 milesaway. One can launch his own boat onconvenient public access ramps, or enjoyone of the many charter launches availableat many locations along Mille Lacs’ westernshore. Paul’s brother Greg operates alaunch out of Garrison Sports, just north ofGarrison.

Camp Holiday is within easy drivingtime and distance of Brainerd, only 8 milesfrom Paul Bunyan Land, and 8 miles fromDeerwood’s Heartland Hockey Camp.

The Ericksons’ resort is what manyfolks are still looking for in a family ownedand operated Minnesota vacation location.Driving along the wooded roadway fromHighway 18, I enjoy particularly the feel-ing of “driving into the NorthwoodsCountry” to then come upon a wonderfulfamily oriented place of Minnesota legend.Of course, Camp Holiday is not the moreprimitive fishing camp so many rememberfrom years past. Paul and Therese havecombined the attractions of a secludednorthwoods retreat with all of the modernamenities folks today “need,” even for a va-cation getaway.

The photos I took are shared here, butno pictures can do justice to Camp Holi-day, and could never convey what wonder-ful people are the Ericksons. Paul andTherese are almost as dedicated to DucksUnlimited as they are to Camp Holiday. Icame to know them through D.U. events,and their energy in service to the ducks isbeyond comparison. Their devotion toproviding a quality experience for theirguests is exemplary. I have witnessed theirsignature event for D.U., the Fishing forDucks Tournament on the ice of LakeMille Lacs. And I have seen their facilitiesfor folks wanting the ultimate in the Min-nesota vacation experience. Both areWorld Class!

Again, more information can be foundon their beautifully designed webpage atcampholiday.com or on Facebook. Visitthe website, and you will be glad you did!

Country and make their own memories atCamp Holiday just as we did at Nokay solong ago. And for that, Thanks, Mom andDad!

Copyright: 2013

You may reach Dave and Karen at:

[email protected]@gmail.comthe Hugo Larson Resort 61 years ago, and

memories are profound. Folks can begintheir own love affair with the “Nort”


Visit Fishing for Ducks.org and see whatan iconic fund-raiser looks like!

My love affair with Minnesota began at

Cabin Interiors The Reunion Home

111_001.qxd 10/28/13 1:05 PM Page 1

find birds that have been intentionally scat-tered in the area. Pointers, by contrast, areon a long leash that gets the dogs used torunning a specific distance ahead of thehunter.

Getting a dog whose parents werehunters is key, and genetics are a big deal toGarcia. “What I look for in a breeding dogis what the breeders have decided are ge-netically the best parents: One that doesn'tpace, one that's calm on its game, calm inthe kennel and calm being in the house.''Training dogs with those good traits is allabout repetition, and sometimes breakinglearned behaviors. One of the hardestthings about training “is when owners have


whole thing happened, pure addiction.''That addiction has made him a rising

star in breeding and training a variety ofbird hunting dogs right here in Colorado.Garcia, from Longmont, trains both point-ers and flushers in Calhan, and has been re-fining his training techniques for 16 years.Whether a hunter uses a pointer or a flush-er depends on individual preference, buttraining the dogs well is where Garciacomes in. Pointing dogs walk around untilthey get the scent of a bird. When that hap-pens, they will stop and point with theirsnout, holding position until the huntermakes his move. Flushers, on the hand, runin tight circles, attempting to spook the

Colorado hunter hasunique approach to

training dogs Whether a hunter uses a pointer or aflusher depends on individual prefer-

ence, but training the dogs well iswhere Ben Garcia comes in.

By ANGELO STAMBENEThe Gazette

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP

By age 18, Ben Garcia was hooked. “I bought a Lab in college (when) I was go-ing to school in Greeley and started duckhunting,'' Garcia said. “That's how the

Brittany spaniel puppies play in their kennelTuesday, July 16, 2013, at the Rocky Mountain

Roosters in Calhan, Colo. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)

Black Peter sprints back to his owner Ben Garciawith a pigeon while practicing as a flusher dogTuesday, July 16, 2013, at the Rocky Mountain


Ben Garcia trains with a pointer dog named RoxyTuesday, July 16, 2013, at the Rocky Mountain


Dogs wait for their chance to train Tuesday, July16, 2013, at the Rocky Mountain Roosters in

Calhan, Colo. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)

birds into flying so that hunters can take ashot. Both types of dogs will track thedowned bird and softly carry it back intheir mouth.

