From the category archives:

Around the Campfire with Bill Miller

Number One Rule of Turkey Hunting Is … THINK!

April 9, 2010

Excitement about turkey hunting is a good thing. For those of us so afflicted, few things in life are more exciting. Until you’ve had a tom belt out a gobble so close to you it shakes your bones, it’s impossible to appreciate the addictive control with which turkey hunting can overwhelm you.
But it’s that very excitement [...]

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Familiarity with Shotgun Breeds Success

April 7, 2010

It was one of those nights in sporting clays league. Everything was working, and I was “in the zone.” To me that means a night when I’m not thinking too hard and as a result the majority of targets disintegrate in satisfying explosions – centered!
My squad was nearing the end of the round and I [...]

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NSSF Touts Worldwide Pro-Gun Force

April 2, 2010

I’m just a guy who loves guns and hunting. However, for the most part, I like my coffee black, my whiskey straight up and the defenders of my Second Amendment freedoms American-made. We need to remain ever vigilant against those who would take away our right to own firearms for hunting, sport, collecting, enjoyment, and [...]

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Don't Doubt It – Dogs Remember

March 31, 2010

If the premise of this blog is a bunch of hunters sharing stories around the campfire, then at least once in awhile you’d expect to hear some bragging – right? Well, with the accompanying picture taken by Tim Brandt of Federal on our snow goose hunt in Nebraska last week, I just can’t resist. This [...]

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Here's To The Shed Hunters

March 26, 2010

Here’s to the hunters of shed antlers … but I have to admit I’m not much of one myself.
I’ve tried. I really have, but this is just one form of hunting that I can’t find a passion for. It could be because the best shed hunting season falls at the same time as spring snow [...]

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Spring Snows – The Most Fickle Birds Flying

March 24, 2010

Just returned from the first snow goose hunt of spring 2010 in west central Nebraska with Jim Martinowski’s Central Nebraska Outfitters. We were taping a segment for the upcoming season of North American Hunter – TV on Versus with Rick Stoeckel and Tim Brandt of ATK/Federal. The primary purpose was to ring out their new [...]

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Running, Gunning and Feeling Turkey Hunting's Greatest Rush

March 19, 2010

Growing up in eastern Wisconsin in the 1970s and early 80s we didn’t have turkey hunting at home. Though the family’s small farm shared a line fence with the Kettle Moraine State Forest, wild turkeys weren’t reintroduced there until I was a teenager. A huntable population was years away.
While my dad was my greatest influence [...]

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“Billy, Have You Ever Seen a Chachalaca?”

March 17, 2010

Though I’m not a big Hollywood fan or movie nut there are movie lines that live in nearly universal humor infamy. In the original “Airplane” Peter Graves’ pilot character Captain Clarence Oveur is seated in the cockpit next to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar playing co-pilot Roger Murdock. A young boy – Joey – is visiting the cockpit prior to take [...]

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Scope for Turkey Gun Makes Sense

March 12, 2010

With the combination of today’s shotshell technology and custom chokes, shooting a shotgun for turkey hunting is much more akin to shooting a slug gun or even a rifle than it is to swinging a scattergun on flying game. Oddly enough the closer the range, the more that holds true.
To me the thrill in turkey hunting [...]

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Good Teacher Is Fastest Way To Learn, Improve Wing Shooting

March 10, 2010

You want to learn to ski, what do you do? You take ski lessons. You’re hoping to shave strokes from your golf game? You seek help from a good pro. You want to advance through the belts in the martial arts? You join a dojo and learn from a Master.
So why is it hunters and [...]

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“Where, Oh Where Can I Shoot?”

March 5, 2010

These early days of March are the low point in the hunter’s year. On these gray days there’s very little in North America to hunt for! Quail and rabbit were the last “regular” game seasons to go out. We’re a few weeks away from spring snow geese and even the earliest turkey seasons. It’s even [...]

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You and Your Ammo: Same Place, Same Time

March 3, 2010

When you travel out-of-state or out-of-country especially by air one of the most nagging worries is whether you and your ammunition will end up at the same place and at the same time. Here are some tips to help you “relax and enjoy the flight” as they say.
1) Don’t fly with ammo if you don’t [...]

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How Did We Ever Live Without…?

February 26, 2010

You don’t even have to be as old as me to utter the phrase, “How did we ever live without (fill-in-the-blank)?”  Some of the blank fillers in my lifetime are microwave ovens, fax machines, anti-lock brakes (on cars where the brakes actually work), cell phones, DVDs, MP3s, Iphones, Blackberries, and on and on and on.
Sometimes in [...]

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Confessions of a Not-So-Reformed Gun Auction Lurker

February 24, 2010

“Lurker.” Sounds sinister, doesn’t it? This is the type of guy who hangs around back alleys and shadowy doorways. He’s always there, but you can never see his face. Yes, until last week, I was a “lurker” on GunBroker.com one of my all-time favorite websites.
Fantasy Island for a gun nut would be a place with [...]

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BOGgear TAC, XSR & Switcheroo — SHOT Show’s Best New Products (Part 8)

February 19, 2010

I spent the last few days enjoying an event that’s one of the highlights of my year – taping the season’s “You Call the Shots” segments for North American Hunter TV at the Clubhouse on the grounds of ATK Federal. It’s fun because it’s a break from the dreariness of midwinter in Minnesota and brings [...]

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