guide

Online Exclusive: Rebuilding an Industry

fieldandstream-editor — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 04:00:00 -0500

For guide Mike Frenette, life will forever be viewed in terms of B.K. and A.K.: Before Katrina and After Katrina.

Before August 29--B.K.--Frenette was one of the best-known fishing guides in the South, a man who had helped pioneer charter fishing out of Venice, Louisiana, awakening the nation and world to the phenomenal action on the Mississippi River delta and in the blue water beyond. The Teaser Club House, his floating lodge, had hosted clients, writers, and broadcasters from around the planet. He had two offshore boats, three inshore boats, an airboat, a TV series. His was a happy, if busy, life that provided a comfortable living for his wife, Laurie, and their two sons.

On August 30--A.K.--he had very little left.

Katrina had demolished Venice, spreading the contents of the harbor across the delta. Frenette's lodge, boats, and about $50,000 in fishing tackle were gone.

"The day after Katrina I told Laurie, 'Yesterday we were on top of the mountain. Today we can't even see the mountain,'" Frenette recalls.

"It's unbelievable how life can change in a single day. We all knew this could happen, that a hurricane could hit us. But I don't think any of us thought it would be this bad, this total.

"Now we've got to start over. And we will."

Frenette has plenty of company. Charlie Smith, executive director of the Louisiana Charter Boat Association, estimates that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita delivered a knockdown blow to about 550 fishing guides in south Louisiana. For many of them it will be a knockout punch. Most lost boats, many lost lodges, but all lost the tourist engine known as New Orleans that was their pipeline to business.

The storms crashed what had been an incredible party for the local guide industry. In 10 years the number of coastal guides in Louisiana had exploded from 60 to more than 600. Much of that growth was in the metro New Orleans area, which is surrounded by marshes fertile enough to support some of the most liberal limits in the world: 25 speckled trout and five redfish per day, for example. Starting as one-man operations a decade ago, many businesses had grown to include one or two lodges, staffs of six to 10 guides, and marinas.

Barry Brechtel's Hopedale-based Big Fish Charters included the Breton Sound Marina at the junction of Bayou la Loutre and the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet canal, about 30 miles southeast of the French Quarter.

"Katrina left us with some piles of aluminum siding, concrete back-down ramps, and the steel structure for the boat hoist," says Brechtel. "When I say it took everything, I mean everything.

"But it didn't take the fish. So we're going to rebuild--and hope the customers come back."

How fast they return will depend largely on how fast New Orleans comes back.

"New Orleans is what made our business go, and until the city comes back, we don't know if we can come back," says Theophile Bourgeois, who estimated losses at his Lafitte-based Bourgeois Charters in the six figures.

"For most of our clients, we were just lagniappe (something extra) at the end of a New Orleans trip. After a business meeting, they'd come fishing. Or while the wives and daughters were doing the French Quarter thing, the guys would come fishing. But now all that's gone. Our customer base has dried up. Now we're in a race to see if the city can get the tourists back before the mortgage companies get the lodges, the boats, our homes."

It's life After Katrina.

Online Exclusive: Rebuilding an Industry

fieldandstream-editor — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 04:00:00 -0500

For guide Mike Frenette, life will forever be viewed in terms of B.K. and A.K.: Before Katrina and After Katrina.

On August 30--A.K.--he had very little left.

Katrina had demolished Venice, spreading the contents of the harbor across the delta. Frenette's lodge, boats, and about $50,000 in fishing tackle were gone.

"The day after Katrina I told Laurie, 'Yesterday we were on top of the mountain. Today we can't even see the mountain,'" Frenette recalls.

"It's unbelievable how life can change in a single day. We all knew this could happen, that a hurricane could hit us. But I don't think any of us thought it would be this bad, this total.

"Now we've got to start over. And we will."

"Katrina left us with some piles of aluminum siding, concrete back-down ramps, and the steel structure for the boat hoist," says Brechtel. "When I say it took everything, I mean everything.

"But it didn't take the fish. So we're going to rebuild--and hope the customers come back."

How fast they return will depend largely on how fast New Orleans comes back.

It's life After Katrina.

How to Judge a Buck: Can you guess the score of these 10 B&C trophies?

fieldandstream-editor — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 20:00:00 -0400

An Expert Guide to the Latest Techniques in Bass Fishing

fieldandstream-editor — Fri, 19 May 2006 13:00:00 -0400

How to Raise a Hunter

fieldandstream-editor — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 04:15:00 -0500

Table of Contents

Online Exclusive:More resources to help young hunters

The Story: By Kieth Mccafferty
You can't force your child to be a sportsman. But if you find the right way to share your love for the outdoors with him or her, you can create the best hunting partner you'll ever have. Here is one man's story of how he did it. ... Read More

A Love of the Wild: By T. Edward Nickens
To pass along a passion for wildlife and a strong conservation ethic, you need to instill in your kids an understanding of animals that has more to do with science than Disney. Pair that with your own enthusiasm for the woods, and the result will be a lifelong awe of the wild-and a conservation ethic that makes itself known in the field and at the polls ... Read More

