Indholdsfortegnelse for June/July 2023 i Game & Fish South

With this being the June/July issue, it only seems appropriate to reflect on the freedoms we will celebrate on Independence Day. Thanks to the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, we Americans can include hunting among them. And while we enjoy the freedom to hunt within regulations we as hunters have agreed to in order to conserve game species, it is a freedom—like many others—under attack. Take, for example, hunting black bears with hounds. Anti-hunters have already managed to get the method banned in many states, even though it’s a traditional and highly effective way of managing the species. I was fortunate to go a hound hunt with Table Mountain Outfitters in Idaho last June, and my story on the adventure begins on page 20. It is a story that…

There’s something to be said for simple pleasures. In fishing, catching bream in late spring- and early summer certainly qualifies. Bream are not monster trophies, of course, but fishing for them represents a sort of angling seredipity. After all, there’s the great weather, an abundance of aggressive fish in shallow water, stress-free fishing tactics and the all-but-guaranteed promise of a world-class fish fry. Starting in May and revving up through early June, bluegills are moving to and occupying shallow spawning beds—especially around the new moons. They are hungry, territorial and densely crowded on good spawning habitat. To find the best fishing, find the best beds, fish with the right baits and fit your fishing patterns to the conditions you find. PARADISE FOUND The most common and sought-after bream are bluegills.…

Todd Driscoll, fisheries biologist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, says that the term “bream” encompasses several species of panfish in the sunfish family, such as bluegills, redears (aka shellcrackers), longears and redbreasts to name just a few. Bluegills are often the most common species in southern reservoirs, and each of the sunfish species have very similar spawning habits. “If I had to pick an ideal water temperature for when they spawn, 70 to 78 degrees is usually the range,” Driscoll says. “This, of course, is a little later than the bass, and typically occurs from late May through late July in Texas.” Interestingly, Driscoll notes that female bluegills will likely spawn two to five times within that 2- to 3-month window. “Bluegill spawn in colonies, typically with 10…

Two identical popping corks, each baited with a live shrimp, plopped down in the mouth of a marshy Louisiana drain and immediately disappeared. One reel’s drag sang as a redfish powered away into the shallows. A largemouth did tail-wagging tricks at the end of the other line. Known locally as Big Lake, Calcasieu Lake near Lake Charles, La., has earned a reputation for producing giant speckled trout and good largemouths when it is fishable. However, the 50,000-acre lake can turn dangerously rough when high winds and whitecaps churn the surface. When seasonal winds make Big Lake unfishable, locals and visiting anglers alike can head for its protected marshes and enjoy the mixed bounty there. In the marshes between Calcasieu and Sabine lakes, anglers catch both redfish and flounder. Here, fresh…

By 3:30 a.m., Dad and I were where we wanted to be. It was Oct. 1, opening day of general rifle season. I had been scouting the area since early August and had seen some good bucks. We assumed the place would be overrun with hunters, but we didn’t see a single truck until 10 minutes before legal shooting light. Over the next few minutes, we watched more trucks making their way down various logging roads in Oregon’s Cascade Range. Daylight came and the sun eventually crested the mountains behind us. Dad and I had yet to see a deer, but we dared not move. The logged unit we glassed was tall with weeds, willows and briars, making it hard to see deer unless they moved. Finally, more than three…

Capt. Adam Rasmussen runs his charter business out of Sturgeon Bay. A testament to Door County’s multi-species diversity, Rasmussen offers smallmouth and walleye trips through his Rasmussen Outdoors Guide Service (rasmussenoutdoors. com) and trout and salmon trips through his Salmon Depot Charter Fishing (salmondepot.com). Book him for a no-hassles adventure and to shorten your learning curve on the water. DIY anglers should visit Howie’s Tackle (howiestackle.com) for local info and to stock up on necessary supplies. There are ample boat ramps on both the Green Bay and Lake Michigan sides of the Door Peninsula, along with a few fishing piers and shore access points for shore-bound anglers. The Wisconsin DNR (dnr. wisconsin.gov) has an interactive map showing launches, shore fishing access and more. Also, bone up on regulations, which can…