“We have 12 weeks to make an impres-sion on 15 years of life,'' says Garcia, andhis training is highly individual. Garciatakes out one dog at a time, leaving about10 others on a chain that Garcia refers to as“the chain gang.'' Being on the chainteaches the dogs to be calm and patientwhile Garcia takes other dogs in the field.

Using a whistle, hand signals and voicecommands, Garcia controls how far theflushers run ahead and he directs them to

112_001.qxd 10/28/13 1:20 PM Page 1


The Good Ole Days PT. 10

Opening DayBy Jack L. Hartph. 309-888-4071 [email protected]

It was November 13,1971 which just happenedto be the opening day ofthe Illinois pheasanthunting season. A datethat I anxiously awaitedeach & every year in cen-tral Illinois. Back in

those good ole days the pheasant populationwas so good & high that those who liked tohunt this fantastic gamebird had little trou-ble in burning a lot of powder. In those daysthere was plenty of cover for those birds &those lucky enough to have permission tohunt on private property could be assuredthat they would see birds & could get theirlimit provided they were fast on the draw.

“George, we should have no problem find-ing pheasants today. We will be hunting insome of the most prime pheasant territorythat there is. If we don’t get birds today itwill be our own fault. It is a perfect day to beout chasing those smart birds.” As I spokethese words, my longtime hunting buddy,

George Castro, was in my vehicle with me aswe headed east on Rt. 24 out of Eureka, IL toMinonk, IL. George & I both attended EurekaCollege & we found out that we both had alove for the outdoors & we both loved to hunt& fish & we spent a lot of time together pur-suing our outdoor interests.

We were headed for a relative of mine whowas a farmer & had some prime farm groundwith cover along the creek that ran thru hisproperty. We also knew that we would findbirds in the harvested corn fields & in thewheat stubble. “Jack, I sure appreciate youinviting me to go with you today. Mostplaces on opening day are usually alreadyspoken for & I doubt I could have found aplace to hunt because I don’t know thatmany land owners.” “George, I couldn’t askfor anyone better than you to take on open-ing day. We will have to hunt smart becausethese birds are very smart about staying outof gun range. But with a little luck we shouldget some birds.”

We arrived at the farm & I parked at theend of a corn field. “George, lets walk theserows of corn & head towards the creek thatcuts thru the end of this field.” We load ourshotguns & head straight to the creek withall the cover. “George, I will cross the creekto the other side & then we will follow thecreek walking in the cover to flush anybirds.” We slowly took our time & had notgone 40 yards when George flushed a bird

which he dropped immediately. Some of thebirds got up ahead of us in flocks flushingout of gun range but we were lucky enough toget our limit by noon. We had no dog so wehad to do the birddog work which was proba-bly best because a dog can go crazy trying totrack pheasants & the dog will usually flushthe birds well out of range.

The hunt on that day was a very memo-rable one & we saw dozens of birds. I havethe photo of the birds we got & George. Inthe photo there is a very pleased look & asmile on George’s face. There was nothingmore beautiful, in my opinion, than watchinga beautiful rooster pheasant rising a fewyards away & cackling his loudest as heprotested being disturbed. As I look at thatphoto realizing that both George & I now haveserious health problems, I am truly gratefulfor those precious memories of those GoodOle Days considering that pheasant huntingis a thing of the past here in central Illinoisbecause of the lack of birds due to the lackof cover.

If you like to hunt & like to be outdoors,please take advantage of any opportunity todo so while your health is still good & you arephysically able to do so.

After all, you may also be able to sharewith others those Good Ole Days. As HarryCanterbury frequently tells us, “As we getalong in years there will be more days of sun-rise behind us than before us.”

taught them behaviors that go againstwhat hunting is. If we have a dog that'sbeen taught to play tug of war and thenyou shoot a rooster, you go to get it outof their mouth and they want to play tugof war with the rooster.''

Getting dogs used to the huntershooting is something Garcia also workson. “The old theory of taking them tothe gun range and shooting over themand then they'll be gun-broken isn'ttrue,'' he said. “Their genetics is to hunt,not have a gun shot over them.''

Garcia is a fan of all breeds that hehas trained over the years, and he has ahard time picking a favorite. If there isone that can do it all, though, he thinksit's Labrador retrievers.

