outdoorswithmartin on July 20th, 2009

Published January 2005

We’ve had some bad years recently for major fires.  Severe drought in southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah brought wildfires that burned hundreds of thousands of acres, drove many from their homes, killed untold wildlife creatures, and destroyed millions of trees.  Obviously, fire is bad.  Or is it, at least always?

Once upon a time fire was a major enemy, and popular opinion held that fire degraded ecosystems and reduced biodiversity.  So, any fire was battled into submission as fast as possible.  But foresters and forest biologists are finding out that fire can actually help wild plants and animals, and controlled burns are becoming a tool to improve the land, rather than harm it.

Remember the huge Yellowstone National Park fires in 1988?  Ecologists were beating their breasts over that one, and predicting irreparable damage to one of our most popular parks.  But what actually happened?  The fires burned off much of the mature conifer timber, leaving clearings where sunlight could penetrate.  The ashes acted as prime fertilizer since nutrients held tight by fallen needles and trees were released, and the landscape bloomed with grasses, herbs, and shrubs.

Can you guess what’s happened to populations of buffalo, elk, deer, and smaller creatures there?  I visited Yellowstone again just two years ago, and while there were still blackened trunks reaching high in some places, the wildlife was abundant everywhere and meadows dotted with grazing animals stretched where forests had been before. Fires aren’t all bad.

Actually, man has been using fire for his own purposes for a long time.  Africans had long had a policy of firing the veldt before the first white men arrived, this to burn off old grasses and stimulate growth of new plants that brought back the game herds.  Native Americans did much the same and for the same reason, either on western prairies or right here in Ohio to clear the woods of undergrowth and promote grasslands attractive to game.

It’s a simple fact of life that mature forest offers little food to other than squirrels and a few species of birds, so the Indians routinely started fires to produce or maintain small prairies, savannahs, and barrens around the state that were prime for hunting.  Pioneers did much the same, using fire to help clear their land for farms, eliminate brush, and rid the woods of “vermin.”

Today, fire has become a major tool, and Ohio foresters often conduct carefully orchestrated prescribed burns to remove litter from the forest floor that could accumulate and provide fodder for wild fires, to remove invasive plants like honeysuckle and allowed native plants to thrive.  Some plants actually can’t make it without occasional fire, among them lodgepole and jack pines whose cones won’t open and disperse seed until extreme heat opens them.  Then the seeds drop to a forest floor open, fertilized, and waiting for them to grow.

But fires, especially in Ohio, are never set casually.  Before a controlled fire can be lit, a detailed burn plan must be completed, one that describes the site, fuel type, and purpose of the burn.  It must outline the steps that will be taken to control the fire, weather conditions required, sensitive areas to be avoided, smoke control, and safety considerations.  Not a simple business, but one that helps Ohio’s wildlife and plants, and maintains biodiversity for all.

outdoorswithmartin on July 18th, 2009

Published January 2005

It’s been a tough winter so far with up to 20 inches of snow that’s luckily melted off now.  I was trapped in my house for about 24 hours before I could find someone to plow my driveway, and that 24 hours gave me plenty of time to start thinking about my spring garden endeavers.  For some reason, my  thoughts turned more than once to radishes, a plant that few people in this area seem to plant.  I plant them yearly, and do so for several reasons.

One reason is that they’re almost foolproof, a tough little plant that seems to handle cold weather, even snow, and sprouts nicely as soon as the season turns just a bit warm.  I’ve planted radishes in late March before and enjoyed eating them in early May because they’re fast growing and add plenty to the first crop of early lettuce.

Last spring I planted Cherry Belle, a crisp and tasty type that reaches maturity  in only 24 days!  It’s got to be one of the fastest garden vegetables around.  Readers who agree with my radish thoughts might like to try Cherriette from Harris Seeds, which matures even quicker, in 20 days.

An old friend of mine never fails to plant Icicle, a long stemmed white radish that, when planted early, is mild and tasty.  He fertilizes well, and the plants produce straight roots of 4-5 inches.  “I pull and wash a few,” he said, “then scrape off the skin which can be too spicy.  Finally, I slice them lengthwise into several pieces, put the pieces on buttered bread, and eat just that way.  They’re really good.”

Readers who are giving thought to becoming real radish afficionados will find the sky’s the limit come spring.  Take a look through seed catalogs, and you’ll not only find white radishes and the nice little red ones, but many others.  Like the German Giant.  Germans love radishes.  This one can be eaten from quarter size up to that of a baseball, and will remain crisp, mild, and high quality.

Then there’s the German beer radish.  Again, Germans love their radishes and this one is so popular that it’s often served in bierstubes.  It’s peeled, dipped in salt or vegetable dip and served with king-sized pretzels and a quart or two of foaming beer.  I can personally testify that the combination is excellent, since I’ve nibbled it from Munich to the North Sea.

The Spanish like radishes too, especially the Round Black Spanish which can be up to four inches in diameter, has a black skin and white, pungent flesh.  Plant this one in mid-summer for a fall harvest.  The Chinese have their China Rose radish, a large bulb that grows partly above the ground, and the Japanese have some whoppers ranging from the April Cross Daikon Radish to some that a youngster could barely lift.  Lots of choices, lots of flavors, and quick, good eating.  Reason enough to plant radishes this spring.

Tags: , ,

outdoorswithmartin on July 18th, 2009

Published in January 2005

Just how many coyotes are there in north-central Ohio?  Are they rare?  Common?  Thick on the ground?  Apparently, the third choice is the answer, though many an outdoorsman has never seen one, mainly because they travel mostly at night.  One group of coyote chasers who does most of their hunting around New London and Greenwich has bagged a whopping 74 animals so far this year (2005), and another group that does much of their seeking right around our area has taken a further 21.

“There are a LOT of coyotes out there.” said Shelbian Scott Baker.  “We need more people hunting them, because I think they’re hurting the environment.”  He might be right.  I’ve personally heard from some rabbit hunters who aren’t finding the quantity of game they used to turn up, and believe that the long legged, fast moving animals are making inroads on cottontails, especially in deep snow.

And red fox numbers seem to be down, also killed by coyotes say some outdoorsmen.  Worse, a deer hunter recently spotted three coyotes chasing a doe after the big snow.  “I bet they got her.” he said.  And one farmer complained about the audacious animals coming right into his farmyard at night and killing barn cats.  Hunters worked his woodlot soon after and killed four coyotes in one day, missing a fifth.

 How do you hunt these big and tough animals?  There are several ways, calling and walking them up on snow among them, but folks like Scott Baker like to hunt them with dogs, particularly beagles.  Scott seeks coyotes with a cadre of friends that include veteran hunter John Masters of Shiloh and his two sons, Scott and Kevin, along with Mike Williams, Hardy Robinson, Ryan Hintz, Jeff Coffman, Brandon and Roger Osborn, Mike and Kenny Oney, and others who live around the area.

