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48 Articles

N 31° 25' 34.62" W 91° 54' 7.32" HONEY BRAKE LAKE / Jonesville, LA / 9:37 a.m. Ducks had been filtering down to the Honey Brake Lodge blind in pairs and triples when a group of five committ ed. Hunters dropped two greenheads in the decoys but winged a third, which summoned the strength to sail a quarter mile before plummeting to the shallows. Lodge manager Drew Keeth and his Lab, Cash, hopped in the boat. One 100-yard blind retrieve later, they were speeding back. Read more about hardworking dogs like Cash—who Keeth calls “the perfect Southern gentleman”—on p. 63.…

NOT BROAD ENOUGH ▶ Numerous popular broadheads are missing from the Broadhead Test [August 2015], including Rage Chisel Tip 2-Blade, Swhacker, and Rampage Dead Ringer. You should have more than enough funds, manpower, and facilities for a full review. You have an incomplete report of “the hottest heads on the market today” when you fail to bring all the players to the game. CaptRon, via OutdoorLife.com BOWHUNTING EDITOR TODD KUHN REPLIES: ▶ As is the case with all our gear tests, this was an invitational. Requests for samples were sent to all the broadhead manufacturers who exhibited at the 2015 Archery Trade Association show in January. We also reached out to manufacturers who didn’t exhibit. Our test field includes all the brands that provided samples by our deadline. BOYHOOD BOWS ▶ Andrew McKean’s column on his first…

October Forever

I don’t need a calendar to know it’s October. The yellowing leaves of river-bottom cottonwoods announce the month. So does the deepening plumage of maturing pheasants. Every day, young-of-the-year roosters wear a little more red, green, and the rust-orange color that artists call rufous. The sound of October here in eastern Montana is the high, rattling bugle of thousands of sandhill cranes. The first days of the month bring them down from the north, ragged vees of birds that began their flight in the pike flowages and stunted-timber bogs of northern Saskatchewan. I’m usually somewhere out on the prairie when the first wave of cranes comes over, because their arrival coincides with the opener of antelope season, another benchmark of the month. Depending on my mood, the lonely cries of cranes are…

October Forever

ELMO THE WONDER DOG

Elmo had the best nose in the tri-state area. Or at least that’s what Tom told me. And that’s only because he couldn’t say for sure about the other 47 states. Elmo could wind a bird in a tornado, claimed Tom on the day I visited his kennel. I’d talked to him on the phone a few times to let him know I was an ambitious bird hunter who wasn’t afraid of a little legwork. I was in need of a serious dog to wow my buddies. Tom told me to come on down. “Elmo! Where’s Elmo?” I heard him bellow before he hung up the phone. I never did put much stock in the words of a braggart, but as long as it was about a man’s dog or child, I thought…

ELMO THE WONDER DOG

“WACKY” DEER TACTICS

CALLING / AUGUST 1949 This first feature on deer calls in OL tells the tale of an experienced hunter who traveled to Alaska for Sitka blacktails. The author initially thought he was the butt of a joke, but he soon discovered the locals used deer calls with great success. The call looked a bit like a harmonica and sounded simliar to “a lost lamb bleating for its mother”—but they admited they didn’t know what sound it was supposed to replicate. In the end, the author and his buddy called in two bucks and dropped both of them. The story garnered so much reader interest that an advice column on using commercial calls appeared in the October 1949 issue. So while calls were available in the late ’40s, they were still news…

“WACKY” DEER TACTICS

Deer and hunters alike oft en find themselves at the mercy of this modest nut. A poor acorn year can spell disaster for a herd headed into a hard winter, just as a bumper crop can ruin even the best hunt plan. Here’s everything you never knew about the hard mast that packs a real punch. 45O-6OO NUMBER OF OAK SPECIES THAT EXIST WORLDWIDE, DEPENDING ON THEIR CLASSIFICATION APPROXIMATE NUMBER OF OAK SPECIES IN THE U.S. 5.5 POUNDS OF FOOD A DEER CONSUMES PER DAY, ON AVERAGE 55% PORTION OF A WHITETAIL’S FALL DIET THAT CONSISTS OF MAST LIKE ACORNS 74% ACORNS A GRAY SQUIRREL MAY HIDE BUT NEVER RECOVER >10,000 NUMBER OF ACORNS A SINGLE OAK TREE CAN DROP IN A GOOD YEAR 6 MONTHS TIME IT TAKES ACORNS FROM THE WHITE OAK FAMILY TO MATURE 18 MONTHS TIME IT TAKES…

