Pre- Fourth Weekend

Heat Wave, MS> We are loading up and heading to camp for a big pre- fourth of July weekend. I am guessing 15-18 people will be there for another fun filled weekend. My shanking lawyer brother Paul is supposed to bring steaks for tonight. Everyone remembers that the last time he was too bring supper, he brought a bag of Oreos, bread and peanut butter. Hope we don't get a repeat.
Bob and Marian are coming to spend the day Saturday. I am sure my Dad will put them to work. The girls are staking out The Othmar for a suntan and laying out party. I bet Miss Firecracker would love that.
Denises' son Josh is here and is always a good sport and camp guy. He and Spencer are ready to take off on the 4-wheelers. Ghost Stories around the fire tonight. Guess I ought to print mine out to use.
Guess there will be light blogging through the 4th, have a happy holiday!

Hunting Ole Miss

Oxford, MS> I started Ole Miss in the fall of 1976. I had many great times at the University, some bad ones too, but trust me when I say that education never really got in the way of my deer hunting. I spent way too much time trying to figure the deer out than I did studying. Of course, chasing girls was on about a par with deer hunting in those days. All depends on what you are hunting.
You can ask Matt about the beautiful women here.
I learned that many very big bucks lived right in town or just on the edge, and I had no qualms about hunting them. There was some piddly rule about hunting in the city limits, but those lines weren’t exactly clear. I spent a lot of time hunting the edges of the town.
On the south side of Ole Miss was the 4-lane hwy 6 and just on the other side was about a 40 acre block of woods that had a closed concrete company on it. While chasing girls, I had seen deer tracks in the large sand piles there. I scouted it and found several good scrapes and rubs. I put up two stands. I took a nice 6-point on the first one. I could see cars whizzing by and could see the Football Stadium from my vantage point.
I took two deer off the second one, one of them a really nice 8-point.
Deer get used to their surroundings and the sound of people talking, dogs barking, and cars coming and going never bothered these deer. These deer lived in the midst of people and were completely undisturbed. From the top of my tree, I could see the campus library and the columns on the majestic Lyceum Buiding.
A year or so later the property sold and now it is all apartment houses. The city limits then was hwy 6 but has been expanded greatly over the years. I learned how well deer adapt and have used it to my advantage many times. Sometimes deeper is not better, especially in congested areas. Sometimes giant bucks learn to sleep in someone’s flowerbed and if you get permission it can lead to a great trophy.

July Fun in Mississippi

Swelter, MS> July is nothing but hot in Mississippi. Thank goodness for the old fashioned 4th of July celebration that always seems to distract us from the heat.
There is always a cookout and a fish fry. Someone always makes homemade ice cream.
There is going to be an ice cold watermelon eaten, and the kids are going to swim while the adults visit. Life in the South.
Here is a pic of Spencer getting after the fish.You will likely see distant relatives (a lot of Yankees)that come to visit this time of year.
The people here like to be on a lake or near it during this time! This year we are really looking forward to our pontoon boat, The Othmar.
Everyone that raises a garden wants to have their tomatos ready by the 4th of July also. Fresh corn will be found too! There will be gallons of ice cold beer for the early morning golfers and sweet tea for the early afternoon lunch. Fireworks will be shot and admired as they burst in the sky, and we will be thankful for our country.
The people enjoy the food and fun but at the famous Christmas Place it is time for the Whitetail Games.
All the deer practice up to see who will be the 2nd in line behind Thunderhoof. Lots of strenuous races and jumps are involved with this selection. Here is a picture of Thunderhoof hopping over a log while I watch. Don't want to make it too tough for the other deer! Late in the afternoon we go out to a high hill and watch them. It is a lot of fun and we always root for our favorite buck.

A Long Strange Trip

Fort Sill, OK> I have received word that GuyK will be dragging in here on the third of July. My friend has been on a long strange trip, and now that he has caught evey fish in Oklahoma, he is gearing up to go home. My friend has had the Gore effect everywhere he has been. Rain chased him out of Florida all the way to Texas and from there to the hidden lakes of Oklahoma.
If you are suffering a drought, make sure to call and ask him to drop by. I think Oklahoma may be under water by now.
His truck is pointing straight at the famous Christmas Place Fishing Hole. Now that's what I call Charming, Just Charming.

