Most of these observations have been spinning around in my head like that last pickle in the quart jar hidden behind the ketchup bottle in the refrigerator door. They’re just sitting there, waiting to be recognized and come to terms with so the space can be freed up for a fresh batch.

Let’s open that jar, shall we?

For starters, I think the hardest places to hunt big whitetails are in the vast, public forests of the Upper Great Lakes and anywhere in the Northeast.

I also think that anyone who consistently bags mature bucks in these environments should consider himself an expert.

I think most hunters underestimate their own abilities, and I think a little confidence goes a long way to realizing that underpinning circumstances (time, land, money and opportunity) are most likely what are keeping you from bagging more and bigger whitetails each year.

I think one of the most thankless jobs in public service is that of a state-employed deer biologist.

I think each of them should have this quote posted on their office walls: “A sensible man knows you can’t please everybody. A wise man knows you can’t please anybody.”

I think the art of blood-trailing is grossly underestimated today’s hunters.

I think too many bow-hunters worry too much about arrow speeds and too little about broadhead sharpness.

I think it is pretty easy to draw a conclusion from the previous two sentences.

I think most stand hunters don’t take safety truly serious until they’ve fallen — or have come close to falling — from a tree stand.

I think that as I get older I will probably be hunting a lot more from ground blinds.

I think there should be a lot more emphasis on venison consumption in our ranks.

I think I feel physical pain on the rare occassions when we sidle up to the grocery store checkout line with ground beef in the shopping cart.

I think venison goes best with homegrown vegetables. Therefore, I think that Tracy and I will be planting four rows of garlic (instead of two) in our garden next spring.

I think that if I were a kid again, I wouldn’t be wallpapering my walls with posters of sports stars.

I think I’d be looking for inspiration from some of the deer hunting personalities on TV and in magazines. Guys like  Fred Eichler, Kenneth Lancaster, Mark Kayser, Zeke Pipher, Steve Bartylla, Matt Harper and John Eberhart.

I think it is admirable that music stars like Ted Nugent, Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert and Craig Morgan freely discuss their love of deer hunting when they’re writing on Facebook, Twitter and talking to members of the popular press.

I think Nugent does not get enough credit for what he has done to promote healthy, sustenance-based living.

I think I’m having a hard time typing these last few words because I keep thinking about that buck that showed up on my trail camera.

Therefore, I think I had better stop here and go home.

And sharpen my broadheads.

article/deer-and-deer-hunting-november-2009-issue/”>November 2009 issue of Deer & Deer Hunting.