Typically, they’ll wait for a good snowfall of two or three inches, then scatter out and drive around squares where they have permission to hunt looking for tracks leading in and none coming out.  When a set is found, John Masters will release his dog, Joe, and the hunt is on.

 “Usually, we’ll have a man or two go in with the dog,” Scott said, “because after a coyote has been chased a while he’ll often circle and try to kill the beagle.  Then we’ll place the rest of the hunters at likely crossings where the coyote might head out of the square or move to one woodlot from another.  With luck, we’ll get him sooner or later.”

Beagles are ideal dogs for coyote hunting, because many will chase a fox or coyote naturally with little or no training.  But some hunters around northcentral Ohio use coon dogs like blueticks, or even Airdales who are happy to fight it out with any coyote.  And the hunters carry serious artillery, usually a 12 gauge full choke loaded with magnum loads of No. 4 buckshot, because these 40 to 50 pound, heavily muscles animals can absorb a lot of shot and keep going.

I found this out the hard way some years ago when I jumped a coyote at about 25 yards while carrying a double barrel loaded with magnum No. 4 shot rounds.  I dropped the animal twice, reloaded, had it run again, and shot it twice more before it went down to stay.  They’re tough.

Scott had more good advice for hunters either using dogs or walking them up on snow.  “It’s good for one or two men to have flat shooting, scope sighted rifles, and whenever they go on stand, wear white or camouflage and watch the wind.  We use walkie talkies too, to alert standers that one might be coming.  They’re not stupid, and hunters need all the help they can get.”

outdoorswithmartin on July 18th, 2009

Published in December 2004

House plants have a tough time in the typical mid-winter home.  It’s cool, the humidity is low, and light often lower, so the typical scenario is to buy a couple of nice house plants, enjoy them until they die, then buy some more.  For those who appreciate a spot of greenery in an otherwise dull home, it seems to be the only choice.  But it actually isn’t.

Floroculturists at Mansfield, Ohio’s Kingwood Center had some good suggestions for those who lack a green thumb, and one suggestion is to buy really tough plants that can handle poor conditions.  “Cactus is a good one for people who have trouble growing things.” said one.  “They’re durable and need little care, and are basically dormant in winter, so they need watering only every 2-3 weeks, and tolerate temperatures lower than most plants.”

Other recommendations include peace lilies, those durable plants often seen at shopping centers and malls.  They handle low light, grow slowly, and have nice green, glossy leaves.  There are other hardy species, among them corn plants and Mother-in-law tongues.  Neither is particularly attractive, but you can even stand them in a corner for weeks so long as they are kept fairly moist.  Cast Iron plants are much the same, and all three turn up in greenhouses and plant sections of department stores.

Less durable, but much nicer greenery include ferns.  They don’t last long in most houses because folk keep them in a dry spot, and that doesn’t work.  They like bright winter light, so they’ll do well in a south facing window, and the two important criteria for ferns is that they should never dry out, and all should be turned occasionally.  Any plant should, for that matter, because otherwise the sun side will thrive while shaded leaves will gradually brown and die.

African violets are pretty and fairly easy to grow, but too many kill them with love.  They like fairly bright light, maybe a south facing window supplemented with a gro-lite occasionally, and they shouldn’t be either over or under watered.  Too little and they dry up, too much and they root rot.  Never water an African violet’s leaves either, because this can cause spotting.

Then there are Cyclamens, great plants for a winter home if you keep them in a spot with good light that’s cool and somewhat humid.  Water as they need it, and they’ll bloom all winter.  And if you keep them in a shady spot during the summer and bring them in again come fall, they’ll likely bloom the next winter, too.

There are other recommendations for neither tough nor delicate plants.  Geraniums are a good choice, though they need lots of light, and will grow on a cool window ledge.  They should be trimmed occasionally, at least the old woody stems, to keep them in check and flowers coming.  Then there are weeping figs, undemanding house plants, and Jade plants which thrive in good light, but need lots of water to do well.

And don’t forget Norfolk pines, a fine plant given sandy soil with lots of water, though not enough to keep them soggy and wet.  Add a tropical vine or two to brighten that plant stand, and you should have plants to keep any room looking green and lovely.

outdoorswithmartin on July 18th, 2009

Published in December 2004

Snow.  Cold and white, fluffy or frozen, it’s marvelous stuff.  Skiers love it and snowmobilers, and hunters love it too, or should.  Last year we had an open winter, one of several recently, when it hardly snowed at all, but this winter is shaping up to be a cold one with lots of the white stuff.  If so, and assuming  new falls are moderate instead of heavy, it’s going to be a golden time for gunners of almost any persuasion.

Take deer hunting, for example.  The gun season was excellent and the muzzleloader hunt very good, but there’s still plenty of deer out there, and any day or night that produces a several inch snow with reasonable weather following is made for archery folk.  You’ll need to be a tough and hardy individual or group, and it’s always good to wear a white suit purchased perhaps, as mine was, from a karate or judo group, something with a loose fitting top and bottom.

Then you head forth looking for fresh tracks made the night before, and start to follow them.  Eventually, you’ll jump the animal(s), and it’s going to bound away.  So, you keep following, jump it again and again.  If hunting with partners, try to place others where the deer might cross, but even alone you’ll drive them crazy.  They can’t see you well in white outfits, and they’re curious creatures.  Gradually, they’ll stop longer and longer to watch and wonder, and eventually stop in range.

The last time I tried snow deer hunting, some years ago, I did it with three friends, and we flushed a herd of five does.  They did exactly as described above, and about two in the afternoon stopped in an open woodlot to bounce back and forth snorting and flashing white tails.  It was a bad move for them.   

Rabbit hunting can be wonderful on snow, too.  Like deer they do their feeding at night and a fresh snowfall will show every move they made over night-time hours.  It saves a lot of time.  No tracks around this brushpile?  Keep moving.  Tracks leading in means there’s probably a cottontail waiting.  Kick it hard.  You’ll often find tracks in cattails around farm ponds too, some here, none there.  Check the some here.  And it’s not unusual to find tracks where you’d think nothing would be, maybe a little grass swale in open soybeans.  Easy pickings when one jumps out and has no place to go.

Snow is also great for ringneck pheasant hunting.  There are mighty few wild ringnecks around this area, but the Ohio Division of Wildlife stocks birds several weekends at selected wildlife area.  Most of those birds are killed almost immediately, but some are always missed and gradually wander back into the prime cover and food patches of the area.

So, you pick good cover and start walking, looking for those splayed tracks of a ringneck cock.  When you find some, track patiently.  It might take a couple of hours to flush the bird and even then, it might flush wild.  But you mark it down, then start tracking again.  And again. Eventually, you should put the bird up within range and get your well deserved shot.

