Indholdsfortegnelse for October 2016 i Outdoor Life

Craig, CO / Oct. 21 / 11:13 a.m. There’s a turning point in every hunt when someone tags out—or misses—that shift s morale. This bull dropped late on the third day, and a half dozen guys hiked back the next morning to help pack out the meat, including guide Matt Moline, who worked double duty by fielding a call with the processor. “We had been at the point in the hunt where there hadn’t been much success yet,” says photographer Peter Bohler. “Suddenly it felt like there might be a ton of it.” (Read more about Colorado elk on p. 57.)…

SHALL WE KILL DOES?/MARCH 1907 Deer populations at the turn of the 20th century were at an all-time historical low in North America, so it follows that our editors were wary of regulations permitting a doe harvest. They wrote a short but impassioned editorial against the practice, which had been proposed and enacted in some regions to avoid the “decimation” of bucks. Their position was sound at the time, but for some reason they further concluded that legal doe hunting would lead to runaway poaching from the majority of law-abiding hunters: “There is no part of the animal which one would keep as a trophy, and therefore when the meat is eaten all evidence of the killing of the animal has been destroyed. This means that if the hunter…

TIP Periodically blowing a hawk call as you hunt chukar will oft en keep the partridges from flushing wild, giving you closer shots. SECTION EDITED BY ANDREW MCKEAN •HUNTING@OUTDOORLIFE.COM You likely did not draw any of the special tags you applied for around the West for this fall’s biggame seasons. But even if you didn’t get called for a permit to hunt San Juan elk in Utah or bighorns in Oregon, you don’t have to spend the autumn wondering what to do with the refund from your unsuccessful big-game draw. The American West offers great hunting on public land, where the odds of success are high and hunting licenses are available over the counter. If you’re looking for a highoutput, high-success hunt this year, consider joining the ranks of the…

Spend much time chasing ducks and you’ll experience the empty promise of a flock of greenheads as it descends on your location, only to bank away as soon as you blow the first note on your duck call. As the season progresses and ducks get more wary, this scenario seems to repeat more times than not. The key to calling call-shy ducks, says Duck Dynasty’s Justin Martin, is simply to call less. Don’t blow if you don’t have to, says Martin. While this rule has been preached for years, it is oft en hard to resist when a flock of ducks is headed your way. But not only do you risk warning wary ducks with imperfect calling, but you may also give away your position. If the birds…

CORN Standing corn can hold a ton of deer when the pressure is on, but deer seem to prefer waste grain as a food source. The problem is that efficient farming implements mean there is less waste grain lying around harvested fields. What is left will draw deer. SOYBEANS If you have an early opener, you may encounter bean fields that are still green. Deer will hit them hard. For later openers, you might have standing fields of brown, ready-toharvest beans. Deer will pound these as well. Post-harvest bean fields are also prime. BRASSICAS For many food plotters, the brassica is king. These plants are easy to grow and produce tons of forage. But they aren’t super attractive to deer until after several hard frosts. If your opener falls in…

JOHN PONIKVAR KNOWS when elk season starts in his hometown of Craig, Colorado, without looking at a calendar. The waits at gas pumps get long, as camo-clad hunters fuel muddy pickups. Restaurants that have plenty of open tables the rest of the year suddenly have lines that snake out the door. And Ponikvar sees a spike for automotive parts at his NAPA dealership a block off U.S. Highway 40 on Craig’s south side. Many of these autumnal customers speak in thick Southern drawls or clipped New England accents, and they’re mainly buying backcountry necessities: tow ropes, tire chains, and bungee cords. The population of Craig, which has hovered around 9,000 for a couple of decades, doubles during elk season—at least if you count the occupants of all the hunting camps…

For those who have ventured into the world of defensive shooting or carrying a concealed gun, dedicating training time to become as proficient as possible with your gear is mandatory. I use all kinds of drills, depending on the skill set I’m working on, but two of the best are dry practice and dot torture. DRY RUN Dry practice is a training tool I use with all types of firearms. It costs nothing but time and can be done almost anywhere. Dry practice allows you to work on sight alignment, trigger control, draws from concealment, and reloading—with dummy ammo only. Dry practice has some hard and fast rules: All live ammo must be removed from the training area—no exceptions. The “target” should be something you’d be willing to shoot and…

LOADING TARGET AMMO in your defensive handgun is like installing slicks on your 4x4: They’re good at leading you into a jam but poor at getting you out. While premium ammo is pricey, I challenge you to name a better bargain than a $1 cartridge that could actually save your life. Here are five that were developed to do just that. THE TEST: I fired each 9mm test bullet into bundles of wet, dry, and damp newspapers at 5 yards from a 5-inch-barrel Smith & Wesson M&P. Each folded newspaper was roughly 1-inch thick and much tougher than a single layer of clothing, including denim. The bundles were bound tightly with plastic ties. (Note that dry newspaper bundles are tougher than flesh and hard on bullets, and represent a torture…

