The Woodsman Magazine

The Woodsman Magazine Outdoor adventure magazine. Hunting, fishing, original short stories. Purchase eBooks online at www.thewoodsmanmagazine.com

You can read many outdoor adventure stories and a daily Woodsman journal online at our website.

Woodsman JournalThink Spring ... HurryOh Boy, for our family, where our pets are concerned, it's been a long, sad winter...
02/17/2016

Woodsman Journal
Think Spring ... Hurry
Oh Boy, for our family, where our pets are concerned, it's been a long, sad winter. We lost two more of our pet pack since we lost Sadie just a few weeks ago. It's because years ago we acquired most of our pets while our daughters were little and growing up. Now Kate and Maggie are grown up and out of the house. The pets are getting older fast.
Let's see, two weeks ago our little black cat Flower died at 20 years old. We acquired her years ago from the middle of a backwoods gravel road. We don't know how a three week old kitten got there but a couple of crows were but to make it lunch. No Sir, you ain't eating a cute little kitten on this woodsman's watch. And so we added a little kitten to the house where she terrorized our pack of dogs for all 20 years. Born a wild stray, always a wild stray. The girls called her Flower after the skunk in Bambi because at first we thought it was a skunk. She's terrorizing our pack in heaven and we'll miss her so much.
Zoey, I called her Big Zoe, was the matriarch of our pack for 12 out of her 14 years. She was a gentle dog with a loud, deep bark and a big, rock solid frame. She was the lead dog all the way. Over the years whenever I buried one of her pack mates she would follow me up into the woods to our little pet graveyard. She would lay in the sun until I dug the hole and then covered it. She was loyal to them to the very end. The other dogs had their beds or kennels throughout the hose but Big Zoe lay on her pillow in front of the fireplace in the living room. Nothing got passed her. She never bit anyone but more than one UPS driver or wondering hunter back stepped as fast as they could when Big Zoe showed herself. She was the perfect watch dog, pack leader and family dog. It's been said there is a time when letting them go is the greatest love you can show. I think I'll miss her the most.

12/31/2015

The Woodsman Journal
There is just something special about early morning in our wilderness home, a quiet house, a crackling fire, a sleeping dog. A time to watch the snow falling through the pines, to sip coffee from a favorite mug and let my thoughts run free. It's the time to dream the dreams. I could sit here all day ... in fact, I think I will. It's good to be a woodsman.

"I found the perfect chocolate donut at Spooner Bake Shoppe, Spooner WI (And it tastes as good as it looks no matter how...
12/30/2015

"I found the perfect chocolate donut at Spooner Bake Shoppe, Spooner WI (And it tastes as good as it looks no matter how many you eat)"

The perks in our neck of the woods!
12/29/2015

The perks in our neck of the woods!

Woodsman JournalI've said it before, hummingbirds grow hardy here in the great northwoods.
12/29/2015

Woodsman Journal
I've said it before, hummingbirds grow hardy here in the great northwoods.

12/24/2015

Woodsman Journal
Well, winter has finally arrived in the great Northwoods. Though, by normal standards an inch of snow and 25 degrees on Christmas Eve is not bad, not cold, not really. There have been other years when it was anywhere between 25 and 50 degrees colder. A few other Christmas Eves it has been close to 75 degrees colder.( I bet Tom and Carol Cumpata remember one of those winters.) Now, let me tell you, that's spit freezing, tree branch exploding cold. But then on the bright side there are hardly any mosquitoes when it gets that cold. Enjoy the warm snap and Merry Christmas from the great Northwoods.

Woodsman Journal 12/12/15"Holy Cow! Still no lake ice in N. Wisconsin, lets go fishing!" Go Cubs!
12/12/2015

Woodsman Journal 12/12/15
"Holy Cow! Still no lake ice in N. Wisconsin, lets go fishing!" Go Cubs!

06/07/2015

Woodsman Journal
Get Up Here
This is a public service message to all my Facebook Fishermen Union. I refer to you as the F.F.U.
Anyway guys, grab your tackle and get to Northern Wisconsin as fast as you can. The fish are Biting! (Note the capital B.) The weather is a little rainy with a little sun. They're calling for 80s next week. The spawn is on. The next couple of weeks will be gangbusters fishing. Tell the boss and tell your employer too but get up here.
In the mean time, I'll catch them all. Man, it's good to be a woodsman.