“Labs are the 4x4 of dogs, you cantake a Lab out to duck hunt in themorning, go pheasant hunting in theafternoon, and go sit in your tent withhim laying down next to you at a youngage. They have been bred for years to becalm, sit next to you and be quiet.''

Thanks to The Gazette, check’em outat: Gazette.com

Saturday, Nov. 16, 2013 • 11:00 a.m. MENARD CO. LAND AUCTION OF 178 AC. M/L PRODUCTIVE FARMLAND PLUS 8 ROOM - 1 &1 / 2 STORY HOME

AND OUTBUILDINGS- TO BE SOLD IN 5 TRACTS- MOSTLY ALL TILLABLE: FARMING RIGHTS FOR 2014 CROPSEASON: Tract locations: tracts 1-2-3 are located 4 miles east of Sweetwater, IL then 1 mile south: tract 4

is located 1/2 east of tracts 1-3 along Peoria Rd. (next to Walnut Ridge Cemetery) and tract 5 is locatedalong the Sweetwater Rd. Charles K. Smith Excec

Monday, Nov. 18, 2013 • 1:00 p.m.MENARD CO. LAND AUCTION OF 78.5 AC. (76.1 TILLABLE) PRODUCTIVE FARMLAND --TO BE SOLD IN 1

TRACT: FARMING RIGHTS FOR THE 2014 SEASON: Land is located 3 miles west of Greenview, IL (along theAltig Bridge Rd.) in section 20 Township 19n.-R.6w.-- Road Frontage on 3 sides-good soil types- 2013

yields- corn-193 bu.../soybeans-46bu.- 140.3 pi-- Attorney for Seller: Charles K. Smith

Saturday, Nov. 23, 2013 • 11:00 a.m.MENARD CO.LAND AUCTION OF 138 AC. ( 113.7 CROPLAND) PRODUCTIVE FARM LAND--TO BE SOLD IN ONETRACT: FARMING RIGHTS FOR THE 2014 CROP SEASON: Land is located 3 miles east of Petersburg, Il. Rt.

123 to Lebanan Cemetery Rd. Then 1/2 Mile South. Section 15-T.18n-R6w. This Tract has two areas ofwoodland for Hunting and an area for a possible building site. Attorney For Seller: Kevin Tippey

Friday, Jan. 10, 2014 • 9:30 a.m.JOHN D & RHONDA GROSBOLL LG CLOSEOUT AUCTION OF OUTSTANDING FARM EQUIPMENT

(MOSTLY JOHN DEERE EQUIP.) AND GRAIN TRUCKS: 17567 Fairgrounds Road-- Petersburg IL. This will be oneof the finest auctions of late style JOHN DEERE FARM EQUIPMENT that will be held this winter.

See details & photos at www.sanertauctions.com. Auctions will be held at Sanert Auction Center.

Midwest Gun Collectors ShowNov 2 & 3 at East Peoria

Convention Center on Rt. 8BUY – SELL – TRADE

(See details in ad on page 28)

113_001.qxd 10/28/13 1:19 PM Page 1


Adding to theIce Revolution,

Part 1By Dave Genz

The modern ice fishing revolution is aboutmindset and tools. About approaching ice fish-ing as real fishing, rather than focusing on itslimitations.

We all know the limitations. Mainly, youcan’t cast or troll, in the traditional sense. Youhave to drill a hole through the ice for every“cast” you make, as Dave Genz says. But if youfollow the history of the ice revolution, you alsoknow Genz has been highlighting the advan-tages ice anglers have – especially the ability tosettle over a spot, tightly control your presenta-tion, and closely observe the reaction fish haveto that presentation.

Done right, you can experiment with themost crucial moment in fishing better throughthe ice than over open water – that make orbreak time when fish are closely inspecting yourbait, and the decision is made to suck it in ormove on.When you marry mobility and specialized gearwith the right mindset, says Genz, “you’re def-initely a fisherman in the winter.”

In addition to mindset, the revolution has

always been about gear. These two things are sointerconnected that you can’t have one withoutthe other. A mobile mindset, in other words,does no good if you don’t have an auger thatcan easily drill lots of holes. Makes sense, right?Likewise, the intention to experiment withpresentation cannot be carried out unless youalso have a good rod that can make that baitdance in various ways.