TIP Pheasant hunters are known to hit the fields early, but the last hours of legal shooting time—as the birds head to roost—can be equally good. THE FLASH OF COLOR and cackle of a rising rooster is an unforgettable moment, but hard-flying wild pheasants make a tough target. Focusing on these three key elements of shotgunning can help you put more birds in the bag. 1 CHANGE YOUR AIM POINT Many hunters become so flustered when a bird flushes in front of them that they lose track of their aiming point. The natural inclination for some is to aim for the center of the bird’s body, focusing on the whole target instead of a single strike point. The result is almost always a miss behind or perhaps a few cropped…

DREAM HUNT ▶ I loved the “North to Adventure” features in the August 2016 issue. As a kid, I admired the moose antlers my grandpa had hanging in his garage. Seeing them always made me think about the adventures I could have hunting moose. “Beyond the Roar” solidified this fantasy, and I have promised myself I will chase a bull moose at least once in my life. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get a set of antlers to hang in my own garage one day. Kyle Nerad Davenport, IA OLD RAMS ▶ This latest issue [August 2016] really hit home. My best friend and I will hunt Dall sheep for the first, and likely only, time in our lives next year. I will be just shy of my 60th birthday;…

Trail cameras are a wonderful tool, but in the heat of the moment, there is no substitute for trail-craft—using your five senses to unravel the clues left by whatever game you are pursuing and whatever else might be roaming the wilds. It’s called tracking, but tracks are just the start of it. Master trackers pay attention to every available clue, using all of their senses, a catalog of memories, and a dose of imagination. Here are five tracking scenarios, all based on real-life situations I’ve experienced. In each case, subtle differences in sign make a big difference in how you might interpret the story left behind. 1 BEAR WITH ME You and a friend are hunting a ridge in the northern Rockies, climbing toward the timberline. It’s Thanksgiving weekend, and…

As a knife enthusiast, Matt Helm talks about how he “went through the Rambo knife phase and the shiny knife phase” in terms of what he liked. But in his late 20s, his sensibilities shift ed, and inspired by blade smiths like Andy Roy, Dan Koster, and Rich Marchand, he developed a love for practical, well-made tools of understated craft smanship . “Their knives didn’t have the feel of something you’d set aside in a velvet-lined case, but something that you would go out and use,” Helm says. When he decided to try his hand at knife making in early 2011, that was the aesthetic he aspired to. And since then, his knives have been in great demand among serious blade aficionados. One of his latest designs is this tactical…

WHEREAS A SQUEAKY wheel might get the grease, rarely will incessant calling get a limit of ducks or geese. If last season you found yourself blowing the same old tune with little to show for it, here are five tips for greater success. TIP After a hunt, remove all loose shells from your parka and bags and wipe them dry with a cloth to prevent rust from forming on the brass. 1 LEARN HOW TO BLOW YOUR CALLS Unless your musical aspirations begin and end with a kazoo, you wouldn’t expect to play an instrument well within a few weeks or months. Duck and goose calls may seem like simple instruments, but they’re not easily mastered. If you’re new to waterfowling, check out videos on call-manufacturers’ websites or YouTube and…

TIP Don’t stow your elk calls once the rut draws to a close. An occasional cow call while stalking will help calm skittish elk. It’s important not to overdo it, however. WHEN THE TIMING is just right, all things seem possible for September elk hunting— probable, even. Bulls are practically screaming from every ridge and hollow. It’s not a matter of whether you’ll hear a bull, it’s which bugle you should go to first. Anticipation is high, and it’s simply a matter of time before you run an arrow through one of the brutes Then reality sets in. The bulls don’t bugle on cue and September days begin to wane. October is here, and you’ve still got an unpunched archery tag. Now what? In some elk-rich states, such as Montana,…

Coyotes are not so different from you and me. They like a comfortable home, favorite foods, and a don’t-tread-on-me existence. Look for these qualities in your coyote-hunting territory and you’ll be one shot closer to a prime pelt. ROUGH AND RUGGED In the East or West, coyotes retreat to rough country that features a rugged exterior. Search for eroded canyons, vertical slopes, and rocky landscapes. Any terrain that challenges your foothold looks like home to a coyote. THICK AND NASTY Coyotes have no aversion to diving into a briar patch or thicket. It breaks the wind and may provide a meal in the form of Br’er Rabbit, if luck avails. Coyotes also bed in dog-hairthick stands of pines and under the canopy of dense shrubbery. LIVESTOCK FRIENDLY While…

DID YOU KNOW? Fred Bear’s record brown bear (now No. 9) stood 10 feet tall and weighed more than 1,000 pounds. So you’ve got quite a few deer under your belt, and you’re confident with a bow in your hands. But when we’re talking about an animal with a nose better than a whitetail’s, that’s born with a bad attitude, and that can eat you, things change a bit. Your archery setup needs to be good, but to take on a bear, you need to be mentally prepared. 1 USE THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT ▶ Grizzly and brown bears carry a status that, in a lot of ways, is completely mythical. They are just as mortal as any other animal. In Alaska, a bow with a peak draw weight of at…

Even for a yearling doe, she was small. My first thought was that I could probably sling her over my back and carry her whole to my pickup. Then I started gutting her, and as I cut into the pink and tender meat, my next thought was of my friend Ward. Ward is what I’d call a competitive eater. Not in the mouth-cramming, hot dog binge-and-purge way you might be thinking. Instead, he tries to one-up his friends by cooking, eating, and over-celebrating the most obscure and appalling parts of the wild game he kills. Only Ward makes apparently inedible things look succulent. Maybe you are happy grilling a venison steak, but to Ward you are not properly realizing the culinary potential of the wild gift unless you marinate the…

SECTION EDITED BY ANDREW MCKEAN • PHOTOGRAPHS BY PETER BOHLER When I was a kid, a neighbor hunted so close to our farm’s boundary that his treestand practically hung across our fence line. Over the course of several deer seasons, I’d sometimes train my binocular on Willie’s stand and see him pointing his bolt-action rifle back at me. “I don’t think he’d ever shoot you,” my dad said, a little too casually. “Willie glasses with his riflescope because he can’t afford a binocular.” He could now. Based on submissions to this year’s optics test, there is a binocular for almost any type of hunter and every budget. Affordability is relative, but most hunters would agree that a $3,000 binocular is expensive, no matter how good its glass. A $200 optic…

Benelli Ethos 28-Gauge: The Ethos 28 is light and nimble, features modern styling, and, yes, it’s Italian. The gun weighs just 5.3 pounds, making it one of the lightest autoloaders ever, and the addition of a 3-inch chamber makes it the most versatile 28-gauge ever. ($2,199; benelliusa.com) Savage 555: One of the criticisms of this 5.5-pound 20-gauge is that the recoil is pretty stiff. That’s true if you’re shooting clays all day, but for the foot hunter, who will cover a lot of miles to shoot two or three times, this over/under is perfect. It’s also affordable. ($692; savagearms.com) Browning A5 Sweet Sixteen: This new iteration of one of the most iconic upland guns ever has some improvements that make it a great option for modern bird hunters. It operates…

LET’S GET STARTED TIP No 1 SIT THE HOT SEAT Dawn of the gun-season opener may seem like controlled chaos to you, but deer begin to react to hunter movement even before the first shot is fired. When the shooting does start, they’ll be on the move. That’s what makes your stand selection so critical. Escape routes and feedto-bed trails may be your best bet. Deer that were on a food source during the night will beat a hasty retreat for thick cover once dawn arrives. Select your stand accordingly. FIRST-LIGHT HOTSPOTS TIP No 2 | GET TO BED Most deer, when pressured, are going to head for home. They’ll seek out those thick, nasty areas where they feel safe and secure. And that’s where you must be waiting. HOW…

GOLDEN ASPENS AND DARK TIMBER MUSTY WITH THE SMELL OF RUTTING BULLS. CLEAR STREAMS RUNNING THROUGH LUSH MEADOWS. A LONELY MIDNIGHT BUGLE THAT SHAKES YOU AWAKE IN YOUR SLEEPING BAG. AN ARMY OF HUNTERS— ALL IN COMPETITION, BUT ALSO, SOMEHOW, STILL A BROTHERHOOD. THIS IS ELK HUNTING IN COLORADO. LAST YEAR, ALMOST A QUARTER MILLION HUNTERS BOUGHT ELK TAGS IN THE CENTENNIAL STATE, AND THEY KILLED 44,852 ELK, ACCORDING TO THE STATE WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT. BUT STILL, THE POST-HUNT ELK POPULATION WAS ESTIMATED AT 275,880 ANIMALS IN 2015. THAT’S A BIGGER ELK POPULATION THAN IN MONTANA AND IDAHO COMBINED. THE STATE IS HOME TO 11 NATIONAL FORESTS AND 42 NATIONAL WILDERNESS AREAS. THESE ARE LANDS WITH LEGENDARY NAMES: GUNNISON, FLAT TOPS, WHITE RIVER, AND SAN JUAN. ALL ARE OPEN TO PUBLIC…

Okay, if you’re a waterfowler, it’s a safe bet you’ve circled the first day of duck season in red on your calendar, the day when all those birds that have been trickling down from the far north become fair game. Only a die-hard duck hunter would burn a sick day at work to rise at four in the morning, slog through the mud, and face a bitter northwest wind in the hopes of seeing a group of wayfaring mallards cup up and drop into a decoy spread. Only a waterfowler would consider that a good way to spend a day off . In order to make the most of that precious morning, make sure your shooting form is up to snuff and that your gun is delivering optimal performance. 1…

Rifles like the new Thompson/Center Compass are the unsung heros of shooting and hunting. Firearms snobs love to hate entry-level guns such as the Compass, which has a suggested retail price of $399. With a critical eye, these aficionados can inspect a budget-priced firearm and reel off a list of faults. They don’t like plastic stocks. The fit-and-finish isn’t up to snuff . The rifle should have more metal, less polymer. “They don’t make ’em like they used to,” they’ll say No, they don’t. With advances in machining techniques, new types of alloys, resins, and polymers to work with, and years of industry efforts to create the best possible gun for the least amount of cash, the Compass and other members of the budgetfriendly tribe represent a remarkable achievement in…