You want to release the fish you just caught unharmed, but do you know where to hold it without damaging any of its vital organs so that you can remove the hook safely?

Lost in the woods! It can happen to anyone. I have a good friend who was suddenly stunned when he realized he would have to spend his first night in the woods alone. Darkness caught up with him while tracking a buck, and he lost his way in the dark. It can happen when you’re concentrating on tracks on the ground and not keeping your eyes on your surroundings. Fortunately, my friend didn’t panic, and his rain gear saved him from a wet, cold night in the woods.

My good friend Ron Spomer recently read a letter on his website from a knowledgeable Army veteran explaining why the MI .30 carbine was one of the best rifles in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. I agree, and with good reason. I served in the U.S. Army for two years in Germany. I was trained as a Combat Engineer, and, most of the time, I carried my 10-pound M1 Garand. Some days in the field, that M1 Garand felt like 25 pounds! I never saw combat, but I would have carried that Garand in the field. The M1 Garand was and still is a great rifle. That .30/06 with its 8-round clip was the rifle that won World War II. But it just weighed too much.

Baffin Island in the Northwest Territories can be downright mean to hunters. It’s cold, windy, and wet. Campfires are a luxury on Baffin. There are no trees, and the only vegetation is lichen and moss. The shoreline is a maze of ankle-twisting rocks. But the caribou hunting more than made up for the aches and pains in my body when I hunted there years ago.