Grizld Outdoors

I grew up sucker fishing Crockery Crick. I don't expect most, if any, of you to know where it is and I'm not about to waste my time trying to explain. It's generally a muddy, tangled, knot of a crick. Rare are the stretches that anyone would label “picturesque”. Oh, you're still back there wondering why I called it a crick, and not a creek, aren't ya? Well, that's because that's what it is. There's a hard distinction between the two. The late outdoor author and scholar, Patrick F. McManus, goes into detail about the differences in his essay “How to Fish a Crick”. As he has already expounded greatly on the topic, I will summarize. A creek is calm, pristine, and well behaved. A crick is liable to get thrown in the drunk tank on a Saturday night after doing shots of house whiskey. But I started off talking about growing up sucker fishing, so stop distracting me. From about as early as I can recall, our family would fish the crick from mid March, well i...

 Ice fishing opportunities have been awfully limited in Michigan, and other parts of the country, the last couple of years. That dosen't stop us from wanting to get out there on the hard water to chase down some of the best eating fish to be found.  Perch are a favorite across the country when it comes to targeting fish through the ice, and early in the season they can be pretty easy to find. They're much more likely to be in shallow water with good vegetation at the beginning of the ice season. We've caught them in as little as four foot of water, but usually six to fifteen feet is where you'll find the bigger specimens.  We prefer to use the Beaver Dam noodle rods, which you can usually find as a rod and reel combo for less than $25. They are ideal for indicating even the lightest bites when the fish are less aggressive. A two to four pound monofilament or flaurocarbon line is our choice, paired with a double jig set up. Two four or five millimeter tungsten jigs, spac...

Yes, we know it's a new year for everyone else too. But for us, 2025 is a year that is going to bring a number of changes to the Grizld brand. We have been creating content on our website and YouTube for three full years now, and have learned enough to analyze what is working and what isn't. As Grizld wouldn't exist without you, we wanted to share some of the changes and improvements we have in mind for the coming year.  First off, we are dedicating ourselves to creating more content. This will encompass both YouTube videos and articles on our website. We already have articles for the website planned out for most of the coming year,so keep an eye out. We also have a number of video series concepts that we think will really resonate with the Grizld audience on YouTube. These series will be recorded this year, with the goal of building a library of videos to release starting in 2026. On top of these planned series, we will be working diligently to provide new videos throught ...

It's that time of year again. Hunting season is upon us. Many states are already weeks into their season, but Michigan, and half a dozen other states, open on October 1st. Being over 40 years old, I have experienced a fair number of opening days. A number of years ago I wrote a short story of what I feel mature bucks go through on opening day. I've edited it a bit to reflect the changes in insight I have gained with added knowledge and experience. Here is that story. As your night time ritual of decimating farmers' corn winds into the wee hours of the morning, you notice a change in the misty air. It's not something you can see or hear or even smell...yet. You continue to snack on the corn, enjoying the cool fog that surrounds you. First light is still more than an hour away. Eventually your belly is full and you begin to saunter back to your bedding area, realizing what this change portends. Then you hear it. A truck door closing. From different locations, near and fa...

Growing up, large portions of my summer were spent working in our garden. When I say garden, let me lay this out so you understand a little better. This wasn't your standard vegetable garden that you see in somebody's back yard with a little fence around it and a cute little scarecrow propped up in the center. Our garden was big. It varied a bit over the years, but on average it was about 30 yards wide and 50 yards long. We grew pretty much everything that would survive in Michigan, from asparagus to zucchini. We had your standards like green beans, potatoes, and tomatoes, but we also grew okra, tomatillos, and kholrabi. There were melons, squash, and root vegetables.We made our own pickles, spaghetti sauce, and relish. We canned beets. We froze strawberries, rasberries, and corn. Our garden provided a very large percentage of our food throughout the year.  Besides the garden, we also foraged. We'd hunt for morels in the spring. We would pick black raspberries and blackberr...

Over the years I have written a fair number of stories and articles . Some were completed, most were not. I even wrote a full 50,000 word novel in 30 days as part of National Novel Writing Month. This is not me taking an opportunity to brag. I'm not nearly good enough as a writer for that. I am using this information to illustrate that I enjoy writing and have spent a fair amount of time pursuing that particular hobby. My boss recently asked to read the novel I wrote and the commentary she offered got me thinking about what lead me to the world of writing and how I developed my personal style as well as how that ties into my love of the outdoors. First and foremost, my influences have always been quite varied. I enjoy authors from a variety of genres. Sci-fi, fantasy, westerns, thrillers, political intrigue, and humor all have a place on my bookshelf. But my two largest influences were Louis L'Amour and Pat McManus.  These two men wrote the stories that helped shape my love of...