The Safest Sport: By Philip Bourjaily
As an overprotective modern parent who gets nervous when my kids ride bicycles to a friend's house, I would not teach my children to hunt if I thought it were dangerous. Better they have a gun in their hands, than, say, a skateboard. Hunting and shooting have low accident rates precisely because we place so much emphasis on gun safety. Although hunting should be fun, teaching kids to be safe shooters doesn't call for much sense of humor. Treat the topic seriously, and children will respond to the gravity in your voice. ... Read More

Do the Right Thing: By Bill Heavey
You can't treat "teach son hunting ethics" as another item on your Saturday to-do list. Helping a child develop a healthy respect for the wild and a hunter's place in it is a matter of character, and that is not created overnight. Raising an ethical child is a long process, like building a rock dam across a creek. You have to thoughtfully choose and place the stones, a single one at a time. ... Read More

Coping with Killing: By David E. Petzal
If you give a youngster a tennis racket or a soccer ball or a baseball bat, you can teach him or her about sportsmanship and competition. If you give a boy or girl a gun, you teach that child about life and death. People who kill things can be more reverential of life than people who do not. The person who causes creatures' deaths and watches them struggle against it has an intimate knowledge of the tragedy of life departing. Nonhunters choose to ignore the fact that animals must die in order for us to eat, and hold forth on the cruelty of hunting while wolfing down veal scallopini that a week earlier was a terrified calf bawling in a slaughterhouse. Death is part of life for us and for all things. ... Read More

Beyond Hunter Ed: Programs That Keep Kids in the Field: By Philip Bourjaily
Congratulations, your child has passed hunter education and has a solid grounding in safety and ethics. Now what? There's so much more to learn, and the next steps are critical; as many as one-third of those who finish the class don't hunt the next year. If your young charge is all cammied up with no place to go, check out these state and private programs. ... Read More

Glory Days, Part II; Nov. 16--Dec. 1

fieldandstream-editor — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 04:05:00 -0500

NOVEMBER 16
It's the mating season, bucks are tending does, and this part of the breeding period usually has little activity. Today's full moon counters that, however, and you can expect heavy deer movement during midday. Dawn and dusk will be strangely quiet for mid-November in the deer woods.

1. The Situation:
It's All Quiet on the Deer Front
It's a shock to novices who look forward to the peak of the rut to see how abruptly things change when the breeding phase arrives. Since the majority of does are now in estrus, all mature bucks have partners and are mostly staying put. But things don't totally throttle down. Bucks still move when they have finished breeding one doe and are looking for another. And when they're not traveling, you can make them get up and go with a drive.

2. Primary Tactic:
Time to Drive
Put on morning and late-afternoon drives. These are normally supposed to be conducted during midday, when deer are sticking to dense bedding cover. With the moon full and the rut in the lull of the peak breeding phase, however, dawn and dusk are the times on this day when deer will be holed up.

The key to pushing a rack buck is to drive small, precisely defined thickets near areas where does concentrate, and the bedding locations themselves. Unlike most of the year, when they'll sneak out before a drive is even set up, or move through a break in the line of drivers without being seen, bucks will now remain with the doe they are tending. When you see a doe break out of cover during a drive, get ready, as the buck is likely just a few steps behind. Drive with a crosswind or the wind blowing toward the blockers, and make sure everyone knows the safe shooting lanes and is wearing blaze orange.

3. Backup Plan:
Still-Hunt The Edges
Since bucks move less during the peak breeding phase, this is a good time for still-hunting. It's especially effective when there's a drizzle or light snow falling and the ground is damp and quiet.

Step slowly and pause often. Sneak along the downwind edges of bedding areas and the buck routes connecting them. Check out clear-cuts, old logging roads, and semiopen fields with cedars, plum thickets, sumac, and greenbrier. Stay above where you expect to see deer and work into or across the wind.

4. Don't Do This:
Hunt the Home Front
It's a waste of time to hunt in bucks' core home ranges. Mature bucks have largely abandoned these spots and will not return to them while peak breeding continues. They are camped out in doe territory in lower, gentler terrain or moving between the areas where females hang out.

5. Do This:
Crow About It
If the cover is too thick to keep in contact with your partners on a drive, periodically use a wildlife call such as a crow, owl, hawk, or pileated woodpecker. This is less likely to spook bucks than whistling or calling to one another. When you're still-hunting, give a contact grunt every once in a while in case there's a buck hidden nearby.
Be Inhuman
Since you will be driving or still-hunting, use cover scents such as fox, raccoon, skunk, evergreen, or earth to mask your human odor in case there's a wind change or a deer appears from a direction you didn't expect. Be sure to wear scent-absorbing clothing, and spray your gear and boots with an odor neutralizer. [NEXT "The Situation: Weekend Warriors in the Woods"]

NOVEMBER 19
Hunt this date if you have to work during the week. It's a Saturday, so you'll need to adjust your tactics a bit from noal rut hunting strategy. Not only are bucks moving less because they are hooked up with does, but they are likely feeling more pressure on this day than at any other time of year except the opener. That can work in your favor if you plan wisely.

