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ARTICLE
INDEX |
Why I write
| "Confessing
a passion for whitetails and wild turkeys, combined with his
professional knowledge as one of the leading animal behaviourists,
Othmar is widely regarded as an authority on hunting tactics for these
two game species. Othmar's articles are widely published in magazines,
newspapers and the web based media across the U.S and Canada." |
Here I
post a selection of
articles for your reading pleasure and as
writing samples for editors and publishers. Enjoy!
Article Index
Chose from category:
Columns
& Op-Eds.| Deer Hunting
| Turkey
Hunting
| Product
Reviews
Deer
Hunting Articles
More deer hunting
knowledge is available from the whitetail deer courses
and seminars
offered by Othmar Vohringer.
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The Four Factors
of Deer Movement
-Scouting for Early
Bowhunting
Success-
I
still remember the first day I went scouting in
anticipation of my very first bowhunting adventure. That was 17 years
ago. To
say I soon became frustrated would be an understatement. The only thing
I knew
for sure was that I had to scout much differently from the way...Read
more |
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Reflecting on the
deer hunting season
Many
years ago I made it a habit of keeping a detailed journal of my hunting
activities. I include information about everything: the weather
conditions, wind directions, time of sunrise and sunset....Read
more |
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Understanding
the rut
While
most
hunters think that the rut is an event that only takes place
a few days or weeks, a number of rut phases lead up and follow the
actual rut, the peak rut. All of these phases involve sexual activity
and are part of the rutting process....Read
more |

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Field
aging bucks
Here
is a
quick and easy guide on how to field judge a
whitetail deer buck’s age. There are some basic body "shapes"
that
help identify a buck's age, but you kind of have to "read between the
body
size."...Read
more |
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Making
sense about deer scent
Two
basic types of commercial
scent are marketed: Attractant scents and masking scents. Attractant
scents
come in two varieties, sexual attractant scent and curiosity attractant
scent.
Sexual
attractant scents
contain doe or buck urine interlaced with various glandular scents and
hormones....Read
more
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Cornfield
bucks
On
a cold and blustery November morning in 1996 I
sat in my tree stand located on a narrow bench of a steep slope from
where I
had an excellent view of deer activity. At the base of the slope was a
large
cornfield....Read
more |
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Choosing the right
treestand for the perfect ambush
Over
ninety percent of hunters prefer hunting from
treestands and quite rightly so. Hunting from an elevated position will
get the
hunter above the sight and smell of an animal. Hunting from a
treestand, unlike
other methods such as stalking and deer drives, is a low impact method ...Read
More.
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The best time to kill
a buck
While
it is true that trophy bucks can be taken at
any time during the hunting season, there are times during the hunting
season
that are better than others. A look into the trophy record books shows
that
most mature bucks are taken in the late winter. And for good a reason....Read
More
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Post-rut hunting tips
A
common mistake made
by hunters is to think that
after the rut most of the big bucks have been shot. Nothing could be
further
from the truth. The late season can be a very productive time to be out
in the
woods as the Dave Voorhees buck (photo) proves. He took his monster
buck,
scoring 170 B&C...Read
More
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Turkey
Hunting Articles
More turkey hunting
knowledge is available from the turkey hunting courses
and seminars
offered by Othmar Vohringer.
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Not quite close
enough
(Why gobblers hang
up and how to deal with it)
Any
person that is hunting North
America’s most popular game bird for a season or two had to
learn
to deal with the frustration of a big tom hanging up just outside the
effective shooting range. The majority of these birds are the older
wiser toms....Read
more |
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Turkey
calls 101
Turkeys
are, like most
birds, very vocal creatures.
Like humans using their language to communicate with
each other so do
turkeys.
They make a variety of sounds to relate messages to each other or
“show”
emotions. A smart turkey hunter knows what these sounds are and their
meaning...Read
more |

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Top
11 turkey hunting
tips
Don’t
start out with aggressive calling first thing when calling to a
gobbler.
Start off with soft clucks and purrs. If that doesn’t seem to
work, go into
some medium volume yelps. If that still doesn’t get him, try
some cutting and
aggressive yelping...Read
more |
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Scatter
a turkey flock
and score (Fall hunting tip)
One
of the
easiest methods of scoring on a fall turkey is to scatter a flock of
birds and then wait for the flock to assemble again. Here are three
tips of different flock scatter tactics that have produced time and
time again...Read
more
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Show
him what he wants
to see - or hide
“The
tom came over the crest and then just stood there about a hundred
yards away and kept looking in my direction. No matter how much I
called he
wouldn’t come any closer.” This and similar
complaints I hear quite often from
turkey hunters...Read
more |
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Music
to a toms ears
With
each yelp, purr and cluck from my raspy slate
call the tom answered back with a thunderous sequence of gobbles. Every
time he
gobbled he came a few yards closer. I was quite confident that it would
just be
a matter of time before the tom would walk around the corner...Read
More
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The pros and cons of
diaphragm calls
The
diaphragm turkey call has been around for many
years but became really popular about ten years ago. The first type of
these
calls were made by hunters looking for a different call that
didn’t involve
movement to coax a tom closer for the last few steps needed to get a
good
killing shot...Read
More
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Product
Reviews
About
product reviews:
The product reviews published here are subject to my product review
policy. If
you would like me to write your product review please read my product
review policy
or contact me by email
 |
Final Approach
Eliminator Cargo Blind
I’ll admit it.
When I hunt I like comfort. Especially when I hunt ducks and geese,
which involves hours of sitting motionless in often wet and cold
weather conditions. One aspect of hunting waterfowl that I never liked
much is sitting in cold....Read
more |
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Heirloom
Game Calls - Good Game Calling Begins With Quality Calls
I
am
fascinated with
calling animals to my stand by mimicking their own sounds. There is a
special
sense of achievement and thrill in calling a trophy whitetail buck by
producing
the sounds of another buck or a doe in estrus. Having a gaggle of geese
or
ducks flying overhead and then turn around...Read
more |

