Innehållsförteckning för September 2024 från Game & Fish South

I admit that I probably focus too much time on whitetails and other big-game species in the fall to take full advantage of the bird hunting that the season offers. A few upland trips are all that I seem to put together most years. It’s a quality over quantity thing, though, as I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad day hunting birds. Can’t say the same for deer. Bird hunters across the country herald the coming of September, as in many states it marks the start of the upland season. Doves are usually the first birds, followed by woodcock and ruffed grouse in the Northeast, prairie chickens in the Midwest and prairie grouse in the West. Pheasants and quail come later, though they’re at the forefront of hunters’ minds…

For some bowhunters, September ushers in the first opening day of the year. For others, the start of bow season is still a few weeks away. Regardless of which camp you’re in, this is likely true: There are still a few last-minute tasks to attend to before things get really serious. I admit to fully being in that boat. No matter how much I plan, I seem to be always scrambling to finalize details as a new season begins. There’s also another bit of truth to be had here. With archery seasons rolling, the impacts of momentum and kinetic energy are being felt in game across the nation. I shoot a few arrows a week throughout the summer, so any last-minute tuning task is usually pretty quick because I’m careful…

Eastward from the rambling Ozarks to the southern Appalachians, pawpaws are to autumn squirrel hunters what morel mushrooms are to spring gobbler chasers. Neither are the main targets, but they certainly are a nice culinary bonus available to alert hunters in the woods. Growing on scraggly understory trees identified by their clusters of oversized leaves, pawpaws resemble greenish-yellow mangos and have a similar texture and taste. The fruit, a few of which fit nicely in the game pouch of a hunting vest, begins to ripen in September, when hunters might also come across ripe persimmons. Whitetails crave both, by the way. So if pawpaws and persimmon trees are detected fairly close together and bowhunting season is open, set up a treestand in the vicinity. 1 ARKANSAS STRIPER PEAK Striped bass…

Much of the late-summer-to-fall fishing centers around power tactics and reaction lures. When fishing the shallows with moving baits, such as squarebills, spinnerbaits or bladed jigs, 7- to 7-foot 4-inch rods assist with hooksets and provide the leverage to bring big bass to the boat. I’ve come to appreciate Temple Fork Outfitters’ Taction Bass moving baits rod, which has the ideal length and combines a soft tip with a strong midsection that’s excellent for fishing fast-moving lures. For topwater poppers and jerkbaits, rod lengths of 6 feet 10 inches to 7 feet 2 inches work well. The slightly shorter rods offer a more immediate response when working such lures quickly. The Kistler “Jerkbait Special” is an excellent example with the ideal length and action. When tossing a hollow-body frog in…

A big-racked buck raises its head and looks through me into the big soybean field beyond. It casually munches on acorns, slowly meandering through the timber. It starts at 75 yards, but soon it’s at 50 yards and then at 25, eventually landing within bow range. The heavy-frame 12-pointer turns broadside and immediately catches an arrow in the boiler room. I shot that buck—which taped out in the mid-160s—last fall, and I’ve tagged great bucks in the early stages of six other seasons since 2015. Along the way, I’ve put together the following strategy for September success. 1. FIND A TARGET BUCK While it might be easier to pattern a big deer now than later in the season, locating a target buck still takes some work. Begin by studying your…

Occasionally Shane and his father fished Lake Guymon, which was usually packed with anglers and especially recreationists during the summer months. It seemed a little strange to Shane that they’d wade into the mass of people on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, but as they pulled into the busy parking lot and witnessed the chaos of the three-lane boat ramp, his father’s motive was revealed. “The thing about a public boat ramp is, you’ve got to block out all the noise and just focus on the task at hand,” said Shane’s father. “Don’t worry about what other people are doing, because plenty of them don’t know what they’re doing either.” “Oh no,” said Shane nervously. He had only recently received his driver’s license, although he wasn’t totally green when…

TIME TO HUNT! September brings a variety of hunting opportunities across the country, from upland birds to archery bucks. Look in our “Hunting” section to get expert advice on almost any method for a wide range of game. BINGE ON BASS Our video series "Bass Crash Course" continues to expand with new episodes to help you catch a wall- hanger, including "Offshore Cranking for Lunkers" Find all episodes under "Special Collections." NEW PATH FOR CZ In "Range Report: CZ 600 Alpha Hunting Rifle" Darren Cheate reports that CZ's new-generation bolt gun is a modern blend of technology and ergonomics at a comfortable price point. WORLD-RECORD ELK When Timothy Carpenter tagged a giant elk last September, he didn’t know the world would notice. It did. Read more: “World Record Roosevelt’s Elk…

I don’t know many people who have unsettled opinions about wolves. Most hunters I know, especially those in the Upper Midwest and West who live among the wild canines, would like permanent permission to hunt them. Animal-rights activists would like us to stop hunting everywhere and want to restore wolves into vacant habitats across the country. Many citizens who live far from the apex predators like the idea of more wolves on the landscape as symbols of a sort of fierce wildness that has been lost across much of America. Those differing viewpoints have moved wolf management from one pole to the other over the last decade, as federal protections have been imposed, then removed, then reinstated, often by court order. The result has been seesaw management that has sowed…

Southern hunters know how tough it is to compete for ducks on public land. Not only are we trying to kill intelligent birds that have flown over countless decoy spreads along their migration, but many of us are doing so on jam-packed waterfowl management areas where one has no say in the tactics used (and mistakes made) by other hunters. Instead, we must control what we can. On public land, that means remaining concealed and being smart about the way we call and set our decoy spread. Most hunters don’t put as much thought as they should into their decoy placement. They just load the boat up with fake mallards and throw their floaters in the shape of the letter “U” or “J” (both of which look unnatural to incoming…