Deer survive by their prodigious sense of smell, but you can fool their sniffers if you know when, and how, to use simple drags. These are either natural or artificial scents that are applied to various absorbent mediums and then towed through the field. Most are designed to attract deer to your stand, but you can also use this tool to create an invisible fence by using especially repellent scents that deter deer from certain areas. The first time I saw a drag used to attract deer was during a rut hunt in Illinois. My friend Jeff had killed a doe earlier in the week, and as he field-dressed her, he carefully removed the bladder. Later, he doused an old wool sock with her urine, tied the sock to his ankle…

BE A BETTER BLOCKER

1. PLAN YOUR SPAN ▶ End blockers should stand close enough that birds will flush rather than run between them. The spacing is correct when a rooster can’t fly between two hunters while out of range of both guns. 2. CLOSE THE SIDE DOOR ▶ Space side blockers a little farther apart. They should stand far enough from the edge that they don’t flush birds while walking in. 3. TRY “MOVING” BLOCKERS ▶ If you’re short on people, use fewer side blockers, but have them advance ahead of the drivers by 30 to 50 yards and stay outside the cover. This keeps them in range of birds that flush in front of the line as it progresses. The moving blocker strategy also works with as few as a carload of hunters, but with a little change-up.…

BE A BETTER BLOCKER

CALL A TURKEY WITH A COW’S HORN

Hailing from eastern Virginia a century ago, this call was employed for fall turkey hunting, though its high-pitched yelps will work equally well in the spring. It operates like a wingbone yelper, but the cow horn softens and directs the sound of the call. With practice, you can add clucks to your repertoire. 1. WINGBONE MOUTHPIECE The old timers insisted on a young hen wingbone for a mouthpiece. They believed this gave the call a keener, more piercing tone because of the bone’s smaller diameter. Gobbler wingbones will work, but to best imitate the call of a hen turkey, you need a hen wingbone. 2. CATHETER TUBE A rubber catheter tube is the best material to mate the mouthpiece with the horn. Look for a size 22 or 24 French-style catheter, available at medical-supply…

CALL A TURKEY WITH A COW’S HORN

Noticing the recent trend toward taking shots at ever-longer ranges, I felt the need for a reality check. I reviewed my journals on the last dozen or so elk kills I’ve been in on during rifle season on public land. One shot stretched about 300 yards and one was within 10. The rest were between 35 and 75 yards. Most often, you couldn’t shoot much farther because the elk were hiding in timber. “Elk use a lot of different kinds of escape cover, but in forested areas when the pressure is on, a lot of elk will just timber up,” says Neil Anderson, regional wildlife manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. The same is true with whitetails, moose, and bears. Sometimes, a 300-yard shot might be your best bet. But at other…

Television host and public-land hunter Randy Newberg is on a mission to stop recent proposals to sell or trade federal land. Why would he risk a successful career as a hunting personality to battle politicians and powerful special interests? Because it’s what hunters have always done, he says, and always must do. OUTDOOR LIFE: Why is public land so important to you? RANDY NEWBERG: I grew up in northern Minnesota, and my parents divorced when I was 11. Money was tight for a single mom raising three kids. The only saving grace was that I had Pine Island State Forest within a quarter mile of my back door, and I spent all my time there. That’s where I became a hunter. If I had had to pay even $1 per day for…

MAPPING THE HUNT

Maps are the serious hunter’s best friend, especially when it comes to scouting. And in today’s digital world, there are a plethora of online mapping options available on your phone or tablet. We tested the various capabilities of four of the most popular online mapping tools by using them to remotely scout the same property. We compared the maps on their ease of use, detail, cost, mobile functionality, and coverage. 1 GOOGLE EARTH earth.google.com ▶ With its unique ability to change point of view and virtually fly across a 3D rendering of a property, Google Earth was the best tool for clearly showing the lay of the land. On a property such as the one we scouted, with its many fingers and ridges, this is a must-use feature. Google Earth also offers…

