In a recently completed study at the Auburn Deer Lab facility, Alex Johnson documented some interesting results regarding cool season food plot forages. Since prepping fall food plots is just a month or two around the corner, I figured it would be a good topic to discuss. He planted 12 different cool season forage species [...]
Go to Food plot researchAuthor Archive
July 8th, 2011
Website Redesign Coming…
Don’t be alarmed if you check in one day to the blog and everything looks quite a bit different. Skinny Moose is coming under the umbrella of the Outdoor Hub and consequently website design is being redesigned. Good changes, but changes nonetheless. So when everything looks different, the content will be the same, and you [...]
Go to Website Redesign Coming…July 8th, 2011
Kohlrabi
I picked several kohlrabi the past few weeks and as much as I have mentioned them in my gardening posts, I figured I owed everybody a picture of them. They are very unique in that the bulb itself grows and inch or two above the ground while the narrow taproot (snipped off in the picture) [...]
Go to KohlrabiJuly 7th, 2011
Georgia Mountains Vacation
I mentioned that Kara and I met my parents and her parents, sister, and twin nephews in the Clarkesville, Georgia area last week for vacation. I won’t bore you with all the details, but for me the highlight of the trip was a visit to Tallulah Falls. Here’s a few pictures from the hike we [...]
Go to Georgia Mountains VacationJuly 4th, 2011
Luck and Hunting
What is the role of luck in hunting? I just read an interesting article about the “law of averages” in hunting. Go hunting enough times and you’ll reap the rewards of your persistence, right? Well, I know quite a few folks who have spent countless hours freezing their tails off in a deer stand with [...]
Go to Luck and HuntingJuly 2nd, 2011
I’m Back…
I know no one even knew I was gone, but I hope that by now all my readers know that if there is a 5 or 7 day lapse in blog postings, then something out of the ordinary is going on…such as a week-long vacation! My wife and I met my parents and her parents [...]
Go to I’m Back…June 21st, 2011
Wind Energy – Threats to Wildlife
While I’m in the summer doldrums, I’ve posted a few things about songbirds and I’ve always been fascinated that one of the highest mortality factors for migrating songbirds is manmade structures. Radio towers, glass-paned skyscrapers, and the like. Not the little 8 year old boy with a BB gun in his backyard like I would [...]
Go to Wind Energy – Threats to WildlifeJune 20th, 2011
Mother Nature Kicked My Rear
First, a good batch of chiggers while picking a couple gallons of blueberries earlier last week. Got into several hills of fire ants on Saturday while weeding out my garden and planting some more summer crops. Looks like I have a potentially fatal case of the chicken pox from mid-shin down. The ground assault couldn’t [...]
Go to Mother Nature Kicked My RearJune 16th, 2011
Freshwater Snorkeling
Tried to beat the heat this morning but still get in some outdoor activity, so we went snorkeling. First time I’ve ever snorkeled in freshwater, but it was pretty cool. Exploring rockpiles and brushpiles and poking around under docks in anywhere between 5 and 20 feet of water. Visibility was decent once the sun poked [...]
Go to Freshwater SnorkelingJune 15th, 2011
The Great Backyard Bird Count
The Great Backyard Bird Count is a joint project of the National Audobon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Bird Studies Canada. For a 4 day window in February, tens of thousands of volunteers kept tabs on the different bird species showing up to backyard bird feeders across all of North America. I [...]
Go to The Great Backyard Bird CountJune 8th, 2011
Feather Ruffler
White-tail Deer Legislation Within February and March this year there have been Legislative Proposals in the form of Senate and/or House Bill’s introduced into both the Mississippi and Tennessee Legislature’s that are being motivated, promoted, and predominantly authored by the “Deer Farming/Breeding Industry/Associations”, with the predominant support coming from operations and facilities outside the respective [...]
Go to Feather RufflerJune 7th, 2011
June Garden
Hot, hot, hot here. Approaching 2 weeks of consecutive 90 degree plus temperatures. Brutal on the garden, but I’ve been running up the water bill trying to keep it green as long as possible. Cherry tomato has been bearing like crazy and I’ve made use of my little basil garden in the green tray with [...]
Go to June GardenJune 2nd, 2011
Hot as Blue Blazes!
Summer has struck here in Alabama. Yesterday’s heat index cleared the century mark and set new record highs in this area of the country. You know what that means for outdoor activities… It puts a serious dent in the desire to get outside and do anything but turn the water onto the garden and lawn [...]
Go to Hot as Blue Blazes!May 26th, 2011
Predator Control – Coyotes
One thing I have never managed to put on the ground was a coyote. Largely, I blame it on having hunted for 13 years in a state (North Carolina) where I have only seen 1 coyote while hunting. That was when I was a senior in high school and it came charging through on a [...]
Go to Predator Control – CoyotesMay 23rd, 2011
Last of the Spring Veggies
My summer garden is doing dynamite, but the first heat wave of the year has taken its toll on my spring vegetables and I decided to pull everything up before it was a total waste. I got 4 or 5 good meals off of 10 feet worth of sugar snap peas. I really like to [...]
Go to Last of the Spring VeggiesMay 18th, 2011
Mid-May Vegetable Garden
My green beans were blooming around the 1st of May and on Saturday, Kara and I picked a bowl of green beans to go along with my sugar snap peas which I’ve been harvesting for about 10 days now. My spring vegetables are still coming along, but with their sunshine being a little limited due [...]
