Inside The Wild

© By Othmar Vohringer

Inside The Wild is the story of L.W. Oakely, a resident of Ontario, and his experiences in the wild places thereof. As an avid reader of natural history and hunting books I naturally looked forward to reading it when Oakley asked me to review it.

It should be mentioned that the author does not try to be politically correct when it comes to addressing subjects by their proper names and he voices his opinions on touchy subjects at a time when many other writers try hard to avoid controversy. I consider it a plus to his writing that he speaks freely what is on his mind.

There are one or two passages in the book that made me scratch my head a bit however, like the generalizing remark about SUV drivers, plus one or two remarks about other hunters. But I can accept that as his opinion even if I do not share it.

Inside The Wild is a detailed account of L.W. Oakley’s life as a hunter and nature enthusiast among a close-knit circle of hunting friends whose adventures into the wild world of northern Ontario have shaped his beliefs and opinions of what hunting and nature means to him.

I have read the book from the first to the last page and often found it hard to put it down. Oakley is a great storyteller while passing along some valuable insights for us to consider without sounding preachy. I particularly enjoyed how Oakley starts each chapter with a personal story he experienced with his hunting friends. Some of these stories make you think while others make you smile or even laugh.

The book is richly illustrated with pictures, some of which are a bit graphic in nature. Be it text or pictures I appreciate the fact that Oakley depicts a real image of nature and all things wild rather than having succumbed to the trend of presenting the natural world without it’s dark side. Inside the Wild is about the beauty but also the savagery of nature in all its naked truth viewed through the eyes of a passionate hunter and conservationist. If you like a good book that tells it the way it is without apologies then you will enjoy reading Inside the Wild as much as I have.

With Christmas coming up this is the ideal gift for hunters of all ages.

Inside the Wild.
Author: L.W. Oakely
Publisher: General Store Publishing House (Canada).
Paperback 6” x 9”, 175 pages. Book contains 43 short stories grouped into three sections: Hunting, Wildlife and Wilderness. Illustrated with 48 black and white pictures.
Cover price $19.95
ISBN-13: 078-1-897113-52-3

For more information or to purchase Inside the Wild visit General Store Publishing House

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For more product and book reviews visit Othmar Vohringer Outdoors.
For more information on my hunting products reviews read product review policy.
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Othmar Vohringer Outdoors


Tags: Inside The Wild, L. W. Oakley, Hunting Book, Product Review

Merritt -10th annual Ice Fishing Derby

© By Othmar Vohringer

How time goes by. I could have sworn we just finished last years ice fishing derby and here I am, organizing this years event.

This year the Nicola Valley Fish & Game Club celebrates the 10th ice fishing derby anniversary.

What started ten years ago as a small local event has over the years grown to become one of the region’s most popular, and BC’s biggest, winter fishing event. The ice fishing derby is a highly anticipated family event, which annually attracts over 200 adults and children from all over the region from as far away as Vancouver.

This year the ice fishing derby will be held on Sunday, January 17, 2010 at Mamette Lake. The derby starts officially at 8:00 am and closes at 2:00 pm.
Derby Entry Fees: $15 per person or $30 per family.

Tickets are available at:
Powderkeg Outdoor Sports Store in Merritt.
Ponderosa Hunting and Fishing Tackle Store in Merritt, or at the event.

There are many prizes to be given away.
We have generous cash prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place for trout in the adult and youth class. Heaviest weight overall for coarse fish plus many door prizes, raffle and draws.
Hot dogs plus free hot chocolate and coffee will available in our cozy warm hospitality tent. I look forward to welcoming everybody, so come on out and help us celebrate our 10th annual Ice Fishing Derby!

For more information contact:
Othmar Vohringer at: atacov@yahoo.ca

Follow this link to read about last years event. This year it's going to be better and bigger.

Image Courtesy of: Heidi Koehler Photography

Othmar Vohringer Outdoors

Tags: Merritt, Ice Fishing Derby, Nicola Valley Fish and Game Club

Sportsman Channel Magazine to cease all publication

© By Othmar Vohringer

Yesterday I received an email from the editors of the Sportsman Channel informing me that due to budget constraints the Sportsman Magazine will no longer be published.

Just a little over a month ago I was informed that the popular TV hunting show-programming company would close their printed magazine due to the high production cost and replace it with a internet version. Now two editions into the new version, which by the way was of outstanding quality, we’re informed that this version will closed down for good too.

With that decision, undoubtedly based on the current economic situation, another outdoor publication is lost forever. I had the privilege to contribute several articles for this publication and it was always a pleasure to deal with the editorial staff. To see this magazine go not only means another income loss for outdoor writers but also a loss for the readers who looked every month forward to this great magazine.