MAPPING THE HUNT

Once the blue-collar banter about lawn mower and chainsaw repairs subsides in Billy White’s shop at New Boston Crane, Service and Sleds in western Massachusetts, the serious talk begins. And it almost always shifts to fishing and hunting. Lately it’s been about White’s Western elk hunt last fall. TIP Shrimp boat bycatch is a yellowfin drawing card. The biggest tuna of the season linger behind shrimpers as they haul their nets. So, all in,” someone asks, “what’d it cost: license, hunt, airfare, taxidermy—the whole deal?” "Probably around eight grand,” says the 40-year-old White. “I hate that damn bucket-list idea, but I guess that’s what it was.” With two mortgages, a three-year-old who will one day go to college, and a shop full of new and broken lawn mowers, ATVs, and snowmobiles, White has…

LONG IN THE TEETH

Every time I toss a lure for trophy pike these days, I feel as if I need to make an appointment with a psychologist. Flashbacks…those damn flashbacks simply haunt me. It was just a few falls ago. I was casting a large crank, and for some reason I didn’t see the humongous pike until it charged. I remember the fish accelerating and my bait disappearing—my line parting before I had time to react, cut by a tooth in a mouth with many. I trembled for a full minute before reaching into my tackle box for another bait. I’m not the first pike angler to experience something akin to buck fever. I had no idea pike grew that big. I can’t shake the memory, but that’s not a bad thing. It reconfirmed lessons…

LONG IN THE TEETH

POPPING THE CORK

1 TRADITIONAL POPPING CORK ▶ Rig It: Slip the line through a lengthwise slit in the cork’s side and into its hollow inner core. A removable plastic tension pin holds the cork snug to the line. ▶ Fish It: Sharp pops with swift rod strokes cause the concave face of the cork to catch water, attracting attention to your offering . To adjust bait depth, remove the pin, position the cork accordingly on the line, and then replace the pin. ▶Time It: The popping cork is especially effective when you’re fishing stained water. Corks with a lead weight built in to their bottom edge aid in casting. 2 CLACKING CORK ▶ Rig It: Tie your main line to one end of the float’s wire stem, your bait leader to the other, and you're ready to roll.…

POPPING THE CORK

SPAWN OF THE DEAD

The mission of the anglers on a crisp September morning on a tributary of the Salmon River in central Idaho is westslope cutthroat trout. The stream is idyllic— gravel and rubble bottom magnified by the glass-clear water. There are no other anglers, and no sign of recent human visitors. But there are no fish rising either. Catching only two small cutts after several hours of casting confirms their scarcity. DAM IT ALL A generation ago, hundreds of chinooks slithered and splashed through the thin water to spawn in this stream, perpetuating their species. Today, as on all the previous autumn days since dams were built between here and the Pacific Ocean, there are no salmon. High-elevation streams with sparsely vegetated watersheds of rock and shale provide few nutrients to fuel a food web…

SPAWN OF THE DEAD

What makes for a notable Great Lakes steelhead river? Does it have the most easy-to-catch giant fish? Or does it provide great fishing in remote areas with few other anglers? Or is it something in between? For me, it's all of the above. I’ve fished these waters hard over the years. I've also studied the most recent stocking reports in an effort to formulate my nominations for killer steelhead hotspots. Don’t see your favorite here? Most folks would consider that a lucky break—your secret is safe for now. LAKE ONTARIO SALMON RIVER, PULASKI, NEW YORK Running through the town of Pulaski, this world-class steelhead river receives an annual stocking of 100,000 fish. It was here that the first steelhead were planted in Lake Ontario back in the 1800s. The river supports boat anglers as well…

BURN, BABY, BURN

Finely tuned finesse presentations have their place, but come fall bass anglers can toss it all out the window. This is the time for a nowor-never tactic called “burning.” The execution is pretty simple: Cast… reel like you’re trying to start a fire… repeat. HERE’S WHY IT WORKS 1. It’s chow time. As shad and other forage fish migrate to the creeks and coves, bass follow in full-on predator mood. “The bass are all about eating and getting ready for winter,” says Bassmaster Elite Series pro Jason Christie. “Their strike zone is wide, and you can cover a lot of water by burning baits.” “I think with the water changing from warm to cool, the bass’ metabolism is up and they’re ready to chase baitfish,” adds California pro Chris Zaldain. “They’re also grouped up and…

BURN, BABY, BURN

MY BIRTHDAY IS IN MID-OCTOBER.

