The upland game season is upon us and hunters are taking to the field for rabbits, pheasants, quail and partridges. Here are a few reminders to help keep you safe this season no matter what you’re hunting.

  * Most if not all states require hunters to wear a solid blaze orange hat or cap, vest, coat or jacket. Check the regulations in your state before going afield. Find a link to your states DNR at http://www.backwoodsbound.com/stgamedepts.html.

  * Hunters should stay in a straight line while pushing a field. They should also stay in communication with each other and know where each other is at while hunting. There have been incidents where hunters have been in a semicircle and shooting towards one-another when accidents have happened.

  * Before heading out, talk about the hunting plan. How the hunt will take place, each hunter’s role in the hunt and where each person will be at all times.

  * Know exactly where standers will be located, especially when hunting standing corn or tall switch grass. Too often the standers get shot by the pushers as they near the end of the field and the birds begin to flush. They too need to be wearing blaze orange.

  * Make sure your gun is unloaded when crossing a fence or other obstacle to avoid it accidentally discharging.

  * Properly identify the target and what is beyond it. This will be especially important when hunting in standing corn or tall grass.

  * If hunting with a dog, never lean a loaded gun against a fence, tree, vehicle, etc. Hunting dogs are usually excited to be in the field and could knock the gun over causing it to discharge.

  * Take someone new along to help keep our hunting traditions alive.

  * Remember to have fun but stay safe. Safety is no accident.

  These tips were compiled with the help of an article from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Visit their site at http://www.iowadnr.gov for information about hunting and fishing in beautiful Iowa.

  How do you explain hunting to someone who has never done it? Hunting is pine trees and majestic red oaks rising above the forest floor in their search for the sun. It’s the pungent smells of the rotting leaves on a damp morning or crisp scent of red cedar in the waking dawn. Its deer trails meandering through the woods and jay hook turkey scat in a field of green wheat peeking through the dirt.

  The hunt is the blue jay that shares your stand with you as he fusses tirelessly at the squirrels in the tree next to you. It’s the chill of the morning winter wind as you wait for the rise of the sun in the east. It’s the flickering tail of a young buck watching from the shadows of the forest edge before he crosses the clearing in front of you. It’s standing in the dawn of the sun watching God’s creation greet the day.

  Hunting is the wild startling flush of quail as you walk to your stand or the welcome beat of their wings in front of the dog’s nose as your shotgun swings to your shoulder. It’s the cackle of a cock pheasant taking flight or the booming gobble of a mature tom turkey coming off the roost. It’s the soft purr of a turkey hen calling its lover from afar or the whistling wings of a flight of ducks joining your decoys.

  Hunting is early morning breakfast after a sleepless night of anticipation. It’s standing with old men you admire finally having made the grade to get to tag along. It’s the smell of coffee and tobacco and the banter between men who have long been brothers in the hunt. It’s learning compassion and respect for a prey that you love and cherish in a way that a non-hunter will never understand.

  Hunting is time around a camp fire where old stories are told and retold and new stories added to the mix. It’s good whiskey and cold beer but only after the guns are put away and the boots are next to the fire. It’s being wrapped in grandpa’s coat asleep in the front seat as he drives you home.

  Hunting is the look on the face of your child as they take their first game and the seriousness of their face as you teach them how to properly prepare it and clean it. It’s the passing on of an intimate part of your soul that you have chosen to share with someone. It’s making memories that never fade and only get better with the telling. It is more about life than it is the taking of life.

  How do you put that into words?

  I arrived at my favorite lodge in Alaska on a recent Wednesday afternoon and was pleased to find out I would be staying in my favorite cabin, Cabin # 3. It’s kind of off by itself giving me the privacy that I like yet close to the main lodge sort of keeping me in the loop.

  After organizing my things and having a great evening meal at the lodge I retired to my cabin to take a shower, relax a little before turning in for the night.

  A little after 2:00 am I was awakened by some loud noise and vibration in the wall by my bed. The noise sounded like thunder and the wall sounded like it was coming apart! Thinking for a minute I realized it wasn’t thunder as it makes a loud noise then kind of rolls off. An earthquake came to mind as they are normal occurrence in Alaska but that wasn’t it either. The noise was loud and short.

  After 3 to 4 minutes everything went quite. No more shaking, no more noise, nothing. I eventually went back to sleep.

  The next morning at breakfast at the lodge I asked if anybody in the other cabins had felt the disturbance. The answer was no!

  One of the lodge guides came over and said, “I know what it was.”

  I said, “Please tell me and satisfy my curiosity.”

  He told me, and I quote, “It was probably a huge Alaska Brown bear!”

  I laughed and told him he was kidding me to which he asked if I had looked at the outside wall of the cabin. I told him no that I hadn’t.

  After breakfast he and I went to look at the cabin. What we found astounded me!

  These cabins are made from real log lumber and on the side there was significant damage to the logs. Wood had been bitten and pieces ripped off! I could not believe it! But there it was!

  He told me it was probably done by a 1200 – 1400 pound brown bear standing up on its back legs, slapping the wall with its front paws, tearing the wood off with its huge claws and biting the logs with its sharp teeth all the time grunting and growling very loudly!

  The guide told me this had happened on other occasions and they’re not sure why. He showed me some claw and teeth marks that were repaired and refinished on the cabin from a previous encounter.

  We walked to the next cabin up the line and again saw fresh claw and teeth marks and fresh bits of wood on the ground. He could not give me a reason why the bears do this but he thought that these cabins had been built on an old bear trail and on occasion the bears walking the trail at night would do this. I guess they didn’t like the “road blocks” in their way.

  The following Wednesday night (is there a pattern to this?) I heard similar noises outside. I felt a little risqué and very, very quietly stepped out on the porch and peaked around the corner. Not 3 feet away from me a small bear cub turned its head and looked straight at me! That really scared me as I knew that Big Bad Momma bear had to be very close by!

  I immediately went back into the cabin and closed the door. The noise went away and I slept undisturbed the rest of the night.

  The next morning I told everyone at breakfast that it had happened again. Several of us including the same guide went to the cabin and looked at the wall. There were more claw marks, bite marks and pieces of fresh wood on the ground!

  I love Alaska but of all the great memories over the past 17 years photographing bears and wildlife this is truly one I will never forget. I realize that some may not believe this story but I was there. I heard it. I saw it.

  That’s why they now call Cabin #3….. The Bear Cabin!