Doves and sunflowers go together like ... [insert your favorite cliché here]. Putting your shot pattern in the precise spot at the exact time that it’s occupied by a bird that can fly at 55 mph is quite the challenge, but a field of ripe sunflowers practically guarantees easy opportunities. Just wait for doves to show up, line up your shots and pull the trigger. But what if there are no sunflowers? What if there’s a staffing shortage or maybe high water or no water at all on your favorite wildlife management area, and the coveted sunflowers never materialized? Without even a hint of that yellow that attracts doves like a tractor beam, is your dove season over before it even begins? Not by a long shot once you realize…

Some people call them “boneheads,” but little tunny, also known as bonito, albies and false albacore, are no dummies. They are really good at rounding up prey, and it’s that predatory proficiency that makes them such entertaining targets. Their amazing speed and stamina causes coastal anglers across the South to anxiously await late summer and early fall, when baitfish migrations spark strong runs of these high-octane pelagics along the Gulf of Mexico and southern Atlantic coasts. Often confused with somewhat similar skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) and Atlantic bonito (Sarda sarda), little tunny (Euthynnus alletteratus) or albies (as we’ll henceforth refer to these fish) are best identified by the squiggly lines on their upper back and a cluster of black dots below their pectoral fins. They can exceed 20 pounds in…

Surrounded by marshes and bays, Port Fourchon sits at the end of Highway 1, which runs down the east side of Terrebonne Bay. On the west side, Highway 56 ends at Cocodrie. Don’t expect much nightlife where the highways end, though you can drive to Houma in about an hour or go another hour to New Orleans. To learn more about Cajun culture, visit the Jean Lafitte Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center in Thibodaux. Tour the Laurel Valley Village to see an historic sugar plantation. In Golden Meadow, learn how Cajuns make fishing nets at Chine’s Cajun Net Shop Just north of Cocodrie, Coco Marina offers various accommodations with a restaurant, as well as live entertainment at times. You can also stay at the Sandpiper Inn in Chauvin. Next to Coco…

The .300 AAC Blackout cartridge emerged a decade into the 21st century. While functionally a short and weak version of the .30-30 Win., the cartridge’s cool name and excellent suitability for suppressed shooting made it a hit. Seemingly overnight, a plethora of new bolt-action and semi-automatic rifles were offered in .300 Blackout. Simultaneously, it seemed, the suppressor industry swelled. Today, suppressors are one of the fastest growing segments of the firearms industry, and not only are they selling like never before, they’re also changing the makeup of the modern bolt-action rifle. THREADS Not all that long ago, a threaded muzzle on a factory-built rifle was considered an upgraded feature. Today, it’s essentially standard, and few new rifles—regardless of caliber or chambering—are offered without threaded muzzles. This is because most modern-day…

Truth be told, until recently I’d rarely gone out to specifically hunt turkeys during fall. Sure, I went a few times during my 25-year love affair with the bird, but typically I’d buy fall tags hoping to fill one while in the middle of whitetail pursuits if a hapless turkey happened to amble by. I managed to kill a couple that way and enjoyed the bounty, nonetheless. However, there’s a master’s level of outdoor chess to be enjoyed once you engage in the fall turkey game. It’s challenging and rewarding—and possibly as good as turkey hunting gets. I’m super thankful I don’t have to choose between whitetails and turkeys. Over the past few years, the choice has been made for me because of my circumstances. Where I live in the…

A couple of Septembers ago, my dad and I signed up for a local team tournament and struggled to find fish on the practice day. Without a lot of confidence, we started the morning of the event casting top-water ploppers toward a shallow, main-lake point that fell off sharply into the old river channel. Much to our surprise, the first four casts produced an equal number of quality bass, each placed quickly into the livewell. The action, however, was over soon after it started, and we were already on to our next spot as other boats were still racing out of the launch site. The explosive “hit-and-run” action that morning perfectly summarizes the largemouth’s frenetic behavior as summer transitions to fall. Autumn is one of the most pleasant times to…

While it’s true that albies’ schooling tendency stokes the fires of feeding competition, matching the prevailing forage remains crucial to anglers’ success. And though it’s hard to beat a free-lined live pilchard, sardine, threadfin herring or finger mullet, there are numerous artificial mimics that will also do the trick. For his lure work in North Carolina waters, Capt. Brian Horsley prefers a 7 1/2-foot spinning rod with a matching reel carrying 12- to 15-pound braid and a 20-pound fluorocarbon leader. His artificials of choice are the 4 1/2-inch Hogy EPOXY Jig and HR Tackle’s Stingsilver, both designed to resemble fleeing baitfish with the right retrieve. “You have to skip it fast across the surface to get a bite,” says Horsley, who adjusts the lure weight based on wind conditions. Capt.…

Since its introduction in 2008, the Browning X-Bolt has proven itself as a leading big-game hunting rifle and garnered legions of fans from coast to coast. Sixteen years on, the new X-Bolt 2 builds upon the success of its predecessor with 14 different versions ranging in price from $1,100 to $4,000. Last December, I took the moderately-priced X-Bolt 2 Speed on a hunt for Carmen Mountain whitetails in South Texas, and since then have spent some time with it at the range. The rifle’s design characteristics and performance have impressed me both in the field and at the bench. At the heart of the X-Bolt 2 Speed is the highly customizable Vari-Tech composite stock, with its adjustable comb height, length of pull and grip styles. To adjust the comb height,…