Update from Maine

Busy, the way I like it, after returning from Vegas and the 2010 SHOT Show.

Highlight there--apart from seeing my outdoor industry friends, and meeting with NFLer Chad Pennington (great guy; one serious bass angler)--was three-plus-hours at Emeril's "steakhouse" with my buds from Yamaha Outdoors. I always wondered what it was like to experience true "flavor profiles," the kind they talk at length about on the Food Network. Excellent evening. Even the dinner roll had character.

Old truck passed inspection this morning so it's feeling like a glass-half-full day. Cold front sweeping in like a freight train. Windy all night; now. Sunny, bluebird sky--we bottomed out at 12 degrees F overnight. Busy here in the home office, surrounded by our two setters Radar and Luna(tic). Both nap to my laptop's keyboard rattle. Plotting spring turkey hunts, and the schedule is set. Even California is on the calendar, a first as turkey hunts go.

As for new writing, I just hit send yesterday on a feature article that will appear in the April issue of Turkey & Turkey Hunting.

Elsewhere since the SHOT Show:

I've blogged for Outdoor Life (The Strut Zone).

I've made Turkey Site posts for Realtree.com.

I've written a weekly tip for Yamaha Outdoors (runs Feb. 1).

I've drafted and sent a column for my Foster's Sunday Citizen, and fosters.com space ("Last Call for Waterfowl"). Look for it Jan. 31.

I've added content to the Waterfowl Report and Gear Review.

I've taught (I'm really a writing coach) my two online Granite State College media courses. Also doing an evening writing course once a week.

--Steve Hickoff

Steve Hickoff in Print

"Calling Isn't Enough," my feature article on why reading the terrain helps you call wild turkeys more successfully, appears in the February 2010 issue of Turkey & Turkey Hunting.

--Steve Hickoff