Revenge Is SO Sweet

The big golf match was this weekend as Mark "The Shark" Larson and Bill "Birdieman" Howard came to the valley and matched my brother Paul "Wicked Shank" Howell and my own dumb self Rex "Worm Slice" Howell at the famous Yalobusha Golf Links. Needless to say, they have been chewing on last years defeat for a long time and got their revenge.The match was very close and came down to the final hole before my stupid brother lost the match for us. (Hey! It couldn't be me!)

Mark played absolutely great golf!
Paul spent a lot of time in the woods,
he also spent a lot of time yelling at his ball????





Here we are looking for another one of Pauls' errant drives.

Here I am trying to trade Paul for a used ball or a broken tee, anything

Sometimes it is worse to be on Pauls' team than to play against him.


Then of course it came time to pay off. OH MY GOD! You would have thought a million dollars was being paid.
Here is a pic of some good friends that had a great time playing golf!

An Alpha Hunter

I don't know either, so don't email me. Yes, it is a strange name for a hunting blog. The new link I have picked up is from Springfield, MO from a hunter and outdoorsman named Darrell. He has pics, stories,interesting tidbits and also explores the business side of blogging and hunting. He is a wonderful addition to all the hunting blogs and I am glad to have him listed in my sidebar. I think he will also be a great help as part of the Outdoor Bloggers Summit.
He blogs at AlphaTrilogy. Obviously, an alpha Male type guy! Go over and give him a read, you will be impressed.

Outdoor Bloggers Teleconference

Bring! Bring! The phone was picked up and for the first time I heard the voices of most of my outdoor blogging friends. Kevin had organized the conference call and was the facilitator for the meeting. Kristine was there and was named as the organizational manager. Othmar, Marian, Jon and Matt and the Captain all said our hellos and it was hard to talk business because we were all so excited to talk, but we got down to business.
The object is to organize an Outdoor Bloggers Summit. A convention if you will.
1.- the summit is open to anyone that blogs about any aspect of the outdoors.
Hiking, Birding, Nature, Outdoor Sports, Guns, Hunting, Rock Climbing, you name it. We also want the readers that do not blog to visit. Everyone loves a convention!
2.- We talked about location and timing. right now it seems wise to go where a large outdoor show is going on and kind of piggyback on it. the SHOT SHOW came up but nothing is set.
3.- A web page for sharing of info and for people to leave their URL's and thoughts is being created. Othmar also is going to set a forum up for insider discussion.
4.- There was discussion of sponsors too. If you have a product or outdoor service and want to have some recognition at the summit. Contact us. We want to have a large crowd and are very interested in everyone having an input.
5.- I think our organizational teleconference was a success. It will take a while to get it going, but it will be fun. Email one of us or leave a comment and we will get back to you.
6. Mrs. Vohringer (I hope) is going to design a small widget as a link to the forum and the new website that each of us will place on our site for easy access to the new site. Hopefully it will be up soon.
7.- Spread the word!
UPDATE!!!! Here is the temp link---- Outdoor Bloggers Summit