When I was a boy, waterfowl season opened about then, and my dad and I would go to a marsh he called Duck’s Misery, although that may have been hyperbole on his part. We also headed to the nearby Mississippi River to hunt the millions of ducks and geese that followed the Father of Waters. I remember Dad awakening me at night to listen to migrating geese, and seeing mighty vees of Canadas heading south during the autumn days. Later in life, I worked in Quebec City, where duck and goose season and Canadian Thanksgiving fell in October. The tip of Îls d’Orléans often provided a snow goose for dinner, and a bit farther north, legendary Cap Tourmente was home to legions of migrating snows and blues. Across Canada, the blue sky…

MY BIRTHDAY IS IN MID-OCTOBER.

IN FAIRNESS TO SEPTEMBER

and November, it’s easier for upland bird hunters to love October, if for no other reason than that in most states, that’s when the season begins. But because I live in Montana and can hunt game from early September through mid-January, October is hardly the Grand Beginning. It’s more like the Big Transition, when after three weeks of bowhunting elk in backcountry solitude and wildness, I’m hankering for a change of pace. Maybe I’m worn out from the daily grind of vertical terrain, but when autumn grips the lower elevations— foliage yellowing, grass a mixture of orange and lime—I’ll happily trade thick-timbered slopes and frost-covered alpine parks for the wide-open valley and its rolling wheat country. Suddenly I’m acutely aware that if I don’t immerse myself in this fleeting, spectacular transformation…

IN FAIRNESS TO SEPTEMBER

to October begins the moment the previous deer season ends. It’s daydreams of the blessed month that get me through the hellish hot nightmare of summer. Experiencing boredom on stand in October is not a problem, since wildlife populations are at annual highs and migrations are ongoing. I have laughed aloud at rooster-size turkey poults racing for grasshoppers lulled to slow motion by a morning’s cold. Where I live in Kansas, no sound better says that it’s time to be deer hunting than the trilling calls of migrating sandhill cranes overhead. Like many hunters, I like to arrow an acorn-fattened doe early in the season. Next to the BLT with our first homegrown tomato of the year, that first bite of backstrap— bacon-wrapped and grilled to juicy perfection—is the finest meal going. My…

NOVEMBER IS A FINE MONTH

for putting up winter’s venison supply. But October is glorious, all bright and crisp, summer fat and ripe for harvest. If hunting is about more than just survival, and it surely is, then October is the golden month, the perfect time for wandering prairies and mountains in search of game. This is our time to reconnect with the real world, to drink deeply the balm of the wild, to refresh our sagging spirits and satisfy our appetite for venison and adventure. But how to spend those precious 31 days? You could pursue whitetails across the West, seeking them out in their riverside beds or in the productive buffers between ag land and mountains. Early in October, bucks remain faithful to their summer haunts, tiptoeing over familiar routes, having grown confident over the…

NOVEMBER IS A FINE MONTH

I HEAR THE DRAG FIRST

–a couple of whiny rips typical of a spinning reel reluctant to give line to a powerful fish. Then Mark Courts speaks in a voice affected by surging adrenaline, and the fight is on. “It’s a giant!” he says as the rod bends double. It was—a smallmouth of any angler’s dreams. Big. Brown. Thick. Well over 5 pounds, maybe busting 6. And we hadn’t even launched the boat yet. Mark hooked the fish while casting from the boat ramp dock as I was backing the boat in. I love October. I look forward to its coming and mourn its ending. There is no other month like it. Cool mornings and warm afternoons. It’s also the month when fallonly patterns offer anglers exceptional opportunities. Courts and I were fishing the St. Croix River, a…

I HEAR THE DRAG FIRST

Ask any two hunting dog owners and you’ll get at least three opinions on what makes a good dog. Anyone foolish enough to scratch down a “definitive” list, whether by breed, species hunted, or trial points obtained, is writing his own epitaph. But you’re not much of a dog owner if you don’t believe your dog is pretty darn good. Puppyhood, training, and sharing the field forge a proprietary sense in both parties. The magical link between two predators working together has a legacy that traces back to stone-tipped spears and prehistoric campfires. But is your dog among the elite? Luminaries of the gun-dog world nominated our first five canine heroes, and the traits they cited are worth emulating by dogs and their owners alike: independent thinking, problem solving, and a mental…

THE YEAR OF THE DEER

WHAT DOES it take to kill a mature deer? For some hunters, it takes nothing more than good luck and a well-placed shot. For those who kill mature bucks consistently, it takes months of careful planning and access to property that holds big deer. This story is about the latter. Last year I made a series of trips from my home in New York to western Illinois to hunt with Aaron Milliken and Michael Turbyfill of Whitetail Properties —a real estate company that sells and manages prime deer hunting land. The idea was for me, an average but diehard deer hunter, to shadow Milliken, a bona fide trophy-buck expert, and hopefully take my biggest whitetail ever. Here’s what I learned, and how you can use those lessons wherever you hunt. FEBRUARY 28:…

