Innehållsförteckning för December 2016 - January 2017 från Outdoor Life

FAYETTE, UT / Dec. 11 / 10:08 a.m. Invitations to hunt sometimes come from the most unexpected people: The guy who sold Mike Kemp his camping trailer asked Kemp and his 6-year-old son, Ethan, to hunt geese along the Sevier River. “It was a ton of work sett ing up decoys, but Ethan got right into it,” Kemp says. “He was tough as nails lying on the snowy ground all day. I kept asking him if he was cold, but he just kept telling me, ‘No, I’m good.’ I was freezing myself, so I know he had to be frozen, too.”…

I’VE TRACKED a lot of deer—and messed up more times than I care to remember. However, it’s the only way to learn how to differentiate a buck’s track from a doe’s or an old track from a new one. When snow conditions warrant, I follow as many deer tracks as I can— whether it’s an armed walk through the woods during the season or simply a wintertime hike. I walk tracks, take into account the time of year, and try to understand the animal’s likely mindset. A trail of a buck making a beeline for a food plot, for example, looks different from a buck roaming through bedding areas on the hunt for does. That’s how I almost blew this hunt. By heading into the thick bedding cover just after…

FRIED RABBIT IS a traditional Southern favorite—hearty, tasty, and relatively simple to prepare. Over the years, John Williams has kept his wife, Rosie Williams, well supplied with meat for the table. “I’m a Southern girl,” Rosie says with a chuckle. “I don’t really measure ingredients—just add a little of this and a little of that.” But no one has ever complained about the end result. Here, she shares her method for cooking rabbit for her family. INGREDIENTS Rabbit, cut into pieces Water Vinegar Three whole hot peppers Flour Salt Pepper Bacon grease or cooking oil METHOD 1 Cut up a whole rabbit by separating the shoulders, thighs, and saddle. A small eastern cottontail might only be enough for one, while a big cane cutter might feed several people. 2…

MY HEAD WAS HURTING, BUT NOT BECAUSE IT WAS BEING KNOCKED AROUND IN THE PICKUP LIKE A PIÑATA AT A CARNIVAL. IT WAS BECAUSE NICK FORSYTHE WAS TRYING TO APPLY MATHEMATICS TO DEER HUNTING. “Here’s the thing about these little Coues deer,” Nick said, as he unsuccessfully tried to swerve around a rock the size of a Kansas melon. Larger and sharper boulders loomed in our headlights, and I braced for impact. We were driving back to the ranch headquarters, after an evening spent scouting deer. “These Coues, they’re bigger and tougher than they look. You have to realize that a big Missouri whitetail might weigh 270 pounds and carry 170 inches of antler. A Coues might weigh 100 pounds dressed, but he’s packing 100 to 120 inches of antler.…

The fate of any new cartridge is anybody’s guess—as unpredictable as Miley Cyrus. Some of the best fall by the wayside, while those that make it oft en invoke a “who would have thunk it?” response. Just look at the Newton cartridges. Never heard of them? Exactly. Charles Newton was the cartridge designer who gave us the .250-3000 Savage. He also had a line of beltless magnum cartridges. The ballistics of his .30 Newton were similar to that of the .300 Winchester, and the .35 Newton exceeded the power of the .375 H&H with some loads. This was in 1913, 50 years before the introduction of the .300 Winchester. These cartridges should have been a raging success, but they weren’t. I don’t know why, except to guess that the public…

I WAS IN THE MIDDLE of a stage at a local 3-Gun match, running from one shooting position to the next, when the range officer in charge, who also happens to be a friend of mine, yelled out, “Hey, John, this is a timed event.”Okay, Usain Bolt I’m not. But that friendly ribbing touched on an important, but oft en overlooked, element of 3-Gunning and other types of action shooting: foot wear. Your footgear not only has to perform while you’re hustling around pulling the trigger, but it should also be comfortable during the downtime to minimize fatigue. Given that these events occur outdoors, conditions from blistering heat to mud, rain, and sleet might be in the offing. So I asked four professional shooters what they lace on when they…

