Innehållsförteckning för March 2015 från Field & Stream

I’M WRITING THIS from the 2015 Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show, the industry’s annual trade show. There are 64,000 of us here in Las Vegas who have come to buy, sell, and gawk at the insane amount of innovative products on display. It’s hard not to leave this show feeling good about the future of these sports. Let’s face it: Money talks. And when it comes to hunting, fishing, and shooting, money talks the loudest to the general public—the kind of people who may not hunt, fish, or shoot but who can have a significant impact on what we do. I think these sports have a value that goes way beyond dollars and cents, but here are some fun facts for the next time some nonhunter is unmoved…

EVERY INCH COUNTS F&S is perfect. A reader can’t afford to overlook a single inch of type—some of the best reads are the little snippets that seem to fill vacant space. Nessmuk would be proud of the current publication.R. Wayne Moorhead, Leawood, Kan. MYSTERY ON THE MOUNTAIN I thoroughly enjoyed Rick Bass’s “Lions of Winter” (Dec. 2014– Jan. 2015). As I read, I could feel the cold stillness of the winter woods just before sundown and that heightened sense of awareness, spiked with fear, that comes from knowing a potential mankiller is close by. Sam Whiteleather,Winslow, Ind. It’s not the kill that makes hunting so special; it’s the close encounters with the mysteries of nature. True sportsmen feel even closer to the humans who practiced wild arts for thousands of…

IN MARCH, as bass in the lakes of the Tennessee River begin to spawn, anglers in Alabama gear up to fish, eat, sleep, and repeat for the next month. When it comes to part two of that equation, the region’s famed barbecue joints provide sustenance to get you through a lunker marathon. Here are the top spots to cast and eat. 1 TAKE YOUR PICK(WICK) Put yourself up, and your boat in, at Mississippi’s J.P. Coleman State Park, which sits at the lower half of the South’s premier smallmouth fishery: Pickwick Lake. Low water at this time of year will concentrate smallmouths, as well as the lake’s trophy largemouths and spotted bass. Throw a suspended crankbait along flats or points near deeper water, or work a Texas-rigged trick worm…

GUARDING A GULF FISHERY JIM BARKULOO PANAMA CITY, FLA. As the coordinator of the St. Andrew Bay Watch Program since 1991, Barkuloo has been training and organizing the efforts of 40 volunteers, who monitor water quality at 84 sampling stations throughout the watershed each month, in an effort to protect its essential habitat for redfish, spotted seatrout, and other gamefish. He helped secure a $1 million grant from the Northwest Florida Water Management District to be shared between the water sampling program and a shoreline restoration project that will stabilize eroding areas with 1,000 acres of seagrass. He was also part of a team that successfully lobbied to redirect treated wastewater from a discharge point on West Bay to a new, naturally filtering 3,000-acre wetland park. Before retiring, Barkuloo spent…

When there are 300 snow geese settling into your spread and 2,000 more circling above, it’s great that extended magazines are legal during the spring conservation order. But only if your gun has one. Here’s how to choose it and make several other easy tweaks to transform your standard 12-gauge into the ultimate snow goose gun—for less than $300. 1 | TUBE TOP-OFF For every shotgun make and model there are several options, but I went with a plus-six-round Briley shotgun magazine extension ($95; briley.com) for my Franchi Affinity because it’s made well and reasonably priced. The 6061 aluminum is rigid and sturdy but doesn’t weigh a ton. You may not always connect on that 10th shot, but you’ll feel like a Terminator when you’re swinging nearly half a box…

Some folks call it a Swedish candle; some, a Swedish torch; and others, a Canadian stove. I call it the coolest fire trick ever. A log split into wedges, with tinder jammed into the cracks, throws tall flames for plenty of light, and the flat top makes a great cooking platform for a skillet or Dutch oven. Since the finished torch is pretty portable, do most of the work at home and toss it into your truck or boat. Whether you’re Swedish, Canadian, or neither, you’ll be seconds from a serious blaze when you blow into camp at zero-dark-thirty.…

