I realize that Labor Day isn’t even here yet, but the dead leaves laying in the yard, the yellowing of the beans and corn, as well as the lower morning temps, are a sure sign that fall will be here soon.

This time of the year is always magical for me.  And as the corn stalks start to droop, and the apples start to get closer to turning into cider, something changes inside me.

It won’t be long before I spend many hours in a treestand.  And it won’t be long before I have my first close encounter with a whitetail.

It won’t be long before I feel at home.  It won’t be long before I feel alive.

Abby loves to read books involving animals, and she loves to name the animals as we read through the books.  She loves all the animals – giraffes, zebras, elephants, deer, and turkey – just to name a few, and she takes great pride in knowing them all.  In fact, one night she even corrected me and let me know that the animal we were looking at was indeed a jaguar – and not a cheetah – as I originally thought.

We headed down to Binder Park Zoo last Saturday, and Abby had a great time.  Binder Park is a smaller zoo, but Abby didn’t seem to mind; it was a great way to get her outside, spend some time together, and actually let her see a few of the animals we read about in books.

It’s always a little unsettling for me to see wild animals stuck in an enclosure – but I just really think that visiting the zoo is the only way most people are going to have any connection to these particular types of animals; it’s the only way they’re going to have such an encounter, and it provides an open opportunity to educate them as well.  Plus, zoos do help many animals to breed and be released back into the wild; for example, Binder Park just recently released a Mexican wolf into the wild, and that wolf was one of the first to have pups in the wild as well.

The highlight of the day, though, was visiting Wild Africa and getting to feed the giraffes.  Abby and I were eyeball-to-eyeball with the giant-necked creatures, and they were more than willing to eat the lettuce we had for them.  Abby loved getting to touch the giraffes, but she wasn’t a big fan when it came to feeding them – their tongues are gigantic – and Abby wasn’t real at ease when they were sticking that thing out at us.  If the truth be told, either was I – they’re huge!

It was an educational, fun-filled day, though, and we had a great time as a family.

And as I always say, getting kids in the outdoors can be done in many different ways – even with a trip to the zoo.

Author’s Note: In case you can’t tell, in the second picture, we’re in an “African camp”.

“Well……we’re on our way to Battle Creek Outfitters to hunt for a few days. Jim, of BC Outfitters, has been watching a few bucks during the year, so hopefully we’ll have a chance at one of them in the next few days. We’re gonna get a shower, head into our stand, and hope for the best”.

What they really should be doing is telling the truth – something like this:

“Well….we’re on our way to Battle Creek Outfitters to hunt for a few days. Jim, of BC Outfitters, has been checking trailcams and scouting all year for us. So…..since he’s been doing all the work, and has even hung the stands, all we have to do is show up, hunt for awhile, and put an arrow through the first giant buck that walks past. We don’t even have to hang stands or anything, because all of the work is done for us before we even get here”.

I was thinking about this very thing, as Jeff and I were pushing through the overgrown weeds in order to check a trailcam and move a stand on Sunday morning. I was soaked to the bone, since the morning dew still covered all the vegetation, and it was really starting to feel like work. Of course, it’s work I wouldn’t trade for a minute, but, seriously, when was the last time you saw an outdoor personality trudging through the briars and moist vegetation in order to move a stand?  Hmm…I’m thinking the last time was probably…um….never!

All the effort was worth it, though, because we managed to retrieve the stand Jeff wanted to move, and we captured our first trailcam buck of the year; he’s not big, but after only a week at that location, we were still happy with the results.

And the trailcam results made me glad that we’re not outfitters – just regular, average hunters who put in some effort and hope for the best.

It makes us appreciate the kills, and the entire experience, that much more.

And while the rain was a welcome relief to the retreating soldiers, as well as the victorious ones, it was not welcomed by the local residents of the little Pennsylvania town.  It came down in sheets, soaking the unburied bodies still on the field – some with hands folded, and others with clenched fists; it inhibited the Army of Northern Virginia’s retreat across the Potomac; it unearthed men buried in shallow graves and horses buried in a hasty retreat; and it spread blood and disease throughout the country side.

Gettysburg was uninhabitable; the smell unimaginable.

This small Pennsylvania town had been turned into a very bad dream – a town turned upside down by two opposing armies, yet left to fend for itself once the great battle was over; except, of course, for the wounded on both sides whom, if they were fortunate enough, were already an inhabitant of a local “hospital” – which could be anything from a private residence to a shady spot underneath a few trees.

The town and surrounding areas were littered with the aftermath of a battle.  Sgt. Thomas Marbaker of the 11th New Jersey described it this way.

”Upon the open fields, like sheaves bound by the reaper, in crevices of the rocks, behind fences, trees and buildings; in thickets, where they had crept for safety only to die in agony; by stream or wall or hedge, wherever the battle had raged or their weakened steps could carry them, lay the dead. Some, with faces bloated and blackened beyond recognition, lay with glassy eyes staring up at the blazing summer sun; others, with faces downward and clenched hands filled with grass or earth, which told of the agony of the last moments.”

Gettysburg was in shambles, and it would be that way for months.

Visiting Gettysburg now, est. population 7490, it is obvious that the town has come a long way since those terrible days after the battle.  Trying to imagine what the town was like in those first few days afterward is hard to imagine for today’s visitor; the town is incredible, and the connection to history is still quite visible, especially with many homes in the city dating to the battle.  But with the only visible evidence of the battle being bullet holes and damage from artillery fire, it is still hard to grasp exactly what the town would have been like after such massive carnage in such a short amount of time.

I’m not sure any of us can grasp what the town went through – but standing there amongst the monuments and structures helps us to try.

And try we must.