I have lamented the passing of your exciting covers since the “golden age” of illustration gave way to routine photos. That’s why it was so great to see Ryan Kirby’s marvelous painting on your September cover. This trend is of particular interest to me because I am an illustrator, and I was active in that bygone era. In fact, I did your December 1985 cover (above), along with several other story illustrations. So I must encourage you to follow up the September issue with more painted covers. They cost more, but I’ll bet newsstand sales go up. Clay McGaughy San Antonio, TX…

▪ KEEP IT COOL: Heat turns ground meat into paste. The longer a grinder runs, the more friction works through the gears, drill, and knife, creating heat. So chill the parts (drill, knife, plate, neck, and head) in the freezer before starting to grind. Also, partially frozen meat grinds best. Don’t let the meat hit room temperature during the grinding process. ▪ MAKE THE CUT: The sharp face of the knife (or blade) should always face the grinding plate. Many grinders will allow you to put the knife in backward, and doing so will result in a jammed machine or worse. ▪ UNPLUG IT: Turn the grinder off and unplug it before you unscrew the head to unclog or clean it. It takes only a second to unplug the machine,…

PUBLIC LAND ▪ RABBITS ▪ WATERFOWL TIP In order to maximize downrange impact and lethality, hunt with the heaviest pellet that shoots accurately in your air rifle. One constant through a century of regulated hunting in North America is that trends in technology create opportunity. We’ve seen it in the rise of archery-only deer seasons, as compounds created a market of archers itching to hunt with their high-tech bows. We’ve seen it with extended seasons to accommodate hunters shooting in-line muzzleloaders. And advances in crossbow technology have created new hunting seasons for horizontal bows in many states. Now you can add airguns to the list of opportunitycreating technology. In some states, new seasons and hunting areas are being established exclusively for airgunners. Other states are liberalizing regulations to allow air…

The limiting factor for an airgun projectile’s lethality is generally accuracy, not penetration. If you deliver the projectile to the right point, and from an appropriate distance, your game will go down cleanly. I prefer round-nose ammunition, especially in lower-power airguns. That’s because in the majority of guns, it’s the most accurate, and it offers the best balance between penetration and expansion. The ballistic coefficient of these pellets is not as good as a bullet’s, and they shed velocity faster, so use them for close-range hunting. Cast bullets have good terminal performance, but you should experiment with different bullet shapes. Try hollowpoints, polymer-tipped projectiles, and flat-head slugs, and then pick the most accurate. —J.C.…

While hunting diving ducks is much different from chasing puddle ducks, waterfowlers from both worlds face one similar challenge—consistently decoying pressured birds. And the problem becomes magnified as the season progresses. Lake Erie duck guide Captain Nate Dunahay (quacksmackerguide.com) has unlocked access to notoriously suspicious canvasbacks and redheads on the Great Lakes by employing sea duck tactics that he learned while hunting sea ducks and coastal geese off Long Island. Dunahay notes that most diver-duck hunters in Lake Erie set up fairly close to shore, where birds are pressured and wary. Dunahay’s solution is to get away from the crowds. “We usually run anywhere from 7 to 10 miles off shore to get away from other hunters,” he explains. “We’re getting away from the competition, but we’re also seeing much…

BIG DEER leave big tracks. In North America’s snow belt, a mature doe seldom weighs 120 pounds, whereas bucks grow to well over 200 pounds. The toes of a doe are smaller—they walk almost daintily, their hooves gingerly touching the ground. They place one foot directly in front of the other, and walk on their toes. On the other hand, a mature buck leaves a track much longer and wider in the back, splayed and sunken deeper in the snow. Dewclaws are often prominent. Bucks walk bull-legged, or staggered, as trackers say, and leave two parallel lines in the snow a few inches apart from the way they drag their feet. If you’re unsure, follow the track a little ways and look for light yellow dribbles of urine in the…