Finally, don’t forget foxes and coyotes.  And the tactics are the same, though you might switch to a flat shooting little rifle with scope for this business.  If you hunt alone, pick up a set of tracks and start walking, stopping occasionally to check ahead with binoculars.  If you hunt with  a partner, have him stay off to the side, hopefully on higher ground while you follow the prints.

Red fox stand out beautifully against white snow and are easy to see.  They don’t seem to worry much about a flat shooting rifle, either.  Coyotes are tougher, but still readily visible, and either animal makes a good way to spend a winter morning.

outdoorswithmartin on July 18th, 2009

It appears the halcyon days of early rabbit season are essentially over.  Those lovely days with temperatures in the 50’s and 60’s that saw rabbits sitting out in weed fields, in thin fencerows, light brush and curled over grass have turned into days with snow, bitter winds, and temperatures that hardly break freezing.  Weather like that sends comfort loving rabbits under heavy brushpiles, down woodchuck holes, and into thick brush and briers where they’re hard to jump.

Of course, dog hunters don’t care.  Those with agile little beagles can send them into the thickest brush to bounce out cottontails, or weaseling under huge brushpiles where their barking breaks the nerve of the toughest rabbits and sends them streaking forth.  Unfortunately, most of us don’t have dogs, so if we want a meal of fried rabbit it’s time to go to Plan B.

One segment of that plan, if you belong to the Tough Man Club, is to don heavy, brush bucking pants, coats, and gloves and dive into cover where they’re waiting, leaving a man or two outside to take the shots because you certainly aren’t going to get any.  You’ll need patience too, as well as stamina.  I once jumped on a big brushpile that I KNEW held bunnies for nearly five minutes before a rabbit raced out.  I missed him.

Another choice that will very often pay off is to plan your hunts for those few days when a warm front comes  through.  These happen all winter, and are choice times to hit the fields.  Rabbits, as most of us know, forage at night, heading out to feed on bark, bits of exposed clover, fallen apples,  corn cobs still holding a few kernels, and other tidbits.  If the night is “warm”, above freezing, some will elect to shun the crowded chuck holes and heavy cover and stay above ground or in lighter cover.  It’s a golden chance to bag a few, and I’ve done so many a time.

Look for them at these times in packed down cattails around a pond, in rolled over swale grass, around and under old farm machinery, in smaller brushpiles, and brier thickets.  Hunt these places hard, because late season cottontails are often hard to flush, and sometimes you’ll need to nearly step on them to push that grey flash into the open.

A final option, one I personally favor highly, is to wait until after a light snow fall to do some hunting.  Again, rabbits move at night and they’ll leave tracks wherever they go.  If you see tracks going into a small brushpile and none coming out, be ready to shoot.  No tracks?  You needn’t waste precious hunting time jumping on it.  Walk around those cattail swamps too, and look for tracks that might be in just one section.  He’ll be there.  And the same holds true for tracks in one small area of swale grass or brush.  Snow makes them easy pickings, a just reward for long hours spent previously when nothing much was happening.

outdoorswithmartin on July 18th, 2009

Published December 2004

One of the nicest things about living in a forested part of America (as opposed to prairie or desert) is that we have lots of trees.  And trees are great for many a reason.  We like to plant them for fruit or to provide food for birds and squirrels.  They gladden our eye when many types turn white and fragrant in spring, and others provide welcome shade in summer, or form living fences and windbreaks.  Probably, at least as important, trees provide wood for burning and heating our homes or cooking hot dogs over a campfire.

Wood was wonderful in prehistoric times when our ancestors huddled in caves, and fire not only warmed our bodies and cooked our meat, but kept skulking predators from dire wolves to sabertoothed tigers at bay.  And it’s wonderful now.  It’s all quite lovely to have a home heated with electricity, or gas, or fuel oil, but none offer the pure pleasure of crackling flames to stare into, or serious heat radiating against bodies chilled by snowball fights or shoveling out the drive.  Which is why so many of us have a fireplace or wood burning stove.  And therein lies a tale.

When Christmas arrives in a few days, some lucky people will receive a brand new chain saw and simply have to hustle off to a friend’s woodlot to cut wood by the cord and save tons of money on heating bills.  Many don’t realize that the freshly cut and still sap-dripping wood that’s hauled home and tossed into the fireplace not only burns poorly with lots of smoke and soot, but produces creosote that can cause chimney fires and even burn homes down.

I make my own “wood runs” in March or early April, bring it home to stack around the inside of my garage and let it slowly dry all summer and fall before burning.  Often, the wood is so dry that my chimney shows no smoke at all, and there’s little worry about creosote.  If you receive a nice new chain saw come Christmas and have to try it out, plan to stack the wood and use it NEXT winter, not this one.  And it’s better to either have it inside, as in my garage where no rain and damp will slow drying, or at least cover the top with a tarp to keep off some rain.

Don’t just saw down any handy tree in that friends woodlot, be selective.  My own absolute favorite burning wood is white oak, a heavy hardwood that produces tons of heat, burns long, and offers up a little very pleasant odor as it burns that brings fragrance to a house.  Other good hardwoods are ash, other oaks, hickory, hard maples like sugar maple, beech, birch, osage orange (it does spark), and apple.

Softwoods like pine, spruce, and fir are good for starting fires when cut into kindling, as is silver maple.  Be particularly careful of silver maple which burns like a match when dry.  Once, many years ago and before I knew this, I started a fire in the stove with silver maple, added several goodly chunks of the same, and developed a fire so hot I had to add water and pull the logs before I either melted down the stove or burned my house down.  Kindling only.

And be even more selective in individual trees before you fire up the saw.  Thin out poor quality trees that are growing near prime straight trees that might be used for lumber some day.  That lessens competition for light and nutrients, and gives a boost to the remainder. Poorly formed, diseased, genetically inferior trees burn just as well as prime ones.  Cut these.  And never pass up a standing dead or fallen tree of good quality that’s still firm and useful for firewood.  These are dry already and using them spares still growing and useful in the future types.  Simple rules for simple pleasures, and fire is definitely one of these.

outdoorswithmartin on July 18th, 2009

Published in December 2004

Unless you’re into ice fishing or below the dams saugeye, steelhead fishing is the only game in town from December through March.  Luckily, it’s a very good game indeed.  The Ohio Division of Wildlife stocks many thousands of steelhead each year into Lake Erie tributaries, and these fish grow large feeding on gizzard shad, shiners, and other body building provender.  Those that aren’t caught or are caught and released live on to grow heavier each year, so it’s not unusual to sink a hook into 10 or 12 pound trout that produce an awesome and sometimes tackle destroying fight that will leave you shaken.