When the water opens up in March, bass fishermen can’t break out the jerkbaits fast enough. Between TV hosts and magazine writers, the idea of jerkbaits being the prespawn go-to has been so beaten into anglers’ heads, I know guys that refuse to tie on anything else. Not me. Come March, I’m throwing flatsided crankbaits, because these sleeper lures can trigger more reaction strikes from spring lunkers than any jerkbait—if you know where and how to use them. 1 TIGHT VIBES Compared with thin jerkbaits, flat-sided crankbaits have a taller profile, which produces more flash for fish to spot in spring waters that are often stained or muddy. To increase that flash even more, stick to colors like chartreuse, silver, gold, or crawfish orange. Next to traditional round-body cranks, these…

THE CHAMP: Mitchell Johnston Owner of Dead End Game Calls (deadendgamecalls.com) MAJOR WINS: 2010 NWTF Grand National; 2010 World Two-Man; 2009 World Friction; 2014 and 2012 North Carolina State Friction; 2014 NC State Owl Hooting; 2012 NC State Tarheel Open Call: Mouth call YELP When a real hen yelps, she opens and closes her mouth with each note. I started out saying yelp into the call because that p ending made me open and close my mouth like the real deal. I don’t really say any particular word anymore, but that’s a great place to start. You want a clear, high-pitched front note—yee—and a lower, raspy end note—help. With most calls, you damp down the front part of the reed with your tongue and run air over the back center…

THE MOST ORDINARY deer stand can somehow turn itself into a spiritually powerful place. I don’t pretend to understand how this works. I do know that you can climb into one with a stranger and come down four hours later knowing things about him you probably don’t know about your best friend. I was sitting on a folding chair in a tower stand in central Arkansas on a raw October morning. I had the barrel of a loaner rifle, a 6.5x55 Swedish, resting on the rail as Mike Romine and I scanned a big cutover field with pine woods on three sides. He’d warned me that the deer on his club’s lease rarely showed themselves for more than a few seconds. Mike is 58, with hands calloused from a lifetime…

Chocolate-milk river conditions kept photographer Ian Allen from fishing with guide Mikey Dvorak (p. 68), but he spends many weekends shore-casting to sockeye salmon in Puget Sound. He first took up flyfishing in New York before moving his business west, where he contributes to Time, Outside, Wired, and more. After four years of managing the Best of the Best Awards (p. 56), F&S deputy editor and SHOT Business editor Slaton L. White can recall the good, the bad, and the flammable: “Keith Mc-Cafferty once put a wool jacket into a campfire to see if it would catch fire,” says White, who has served many roles in his 33 years at F&S. “That’s dedication to duty.”…

I HAVE NEVER MET a trout guide who wouldn’t readily admit that streamers put the most trophy trout in the net. I discovered this truth a few years ago, right around the time several new-school flytiers started pushing the envelope with trout streamers, patterns that made a Muddler Minnow look as puny as a Griffith’s Gnat. Longer bodies, greater wiggle, extra bulk, more flash— there is nothing subtle about these flies. At first I felt foolish casting 6 inches of meat on a trout stream, but the first time a big brown slammed the streamer, I was sold. Soon my go-to rod was a 7-weight instead of a 5, and after a few seasons I’d landed a lot more 20-inch browns. With each new photo I posted on Facebook,…

ANCHORS AWAY A heavy anchor with 5 feet of coated chain is your best friend at this time of year, because the game is all about staying put in the wind and current and letting walleyes come to you. Like a deer hunter trying to ambush a buck, set up near natural funnels. Deep troughs between islands and the mainland, or steep contour changes near shore, create bottlenecks that fish and bait move through. Walleyes like to spawn on rocky bottoms that are 3 to 15 feet deep and transition steeply to deep, muddy bottoms. The closer the funnel is to these spawning grounds, the better. DROP IN Jigging Raps, Swedish Pimples, and jig-and-minnow combos produce just as well now as they did on the ice, and vertical jigging allows…

Winter steelheading in Great Lakes tributaries involves icy flows, sluggish feeding, small flies, and big crowds. Spring fishing means big bugs and voracious hits. Success with fish dropping back into the lake now is all about effectively covering a run—which you should have all to yourself this time of year. Heavy Metal Kit In the fly department, bigger is better come spring. My favorite streamer is an olive-and-white Zonker with a silver body tied on a 4X long hook. This fly has a meaty baitfish profile that steelies rarely ignore. If you have to go to the bullpen, try a black leech or a conehead Woolly Bugger in olive, brown, or black. With nymphs, it’s tough to beat black or brown stoneflies in sizes 6 through 2. A 6- to…

