Tabla de contenidos para October 2022 en Game & Fish West

I missed a buck last season. There, I said it. I don’t feel any better. The only thing that brings some relief is I took the deer with the next shot. You can read about it in the feature that starts on page 26. Misses happen, and I can accept that. The part that baffles me is I don’t know why I missed. If I hadn’t been steady, I could pin it on a wobbly rifle. If I had jerked the trigger or hadn’t followed through, I could blame it on poor shooting mechanics. If I had misjudged the distance or the wind, I could chalk it up to not paying attention. If I had been overly excited, I could point the finger at buck fever. But I honestly don’t…

Pointy end forward. That’s how I was told to load ammunition into a gun, and it remains good advice. But over the past half century, the pointy end of ammunition—the bullet end—has gotten a lot pointier. The technical term for the forward end of a bullet is “meplat.” It’s derived from a French word that means the flat surface of cylinder. Few of our most modern bullets are flat on their pointy end, but the term remains in use. Since we’re discussing bullet anatomy, let’s dive in all the way. At the rear of the bullet is the base, and if tapered, it’s called a boattail. If it’s not tapered, it’s simply called a flat-base bullet. Ahead of the base is the bearing surface. This is the section of the…

For at least two human generations, Western big-game managers have drilled into hunters the importance of winter range. Without south-facing slopes that amplify feeble winter sun, hardy shrubs that provide precious calories and low-elevation flats that blow clear of drifting snow, our mule deer and elk populations would never have flourished over the past decades. Conservation of these vital winter habitats, which, coincidentally, are also prime real estate for subdivisions, gas wells and base-camp lodges, has been synonymous with conservation of our big-game herds. It’s why our most valuable Western wildlife management areas are in foothills habitat. But new research suggests that maybe our conservation priorities have missed the mark. Yes, we need to continue to make room for wintering wildlife when they are at their most vulnerable. But researchers…

AFTER TWO YEARS OF LAND CLOSURES DUE TO WILDFIRES, THIS SEASON COULD BE PRIME FOR OREGON BLACKTAIL HUNTERS. Due to a COVID outbreak in a remote Alaskan village where I was to be hunting and fishing for three weeks, I returned home early. I’m glad I did. Ten hours after landing in Eugene, Ore., a massive wildfire broke out near our home in the McKenzie River Valley. We were evacuated for 11 days. While our home survived, some of our friends and relatives lost everything. It was one of the most horrific experiences I’ve ever encountered. That was in early September 2020, and we weren’t alone. Wildfires raged from California to Washington and into Canada. They spanned from the Coast Range, through the Cascades and into the high-desert mountains. Forest…

Proven fall patterns that’ll get you into fish Fish these flies on a spey rig to tempt trout on big Western rivers. 1 Beadhead Crayfish Bugger 2 Karl Malone Trout Spey 3 Kure’s Squirrel Micro Zonker 4 Bird’s Octoberfest Caddis 5 Bird’s Swinging October Caddis 6 Dean’s Chain Gang Caddis Tan 7 J’s Mop Fly 8 Muddler Minnow 9 Empie’s Deadly Shiner 10 Mason’s Side Hustle Brownie 11 Mack’s Smile Blade Fly (rust/orange) 12 Satkowski’s Usual Suspect Olive…

Countless pages have been written by so-called “expert” whitetail hunters who twist themselves into literary pretzels in an effort to talk you into staying home in October. Granted, October in the South is a great time for house painting if you’re so inclined. However, for the avid whitetail enthusiast, it’s also a good time to ground a big deer. As far as I’m concerned, there is no such thing as the dreaded “October lull.” Yes, you read that right. The October lull is fake news—it doesn’t happen. Now, you don’t have to take my word for it. You can do a quick bit of Google work and pull up the results of several recent studies done by wildlife researchers. According to many experts, whitetails limit their movement in October, so…

The lower halves of the rocky hills below Chinati Peak were in shadow when guide Robert Curry told me he had a place in mind that we had to check out while the light was still good. We’d been traversing those hills all afternoon, glassing for mule deer and mostly coming up empty, but now I could sense a heightened sense of excitement—almost urgency—in his voice. Robert had a hunch. “There are a couple hills where a good buck likes to hang out, and right about now is when he shows himself,” Robert explained. “I’ve seen him before more than once. We might be able to spot him from the road and make a stalk before dark.” By “road,” Robert was referring to a rutted, boulder-strewn pathway drivable only because…

On paper, hard-core backcountry hunting sounds glorious. You hike into the most remote terrain in the country, mindful of every pound and ounce of your gear. You hunt and kill a hard-won trophy animal. And, once back in cell service, you bask in the social-media glow of your accomplishment. But there’s one detail missing from the common narrative of backcountry hunting success: the hard reality of getting the animal you killed from remote basin to trailhead. And that aspect of the hunt is just as gear- and labor-intensive as your efforts to reach the animal in the first place. As a confirmed meat hunter, I’ve encountered this problem more times than I care to recall. I hope you are in the same meat-hauling situation as I am, because it’s the…