CONGRATULATIONS on your election. Now the work of leading—and healing—America begins. I know there’s no shortage of places to start, but sneak a look out the window of Air Force One. All that open space that you flew over as a candidate is the real America, and it’s full of game and fish, and of citizens ready to work with you. When you visit us at our wild-game dinners and conservation banquets and hunters’ breakfasts—and you are going to get plenty of these invitations—you will find that politics don’t matter to us as much as solutions. You should know this about sportsmen: We are bipartisan. We love our guns as much as we love clean water and abundant wildlife. We are practical, independent problem solvers. And at the risk of…

AS WE PILE UP DEAD BRANCHES AROUND THE BASE OF A HUGE SYCAMORE TREE, OUR TOM GOBBLES FROM UP THE RIDGE. TED JAYCOX, MY GUIDE ON THIS HUNT, FLASHES ME A SMILE. “There he is.” With our natural blind built, Jaycox, Zach Sheidegger of Alps Outdoorz, and I settle beneath the afternoon shade of the sycamore, its low-hanging limbs stretching out around us. I give a couple of lonely yelps on a box call and the bird gobbles back, but he’s still a long way off. So I scan the creek bottom. It’s not the desert most Americans think of when they hear “Sonora.” It’s green, it’s steep, and it’s beautiful. Our backs are to the lone tree on this grassy flat, which is about 100 yards across. To our…

BEWARE THE MAN who has just one rifle, for he probably knows how to use it. That saying is a common one and contains some wisdom. But what scope would that rifle wear? Something like the new Night force 4–16x42 F1 ATACR would be hard to top for its versatility, precision, and rugged construction. I’ve had a chance to use a couple of these scopes now and they are impressive tools for serious shooting. The basic configuration is one Im fond of. Not many long-range shots require more than 16X magnification, and cranked down to 4X the scope can handle targets up close with ease. It is a lot less bulky than the 5–25X scopes on the market, but it will handle 95 percent of the chores those heavier (and…

The sound of cold nights in January when I was a kid was the sound of hounds running the bottomlands below our Missouri farmhouse. They were coonhounds, and they were followed some time later by my neighbors, who carried carbide lanterns that lit up the hardwoods. The coon hunters who crossed our place never asked for permission. They just hunted, following their dogs wherever they led. My neighbors now have headlamps powered by lithium batteries, and they carry sophisticated GPS units to tell them precisely where they—and their dogs—are at any given moment. But there aren’t many coon hunters left in my hometown, and the few who keep up the tradition can’t hunt just anywhere. There are a lot of reasons that we lose access—and sporting traditions. In the case…

WESTON #22 IF YOU’RE NOSTALGIC for the good old days before meat grinders plugged into the wall, a hand grinder is still a valid option. The Weston #22 Meat Grinder (pictured above) is a good choice for wild-game processors who only plan to grind a few pounds of meat a year and are willing to carefully clean the gristle off their meat and cut it into small cubes. This hand grinder, which bolts or clamps to a counter, is compact and a breeze to set up. It comes with two plates, three sausage tubes, and a sausagestuffing star. Also, at $40, it’s way cheaper than its electric counterparts and, of course, will come in handy if you need to grind meat in locations without electricity. ONE QUICK NOTE: You must…

One of the things I enjoy about airguns is the opportunity they afford a traveling hunter. But because local regulations vary, it’s good to get hometown advice. The number of licensed guides who understand the limitations and opportunities for airgunners is few, but here are some folks who can help. TEXAS Lone Star Varmint Hunts (lonestarvarmint hunts.com) guide Don Steele is a great resource for hogs and predators; he specializes in bobcats. SOUTH DAKOTA Prairie dogs provide tons of opportunity for airgunners. Bret Waibel of Bad River Bucks & Birds (badriverhunts.com) has access to dog towns. ARIZONA Kip Perow at Airguns of Arizona (airgunsof arizona.com) is not only a seasoned hunting guide, he’s also a well-regarded airgun manufacturer. CALIFORNIA Parrey Cremeans at Just for Hunting (justforhunting.com) is…