1. The Situation:
Weekend Warriors are in the Woods
Where there is heavy hunting pressure on weekends, there's a good chance that deer will be forced back to thick, remote escape cover. This could be at higher elevations in hilly country or in swampy thickets in low, flat terrain. Take this day to hunt for a wary buck in the backcountry, far from the road.

2. Primary Tactic:
Find the Escape Routes
Look for the sanctuaries and escape cover that bucks head to when hunting pressure is intense. You can hunt the hideouts or the routes leading to them. To find the latter, take out a topographic map or aerial photograph and look for funnels created by terrain and vegetation, such as brushy hollows, overgrown ditches, or sheltered saddles.

Pressured bucks will seek safety more than half a mile from vehicle access spots, in rough terrain and dense thickets of conifers, greenbrier, laurel, plum, honeysuckle, and grapevines. Swamps and overgrown clear-cuts are also worth checking. In general, look for cover so dense that you have to fight your way through it. Circle wide, get on the entrance points to these spots on the downwind edge before daylight, and wait quietly. You may have a buck show up that's more concerned about survival than breeding-at least on this Saturday.

3. Backup Plan:
Hunt Rut Rubs
Find a secluded or overlooked spot and search for fresh rubs made during the rut. Hunters associate rubs with the early season, but bucks also scrape the bark off trees and thrash them with their antlers when they are hooking up with does. They do so to vent energy and to declare their presence to other bucks in the vicinity.

Find rubs that are super fresh-ones that weren't there earlier in the season-and you've found a mother lode. Stake out a spot downwind of the newly blazed trees, and wait.

4. Don't Do This:
Hunt Easy Cover
There's no point in hunting accessible prime cover because so many hunters will be out now. Deer will be fleeing these spots or, in some cases, staying in thick brush until after dark.

5. Do This:
Turn Them On
When you're hunting fresh rut rubs, place doe-in-estrus scent near them in hopes of attracting their maker. You can also use buck urine and tarsal gland scent to rile up a buck's competitive instincts. For hunting sanctuaries, use cover scents.
Shhhhh
Use no calls at all for your primary tactic. You are trying to be invisible and ambush deer that are fleeing from other hunters. For your secondary approach, hunting rut rubs, use a doe bleat or make an aggressive, drawn-out series of buck tending grunts.

Rut Myth No 3: Does are Receptive for Less than 24 Hours.
The length of time that a doe will remain receptive is highly dependent on whether or not she is bred, according to recent studies. In one study conducted at the University of Georgia, biologist Lisa Muller found that unbred does remained in heat for an average of about 55 hours, but does that were allowed to breed stayed in heat for about 31 hours. Unbred does will undergo regular estrous cycles every 21 to 30 days and may continue to cycle up to seven times. This means that a doe could continue to come into heat until late winter or early spring, but this rarely happens in the wild. -K.V.M. [NEXT "The Situation: Big Bucks on the Move"]

NOVEMBER 25
This is the perfect hunting day. Thanksgiving is over, you're off work, and you can hit the woods early and remain until dark. The moon is in its last quarter and fading fast, encouraging whitetails to move during the day. Hunting is challenging, because there aren't as many deer left now, but some of the biggest bucks in the woods are on the hoof.

1. The Situation:
Big Bucks Are on the Move
Most does have been bred and have gone back to their core areas to rest and feed. A few females are coming into estrus, however, and the competition for them is intense, with mature bucks traveling hard and far, searching for the few remaining potential mates. You won't see as many as during the seek-and-chase phase, but there's a noticeable increase in action from the mating phase.

2. Primary Tactic:
Look for Fresh Sign
Now is the time to find newly activated scrapes near the edges of brushy, overgrown fields, doe bedding areas, and transition zones leading to major evening feeding spots. Bucks largely abandoned these signposts when the first does began to enter estrus, but as the number of ready mates dwindles, they start rechecking and freshening those pawed-out oval patches of earth.

As you examine scrapes, make sure there is a branch overhead where bucks can deposit scent. Also check that the area is not too close to a road. Bucks have become extremely wary by now and won't visit any in territory that hunters have been pounding. A promising one should be large and clear of leaves, indicating that a buck is tending it regularly. If possible, locate several in a cluster and set up downwind.

3. Backup Plan:
Glass and Stalk
With fewer bucks in the woods but activity beginning to pick up, this is a prime time for moving through semiopen areas with a combination of still-hunting and glassing and stalking. Use hills or ridges to glass fields overgrown with tall grass or sprinkled with cedars, low bushes, and plum thickets. Bucks like to travel in these areas, searching for late-cycling does, so scan them slowly.

