Indholdsfortegnelse for April/May 2022 i Petersen's Hunting

SUCH A SIMPLE statement, but one that carries a lot of weight in just a few words. I can’t take credit it for it. It popped up on my social media feed and stuck in my head. The more I thought about it, the more I agreed. It really is okay if the bird (or bear or other game animal) wins. In fact, sometimes it’s even better that way. We all understand the endgame when going afield with a gun in hand is to kill something. But is that really the ultimate goal? Or is there something else—another motivation for hunting or a different measure of success we should subscribe to? I should probably back up. The statement relating to getting beat by a bird—a turkey, in this case—comes from…

Rule No. 1: Begin with black bears. Let’s establish that right up front. Black bears are challenging enough, so leave the grizzlies and brown bears for future adventures. Why hunt bears? In many ways they are the ultimate North American challenge. Bears are formidable. Bears can kill you. Bears taste good. Bear rugs are awesome. Most of all, bear hunting almost always creates vivid memories of gnarly adventure. METHODS & SEASONS Black bears can be hunted spot-and-stalk, baited, or taken incidentally. In some cases, they can even be drawn in with a predator call. The favorite method of most hunters is spot-and-stalk hunting because it’s challenging and puts you on the same playing field as the bears. It allows you to pit the best of your hunting skills against a…

There is a universal truth in whitetail habitat management: Yellowjacket wasps do not lead solitary lives. They love to sting when you’re on an open-cab tractor with a spinning implement behind you and no hope of a rapid escape. The first hit usually lands between your shoulders and is only the beginning of a hellish fury to follow. This is a late-summer tradition for many deer hunters. In order to be ready for the season, you’ve got to get the “bush hogging” done first, and when you’re mowing a field one pass after another, you’re probably going to find a wasp nest or two. Even if you don’t, the process is still miserable. In fact, the Third Level of Hell stays a constant 92 degrees and is lined with six-foot-tall…

MY FIRST shotgun was a Winchester Model 50 12 gauge I bought on an installment plan from a guy who mostly sold appliances. The gun, along with a washing machine and a clothes dryer, set me back $25 a month. It was 1963, and I was fresh out of forestry college, just starting my first career making $5,000 per year as a forest ranger. The gun wore a Poly-Choke, which was in vogue those days. It looked like a small suppressor stuck on the end of the barrel, and I thought it was pretty cool. Twenty-five years later, after countless hunts, I took my trusty Model 50 on a turkey hunt in the Black Hills with the late Pat McManus, who was then arguably the top outdoor humor writer in…

From ballot box biology, to No-Net-Loss, to international trophy bans, hunters are facing increasing attacks on every front. Here are just a few we are fighting in 2022: • Ballot Box Biology: These initiatives leave wildlife decisions to the public and remove management from experts and wildlife professionals. • Trophy Bans: Last year, several state legislatures introduced international trophy bans. • No-Net-Loss: This policy means maintaining the current level of hunting and fishing access on federal public lands across the country. • Legal, Regulated Wildlife Trade: Animal rights groups have petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to stop all imports, exports, and interstate shipping of wild mammals and birds, whether alive or dead. • Big Tech: Big Tech Censorship is nothing new to the hunting community, and social media companies are perpetuating stigmas against…

PREDATOR MANAGEMENT has become the focal point of the animal-rights movement, and for every anti-predator-hunting legislative or regulatory attack won, your deer and elk hunting is one step closer to extinction. This isn’t hyperbole. Spring bear hunting in Washington state was nixed when the Fish and Wildlife Commission failed to pass the yearly regulation on a tie vote. Likewise, the animal-friendly government of California was petitioned to end all bear hunting. Mountain lion and bobcat hunting faced legislative and regulatory blow-back in Colorado and Arizona this spring. It’s not a coincidence these Western states were all flooded with anti-hunting rhetoric at the same time. It’s a coordinated effort by the Humane Society of the United States, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Mountain Lion Foundation, and numerous other organizations. The…

