Innehållsförteckning för September 2016 från Field & Stream

LOCATION: CANADIAN ROCKIES Mirror Bull ➞ On a late afternoon in September, photographer Don Jones was taking pictures of bighorn sheep in the hills above a large, shallow lake in western Alberta when he turned and saw a surreal scene. “This big animal was so far out from shore, walking in the opposite direction,” says Jones. “I ran down the mountain, probably a quarter mile, just ran forever.” His vest was loaded down with gear: an extra battery, lenses, binoculars. “I’m not a jogger, unless something is chasing me. I got sweaty like a pig—I didn’t want to miss the shot. I was still hustling when the elk turned around and started walking toward me. I didn’t hesitate—just lay down in the mud on the shoreline, like I was a…

WE HAD TWO HOURS before dark on the eve of Wyoming’s archery antelope opener—plenty of time to check the zero on the new crossbows that were supposed to be waiting for us at camp. They were there all right, but still in their factory packaging and not assembled as we’d expected. After a frenzy of hex-wrench and Leatherman work, we finished putting them together and mounting scopes with 30 minutes of daylight to spare. No problem. In 10 minutes I had my bow—a Barnett Razr Ice—hitting bull’s-eyes with broadheads at 60 yards. The next day, when a big pronghorn buck stopped for a drink at the water hole I was watching, I drilled him through the heart at 40 yards. Everyone else in camp killed a buck that day, too.…

THE DOVE OPENER is the most popular hunting day of the year, which means you probably won’t celebrate it alone. On some public land, dove openers qualify as combat hunting: not always shoulder to shoulder, but often a little too close for comfort. On private land, there’s “social” dove hunting, which is sometimes social, sometimes just a more genteel form of combat hunting. Either way, you will contend with people as well as doves. And for that, you need a plan. STEP 1: BRING PROTECTION Most hunters know that safety comes first. That’s why even crowded dove openers routinely come off without a hitch. But in a situation like this, it’s just common sense to take a little extra care. Mistakes can happen. The last time I hunted a big…

WE HAVE TO DO THIS,” Blaine Cooper told me in a rush. “The BLM lit a fire to burn this ranch down because they want the uranium that’s under it! The left blew up buildings, killed people, enslaved people to make this wildlife refuge!” Cooper was sitting behind the wheel of a white pickup, heater blasting, and talking to me through the open window. It was the middle of last January, maybe 12 degrees above, here at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, with day just breaking over a universe of frost-whitened sagebrush and 6 inches of old snow. Duane Ehmer, riding by on his cow horse, Hellboy, was dressed for duty in a furry cap with earflaps and an old red, white, and blue leather jacket and wellworn…

If the chain-smoking angler upstream gets any closer, we’ll both be sucking on that cigarette. The guy has eyebrows like huge leeches, and he’s muttering incessantly to himself in one of the Slavic languages. He is standing 8 yards away and has been stealthily lengthening his casts so that his drift finishes almost at my feet. Any closer and I’ll step on his fly. Accidentally, of course. You can’t blame him, really. When the big ones are running on New York’s Salmon River in October, the meek inherit bubkes. I’m fishing the Long Bridge Pool in downtown Pulaski. My downstream neighbor, also 8 yards away, is a tall kid with a starter-kit soul patch, lime-green hair, and a fish-skeleton tattoo on his neck. It must have taken a lot of…

One of the major trends in AR-15s over the past year or so is that the rifles keep getting lighter and handier, which is great news if you want to hunt with one. We know that with today’s bullets, the .223 Remington has enough punch to take down deer, and it may be the best varmint-and-predator cartridge of all. (There’s a misconception that the .223 is not legal for deer hunting in most states, but it’s actually allowed in 35 of 50.) But for many would-be buyers, one key question remains: Can you get a handy, reliable new AR without spending a small fortune? To find out, I put a total of 1,000 rounds through four rifles, all of which weigh in at less than 7 pounds and cost under…

So I wake, hypothetically speaking, to find I’ve passed from this life, for any number of reasons. Due to a clerical error on Saint Peter’s part, I don’t go to Hell but rather find myself on the edge of what appears to be the finest teal marsh in the universe. It’s opening day, mid September, on a public wetland, and I’m alone. To my right is a new over/under. Next to that, a blind bag filled with everything I’m going to need for the morning, including white powder doughnuts, sunflower seeds, and a Thermos of hot coffee. Black, no sugar. To my left sits my old girl dog, Jet, just 3 years old, and ready to go. The weather’s perfect. From the northwest I hear a roar like a thousand…