There are actually two ways to go for steelhead in Lake Erie tributaries from the Chagrin and Conneaut Creek to the Rocky River, Grand, Vermillion, Huron, and smaller streams like Arcola, Mills, and Paint.  One is to hit the larger rivers and patiently fish one section after another.  A favorite tactic for early fish is to check water depth by adding a sinker to your float rig and adjusting until you know the water is four feet deep or six or eight.  Then drift through pools and deep riffles with a float and small jig baited with maggots.

Steelhead will hit this rig just like bluegills sometimes, bouncing the float until you tighten line and strike.  Another popular rig is a spawn sac below a float or fished with a splitshot or two, just enough to keep it bouncing bottom occasionally.  I’ve caught more steelhead on spawn sacs than any other rig.  You can do the same with live minnows or nightcrawlers, or cast various kinds of hardware from spinners to crankbaits.

The second way is my personal favorite, and that’s to go after visible fish.  It’s not only great fun to cast to a steelie finning our there in a riffle, but productive in that you waste no time in barren territory.  You’ll need smaller streams for this, and my personal favorite has always been Conneaut Creek.  It takes fairly clear water and Polaroid glasses for this, so it’s wise to call first to such places as the Grand River Tackle Shop (440-352-7222) and check on water conditions before you go.

Last week, thanks to rains and snow runoff the Grand was high and nearly unfishable, but the smaller streams like Conneaut, the Chagrin, and Arcola were producing excellent results on spawn sacs with some heavy catches reported.  If you can see the fish, it’s easy to drift a spawn sac, jig and maggot rig, flies like purple Woolie Boogers, Egg Sucking Leeches, and Glo-bugs right past their nose.

They’re going to be hungry, since there’s not much food in a winter stream, and hits should be frequent.  I still remember one trip to Conneaut Creek when we found at least two dozen nice steelhead in a three foot deep pool, and another dozen or so just below a riffle there.  I destroyed a good fly reel that day, but didn’t mind a bit.

Another fun tactic in fairly clear water is to wade out upstream of visible fish and drift a really lively little lure like a blue and silver or orange Flatfish down to them.  The wildly wobbling little bait moving back and forth in front of their noses can drive them crazy.  It’s important to know fishable stretches of stream, so maps are worth having.  You can find some on the web by hitting Lake Erie steelhead maps, or by stopping at the Grand River Tackle Company, which lies near the Fairport Harbor Exit, north of Route 2 on Richmond Streetfor maps of the Grand River.

The GRTC also has guides, useful for an initial trip.  Up-to-date information is available too, by calling the Division of Wildlife’s toll-free number at 1-888-HOOKFISH and (800) WILDLIFE.  Find the right water and the right place, use the right gear and fish it right, and your reward could be a LOT of huge, glistening, high leaping fish.  Maybe winter isn’t all bad.

outdoorswithmartin on July 18th, 2009

Christmas is coming close, and while major gifts have doubtless already been bought, there are still stocking stuffers and smaller presents for an outdoorsman/woman/youngster that need to be bought.  Everyone knows that wives and mothers do most of that buying, and these busy shoppers too often know less than most about gifts for hard hunting, hard fishing, or hard trapping spouses or kids.  So, what can you buy them in these last days that they’ll truly appreciate and enjoy?

If that youngster is a serious or would-be fisherman, try making them a goody box or bag.  Several years ago I walked into a sporting goods store and simply started gathering.  I picked up hooks, sinkers, thin pencil floats, splitshot, swivels, and ice fishing spoons, along with a few spinners, crankbaits, fishing line in 10 pound test, long nosed pliers for removing hooks, and a nice little stringer for fish.  It didn’t cost much, but my nephew who’d received LOTS of sweaters, socks, new shirts, and other useful things kept coming back to that bag, and spent hours playing with its contents and arranging them in his tacklebox.

If the receipient is very young, you might try one of those combo rod and reel kits too, but not a piece of plastic junk that’ll fall apart in a few weeks.  Get something decent with line already on the closed face spool, and if the gift is for a husband or older angler, you might be ahead to buy a gift certificate, instead of serious tackle.  Older fishermen, like older hunters, know what they want and would rather buy it themselves.

 Then there are the nice little odds and ends, again available in sporting goods shops and major department stores.  What about a nice Rapala filleting knife, a hand warmer or two, Gortex gloves, a warm hat with imitation fur or wool on the inside ear flaps?  If ice fishing is a favorite sport, some sturdy insulated boots would be a good choice, or long john type underwear, or a short ice fishing rod, and maybe some little ice spoons in various colors.

Books are always good, to while away long winter months, and you’d be astonished at how many are out there waiting.  Check Amazon or your local book store, and you’ll find literally hundreds of books on bass fishing, hunting deer, waterfowl, panfish, crappie, walleye, camping, hiking, the list goes on forever.  Good reading and useful information.

If he or she is handy with their hands, think about a kit of some sort.  There are fly tying kits, kits that will turn into muzzleloader rifles or pistols like I received one Christmas.  There are some for making spinners and fishing lures, more for casting bullets or sinkers, kits for building and coloring jigs and bottom bouncers.  Again, useful pursuits for those long winter days, and come spring, plenty of new gear for hunting and fishing.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has their own wish list, and many of the offerings are good ones.  For example, there are Eagle Golf Cards for golfers, good at state park golf courses, and Cardinal Camper Club memberships good for 15 percent off camp fees at state parks.  There are resort lodge gift certificates at one of nine Ohio state parks for couples and families, nautical charts for boating on Lake Erie, an ODNR fishing map set that includes information on 72 Ohio lakes, books like Birds of Ohio and The Guide To Ohio State Parks.  Call 614-265-6513 for gift information and 614-265-6576 for fishing maps.

And don’t forget neat little items like walkie-talkies for conversation on hunting and fishing trips, dried foods like jerky and pemmican, sweat shirts that say “I’d Rather Be Fishing”, and plenty more.  The time is short, but there’s enough to buy some great things, and lack of knowledge won’t matter much for useful items like those above.

Tags: , , ,

outdoorswithmartin on July 18th, 2009

Published December 2004

December is a magic month for gardeners and flower bed enthusiasts, and not just because Christmas is coming soon.  Over the next weeks, “wish books” will be arriving, normally called seed catalogs, and we can spend snowy and bitter cold hours sitting near a warm fire turning pages, looking at new offerings, planning just what and where we’re going to plant when the weather warms and catkins appear on willow trees.

Unfortunately, many readers aren’t on mailing lists, and either receive a single catalog or nothing at all, as one woman complained when she asked me “Where can I get a catalog?”  There are literally hundreds of companies out there, some of general interest and some specialty types who would be overjoyed to send you their product pages and hopefully draw an order.  Here are just a few of the common ones.