And that is what I believe immersing ourselves in nature does for life.

Many people live life passively.  Sure they notice certain things around them, and they experience many different things — but without a connection to nature, I don’t believe they ever experience true life:  being one with nature, and connecting with our natural surroundings.   They live the song, but they don’t truly experience the song with the Bose earphones on –the way it was truly meant to be experienced.

Hunting, and experiencing life in the outdoors, allows us to connect to the natural things around us.   Rather than just driving down the highway and watching the passing trees, being outside immerses us in the natural world and allows us to truly appreciate our place in it.

When we hunt, when we hike, or when we walk down a nature trail we are experiencing life with the Bose earphones on.  We are appreciating everything there is to life — the sunrises; the sunsets; the crisp fall air; the hawk swooping down and missing its prey; the four-legged creatures; the winged animals.  We are experiencing nature at its best: up close and personal.

We are experiencing nature: life in stereo.

We were definitely happy to see the weather hold out for us, too.  There was a chance of thunderstorms throughout the entire day, but, thankfully, we only experienced a little rain in the morning – the rest of the day was perfect and actually quite warm at times.

Getting out and making our presence known was worth the time spent.  We had fun conversing and interacting with the local population, and we made a few friends along the way.  How can you go wrong with that?

We’re planning on continuing to frequent these types of shows in order to get our name recognized a little more, in order to help promote our sponsors, and also to help promote our little filming adventure.

Thanks to everyone who bought a call, checked out our Uncle’s custom-made Michigan plaques, or simply stopped by and said hello.  We appreciate it very much!

Next stop:  Frontier Days in Charlotte on September 10th and 11th.

Our booth will have have a few things available for purchase:  Custom calls from Cottage Craft Works, Stedi-Stocks, Bust-a-Buck scent products, and custom Michigan clocks and deer plaques.  Plus, we’ll have some free – yep, I said free – SimplyOutdoors’ DVDs for everyone to enjoy.

It should be a great time, and we’re making it a family affair.

Also, if you happen to see the truck in this post, while out on the road or at the Ox Roast, you can bet at least one of the  SimplyOutdoors’ staff will be nearby.  Give us a wave, or honk the horn – we’d love to hear from you.

Ram has came out with a new line of pickup trucks called the Outdoorsman, and they are specifically targeting the hunters and shooters amongst us with their new Mopar Rambox Holster:  it can hold two shotguns or rifles in a lockable, watertight compartment on either side of the truck bed.

Pretty cool, if you ask me.  Oh, and fishing rods will fit in there, too!

I wonder if a bow will fit in there?  Or if they’re going to come out with something similar on Ford trucks?

I mean, even a built-in gun case wouldn’t make me buy a Ram truck.  And…take it easy…… because I own a Dodge – a Nitro – but it’s not a truck if it doesn’t say Ford on it, right?

Hehe.  Let me hear it in the comments (whether it’s a debate about trucks or simply what you think about the gun case).

Friday night I headed to Menards, picked up a nice little 15ft stand, and on Saturday morning we headed over to the property in order to get the stand put up, as well as to show me the property lines, etc.

I was not disappointed.

The property has beans and corn, some promising areas that I can’t wait to hunt, and one area that looks like something right out of Jurassic Park.  The place looks incredible, and the spot where we put my stand has some definite promise.  Honestly, any area of the property has promise; and anyone who knows anything about southern Michigan, knows that the Calhoun/Jackson county area has some definite bruiser potential (I’d be perfectly happy shooting a doe, though).

Scouting the area and setting up the stand made for a great start to a Saturday morning.  And as you can tell from the picture, I was loaded down like a pack mule.  I honestly love the feeling that comes along with it, though; there is just something about walking through the woods and fields – backpack in tow – and discovering new property.  I love the whole process – looking for sign; listening to your instincts; getting the stand setup and ready.  It definitely beats watching Big Brother (man I despise reality TV).

The property is well worth the money, and having more hunting opportunities is never a bad thing.  Now I only have one problem:  Deciding which property to hunt opening morning.

State wildlife biologists are on the verge of listing feral swine as an “invasive species”.  If that happens, those deer and elk ranches – which sometimes provide pig hunts as well – will not be able to do so anymore.

The NRC will be gathering information about this topic this month, but it will not be acted on again until sometime in September.  That should give everyone a few months to ponder how they feel about having wild pigs in Michigan:  By listing them are we losing an opportunity to hunt a different species?  Or are we helping out the entire Michigan ecosystem?

Now…..listing them will not ban all opportunities for a hunter to put some pork in his freezer.  They still have the possibility of running into a feral porker, and as long as they possess any valid hunting license, they can legally shoot them on site; only hunting pigs on hunting preserves would be affected.

Why are they being so hard on the hunting preserves?

Apparently because they see a direct correlation between the areas where these hunting preserves exist, and the locations where hunters have legally killed feral swine.  In a nutshell, the biologists believe that most of Michigan’s feral swine are escaping from the hunting preserves.  As Russ Mason, the state’s wildlife chief put it:

“Where we find the pigs running wild we find (a hunting preserve) nearby. There is one chance in a thousand that there is no relationship between the two.”

How do I feel about all this?

I’m very torn.  On one side I would love to have the same opportunities that Phillip, Rex, and Jeff have – but, on the other side, I can see the pig problem getting completely out of control if it’s not properly handled now; and as much as I would love to have a chance to bag a few porkers, I would hate to see the pigs decimate the landscape so much that it starts to effect Michigan’s whitetail habitat.

I’m sure both sides of the issue are getting taped up and ready to put on the gloves.  We’ll just have to wait to see what the NRC decides.

Note: Want to read more on this particular subject?  You can do so here!