Category Archives: Stories

Feeling a True Kinship

Posted on February 9, 2013 by Dennis Neely: Traditional Woodsman

A fox squirrel’s bushy tail flicked, then vanished. A black oak’s welted bark pressed hard against the hunting shirt’s linen shoulder. The tail reappeared, head-high, on the backside of an arching red oak, then disappeared. A slight breeze rustled what … Continue reading →

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“Follow the pair…”

Posted on January 30, 2013 by Dennis Neely: Traditional Woodsman

Gentle, cautious footfalls avoided a tumble. A lone rabbit track teased, emerging from under a stump, then rounding a bushy cedar tree. My winter moccasins shuffled in a joyous, yet measured pursuit. The track angled downhill, straight at a toppled … Continue reading →

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“They’re still wild animals…”

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Dennis Neely: Traditional Woodsman

Buffalo hoof prints pocked the frozen trace. Wool-lined moccasins crunched and crackled and slid about on the old snow in the near-zero January cold. Partway up a rolling knob a woodsman’s fur-backed mitten signaled for his two companions to halt. … Continue reading →

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“I followed up the animal…”

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Dennis Neely: Traditional Woodsman

A deer’s head bobbed up in the poison sumac and marsh elders. Its ears flicked front to back to front. It looked side to side displaying noticeable concern, then disappeared in the thick wet snow that clung to every twig … Continue reading →

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The familiar words came easy…

Posted on December 24, 2012 by Dennis Neely: Traditional Woodsman

A cold fall rain turned to blowing snow. The lingering fall slipped away in two days’ time. Soft ground froze firm. A thin layer of white carpeted the glade. Except for the crows and a blue jay or two, silence … Continue reading →

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Two Unexpected Arrivals

Posted on December 22, 2012 by Dennis Neely: Traditional Woodsman

Morning dawned without a sunrise; night succumbed to a hazy, dull gray. In due time, a roosted wild turkey, treed to the north, uttered a hushed putt. Another bird, perched high in a leafless red oak across the narrows, whispered … Continue reading →

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“An unfortunate soul died…”

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Dennis Neely: Traditional Woodsman

A roosted hen turkey fidgeted overhead. A starry night sky, grayed by a full moon that hung 3 o’clock high over the western horizon, backlit the bird’s sleek black shape. Bony legs stepped sideways. Skeleton-like toes flexed as they gripped … Continue reading →

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An Unmistakable Badge

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Dennis Neely: Traditional Woodsman

A fine buck’s fresh blood stained the leggin’s top. Dark burgundy-colored spots, flung in a tussle with a young tom turkey a few days earlier, dotted the front of my linen hunting shirt. Reddish-brown blotches marked the shirt’s dirty hem-fringe. … Continue reading →

Posted in Clothing & Accoutrements, Deer Hunts, Worth thinking about... | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments