Indholdsfortegnelse for August 2018 i Petersen's Hunting

Earlier this summer, the Huffington Post published an open letter written by former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe calling for “responsible firearm regulation.” Ashe is no friend of hunters and anglers, which he proved by an order requiring the use of “nontoxic ammunition and fishing tackle to the fullest extent practicable” on public lands managed by the USFWS. What may surprise you is that the anti-gun letter was co-signed by a dozen other self-proclaimed outdoor influencers, including eight former outdoor writers who identified themselves as members of the Outdoor Writers Association of America Circle of Chiefs. I won’t go into the specifics of what Ashe and his cronies deem responsible firearm regulation, but their demands read like standard gun-control copy: a minimum age of 21 to purchase…

HISTORY Designed in 1959 for a U.S. Army contract, this magnum is the fastest of all factory-available .30-caliber cartridges. And it’s not just powerful, it’s accurate, having set a world record in 1,000-yard benchrest shooting that stood for over three decades. It was also the first cartridge to record the first 10-X 1,000-yard score. Interestingly, Weatherby didn’t offer it to the public until 1996. Utilizing Weatherby’s .378 Magnum as a parent case, the .30-378 is a true magnum in every sense: long, large in diameter, and excessively powerful. APPLICATION Because the cartridge generates tremendous amounts of velocity with heavy-for-caliber projectiles, it’s suitable for any game that walks North America. But since those high velocities can shred standard bullets on impact, it requires controlled-expansion hunting bullets. Although some hunters use it…

Autumn 2017 marked the final season for caribou hunting in northern Quebec. One of my buddies, Mike Hagen, was out on the final hunt, so perhaps he has the dubious distinction of taking the last Quebec-Labrador caribou. Throughout my career, northern Quebec was one of the great places to hunt caribou—and the only place to hunt the Quebec-Labrador subspecies. My first Quebec hunt was along the route of the George River herd. My later Quebec hunts targeted the Leaf River herd, which flourished as the George River herd waned. At one time, the George River herd exceeded 800,000, but by 2011 it had plummeted and sport hunting closed. Last year, the population estimate was just 15,000, but calf survival seems to be increasing. In 2011 the Leaf River herd was…

America’s pronghorn antelope aren’t just cowboy country’s ultimate starter species. They’re tremendously fun to hunt and present certain unique challenges. According to an excerpt from Boone & Crockett’s Field Guide to Measuring and Judging Big Game, 2nd Edition, pronghorn antelope are currently the second most populous big-game animal west of the Mississippi. Almost every state in the West now offers a pronghorn season. Wily, fleet, and possessed of extraordinary eyesight, they’re easy to find and difficult to shoot. And before you shoot, you must overcome the trickiest of all the pronghorn-hunting hurdles: field judging your trophy. By my book, only bears are more difficult to accurately field judge. Estimating size must be done via somewhat subjective comparisons to eye diameter and ear and head length. To quote B&C’s Eldon L.…

The chase for better performance has led the crossbow industry down a prickly path. Sometimes marketing gets in the way of ethics, and we are starting to see t e crossbow industry blur that line. Innovation is a good thing, and without a doubt, today’s crossbows are incredibly capable tools for the hunter. That said, just because technology allows for a 100-yard shot on an animal doesn’t mean that shot should be taken. Many states have liberalized laws and rules to allow crossbows to be used during archery season, and in terms of hunter access, I see this as a good thing. However, when we start to see manufacturers advocating the use of their products at ranges that far exceed the effective range of even the most sophisticated vertical bow,…

I WAS SO NERVOUS I THOUGHT THE ARROW WOULD RATTLE OFF THE BOW REST. THE TALL, lanky man sitting across the table from me had a gentle way about him. His smile was genuine and contagious. He had a twinkle in his eye, was soft-spoken, and displayed a demeanor that made everyone relax. Because of his legendary fame, we were intimidated by his presence. The man was Fred Bear. As we chatted, it was obvious this was a man who followed his passions, regardless of the dangers. He’d hunted the world over with a bow, long before archery equipment became both sophisticated and simplified. Though he had every right to brag, Fred seemed more interested in our hunting adventures than his. He had just finished giving a speech at a…

