Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2024 i Game & Fish South

We had done everything right to tip the odds of bagging a public-land gobbler in our favor. We had scouted and found a bird that required a walk of more than a mile from the nearest access point to reach. We patterned our shotguns and practiced shooting at turkey targets from a seated position and using a tripod for support. We had the don’t-move-a-muscle-talk. We got up extra early on opening morning despite the drizzle and hiked in well before first light. And as we moved the final 100 yards to our chosen spot, my 12-year-old son and I shared the disappointment of discovering another hunter had already set up a blind there. “What do we do now, Dad?” Jacob asked. I took a deep breath and tried to hide…

Metals play an integral role in every angling pursuit. From the gears and housings of reels to the line guides and hardware of rods, from tools and fillet knives to prop blades and trailer frames, anglers handle and use metals on every trip. No application of metals in fishing is more controversial, however, than its presence in lures and terminal tackle. The primary concern in this arena stems from lead—the most widely used metal in tackle—and the harmful effects this metal poses upon ingestion, primarily by diving ducks, swans, loons and raptors. There are emerging alternatives to lead, but their application and acceptance remain comparatively limited. Lead has been used in fishing—first for sustenance and later for sport—for thousands of years. Archeological discoveries have identified lead weights used in fish-entangling…

Since the introduction of “rubber” worms more than a half-century ago, those soft-plastic invertebrate imitations, and their related fishing tactics, have improved and expanded exponentially. However, “speed-worming,” a clever take on the time-proven Texas rig, has largely flown under the radar despite being an extremely effective technique. Speed-worming finally gained some acclaim thanks to veteran tournament pro and TV host Scott Martin, who brought it considerable exposure. Martin introduced the tactic to a handful of Southern bass anglers, including CPF Lures founder Chuck Pippin Jr., in the late 1990s. “I was still attending the University of Central Florida back then, and Scott Martin and I would fish Lake Okeechobee together on weekends,” says Pippin. “He’d take Zoom paddletail worms and cut their tails into a fork [with scissors]. Then, we’d…

While all wild turkeys might seem the same, the idea that one acts just like the next couldn’t be further from the truth. Every gobbler is different, and some earn a reputation for being especially bad birds. Here are seven I’ve hunted in recent years that, through their unusual or unexpected behavior, provided valuable lessons. 1 THE BLUFF FLYAWAY This scenario played out on a typical creek-bottom and bluff setting where a long, winding timber ridge overlooks a series of fields below. I don’t have permission to hunt those fields, but I can hunt the rolling pastures and hay fields on the high side of the bluff. A turkey I dubbed the Bluff Flyaway roosted on that bluff and always flew to the bottom at fly-down time. One morning I…

Not all rivers are created equal, so make sure you stop at the local fly shop, The Speckled Trout Outfitters (thespeckledtroutoutfitters.com), for fishing intel and the hot lures and fly patterns. You may want to book one of The Speckled Trout’s guides—at least for the first day—to get the lay of the land and a handle on the most effective tactics for the waters near Blowing Rock.…

The 600 series is a new generation of rifles from the Czech Republic-based gunmaker CZ that combines innovative technology, top-notch materials and creative design. One of five variations in the line, the CZ 600 Alpha features a cold-hammer-forged barrel, aluminum receiver and polymer stock, resulting in a durable hunting rifle. The lightweight receiver balances well with the semi-heavy barrel, making the 600 Alpha a capable rifle for a variety of hunting scenarios. Several innovations contribute to the 600 Alpha’s accuracy and handling in the field. First, the bolt locks into the barrel and not the receiver, meaning pressures during firing do not act directly on the receiver. This gives CZ the option of making the Alpha’s receiver from aluminum instead of steel to reduce weight and optimize balance with the…

