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Going coastal: Up your odds of deer-hunting in the marshes

The suspicious speck of white flickered some 200 yards away, resembling what might have been simply a bird flying or the cotton-like puff from the head of a cattail bursting its contents in the wind.

But, when hunting deer in the marsh, nothing is left to chance — where coastal deer are concerned, more often than not it’s simply “now you see em, now you don’t.”

The suspicious white-colored flicker needed to be thoroughly checked out, and not simply become a passing thought that would leave me wondering on the boat ride to the landing.

Picking up my binoculars, I studied the white speck. It was still moving and, low and behold, the white turned out to be a deer’s ear.[…]

Offshore Fishing

Ling Lessons: Catch more lemonfish with these tips

With the motor idling to keep the boat in position against the running tide, the captain nosed toward a small oil-field structure in the Gulf of Mexico and tossed some fish pieces under the barnacle-encrusted legs supporting this steel island.

As the succulent chunks of fish slowly disappeared into the aquamarine water, larger shapes materialized to create a frenzy just below the surface. Soon, various other fishy objects, large and small, appeared.

Aggressive fish darted out from under the platform to snatch their share of morsels.[…]

Inshore Fishing

Vermilion Bay gives up 7-pound trout

Trout are beginning to move off of the coast and back into the marsh and inland bays, making it the perfect time to head into Vermilion Bay. In fact, 70-year-old Ray Hargrave, a lifetime recreational fisherman, recently caught his biggest speckled trout after fishing the bay.[…]