So What’s New?This is the big question every year, as Genzmakes his annual tour of the Ice Belt, talking toanglers at sports shows, in tackle shops, and outon the ice. “It’s the first question everybodyasks,” says Genz. “So what’s new this year?”

The difference in the way Dave handles thequestion is this: he focuses on whether a newpiece of gear will actually come with him on theice. You might know his mantra: bring every-thing you need, but nothing else. As time goeson, his pursuit of mobility has not slowed onebit. And his drive to keep overall weight downhas actually intensified.

So when Dave volunteers a product review,it comes from one place: whether that piece ofgear comes with him on every mission, or playsan important role in certain situations. Youdon’t get a long list of features and benefits thatsounds like a press release. You get the Reader’sDigest version, from the king of commonsense.

This is what you’re likely to hear from Genzthis winter, if you ask him what’s new…

tion, a standard-length auger, and an extensionfor thicker ice.So what else is new?

Rod technology continues to advance.Lighter-weight guides and sophisticated blanksbuilt to simulate performance of a much longerrod are resulting in tools Genz is excited to use.He has a, well, uh-hum, well-deserved reputa-tion for being starkly honest about whether agiven rod will allow you to fish with the famous‘pounding’ presentation. That, and whetherthey help you feel the distinct bounce of yourbait at the bottom of each pounding cycle – thesecret to feeling bites. (When the bounce goesaway, when the weight of the bait either disap-pears or becomes ‘different’ that usually meansa fish has it.)

Learning the ‘Genz Pound’ has long beenone of the cornerstones of his fishing system.This style, based on letting fish see (and feel!) acertain cadence (another one of Genz’s favorite

“The handle for the electric drill,” he begins,and we’re off and running. He’s talking aboutthe new Ice Auger Conversion Kit from Clam.For more than 30 years, Genz has been a fan ofelectric augers and the promise they hold.

“Now we have something that turns your18-volt portable drill into a real auger,” Davecontinues. “I’ve been experimenting with dif-ferent setups for the last five years, cutting lotsof holes with my drill, using adapters that con-nect directly to the auger bit. And I’ve twistedmy wrist more than once, where it takes half thesummer before it quits hurting.”Your portable drill fits into the conversion kitand you wind up with familiar auger handlesand a lever to press on to start the drill. “There’san industrial ball bearing that absorbs the load,”explains Genz, “so your drill is only used to spinthe auger, not to support the auger torque.That extends the life of the battery and the drillitself.”

The bearing system is a huge key, he says. “Itturns it into a real auger,” he stresses. “You getthe speed (rivaling gas augers) now, using alightweight drill.”

Bring two fully-charged batteries, and aninverter so you can recharge batteries off yourvehicle, ATV or snowmobile. “If you’re set uplike that,” Genz says, “there is no limit to thenumber of holes you can drill.”

Using portable drills as ice augers has becomepopular in fringe areas of the Ice Belt, where the ice rarely gets very thick. But now,for the first time, Genz is ready to say that theyare legitimate tools in all but the most extremeconditions. They are lightweight and ‘stashable’inside the sled of a Fish Trap. “Electric (augers)is the future,” he says, “but they’re here now,too.” His prediction: battery technology, drivenby the needs of on-the-go smartphone, tabletand laptop computer users, will continue toimprove, benefitting applications like this.

The Conversion Kit is actually three sepa-rately-available components: the handle sec-

Pounding claims another victim!Dave Genz holds up a monster

crappie caught by using thefamous pounding presentation.

(Photo: davegenz.com)

PUBLIC AUCTION!Wed. November 6 • 9am

Hunting Ground for SaleApprox. 41 Acres north of Princeville.

Auction will be held at the Presbyterian Church339 Santa Fe Ave. Princeville, IL

Great hunting land with approx. 15 acres tillable and 4 acres in CRPThis is one parcel out of a multi parcel farm sale. Contact: John Leezer, ALCBroker, Maloof Farm & Land(309) 286-2221www.illinoisfarms4sale.com

114_001.qxd 10/28/13 1:27 PM Page 1


with the premium placed on responsivenessand feel, is the most demanding. The right rodfor pounding can also be used for other styles,such as a smoother swimming presentation.But you cannot take a softer rod, or a rodequipped with a spring bobber, and make itwork well for pounding.