A Night At The Summit

Snowshoe, MI> While sleeping on the riverbank in Vicksburg, MS drunker than Cooter Brown. I had a strange dream, maybe a vision.
8/17/2008
What a party, at least what I can remember. It was Friday afternoon when I arrived at the aptly named convention center, Lilly’s Gilded Pool Hall Emporium and Bar. Loud music met me at the door as I went in and ordered a drink at the bar.
Others came in and seemed to drift to their own tables. All the outdoor writers/bloggers like Dave Richey, David King, Claude Pollington, J.R. Absher, Brett French, Tom Remington and Jeff Murray and a host of others sat together drinking champagne and scribbling in their little notebooks. You need a notebook? Damn! The barmaids swooped around them and I realized they (of course) were the only ones making any money at blogging. The call came in and we all went into the main ballroom.
A great dinner! Cookie and my Dad served Deer and Elk tenderloin with all the trimmings. Mike had Mule Deer steaks and Bill and his Dad supplied fresh trout. Later, Steve was the master of Ceremonies and got right to it.
There were lots of awards for outdoor stuff like Writers, Photography, Layout, etc. Best Outdoor Blogger was, oh yeah, can’t tell you. Hey! I won for best Outdoor Humor Blog! Thunderhoof came in and gave a speech too! That really revved up the crowd!
Finally the floor was cleared and the music started with” The Five Howling Coyotes” Mike Clifford was wailing on the Sax, FHB on guitar, Norm was on the keyboard and Jannos worked those crazy African drums while Ivan sang "La Vida de Deerhunting"!
All the men flocked to Marian, Kristine, and Michelle in their sexy camo gowns.
Debbie, Rene, Libby and red hot Callie finally showed up too! The men cheered! The men also swarmed them like flies and the whisky flowed like water. Matt, Kevin and Tom started some strange Virginia Mountain jig while we were all dancing, sweating, drinking, and laughing. Then it got wild. Phillip decided to spice things up and turned a dozen wild hogs loose on the dance floor, Kees started wrestling the hogs which got everyone cheering, Then Steven, Dash and Bob started a target practice session with the bottles in the small cash bar. Robert used a shotgun!
The hotel employees ran for their lives! GuyK and EagleEye slipped out and started fishing for mermaids in the pool. Steve wandered past with a set of antlers on his head blowing a grunt call and then Bigfoot took the microphone and sang a solo. Someone opened a side door and all the hunting groupies flocked in. They were wearing We love Othmar t-shirts! They chased him all over the dance floor until he finally dived in the pool! The girls dived in after him! Boobies and Beer were everywhere! The women danced faster and a hell of a lot more provocatively. Pandemonium grew as the music got louder! The deep drums pounded! A fight broke out between the Wordpress people and the Blogger people. Thunderhoof shot by with 3 naked women on his back! Jon was trying to rope him or one of the girls, I couldn’t tell which. Goon, David and Skinner were watching the frolicking in the pool and decided to go skinny-dipping for the mermaids. A hell of a brawl ensued when someone got a bass plug hooked in their privates!
A balloon filled with deer lure flew by my head as Doug, Cliff, Craig and Moose started a free for all. They were acting like crazed Infidels or a Mohawk war party! Dazd was swinging from the chandelier while Jim got it all on video. Amazing!
I heard a siren and used my beer brains to duck under a table as the cops hammered in the door. Our whole blogging convention was toast! I’ve never seen so many Contrary People hauled off to the hoosegow as I snuck out on my hands and knees!
I hope someone kept Field Notes because it was a real Goshawk Adventure!
Everything started to kind of get Fuzzy and I
don’t remember much else but I woke up buck naked, covered in Kudzu in Emo, Ontario with a pink muumuu around my neck and a hat on that said Angel Feathers Tickle Me.
A major conference call about this shindig is tonight.
Will keep you informed!

Fishing The Kootenays

Hidden Lake, Canada> I received a link from a wonderful woman that really enjoys fishing. In fact, she eats, sleeps and dreams fish. Her name is Michele aka Rootbeerfizz. Her main blog site is filled with pictures of beautiful clear lakes, scenic views, tumbling rivers and blue skies. A panorama of the beauty of the outdoors. She can catch a damn fish too!
Her blog is Fishing Fiesta. Check out her site, it is worth seeing.

Salty Blogging

I received a link from what I call one of the Gun Guys. His name is BobG and he is in West Valley, Utah. His blog has a lot of political points thrown into the mix.
He shows the anger, hope, impatience and tired resignation of all of us. He wryly recognizes the pitfalls of America during this time of turmoil and spices it up with some subtle humor.
Oh, yeah! Has some good gun stuff too!
The name of his blog is Near the Salty City. Please go over and visit!

Wrapping Up Sunday

Vicksburg, MS> We got up Sunday and headed downtown to see the ship that is going to be the new river museum. Pretty impressive! The mayor there is rejuvenating the whole town and it is already amazing what he has accomplished.


We headed south to Marians Deer Camp in Claiborne County. Here is a picture of me
"Dodging Big Black Deer on the Big Black River"
Her camp is 800 acres along the river. It is filled with deer and turkeys too.
Remember "Big Bucks Have Wet Feet"




Bob and Marian drove us all over the property. they showed us all their stands and where the deer trails were. It is a very impressive piece of property.
We used their new 4 wheel drive truck. It was pretty impressive too!

Finally, it was time to go home. I will miss their cute bungalow named THISIT. This Is It.