The federal Farm Bill, reauthorized by Congress every five years, is the most important piece of legislation that most of us ignore. That’s because the $1.4 trillion bill, which influences everything from public-school lunches to disaster payments for drought-crippled corn farmers, is dense, complicated and so full of acronyms that it’s hard to know whether you should support ACEP, VPA-HIP or EQIP. Happily, folks far more familiar with the process and details are watching the development of the 2023 Farm Bill with an eye for what it can deliver to America’s hunters, anglers and outdoor recreationists. Folks like Jim Ingles, director of governmental affairs for Pheasants Forever. “Depending on what part of the country you live in, or whether you are a farmer or a hunter, you’re going to hear…

The South has the most anglers in the country, and for good reason. You can spend one weekend fishing for bass or crappies, then chase blue-water species in the Atlantic or Gulf the next. River fishermen on waterways such as the Mississippi and Red rivers have a different menu now, with catfish and white bass action heating up. For those who prefer the salt, can’t-miss nearshore action includes trolling for mackerel along the beaches and plying the surf for flounder, channel bass and whiting. Your choices are almost endless, so get out there—while the bite is as hot as the weather. 1 TEXAS FREE FISHING Texas might not be known for its boundless public lands, but the state does boast 76 state parks that comprise 580,000 acres. It all…

It was famed TV angler and frequent flyrod world-record holder Stu Apte who coined the phrase “bow to the king” many decades ago, but it’s still true today. If you don’t bow—that is drop your rod tip and lean toward the fish when a big tarpon, aka a silver king, goes airborne—odds are the fish will either shake the lure, break the leader while swapping ends in midair or fall on the line and snap it. Tarpon are huge, scary fish, especially when you see a spread of 6-footers coming at you in clear, shallow water like that found throughout the Florida Keys or along the beaches from Naples to Clearwater, Fla. And rest assured, catching your first silver king is a feat you’ll never forget. SEASONAL MIGRATION Tarpon are…

While visiting southwest Louisiana, take a tour of the national wildlife refuges. Sabine NWR offers an easy-walking nature trail running through the marsh. You can also fish and crab off the banks along Highway 27. To the east, visitors can stay in the comfort of their cars to navigate the Pintail Wildlife Drive through Cameron Prairie NWR or drive through nearby Lacassine NWR. You can also drive all or a portion of the 180-mile Creole Nature Trail All-American Road, one of only 43 such designated scenic byways in the country. Depending upon the season, visitors anywhere in southwest Louisiana might spot alligators and some of more than 400 bird species that live at least part of the year in the area. The list includes various waterfowl, herons, egrets, sandhill cranes,…

In some of my deer hunting areas I run more than two-dozen trail cameras year-round. In distant places I’ll be hunting, I try to make a road trip, scout and set out trail cameras in early to mid-July. When I return for the hunt, I gather cameras and study footage on my laptop. Eight months ago I started using Browning Dark Ops Pro DCL cameras ($179.99; browningtrailcameras.com). I run all my cameras on video mode to get the full story. High Definition (1080p) video captures movements, behaviors and sounds that still images can’t. With the ability to increase the length of the video clips captured by the Dark Ops, these cameras have revealed a lot about deer—and predators. Think a 10-second video shows a lot? Let it run for 2…

When school let out for summer, Shane’s cousin Kurt invited him to his family’s dairy farm in New York, with the promise of lots of good fishing after the daily chores were done. Shane quickly talked his parents into letting him go, and a couple weeks later he was in Kurt’s room, organizing his gear in preparation for an afternoon on the water. “I brought Rat-L-Traps, buzzbaits, deep-diving cranks and a whole slew of plastic worms,” said Shane. “I’d probably leave the buzzbaits and those anaconda-sized worms at home,” Kurt suggested, chuckling a little as he looked over Shane’s tackle. “Do you have any eighth-ounce white jigs or Rooster Tails?” “I don’t have anything that small,” said Shane. “I just can’t imagine a bass—even a Northern bass—not devouring a 10-inch…