If we’re not living in the golden age of crossbow hunting right now, we’re right on the cusp. More states have granted the crossbow full inclusion during conventional bowhunting seasons. Initiatives to recruit young (and new) hunters are gaining steam. And let’s face it: As our population ages, more and more whitetail hunters are simply unable to draw a conventional compound bow, meaning that potential bowhunters must choose a crossbow or not hunt the bow season at all. Naturally, manufacturers have responded to this uptick in consumers. Walk into a sports shop today and you’ll face an array of crossbow styles and models to choose from, all with varying performance claims and in a range of prices. Having plenty of options is always good, even when it adds some confusion…

FAVORITE SON “Sons of Santiago” (June–July 2016) is the reason why Keith Mc-Cafferty is my favorite FIELD & STREAM writer. Buckhunter, via fieldandstream.com CUBA CONFIDENTIAL “Sons of Santiago” gave satisfying insight into Cuba and its people, and McCafferty’s writing was remarkable. The story showed how fishing is about so much more than what you catch. Magnus Williams, Fort Collins, Colo. TWICE AS NICE This issue proved that F&S is the best outdoor magazine ever. David Draper’s “Escape Routes” showed how regular guys can catch fish and get heartburn at affordable prices, and McCafferty’s “Sons of Santiago” offered a glimpse at a dream fishing location most of us will never see but love to read about. Thanks for showing both sides of the sport. John Harney, Naples, Fla. TROUBLE AT HOME…

Q: I just bought a Model 71 Beretta .22 that is identical to one I own. Have I crossed some sort of line? —JOE KRISTOFF, NEW HOPE, VA. A: Not unless you run out of money. A friend of mine owned something like 15 pre-1964 Winchester Model 70s in .220 Swift and has lived a productive life anyway. Besides, thinking up justifications prevents the brain from drying out. Q: My son flinches when he shoots his Winchester Model 94 in .44 magnum. Can I condition him to the .44, or do I get something else for open-country deer? —G.B., VIA E-MAIL A: I’d look very hard at a .243. The .44 is obviously too much gun, and it’s not an opencountry load anyway. Q: What’s your favorite movie, ever? —ALEX…

THE GEESE that honked at your boat, messed on the dock, and chased your Zara Spook this summer are in trouble now. Early seasons for resident giant Canada geese open across the country this month, and big reservoirs— many of which have shorelines open to public hunting—are frequently covered in birds. Big lakes rarely receive much goose hunting pressure, either. Although these “dock geese” aren’t pushovers, limits can fill up fast when you put in your scouting time and plan the right setup. FIND MUD AND GREENS In early September, part of the daily routine for resident geese on reservoirs will almost certainly involve mudflats. Most reservoirs are low in late summer because of dry weather and normal drawdown schedules, and that exposes flats that green up fast with the…

Killing a whitetail buck whose rack grosses 200 inches or more requires a trio of unlikelihoods. First, the buck has to be an absolute genetic freak—the equivalent of a superstar athlete, but with just the right stew of DNA to produce a titanic mass of bone on its head. Second, the buck has to run a gauntlet of cars, predators, hunters, winters, disease, and accidents to survive at least 4½ years. The third thing is probably the most unlikely: That almost mythical buck then has to appear in front of a hunter who has the right stuff to overcome an off-thecharts adrenaline dump and put a bullet or arrow in the right spot. Most of us struggle with buck fever to some degree, but imagine trying to keep it together…

Daniel Boone, if he’d had the choice, would’ve been wise to trade old Tick-Licker for any of the in-line muzzleloaders available at Walmart. With a scope and today’s excellent bullets and powders, modern in-lines are effective on deer at 200 yards, even in the hands of a weekend warrior. Except for a few holdout areas where they’re illegal, scoped in-lines have largely replaced traditional smokepoles during muzzleloader seasons. Yet, few of us ever shoot our muzzleloaders enough to truly learn much about them. That’s probably why so many hunters still follow a list of muzzleloading rules that may be as outdated as Tick-Licker. Will waiting a couple of days to clean your gun after firing it really ruin the barrel? Will bringing it into a warm cabin from the cold…

My friend Jeff Below, one of the most successful bowhunters I know, calls it Stage Two. “You can shoot a bow well, and you can get into bow range of deer,” he says. “But you manage to blow every encounter. You draw at the wrong time and spook the buck. You miss. Or worse, you hit the deer poorly. It’s the toughest stage for any bowhunter, because you have to admit that you’re blowing it. And then you have to find a way to fix it.” This phase of bowhunting—which everyone goes through—is a unique mix of performance anxiety, inexperience, and the difficulty of putting an arrow into an animal that rarely poses like a 3D target. That’s when you need this plan for getting to Stage Three: killing those…

If you’re a duck hunter who frequents the cattail marsh, there’s a good chance you’ve heard a sora rail. You might not have seen one, as soras seem to be tremendously shy little birds. But you’ve likely been privy to the sora’s odd, yet clear, rising series of peeps and whistles coming from the depths of the greenery. Found across the U.S. from coast to coast, the sora is our most common and widely distributed rail bird, leading the similarly sized Virginia rail and the larger clapper and king rails. Soras are small birds, about the size of an English sparrow and weighing roughly the same. The bird sports a slate-gray chest and belly, brown-white-black speckled wings and back, and a black bib and facemask accentuated by a bright yellow…

NEWS AND STORIES FROM THE EXPERTS THE NEWS WE’D been waiting for was finally delivered—along with a hearty platter of bacon and eggs. Over breakfast, the ranch manager announced that U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell had just decreed the greater sage grouse would not be listed as an endangered species. Our group had traveled hundreds of miles to this camp near Saratoga, Wyo., hoping for the chance to hunt the West’s most iconic upland bird. The announcement was all the motivation we needed to wolf down breakfast, lace up our boots, and hit the field. We started above a valley leading toward the northern edge of Wyoming’s Sierra Madre range. The wide draw had just enough moisture to cut a green line through the sage-covered hills, now gray-brown…

EVERY SERIOUS angler I know has at least one retired lure or fly stuck on a pegboard in the basement, on a shelf in the man cave, or dangling from the garage rafters. Whenever I see one, I have to know its story. Unlike with a bowling trophy, the reason for putting a lure on display isn’t obvious. It’s personal to the angler. Of all my “shelfers,” these three are my favorites. 1 BIRTHDAY BASH: PHANTOM SOFTAIL For two days in Dec. 2010, my friend Mark Modoski and I had been pounding the Allegheny River in Pennsylvania for muskies with guide Red Childress. It snowed the whole time and was the kind of bitter cold that forced us to suck down Advil like hard candy because our…

DAWSON HEFNER CAUGHT his first alligator gar when he was 16 years old, drifting a chunk of freshwater drum under a Coke bottle in Texas’s Sabine River. When he saw that bottle get ripped under the water—and felt the power of that first fish—Hefner, now 30, fell in love with the species. Last September, I got my own first taste of gator gar. As I watched a 10-inch slip float slice a V-wake down the center of a chocolate-colored pool on the Trinity River near Gun Barrel City, Texas, I understood Hefner’s fixation. With every foot of 130-pound Dacron line that peeled off the free-spooling reel, instinct told me to lock up and swing. I glanced at Hefner, who was guiding my buddy Mike Sudal and me. He was sitting…

Experienced hunters know how productive brushy hollows can be. They’re major travel corridors in mornings and evenings, and favorite escape routes when deer feel pressure. But partly because they’re so popular with both deer and hunters, deep hollows and canyons often aren’t the best spots to find a mature early-season buck. Sometimes subtler habitat features—less pressured by hunters and less used by other deer—are what these reclusive loner bucks prefer. One favorite is a small fold in the topography that often furrows off of a major ridge, knoll, or plateau between the larger, more obvious hollows and coulees. Folds are easy to overlook. And that’s partly why mature bucks like them. I first discovered these neglected hotspots on my way to a larger, more sharply defined hollow. I had worked…

DO buy from a reputable call maker, one who stands behind every call he sends out, especially if you’re new to the art. Your best bet is to shop at a handson venue so you can play a call and ask questions before opening your wallet. Get the best you can afford. Don’t expect Mozart out of an $8 duck call. DON’T immediately take the call apart when you get home. Resist the urge. Here’s why: If you do take it apart, something will change, you’ll be dissatisfied, and you’ll blame it on the call and/or its maker. Hands off. DO clean the call if it’s been on the lanyard awhile, but only if you’re familiar with its construction. Dust, dirt, and other debris can get into a call over…