While eating lunch on the deck at Harp’s Pub, which is only a few thousand yards from my house, you can look straight down into the murky waters of Big Fishweir Creek. This once navigable urban waterway meanders from Jacksonville’s trendy Avondale neighborhood under the Herschel Street bridge and into the Ortega River where it …
Author Archives: BruceCochran
Florida Black Bears
A recent Associated Press article in the Florida Times Union States that Governor Ron Desantis signed a bill to protect black bears against poachers. I don’t even like poached eggs so I can imagine how yucky a poached bear would taste. Anyway, the main reason some people were poaching bears is because the Florida bear …
Pets by day, killers by night
They stalk the suburbs by night. With catlike quickness they pounce upon their unsuspecting prey. With no respect for the concept of fair play the nocturnal monsters toy with their helpless victims, often flinging them into the air or swatting them with cruel paws. Eventually tiring of this sadistic game, they commit the unthinkable… they …
Another Day In Paradise
Looking east from Jim’s Boatyard at the confluence of Sisters Creek and the St. John’s River…… 6:30 AM…It’s a beautiful sight. I’d love to see it more often if I didn’t have to get up so damn early. It’s a good start for a 4-hour charter with Capt. Andrew Mizell of Southern Marsh Charters. Saw …
Great Inventions
Every duck hunter needs a dozen whooping crane decoys and a customized donut lanyard. Want to learn more about these and other great inventions? Read this Fowl Thoughts column from the September 2014 issue of Wildfowl magazine.
Camo Wars
Every year hunting apparel manufacturers bring out at least one new camouflage pattern. Pity the poor soul who shows up at hunting camp sporting last year’s pattern. And if you’re seen wearing the original old government issue brown-over-more-brown pattern…well…turn in your man card and go play jumprope with the girls. This story was published …
One-Armed Retriever Training
I had just started writing and illustrating The Sporting Life column for Wyoming Wildlife News. My new Lab pup Maggie was ready to be trained. I was recovering from rotator cuff surgery on my right shoulder so throwing training dummies for her was out. That’s how I came up with one-armed retriever training…indoor version.
Game On
This Fowl Thoughts column is from the November 2012 issue of Wildfowl. I couldn’t have written it without lots of help from the younger members of my family. Click on the text to enlarge it.
Rich Man, Poor Man
In 2012 I was writing columns for two publications: Wildfowl magazine and Wyoming Wildlife News. It kept me so busy I hardly had time to hunt and fish. The Wildfowl page was called Fowl Thoughts. Here’s the column from the September 2012 issue. Click on the text to enlarge it.
More exciting urban trail cam photos
Tie your trail cam to a tree in the woods, leave it for a week or so, then take out the chip, stick it in your computer and marvel at the exciting photos. White tail deer, raccoons, possums, all sorts of nocturnal critters roaming the area. Stick your trail cam on a tripod and set …