Winners Birdie, Losers Text

Yalobusha Country Club, MS> So I am trying to work or trying to work and blog and I keep getting these text messages. "We are gonna kick your A@@", "Bring your money, losers", "We can't wait to humiliate you" and other crap like that. The retired millionaire team of The Pontotoc Shank (Bill Howard) and The Batesville Bogie (Mark Larson) are itching for a golf rematch this weekend. I talked to Paul (Hot Streak) and he is ready to literally kick the crap out of these millionaire playboys. I guess those two can't remember what happened last year.

More Than A Weekend

Vicksburg, MS> I have to hurry this post about my trip to Vicksburg. Lots of stuff coming in, but first go check on KeesKennis who recognizes a Master Storyteller. Never mind the hunting style depicted. That Kees is a damn genius, I tell you!
We left the Corner Drugstore and went in to the Coca-Cola Museum. Vicksburg is where the first coke was bottled and sold.

Here is Denise and Marian looking over the displays.
A glass of coke would not do the trick, Bob and I were hot, damn hot and Bob knew exactly what to do about it.


We headed up the street to a bar called Borrellos'.
They have the biggest and coldest draft beer in the state of Mississippi!
Can't wait to go back! We relaxed for awhile and figured what to do next.


We had a late lunch at the beautiful Anchuca Mansion. It is a great B&B. The food was great too!
Now it was off to the Vicksburg National Military Park surrounding the city. We drove for miles and enjoyed all the sites. (See Marians' Blog).

The main thing is that the Bob and I made sure that the ladies got to ride the cannons.
We were tired after this and headed in, but that night we ate at a wonderful seafood buffet in the casino that overlooks the river. Back to our friends house and we enjoyed the weather again by sitting on the porch talking for an hour or so.

Blogging History

Vicksburg, MS> We got going the next day and headed to admire the Mississippi River.
Standing on the bluff, you can imagine the shore batterys aiming at the Union ironclads below. The view is majestic.
Leaving there we wandered up through the middle of the tourist and historic district to a wonderful place called The Corner Drug Store. Now all of you gun bloggers pay attention! This post is for FHB, Ah, Shoot, The Smallest Minority, The Other Side of Kim, Dash, and Near The Salty City and all the other gun guys that I wish would link with me. This place is a treasure trove of gun history! muskets and deer heads! lots of bullets and cannonballs!
antique shotguns, muskets, WWI and WWII rifles, clay jugs, Civil War pistols, and swords!
A good pic of Marian and Joe Gerache (the owner). He was extremely nice and warmly welcomed us to his store. If you go to Vicksburg, do not miss his shop!
That was great, time to go get a coke.

Blogging With Marian

Vicksburg, MS> Denise and I dropped Camo off at the camp to play with Trigger and Thunderhoof, and we cruised on down to Vicksburg to see Marian and Bob.
We were a little late getting in but were greeted warmly like lost family. We headed over to the best BBQ place in the world, Goldies. The ribs were delicious. We drove around a little and headed back. We drank champagne on her porch that night and talked about Marians Blog, hunting, The Christmas Place, and the Outdoor Bloggers Convention.

The weather outside was peaceful and quiet and we ended up talking for hours. Lots of deer hunting stories and Bob brought out his new hunting outfit too.
We talked about Othmar and Matt and Kristine. We even talked about wild hogs and where in the hell is Goldthwaite, TX?
Yes, we talked about all of our hunting blogger friends, then led into what we were going to do the next day. Denise and I stumbled off to bed after midnight.

Vicksburg Bound!

This weekend, Denise and I are headed to Vicksburg. We are going down to visit Marian and Bob. We plan to look at the beautiful Antebellum homes, sip a drink while watching the river roll past, explore the battlefield and gander at the U.S. Ironclad, The Cairo.
Marian wants to take us over and show us her hunting camp. That would be a lot of fun. We want to eat out and maybe ease over to the Casino too. It should be a long and tiring weekend, but a very fun one too.
When I was growing up, a great song was sung about Jackson. It's not Fargo or Vicksburg but the feeling is the same.