THE YEAR OF THE DEER

SHUSHING YOUR SHOTGUN

TIP If your firearm gets soaked during a hunt, rinse out the trigger with a generous blast of lighter fluid to protect and lubricate it. SECTION EDITED BY JOHN B. SNOW •SHOOTING@OUTDOORLIFE.COM • PHOTOGRAPHS BY DEWEY KEITHLY/SILENCERCO The first time I saw a Salvo sound suppressor mounted on the barrel of a shotgun, it reminded me of the rectangular flags that Japanese samurai would wear on their backs as they charged into battle. But that description might be too generous. The fact is that the Salvo is an ungainly looking contraption. And ungainly is not a quality shotgunners appreciate in their scatterguns. Far from it. Now, there are some shooters who might look at that metal box and think, “Cool.” But I can guarantee you that they are not serious shotgunners. No, serious shotgunners…

SHUSHING YOUR SHOTGUN

A mong modern gunmakers, Dan Wesson is a particularly revered figure. In the late 1960s, he broke off from the family business—that business being Smith & Wesson— to start his own gun company. The cornerstone achievement of Dan Wesson Arms was the Model 12, a switch-barrel revolver that acquired a devoted fan base among wheel-gun aficionados. The Model 12 morphed into the Model 15, and eventually a Model 715 was offered—the “7” indicating that stainless steel rather than regular blued steel was being used for the frame and barrel shroud. The company struggled financially, however, going bankrupt and changing ownership. Then about 10 years ago, after being purchased by CZ-USA, Wesson Firearms (as it is now known) ceased revolver production, focusing instead on making 1911-style semi-autos. But a gun company with “Wesson” in…

WEATHERPROOF YOUR RIFLE

Chances are you’ve invested enough money in your rifle that you’d rather not bring home a rust bucket after your next hunting trip. Some hunters have the advantage of hunting in dry climates where it rarely rains and corrosion isn’t an issue. (Though, even with that, salt from sweat can mar a gun.) Many of the hunts I go on are very wet—in some cases raining or snowing for a week straight. I imagine it is probably the same for many of you. In order to keep my rifle functioning, and in somewhat respectable shape, I’ve had to learn a few tricks. OIL-SOAKED RAG I like to bring either a rag soaked in rust-inhibiting oil or keep a few individual oil wipes readily available. Even if it hasn’t been raining, I wipe the rifle every…

WEATHERPROOF YOUR RIFLE

DUCK BLIND DOPES

1 THE FLAMETHROWER This person doesn’t understand the 10 o’clock to 2 o’clock window and tries to shoot ducks that belong to hunters who are closer to the action. The result is a flash of flame across everyone’s face that is as dangerous as it is annoying. In the summer, these people spend their time tossing their fishing lures across your line and creating enormous snags. 2 THE SKY BUSTER Is that a Remington 870 he’s shooting? Because he seems to think it’s a Remington 700 in .30/06, since he keeps taking potshots at birds that are so high in the sky, nary a steel pellet could ever reach them. And he’s ruining any chance that the ducks will circle back and offer us mere mortals a shot. 3 THE BAD GUN HANDLER In the…

DUCK BLIND DOPES

RUGER PRECISION RIFLE

THE DETAILS 1. The muzzle is threaded ⁵/₈"-24 and comes with a muzzle protector. 2. The hammer-forged barrel has 5R rifling and is free-floating. 3. The handguard has a Picatinny rail along its top and is keymod compatible. Users can easily swap to a different handguard if desired. 4. The magazine well is designed to work with multiple styles of magazines, including AICS, Magpul, DPMS, SR25, and M110. The rifle comes with two 10-round Magpul magazines. 5. The RPR has a three-lug, full-diameter bolt like that found on the Ruger American 6. The receiver is topped with a rail with 20 MOA of declination to improve scope performance at long ranges. 7. The trigger is adjustable down to 2 ¼ pounds using a wrench that is stored in the bolt shroud.…