What else?Feel is enhanced, especially when using lighterbaits, by using tungsten jigs. Tungsten is about30 percent heavier than lead, apples to apples,so the feel advantage is there for the taking, aslong as the jig design maximizes it. Genz helpedwith the new Tungsten Drop series jigs.

When a jig is “heavy for its size,” it makesGenz smile. Forever, he has preached efficiencyin ice fishing, “and a huge part of that is seeinghow fast you can get up and down in deeperwater,” he says. “Every new hole, every drop, islike a cast. If I can make a lot of casts out thereon the ice, it’s going to help me find fish faster,and catch more.”

The tools and techniques are impossible toseparate, and the process of evolution andrefinement continues. More on this next time.

Note: Dave Genz, known as Mr. Ice Fishing,was the primary driver of the modern ice fish-ing revolution. He has been enshrined in theNational Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fameand Minnesota Fishing Hall of Fame for hiscontributions to the sport. For more fishing tipsand to order his info-packed new book, IceRevolution, go to www.davegenz.com

words), brings bites when other approaches gounbit. It takes a quality rod to do this. It has tobe both stiff and resilient. This is the secretsauce. It has to both flex with, and reboundfrom, extremely fast, almost vibrating, presen-tations. All while helping you feel what yourbait is doing, on every little bounce.

If you learn anything new about ice rods thisyear, let this be it.The right rod has to transmit the feel, so youcome to know that feel, so you come to knowwhen the feel goes away, or changes justenough. A mushy rod – or even a rod thatsports the right characteristics but is either toostiff or too soft to match up well with theweight of a given bait – doesn’t allow you tofish this way.

Again, it’s a matter of having the right gear toexecute an incredibly effective fishing style.

Until this year, there has been a detectableperformance gap between the best widely-avail-able rods and the best custom rods. Genz ismore than excited about the new Legacy Seriesrods by Clam, saying that they are as good asany he’s ever fished with.“Just pick one up,” Dave says, “and you can tellright away. The guides are very light, they haveall the attributes of a custom rod, and theycome with a good reel that has a smooth drag.”

We’ll have more to say this winter about dis-tinct styles of presentation and how the quali-ties of the right rod vary with each. From a rodperformance standpoint, the pounding style,

PETA Slams Duck Dynasty Stars forPopularizing Hunting

The popular TV series, Duck Dynasty, has captured the attention of the People for the Ethical Treatment ofAnimals (PETA), with the animal rights group criticizing the show for promoting hunting.

Duck Dynasty, a popular show on A&E, follows the lives of the Robertson family, owners of the DuckCommander duck call brand. Family members are seen sporting camouflage, building duck blinds, and oftentimes follows the family into the field while hunting.

PETA’s Vice President Dan Mathews is speaking out against the show, claiming that hunting encourageswould-be criminals.

“Unfortunately hunting programs teach kids that violence is somehow acceptable,” Mathews told radaron-line.com. “According to law-enforcement agencies, violent and aggressive criminals often start out as kids whowere encouraged to disrespect and harm animals rather than understanding and being in awe of them.” Nothingcould be further from the truth.

Hunting has proved to be the number one conservation program in the fight to preserve and expand ournation’s wildlife populations. Young hunters are taught the importance of safety, and more importantly why wehunt and their importance in conservation efforts.

Mathews also claims that hunting licenses have plummeted in the past two decades and that “most peoplehave a reverence for animals.”

If Mathews would have done his research, he would actually find that hunting license purchases haveremained consistent over the lasttwo decades while the public’sacceptance of hunting is over 70percent.

PETA is the number three groupon the USSA’s ‘Dirty Dozen’ list.PETA encourages its members tobreak established hunter harass-ment laws and to interfere withhunts by protesting, blowing horns,and other unlawful acts.

Photo credit foxnews.comSee more at: ussportsmen.org

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“Open Water Gift Ideas”Each year this column carries a Christmas gift idea

article, and last year started having two – open waterand ice fishing. So, it is that time of the year again,when we will be talking about a few gift ideas for openwater fishing.

RODS, REELS AND LINERod and reel combos are always popular gifts, and

this year we have four in the spinning category.First, is a new favorite of mine, which is a re-design

of the old Mitchell 300 series. The model which I’musing is the 308. It has the new Halo bail, which elim-inates the dreaded “line behind the spool” problem.The reel, weighing 9 ounces, has 8 bearings and a5.1:1 gear ratio, with enough spool capacity to hold110 yards of 10 pound test monofilament line. Ispooled mine with 12 pound test green Nanofil, andteamed it with a 7’ Shakespeare, medium action Agili-

TACKLE BOXESTackle boxes always seem to be a choice for gift

givers since most anglers can use some extra storage,or if just getting into the sport have something inwhich to start their arsenal.

