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Outdoors in the Ozarks
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Bolt in better times.
Pond Ducks, New Memories
What happened to the ducks this fall? Well we had far too little water here in the lower Midwest, but the big problem was the lack of water in northern breeding grounds of Canada and the Dakotas. Way … more
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Leafing out and blooming — flowering quince bush and dandelion — I have never seen either like this in January.
January Flowers
I wonder sometimes if common sense in our nation is a thing of the past.  At a meeting of outdoor writers some greatly admired turkey hunter who worked for the Forest Products Institute told … more
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When I write about the old men we called the front bench regulars in the pool hall, some people think I am making them up. I am not. I am trying to scrape up pictures of as many as I can. This photo was taken of ol’ Bill Stalder in the early 1950s. he was my grandfather’s trapping partner, a WWI veteran born in the 1890s a big influence in my boyhood. He and my grandfathers and men like them made me what I am today.
New Years Eve — 1963
We had several New-Years Eve celebrations at the pool hall in the sixties. If you want to call it that! Nobody was all excited about seeing the year behind them gone for good, and the worst of winter … more
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Christmas Socks
I am going to give some money to needy families to buy presents for kids, not because I have to, but because I want to. It won’t be much because I don’t have a lot to … more
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I’D RATHER HAVE A DUCK OR A DEER ON THE COVER, BUT IN THE DOLLAR STORE, YOU TAKE WHAT YOU CAN GET.
Christmas Cards for the Outdoor Family
I found some really nice Christmas cards this past week at the local dollar store, although now, due to the way things are improving in our country it is now called the dollar-and-a-half-store.  … more
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Beagles and Cottontails
For most of two hours, the little beagle had struck trail after trail, and hotly pursued a half dozen cottontails in circles that wound around broam sedge, cedar thickets and patches of briar and … more
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A Gentlemanly Sort of Outdoorsman
Back about the end of October I spent a day and fishing with a lady. I recommend that very thing for all you grizzled old veteran outdoorsmen, if you can find any ladies which will indeed go fishing … more
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Grouse Hunting
If you don’t see one close up, I don’t know that you would describe the male ruffed grouse as a beautiful bird. They are a little bit drab.  They are a bird of thick undergrowth … more
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IT IS ALMOST ALWAYS THE CASE THAT A DEER IN THE WILD THAT BEHAVES LIKE IT HAS LOST ITS FEAR OF MAN IS A SICK DEER.
Known by many names
I will end what I have been writing about what is known as “Chronic Wasting Disease” by saying that it should not be called that anymore, nor by any other of a half dozen common names … more
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What IS the Truth About a Horrible Disease
 It is called spongiform encephalopathy and it amounts to little more than malformed proteins called prions, getting into the brain.  That’s what it is, period!!  You can call it … more
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GOOSE HUNTING WITH DALLAS…
The Canada Goose — In Canada
When I was in Northwest Ontario in October, I stayed about ten days, and besides fishing by myself, I spent some time with Tinker Helseth’s son-in-law Dallas Mosbeck, who, like Tinker, is a … more
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GIGGING AN OZARK RIVER IN THE 60’S.
An Underwater World
What a wonderful time it is to be outdoors… as the temperature cools and all of nature seems painted by the Master Artist’s brush. Finally the darn spider webs are gone from woodland … more
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HE WASN’T AS BIG AS THE ONE LAST AUGUST, BUT HE FOUGHT HARDER, THIS GOLDEN COLORED BATTLER.
The Golden Bass
There wasn’t anything about that point to tell me it was any special hideout for bass. I knew I’d love to fish it sometimes when the wind wasn’t blowing across it. But that’s … more
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Knives
I found an old pocket knife the other day, fairly rusty, and with part of the handle gone. It had three blades, but one was broken. If you soaked it in oil and sanded away the rust and loosened it up … more
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THE STORM RECEDES AT DAWN.
The Storm
I awakened early on Saturday morning, two hours before first light, and fixed myself a cup of coffee… before going out on my screened porch in the darkness to sit and listen to the gentle … more
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It is likely that there are fewer squirrel hunters today than there were 50 years ago. Few hunters want to clean them, but if you ever ate squirrel and dumplings, or grilled a marinaded squirrel, you might want to hunt them. Populations in hardwood forest are as high as ever.
Squirrel Seasons
 I was walking along a wooded ridgetop one fall when I was a kid, when a young fox squirrel fell from a limb above me and landed with a thud not more than ten feet from my shotgun barrel. He … more
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Kate Richardson with the largest smallmouth bass I ever saw caught from an Ozark River.
A 1961 Float Trip
What were you doing the first weekend of October, 60 years ago? I remember that weekend well.  I was only a few days away from turning 13, and I had purchased a guide’s license at the … more
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This year, walnuts are worth more than ever...
Need Money, Don’t Cut That Walnut Tree, Sell the Walnuts!
I always figure the yellow leaves on the walnut trees tell me a lot about the upcoming fall. This year that yellowing foliage on the walnuts here on Lightnin’ Ridge is really late. Could be … more
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The Duck With Baby Blue Wings
Sometime in mid September Midwest states have a special two week teal season. Blue-winged teal are unusual ducks. They come early; sometimes arriving in the Ozarks during the last week or so in … more
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Last year these doves nested on Lightnin’ Ridge, behind my office, in mid-August… this dove was incubating eggs on Aug.17.
Changes Needed
In early September, hundreds and hundreds of young doves in nests will die because of the September 1 opening of the dove season. I know that the majority of dove hunters don’t know that, and … more
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