Sneak along the edge of doe bedding spots and still-hunt near funnels, keeping your eyes peeled for traveling bucks. It can also pay off to scan brushy draws, stream bottoms, and overgrown swales in open fields. Late in the day, still-hunt through transition areas between doe bedding spots and feeding areas. Finish the day by glassing fields before dark.

4. Don't Do This:
Watch Rut Rubs
Bucks made those markers in the throes of the breeding game between mating sessions to release excess energy andove"]

4. Don't Do This:
Watch Rut Rubs
Bucks made those markers in the throes of the breeding game between mating sessions to release excess energy and

Glory Days, Part I; Oct. 27--Nov. 8

fieldandstream-editor — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 04:05:00 -0500

Call in sick. Vote late. Get engaged next spring. Whatever you do, just make sure you're in the deer woods on these seven dates, because there won't be a better time to tag a buck all year. PLUS: The Myths of the Rut, from Dr. Karl Miller.

No doubt about it-there is something of the occult in the way a veteran whitetail buck can dodge and dance. It doesn't seem possible that mere animals can pull off the stunts they do, leaving us baffled time after time. I'm going to vanish like smoke now and leave you feeling like a complete jerk. Want to see?

Ah, you say, but what about the rut? Doesn't even the smartest buck eventually start thinking with his gonads instead of his brain? Yes, but not the way you think, and if you assume that on one magical day every big deer in the woods is going to turn into a suicidal Romeo, you're wrong.

The rut can actually be broken down into four main phases that stretch over five weeks. It all begins for most of the country around October 27 with the pre-rut, scrape-checking stage. That is followed by a period of seeking and chasing, then mating, and finally the post-rut. To maximize your chances of getting a buck, understand the differences between the rut's four phases. Then strive to be in the woods on those days when the hunting should be best.

Remember that intense heat or cold, high winds, and hunting pressure can all affect the rut and throw it off schedule. We can't guarantee a buck for you, but this information will give you one heck of an advantage.

Phase 1: Early Pre-rut
Phase 1 occurs from October 27 to November 3. Bucks aren't fighting with one another yet, nor are they chasing does, but they are in peak condition. Testosterone levels are building. Eventually, bucks shift away from their patterns of bedding most of the day and feeding at dusk and night. With cooling temperatures, they travel more in the mornings and arrive earlier at staging areas where deer congregate before moving to food sources later. At this time, bucks are searching for older does that come into estrus ahead of others in the herd. They do this by making scrapes, marking them with scent, and checking them periodically.

Key dates: October 27, November 2
Tip: November 2 is the new moon, so be prepared for deer on the move.

Phase 2: seek & chase
Phase 2, commonly known as the pre-rut seek-and-chase phase, stretches from about November 4 to 11. Whitetail bucks are constantly on the move now, seeking mates, and their swollen necks are evidence of peaking testosterone levels. More and more does are coming into heat at this time, and the woods are becoming chaotic. Whatever you do during deer hunting season, don't miss out on this period. It is the ultimate time to kill a mature whitetail buck. Be it with a bow, muzzleloader, or modern firearm, you need to be in the woods now. November 8, in particular, is the one date you should stay in the woods all day if possible.

Key date: November 8
Tip:A first-quarter moon won't greatly influence whitetail behavior.

Phase 3: mating
You'll know when Phase 3, which is all about mating, has arrived. Running from November 12 to 24, this stage is marked by woods that have become quiet. If you didn't know better, you'd think all the deer have disappeared. Most does are in estrus now, and bucks are with mates except during those periods when they have finished breeding one doe and are looking for another. In some areas, a buck may stay with a single doe before, during, and after her normal 24- to 48-hour estrous cycle. In regions with an abundance of females, a buck may linger only for the peak of a doe's cycle, then move on to service other does.

Key dates: November 16, 19
Tip:The full moon on the 16th means heavy midday movemt.

Phase 4: post-rut
By Phase 4, from approximately November 25 to December 2, most adult does have come into heat and been bred. Bucks are tired but are still searching for late-cycling females and any does coming into heat for the very first time. While many younger bucks have totally dropped out of the rut, worn out more by chasing than actual breeding, the older males stay active as long as necessary. As they search for does, they will often venture into territory they haven't been to this season, so don't be surprised if you see a big buck you've never seen before. This year, December 1 is your best last-chance date for getting a trophy.

Key dates: November 25, December 1
Tip:Deer activity will pick up at the tail end of the waning moon phase. [NEXT "Transition Time"]

OCTOBER 27
Don't miss this date, when the early pre-rut starts to kick in. It's a Thursday, and deer have had a chance to settle down from the previous weekend's hunting pressure. Bucks are emerging from mid-October doldrums and the first early frosts have them feeding heavily on crops, forbs, fruits, and acorns.