The W. Atlee Burpee & Co. is one of the best known and offers quality products.  Ask for their catalog by calling 1-800-333-5808.  The Park Seed Company is well known too, and can be reached at 1-800-213-0076.  Johnny’s Selected Seeds (1-800-879-2258) is a personal favorite, as is Harris Seed (1-800-514-4441) and the J.W. Jung Seed Company (1-800-297-3132).  There are lesser known companies too, like the Tomato Growers Supply Company at 1-888-478-7333 and The New England Seed Company at 1-800-825-5477.  Make a few calls, get some catalogs, and start thumbing.

Some of the plants you’ll find in one or another of the above catalogs will be new and unusual, worth trying on an experimental basis.  They’re winners of the All-America Selections, types chosen because a cluster of experts decided they were the years best in their particular category. 

One winner is the Winter Squash “Bonbon”, an improved butternut type that’s deep green with silver stripes.  The vines are shorter, so Bonbon can be grown in smaller gardens and they’re vigorous, adapting well to various soil types.  But the best reason to grow this winter squash is because the thick, dark orange flesh is delicious, sweet and stringless.  And easy to grow from seed, once the soil warms to 70 degrees.

Another unusual vegetable to be looked for in garden catalogs is the tomato, “Sugary.”  This one is a sweet snack, though healthy and low calory, that’s produced on vines in clusters like grapes.  It’s a cherry sized tomato, perfect for salads with vigorous vines that flower, set and ripen fruit continuously through the season.  Grow it from seed or look for it at select garden centers in the spring.

Then there’s a neat little eggplant called “Fairy Tale” that can be grown in small spaces or even in containers on your patio.  They’re dwarf enough to grow well in a 10 to 12 inch pot and are of highest quality when only 4 to 5 inches long.  The fruit will be produced in clusters of 3 to 5 eggplants and waves of them will be produced all summer.  Sound good?

The All-American Selection folk didn’t overlook flowers either, and those who love cut flowers for arrangements should like a zinnia called “Magellan Coral”.   The blooms are stunning and draw the eye from a surprising distance,standing about 15 inches tall and fitting either small spaces of lengthy landscape borders.  You’ll be happy to hear that this zinnia doesn’t need deadheading to stay beautiful, it covers spent blooms with fresh foliage instead.  Best of all, it’s easy to grow from seed and is undemanding, needing only sun, fertile soil, and water.

And finally comes Arizona Sun, an improved wild flower native to the American Great Plains.  This new variety is small, and produces red and yellow blooms all summer with even the spent blooms attractive as tufts of seeds.  Look for it too, in catalogs.

outdoorswithmartin on July 18th, 2009

Most northern Ohio farmers and outdoor types recognize the ordinary nut trees and shrubs.  They know shagbark and shellbark hickories, black walnuts, and maybe butternuts.  But did you know there are lots of other nut bearers that will live and thrive in our often chill climate?  John (Bud) Luers certainly does.

Bud lives on 26 acres of hilly land along Possum Run Road in southern Richland County, and since he’s retired, his time is mainly spent raising and working with nuts.  He must be good at it, since he’s current president of The Ohio Nut Growers Association, and has raised various nuts since 1987, often with blue ribbon results.  “It started as a hobby, but got way out of hand.” Bud said.  “Still, I really enjoy working with trees”

Just what does this nut expert raise?  His land has Persian (English) walnuts, for example, a fine, thin shelled nut with large meats that came from colder regions, and thus is more cold hardy.  It also has heart nuts, which came from Japan in the early 1800’s and are similar to butternuts, though somewhat heart shaped.  Then there are hazelnuts or filberts that grow very well in our area, and usually produce heavy crops, hicons, a cross between hickories and pecans, a far northern pecan that produces smaller nuts than its southern cousins, and buartnuts, a cross between butternuts and heart nuts.

There’s more.  He also has samples of hickory nuts, LOTS of black walnuts, butternuts, which are rare these days because they’re canker prone, and a cross between Chinese and Japanese chestnuts.  Bud keeps meticulous records of every one of his 350 main trees, but even with excellent records, the job can be mind boggling.  Because there are 110 different hickory cultivars alone, 17 varieties of heart nuts, and many types of other nut trees.

Unfortunately, it isn’t just a matter of planting nuts and watching them sprout and grow most times.  Luers grows two root stocks and grafts twigs and buds on them to produce what he hopes will be superior nuts.  He plants hundreds of black walnut trees, because their root stocks have deep taproots, are long lived, and will accept grafts from butternuts, heartnuts, buart nuts, and persian walnuts.  And also lots of pecans, because they’re fast growing and will take grafts from hickories and hicons.

If this is beginning to sound just too complex, it isn’t.  Readers can visit any library and find books on grafting, if they’d like to grow and experiment a little with nut trees on their own property, and it’s a simple process.  Bud uses primarily a side bark graft, splice graft, and four flap graft, does his work mostly in May and June, and hopes for 30 percent success on the grafts.  “Weather decides, though.” he said.  “Last year we had a wet spring and I got only four or five takes on the grafts.  June was drier and I had about 30 that month.”

Those who are really interested in growing their own nut trees and want to enjoy tasty pecans, huge hickory nuts, thin shelled black walnuts, and other unusual types won’t find much in commercial catalogs.  Instead, you’ll need to thumb through the pages of such growers as the Nolin River Nut Tree Nursery, in Upton, KY.  They have over 175 varieties of already grafted nut trees.

But once you have a seedling or two, they nearly take care of themselves.  Bud plants his about 45 feet apart in ordinary soil, adds no fertilizer or water unless it’s a dry time, and does minimum pruning.  Mostly, they take care of themselves and grow with little help. 

This 69 year old nut expert loves to talk about his trees and has a vast store of lore about them.  “Pecans down south grow heavy crops one year and few the next,” he said, “because producing a lot stresses the trees and they need a year to rest.  So growers there shake the trees at the proper time each year and remove about half the nuts.  Then there’s less stress and they can get a yearly crop instead of years of feast or famine.  Black walnuts are the same, and you could probably do the same with younger trees, at least.”

Bud doesn’t sell trees, but he’s always happy to talk to interested folk, and he’s developed techniques for cracking nuts with little effort, picking them up with even less effort, and is a wellspring of advice on all sorts of nuts.  “If your readers have questions, they can E-mail me at Bmluers@aol.com.  I’m always happy to talk.

(Originally published December 2004 – Note Past President Bud Luers is now a Trustee 2009-2013 of ONGA) 

outdoorswithmartin on July 18th, 2009

Published December 2004

It’s a good time of year for area farming folk.  The crops have been harvested, the machinery repaired, and it’s time to sit back and rest or maybe take a little trip somewhere to get away from northern Ohio’s often bitter weather.  You might go to Florida, spend $150 a night for a little Mom and Pop motel room, and fight bumper to bumper traffic and high prices for everything.  Or you might go to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Myrtle Beach is an area favorite holiday destination.  People go in spring and fall for the great golfing at dozens of golf courses, and in summer with the kids to loaf along miles of smooth sand beach and watch the surf come rolling in.  But hardly anyone goes now, other than a very few who love to stay here for Christmas and maybe New Years, or maybe even spend a couple of months.  Those few have some good reasons.