LIVE FROM THE TURKEY WOODS Turkey hunting is about to be in full swing throughout the country. Check on gobbler activity in your region—right now—with our “Regional Strut Update.” The report turns out pertinent turkey intel every week through May. TACKLE TEST REWIND The May 2024 issue of Game & Fish will feature our popular Tackle Test, an evaluation of the latest bass-fishing rods and reels. Until then, catch up on previous reports under “Special Collections.” HOT NEW SHOTGUNS From sub-gauges to over-unders, there were plenty of new shotguns for turkey, upland bird and waterfowl hunters unveiled at SHOT Show. Get the details in “Best New Shotguns for 2024.” FASTEST CROSSBOWS Arrow speeds of 500 fps are becoming common in crossbows; TenPoint’s TRX 515 produces 515 fps. The new rigs…

I’m sure the other turkey hunter didn’t see me. I had max concealment with full facemask and gloves, season- and terrain-matching camouflage covering every extremity, and I was tucked into the trunk of a massive white oak that obscured my outline. I didn’t spot the man until he walked into the clearing and stopped short when he saw my hen decoy in the open. The hunter froze in the pre-dawn light then crouched, as though his abrupt presence might be forgiven by the hen. Next, he shouldered his shotgun at my decoy, maybe thinking it was a jake or maybe anticipating a longbeard would be sharing the clearing. My first tendency was to remain frozen against the tree, hoping he’d realize his gaffe and move on. Then I worried that…

Some might wonder if turkey hunting isn’t just an excuse to scour the woods for morel mushrooms this month. April is prime time for the succulent fungi in the South (Florida being the exception), and gathering some to kick the taste of your next meal up a notch is a good way to end a morning’s gobbler hunt. Daytime temps in the 70s, with 50s at night, are prerequisites for finding morels, which favor the loamy soil preferred by mayapples, those short umbrellas of green leaves that grow low to the ground in colonies. Of course, just because you see mayapples it doesn’t mean you’ll find morels, but they’re a good place to start looking. If morels or turkeys aren’t your thing, April offers other options. From bowfishing for carp…

Nestled in the western North Carolina mountains, where the Blue Ridge Parkway meanders through a landscape of untamed beauty, lies a hidden gem known as Blowing Rock. It’s a place where the earth seems to exhale a cleansing, tranquil breath, and where you’ll find on display some of nature’s most stunning panoramas. From its vantage point, you can gaze down upon a tapestry of peaks, forests and the Johns River Gorge. Blowing Rock gets its name from an immense cliff that stands 4,000 feet above sea level and hangs over a gorge 3,000 feet below. It forms a flume the wind sweeps through with such force that it returns lightweight objects dropped over. The Blowing Rock, which Ripley’s calls “the only place in the world where snow falls upside down,”…

It wasn’t five minutes after boarding our guide’s skiff when a fat brownie sucked in my fly as it swept along an eddy edge. A battle ensued as the fish moved away downstream into the swift run. The stubborn trout jumped a couple of times while running in and out of the current as I hung on. A couple of whitewater rafts with jovial paddlers whooping it up quickly moved by on the opposite side of the river. The fish surfaced again in the shallow riffles, and I pressured it toward the boat. Guide Jeff Ehlert oared us toward the edge of the slower-moving flats as the brownie tired. The 17-inch trout made one last turn at the surface before I pulled it into Jeff’s waiting net. We took a…

The day Shane turned 16 he thought all his problems were over. He could finally drive. Turkey season had just opened, and Shane, blessed with a hand-me-down truck from his father, was keen on taking full advantage of his newfound mobility. The lamination of his driver’s license had barely cooled when Shane bragged to his buddies at school that he was going to drive himself to his favorite turkey spot Saturday. He no longer had to tag along with his father to hunt Mr. Johnson’s farm. “Let me go with you,” begged Craig Smits, who suddenly acted like Shane’s best friend. Shane had known Craig since grade school, but he’d never heard Craig speak of hunting before. “I’ve been watching turkey hunting videos, and I bought a call,” said Craig.…

Shooting at longer distances has become popular, and many hunters like the idea of having added reach. This preference has spawned a new breed of precision rifles light enough to carry into the backcountry. It’s also produced a new strain of variable-power riflescopes that help make getting hits at longer distances easier. However, most of these rifle-scopes are much heavier than conventional designs. Consider that the top three deer hunting riflescopes recently named in an online list had an average weight of 27 ounces. But are scopes this heavy necessary for most hunters? In his 1970 book, “The Hunting Rifle,” celebrated gunwriter Jack O’Connor wrote, “I rather doubt if more power than 4X is needed for any big game hunting under any conditions.” To an extent, Jack was right, but…