05/13/2015

Woodsman Journal
Watch Your Back Trail
Getting plenty of rain lately here in the big woods with more predicted for the next few days. But then, when you live in a forest, there is no such thing as too much rain in the spring.
Bears have been hanging around the last few nights. Lori and the dogs scared one back into the woods around 10 last night. There IS such a thing as too many bears. We are at a saturation point now. Which means you must secure your garbage, take in the bird feeders, and ... watch your back trail.

05/09/2015

Woodsman Journal
Some Like It Real ... "Hot"!
Spring has arrived and is in full bloom here in the big woods. Pine pollen floats on the wind like a green fog. Flower baskets hang along the deck rail and blueberry blossoms fill the woods. Could it be another good berry year? It could be, but for a couple of big "ifs". If it rains. If it doesn't frost. We really need the rain.
Next falls firewood harvest is in full gear too. Scouting, cutting, carrying, splitting, stacking, and carrying again and I still haven't put a match to it. But when I do, and the warmth fills the house on a chilly November morning and makes all the efforts worth it.
In fact, it's possible to go over board. Like last fall, it being the first fire of the cold season I had forgotten a few things and put too much firewood in the wood stove. Way too much. The temperature hit 75 in the house, then 80, and 85. At about 90 Lori was so hot, the poor thing, she began to shed clothes, right there in the front room. The hotter it got the less she had on. Hmmm? I'm gonna' need more firewood this year. A lot more.
It's good to be a woodsman.

05/04/2015

Woodsman Journal
Hummingbird Watch ... Update
They're back. The hummingbirds. It was a few minutes before 9:00 this morning. The sun had finally come up above the pine tops at the east end of the lake when I first spotted it. It appeared out of the woods to buzz the feeder a couple of times then hoover above for a good long drink. It was a little red throat male. I join my good friend Ramona Moody in reporting these first little arrivals back to the north country from Mexican and South American winter vacations. You can tell the male hummingbirds by the red spot on their throats and, of course, their deep tans from months on the beach.
I love these first spring arrivals. It's like seeing old friends again. So what's next to look for? Blossoms! That's right, I can't wait for the blueberry blossoms. And it all begins again.

05/03/2015

Woodsman Journal
Hummingbird Watch
Today is a golden day in the great northwoods. It's 78 degrees with bright blue skies and fluffy white clouds. The forest is alive as the birds are singing their cheerful spring songs. The scarlet tanager and oriole have the sweetest songs. Though house wrens and the very thrush are a "very" close second.
Today I'm on hummingbird watch. I'm looking for the season's first arrivals. Lori finally stopped working on magazine production and finished putting up the screen porch out on the deck. Then she finally (again) washed and sterilized the hummingbird feeders, made the sugar water, filled the feeders, put up the hanging poles along the deck railing, and hung the feeders.
I am now sitting in said screen porch over looking the lake. There is a pine scented breeze flowing gently over me while I watch between tiny slits in my eyelids for some sign of a hummingbird. It's a tough job but someone has to do it. Hey, I wonder if I can get Lori to make me a sandwich?
It's good to be a woodsman on hummingbird watch.

03/21/2015

Woodsman Journal
The Bears Are Up
Sunny today, blue sky, but cool. In fact, it was only 16 degrees when I got out of bed at 5 this morning.
Not having thought much about bears for almost six months I was not thinking about them last night. I went to bed. Lori stayed up and didn't take the dogs out for the night until late, well after the Wisconsin game. Go Badgers!
Finally, on went the flood lights and she went out into the night woods with the pack. They hadn't been out in the yard but a few minutes when all the dogs, except one, turned and ran back to the house. All but Dani. She is a Pekinese, a rescue dog daughter Maggie brought home a few years ago. She is a tough, little rescue dog with long white hair. She stood her ground at the edge of the light beam barking out into the forest darkness with as much ferocity as 10 pound living mop head could muster.
Lori put away the other dogs and, being the woodswoman she is, ran out into the night and grabbed up Dani, "like a football" she said, and retreated to the safety of the house where I was still sleeping peacefully.
This morning I checked the shed area and found a bear had bitten into the wooden door in an apparent attempt to get at our garbage cans inside. The shed is only 20 yards from where Dani stood barking last night. I realized how lucky we'd been ... the bear, too. It wouldn't have stood a chance.