Price is one.  I was down there over the first week of December, stayed in a beach front motel that had 15 floors, two pools, a lazy river, jacuzzi, nice restaurant, and bowling alley.  My wife and I had a suite with two large rooms, two tv’s, a full kitchen, large bath, and outside patio on the 15th floor.  It cost us $40 per night.  Had we wished to stay just across the street, but still on Ocean Boulevard, we could have gotten a room with cooking facilities for about $25 a night, less for a full week, and even less for a longer stay.  You’ll never find prices like that in Florida or even here in Ohio!

Weather?  It’s chancy in December and January like anywhere else.  You might get a two foot snowfall (unlikely) or you might get 70 degree temperatures or anything in-between.  But South Carolina is far south of northern Ohio, and odds are good you’ll find weather at least in the 50’s or 60’s, far better than here.  We consistently had 60 – 70 degree weather and enjoyed every minute of it.

One of the things I like best about early winter Myrtle Beach is that there’s nobody there, but almost everything is still open.  There are times when you could stand in the middle of the King’s Highway, fire a shotgun down its length, and hit nothing.  The 15 story motel we stayed at had about ten cars in its parking lot, and the shopping centers were almost empty.  My wife loved that.

She’d visit Barefoot At the Beach and browse through dozens of shops from The Endangered Species to Perfumania and California Leather to The Caddy Shack, and do it almost alone.  So few shoppers are here during the day that clerks rush to welcome you, and the same holds true at Barefoot Landing, the Wakomaw Pottery, and other major league shopping centers.  Real bargains often enough, some good sales, and plenty of shops for browsing.

Our Standard Operating Procedure most days was for her to drop me off at The Springmaid Pier where I’d fish for whiting, croaker, sea trout, spot, and the inevitable sand sharks and skates.  I’d usually arrive about two hours before high tide, stay until about two hours after, while she went shopping, then she’d pick me up and we’d travel to places we both like.

For example, we both love to visit Huntington Beach State Park just south of Myrtle Beach, and we try to do so at low tide.  It’s a wonderful place for outdoorsmen and nature lovers, a far ranging salt marsh with waving cord grass and that rich scent of mud, salt, and gently decaying vegetation.  There are sturdy piers that reach far out into the marsh, good places to stand and spend time watching the busy marsh life.

There are always dozens of little fiddler crabs, schools of minnows, lurking bluecrabs, and birds of many kinds.  Curlews will probe the crab holes and pull free their occupants, great blue herons and egrets seek the minnows, and small birds from sandpipers to Mother Careys Chickens hurry there and here seeking amphipods and other bits of nourishment.  A lovely place, and sunning alligators only make it better.

You might like to walk the beach too, almost alone, and pick up sea shells just above the surf.  Or watch brown pelicans pass above single file like little B-29’s, sea gulls, and shore birds, and sometimes a passing pod of dolphins.  Or just sit and watch the waves roar rhythmically and feel the stress wrinkles leave your face.

The food is marvelous.  Calabash restaurants are waiting with their 120 item seafood menus, great places to OD on crab legs and oysters.  And there are excellent Italian restaurants, Chinese restaurants, steak restaurants, and others like Hooters, the Hardrock Cafe, and The Key West Grill as well as little eating spots that offer meat loaf and grits.

Those that like country western music will enjoy the Dixie Stampede and the Carolina Opry, and most will like the Imax Theatre and the Ripley Aquarium, one of the best of its kind in the country.  Don’t forget the Brookgreen Gardens just south of town and little Georgetown yet further south with its wonderful waterfront and quaint little shops and restaurants.

You can drive to Myrtle Beach, chancing possible nasty weather in West Virginia or do as we do these days, fly down and get a rental car.  It’s 2 1/2 hours from here by plane, a day and a half by car, and if you tally up gas, wear and tear on your vehicle, meals, and a motel overnight, you’ll find the cost difference isn’t much.  We’d rather fly and arrive rested and ready to go.  Whatever your choice, check out Myrtle Beach on the web or just hop in the car and go.  It’s a good place to spend Christmas and New Years.

outdoorswithmartin on July 18th, 2009

Published December 2004

Christmas is coming soon, and that means some folk are happy (finished shopping) and some are in a panic (haven’t).  If you’re in the latter group, and that person needing a gift is a gardener or plant lover, there’s still plenty of time to find them a fine present, one they can enjoy for weeks or months.

One gift I’ve bought my wife more than once is a box of amaryllis, daffodils, hyacinths, or similar bulb plants for winter forcing.  They’re available at most department stores, and come with full instructions and equipment, needing only water and light which makes them a fine gift.  They’ll brighten the eye as they gradually grow larger, and form buds, then blossoms.  Hyacinths, particularly, smell great in a winter locked room, and a clump of daffodils or whatever, adds welcome color.

Those who are dedicated, like a challenge, and don’t want to cheat with ready-to-go plants can force their own.  It isn’t hard.  You’ll need a special bulb pan, which is nothing more than a clay pot available at most garden centers, a decent soil mixture, and a place for cool and dark storage of the potted bulbs.  A good potting soil is three parts garden loam, two parts peat moss, and one part builders sand.  Don’t add nutrient, manure, compost, or other fertilizers.

Fill the pan with potting mix, set the bulbs firmly in the mixture, and add more soil until only the tips show.  Water thoroughly, then place them in a cool, dark spot with a temperature between 35 and 50 degrees.  In 12 to 20 weeks they should be ready to emerge and can be planted on a plant rack, window shelf, or other spot out of direct sunlight.  When the plant(s) changes from white to green, move it to a sunny location with a warmer temperature of up to 65 degrees.  Again, lots of work, but if you like a challenge, here’s one.

There are other plants that will brighten anyone’s day.  You might consider a Christmas cactus, for example.  I have one on my plant stand in a south facing window, and it’s thriving.  In fact, if I don’t do something silly like repeatedly over-watering it, the plant might last for years.  African violets are another good choice, and they can last all winter too, even longer.  Bromelids are always good, as are foliage plants, and who doesn’t like a nice, deep green fern?  If you buy one of the latter, do tell the gifted person that they should turn it every few days.  Otherwise, the leaves on the sunless side will begin to die and fall, and the result will be less than pretty.

Does that special someone like to cook?  Give them a cluster of herbs.  These are available in small pots in many grocery stores and supermarkets and are certain to brace up any lackluster salad in winter months.  It’s a good idea to repot them, adding more potting soil, and a bit of nutrient occasionally, and place them in a window where they’ll receive some sunlight.  Herbs are another gift that just keeps on giving.

