Well, Where do I start. My name is Richard but, everyone calls me Rick. I was born and raised in Connecticut and I live in the northeast corner of the state in a town called Ashford.

I went to Ellington High school where I graduated in 1981, after graduation I enlisted in the U.S. Army. Once I got home I moved around from job to job trying to find my “niche”. In 1985 I met my now wife of 22 years and her name is Heidi. In 1986 we had our first son Adam. Marriage had settled me down a little bit because I realized I had a family to support but, I was always looking for something.

In 1990 I came home from work one day and told my wife that I wanted to try deer hunting. So on my very next payday I went to the local K-Mart and put a bow on lay away. After I picked it up I realized I did not know what the heck I was doing so I began to ask around and found a archery shop not to far away. I went over one day and got a couple of lessons and was fitted for arrows. I practiced all summer and when Autumn came I was ready to hit the timber. My very first day I was sitting in my tree stand when all of a sudden I saw two deer run past my position like their tails were on fire but, what amazed me the most was that they did not make a sound. At that point I knew what I wanted to do and I knew it was the beginning of what I now call my “obsession”. It has been 17 years since I started hunting, I don’t bowhunt anymore due to a shoulder injury but, I do hunt with shotgun and muzzleloader.

In July of 2002 our second son was born, his name is Tyler. I know what you must be thinking ( there is a big gap in between the two boys ) , let me just say it wasn’t like we were not trying. I am now 45 years old and let me say Tyler sure keeps me hopping. My older son Adam does not seem to show interest in deer hunting and that is ok because that is his decision. Tyler on the other hand seems to be interested even at age 5 so we will see, I might have a future hunting partner.

It is 2007 now and I finally landed a good job working for a state university here in Connecticut and I really like what I do which is a Maintenance Custodian. As far as I am concerned I plan to retire from here when the magic number shows up but, that is a little ways down th road.

I know that hunting Whitetail Deer was, is and always will be my passion/obsession in life right next to my family so I hope to pass on what I have learned and what I have not learned yet.

Back in April of this year I came to work for Skinny Moose Media as a Field Journalist so that is how I ended up with my blog “Tails and Trails”, it is all about Whitetail Deer Hunting like you could not guess that.

So that is the basics about me, I hope I didn’t bore anyone. I hope to keep you all coming back to read and hopefully enjoy what I write. I encourage everyone to leave comments and/or suggestions, these would help because I am continuously trying to improve my skills as a blogger, deer hunter and outdoor enthusiast.

One last thing I want to say before I finish and it is very important to me and should be to everyone and that is ” respect the environment and wildlife ” for if we don’t it might not be there for our kids to enjoy.

Good Luck & Happy Hunting

p.s. Thank you for visiting Tails and Trails, please send any questions to, kratzke@sbcglobal.net and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Otherwise feel free to leave a comment on any of my posts.