Just to avoid any confusion. The Sportsman Channel is still going strong and still offers some of the best and strongest outdoor TV programming available on cable. The closure only affects the Sportsman Magazine.

The way the economy is I am almost convinced that this is not the last time that we hear of an outdoor magazine having to make that difficult decision. Lets hope that the American economy is getting soon back on track again.

Othmar Vohringer Outdoors
Founding Member of Outdoor Bloggers Summit

Tags: Sportsman Channel, Hunting Magazine

How a little help can go a long way to help others become successful hunters

© By Othmar Vohringer

Those of my readers who also read the Whitetail Deer Passion blog may remember the post I wrote about the young Wisconsin hunter who killed his first ever buck after seeking my advice.

After that initial buck Shawn, the young Wisconsin hunter, asked for more advice because he hadn’t seen any more deer. He was wondering where they went. I gave him advice, based on the information he provided, and a few days later he called to tell me that he shot a huge 11-point puck during Wisconsin’s slug gun season. The hunter kindly supplied me with his hunting report and the permission to publish it on Whitetail Deer Passion.

In the report he writes an interesting part that all hunters should take to heart. “…His way of thinking surprised me. I always thought that bow hunters had to be either in a tree stand or in a ground blind that is manufactured…” To often hunters are caught up with traditions and “that is how it is done” rituals. The fact however is, that the hunter who thinks outside the box will always be more successful. Deer do not read hunting magazines, watch videos or attend hunting seminars. Deer do what they do and hunters need to observe and adjust accordingly.

As Shawn’s story and the popularity of my hunting strategy consultant service and seminars prove time and again thinking outside of the box and be flexible pays off big time.

The full story can be read here.

I am flattered by the credit Shawn pays to my advice but also very proud of having been able to play my part in his success. It is quite something for a novice hunter to go from getting nothing for years to filling tow doe and two buck tags, and big bucks at that, in one season.

For more information on my services to improve your success visit my website.

Here I leave you with Shawn’s two big bucks which he killed within a few weeks of each other.













This is Shawn's 10 point bow buck.














This is Shawn's 11 point slug gun season buck.

Images courtesy of Shawn Moretti.

Tags: Deer Hunting, Hunting Strategy Consultant, Improve Hunting Success

NBC Refuses to air PETA Thanksgiving Commercial

© By Othmar Vohringer

According to a U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance news release plus several newspaper reports the NBC refuses to play a Thanksgiving commercial produced by the notorious animal rights group PETA.

A spokes person for the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance said; “The “Grace” ad produced by PETA starts off innocently with a cute, young girl sitting at the dinner table with her family. She is asked to give a Thanksgiving blessing and goes into a long winded, and very graphic dissertation about the “cruelty” of turkey farming.”

According to PETA’s blog, it submitted the ad to NBC so that it could run during coverage of the annual Macy’s Day Parade on Thanksgiving Day. NBC responded that it required more information before it would run the ad. PETA responded with some of its outrageous propaganda but was disappointed when NBC still came firmly down against allowing the ad to air.

“It is highly inappropriate, but not unexpected for PETA to attempt to hijack a family tradition in order to push its radical message,” said Bud Pidgeon, U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance president and CEO. “Just like with the Super Bowl commercial, NBC made the right call.”

I too think that the NBC made the right call to turn the PETA commercial down and since it is Thanksgiving I would like to encourage hunters and anglers reading this blog to give thanks to the NBC for this wise decision. Contact NBC.

Happy Thanksgiving to everybody.

Othmar Vohringer Outdoors

Tags: Thanksgiving, NBC, PETA, TV Commercial

Youth Outdoor Participation Declines

© By Othmar Vohringer

According to a new outdoor recreation activity survey released by “The Outdoor Foundation®” youth participation in outdoor activity is in decline following a promising growth in participation in 2008.

The survey included 114 different outdoor activities capturing responses from over 40,000 youth aged six and older. This was the largest survey ever done on youth outdoor activity participation. According to the survey some reasons for the drop are the beginning of adjustments in American lifestyles brought about by a challenging economy, shifting demographics and changing times.

Youth, so the surveys finds, spend more time indoors. The outdoor participation of youth aged 6 to 17 dropped 16.7 percent. The biggest drop was noted among the youngest ( 6 to 12 ) that fell a staggering nine percent. There is a wide gap between ethnic groups in the outdoor participation. Caucasians are more active in the outdoors than any other ethnic groups while African Americans are the lowest ranking.


The report of the survey is critical for the Outdoor Foundation’s development of strategies to promote outdoor activity and get youth.
Among the long list of activities that are loosing favour with youth is hunting. Hunting shows the biggest loss and that to me is troubling.