Plano, as most will agree, leads the way in the tack-le box line. This year I would take a good look at the4870 KVD Elite tackle bag. It comes with five 3750Pro Latch storage boxes, and has 4 outside zippercompartments and 1 clear zipper compartment on theinside of the top. A feature that I especially like is thethree types of handles – strap, two side lifting handlesand a topside “grab and carry” handle.

For those not needing a full tackle bag, then per-haps they could use some 3700 Pro Latch boxes.These have the new swinging, snap down latch, whichis much better than the old bending latch that wouldbreak off. As with the old 3700, it has plenty of di-viders to arrange whatever set up is needed for 4 to 14compartments. I use 12 of these in my Ranger RT178

Ice fishing with aportable flasher is wellknown, but it can also

be used in a similarmanner in open water

conditions.

ty rod, which are both great gift ideas on their own.Shakespeare has the Micro combo, which is a rod

and reel targeted towards panfish and trout anglers.There is a 7 feet and 4.5 feet rod available. The reelcomes pre-spooled with 4 pound test monofilament.I’m using the longer rod, and have had great success incasting lighter lures for panfish. While it is not said tobe a great rig for bass, I have had a lot of fun catchingsome up to 17 inches, although it did take longer toland the fish.

For many years catfish anglers have had a passionfor the Shakespeare Ugly Stick. Now the company hasthe new and improved GX2 Ugly Stick. Team this withGX35 reel and some solar green Big Cat line, and it willbe a winner for the catfish enthusiast on your list.

Further information about Shakespeare productscan be found at www.shakespeare-fishing.com.

Not to forget our disabled anglers, or people whowant a different way of fishing, take a look at the Pow-er Fish’N Pro hybrid electric spinning reel. The reel is

powered by 4 AA batteries, and can be used with themotor, or manually with the crank handle. It has atrigger bail so that an angler can cast one handed, andthen reel one handed by using the motor. Again, I’veteamed this reel with a 7’ Shakespeare Agility rod and12 pound test Nanofil line. The longer rod is a greatasset when playing a fish with the electric reel sincethe rod does a lot of the work as the reel winds up theslack. For more information and videos go towww.powerfishn.com.

Nanofil line was mentioned earlier, and this is agood sock stuffer for all pound tests. I suggest 6, 8,10 and 12, with my primary use being 8 and 12. De-pending on your angler’s preference on line visibility,there is the original white, and the extremely low-visgreen. Remember, this line is designed for spinningreels, and to me is the best I’ve ever used for that styleof reel. Cont’d. on next pg.

A Mitchell 308 reel, Shakespeare Agility Rod, Power Jerk Shad and Daiichi Bleeding Bait Copperhead

Butt Dragger hook.

Nice Plano 4870 KVD Elite tackle bag

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so many tournaments andcatapulted Lonnie Stanleyto be known as one of thenation’s best jig fishermen.I’ve caught a lot of fish onthis jig, and would select itfirst for whatever the situa-tion – casting, swimming,flipping and pitching. Myselection on sizes would be 3/16 and 5/16 ounce, withcolors of black/blue; black/green/chartreuse;black/brown/orange; and black/blue/purple.

Again, going to one of the Stanley originals would bethe Vibra Shaft Spinnerbait. This spinnerbait puts outa lot of vibration and flash. It comes in a great selec-tion of colors, from which I narrow it tochartreuse/white; chartreuse/white/blue; and white.

The third idea from Stanley is back to the jig linewith the Finesse Jig that comes rigged with portion ofthe old Hale’s Craw Worm. The colors are the same asbefore, but weights would be 1/8 and ! ounce. Theseare smaller jigs, with a skirt that flares out around thehead.

Stanley Jigs information can be found at www.fish-stanley.com.