Extra precautions are required when hunting in dry conditions. No hunter wants to be the cause of the next blaze. If it’s dry, apply common sense when in the woods. Avoid cooking over an open flame, including butane stoves. Leave the fire sources at home and bring a cold lunch. Even if camping, do not build a fire or cook over an open flame if conditions are dry. Avoid parking your truck in tall, dry grass, as stopping and starting the engine could cause a spark and start a fire. When driving and scouting new areas, don’t pull over and let the truck idle in dry grass or sawdust piles. Avoid driving remote logging roads with dry grass in the middle. Don’t run chainsaws to get firewood until later in…

The reel balanced nicely against the 3-weight trout spey rod in my hands, and I stripped a couple feet of line off the arbor of the reel. First, cast short, I told myself. Don’t wade in fast. The only thing different is the rod is lighter, scaled down from steelhead to trout. The moves are the same. The water is the same. A short cast, the length of the rod. Water swirled about my knees; the line straightened downstream. We are not fishing for steelhead, I reminded myself. Rainbows want sculpins this time of year. Make them chase it. In seasons when fewer steelhead return to the river, we still want to stand in water and swing flies. It’s a good opportunity to scale down for trout. In October,…

It’s the last best public-land hunt in the West, where a hunter can walk for miles in pursuit of the Himalayan import we call the chukar. Experienced chukar hunters are already thinking about it. You have your eyes on November, December and January because you study these birds and you know some of the best hunting for the prepared, well-informed wingshooter happens in the late season. We’ve pre-scouted. We’ve called biologists and outfitters. We’ve looked at the weather charts. Harvest trends are up in some places and down in others. Without further ado, here are our top picks for the West’s best chukar hunting in 2022 and early 2023. OREGON “Last winter was pretty mild, with no concerns toward over-winter survival,” says Mikal Cline, an enthusiastic chukar hunter and Oregon’s…

When a backcountry adventure calls, hunters need a secure base camp. Traditionally, canvas wall tents or nylon outfitter tents, along with cots, sleeping bags and portable kitchens have served well in these situations. More recently, some creative adventurers have been turning to enclosed cargo trailers, which can be converted into a mobile deer camp with most of the comforts of home. These trailers are blank canvases with four walls and high ceilings, and they can be loaded with everything from bullets and beans to sleeping quarters in a self-contained unit that can be locked up and stored in the offseason. When I started considering a cargo trailer for use as a deer-hunting base camp, I realized one of my friends had been down the road ahead of me. Joe Kiblinger,…

One October many moons ago in Colorado, I thought I had it all figured out. I drove out to my hunting area—an OTC tag unit—two days before the general rifle elk season opened. There wasn’t another soul in sight. I joyously set up camp and then scouted on foot both days, locating two small herds of elk. Then, the afternoon before the opener, other hunters started arriving in droves. The dirt road leading to camp looked like an L.A. freeway during rush hour. Where did they all come from? Most general firearms elk seasons do not open until the rut is, for all intents and purposes, over. While elk still talk on occasion, and the odd bull might bugle, pretty much all that can be heard are tumbling streams and…

Great starting points for your next Western upland hunting adventure PAISLEY, OREGON Trust me, when you come off Abert Rim, you’re going to want a cheeseburger, and the best place in all of southeast Oregon to get one is the Pioneer Saloon and Restaurant in Paisley. Then, point the rig west to Summer Lake and The Lodge at Summer Lake. They cater to hunters and serve a great clam chowder. THE DALLES, OREGON Between the mouth of the Deschutes and the John Day rivers, The Dalles offers a great location with a full range of services. The best place for a chukar hunter to bend an elbow with a beer and pizza is Freebridge Brewing. For a great view of the Columbia River, check in at Celilo Inn. CODY, WYOMING…

It is true that you get what you pay for when purchasing optics, but that doesn’t mean you have to spend a fortune. The new crop of laser-rangefinding binoculars that pull triple duty as observation tools, rangefinders and ballistic computers are good examples. While price is typically dictated by the quality of materials (mainly glass) and construction, these build characteristics are only part of it. Rangefinding binos come with a wide variety of electronic features, and the more options they offer and ballistic calculations they perform, the more they cost. Considering what technological features you’ll use—and what you won’t—helps determine how much you’ll have to spend. BUSHNELL FUSION X MSRP: $699.99 Magnification: 10X Objective Diameter: 42 mm Length: 7" Width: 5 1/2" Weight: 35 oz. Max Ranging Distance: 700 yds.,…