For years hunting is loosing participants. This is due in part to the baby boomers retiring and not enough youth entering. While we have been very successful at recruiting women, the largest growing hunting segment into our ranks we’re still loosing more hunters than we gain.

To be perfectly frank, if hunters were an animal species we would be on the endangered species list. Organizations would organize fundraisers on our behalf and the governments would implement laws for our protection. Since we’re not an animal species we have to think of ways to attract more new and young hunters. Since, as the survey shows, young people spend more time indoors and on the computers we, the outdoor bloggers, may be able to reach these young people via the computer screen.

How about writing about a young hunter, highlighting the fun and excitement hunting can be for the novice and the guide? It is common for a hunter to bring his or her children into hunting. What about the children or adults that do not have hunter parents, friends or relatives? From personal experience I know that there are a fairly large number of youth and adults that would like to become hunters if they only could find someone that shows then how to get started or is available with advice when needed.

If we want to recruit more hunters we need to think outside the box and beyond our immediate family. Extend the recruitment of hunters to your friends at work and to those of your children. Write about the experiences on your blogs. If young people read about other youth, through your blogs, they might give hunting serious consideration. How well that can work became clear to me a few weeks ago. A young man contacted me after reading through my blog and asked me advice on hunting. We began to communicate by phone and email for several weeks and the other day I got a phone call from that young man telling me that he just shot a big ten-point buck. (The full story of that event will soon be posted on my Whitetail Deer Passion blog.)

This young man was a novice hunter with no hunting background in his family so he could not ask his parents, siblings or relatives for advice on how to hunt. But what really disturbed me was the fact that even fellow hunters seemed to have no time for him when he approached them. Finally, before giving up hunting, he thought that he would take a chance and phone me, a complete stranger, because he read on my blog about my dedication to helping new hunters. The young hunter made his mind up that if I would turn him down too he would give up hunting. But because I blogged about the importance of helping new hunters we gained a hunter.

It doesn’t matter what outdoors activity niche you cover with your blog because the blog can function as a tool to recruit young people back into the outdoors. Show the youth through your words that the outdoors is a great place to have fun, excitement and thrills and it is also a place to celebrate their achievements.

For more information on my efforts to promote hunting to young and new generation of hunters visit my website. Othmar Vohringer Outdoors


Tags: Youth Outdoor Participation in Decline, The Outdoor Foundation, Promoting Hunting

Maine Trappers 1 - Animal Rights 0

© By Othmar Vohringer

Today I received a press release from the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation that I would like to share with my readers. Ones again sportsmen and the supporting organizations have proven that when we stick together and argue with facts we win against animal rights. Read on!

Trappers in Maine won a major victory as the state’s Federal District Court upheld the state’s trapping practices and blocked the establishment of a precedent that could be used by anti-hunting and anti-trapping groups nationwide.
In 2008, the Animal Welfare Institute and the Wildlife Alliance of Maine filed a lawsuit against the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (DIFW) seeking a permanent injunction that would have essentially prohibited trapping in the state. The lawsuit claimed that Maine’s trapping regulations violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) because Canada lynx, a threatened species under the ESA, could be incidentally caught in traps causing “irreparable harm” to the population.

Throughout the case, the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation (USSAF), along with the Maine Trappers’ Association, Fur Takers of America, National Trappers’ Association , and several individual sportsmen, argued that the anti-trapping plaintiffs had to show that Maine’s trapping practices were a threat to the Canada lynx population as a whole. The plaintiffs insisted that harm to one individual lynx was sufficient for the Court to prohibit trapping in the state.

On November 10th, Federal District Court Judge John A. Woodcock, Jr. ruled that Maine’s trapping practices did not irreparably harm the Canada lynx and denied the injunction sought by the anti-trappers. Further, the Judge agreed with the state and the USSAF that “irreparable harm” is harm to a species as a whole and not simply one individual member.

“Although the plaintiffs may appeal the ruling, the Federal Court’s decision is a monumental victory for the trappers in Maine and sets an excellent precedent that will make it harder for the antis to misuse the ESA in their attempts to ban hunting and trapping in other states,” states USSAF Vice President for Government Affairs Rob Sexton.

“We knew the evidence was on our side and are thrilled with outcome,” said Skip Trask, executive director of the Maine Trappers Association. “The USSAF’s legal assistance was invaluable to the favorable outcome.”

Read full article here.

Othmar Vohringer Outdoors
Founding Member of Outdoor Bloggers Summit

Tags: Maine Trappers, U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, Trappers Win Court Case Against Anti Hunters, Press Release,