Kids always get lots of toys, clothes, and other necessities, but do they ever get plants?  Why not give your favorite child a pot already planted with something that grows rapidly like lettuce or radishes, needing only water to start them growing.  You might be surprised at their pleasure in watching tiny seedlings turn into edible vegetables, and their careful picking of new salad ingredients. Much better than a plastic toy.

outdoorswithmartin on July 18th, 2009

Published December 2004 

The Ohio statewide primitive weapons season will runs for four days in December  (2004), and as always it’s going to be a tough one.  Archers have already made a record kill and the opening day of gun season alone accounted for a further 40,000 plus animals.  The dumb and the unlucky are all dead, and those that remain are smart, wary, and knowledgeable about the ways of hunters.  They won’t come easy, and anyone who bags a buck or doe will need to be wiser than the animals they’re seeking.

The first morning of the season will be prime time.  The animals will have had a few weeks to calm down after the gun season, and many will have returned to normal habits and movements.  But the moment those muzzleloaders start their deep throated bellows they’re going to be racing for the havens that sustained them through the last big hunt, and that means heavy thicketed areas, dense swamps, standing corn, and fields of multiflora rose. Gunners hunting solo would be wise to set up on trails leading into such places before dawn and wait patiently.  If they picked the right spot, they’ll have a chance.

Driving will still be the popular way of hunting, and all too many black powder folk will try the same methods used during gun season, lining up men to drive through to standers at the far end.  It’s a poor tactic now.  Deer KNOW that standers will be waiting, and while a few might race through on opening day, most are going to slip out the sides.  And that’s where most of your standers should be, along the sides.

I’ve seen whitetails race out of a driven section and head across bare harvested soybean fields toward a distant woodlot.  Not once, but repeatedly.  So, having a stander at woods edge between the timber and any nearby woodlot is always a good idea.  They’ll circle too, especially if there are only a few drivers, and ghost right back to where the drive started.

A group I hunted with for several years solved this problem by leaving two old timers past their hard walking years at drives beginning.  Both those men took deer eventually.  And drivers should be diligent about checking out every bit of brush along their route, because whitetails now will hold tight as any rabbit in available cover.

During one muzzleloader season I jumped an eight point from a patch of briers and brush that was scarcely eight feet across.  Most drivers wouldn’t have taken the trouble, assuming that if they walked close by that cover, any deer would flush.  But this one had burrowed under a small fallen tree in the brush and had nerves of steel.  He didn’t come out until I was actually in the cover.

Hunters who like to work in pairs during this season will have luck, too, by making mini-drives.  Such drives should always be made very quietly, skipping the yelling and brush crashing, and always with the wind quartering or at the drivers back.  A typical drive would be through a half or quarter acre patch of old farm machinery and brush, with your partner standing in a good location. Driving such spots with lots of noise will send them racing out, while walking through quietly should see deer ghosting away with equal silence to provide a good shot.  Try tiny woodlots, little patches of brush, creek bottoms, and wooded ravines using the same tactics.  All are perfect for two man operations.

Lone hunters who tire of sitting and decide to walk a little should look for animals in strange places, especially after opening day.  I’ve found them in tiny cattail swamps out in the middle of a picked soybean field, against a telephone pole in tall grass just yards from a road, in tiny folds of ground in a short grass field, and even in nearly bare fencerows that seemingly wouldn’t hide a rabbit.  “Seek and ye shall find.” said the old sage, and you’ll do the finding in unusual places.

Tags: , , , ,

outdoorswithmartin on July 18th, 2009

Most, if not all, outdoorsmen love nature and like to see wild creatures at their daily business.  Which is why many a time I’ve bagged my requisite two squirrels for dinner, then lingered to watch others frisk among the leaves.  Or sat quietly while a small herd of deer foraged for acorns.  I like to see a flock of mallards flare, then set their wings and drop into the decoys, and also like to see perky little chickadees in my bird feeder.  Or a raucous bluejay dominate smaller birds for possession of sunflower seeds. 

The time is coming when winter storms and bitter days will end most hunting and fishing, and when those months arrive, a bird feeder and the bits of brightly colored, feathered life around it will brighten your house bound hours.  Actually, feeding and watching birds is becoming a major national sport, and Americans spend more on bird seed each year than the gross national product of some developing countries.

More and more people feed them year around too, and most of us can easily recognize common types like robins, cardinals, bluejays, and English sparrows.  But there’s a trend now to take the sport much more seriously, and even make special trips to watch hawks migrate through West Virginia hills or see shore birds at Point Pelee on the Canadian side of Lake Erie.

Many these days maintain a check list, and faithfully record every new bird they see.  For some, that check list has grown to over 100 birds.  And finding new ones can be a major thrill for the serious.  Like an extremely rare painted bunting seen last year at Magee Marsh, or a burrowing owl or brown pelican, unusual visitors to Ohio that do turn up occasionally.

Local bird watchers are fortunate in that they have some excellent places to go.  Magee Marsh was recently ranked in Wild Bird Magazine as the seventh best birding place in North America, and there are many more birds in various wildlife areas and marshes from Lake Erie to the Ohio River.  But even your backyard can turn up the unusual, or a nearby fencerow or plowed field. You never know, and any thumbing through a Peterson’s Field Guide To Birds can reveal a new trophy.

Again, for the serious, the Ottawa County Visitors Bureau (800-441-1271) participates in a Wing Watch each spring and fall with other organizations, and helps organize field trips and outings for bird watchers.  There are also organizations like the Kirtland Bird Club, which publishes the Cleveland Bird Calender, and has for 90 years.  And publications like the Ohio Cardinal, 223 E. Tulane Rd, Columbus, OH 43202, and The Bobolink, 1120 Hudson Drive, Wooster, OH 44691.  All worth reading.

Any serious bird watcher should eventually take a course in Ornithology, because birds do strange things, and such a course explains them well.  One crucial point is that their cerebrum (thinking part of the brain) is REALLY tiny, so most of what they do is by instinct.  For example, they imprint on a nest site and once imprinted, that’s where it will be.  You can tear a partially built nest down 50 times, and they’ll build it again. No choice.

And why do they feed their young?  Because they love them?  I once read a study where graduate students removed four baby robins from a nest and replaced them with wooden cubes painted the exact color of a baby robin’s throat.  After a few hours they had to be removed, because the cubes were totally smeared with worm intestines, berry fragments, insect pieces, etc.  The color triggered the feeding mechanism, not the babies.

Again, a fascinating business, and fascinating creatures.  If you’re looking for a challenge this winter, buy a Peterson’s and binoculars, and get a check list.  The birds are waiting.

Tags: , , , , ,

outdoorswithmartin on July 18th, 2009

It was a good gun season for a fair number of Ohio hunters and right now thousands of pounds of deerburger, steaks, chops, roasts, and more are sitting in area freezers.  And a good many cooks are looking at their new mound of meat and wondering what to do with it.  There are lots of answers to that question.