Go to Mid-May Vegetable GardenMay 17th, 2011
Wild Turkey 3 Ways
Still have 1 turkey left in the freezer from this year’s turkey hunt in Kansas, but I thought I would share the 3 recipes we fixed on the first bird – maybe give you some fresh ideas for those fortunate to still have days left in turkey season or some turkey meat left in the [...]
Go to Wild Turkey 3 WaysMay 13th, 2011
2011 Kansas Turkey Hunt – Part 6
Well, after emerging from the ground blind, we headed for the river bottom where we had not yet been the last 2 days. We were cresting the railroad tracks that run along a levee when we spotted the first gobbler of the day…from 1/2 mile away. You could immediately tell he was considerably bigger than [...]
Go to 2011 Kansas Turkey Hunt – Part 6May 12th, 2011
Planning a Wyoming DIY Hunt for 2012…
It seems one of my first posts ever on The Outdoor Smorgasbord still receives the most traffic and certainly generates the most emails from readers. They all want to know how to plan their out-West adventure that they have “planned” 4 or 5 months from now. Well, sorry to tell you, but if you’ve waited [...]
Go to Planning a Wyoming DIY Hunt for 2012…May 12th, 2011
2011 Kansas Turkey Hunt – Part 5
After the successful hunt first thing Sunday morning, the sky turned from beautiful to somewhat ominous. With temperatures dropping like a rock and drizzly conditions moving in, the rest of the day was basically a wash. After setting around inside for the bulk of the rest of the day, we took the ground blind out [...]
Go to 2011 Kansas Turkey Hunt – Part 5May 11th, 2011
2011 Kansas Turkey Hunt – Part IV
If I said I wasn’t excited about the next morning’s prospects, I’d be lying. We knew exactly where that bird was roosted, exactly how to get within 100 yards of him in the pre-dawn darkness, and thought we knew exactly how to kill him. It’s never that easy though, right… Well, sometimes it is and [...]
Go to 2011 Kansas Turkey Hunt – Part IVMay 10th, 2011
Kansas Turkey Hunt – Part 3
Well, after our 3 strikes on the first gobbler of the trip, we struck out in search of more birds. It wasn’t long before we had a couple strutting birds and a handful of hens spotted right next to a railroad track. They were about 300 yards from the nearest appreciable tract of timber, so [...]
Go to Kansas Turkey Hunt – Part 3May 6th, 2011
2011 Kansas Turkey Hunt – Part 2
After a good night sleep on Friday night, it was time to hit the woods bright and early, right… Nah… We had an old fashioned rodeo to conduct first. Brad’s dad called the night before and reported that the roping steers had broke out of the fence and had banded up with the neighbor’s cattle. [...]
Go to 2011 Kansas Turkey Hunt – Part 2May 5th, 2011
2011 Kansas Turkey Hunt – Part 1
“The Drive” I made my annual spring pilgrimage to southeast Kansas last Friday. The awful tornadoes that hit Mississippi and northern Alabama left some terrible damage. This was off Highway 280 from the remnants of a 170 mph tornado that tore through Dadeville, AL. Apparently, crews did an unbelievable job clearing roadways and even though [...]
Go to 2011 Kansas Turkey Hunt – Part 1May 4th, 2011
Yellow Squash and Zucchini
I never really intended to steer the off months of The Outdoor Smorgasbord towards my garden, but I think that just might be what is happening. The blog has been a tad inactive the past week but that was because I was on turkey assignment in southeast Kansas. I got back into town last night [...]
Go to Yellow Squash and ZucchiniApril 26th, 2011
Garden Update – Late April
Planted my first double-crop of the year, when I replaced my depleted radish bed with a couple hills of second crop yellow squash. Also, I planted a couple eggplants yesterday along with 4 more tomato plants – Brandywine variety. Here’s my early spring garden. Sugar snap peas are blooming now, so hopefully they will start [...]
Go to Garden Update – Late AprilApril 24th, 2011
Kentucky Elk Lottery Deadline
I always make it a point to put in a plug for the eastern United States’ best shot at getting an elk license. I can’t remember exactly how many licenses Kentucky is planning on giving out this year, but it is a whole lot more than any other state east of the Mississippi. Hit up [...]
Go to Kentucky Elk Lottery DeadlineApril 21st, 2011
Bass Fishing – 4/16/11
Me and a buddy hit up a local private lake to catch some bass the other weekend. Got on the lake around 8:00 a.m. and the fish were in full-out “eat” mode for about 45 minutes. They were swatting white spinnerbaits like their lives depended on it. The action cooled off as the morning got [...]
Go to Bass Fishing – 4/16/11April 19th, 2011
2011 Spring Shed Hunting
I’ve been out about 15 hours so far looking for antlers and have come up with several. Here are a few I managed to take some pictures of and hopefully I’ve got another couple days worth of searching to do before the green-up overwhelms all opportunity to find fresh, brown antlers. First spot I went [...]
Go to 2011 Spring Shed HuntingApril 18th, 2011
Garden Update – Lettuce and Radishes
It’s been a week and a month since I put in the seed for my 2011 spring garden. Everything is up good and I took advantage of the big rains that came through to weed out everything and hoe up my mounds around the squash, cucumbers, and corn. Above is my cool season garden. Rabbits [...]
Go to Garden Update – Lettuce and Radishes