http://www.meridianstar.com en-us Copyright CNHI All Rights Reserved. 5 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:29:00 +0000 http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_324003022.html http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_324003022.html Hayden Comans quickly made his way into woods in the darkness shortly before dawn last Saturday on opening day of youth season. Comans anticipation was running high as he joined his dad, Lee, and quietly constructed a ground blind just off a gas pipeline. The West Lauderdale seventh grader had been in similar situations before and scored on other deer. Young Comans had also been preparing for opening day for quite some time, as he made several trips to the rifle range practicing at distances up to 200 yards. Practice makes perfect as an old saying goes, and it’s never been truer than in the deer woods of central Mississippi. Comans’ hunting rifle was a Rossi .223 single shot loaded with 55 grain hollow point federal cartridges. The .223 is a deadly rifle that is light on the recoil, and bad on the bucks when handled by a competent marksman. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:27:00 +0000 http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_324002837.html http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_324002837.html Shuffling leaves on the hillside above your ladder stand; movement in the brush at the far end of your green patch; melodious cries from the hounds approaching from the swamp. These are sounds of the hunt for whitetail deer. There are others. A white oak acorn splatting into the leaves just ten feet away, shattering the charged silence and scaring you silly; a pair of wood ducks swimming by in the creek that runs just three steps from your shoot house; crows screaming nearby at some unseen creature that you imagine to be a trophy buck. At camp one might hear the crackling of hickory logs in a big iron heater; rounds of boisterous laughter following good natured ribbing; the call of a barred owl celebrating the emergence of a full moon. Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:30:00 +0000 http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_317002917.html http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_317002917.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:31:00 +0000 http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_317003112.html http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_317003112.html Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:35:00 +0000 http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_310003513.html http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_310003513.html Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:31:00 +0000 http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_310003130.html http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_310003130.html Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:30:00 +0000 http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_310003031.html http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_310003031.html Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:31:00 +0000 http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_303001350.html http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_303001350.html A massive eleven point buck approached Tooney Hill’s stand site warily and stopped for just a second as something just didn’t look right. Taking one more step, the buck froze for an instant as he presented the perfect shot. With a simple click of a camera shutter, Hill’s season changed, even before it had begun. From the moment the trophy buck came into Hill’s sights via his game camera, the expert bowhunter thought of little else except harvesting the monster buck with his bow. Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:30:00 +0000 http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_303001649.html http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_303001649.html The big stir that a hunter causes while preparing for an upcoming deer season is rooted in the fact that getting ready is much of the fun. Here are some things to consider that might apply to the days ahead in your pursuit of the esteemed whitetail deer. Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:33:00 +0000 http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_296002559.html http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_296002559.html If you are a woman, 14 and older and you would like to learn more about the outdoor life style from the pioneer of women hunters, you are in luck. Brenda Valentine, “First Lady of Hunting,” will be at Roosevelt State Park near Morton beginning next Friday, October 30, for a session of the wildly popular Women in the Outdoors events. This is a three day event with expert instructors, including Brenda, that women with even a remote interest in the outdoors simply must attend. Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:24:00 +0000 http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_296002131.html http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_296002131.html Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:20:00 +0000 http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_296002012.html http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_296002012.html Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:19:00 +0000 http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_296001643.html http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_296001643.html A pair of mallard drakes and a hen swooped down right in front of my duck blind and I quickly centered my crosshairs on the lead duck and squeezed off several shots connecting with a duck each time. As I fired several more shots with my Canon Digital Rebel camera the ducks quickly darted toward the next blind. This time the drakes lucky reprieve didn’t last for long as guns blazed and a pair of ducks splashed into the water and our hunt had begun with a bang! Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:18:00 +0000 http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_289001854.html http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_289001854.html Living at Bellamy, Alabama and being a forester, hunting was a way of life in earlier times when few ladies hunted. The Lockard Hunting Club held a ladies day hunt and the ladies came basically to eat. My wife, Ann, went with me on a deer drive. She slipped down a creek bank for about 10 yards and got mud all over her clothes. This was upsetting but she went on. We dove hunted at Mr. Joe Ward’s farm. He loaned Ann his 12 gauge shotgun and placed her on his personal stand. When the first dove came over we all told her to shoot. Well, the gun kicked her down onto a cow pad. That ended her dove hunting. As the children got older we took them hunting. Ann would not take a gun but she always went along. I remember taking them to the Naheola Swamp one time. She shot a squirrel dead center and declared that she was a good shot. Once we sat beside a large white oak tree eating a picnic lunch. A giant eight-point buck came by and I shot four or five times with my 30/40 Krag rifle. I missed. Ann said I should have let her shoot it and she would have killed it. The only thing we got that day was one squirrel and a lot of redbugs. Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:09:00 +0000 http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_289000948.html http://www.meridianstar.com/outdoors/local_story_289000948.html Tess Jolly peered intently through her scope, centered the crosshairs on a magnificent whitetail buck and squeezed the trigger until the rifle roared. In a split second the buck of her lifetime collapsed in a heap with a precision shot. The beautiful buck sported nine points and gross scored 153 and was the buck of her lifetime. My how times have changed! Born in Kansas to Ned and Ernestine Randle, young Jolly moved with her family to Ocala, Florida around the age of six. The rural Florida landscape fit Jolly to a T and she thrived in the outdoors. “I’ve been chasing bugs and picking up toads as far back as I can remember,” said Jolly. “After we moved to Ocala Dad joined a deer club and started deer hunting. Women were welcomed at the camp on Thanksgiving and Christmas days only.”