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Outdoors in the Ozarks
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A visit to north Arkansas
A couple of years ago Bull Shoals was at the highest lake level ever seen. As a result they released water in record amounts into the White River below the dam. That summer I fished with a friend and … more
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If it isn’t a gray shrew what is it?
A really unusual find
I don’t have much trouble social distancing. I live on a high ridge miles from any towns. This ridge is completely timbered, with a nice pond I built to water wild creatures that live here, and … more
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In all my years of fishing, I don’t remember ever catching smallmouth in a winter shoal and shallow water.
They don’t do that in the winter
As the seasons roll on in the outdoors, year after year, I see the strangest things… things I haven’t seen before. That happened again. Last week on one of those 70 degree days, with … more
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A time to stay home
For some reason, I can never relax during deer season. Some of it has to do with those long-range rifles capable of killing a water buffalo or penetrating a home a half-mile away. And I live deep in … more
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When white bass school and swarm in places during the fall, it is not unusual to catch two at one time. Bigger white bass are never far from the smaller ones in the fall.
Fall leaves... fall fish
The darned leaves in the water makes it tough to fish a river in the fall. I should remember that! But I have a hard time learning things due to a deficiency which comes from being hit on the head … more
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Peace; be still
I left the border of Nebraska and South Dakota at midday on Wednesday, crossing the wide, sandy banks of the swift but shallow Niobrara River. Beyond it, I gazed across desolate, gentle hills of … more
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Know the truth, know your rights
I have a letter from an ex-employee of the Missouri Department of Conservation that outlines the Telecheck system and how it is used in rather nefarious ways by agents. These systems are now fairly … more
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Learning from a bushy-tailed teacher
Years ago when I was younger and a limit of squirrels seemed much more important than it does today, I was quietly sneaking along a creek bottom in late October, watching the treetops for any … more
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Photographed in 2014 near my home, you could hear these old gobblers sound off in the spring until about 2016. Now there are none there.
No water, no turkeys
It is amazing to me what a drought we have gone through for two months throughout the Ozarks, after the high water from heavy rains in the early summer. Seems like we are living in a day of feast or … more
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Living from the land in the far northern reaches of Canada…the closest humans a hundred miles away.
Common sense climate change
My dad and I had lots of talks on river gravel bars; from the time I was a boy to the years after I had kids of my own. I remember in particular, a time in the fall when I was home from college, … more
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This moth is known as a mulberry moth, the parent of webworm larvae.
What to do about webworms
A couple of years back, I wrote about a surefire way to destroy fall webworms by using a long pole with a newspaper page or two taped to the end. What I do is set fire to the paper, hold it up … more
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Making scents of things
I think if it stays cool I may go out and bow-hunt on the backside of my place, along the oak-hickory ridge where acorns are dropping. I am going to be sitting in a tree-stand hunting whitetail deer. … more
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September teal hunter and green-winged teal right, blue-winged teal left.
Hunting a flying biscuit
A teal is a duck… a little duck about half the size of a half-grown chicken. Most of them have a wingspan just shy of 24 inches and a weight just shy of a pound. There are blue-winged teal and … more
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Michelle James and her first catfish, netted by Jim Spencer.
Catfish on Norfork
Most all waters in the Midwest have catfish, but if you want to eat some, you should go after those in ponds, lakes or rivers that are not muddy or of substandard water quality. Preparing for a … more
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Storms
Some years back I took a pair of northerners on an Ozark float trip and in mid-afternoon dark clouds began to form to the west, with the ominous roll of thunder in the distance. I knew of a big, … more
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”Oh no, a mouthful of small dry feathers!"
A hunting and fishing month
Dove season has opened by the time you read this. There are dozens of them here on Lightnin’ Ridge, feeding beneath the bird feeders, nesting and raising young and then watering at my pond just … more
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Is there really a valid argument that we can slow the spread of CWD? No other state has!
Kill ten deer this fall
I don’t think this land registration thing is going well for the Missouri Department of Conservation. I and many other landowners have vowed to hunt on our own land this year without … more
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An odd river creature
I volunteered to fry fish for those who come to a class reunion at Houston, Mo in mid-September, so this past week my daughter and I took the old johnboat down to the river not far from … more
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August ain't so bad
It is unusual for the Ozarks to get so much rain in July, but it certainly doesn’t hurt fishing, especially in streams. When I was a kid, any summer rain that raised the Big Piney and made … more
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Finland's best
If I had to pick a half-dozen lures to take with me all the time no matter where I intended to fish, one of them would no doubt be the celebrated floating Rapala. While we were in Canada a few … more
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