My first snipe hunt is to this day one of my fondest childhood memories. I was a pre-teen rising through the ranks of Boy Scouts and found myself on my first extended weekend away at camp with the entire troop. “Take this brown paper bag and sit quietly under this tree,” the older Scout whispered as I carefully crawled into a comfortable position and prepared myself for a long wait. “Shine your flashlight on the ground and click it on and off to lure in a snipe,” he added. After a few practice sets, I was ready for a wily snipe to run in for me to bag. The older Scout must have felt the same because he soon slinked off to “flush a snipe my way.” I hunted intently…

You got a one-week pass from the spouse. Vacation days have accrued. Time to go there. But where is “there?” Whether its Montana pheasants or New England whitetails, a nine-day bucket-list journey or half a weekend, your success on publicly accessible land depends in large part on starting in the right place. Rather than wandering perplexed and wasting time, have a plan to map out your quest. More public land is present in some states than others, but you’ll likely have lots of options. Public land is just that: the Bureau of Land Management or Forest Service, a state or county agency, or other government entity manages it on our behalf. It is, literally, ours. This includes many wildlife refuges, wildlife production areas and wildlife management areas where we’ve got…

We’d hunted the pesky gobbler numerous times. He’d strut and gobble on the hillside, but never march down to meet my puny jake decoy. It seemed that tom was happy enough with his five ladies on the hilltop. Then one day I decided to put out a whole gaggle of turkey decoys to paint a different picture. Wouldn’t you know, that gobbler walked right down the hill and into our spread. That proved to me that realism matters, and that sometimes it isn’t only about enhancing your decoys’ appearance, but about offering the birds a different look. With that in mind, here are some simple tweaks to increase your turkey-hunting success this spring. 1 TOUCH-UP PAINT JOBS In the not-so-distant past, we gobbler getters used to deploy turkey decoys that…

Not many bluegill anglers consider themselves lunker hunters, but in spring and early summer it’s possible to consistently target the supersized members of the species, commonly called “bulls.” And that is precisely what a buddy and I did during a trip to Florida’s Lake Kissimmee a few springs back. We ran the shoreline north of Shady Oaks Park Boat Ramp for 30 minutes with a high sun behind us, scanning the bottom for the spread of white bowls that mark a bluegill spawning area. Finally, in a large cove surrounded by lily pads and maiden cane—and patrolled by an alligator half as long as our bass boat—we found the mother lode. Jim flipped a 1/16-ounce jig under a tiny float. The bobber bounced just once and disappeared. “They’re here,” he…

As winter gives way to spring, the minutes of sunlight in a day increase daily and the sun’s rays begin warming the water in the region’s lakes. This is a magical time of year for those who love crappie fishing, as our favorite panfish heads to shoreline shallows to spawn, thus becoming much easier to find and catch. During spawning season, crappies are renowned for their aggressiveness. They’ll simply strike any bait or lure they perceive as an intruder near their nests. Anglers who grasp certain key behaviors of this good-eating species can quickly put more than enough fillets on ice for the next family dinner. One such behavior is the fish’s tendency to seek shaded areas within its shallow spawning grounds. IMPORTANCE OF SHADE When crappies move to shallow…

Grand County, 70 miles west of Denver on the western side of the Continental Divide, offers sportsmen a gateway to the scenic Rocky Mountain National Park and its Trail Ridge Road, the highest fully paved road in the U.S. This “Highway to the Sky” climbs some 4,000 feet and takes about 20 minutes to reach the summit of the Continental Divide. It offers some of the park’s most spectacular sightseeing and wildlife viewing. The Winter Park Flyfisher (fraserflyshop.com) in Fraser has been offering customers updates on river conditions and great gear including rods, reels and waders for more than 16 years. Those at the shop are more than happy to help visitors locate productive trout waters. Owner Jeff Ehlert and his guides offer a variety of trips, including walk-and-wade outings…