Game & Fish September 2022

With fall on the way we all want to be in the woods and on the water more now than during the sweltering weather of the summer dog days. While the higher price of gas and products in general may cause us to cut back on trips, there are some things we can do to keep costs down while still enjoying our favorite pursuits. This issue contains three good examples. On page 14, Tony Hansen lays out a plan for dealing with increased pressure when hunting public land. He gives some smart advice, and you may want to consider it instead of writing off that piece of public ground just down the road. Don’t assume you can’t find success there. Some homework and a smart strategy to avoid the crowd…

ULTIMATE HUNTING KNOWLEDGE Be ready for fall with “Ultimate Season,” your one-stop online source for tips, videos, gear, destinations and recipes. Find it at the top of our homepage. GEAR FOR FALL HUNTING In the market for new hunting gear before the season starts? Check out our “Gear” section for extensive info, reviews, videos and more from SHOT Show 2022. HELP FOR AUTUMN BASS The summer heat was a drag, but there is relief with fall’s cooler weather and more active bass. Read “5 Best Baits for Early Fall Bass” to hook up this month. RECORD CATCHES Summer 2022 saw several state fishing records broken, including a 131-pound Mississippi blue catfish. Read about catches of a lifetime under “Records.” TOP BOWS AT LOW PRICES Hunters looking for quality, price-friendly compound…

When it comes to small game hunting, nothing beats a .22 rifle. Not only is it virtually recoil free, it’s also not excessively loud. And, with the right ammunition, it’s small game capable out to 100 yards or so. A major online retailer lists more than 100 different loads for the .22 LR. Obviously, hunters will be concerned with things like energy, bullet upset and penetration—especially depending on the animal being hunted. Conversely, if you’re head-shooting squirrels, just about any bullet will do. What matters most in that scenario is how close the bullet will land to your point of aim. TWO TESTS I recently conducted a test to discover what the most precise-shooting .22 LR load was in my favorite rifle. I wanted to know which load would give…

I consider myself a student of the hunting game—as such, I am acutely aware of trends in our sport. One I’ve noticed over the last few years is the dramatic increase of interest in public land hunting. As most know, I am a big fan of public land hunting, having spent the majority of my formative years tromping there. Another trend developing is the dramatic decline in the popularity of outdoor “television” and the way it is consumed. Most of today’s hunting programming is no longer delivered via traditional television, but to millions of mobile phone screens via video sharing platforms, like YouTube for instance. Here, you will find no shortage of public land content rife with detailed how-to and where-to information. More often than not, the state being hunted…

Twice I hunted a prime spot last duck season and failed to fire a shot. I first tried an A-frame blind tucked into a tree line and then a layout blind in the open. The first blind was too tight to heavy cover, which ducks avoided. The second blind had a footprint that was too big and hard to conceal, so ducks flared. As ducks continued to land in the flooded field by the thousands, my wheels kept turning. That’s when I decided to build my own, single-panel, low-profile blind. On the first hunt with my homemade blind, I limited in 15 minutes. The following hunt I watched more than 700 ducks land in the decoys, but I didn’t shoot for the first five hours because I was seeking a…

Sean Manning admits the growth of his group, the American Carp Society, was slow to start. Founded in 2002 with concentrations of membership in California, Texas and New York, the group now has members in nearly every state along with a significant foreign membership. Little wonder the rest of the world is interested in American carp angling. From eastern Europe to China, sport anglers pursue carp with the sort of intensity that their countrymen reserve for soccer. These international advocates have been mystified that the sport—or species—hasn’t taken hold in the U.S., which arguably has some of the world’s best carp waters and abundant public fishing access. Manning hopes to change that by rehabilitating the image of the common carp, a non-native species that has been “naturalized” in the U.S.…