If you book a good guide and have your documents in order, your trip to Mexico will be long but painless. Here’s what to know before you go. GUNS Our outfitter had the guns in camp ready to go when we got there. No forms to fill out, nothing to check in with customs or police. Try to find an outfitter who offers this option. AMMO If your guns are already in camp, the ammo probably is too. But triple check that you do not have any spare rounds in a turkey vest or hunting coat or under the truck seat. If border agents find any undeclared ammunition, you’ll find yourself in serious trouble. IMPORTING GAME You need a SEMARNAT tag, a CITES permit, and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife…

6.5 REMINGTON MAGNUM A short-action, magnum-performance cartridge in 6.5mm would probably tear up the market today. But back in 1964, the response from the American public was something along the lines of, “This is ’Merica and we don’t want no foreign-measured commie cartridges.” Of course, the used-gun market has seen the light. A Remington Model 600 in 6.5 Remington Magnum today costs more than my first three cars combined. . 17 MACH 2 This cute litt le cartridge is a .22 LR Stinger case necked to 17 caliber. By all rights, it should have taken off , but the timing sucked . The .17 HMR, based on the .22 Magnum case, had been introduced two years before and was a huge success. Nobody even looked twice at the lower-powered .17…

WHEN A BUCK in the big woods travels his territory in November, his main objective is to find a doe in estrus. A buck may travel as much as 10 miles a night in his search. He’ll often leave fresh sign— scrapes or rubs (above) —along the way. When he decides to rest, his track will begin to meander a bit as he browses for food before he lies down. A mature buck does not want to waste any time while he is on his feet searching for does. When tracking a buck that is in full-on breeding mode, I look for feeding sign. This is the telltale tipoff that he will be bedded nearby. That’s when I slow down my pace to a sneak, in the hope of catching…

AT THE FOOT OF SONORA’S SIERRA MADRE, THE AUTHORS CHASE COUES DEER AND GOULD’S TURKEYS IN AN OASIS THAT TIME HAS FORGOTTEN ALICE VALENZUELA HOLDS COURT IN HER KITCHEN, ONE HAND RESTING ON AN ENAMELED WOOD-BURNING STOVE THAT SHE STOKES WITH WRIST-THICK BRANCHES OF LIVE OAK AND MESQUITE, THE OTHER HAND GESTICULATING WITH A SPATULA. She is telling me about how she, an American Army brat turned Silicon Valley newspaper publisher, came to Sonora to make a life off the land and raise two sons on a cattle ranch miles from the nearest village, a dusty railroad stop called Fronteres. But as I listen, I realize it’s also the story of this place, Rancho Mababi, which is itself the story of Mexico in miniature. Two decades after Mexican independence in…

SECTION EDITED BY GERRY BETHGE • FISHING@OUTDOORLIFE.COM + You may not ever be able to prove it in a court of law, but there is overwhelming evidence indicating that the Sabiki rig has caught more fish than any other artificial bait on the planet. While the majority of these rigs are created to catch baitfish, there are larger versions that work very well on trout, bass, pan fish, and various predatory species. That effectiveness has been largely ignored—except by those anglers who love to push the envelope. ICEFISHING ▪ STRIPED BASS ▪ DRIFT BOATS Finding a fisherman, especially one who lives near a coast, who doesn’t use a Sabiki rig to catch baitfish would be difficult. Consider this: Hayabusa Fishing Co. in Japan produces 4 million rigs each year. Also…