1. The Situation:
Transition Time
This is an in-between period. Bucks haven't totally vacated their core summer ranges to hang out with does, but they are gradually shifting from elevated, heavy cover to the lower, gentler terrain that the females prefer-by way of transition corridors, staging areas, and feeding spots. The moon is in the last quarter and fading fast, encouraging daytime movement. Rising testosterone levels and cooling temperatures enhance activity. Bucks are on the prowl. This is a great time to tag a trophy.

2. Primary Tactic:
Hunt Food Sources
Set up in an oak flat that has abundant acorns, scuffled leaves, fresh droppings, and large tracks. Get in before dawn. This is a prime morning stand location for the early pre-rut, when bucks are bulking up on high-carbohydrate foods to layer on fat for the winter.

Besides the acorns that attract them, bucks know they have a chance of encountering early-estrous does thereabouts. Bow and blackpowder hunters should pay particular attention to the wind in these areas and set up within range, but downwind, of anticipated activity. Expect a buck to show anytime from dawn until 10 A.M. Make sure you're not in an air pocket or eddy created by a cliff or nearby hill, which could cause your scent to swirl around and blow toward your quarry.

3. Backup Plan:
Get in a Zone
Take a midday break. Then, at 2:30 or 3 P.M., move to a transition corridor. These are broad areas, anywhere from 30 to 100 yards wide, that lead from doe beds to prime feeding locations. They might feature tall grass, weeds, honeysuckle, sumac, greenbrier, raspberries, blackberries, and olives, as well as a variety of forbs and saplings. Transition zones will have a mixture of food and some cover but are never thick.

Does leisurely work through these areas on their way to agricultural fields, food plots, orchards, or oak flats. The corridors often lead from midlevel benches and hillsides toward food sources lower down. Bucks are starting to shadow does in these transition areas now, so find a spot with heavy sign and watch until dark.

4. Don't Do This:
Rattle
Rattling antlers won't work now. Deer are only beginning to feel the pull of the rut. They aren't fighting yet. The sound of bucks battling would be unrealistic, more likely to spook mature animals rather than attract them. And even if a buck were to investigate, the cover is so thick at this time of year that it might be difficult to judge antler quality.

5. Do This:
Put on a Mask
Bucks are barely emerging from their summer patterns at this early stage of the rut, so forget using doe-in-estrus urine or similar scents. Instead, choose red fox, skunk, raccoon, earth, hemlock, or other masking scents. Food scents, such as apple or acorn, are another option.
Grunt Work
This is the time for soft contact grunts. Expel short breaths, one second or so in duration, with pauses in between. Blow three or four in a series, then wait five to 20 minutes and repeat. Deer often communicate this way, as if to say Hey, I'm over here. Where are you?

Rut Myth No 1: The moon influences the timing of the rut.
There is no scientific evidence indicating that the moon phase influences when the rut will occur. On the contrary, studies have shown that the major factor affecting the rut is decreasing daylight. Deer perceive the shortening daylight hours via the pineal gland, which results in rising hormone levels. This, in turn, ensures that breeding occurs during a certain time frame each fall. Most fawns are consequently born in late spring or early summer, to maximize their chances for survival. In contrast, timing by moon phase would not provide any survival advantage. -Dr. Karl V. Miller [NEXT "Situation: Bucks Making Their Marks"]

NOVEMBER 2
The moon does not determine the onset of the rut. Every year the rut takes place at basically the same time, caused by a decline in daylight that triggers reactions in the deer's pineal and pituitary glands, leading to a buildup in testosterone. Weather, hunting pressure, and other factors may influence how dramatic and visible the rut seems from year to year, but its timing does not change. Moon phases, however, do influence deer activity levels and when they move. That's why this day is hot in 2005: It's the new moon.

1. The Situation:
Bucks Are Making Their Marks
Shortly after daybreak and just before dark during this lunar phase, bucks will be on the move. Be out before dawn and hunt hard the first few hours. Also be on stand for the final two hours of daylight. Bucks are busy checking scrapes near doe bedding and feeding areas, freshening them with urine, saliva, and scent from their forehead glands.

2. Primary Tactic:
Watch Those Scrapes
This is a great time to watch scrapes, but make sure you are positioned near active ones made because of the rut, not boundary scrapes dating from August or September. Look for large, freshly pawed ovals near doe bedding and transition zones. A small, chewed branch 4 to 5 feet abov judge antler quality.

How to Raise a Hunter

fieldandstream-editor — Fri, 31 Dec 1999 19:00:00 -0500

He would need what help I could give him. I had come to hunting when it was accepted as a natural part of a boy's upbringing, when it took little more effort than setting down the books after school and changing from one jacket into another before slamming the back door. My own son or daughter would be brought up in a world of suburban sprawl and organized play, where just getting to the woods took time and planning. Then, too, he would have to contend with a nation that secured its protein under plastic wrap while casting disapproving eyes at a marginalized tradition. A part of me wondered if it was worth the effort to indoctrinate someone into a culture so archaic that its followers took note of the lunar cycle, when the majority of people systematically insulated themselves from nature, scarcely noting even the stars.