Going back to the soft plastics we have some prod-ucts from Berkley and B-Fish-N. Berkley’s offeringsare the Power Chigger Craw and Havoc Rocket Craw(both great jig trailers); Havoc Smash Tube; and HavocDeuce (a good trailer for jigs, and spinnerbaits, and touse as Road Runner bodies or alone on a H20 jig head).B-Fish-N has a couple that have performed very wellfor me during the past few years – the Pulse-R, which

is a swimbait; and the 4-inch Ringworm. Be sure topick up some B-Fish-NPrecision H20 jig heads touse with the Pulse-R.

All Berkley products men-tioned in this article can befound at www.berkley-fish-ing.com, and those from B-

Fish-N are at www.customjigsandspins.com.One of the best “search baits” is the Rat-L-Trap.

There are many times that this lure will save the dayfrom being a total wash out. A good gift idea is any ofthe Traps, but especially the !-ounce Mini, 1/8-ounce Tiny and Spin Trap, which is available in the var-ious sizes and has a spinner blade in place of the rearhook. The color selection is huge, so to limit it a bit Iwould go with chrome/black back, chartreuse/blackback, Smokey Joe, Diamond Dust and Sexy West. Acomplete line of lures and colors can be seen atwww.rat-l-trap.com.

MISCELLANEOUSEveryone can use a flashlight, and Coast has a greatone. It is the HP17 focusing LED light, that puts out615 lumens, and runs on D size batteries. For furtherinformation about Coast’s flashlights and knives go towww.coastportland.com.

While we will be talking about Vexilar depthfindersin next months column on ice fishing gift ideas, thereis something that can be used for open water. If theangler on your list wants to use his Vexilar flasher onthe boat in open water season, then think about get-

ting a transducer kit. I have a trolling motor kit, whichcomes with a puck transducer that mounts to thetrolling motor so that I can use an FL12 on the frontdeck. Be sure to find out which unit the angler isusing. For further information on this product visitthe Vexilar website at www.vexilar.com.

I’ve saved the most expensive for last. How aboutplacing a big red bow on a new Ranger RT178 in thedriveway, or wrapping up a picture of one that is set-ting at Hank’s Sales in Raymond, IL? This boat is oneof the best aluminum bass boats that I haveencounter. It is what I call “fishable”. There is plentyof storage and room across its 17’8”, 92” beam lay-out for moving around. Better yet, it is extremely sta-bile when moving from side to side, or from bow tostern, which is not always the case with aluminumboats. Mine is rigged with a Mercury 60hp 4-strokeoutboard, which is the middle of the rating area, andwill provide great economy. I’ll be having a completereview of this boat in a later issue, but for now stop into Hank’s or visit one of these websites for a look andmore information – www.hanksboats.com andwww.rangeraluminum.com.

Be sure to check out next month’s column whenthere will be ice fishing gift ideas.

If you have questions about this or another fishingsubject, drop me a line through the Dan’s Fish ‘N’Tales® website at www.dansfishntales.com, whichprovides a link to the Adventure Sports Outdoors web-site, where you can find another gift idea – a sub-scription to ASO magazine.

Until next time, get out on the water, and enjoy agreat day of fishing.

bass boat, which has 3 tackle storage compartmentsdesigned to hold 4 each of the 3700’s.Further information can be found at www.planomold-ing.com.

LURESFor filling the tackle box or using as sock stuffers,

I’ve selected a few of my favorite lures that have beenused during the past couple of years.

Road Runners are always good for any species, butthe new Reality Shad and Buffet Rig is super for bigbluegill and crappie, but will also lure in largemouth,smallmouth and white bass. The Buffet Rig is twoReality Shad put together on a wire, similar to a spin-nerbait, with a 1/16 ounce on top and an 1/8 ounce onthe bottom. There are plenty of colors from which toselect, with my main preference being Sushi (shad),Cream Puff (white) and Wasapi (black/green).

Bass fisherman like soft plastic jerk baits, and thePower Jerk Shad is a great one. Team this with a pack-age of Daiichi Bleeding Bait Copperhead and ButtDragger hooks. These have been my favorite to usewith the Jerk Shad. The spring on the eye of the hook,which screws into the head of the bait, works great forholding tight, and not ripping out. I would suggest thesize of 4/0 and 5/0.

Information on Road Runner and Daiichi is availableat www.ttiblakemore.com

Stanley Jigs offers 3 gift ideas. The first is myfavorite, which has returned to the line up after sometime off. This is the original Stanley Jig that has won

IDEAS… Cont’d. from previous pg.