RUGER PRECISION RIFLE

BUST A BEDROOM BUCK

FOR BOWHUNTERS who have set their sights on a mature buck, October can be a time of great exhilaration or utter frustration. It’s now that the glimpse of a September trail camera giant can turn into weeks of where-the-heck-did-he-go irritation. Some refer to this time as the October lull, others simply chalk it up to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. “AS THE RUT NEARS, SWITCH OVER TO DOMINANT BUCK AND ESTROUS-DOE SCENTS, AND GET MORE AGGRESSIVE WITH YOUR CALLING. Whichever camp you fall into, know that mature bucks that have survived years of intense hunting pressure are masters of avoidance. They know how to duck, hide, sneak, creep, and seemingly disappear whenever they choose to. If your buck suddenly goes missing, quit playing coy. Push the envelope and…

BUST A BEDROOM BUCK

CRUNCH-TIME RULES

DETERMINING whether to trigger your release or pass on an animal occurs in the blink of an eye. It might feel instinctual, but as the moment of truth approaches, the bowhunter’s brain processes millions of bits of information. Here are the three most critical components that must factor into that decision. NO. 1 CALCULATE THE GAP ▶ Misjudging target distance is the greatest cause of missed or misplaced shots. However, it’s not quite as simple as proper range estimation. While most archery experts caution against long-distance shots, remember that most misses occur within 25 yards due to perplexing shot geometry. Short shots, especially for treestand hunters, require dramatic changes in shot calculation. These adjustments, or lack thereof, often make easy chip shots anything but simple. A rangefinder with an angle compensator can alleviate all…

CRUNCH-TIME RULES

BOWHUNTERS ARE quintessential gearheads, which is just fine with accessory manufacturers that champion their products regardless of an individual’s bowhunting style or the game being hunted. Generally, it can all lead to mass confusion among bowmen who have a simple desire: to shoot a big-game animal with their hunting bow. To that end, it is important to get at least three parts of your equipment exactly right for how you hunt. Add to the list if you wish, but don’t mess up these essentials. ↘PICK THE APPROPRIATE PINS Sight pins are the most misunderstood piece of archery equipment. Available in diameters from 0.010 to 0.019 inch, fiberoptic pins are a godsend, offering a clean and clear sight window, particularly in lowlight conditions. Generally speaking, thicker pins excel in low light and close quarters—treestands…

In this age of treestands and ground blinds, still-hunting for whitetail deer has become a dying art. The mechanics are simple: Take a step, stop, look around, wait a bit, and then take another step. While stealth is key, your mindset is equally important. A successful still-hunt is less a slapdash walk in the woods than it is a systematic stalk through promising cover. Here are three hot zones to still-hunt during bow season. 1. TRAILS OF GLORY As the chase phase of the rut approaches, bucks will be on the move searching for the first does to come into estrus. This searchand-breed behavior will continue for the entirety of the rut, which is why connector runs between bedding areas are my favorite still-hunting routes. The trails are often faint, but the simplest…

RIVER-BOTTOM DEER DRIVE

TIP When possible, use a water route like a stream or slough to get to your stand. It will camouflage both scent and sound. IN BOTH the shortgrass prairie regions of Western states and in agricultural lands—especially once the crops come down— whitetails flock to the cover of river bottoms during daylight hours to bed and browse. And there might not be a more effective way of tagging a buck than by conducting a river-bottom drive. River bottoms are typically long, narrow strips of cover sandwiched between a wide-open space and water. These woodland or brushy strips serve as key bedding areas. When deer are bumped or pushed in a river bottom, they’ll usually try to remain within the cover to avoid exposing themselves by running across open ground or swimming the river. MANAGE…

RIVER-BOTTOM DEER DRIVE

FALL GOBBLERS BY BOAT

Across the country, large reservoirs and rivers with extensive shoreline comprise large expanses of public hunting ground. These are often hard to reach by way of land, leaving them devoid of hunters. With a little extra effort and a boat, you can secretly unlock the door to excellent turkey hunting. LISTEN UP THERE ARE PLENTY of ways to kill a fall gobbler, but busting up a flock and calling them back together is an exciting and proven tactic. First you need to find them, though, and scouting from a boat can be very effective. From the water, you can cover a lot of ground without having to step foot on it, and you can keep an eye or ear out for birds from the comfort of your seat as you cast for…