There are two rules of thumb when it comes to field shooting positions. The first is that the easier the position is to assume, the less steady it will be. The other is that the closer you can get your rifle to the ground, the steadier you will be. Competence from field shooting positions can help you find success while hunting, but competence only comes with practice. Here’s a crash course in the four field shooting positions with some tips to help you assume them faster and shoot better from them. STANDING The standing off-hand position is the fastest to assume and the least steady, but sometimes it’s required when you’re surprised and need to take a fast shot. Most think that to assume it, you just snap the rifle…

When the mud-spattered Toyota stopped at the end of the gravel road, I slid out and strode to the edge of a clearing that had most likely been a log landing in the recent past. The ground dropped off quickly beyond the crushed stone and scattered bark fragments, and below me stretched a vast forest of pine towering above thick, green undergrowth. A soft wind swayed the branches of the trees at the edge of the landing, and I caught my breath when the breeze delivered the faint yet unmistakable sound my ears had been straining to hear. A bark, a bawl … somewhere down in there—way down in there—the hounds were still on the trail. I turned around to get the attention of the guys in the truck and,…

Is noodling a big catfish on your bucket list? If so, the first step is to hire a guide (a.k.a. “instructor”) to show you how it’s done. Otherwise, there might be somebody in your family or circle of friends who is an expert noodler. While the mechanics of the procedure seem relatively cut-and-dry, it’s not that easy to move a big catfish that doesn’t want to go where you want it to go. Most of the great noodlers, such as Oklahoma’s Nathan Williams, were fortunate enough to have hooked up early on with someone who taught them the finer points. Noodling is legal in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, as well as a few of the Yankee states. That means you probably…

Spring is certainly the most anticipated time of year for bass anglers, when rising air and water temperatures drive waves of bass into the shallows to feed and eventually spawn. However, another spawn kicks off in early summer that can lead to a flurry of fast-paced bass action in the shallows: the bluegill spawn. Bluegill and bream are names often used generically to describe any number of panfish in the sunfish family that are a predominant forage of bass in most Southern reservoirs. Since the spawn of these hand-sized panfish coincides with a time when a large percentage of largemouths remain shallow, understanding how to target bass around the bluegill spawn can pay excellent dividends in early to mid-summer. START HERE “There’s just something about a bluegill that attracts a…

Skeeter Boats, in Kilgore, Texas, is distinctive in maintaining a core vision of developing high-performance, trailered fishing boats. Whereas many builders branch into larger or smaller models, generalist or speculative designs, Skeeter has adhered to a successful formula. Skeeter is also unique in having sustained that vision for 75 years. This builder hasn’t chased trends; it’s created trends. Skeeter was among the first builders of fiberglass bass boats in the 1950s, and the first to build a U.S. Coast Guardapproved bass boat. Over the years, the company innovated the V-hull pad design; all-composite bass boat; full-length rod boxes; aluminum-reinforced transom/stringer matrix and many other elements. Confidence at the helm of a sleek, 200-plus-horsepower bass boat? Rods close at hand? Livewell pumps humming? That’s Skeeter’s DNA. The commitment of Skeeter employees…

I was halfway through a slow, steady retrieve when my line suddenly pulled tight, a noticeable bend forming in my rod. Something in the shallow, clear waters surrounding the Sister Islands had inhaled my black marabou jig. I set the hook and felt a weighty fish dart off in another direction. A short but dogged fight later, I had a chunky smallmouth bass in hand—my first of the day. After a few quick photos, I slid the feisty fish back into the cool water, and my boatmates congratulated me on my first Door County smallmouth. It was mid-June, and our group of anglers was on Lake Michigan’s Green Bay for two reasons: to catch lots of smallmouth bass and to test Humminbird’s new MEGA Live Imaging TargetLock system before its…

It had taken us all day to find the blacktail buck bedded on the side of a hill rising from Alaska’s Kodiak Island. I was lying prone on an adjacent hill, a light wind quartering from right to left. The range was 284 yards, and my rifle was steady when I squeezed off the shot. The buck took one bound from its bed and rolled down the hill until it stopped on the edge of an alder patch. It never moved again. Thus was my introduction to Remington’s Premier Long Range load, a performance that didn’t really surprise me given the top-end components the company has put in its new line of big-game ammo. Bullets built for long-range hunting have to possess three primary features. First, of course, they must…