It’s a messy job, but we all need to do it. When you take an animal’s life for the nourishment of yourself and your family, you have a responsibility to use as much of that animal as you possibly can. Waste is inexcusable.

I had the good fortune to spend a couple hours last week with Kenny Glenn, who processes deer for Dunbar Meats in Milan, Michigan. Kenny took the time to show me around dozens of freshly killed deer carcasses so I could see what hunters do right and do wrong when they field-dress a deer.

I was surprised at how much meat is lost by good, ethical hunters for the simple reason that they learned field dressing from someone who didn’t know better. That doesn’t make them bad people or even bad hunters. But it shows there’s plenty to learn for most of us.

I took along the video camera for this interview, and some of the footage is pretty graphic. But Kenny was eloquent and thorough in sharing a great deal of knowledge about how to save that venison.

Maybe you know everything there is about field dressing a deer, but it’s worth taking a look at the two-part video. I learned a few things from Kenny, and so has everyone else I’ve shown these videos.

Maybe you will, too. It’s worth checking out.

Don’t get me wrong, I love spring. It’s a magical time of year, when the birds migrate through from the tropics, the turkeys thunder in the woods, the sun shines, and everything turns from gray to green.

That does not, however, mean I want to experience it in November. But there I was Saturday, November 14, bowhunting on the eve of Michigan’s gun deer opener, when two pairs of bluebirds flitted in to look me over. Granted they dined on the white berries of poison ivy vines, a decidedly autumn activity, but still. I have never seen a bluebird from a treestand in November, and here were four of them.

As I watched them, I could distinctly make out the calls of chorus and wood frogs nearby. Never you mind how I am enough of an uber nerd to know those calls. I know them, OK? And I heard them plainly. And it is not spring.

The next morning, the sound of gunfire was punctuated by a gobbling turkey. Over and over he gobbled, just like he will when he’s lovesick in April. I half expected to see trilliums blanketing the forest floor.

This may seem like blasphemy to non-hunters, but to hell with them. I don’t want 60-degree sunny days in November. Make my November crappy. Give me gray skies and a stiff wind that’s pushing ducks around. Cold temps and even a little snow to keep the deer up and moving. Inversion on the lakes to bring on the ice.

Yeah, gimme that. There will be another spring soon enough.

Oakley Flak Jacket in King's Desert Camo

Sunglass manufacturer Oakley recently teamed up with King’s Outdoor World to produce a line of camouflage sunglasses, and I have to admit the result is pretty impressive.

Oakley sent me a pair of Flak Jacket sunglasses in King’s Desert Camo. Like most Oakley glasses, they’re designed for active use and fit snugly even when I shake my head until I see stars. OK, I didn’t really do that but you get the picture. They aren’t going anywhere.

They did not sent me a polarized pair, so I can’t comment on their value for fishing. But the polycarbonate lenses are extremely clear and obviously high quality. This pair has that sort of rosish tint that intensifies colors, and I like that. They cut down on glare, but they’re not so dark as to impair vision when a few clouds roll in.

I didn’t want to comment on the durability of the glasses until I had kicked them around for at least a couple months, and I’ve done that. They seem to take a pretty good beating. They also come in a pretty heavy-duty zippered case, with a small carrying sack that doubles as a cleaning cloth. Those are both good doo-dads.

I couldn’t really find anything to complain about with these Oakleys, other than the camo pattern isn’t necessarily something you’d break out for dress wear. But maybe you would, and more power to you.

I expect these glasses to accompany me in the woods and at the shooting range for years to come.