A vital point to keep in mind for cooks is that deer meat, when properly dressed and butchered is quite similar to beef.  It has a slightly different “wild” taste that I like very much, as will you, and it’s a fine, healthy, low fat meat unless you had the meat cutter fill your deerburger with beef suet.  So, anything you can do with beef can be done with venison.

Lots of it is truly simple.  For example, take a pound of venisonburger, chop up a little onion and green pepper in it, add a touch of Worcestershire sauce, then dust lightly with garlic powder, and fry.  Be sure you don’t skip the garlic.  The patties will have no flavor of garlic at all, but the powder seems to bring out flavor.  If you’re still uncertain, try a patty both ways with pickle, more onion, mustard and catsup on a hamburger bun, and eat.  Deer meat makes a great burger.

It makes  a fine sloppy joe too, using either your own receipe or just frying some and adding sloppy joe mix from the supermarket.  And I’ve used many pounds to make chili because venison adds something elusive (and good) to chili, and to spaghetti, stuffed peppers, and other standard hamburger recipes.

Barbecue is always good.  Pressure cook a roast, or even chops or steaks until nearly done and tender, then add your favorite barbecue sauce and let it simmer a little more.  Ladle onto buns and dig in.  If you don’t tell the kids it’s deer meat, they’ll probably go for thirds.

Here’s another simple receipe for deer.  Thaw out a fews chops, dust them lightly on both sides with onion and garlic powder, then drop them into a hot skillet coated with olive oil.  A couple of minutes on each side and they’ll be done.  Please don’t make the mistake of overcooking venisons or any other wild game.  I read in an old book the tongue-in-cheek receipe for deer steaks that said “Cook it till it’s done, then overdone, then fry the h-ll out of it!”  Fried leather isn’t tasty.

You can vary the frying by dredging chops in flour too, and using the drippings for gravy, or broiling over a charcoal fire with appropriate condiments.  Lots of choices for venison.  And don’t forget your ace in the hole for quick meals: venison and French onion soup.  Toss a roast into the pressure cooker, add a can of soup, and cook till tender.  This one is REALLY good.

From this point on, we can get exotic.  Like Stroganoff.  Dice a large onion and saute it in a half stick of butter.  Then add a pound of venison cut in one inch cubes, a half pound of cut up mushrooms, and a sprinkle of seasoning salt, and brown lightly.  Next, dissolve a couple of beef boullion cubes in a cup of water, and add to the mix along with two cans cream of mushroom soup, and a package (8 oz) of French onion dip.  Cook over low heat until venison is tender and serve over noodles.  Does that sound great?

There are lots of other recipes.  Venison pot roast, meat loaf, oven roasts, appetizers, meatballs, corned venison, the list goes on.  You’ll find that freezer filled with meat will disappear fast, in many tasty ways.

Tags: , ,

outdoorswithmartin on July 18th, 2009

Back when I was a kid in the hills of southern Ohio, the rites of manhood and The Use Of The Gun came in three distinct steps.  First, after hours of wheedling, the young man received his first BB gun at age 10 or 11, depending on mental maturity and the stamina of his mother.  Next at 12 or 13 came the dependable .22 single shot rifle, and finally (shades of manhood) a long awaited single shot .410 shotgun at age 14 or so.  Since these three weapons invariably came in the form of Christmas presents, Christmas was a long anticipated day.

This Christmas, another good sized group of young men and women will be receiving various brands of weaponry, and chances are fair, they’ll have the same sequence of guns.  But, in my personal opinion, it’s not a good idea.  The BB gun is fine.  Mine was a sure enough Red Ryder carbine that I treasured and shot thousands of copper BB’s through.  It was so weak that I could see the pellet go, and the BB described a rainbow-like arc, rather than a straight line, but I didn’t care.

 It came with plenty of instruction from my father, and lots of words on gun safety, then finally, I was turned loose to roam the hills with my friends who had their own BB guns, armed to the teeth and wrecking havoc on everything from twigs and stones to buckeyes and walnuts.

 The BB gun is good, but the final two in the sequence are definitely faulty.  For openers, again in my opinion and that of lots of gun experts, the second weapon a youngster should receive is a shotgun, and NOT a .410 single shot with a hammer to cock.  A .410 is not a gun for youngsters, but for full adult experts.  The cartridge is small, the pellets few, and with my own .410 I missed far more than I hit, and wounded most of those.

I once let my own daughter use the .410  I’d hunted with in much younger days, and watched her take careful aim at a big fox squirrel on a tree trunk.  She bounced bark all around it, but the animal shuddered, hung a minute, then raced up the tree.  That same day I bought her a 20 gauge, and next day she dropped a nice fox off its limb with no problem.  A 20 is definitely better for kids.

But not a single shot with hammer.  Lynn Moll, an expert gun handler who works at the Shelby Sportsmens Den, said “You want a 20 gauge with a safety, not a hammer, either a bolt action or a pump.  It takes too long, when a rabbit races out or a pheasant flushes, to pull that hammer back and raise the gun to fire, so the animal usually gets away.  Then, if not watched carefully, a youngster might start hunting with the hammer on cock to save time, and all it takes is a slip on mud or a trip on a brier to cause a tragedy.”  I know that well, because I hunted that way myself once at age 13 and had both my skinny young butt pounded, and the gun taken away for the duration of that hunt.

 A .22 with its much longer range should be the last gun given to a youngster, again and always with plenty of attention to the rules of gun safety and careful initial supervision.  But, a single shot .22 (with safety) is a wonderful weapon to teach real accurancy because you get only one try.  I ran hundreds of boxes of cartridges through  my own .22, so many rounds in fact that eventually I and my youthful friends could knock single buckeyes out of a tree and head shoot any squirrel that would hold still for a moment.

But, whatever you buy your youngster this Christmas, pay full attention to gun safety.  Greg Wasilewski, Richland County wildlife officer, recommends that you put them through a Hunter Education Course, even if they don’t plan to hunt, because the course teaches basic safety rules, and it wouldn’t hurt to take out a library book on the subject too, or see what booklets the National Rifle Association has to offer.  That’s much wiser than just handing them a new gun and saying “Be careful.”

outdoorswithmartin on July 18th, 2009
Novel by Richard Martin, Image by Chris Gould

Novel by Richard Martin, Image by Chris Gould

Richard Martin, Ohio-based outdoor writer, covers outdoor sports, activities, and travel in the Mid-west. Specializing on fishing, hunting, boating, camping, and organic gardening, his columns have appeared in newspapers and magazines for over 45 years.

Richard Martin has recently published his first historical novel titled, Flying Hawk, which chronicles the lives of a northern Ohio Indian group in pre-settlement Ohio, including how the Indians hunted and fished, raised their crops, gathered wild food and fought their wars as need be.

The book, Flying Hawk, is available through Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble online bookstores.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,