The Indiana Department of Natural Resources is offering a reward of up to $1,500 for information in the killing of a bald eagle in Greene County.
Conservation officer Mike Gregg says the 3 1/2-year-old bird was shot in the wing on March 18 and survived several days before dying.
Gregg says the shooting may be related to other shootings of animals in the remote area of the southwestern Indiana county.
Now is the time to get ready for fishing season, and while I used to live by the slogan: Catch and Release, into the grease. I’ve now matured. I prefer baked fish. Not only is it healthier, it is easier in every aspect. You don’t have to deal with splattering hot grease, all the clean-up that goes with a frying fish and all the other little issues that accompany heating cooking oil to 425 degrees.
Give me baked fish any day. Let me bake fish any day. I’d much rather pop fillets in the oven than drop them into they hot oil. So here are a few recipes that cover the gamut. From the fun and friendly to the hot and spicy. I mean, in the first recipe one of the ingredients in Cheez-It cracker. You gotta love that. And the Cajun fish recipe at the bottom can be as hot and spicy as you want it. Give them a try. You might never fry your fish again. More »
When it comes to turkey hunting, I like a classic hunt as much as the next guy. One where I can call as much as I want with the tom answering every time – often with multiple gobbles to the point where it sounds as if he is about to choke and strutting around like he owns the place. The reality, however, is that these types of hunts are few and far between.
With turkey hunting growing in popularity each year, Gobblers run into more and more hunters trying to sound like seductive hens therefore becoming more educated and tougher to hunt. Like it or not, one of the best ways to consistently tote a bird out of the woods over your shoulder is to hunt them more like deer. By this, I mean that careful scouting and patience will pay big dividends on tough toms. This is especially important if you are hunting smaller tracts of land that do not afford you the opportunity to run and gun thus covering lots of ground. More »
For most of us when we think of a guide, a vision pops into our mind of a rugged man on a horse leading a group of “dudes” through a beautiful mountain pass in Colorado. In actuality guides come in all shapes, sizes, age and sexes, and lead people on hunting and fishing excursions in every state in the nation. Some guides work in surprisingly congested areas on the fringes of some of the largest cities in the country. The term guide carries a certain mystique about it. When you meet a person claiming to be a guide you assume he or she has certain qualifications in order to lay claim to such a glorious title.
In some states that would be true. In the majority of states where hunting and fishing are major industries, the state requires a potential guide to purchase a guide’s license. However, before an individual can purchase the license he or she must possess certain basic skills. These skills are usually first aid and survival skills and have nothing to do with his or her hunting or fishing expertise.
Over the years I’ve hired numerous fishing guides. Most were hired to take me saltwater fly fishing to some desolate location in the Caribbean. One guide was good, some of them were below average and most were terrible. More »
Every season has beauty but none quite like the long-awaited beauty of spring that bursts with color and song. The silence of winter is replaced with a calming chorus of frogs. The active birds fill the yard with song and movement.
Our woodland habitat gives us many opportunities to see native plants in bloom during spring. The redbud trees splash bright color in the woods with tiny flowers of pink that cover the branches all around. The flowers on the sassafras trees have a wonderful buttery color that is enhanced by surrounding dogwoods. By looking up into the canopy from ground level you may not be able to fully appreciate the flowers of a yellow poplar or tulip tree. View the flowers from the side or get a glimpse down into the flower and you will see that the lime green tulip shaped flowers are filled with vivid orange and yellow. One tree not to miss in full bloom is the black locust. Locust trees bare prickly branches that you will painstakingly want to avoid but the trees are definitely worth seeking out. In spring the locust tree is draped with clusters of sweetly scented white flowers that hang throughout the branches. More »
“Take a good look at that bird,” were the words of Mrs. William Hart, “there are only 23 of them left in the wild today.”
Mrs. Hart was the head of the Maffitt Bird Course, a program sponsored by the Linton Civic Garden Club many years ago. The participants in the course were provided with pictures of birds to color and then were marched across the road to view several other more common species of wild birds. On this particular day, they were coloring a large, beautiful white bird with a scarlet head and black-tipped wings. Mrs. Hart went on to explain to the class: “It won’t be long before that species will be extinct!”
That was over 45 years ago, but Barbara Simpson, now of Indianapolis and one of the kids participating in the class on that day, never forgot those words. And on the day I met her, she was back in Greene County looking at a bird she thought she would never see as an adult. More »
