Volume 26 Number 10 - October 2006

FEATURES:

	Bayou Buckmaster Gordon Hutchinson has aquired a lifetime of hunting knowledge. Follow his tips to put more deer on the ground this season. For many outdoor enthusiasts, deer hunting is a hobby. For Gordon Hutchinson, it’s been a lifelong passion. ... Todd Masson

	Big, Bad Bodcau With 34,000 acres and a range of habitat, this WMA offers unlimited options. Here’s how three Haughton hunters consistently put meat in the freezer during the early season. Bobby Taylor gave up hunting in the 1980s when all of the land on which he had chased deer for years was leased out. ... Andy Crawford

	Cajun Sleigh Rides Leave the big motors -- and the hassles -- at home, and paddle your way to stringers of speckled trout and redfish. Reading a Louisiana Sportsman article about kayak fishing on Lake Pontchartrain made me curious about how anyone fishes from one of those. ... Wendy Wilson Billiot

	Comb Over Bass In the fall, the flats are killer zones for fast largemouth action. Have you ever seen a comb over? You know what I’m talking about — a man in his 50s or 60s starts losing hair on top of his head, so he combs the hair on the side over the top. ... Chris Ginn

	Flat Bottom Girls In the fall, female flounder stage in the Venice marsh for their offshore winter spawn. Purple martins skimmed just above the water slurping tiny insects from mid air above the cypress-laden banks of Grand Pass as Capt. Cade Thomas’ 24-foot Skeeter sliced through the emerald green water. ... Susan Gros

	Get to the Pointe! This Plaquemines Parish port has been hot since Katrina, and it shows no signs of cooling off. It happens to me all the time. Somebody begins relating the account of some event or occurrence, and in telling the story their account is filled with unrelated and unnecessary details. ... Rusty Tardo

	Happy Trails Setting up trail cams in the right spots will put smiles on the faces of even the most seasoned deer hunters. You know he’s out there. You’ve seen the signs he’s left behind: large tracks, rubs on trees the size of your leg, scrapes the size of a wash tub. ... Mike Guerin

	Mullet Tuna Drop whatever you’re doing, and head to the mouth of the Mississippi River this month, where giant schools of mullet bring monstrous yellowfin tuna as close to the coast as they’ll ever be. October begins the best yellowfin tuna fishing of the year — as close as 5 miles south of South Pass. Big tuna move in to feast on the schools of spawning mullet as they migrate into the Gulf of Mexico. ... Ann Taylor

	Needles on the Noodle Successfully hunting piney woods calls for an entirely different mindset. Hunt deer in Southeast Louisiana’s piney woods, and you hunt the most thoroughly abominable deer hunting terrain on the continent. The abominations are many and varied. ... Humberto Fontova

	Over the Rainbows You’ll marvel at the number of freshwater trout under your boat during a journey on these Arkansas rivers. After several hours of driving from West Monroe, I finally reached my fishing hole. Conditions were perfect — calm wind, clear water and just enough current to keep bait moving. ... Terry L. Jones

	Rooted in the Red There’s no shortage of new areas to learn on this incredibly productive fishery. EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the 10th installment of a 12-part series exploring the best bass-fishing areas in the Bayou State. I love the Red River. I’ve tried to impartially write about each of the Louisiana waterways I’ve ... Chris Ginn

	Seed Snatchers The winds of autumn are carrying migratory doves that will fill fields for the next three months. Toward the end of our most recent summer, sleepy-eyed residents lying in bed watching the 10 o’clock news perked up their ears at the mention of four words seldom uttered in the Bayou State: “late August cold front.” ... Todd Masson

	Squirrel Starters Learning to properly target squirrels makes youngsters and adults better at all types of hunting. It’s as real to me today as it was when it happened more than half a century ago. When my dad told me to pull on my boots, grab my jacket and come with him, I knew what that meant, especially if it happened on a Saturday morning in October. ... Glynn Harris