Ranger RT178 Aluminum Bass Boatpicked up at Hank’s Sales in

Raymond, IL.

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CATFISH SKINNERS

Jim Zilch is the grandson of Mr Vern Taylor. Hewent down and set up a Camp Store at Bernodotteduring the Spoon River Drive. He sold out of Skin-ners the first weekend. So the following week heworked day and night making more Skinners forthe final weekend of the Drive.

Jim is providing the same High Quality Skinnerto you that his Grandpa did years ago. In the wintertime, Grandpa Taylor would build skinners the inthe spring and summertime, he would travel the

Illinois River Valley tobait shops that woulddisplay and sell hisSkinners.

This design is theBest of the Best!

Made in the U.S.A.by a US Veteran!

Catfish Skinner are ready to go…

Vintage Type Catfish / Beef & Pork Rib / TurtleSkinner / Great gift for the fishing person in yourfamily

If you BBQ ribs for your family or in competitionI am told that these are an excellent choice for re-moving the membrane (skin) from the backside ofPork & Beef Ribs to help in the BBQ seasoningprocess.

You can view a video of the Skinners that givesyou a 360 degree view of the product on YouTube.Go to my website www.CatfishSkinner.com andclick the link to view, it is a two minute video.

The material used tomake the Skinners isCarbon steel. It is theexact grade of steelthat my Grandfatherused and the handlesare dipped in the high-est quality tool handledip that is available onthe market today. The

handles are triple dipped for comfort. These are agenuine HI-Quality tool, NOT stamped out on a ma-chine but Hand Made.

Buy a set of Skinners today. The Best Gift a fish-erman could receive!

Jim Zilch-can be reached at309.360.0282, email:

[email protected]

Sept. 28th SouthFulton Fun

Run/Benefit forDick Davis

Our ATV Benefit ride for DickDavis, was a huge success, thewomen started registering machinesand riders at approx. 9:30 and was agood thing they started a little early.We had five women registering andtwo that were selling raffle tickets aswell as helping the other womenwhen the “rush” got there. I believethat they registered 384 ATV's andclose to 500 riders, not to mention thegroups that joined the ride as thehuge group went by, I safely believethere were over 400 ATV's riding the55 mile trail.

Dick & Donna Davis led the ridersto the highway then got off theirscooters and waved at all, some386! ATV's UTV's & RZR's and acouple jeesp!as they left!

The men at the fish fryers were al-so very busy that day as well, Ourcounting there were over 700 dinners


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sold, and there were a few callin orders as well, They werejust short of 500 lbs of Buffalo& catfish fried, with six fryersrunning at the busy time.Everyone did a great job keep-ing up with the rush, I believethat the dinner sales were about$7000.

It was a great day, the nooncrowd was done eating andwere visiting with friends whenthe first of the ATV riders start-ed coming in for their lunch,We had a special parking lot forthe ATV's so the elderly andhandicapped could park closeto the firehouse where dinnerwas served.

There were many tales toldthat day. All the riders had apositive attitude and a lot offun. We had two riders thatwere handicapped, riding inside by side ATV's. Visitingwith both they had fun as well.The young boy was riding withhis dad and he thanked us forhaving the benefit which in-cluded ATV's. He told me “Itwas the best day of his life” andhis Dad said he really had funbeing able to take his son, in-cluding him in the ride! What ablessing it was seeing his sonsmile having a great day!

We also had an older handi-capped gentleman that was rid-ing and couldn't use his legs.He had his ATV retro fixed toaccommodate his disability! Ivisited with him as well and hewas also grateful to be able toride with the group and havefun as well.

The auction started around5:00 pm and was also a hugesuccess. Our records show thatwe received around $6500 insales!!! We had a lot of donors near and far, with large companies donating as wellas individuals that made the crafts especially for the benefit!!!

You can go to!You-Tube and type in!(2013 SouthFulton Fun Run) and can get the complete video ofthe!riders exiting Anderson Lake Conservation Area.

SOUTH FULTON FUN RUN would like to thankeveryone who donated in any way at all, and a bigthank you goes to the riders for showing their sup-port as well!!!!

We are looking at ways to improving for nextyear’s SOUTH FULTON FUN RUN!!!

BENEFIT…Cont’d. from previous pg.

Dick & Donna Davis want to thank everyonefor their kindness and participation in the

South Fulton Fun Run Benefit!

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