Tabla de contenidos para September 2022 en Game & Fish West

With fall on the way we all want to be in the woods and on the water more now than during the sweltering weather of the summer dog days. While the higher price of gas and products in general may cause us to cut back on trips, there are some things we can do to keep costs down while still enjoying our favorite pursuits. This issue contains three good examples. On page 14, Tony Hansen lays out a plan for dealing with increased pressure when hunting public land. He gives some smart advice, and you may want to consider it instead of writing off that piece of public ground just down the road. Don’t assume you can’t find success there. Some homework and a smart strategy to avoid the crowd…

I consider myself a student of the hunting game—as such, I am acutely aware of trends in our sport. One I’ve noticed over the last few years is the dramatic increase of interest in public land hunting. As most know, I am a big fan of public land hunting, having spent the majority of my formative years tromping there. Another trend developing is the dramatic decline in the popularity of outdoor “television” and the way it is consumed. Most of today’s hunting programming is no longer delivered via traditional television, but to millions of mobile phone screens via video sharing platforms, like YouTube for instance. Here, you will find no shortage of public land content rife with detailed how-to and where-to information. More often than not, the state being hunted…

This was insanity. We’d just sat back down inside the blind after retrieving birds, and already a new group of 20 or 30 ducks was locked onto our spread and dropping down to make their approach. The birds sucked gently closer to our decoys, seemingly pinning themselves to some unseen board in the sky. Tyler Mann, our guide and the owner/operator of Saskatchewan Goose Company in north-central Saskatchewan, shouted the order to take them. The pea field erupted as eight of us popped out of an A-frame blind and released a barrage at the perfectly decoying birds. Mallard after mallard fell from the air. It was the third such volley we’d unleashed on our first evening hunt in Saskatchewan, and an impressive pile of ducks was accumulating behind the blind.…

THE GUN: No one in their right mind would ever call the Winchester XPR Stealth SR an elegant rifle, but no one in their right mind would ever take an elegant rifle bear hunting, either. Instead, the XPR Stealth SR is a workhorse—precisely what you need in the thick, nasty woods that Maine’s black bears inhabit. The rifle features a forest-green composite stock, the bolt has a nickel-Teflon coating and the receiver and threaded barrel both wear a black Perma-Cote finish. A Picatinny-style rail comes mounted and optic-ready. Aside from its ruggedness, what I appreciated most about the rifle was how nimble and handy it was, whether carrying it through dense cover or while in the cozy confines of a ladder stand. Weighing just 6 1/2 pounds, the rifle’s overall…

I’m a skeptical guy. I don’t know if it’s my Show-Me State upbringing or just the experiences of my life, but usually when I hear a claim made, I find that I need to see it for myself to believe it. So, this past summer when Teri Quinn, marketing director for FeraDyne Outdoors, started talking up the new Covert Optics 10x42 binocular, I was somewhat reserved. It was the middle of June, and we were in Texas hunting exotics—aoudad, axis deer, blackbuck and the like. We were between morning and evening sits, and the temperature was hovering right about 100 degrees. In all honesty, maybe I wasn’t reserved so much as too lethargic to speak. In any case, Quinn described the bino as one of the best value-for-the-money offerings in…

Twice I hunted a prime spot last duck season and failed to fire a shot. I first tried an A-frame blind tucked into a tree line and then a layout blind in the open. The first blind was too tight to heavy cover, which ducks avoided. The second blind had a footprint that was too big and hard to conceal, so ducks flared. As ducks continued to land in the flooded field by the thousands, my wheels kept turning. That’s when I decided to build my own, single-panel, low-profile blind. On the first hunt with my homemade blind, I limited in 15 minutes. The following hunt I watched more than 700 ducks land in the decoys, but I didn’t shoot for the first five hours because I was seeking a…

Hunting pronghorns is a noble game of strategy, one in which we plot our moves weeks in advance. We plan for extra days for the hunt, to go deep into public ground and to know how to access private lands through landowner programs when necessary. In any given game management unit, there are the hard-to-get-to spots where experienced bucks retreat when the pickups and the dust clouds and the orange-clad two-leggers show up in August and September. A thorough understanding of the playing field begins with a map of the unit spread out on a table. Mark the water sources. Identify the feeding areas, escape routes and transition points. Use Google Earth for a bird’s-eye view of the country and look at it from angles to determine elevations. A hunting…

From its headwaters in the shadows of Mount Whitney, south to the flatlands of Bakersfield and beyond, the Kern River carves an amazing 165-mile path from California’s rugged Sierra Nevada down to irrigated farmland. Along the way, it creates an array of opportunities for anglers, campers, hikers and whitewater enthusiasts alike. In general, the river is broken down into three sections. The northernmost waters of the river are known to many as the “wild trout section,” which adheres to special regulations (artificial lures, barb-less hooks) in a 4-mile stretch upstream from Johnsondale Bridge. This section is popular with fly anglers and is famous for producing large golden and black stone-flies, as well as strong hatches of mayflies and caddis. The Upper Kern flows south from the Johnsondale Bridge to where…