02/25/2015

Woodsman Journal
Weather or Not
If you don't like the weather in the great north woods in Wisconsin wait a few hours. I don't like getting tied down to a journal always talking about, recording, the weather. Of course, that's what people are interested in now and a hundred years from now.
Anyway, yesterday morning when I got up at 4 am it was 28 below zero, colder, literally, than a "Woodman's Tit. This morning at 4 am it was 26 above. Using 5th grade math I can tell you that's a 56 degree swing to the good. And that's worth writing about. No mosquitoes… yet. Throw another log on the fire, another blanket on the bed, and snuggle up with the blonde in a backwoods log house. It's good to be a woodsman.

02/20/2015

Woodsman Journal
Wordsmith
I've lived full time in Wisconsin's backwoods for more than 25 years now. In that time I've learned not to be surprised by the things I learn about the woods, the wild animals and birds, or the equipment and tools used in the woods. I'm always on the lookout for new and interesting stuff to write about for the folks back in the city. You know, prove to them I'm no backwoods bumpkin ignorant of the ways of the world. I mean, I know about stuff, too.
So then, the other day when Lori mentioned a word I didn't know I took note. "Periwinkle." I wasn't exactly sure what it meant. Possibly a critter to trap or hunt I thought. There are all kinds of varmints that need trapping or hunting here in the big woods. I wonder if there is a periwinkle season, or a daily bag limit? Or maybe it's a fish? No, it couldn't be a fish, because if it were a fish the good people at Rapalla or Mepps, probably both, would have sold me a periwinkle lure, or a periwinkle killer lure. I bet it's brand new for this spring. I wonder what color it will be?
(Go to our website, too. Great stuff! www.thewoodsmanmagazine.com

02/19/2015

Woodsman Journal
A Silver Lining
The Hawk is out again tonight. It's already below zero and the wind is whistling through the tree tops. But you know something, it doesn't seem that bad. In fact, I was just outside playing fetch with our Golden Tennis Ball Retriever. It just doesn't seem that bad.
No Sir, not after last winter. (The folks out east are experiencing it this winter.) I don't think winter will ever be that bad again after surviving last winter. Not for another 100 years. I mean, this winter has really gone fast, it's almost March. March is more associated with spring than it is with winter. That's right winter is almost over. No matter what the old man throws at us now it won't be as bad as last year. It's a consolation prize we can covet for the rest of our lives, and that's what I call a silver lining.

02/15/2015

Woodsman Journal
Warm is Warm
(6 a.m.) I'm awake and up early again this morning. The house is quiet and dark accept for a lone kitchen light above the table where I sit. It's cold outside, 10 below, but nice in here. It's warm in spite of the fact that I just now built a fire in the wood stove. It's a good two hours later than I usually get up. I have it better than woodsmen did 100 years ago. If I don't get out of bed early enough to start the fire a forced air gas furnace kicks on and warms the place up to suit the cat. In the olden days if the woodsman didn't get up to build a fire early enough there was only one alternative…. his wife had to get out of bed to do it. I guess when you think about it, 100 years or not, warm is warm. It's good to be a woodsman even on a cold winter morning. Bundle up and eat.

02/12/2015

Woodsman Journal
Whether, Weather
Well then, winter returned. We received a couple of inches of snow, a little sleet, and then last night it dropped to 12 below zero. Of course, we're not having near the winter they are experiencing on the east coast or even down in Chicago. But then we don't have their hot dogs or pizza.
Hey, did you ever notice how much more we talk about the weather these days. But is it really the weather itself? Or is it the fact we're getting older? And the older we get the more passionate we get about the weather. I mean, I have my own business, a log home in the deep, deep forest, a smart, beautiful wife and two smart wonderful daughters. I fish and hunt whenever I want. I have diabetes, daily blood screening (poking), and some kind of heart condition that doesn't want me to eat Big Macs. But what is my first thought in the morning? What's the weather doing?
I have to believe they have weather in heaven. But right now I'm not thinking about business, family, or even how's the fishing. How could I, it's suppose to snow this afternoon.

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