The Prep Select a single round of seasoned firewood that stands upright and level. Split it into even quarters using an ax or hatchet, and then use baling wire to tie the split firewood back together about 6 inches up from the bottom end. Or use a chain saw and cut through the upright log, as if to quarter it, but stop about 6 inches from the bottom (see photo above). Widen the slits to approximately twice the width of the saw blade. Once you reach your destination, set it up in an open, flat area. The Pyrotechnics Collect finger-thick sticks and tinder material, such as birch bark, dry leaves and grass, or wadded-up newsprint. With the torch standing up, jam half of the sticks into the splits, about a…

Two-fly rigs allow anglers to present double the meal options to discerning trout. The best fly pairings, however, are no given. Trout streams and trout feeding behavior are dynamic. What works in the morning can just as easily strike out in the afternoon. Check your watch, and try these three killer combinations when the time is right. 1 MORNING Tie a No. 6 weighted stonefly nymph to a 3X leader. Next, add 2 feet of 4X tippet to the bend in the nymph hook, and finish with a trailing No. 12 caddis pupa. Drift this combination below a strike indicator behind rocks and in eddies where natural nymphs are stirring. A large and small offering gives trout options prior to any hatch activity starting. Choose a stonefly in black or…

Movement is crucial to an effective snow goose spread, but you don’t need a 12-volt merry-go-round to kill birds. Good wind-sock decoys flicker in the slightest breeze, giving the appearance of a few dozen (or hundred) waddling geese. My favorites are made by Sillo Socks (sillosocks.com). A dozen Snow Feeder decoys will set you back just $60, and they weigh a couple of pounds total. They’re an economical and lightweight way to add motion and quantity to your spread, without the need for a trailer full of bulky full-bodied decoys.…

The longest yards in turkey hunting are the very few between “in range” and “out of range.” Even with the newest loads, there is a line before which your pattern consistently kills a turkey, and after which you can’t ethically shoot. Where you draw your line depends on both the distance at which your pattern is consistently deadly, and the distance at which you can place it accurately. The closer of the two is your maximum range. Here’s why: 1 PATTERNS DECAY QUICKLY Don’t assume because your gun shoots a deadly pattern at one distance that it will shoot a pattern almost as good 5 yards farther downrange. A load that was deadly in my gun at 40 yards made patchy, ugly patterns at 45. Shoot patterns at 5-yard increments…

I used to think that two hooks in a streamer were better than one. Truth is, I can count on one hand how many browns I’ve landed on those trailing hooks. In the long run, all they do is cause more snags and tangles, or get planted in other parts of a trout’s body during the fight. If a heavy brown decides it wants to eat, it’s going to attack headfirst 99 percent of the time. These days, I still joint my streamers for the extra wiggle, but I leave the stingers off. My hookup rates haven’t dropped one bit.…

Matching strokes will make the canoe move more quickly and with less energy, saving muscle power for hours of casting. It’s easy. Since the stern paddler can watch the bow paddler but not vice versa, it’s up to the stern paddler to match the bow paddler’s stroke rhythm. And it’s up to the bow paddler not to paddle like a drunken sailor. Whenever either paddler tires and wants to switch sides, he simply announces, “Switch!” then gives it one more stroke, and both paddlers switch sides without missing a beat.…

[1] HUMMINBIRD ICE 45 With a large LCD display, this unit makes seeing the entire water column easier—which is a plus in open water. The depth and scale adjust automatically, so you’ll always know if your lure is in the zone. $400; humminbird.com [2] SUNLINE SX1 Small-diameter braided line helps you keep your presentation vertical in all conditions. Ten- or 12-pound-test is strong enough to handle heavy fish but sensitive enough to let you feel any tap or hit on the drop. $21; sunlineamerica.com [3] NAVY ANCHOR I’ve found that a 30-pound Navy anchor works best for holding a big walleye boat on muddy bottoms. A rope that’s at least three times the fishing depth ensures a better hold if the wind kicks up or the current is strong. $55;…

Don’t want to spend $75 on an indicator fly line for nymphing? You can make your own for about $5. Buy a spool of 30-pound Sunset Amnesia shooting line (sunset line and twine.com) in red. Attach a 6- to 12-inch piece of the Amnesia to the end of your fly line via a nail knot. Next, tie a perfection loop in the tag end of the Amnesia for easy leader connection. The line is superbright and has zero memory, so it won’t kink or coil. When the Amnesia stutters during a drift, set the hook.…