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Field
Dress -Dress in Style
T-Shirts
with nice hunting and fishing motives are one of my favorites.
It is
difficult for me at times to find something that suits my style and is
non-offensive to people that do not hunt...Read
more |
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Magnet
Gun Caddy
The Magnet
Gun Caddy is one of these rare “Wow”
moments and as with most of these exceptional products the genius lays
in the sheer simplicity of the design that fulfills a real need. I lost
count of how many times I came back to the truck from a hunting or
fishing trip with both hands full of gear...Read
more
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Black
Bear Hunting Encyclopedia
One
way to be successful at bear hunting is to learn more
about bears and hunting tactics. I just happen to have read a good book
written
by someone who knows a thing or two about the subject. A fellow British
Columbian, Justin Ott, has just published a book called “The
Black Bear Hunting
Encyclopedia”...Read
more |
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HS
strutt Ring Zone Turkey Calls
There
is no question about it that good calling is an essential part of
turkey
hunting success. The emphasis in the former sentence is on
“good calling” as in
getting the right sound and perfect pitch. Turkeys have been called to
a great
deal by hunters. They have learned to distinguish between a real turkey
sound
and almost real turkey sounds...Read
More
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The Venerable .30-06
Springfield
The
other day
someone asked me an interesting question. “If the
.30/60 cartridge would come on the market today would
it have a chance to become a success with the hunters?” With
all the hype
about magnums and super magnums these days, this is a very interesting
question...Read
More
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Pflueger Supreme XT
Spinning Reel
Pfluegers
flagship reel Supreme XT comes in four sizes. With this real you know
you have
a real winner. A lightweight magnesium body and rotor are constructed
around
nine corrosion resistant ball bearings, a one way clutch bearing and
sealed
drag make for an incredibly smooth retrieve....Read
More |
Columns
& Op-Eds.
To
Editors:Should you be
interested to syndicate my columns or having me write a outdoor column
for your newspaper/magazine please contact
me.
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A muzzleloader by
any name is still a muzzleloader
So
what’s up with the argument that modern in-line
muzzleloaders
are unethical?
There is no such thing as an unethical hunting tool. Guns are tools
without a
brain and without feelings...Read
more |
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The
economics of hunting
Here
are some interesting figures published by the
Congressional Sportsman's Foundation:34
million
Americans hunt and, or fish. Together these sportsmen and women pour 76
billion
dollars annually into the economy and give 1.6 million people jobs...Read
more |

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The
science of hunting and the good old days
Today
hunting is all about science and modern
technology. Hunting has moved from a simple outdoor activity to a space
age
technology driven race to sell hunting-success promising products....Read
more |
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Where
I stand on crossbows
For
as long as I can remember this issue has been
festering among archers. The Internet forums are full of heated
controversy
between the vertical and horizontal archers. What puzzles me most is
seeing how
some archery organizations feed this controversy...Read
more
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Merritt
ice fishing derby - family fun times
The
weather was perfect with a blue sky and brilliant sunshine and by
10
o’clock in the morning the lake was crowded with over 260
people.
It was
particularly encouraging to see so many children and families in
attendance...Read
more |
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Aprils
fool day shot -Where modern times meet with history
Over
the Easter weekend the Nicola Valley Charcoal
Burners held their 15th
annual April
Fool’s Shoot at the Nicola
Valley Fish & Game Club (NVFGC) range. In the 15 years of its
existence
this event has become one of the major gatherings for traditional
muzzleloader...Read
More
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Wings over Canada -
How waterfowl
became a prominent feature of Canada
We
take it for granted when we see large numbers of ducks of all shapes
and sizes congregating in city ponds, marshes, wetlands, and lakes or
geese flying overhead in their characteristic “V”
formation on their journey south....Read
More
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- To
read my
bi-weekly newspaper outdoor columns visit the MY STAND Blog.
- To
read my regular column on the BC Outdoors magazine website go here.
- If
you're interested in syndicating my columns for your publication or
would like me to write a outdoor column for your newspaper, magazine
or website please contact
me.
DISCLAIMER:
The opinions I express in the articles
are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of my
sponsors,
affiliates, magazines, networks or companies I work with. It's Othmar
Vohringer straight talk and opinions shaped by a lifelong of hunting
and
observations.
Read
the Fair
Use
Policy
I welcome assignments from hunting
magazines,
newspapers, web-publishers and outdoor product
manufactures. Please send for queries
and requests by email.
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