LAKE NORMAN, NORTH CAROLINA (marshall steam station) Species: Largemouths, Alabama bass, hybrid stripers Access: Via Marshall Fishing Area off Hwy. 150 Information: Lake Norman State Park; 704-528-6350 NEWTON LAKE, ILLINOIS (coal-fired plant) Species: Largemouth bass, channel catfish, crappies Access: Launch site on the west side of the lake near the intersection of County Roads 300N and 300E Information: Newton Lake State Fish & Wildlife Area; 618-783-3478 LAKE DARDANELLE, ARKANSAS (nuclear plant) Species: Stripers (8–10 lb.), white bass, largemouths, blue cats, channels cats Access: Launch and shore via May Road off Hwy. 333 Information: Arkansas Game Fish Commission; 877-967-7577 MARTIN CREEK LAKE, TEXAS (coal-fired plant) Species: Largemouths, blue cats, channels cats Access: Launch at Martin Creek Lake State Park off County Road 2181D Information: Martin Creek Lake State Park; 903-836-4336…

BONE TO PICK ▶ I’ve been reading your magazine for 33 years (ever since my parents placed a gift subscription notice in my stocking when I was 11). I love it. This is the first time I’ve written, however, and it concerns the two pictures on pages 7 and 57 of your October issue [“Waypoint,” The Life; “Bull’s-Eye”]. Why would those guys pack whole lower legs from the quartered elk? Two extra minutes on each leg and they can pop those knee joints loose with a knife and save roughly 10 pounds apiece on each of the four legs. Deboned legs are also far less cumbersome, and won’t catch on overhead brush. I’m realizing now (thanks to my wife) that my way isn’t always the only way, though, so this…

MEAT GRINDERS Elk roasts, wild turkey thighs, storage bags packed with goose breasts, whitetail shanks, and black bear hams…your freezer is never more full than at the end of hunting season. The best way to grind this stockpile down to size is to invite over some buddies and turn these odds and ends into burger, sausage, and jerky that will carry you through the winter (and probably well into the summer) . Any electric grinder can handle 20 pounds of well-trimmed venison once a year. But if you’re a true wild-game collector, you’ll need a little more firepower to chew through your stock of meat. If you've ever used an under-powered grinder, you know how that can turn an enjoyable experience into a real chore. With that in mind, we…

I HOPED MY EDITOR WAS MESSING WITH me. He asked for a recommendation for a single air rifle for all hunting applications. Ludicrous. But I met him halfway with my recommendation for a two-gun battery that could take an airgunner across the spectrum of legal North American game. My picks cover two categories: those suited for small game and predators, and those more appropriate for larger game. A common trait of many of these multi-duty rifles is an adjustable power setting. With air rifles, energy is stored in the gun, not in the ammunition. Having the capability to adjust the power serves the same purpose as handloading a cartridge for firearms—you can reduce the volume of air discharged to optimize performance with lighter projectiles, or increase it for use with…

Duck Dynasty made Louisiana synonymous with waterfowling. But that’s old news to some of us. Indeed, the state’s waterfowl study leader, Larry Reynolds, recently called Sportsman’s Paradise “the single most important state for wintering ducks.” We went back to the marsh to update our recon. We found that although Louisiana is the last stop for millions of wintering ducks in the Mississippi River Flyway— approximately 2,486,000 in 2016—waterfowling’s overall impact on the state is far-reaching. Consider a few facts: • Hunters harvest approximately 3 million ducks in Louisiana each year.• Approximately 97,300 hunters spent 857,100 days afield.• Waterfowling supports more than 1,000 jobs, and adds more than $4.255 million in state tax revenue annually. INCOMING! The Mississippi River Flyway is the most heavily used migration corridor for waterfowl and other…

If you’re into starting ugly debates online, go to a shotgun forum and ask which barrel length is best. Of all the contentious topics in the world of firearms, this elicits some of the most ferocious and deeply divided responses. It seems like choosing the right barrel length for your shotgun should be pretty basic—far simpler than, say, the nuanced sciences of choke selection or the proper shot size for hunting game. But the barrel battle still wages. So, what’s the verdict? First, let’s outline the parameters of the shotguns in question. Let’s leave out the really short self-defense and law enforcement barrels. We’ll also avoid the other end of the spectrum: the 32- and 34-inch barrels worn by some competition guns. So if you’re looking for a field gun…