But this was just one dark thought in a night of little sleep, and when I hiked out of the basin to help bring a child into the world a few days later it was with a lighter heart.

Sensitive Start
From the beginning, Tom seemed bent to his own path. Despite baby photos my wife, Gail, took of me holding him in the crook of one arm and a Hawken rifle in the other (there also was a Godfather-inspired photo I snapped involving a severed elk head-that one Gail promptly burned), my son's nature seemed to lead in a direction opposite of hunting. Although athletic, he was a small boy, lost in the clod-hopping melee of the soccer field, where he could be found contemplating the clouds more often than kicking at the ball. Naturally introspective, he formed an identity very early as an artist. His favorite medium became watercolors, his favorite subjects the moose, elk, bear, and bison we saw on trips to Yellowstone Park. The animals were beautifully rendered, presented in anthropomorphized portraits like pet dogs or horses, with simple color washes for backgrounds. Missing was the habitat, the context of the animal in its natural environ that the hunter looks for, and the predator-prey dynamic that drives nature's engine.

Once when he was 4 or 5 years old, my wife and I found him standing quietly in the garage, awkwardly patting the thick coat of a cow elk I had shot, which was hanging from a gambrel roped to a rafter.

"Good ulk," he said. "Good ulk."

Gail motioned to me to back away. "Tom's so softhearted," she said when we were alone.

"Will it disappoint you if he doesn't hunt?"

I told her it wouldn't and almost meant it. I understood that the wishes I sent with that arrow were selfish, and like most new parents, I had quickly discovered that all that really mattered to me was his health and happiness. My only regrets if he didn't hunt would be that he might not know me better, nor share with me the bonds that hunting engenders. My own father's life had been shaped by family tragedy, the Great Depression, and war, and at times it made him distant. But his voice was more relaxed on the days we were afield, and there was less stress in the hand that guided the swing when I hefted a shotgun or that led me across the deep part of the river. We were closest then, and a part of me couldn't release the hope that something of the same thread would someday connect Tom with me.

Philosophy Lessons
My quest to raise a hunter was helped by living in Montana. Antler tines poking above pickup rails were everyday sights in autumn, unremarked and unfrowned upon, and in our home venison was not only a sacrament of the hunt but the only red meat we ate. I like to think that when Gail said a blessing at holiday dinners, giving thanks to the antelope or elk that had given its life for our sustenance, Tom listened.

Once, when Tom was approaching hunting age and it was just the two of us on a long drive to visit family near the Canadian border, I surprised myself by talking to him about the sport as if he wermy contemporary. This took courage, because if he rejected my feelings on the subject, in a way he would be rejecting me. I started by explaining the cycles in nature, the notion of an animal's demise and decomposition enriching the soil. I told him that in death there is life, and that to me hunting was a way of keeping an ear to the earth and submersing myself into the bloodstream of the wilderness. I tried to make him understand that every corner of the dinner plate was the same, and that even the strictest vegetarian participated, if unknowingly, in clearing the land and eliminating deer and other animals that would otherwise live there. To be human was to kill. That was unavoidable. What mattered were the ethical underpinnings of hunting-killing with respect to the unwritten as well as the written rules. A hunter, a man who lived up to my definition anyway, adhered to the ethics of fair chase, killed cleanly, never took more than he needed, and honored the animal by not letting its meat go to waste. I went on for quite a while. He nodded, giving me his shy smile. Afterward, I thought I had just been talking to myself. Later, however, I would hear Tom repeat my arguments to doubters almost word for word. But whether he would ever feel a surge of blood upon seeing tracks in the snow, the pounding heart that binds us so purposely to the past-that was something only time could tell.

In the meanwhile we fished, a blood sport untarnished by the sight of blood, or much of it, anyway. But fishing is the same persistent probing under the surface that hunting is, and Tom took to it as naturally as I had. He became adept with a fillet knife, which encouraged me, for when I was growing up it had not been much of a step from cleaning bluegills for the skillet to peeling the skins off the squirrels Dad shot for my grandmother's gravy. But I knew better than to press, recalling an autumn day with my father when I had retrieved a rabbit that with its last gasp had blown a bubble of blood from its lips. The sight had affected me at a time when I had been keen to hunt, and for a month afterward I was content to listen to the beagle circle closer without feeling any urge to cock the hammers of the .410 shotgun I had found under the Christmas tree.

New Adventures
At 7 or 8, Tom started to accompany me on day hunts, usually when I carried a bow. In retrospect I see this as the best preparation for hunting I could have exposed him to. For a boy, streaking paint across his face and donning camouflage clothing was like taking part in a secret adventure. The weather was better in September than during the rifle season, and Tom could participate rather than just blindly follow. He could scream into a grunt tube to produce realistic bugles and every once in a while have the thrill of hearing an elk answer. There were many opportunities to experience the excitement of the hunt without the confusion that can follow a kill.