We spend a lot of money on our rifles, so why not spend a few more dollars to keep them dry and protected? The Alpine Innovations Gun Slicker is a lightweight waterproof cover that will protect your rifle when the weather turns nasty. Weighing less than five ounces, you won’t even notice it in your pack. The quiet fabric features a quick-draw cord that allows for easy adjustment and removal. What’s more, the design features a barrel port so you can take a shot without fully removing the cover. $25; alpineproducts.com When you need to don your rain gear, you’d better be sure it will hold up against the elements. KUIU’s Yukon Rain Gear covers you from head to toe with a 4-way-stretch Primeflex polyester for ultimate comfort while the…

I learned to shoot with open sights. As a youngster, I shot thousands of .22 Shorts down a basement range. This was good training because iron sights quickly teach you that small errors create wide misses. Scopes are in almost universal use among today’s hunters, but there are still lots of beginning hunters who start out with Granddad’s iron-sighted .30-30 or Uncle Bob’s old Remington pump. Once I started hunting, I did so with a magnifying rifle-scope. This was in a time when the fixed 4X was king of hunting scopes. Larger fixed-power scopes existed for targets and varmints, but variable-power scopes weren’t quite perfect. Honestly, I never imagined needing more than 4X. When I got my first 3-9X variable and turned it up all the way, the size of…

The laughs echoed through camp as I readied myself for a day of turkey hunting in solid-color clothing. “You can’t hunt turkeys without camo,” everyone said. I’ve never been big on turkey hunting. Maybe it’s due to the constant comparison between the feathered mongrels and the majestic Rocky Mountain elk I dream of on a daily basis. But I digress. Somehow, year after year, I find myself ending my high-mountain pursuit of black bears to spend time chasing gobbles with my turkey-crazed friends. I usually try to play the part: full camo and face coverings, and I practice my soft yelps and purrs relentlessly in my truck so as not to embarrass myself at camp. This past season, though, I took a less traditional approach. A set of solid-colored clothing…

BULLET BASICS A unique bullet made in the Czech Republic (same home country as CZ Firearms), the Soft Point Cutting Edge (SPCE) bullet features a step crimped into the jacket at the juncture where the parallel sides begin to taper toward the nose. Termed a “cutting edge,” this step locks the lead core into the jacket and also cuts a crisp, round entry wound that maximizes blood trails. Designed for use on medium-size game such as wild boar and red stag, it’s suitable for our American deer species as large as caribou and elk. In the States, it’s available online and in retail shops that carry a broad selection of S&B ammo. TESTING GROUND Hunting from a “High Seat” box blind in the Czech Republic, I used a 180-grain version…

Nosler is best known for being the company that introduced premium controlled-expansion bullets to the hunting world. Over the years, though, Nosler has evolved into far more than just a bullet company. Today, Nosler manufactures bullets, loaded ammunition, and even rifles. The Nosler Model 21 rifle, featuring custom-quality elements in a factory-built format, is the firm’s latest release, and its performance should turn heads. Nosler isn’t a new player in the rifle scene. It introduced the Model 48 back in 2004. I’ve tested several over the years, and they have all been accurate and dependable. The rifle world, though, has changed since 2004. The popularity of long-range precision shooting has spurred rapid innovation, and rifle makers have increasingly relied on aircraft-grade manufacturing processes to keep up, particularly when it comes…

Sometimes you don’t need all 10 of the Xs or all 42 of the millimeters in what’s become the standard-sized hunting binocular: the 10x42. That configuration has landed as the default largely because it can do everything pretty well. Its 10-power magnification is powerful enough to enable you to count points on a distant elk, and its 42mm objective lens is large enough to allow an adequate amount of light to reach your eye in most hunting conditions. Its frame is portable enough for easy carrying, and it fits neatly into just about any aftermarket binocular harness. In other words, it’s the Goldilocks of binoculars, capable of handling a number of tasks just right. But sometimes that handy 10x42 isn’t quite powerful enough to dig tiny Coues deer out of…