Opinion
Outdoor Truths – November 29, 2023
Four eyes are better than two It never fails that each deer hunting season I get a slight strain in my upper back and a vertebra that tries to dislocate. Most of the time, these return to normal after a few days back to my normal activities, along with a mini massage. I’m fairly strong…
Read MoreRidge Runner Chronicles – November 29, 2023
Monkeyshines and Copyrights By Bill Hoagland In 2011, David Slater, a British wildlife photographer, spent time in the jungles of Indonesia photographing wildlife there. Among his subjects was a troop of Sulawesi crested macaque monkeys that he spent several days attempting to befriend before photographing them. According to Slater, on the day he was actually…
Read MoreOutdoor Truths: Regroup and Rearrange
By Gary Miller My ground blind leaks. Yours does too. Yeah, I know you have the top-of-the-line, largest, most cushy, made-of-the-best-waterproof-material-blind money can buy. I’m sure it’s nice. But it leaks. It may not leak as much as mine. It may not leak in the same places as mine. But it leaks. Those leaks may…
Read MoreRidge Runner Chronicles: PETA and Thanksgiving
By Bill Hoagland As I am writing this column, we are 10 days from Thanksgiving and that means we are probably very close to another campaign by PETA, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals folks, to discourage people from eating meat during the holidays. All too often, these campaigns simply remind us, again,…
Read MoreStudents shouldn’t have to be frightened
By Scott Reeder “It’s the Jews’ fault.” I remember those words like they were yesterday, even though they were uttered by a co-worker more than 30 years ago. The newspaper we worked for had just undergone a major layoff and later that week I found myself eating a plate of spaghetti in a dive restaurant…
Read MoreRidge Runner Chronicles – November 15, 2023
A Fascinating “Snatch and Grab” By Bill Hoagland When you see that this column is going to be about a “snatch and grab”, you might think it concerns a mob breaking a store window in Chicago and stealing everything in sight. No, this is an acceptable “snatch and grab” and frankly, a fascinating one at…
Read MoreOutdoor Truths – November 15, 2023
Eternity A few years ago, I bought a really nice and comfortable lock-on stand along with an expensive ladder climbing system to go along with it. I had been hunting the Midwest for years before that and was always fighting comfort because I stayed in the stand for hours.
Read MoreWeek of November 8, 2023: Cards and Contemplations
Onwards and upwards, just make sure to mind your feet VII The Chariot, 0 The Fool, III of Wands, Knight of Pentacles Merry meet, dear readers. Before you continue, take note: Tarot is for everyone, no matter your walk of life. While the cards have their own singular meanings, tarot is also largely intuitive and…
Read MoreRidge Runner Chronicles – November 8, 2023
The Hoarding “Disorder” By Bill Hoagland I recently closed out a storage locker that I had rented for several years. In cleaning it out, I found some things that made me wonder why in the world I had been keeping them, such as a stuffed fish that had been made into a lamp. It had…
Read MoreOutdoor Truths – November 8, 2023
Some things we can’t prepare for I’m back at home after an extended time away hunting and preparing for some outdoor events. I had better not plan on staying around too long; if I get too comfy I’ll miss a bunch of bucks on the move. The weather has been very inconsistent. I have hunted…
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