Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2024 i Game & Fish South

Some turkey hunters measure success in yards, as in how many paces the longbeard was from the gun when the bird dropped. There are champions of both the long and the short. Steady development of shotguns, loads and optics has given turkey hunters the ability to make clean kills at 60 yards and beyond. I think such technology is stunning, and like anything that makes hunters more effective at taking game, I’m all for it as long as it’s legal. The other end of the spectrum, literally, is a celebration of intimate knowledge, keen skill and enduring patience. Hunters in this camp want a tom close—really close—before they press the trigger. For them, calling a bird within spitting distance is the ultimate victory. I can’t argue with that, either. This…

Two schools of thought govern the development of nearly all artificial lures. The first might be described as biomimicry, or designing lures that replicate the sizes, profiles, colors and actions of living prey items. If you’ve ever thrown a perch-patterned crankbait, tossed a Texas-rigged crawfish or twitched a hollow-bodied frog, then you’ve presented a bio-mimetic lure in the hope of getting close enough to the appearance and action of a living perch, crawfish or frog to trick nearby predator fish into striking. The second school of lure-development thought might be described as impulsivity, or creating lures that don’t necessarily look like something that’s alive but are nonetheless effective at triggering an impulsive, or reaction, strike. By leveraging a combination of flash, vibration, sound, erratic action and especially speed, such lures…

Tyler Winter was a self-described know-it-all as a kid growing up in the river bottoms of southern Minnesota. He’d often fish for carp in drainage ditches around his home, but one day he caught a mooneye, a license-plate-sized, fork-tailed fish with large eyes and fine teeth on its tongue. The mooneye is native to most rivers in the Upper Midwest, but it was brand new to know-it-all Winter. “When that bright silver fish jumped from the muddy ditch, it ignited a curiosity in Minnesota’s native fish,” says Winter. “It was living proof that there were mysteries left even in the most mundane water.” Winter built on that formative experience to learn more about all the native fish that were pejoratively called “rough fish” by not only fellow anglers but also…

Don’t put away your upland or waterfowl shotgun just yet. Spring and summer are the best times to visit the clays range to work on your shooting skills. If you had frowns and frustrations in the waterfowl blind or dove fields last season, suck it up and get to work. Practice the way you hunt by using the same shotgun, though you can store the duck and goose ammo—target loads will be fine for your range sessions. Remember that off-season practice is an investment, so don’t skimp by going just one or two times. If it seems like you could use some extra help, leave your ego at home and take lessons from a certified instructor. Make practice sessions enjoyable. Go with friends. When you’re having a tough day, stop…

Most anglers are familiar with manmade lakes chock-full of trophy bass and aquatic vegetation, but how about one where the dense weed canopy protecting the giant bass moves 10 or 20 yards from hour to hour and even a mile in a day? That’s the situation at Rodman Reservoir, or Lake Ocklawaha, where concentrations of big bass frequently reposition themselves under the moving clogs of plants. Fishing Rodman is a unique experience. The scenic impoundment (sometimes spelled Lake Oklawaha) located in Florida’s Putnam and Marion counties has been perhaps the country’s most productive and intriguing trophy bass factory almost from its inception. While it has gone through a few tough times, such as major hydrilla invasions that curtailed anglers’ success in the 1970s and periodically in later years, Rodman has…

It seems as though an increasing number of hunters relish having pursuit-specific firearms. While rifle hunters once led this charge, it’s becoming just as true for shotgunners, too. Certain attributes on a scattergun better fit some pursuits than others. Nowhere is this clearer than in the realm of turkey hunting, where purpose-built guns have become almost ubiquitous. To be fair, turkey hunters do have distinct needs, and guns have evolved accordingly to meet them. Like all hunters, gobbler gurus want a reliable gun, but that’s just a starting point. They need a shotgun that can deliver dense patterns—often at extended distances—on a relatively small target. The gun should be comfortable to use and handy when sitting in the tight quarters of a blind or scrunched against a tree, too. Many…

Duck camp was on, and all the guys were in the kitchen of the cabin, eating chili, telling lies and talking about what blinds they’d hunt in the morning. It was Shane’s second year of duck camp, but this year, at 17, he felt like one of the guys for the first time. Despite being tasked with chores like burning trash and continually scraping mud off the porch steps, he thought duck camp was paradise. But it hadn’t always been like that. “Dad,” said Shane, injecting a bit of his own commentary among the older men’s banter in an attempt at some humor, “why did you refuse to let me come to duck camp when I was younger? Mom said it was because you guys were wild in those days…