Two hunts stand out in my memory as formative, the first during a rare, early-autumn snow. Coming upon tracks, I told Tom they had been made by a cow and a calf elk and that if we followed for a quarter mile and then circled up and into the wind, we would find those elk bedded in a thicket on the shoulder of the hill. He was skeptical; to the uninitiated, tracks carry a surreal quality unassociated with the probability that animals might actually be standing at the end of them. When the tan bodies flickered silently away through the tree trunks a half hour later, my stature as a hunter, as far as Tom was concerned, rose considerably. Furthermore, he now saw that hunting could be a form of chess, a game that appealed to his intellect, but one that made the heart beat so much harder than any game played on a table.

Another time, we were hunting down the spine of a ridge when Tom spotted a buck in the apron of woods under the crest. It was nosing our way between mouthfuls of sedges, and I could hear excited intakes of breath beside me as the gap closed. At 20 yards I drew the bow, but a voice inside my head stopped me from loosing the arrow.

"Why didn't you shoot?" he asked after the buck had bounded away.

"I just didn't feel like it," I told him. "You don't have to shoot just because you can." Throwing the words over my shoulder as we hiked down the ridge, I made the point as nonchalantly as I could. Later, on the drive back, I told him about the Indian notion of counting coup, touching a sleeping enemy to claim bloodless victory. "Sort of like that," I said. "You don't shoot the deer, you can keep on hunting. We come up here next month, we don't shoot unless it feels right. We can just hunt and maybe get one next year."

Was he ready to actually hunt himself? I thought he was, though when we had taken hunter education together the previous spring, the field dressing video had set back the clock a bit. "How did it go?" my wife asked afterward. And while I rolled my eyes, Tom demonstrated the gutting technique, the "gobs of gray goo spilling out," as he put it. "Hun-ugh," he said, screwing up his face the same way he had when my brother and I had put one over on him during a bowhunt, acting as if we were chewing elk pellets to judge their freshness. "There's no way, no way I'm doing that." But he was laughing when he said it.

By this time his painting had evolved. There were backgrounds now of plain and forest. The animals were alert, the ears of the antelope cocked forward, the African lion holding a paw poised to strike. Still, as the Hunter's Moon waned on his 12th birthday, an important part of his education remained missing. I had been so sensitive to his nature that except for birds and small game, he had never witnessed the natural conclusion of the chase.

First Blood
On opening day of the rifle season, Tom and I were hidden in a haystack blind, the grainfield flaring in the sunset, when whitetails danced out to feed. At my shot one of the does collapsed, stirring a forefoot as the flags went up from the others. Tom was surprised that she wore nothing but a dime of blood on her shoulder. Then, as he held her legs and I opened her with the knife, he saw the lungs turned to pulp inside the chest cavity and the death became very real to him. He was silent for most of the drive home.

Finally he spoke. "It's okay. We'll eat the meat. It's not like they're an endangered species."

"Do you still want to shoot a deer this year?"

He shrugged, a movement I sensed more than saw, and I didn't probe further.

By mid-November the snow swirled deep in the Bridger Mountains. The butt of the rifle slung over Tom's shoulder dragged through the drifts. His oversize mesh vest swept the snow behind him like the train of some blaze-orange wedding dress. When we sts of sedges, and I could hear excited intakes of breath beside me as the gap closed. At 20 yards I drew the bow, but a voice inside my head stopped me from loosing the arrow.

"Why didn't you shoot?" he asked after the buck had bounded away.

Finally he spoke. "It's okay. We'll eat the meat. It's not like they're an endangered species."

"Do you still want to shoot a deer this year?"

He shrugged, a movement I sensed more than saw, and I didn't probe further.

A Love of the Wild

fieldandstream-editor — Fri, 31 Dec 1999 19:00:00 -0500

To pass along a passion for wildlife and a strong conservation ethic, you need to instill in your kids an understanding of animals that has more to do with science than Disney. Pair that with your own enthusiasm for the woods, and the result will be a lifelong awe of the wild-and a conservation ethic that makes itself known in the field and at the polls.

[BRACKET "Assignment No. 1:"]
Bring critters home alive
Frogs, turtles, salamanders, snakes, june bugs, praying mantises, juvenile bass and bream-my kids have kept watch over an impressive array of wild-caught creatures adopted, temporarily, into their care. Bring the critters home and you will likely not abet a salmonella or rabies epidemic or harm animal populations. What you will do is foster an appreciation for the animals themselves-not just wildlife as a concept-and teach your kids that there are valid, valuable ways to interact with them other than with a trigger. Keep two 3-gallon aquariums with close-fitting wire-screen tops. At my house, we have a seven-day rule: Animals are returned to their natural habitat within a week of capture. That way, they make it back without undue stress.

