Living the Sporting Life:
Adventures and Misadventures
in the Outdoors

• Preface
• I. Hunting
  • 1. Deer
    • Dwayne's big buck
    • Two Bucks in One Day
    • Buck Fever
    • Aging deer jaws
    • Muzzloading fever. Part I.
    • Muzzloading fever. Part II.
    • Muzzleloading fever. Part III.
    • Archery tips
    • Curse of the archer. Part I.
    • Curse of the archer. Part II.
    • Curse of the archer. Part III. The curse broken
  • 2. Doves
    • Dove season approaches
    • Double dibs on doves
    • Hot season opener for doves
    • The dove cycle
  • 3. Ducks
    • Teal season tips
    • Teal season opens with a bang
    • Teal season '96
    • Teal season ups and downs
    • Cold reception
    • Waterfowl fun
    • Diver down!
    • Hunter ethics...or lack thereof
    • The spell is broken
  • 4. Geese
    • Goose methods
    • The Christmas Goose
    • The Goose II
    • Will hunt geese for food
    • The big goose egg
  • 5. Turkeys
    • Turkey tips
    • First turkey
    • Big Iowa turkeys, or A tale of two Ricks
    • Perseverance: painful but productive
    • Fall turkey season
    • Turkey hunting in Missouri
    • Missouri turkey hunt a success
    • Man shoots turkey from duck blind
    • Man attacked by turkey
    • Bushwhacking
    • Mounting a turkey tail fan
  • 6. Small, inedible birds
    • Woodcock
    • Woodcock save the day
    • Strange days...are calling
    • Rail season?
    • Crow hunting: it really works
    • Crow hunting surprises
    • Summer crow season mystifies
  • 7. Dogs
    • Val
    • Diamonds and other stones
    • Cassie
    • That's 91 to you and me
    • The poodle retriever
    • The Velcro dog
    • The stay-at-home 'possum and squirrel dog
    • Belle: another squirrel dog
    • The dog days of August
    • Kid Kane and the Darbinator
    • Kane comes of age
    • Dog dispatches diving duck
  • 8. Dog training
    • Choice of breed
    • Basic training
    • Force training
    • Shocking facts about electronic collars
    • ...so I bit him
    • Doin' that crazy hand jive
    • Game farm training
    • HRC hunt test rules
    • A real HRC hunt test
• II. Fishing
  • 9. Rivers
    • The white bass
    • A white bass run, at last
    • Skipjacks and cats
    • Tracking Mississippi River walleyes
    • Trolling for walleyes
    • Toothy fall walleyes
    • The good fishing continues
    • Adventures in electrofishing
    • Snagging for paddlefish
    • Endangered Lake Sturgeon caught
    • Riding the silver redhorse into the sunset
  • 10. Carp
    • Clooping the schmoots
    • Bowfishing
    • High country carp
    • Bighead carp: New fish on the block
    • Bighead carp, part II
  • 11. Lakes
    • Plannin' for salmon
    • Lake Michigan coho salmon
    • Crappie at Mark Twain
    • Free-worming for panfish
    • Hungry farm pond fish
  • 12. Ice
    • Ice fishing 101
    • Icing Argyle's trout
    • Farm pond ice fishing
    • Icing the bulls
• III. Potpourri
  • 13. Timing is everything
    • Morel madness
    • Morelling and Worming--age-appropriate hunting
    • Shroomin' time
    • Keeping a journal
    • Carpe diem!
    • Timing for fall shotgunning
    • A year in the outdoors
  • 14. Just for fun
    • Interview with the expert on all things
    • Why do we hunt?
    • Small game hunting
    • Ratite season
    • My kingdom for an elk
    • Salmon run up the La Moine!
    • It's a bird! it's a plane! No, it's Hernia Man!
    • A friendly competition
    • The rules of the game
    • You are what you drive
  • 15. Miscellaneous
    • Mountain biking for fun and health
    • The boat shot
    • The great tradition
    • Darters, overlooked and interesting fishes
    • Handy hints learned the hard way
    • Karma
    • Landowner-sportsman relations
    • Racoon trouble
    • Safety first
    • Science and the field sports
    • Squirrel season upon us
    • This taxidermist will mount anything
    • Ticking away the time
    • That worming time of year
    • The fifth brother
    • Bigfoot '77
• About the author