Nathan Theriault’s OMM Outfitters (the “OMM” stands for “Old Mill Marina”) operates out of the historic Eagle Lake Sporting Camps, situated high on a bluff on the northern shore of the eponymous lake. Established in 1889, the camp was once a destination for titans of industry from New York and Boston and now hosts hunters from all over the country in pursuit of big Maine moose and bears. In addition to several comfortable bunk houses, a separate building houses the kitchen and dining room where guests enjoy hearty, homecooked meals. A lodge offers a pool table, dart boards and other ways to while away time not spent chasing bears. Eagle Lake boasts good fishing for landlocked Atlantic salmon, lake trout and brook trout. OMM also offers excellent grouse hunting and…

Those of us who venture into the backcountry typically recognize that we are responsible for our own safety. Having a way to protect ourselves against predators of both the four- and two-legged kind should always be part of our plan. Handguns often serve in this role for anglers, bowhunters and even rifle hunters who want a secondary means of stopping a threat. They are portable and potent, as long as we spend the amount of training time necessary to become proficient with these tools. We have a wide variety of options in handguns that are up for the task. From 1911-style pistols and polymer-framed models to revolvers, there is no question that today’s handguns are rich in features for outdoor enthusiasts. Some, in fact, are designed with a strong nod…

When it comes to small game hunting, nothing beats a .22 rifle. Not only is it virtually recoil free, it’s also not excessively loud. And, with the right ammunition, it’s small game capable out to 100 yards or so. A major online retailer lists more than 100 different loads for the .22 LR. Obviously, hunters will be concerned with things like energy, bullet upset and penetration—especially depending on the animal being hunted. Conversely, if you’re head-shooting squirrels, just about any bullet will do. What matters most in that scenario is how close the bullet will land to your point of aim. TWO TESTS I recently conducted a test to discover what the most precise-shooting .22 LR load was in my favorite rifle. I wanted to know which load would give…

Sean Manning admits the growth of his group, the American Carp Society, was slow to start. Founded in 2002 with concentrations of membership in California, Texas and New York, the group now has members in nearly every state along with a significant foreign membership. Little wonder the rest of the world is interested in American carp angling. From eastern Europe to China, sport anglers pursue carp with the sort of intensity that their countrymen reserve for soccer. These international advocates have been mystified that the sport—or species—hasn’t taken hold in the U.S., which arguably has some of the world’s best carp waters and abundant public fishing access. Manning hopes to change that by rehabilitating the image of the common carp, a non-native species that has been “naturalized” in the U.S.…

Outfitted hunts are the most hassle-free choice. The province has tons of outfitters. In fact, Tourism Saskatchewan (tourismsaskatchewan.com) lists 56 that offer waterfowl hunting. I may be slightly biased here, but it’d be hard to find one better than Tyler Mann at Saskatchewan Goose Company. The guy loves hunting ducks and geese and works hard to keep clients on birds. He’s hunted them since he was 12 and has lived and guided in Saskatchewan the past 11 years, so he’s established relationships with many area landowners. The fields he hunts are at the top of the Central Flyway where forest meets agricultural fields. The lodge is also top-notch, with four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a comfortable lounging/social area and a kitchen that turns out delicious, hearty meals. Mann only hosts one…

Ambushing turkeys sometimes involves deciding to shoot (or not) at relatively long distances. Without a doubt, the premium options for long-range turkey loads are those packed with TSS (Tungsten Super Shot). They are heavier than previous generations of tungsten shot, allowing for both more pellets and higher downrange energy per pellet—the best of both worlds in turkey hunting. The drawback to these shells? They can cost more than $12 per round. If a box of TSS shells is not in your budget, there are many affordable turkey-specific loads introduced in recent years that remain perfectly effective. FEDERAL 3RD DEGREE A mix of No. 6 Flitestopper, No. 5 lead and some heavyweight TSS shot for 40-plus-yard damage, 3rd Degree and its proprietary Flitecontrol Flex wad provide good long-range killing power without…

The herd of Roosevelt elk emerged from the mountainous timber, just as Dad said they would when he left me sitting there. Cautiously they walked single-file, broadside, 100 yards away. The little creek in the massive ravine separating us was overflowing its banks and roaring from recent rains, typical of the Oregon Coast Range in November. The elk slowly moved along the trail, getting closer with each step. Intense rain bounced off the hood of my rain jacket, and my hands looked cold due to the death grip I had on the old .30-06 that belonged to my late grandfather. I didn’t feel cold or wet. Adrenaline alleviated any discomfort. Six … seven … nine. I counted elk as they slipped from the dense Douglas firs, lining out one-by-one. Through…

When Shane was in third grade, a representative from Boy Scouts of America gave a presentation during lunch, and Shane immediately signed up. The following Wednesday evening he attended his first Cub Scout meeting, held at the house of a classmate whose mom was the den mother. After orientation and roll call, the boys began making bird feeders. Later the den mother mentioned a campout that would take place in the fall, where the boys would put to use all the skills they’d learned until then. Shane couldn’t wait. At the next meeting, however, Shane was somewhat disappointed when, rather than learning how to make a fire or build a lean-to, the Scouts resumed work on their bird feeders. The weather was gorgeous, and Shane dearly wanted to be outside…