Outdoors

When the horn calls, fox hunters, hounds and horses respond

SEWICKLEY (AP) — The horses! Before you see them, you hear the clip-clop sound of metal-shod hooves striking the pavement. Then 15 big beautiful horses in hues of brown, black and gray slowly walk into view. Their riders wear jackets of scarlet or black. The hounds! Trotting briskly beside the horses is a pack of tricolored foxhounds. They look disciplined, regal and focused on the task at hand. The hunt! The presence of Shiloh, Sampson, Happy, Hannah and nine other dogs transforms what would be a simple trail ride into the centuries-old sport and spectacle of fox hunting. ...

Variety of experience will help the next generation

I’m lucky to have been able to travel and hunt many different states in my adulthood. I’ve taken beautiful bucks, harvested a boatload of long beards and a lot of other various game animals, both big and small. Yes, I believe that constitutes as somewhat of a humble brag. Although I have come into my own as a hunter, I owe almost all of my hunting passion and skills to my father, Rick Knouse. With no legacy and youth hunter programs like we have instituted today, the legal hunting age for me wasn’t until I hit 12 years old. Dad took me hunting well before that just to let me ...

Success afield

Memory of first buck is never forgotten

With my heart pumping so hard It was almost the only thing I could hear, I drew back and settled in on my pin. I had rattled lightly and he had come to investigate. This was finally the moment I had been waiting for. You see, it had only been a few months since I had purchased my bow from local pro Larry Wise and he taught me form and then I was off to the races, so to speak. Born of a generation that had no shortage of outdoor television, I’d only dreamed of the feeling that came along with a late October/early November rut, and tagging a trophy buck. He stepped from behind ...

Native, holdover trout can still be fished in winter

As an outdoors enthusiast, specifically hunting and fishing, there was for many years, a gap in my life. The time between deer season, opening trout season, and spring turkey season seemed to last tor an eternity. That was, until I started winter fishing for native trout and holdovers from the ...

Finding time for son’s first deer

A year ago at this time I was writing a column reviewing that fall’s archery season. It was my favorite to date after two magical experiences. I was able to harvest the largest buck of my hunting career in late October. And while that was definitely a thrill I will never forget, it was a distant second to sitting with my daughter Bella as she shot her first deer on her first ever hunt a few weeks earlier with a crossbow. Going into the 2018 deer season I made it my goal to once to enjoy that same experience with my son. River practiced with the kids’ crossbow over the summer and ...