A Blood Trail

I was still-hunting a stand along the ridge that leads into the area that we call the Lost 40. This area has not had the timber cut in about 100 years. The area is open, with big woods lying south and east of the lake. I had no luck that morning and decided to hunt my way out. This involves a very slow stalk across the property. A step or two, then waiting and watching for 5 to 15 minutes, before the next step. The sun was bright as I eased slowly through the woods. I hit the blood trail late that morning. It crossed the main trail that I had come in on. I squatted down and stuck my fingers in a small red pool in the leaves. It was fresh. I scanned the trail to see which way the trail ran.
It took a few minutes, but to the right was little sign of the deer but to the left there was plenty of turned up leaves and scattered droplets of blood. The kicked up leaves seemed to lead down into the steep hollow below me. I hated the thought of a wounded deer dying needlessly, besides it could be a big buck. Standing quietly, I heard the animal start walking through the heavy leaves. Four or five steps, then stop, then five or 6 more steps. I decided to follow the trail and see if I could jump the deer and get a shot.
I followed the drops of blood down the hill, where the bloodtrail hit a main deer trail and headed up the center of the hollow. I eased along keeping my rifle ready and scanning every deer shape that I saw ahead of me.
I found a small pool of blood where the deer had stopped and figured it would lie down soon. It was getting toward lunch by now, but I felt that I had to stay on the trail until I at least found out what I was tracking.
The splotches of blood continued down the hollow weaving back and forth. Every thirty yards or so, I would find a fist sized pool of blood. I knew the deer could not last too long. I followed down the hollow for about three hundreds yards and then abruptly the bloodtrail turned South into a narrow ravine. The sides of this narrow cut quickly closed in until the sides were almost straight above me and I stepped into the sand ditch that fed through it. The blood trail
led straight up through the area and I followed along keeping a watchful eye.
Fifty to sixty yards ahead I could see that the area opened up and several trees overhang the narrow ditch at this spot.
I do not know when it finally came to me, but I found myself stopped in the middle of this tight ravine realizing that something was wrong.
The drops of blood continued but I had not seen a track of a deer or anything else. I looked back and forth for signs of the wounded animal in the smooth sand. There were no signs of staggering hoof prints or marks anywhere in the sand. Just the few drops of fresh blood every few feet. I stood absorbing this and the feeling came that maybe I should go back for help. Where were the tracks that should be right beside the drops of blood? The uncomfortable feeling hit me that there was something wrong about this whole setup. What was going on? I stood thinking for several minutes until I realized that maybe this was some kind of a strange game and I had better get the hell out of there.
I felt trapped as if something was watching me, ready to pounce. I stepped backwards, and raised my gun. Easing back, I worked my way out of the narrow opening and into the open hollow I had veered from. It was quiet as I watched to see any movement up the sand ditch that would let me know who or what had led me in there. I waited about 10 minutes before I saw a slight movement at the very end of the narrow draw. A movement, a slight blur, that is all. Then I heard a low, deep chuckle and then low and terrifying laughter rolled out of the narrow gorge. It lasted about 30 seconds and died away. I eased away, wanting to run, but watching my backtrack and walking as quietly as I could with my safety off. What was in that dark and narrow space?
I do not know, but I know that I was very fortunate to not find out.

Red Eye Blogging

What's wrong with you people? Don't you ever sleep? I can understand Libby, everyone knows she is an insomniac. When I am up at 3 o'clock in the morning checking my site stats, you would not believe how many crazy people are using their computer at that time.
I can understand Kees, he is in Africa. I'm not sure if they even have time over there, but my hunting buddies? You are not heading to your deerstand Matt. Get some sleep Moose. Please Doug,you have got to go to work in the morning. You can't stay up all night blogging and watching sprint cars with Goon. The rest of you, yes, you too Craig, all of you are going to have to get away from the computer for awhile. I like to cruise the net alone! Hey, click on my site first!

Callie is Crazy

But what a way to go! She is brash, sexy, wild and free. She goes by the name Callistre. Like all women, she has fallen in love with Thunderhoof, and Camo even gave her a bark of approval. She blogs at My Style. I have to admit (like all men) her avatar caught my attention and has been about to drive me crazy. She is a fun read and I welcome her to the world of hunting. Now I need to concentrate on blogging.

In the Karoo

Centurion, Gauteng, ZA> I received a new link today from a really neat hunting blog out of South Africa. His name is Jan Meyntjes or Jannos and he hunts in the wide open spaces of the Karoo. I believe this is a flatland of immense size and hunting area. His blog concentrates on hunting, conservation and the environment. His blog site is Huntersouthafrica. Go give this African blogger a look. He is not KeesKennis, but then, who is?