[BRACKET "Assignment No. 2:"]
Pass up the shot
Pulling the trigger should be a choice. For most hunters, there comes a time when you let the deer walk not because it's a scrawny 6-point buck. You pass up the shot because this particular animal has a regal demeanor you've never seen before, and though yesterday or tomorrow you wouldn't think twice about putting a bullet in its lungs, this morningÂ¿Â¿Â¿no. Let your son or daughter see you demonstrate what you drill into their heads: It's not about the killing. You may find it hard to describe what you're feeling when you let an animal walk, but with your kid there beside you, you should try.

[BRACKET "Assignment No. 3:"]
Save some habitat
Volunteer a day or two with your young hunters and they'll gain a greater appreciation for the challenges facing wildlife and the opportunities for lending a hand. A good first step is to contact a national wildlife refuge nearby. Many use volunteers to maintain trails, plant native vegetation, and assist with bird censusing and other get-your-hands-dirty activities. Such work instills an ethic of investment in a place. It's a big world out there, and there are ways to impact it in a big way.

[BRACKET "Assignment No. 4:"]
bring critters home dead
For young kids, particularly, hunting needs to be viewed as an integral and customary part of life-not something Dad or Mom do "out there." Bring the ducks, squirrels, and deer home. Let the kids handle the birds. Describe the difference between primary and secondary wing feathers. Give them antlers to play with. Clean a few skulls and let them start a collection. By bringing game into the home you break the invisible boundary between the world we inhabit as humans and the world beyond the sidewalk.

[BRACKET "Assignment No. 5:"]
Be a bird nerd
Or at least try to be. Take the kids outdoors with binoculars and seine nets instead of guns and bows. Go on long hikes and turn over every downed log. Join a local birding group. Learn the calls of frogs and toads in your region. The more your kids know about nature, the more they'll understand science-based wildlife management. And the more you teach them now, the better they'll one day be able to put into words-and action-their love for wildlife and wild places and wet retrievers and deer in the crosshairs for another critical audience: their own kids. -T. Edward Nickens

The Safest Sport

fieldandstream-editor — Fri, 31 Dec 1999 19:00:00 -0500

As an overprotective modern parent who gets nervous when my kids ride bicycles to a friend's house, I would not teach my children to hunt if I thought it were dangerous. Better they have a gun in their hands, than, say, a skateboard. Hunting and shooting have low accident rates precisely because we place so much emphasis on gun safety. Although hunting should be fun, teaching kids to be safe shooters doesn't call for much sense of humor. Treat the topic seriously, and children will respond to the gravity in your voice.

[BRACKET "Assignment No. 1:"]
Demystify guns
Young boys, especially, find guns fascinating. Keeping guns forbidden and mysterious only increases their allure. Let your kids handle your guns with your permission and under your supervision. Show them how to check whether the chamber and magazine are empty. Let them point the gun in a safe direction. Teach them now that the only time they are ever to touch a trigger is when they want the gun to go off.

Take them to the gun club, where they will see targets smashed to bits. Show them the bloody holes your guns put into the animals you bring home. A friend likes to impress new shooters with the power of firearms by shooting a cantaloupe at 10 paces with a 12-gauge. The distinction between real and toy guns will be as clear as the difference between real and toy cars.

[BRACKET "Assignment No. 2:"]
Give them a BB gun
Owning a BB gun can teach children good safety habits or bad ones. Kids of my generation roamed the woods with Red Ryders and no parental supervision. There's a better way. Give a child a BB gun a year or so before he or she is ready to start shooting .22s and 20-gauges. Store it with your guns and make a point of treating it like a real gun-which it is. Let your young hunter bring it along, unloaded, on short hunts with you. Insist that he carry it with the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. Pack a few BBs along for some safe target shooting at the end of the day.

[BRACKET "Assignment No. 3:"]
Spend time at the range
The more often you take your children shooting, the more practiced they'll become in handling guns safely. At the range, insist that muzzles point up, down, or downrange-always. Keep control of the ammunition yourself, and dole out shells one at a time. Kids will be scrupulously careful about muzzle control until they fire a shot. In the excitement of hearing the gun go off, they will turn to you, swinging the gun, or drop it down so it points at their toes. If the gun is empty, it's a teachable moment, not a potential tragedy. Insist on eye and ear protection, and emphasize its importance by always wearing it yourself.

[BRACKET "Assignment No. 4:"]
Pick first hunts carefully
Your first real hunts should be for squirrels, waterfowl, deer, turkeys, or doves, sedentary hunts where the game comes to you. Leave your own gun at home. Sit right with your hunter, whispering advice and giving the go-ahead to take the safety off and shoot. Save upland hunting for last. It requires walking with a loaded gun for long periods as well as split-second shoot-or-don't-shoot decisions.

[BRACKET "Assignment No. 5:"]
lead by example
You're trying to instill lifelong safety habits, and nothing you say speaks as loudly as your own actions when you and your child hunt together. Handle your own guns with extra emphasis on safety. While we're at it, boats, ATVs, tree stands, and motor vehicles can be just as deadly as guns if used carelessly. Your young hunter will learn all about them by watching you. -Philip Bourjaily