Just a week after the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, CNN aired what it called a Town Hall, pitting members of the Parkland community against political figures like Florida Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio, Democratic Congressman Ted Deutch, as well as National Rifle Association (NRA) spokesperson Dana Loesch and Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel. Students, teachers, and parents, seething with anger, stood together to ask what would be done to ensure a shooting like this would never happen again. The large crowd surrounded a small stage lit to call attention to leaders who would stand and face this community. The evening’s agenda was clear: highlight the survivors of this tragedy and give them a voice. But the open wounds of the prior week’s…

HUNTWORTH understands the budget-minded hunter who requires dependable gear. The Men’s Bonded Jacket features a double layer of velvety, low-pile fleece for silent stalking, while a waffle fleece lines the insides to capture body heat. Premium add-ons include a harness access hole, tapered arms, and an antimicrobial treatment to cut down on scent. The Bonded Jacket and Soft Shell Pant are water repellent for unexpected rain. The pants are fitted with deep front pockets and zip cargo pockets for extra storage. Both pieces come in Huntworth’s new Hidd’n camo. Jacket: $100; Pants: $70; huntworthgear.com The last thing you want is loud swishing noises when stirring in your treestand. NOMAD created its Cottonwood 1/2 Zip Jacket with Berber fleece for a silent, deadly garment that is the perfect outer shell for…

This spotting scope not only offers superb glass and good portability, but also provides a field-judging edge. Get the model with the Impact reticle because you can range a buck, bracket the horns with the MOA reticle grid, and use a simple calculation to derive a very accurate measurement. You may not get exact horn length, but you can get exact horn height, and then extrapolate along the curve. I’ve packed my Gold Ring spotter from southern Utah’s desert to Alaska’s interior, and performance is outstanding. Its fully multicoated lenses provide excellent light transmission, color purity, and image clarity coupled with almost no distortion. It’s forgiving to use, easy to pack, and durable courtesy of rubber armoring and a tough magnesium housing. Waterproof, extremely shock resistant, and nitrogen purged against…

BULLET BASICS This boattailed, polymer-tipped, all-copper bullet is arguably the perfect monometal projectile. It’s a tough, controlled-expansion big-game bullet that tends to offer best-in-class penetration. Grooves around the shank provide room for rifling-displaced material to flow into and reduce pressures, enabling the TTSX to be driven to high velocities. The tip enhances aerodynamics and allows the hollow point in the actual bullet to be much bigger, which results in more reliable expansion than with non-tipped monometal bullets. TESTING GROUND Kimber’s Ryan Busse used the bullet shown to make a one-shot kill on a six-by-six bull from 562 yards. Exiting the muzzle of his .280 Ackley Improved rifle at 3,100 fps, it impacted at an estimated 2,025 fps, just inside the velocity threshold for reliable expansion. FIELD PERFORMANCE Impacting the quartering-away…

KAY FOYE is a New York corporate lifer, turned Colorado ranch hand, turned knifemaker. Nurtured by a childhood surrounded by horses and inspired by her mother, a talented chef, whose way of wielding a kitchen knife was legendary, Foye found her calling not in the concrete canyons of the city, but on the open plains of the West, where she learned the importance of a sharp blade strapped to her belt. Recognizing knives as mankind’s first primitive implement, a hunter’s must-have tool, a means of survival, and a staple on the dinner table, Foye began a collection. Each acquired knife possessed a memory and ignited a passion for handcrafted blades. A chance meeting with skilled knifemaker Jake Asuit led to an apprenticeship, and Foye discovered her life’s work in the…

Imagine you’re strolling along a wilderness canyon bottom, sleepy enough in the late afternoon sunshine that you’re willing to let your guide do most of the glassing. He whisper-shouts, “Holy smokes! That’s the biggest buck I’ve seen in years!” You jolt suddenly, now wide-awake, dropping your half-chewed jerky stick. Glassing wildly, you spot the buck. He’s wide and massive—so massive that the bucks in your fantasies seem minuscule —but he’s a legitimate 1,400 yards above you at a shockingly steep angle. What to do? Climb, pilgrim. Climb like hell and pray that you can get yourself and your shootin’ iron close enough for a shot before darkness closes in. Long-barreled, configurable-stocked precision hunting rifles are all the rage, but you’ll have a much easier time getting there if your deer…