WEEKLY GOBBLER REPORTS BEGIN THIS MONTH Our “Regional Strut Update” returns in March for a second season of weekly expert reports from the turkey woods in every region. Through May you can count on thorough info on gobbler activity, where to find the birds and how to fill your tag. CATCH A MARCH LUNKER They’ve already been catching monsters in Texas and Florida, but for most bass anglers, March is lunker time. We can help with hundreds of how-to, destination and gear pieces in our bass archive. NEW BOWS FROM ATA SHOW The annual Archery Trade Association (ATA) show in St. Louis unveiled the latest in bowhunting gear. See what we found in “New Compound Bows for 2024” and “New Crossbows for 2024.” GHOSTED BY A TURKEY When Greg Cherne…

The old saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” may be true in civilized society, but off the beaten path, it takes more than that to prevent a tough situation from becoming worse. Make it a pound of prevention with a simple, lightweight survival kit. Weight is important (size, too) as the collection must be portable enough that you’ll take it with you every time. There is nothing more embarrassing for a supposedly self-reliant outdoorsman than to be the subject of a news story about being lost, cold, wet and bailed out by search and rescue. If you don’t carry it you may die, or at least be really, really inconvenienced. But pack this unassuming little parcel and you’ll stay warm, dry, hydrated, rested, find your…

Opening the heavy door on my gun vault, I saw my three specialized turkey shotguns were front and center, right where I’d put them at the end of last season. Each gun had a short barrel, sported an extra-full choke and wore a red-dot reflex sight. I stared at the guns, crunching numbers, and felt almost ashamed. Do I really need these to kill a turkey?I asked myself. Is it necessary for my turkey guns to shoot with rifle-like accuracy at distances that weren’t even deemed possible when I started hunting these birds 48 years ago? In my hand was a box of five turkey shells. They were specialized, too, made of Tungsten Super Shot at a cost of nearly $10 a shell. I was going to pattern the load…

SPORTING CLAYS: Every sporting clays course offers unique stations and shot opportunities. Some even have two or three different stance positions at each station to offer different looks at the bird. Most have one or more stations over water. If you’re a duck hunter, take advantage of this to help your mental focus. SKEET: You can expect eight stations in a semicircle, with high and low houses that spit targets flying at particular speeds on specific paths. Movement between stations gives you different looks at the clays. To work on crossing birds, shoot stations 2 through 6 and ignore the frustrating zoomers at stations 1, 7 and 8—at least to start. TRAP: A trap range has five stations with multiple stance possibilities. You’ll be 16 yards from where the clays…

Big crappies are where you find ’em,” says Brad Whitehead as he boosts another slab out of the dark waters of northwest Alabama’s Bear Lake. He hooks one after another by dropping a 1/16-ounce jig into brush piles he built himself in 6 feet of water. Whitehead, who guides all over the region, finds fish concentrations by pushing his spread of jigs very slowly around cover he locates with GPS and sonar. When he hooks the first slab, he drops anchor and asks his clients to be as quiet as possible while they ease their jigs through the cover below. Where there’s one big one there are usually several, Whitehead says. The big females, however, don’t school as tightly as the smaller males, explains the pro. THE ZONE For Whitehead,…

When it was announced that a little-known river in Middle Tennessee would host the first annual Musky Fly Fishing World Championship in March 2012, reactions among the contestants likely ranged from disbelief to cynical acceptance, with plenty muffled grumblings. After all, the Tennessee midlands are best known for largemouth bass, mountain music and corn squeezins’—though not necessarily in that order. Muskies? No way. The Collins River seems far better suited for trotlines and catfish than for the regal “fish of 10,000 casts.” But it didn’t take Jackson Kayak team member James McBeath many casts to catch a 38-inch musky from the diminutive stream to win the catch-and-release event and, in the process, let the proverbial cat out of the bag. Indeed, as unlikely as it might seem, some of the…