FALL GOBBLERS BY BOAT

Bears on the Fly

Three weeks after I carried a 50-gallon steel drum half a mile through dense cedars and over moss-covered logs the size of Volkswagens, the first bruin of the spring season finally showed up on my trail cam. Two months later, the Idaho spring season ended and I had yet to see that bear again. Fast-forward eight years and as many bears later. My friend Lance Jones was sitting at that same bait site with nothing but a longbow in his hands. A bear walked slowly toward a barrel filled with sweets less than 10 yards from the base of his stand tree. This story ends with a punched tag and a happy hunter, but it took years to learn how to bring in bears consistently. Learning baiting skills was even tougher because…

Bears on the Fly

HAPPY-HOUR PHEASANTS

About the time most pheasant hunters quit for the day is when the hunting gets good. Give me just one hour a day to hunt and I’ll choose the last turn of the clock before shooting hours end. Midmorning and early-afternoon pheasant hunting is challenging. After an early-morning feeding session, ring-necks scurry to the meanest, roughest cover they can find to bide their time and survive the day. This means dense cattails, thorny thickets, or secluded weed patches—the kinds of places that are miserable to hunt. These are also the kinds of places where birds easily slink or sprint away from hunting pressure. Pheasants go on survival alert and use their legs more than their wings, employing tricky evasions such as running with the wind or sneaking around behind you. But by…

HAPPY-HOUR PHEASANTS

SCENT-PROOF YOUR STAND

SCENT-CONTROL technology has its merits, but does it eliminate 100 percent of your stink? Rubber boots, scenttrapping clothing, and scentneutralizing products used in combination can help to keep strange odors in your deer woods to a minimum. However, despite these highly touted, wallet-lightening measures, you still might be leaving traces of scent along the trail. Did you remember to scent-wash your bow or rifle sling? Did you de-scent your knife sheath and belt? Is the release strapped to your bow carrying sweat from your summer practice sessions? If not, slight brushes with vegetation can leave hints of danger behind for a vigilant buck to discover. Humans have five million or more olfactory chemoreceptors in our upper noses. These are situated on a postage- stamp-sized mucous membrane that detects airborne chemicals and gives…

SCENT-PROOF YOUR STAND

Most deer hunters look forward to the October lull with as much enthusiasm as they would have for sharing a cab ride with a PETA member. The lull, they say, is that period of time when mature bucks stop moving, and when the country store becomes the stage for camo-clad hunters singing the blues. But the October lull— as most hunters perceive it— doesn’t exist. For sure, there are some pretty darned good deer hunters who will tell me I’m full of it. But I can back my opinion with science-based evidence and anecdotes from experts that say the October lull is nothing more than an excuse. We use the term to define a time when deer behavior goes through a sequence of marked changes in movement, feeding patterns, browse preference, and…

BOG-TIME WOODCOCK

ANY TIME WOODCOCK season is open is a good time to go hunting. But it’s also true that there’s usually a special week or so when migrating birds are passing through in good numbers. Passionate woodcock hunters simply call it “the flight.” They dream all year of those magical days when the bogs are bursting with new russetfeathered, long-billed arrivals. You can play the law of averages and bet on the birds being around during windows that have been good in the past. But an average is just that: a middle ground hovering between multiple extremes, some of them seemingly quite random. For my particular neck of the woods—a swath of central Minnesota roughly straddling the 46th parallel—average woodcock flight dates fall around the very middle of October. But my 31 years…

BOG-TIME WOODCOCK

HOW TO CYCLE A BOLT

If you muff the first shot at a game animal, you’ve probably lost your best chance to kill it. Still, a follow-up shot can salvage your hunt, which is why it’s odd that few hunters practice cycling their bolt. If you muff the first shot at a game animal, you’ve probably lost your best chance to kill it. Still, a follow-up shot can salvage your hunt, which is why it’s odd that few hunters practice cycling their bolt. But just firing from a bench and plucking empty hulls from the extractor to slip back into the ammo box won’t help you much in the heat of the moment. Missed and crippled game can be gone in a blink. You must cycle quickly from actual hunting positions, with your cheek to the stock,…

HOW TO CYCLE A BOLT

SIX ESSENTIAL HANDGUN SKILLS

TIP If you have trouble reholstering your pistol, simply use your thumb on your gun hand to find the mouth of your holster and guide the barrel into place. SHOOTING a handgun is simple but not easy. All you have to do is align the sights and not allow the handgun to move while you press the trigger and fire the shot. If handguns operated like they do in video games, with no loud noise and no recoil, we would all be expert marksmen. However, since they make a big noise and move in our hands when we fire them, things are much harder. There is lots of complicated advice out there on how to deal with this. But here are six tips and drills that can simplify your practice and make…

SIX ESSENTIAL HANDGUN SKILLS

THE KIT ▶ START WITH a high-quality duffle, like the Goruck bag pictured here. Then start stuffing. THE GUTS 1 Lightweight, packable rainwear. 2 Butane lighter for starting fires. 3 Oral IV fluids to prevent dehydration. This stuff is magic. 4 Spare batteries for lights and electronics. 5 LifeStraw for filtering drinking water. 6 Several meals’ worth of freeze-dried food. 7 A quality emergency medical kit, with a tourniquet and bloodclotting powder designed to staunch severe bleeding. 8 A Jetboil or similar portable stove to cook meals and heat water. Pack spare fuel canisters as well. 9 A bivy sack will keep you alive, if not warm, during the night when it is cold or rainy. 10 A strong fixed-blade knife with a 3.- to 4.-inch blade. 11 A Leatherman-style multitool. 12 A…

FLASHLIGHTS 4 WAYS

A bump in the night wakes you up. You grab a flashlight and a handgun to go investigate. But how do you make the gun and light function together effectively? This is not the time to be fumbling around with flashlight switches and different grips. Here are four proven techniques to practice so you’ll be ready when you need them. HARRIES POSITION ▶ With the gun in the strong hand, grasp the light in a closed-fist, or “ice-pick,” grip in the support hand and bring it under the shooting hand to the outside of the gun and upward to lock the back of the gun and support hands together. FBI POSITION ▶ Hold the flashlight in the support hand, with your arm extended and the elbow at about 90 degrees. With the strong hand,…

FLASHLIGHTS 4 WAYS

WOOD DUCKS ON THE CREEK

AMONG DABBLING ducks, woodies are most unusual. They nest in tree cavities, they perch on branches, they squeal and whistle instead of quack and chuckle, and they love small water and thick cover. That’s why creeks make perfect habitat for wood ducks. They feel safe, with ample places to hide in grassy or brushy vegetation, as well as stream bends, twists, and turns. And forage is oft en readily available, especially if there are a few oaks, nut trees, fruiting shrubs, or harvested grainfields around. But creeks can be challenging to hunt. A classic setup, where the ducks see your decoy spread from afar and work circles to your pleading calls, is impossible in the tight quarters of a good squealer stream. Still, if you’re interested in bringing home a brace of…

WOOD DUCKS ON THE CREEK

FIVE SIMPLE CALLING TIPS

AS I WAS SITTING BEHIND A BIVOUAC- STYLE DUCK BLIND ON THE EDGE OF A RED MAPLE SWAMP, MY BORED RETRIEVER AND DEATHLY QUIET SKIES MADE ME WONDER WHAT I WAS DOING WRONG. MANY HUNTERS CAN RELATE. FOR SOME, DUCK HUNTING IS A FICKLE ENDEAVOR. SOMETIMES DUCKS ARE DRAWN TO YOU LIKE THE PROVERBIAL MOTH TO A FLAME, WHILE OTHER TIMES YOUR CALLS FALL ON DEAF EARS. IF YOU’RE JUST AN AVERAGE CALLER AND WANT TO TAKE YOUR COAXES AND CAJOLES TO THE NEXT LEVEL, HERE ARE FIVE TIPS TO HELP YOU PULL MORE FLOCKS WITHIN RANGE. 1 Use Species-Specific Calls: The average duck hunter uses two or three mallard calls to get the job done, but not all ducks sound like mallards. Manufacturers offer teal calls, wood duck calls, and even…

FIVE SIMPLE CALLING TIPS

Old habits and conventional wisdom are hard to ignore. In duck hunting, this is especially true when that wariest of all dabblers, the mallard, is the quarry. Usually we just believe “more” is the answer to greenhead success: additional decoys, fancier blocks, costlier duck calls, louder calling, a longer boat run in the dark, bigger water. But with pressured mallards, “less” often produces better hunting. Fewer decoys. Simple setups. One trusted duck call. Efficient calling. And smaller water, secluded hideouts, and forgotten places: The kinds of escapes greenheads love but where hunters rarely go. Here are seven top small-water mallard refuges, and strategies for hunting each. 1. ROAD DITCH ▪ When the water is up and roadside ditches are full, mallards have no reservations about settling in next to back roads. The first…

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