There are plenty of things to do when not wetting a line in Rodman Reservoir or one of the other great bass fishing waters near the impoundment. Marion County, which stretches from the lake’s Orange Springs area southward, encompasses most of the Ocala National Forest and the Ocklawaha River. Canoers, kayakers, tubers, boaters and scuba divers love the area and its nine major natural springs. Hikers can enjoy the St. Johns Loop Trail and Cross Florida National Scenic Trail in the Rodman area. The forest also offers numerous other hiking trails, small lakes and ponds to explore. There are several equestrian trails that begin at the Ocklawaha River’s Buckman Lock. Eagles, ospreys, herons, limpkins, egrets and ducks are abundant in this beautiful area of the state. Many visitors to Florida…

Two decades ago, a European optics manufacturer invited me on a turkey hunt to promote a new turkey hunting shotgun scope. The fact that a European company was purposefully building a riflescope for turkey hunting shows just how popular optics for turkey guns were, even 20 years ago. Today, however, you’d probably have better luck finding a three-bearded gobbler with painted toenails than a new, traditionally styled scope purpose-built for a turkey shotgun. These days, it’s all about the dot. By dot, I specifically mean compact reflex sights with red-dot reticles. These miniature marvels have taken turkey hunting by storm. In fact, they’ve become so popular on turkey guns that a few years ago Mossberg released the 940 Pro Turkey shotgun, which has a receiver milled to accept direct reflex-sight…

Tempers flare while sitting in the cluster-ruckus of a long launch line. If your trailer breaks down and clogs the ramp, then those tempers might boil over. Breaking down on the ramp or on the side of the road is never fun. It’s common, though, and that’s likely because 95 percent of registered recreational boats are trailerable. Add the fact that 47 states require no special permitting for boats with beams less than 8 1/2 feet, and that means you’ll see lots of boats on the road. Prevent breakdowns, and keep the cussing to a minimum, with the following tips that will have you trailering like a boss. Use the Right Tow Vehicle. Don’t let your buddy hitch his beater rig to your boat without knowing that it first can…

March is long awaited by outdoor enthusiasts whose interests are equally divided between bagging a turkey and catching a mess of fish on the same balmy spring morning. Indeed, many a gobbler can blame the South’s great fishing for its demise, as some anglers take a timeout during a crappie or bass safari to go after longbeards. The common approach is to fish until a turkey sounds off, then beach the boat, grab a shotgun, sneak to a vantage point—even with the bird or above it—and start calling. If a gobbler fails to sound off without any encouragement, a locator or hen call often fires up the old boy long enough to reveal its whereabouts. If such a cast-and-blast opportunity isn’t in the cards where you live, there’s plenty else…

Two words summed up the fly shop’s bleak report about the creek I had planned to fish: “Blown out.” Nearly there and already committed, I ventured forth, hoping to at least get in a few casts and learn about the stream for future outings. Upon arrival, I realized that wading was not an option. I found the stream pushy and its bed filled beyond capacity. The water color looked decent, though, and I noticed some small but well-defined eddies along the edges and behind midstream boulders. I tied on a flashy sinking minnow lure that would be easy for the fish to see and, aiming for the edges of eddies, I used fast presentations to prompt ambush strikes. I can’t claim I slayed ’em, but despite being unable to gain…

Anglers intent on sampling the Collins River’s superb musky fishing have a number of lodging options. For folks who want to stay close to the action, there’s Rock Island State Park (tnstateparks.com), a well-kept, 883-acre park that includes the Caney Fork Gorge and various waterfalls. It has a boat ramp and offers 10 cabins, each with three bedrooms, plus two campgrounds with 60 campsites—and two bathhouses—that accommodate RVs, trailer-campers or tents. Those who would rather enjoy the niceties of a town will find plenty of motels and restaurants in the McMinnville area. And when you’re not fishing, downtown Nashville is only 75 miles to the northwest. Chattanooga, about the same distance to the southwest of McMinnville, also boasts many attractions. For partial- or full-day fishing charters, consider these top local…

The two does had grown tired of being pestered by the 9-point, and it seemed like I was finally going to get a shot at the buck. I’d been watching the trio for 10 minutes—an eternity during the final day of Pennsylvania’s rifle deer season—while the buck hounded the uninterested does behind a couple blow-downs. When one of the females trotted from behind a fallen treetop and headed toward the blind, the buck followed. What at first looked like was going to be a chip shot quickly became complicated when the buck made a hard left turn and started heading downhill. The softwood timber was thicker on the side of the hill, and shooting lanes were narrow. I briefly tracked the buck in the scope, set at 6X, then swung…