Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2017 i Outdoor Life

No matt er how many times you’ve seen one, a gobbler’s warty red-and-blue noggin is always a sight to marvel at. Eight-year-old Jarred Bowdoin got his first up-close look at one when his dad tagged a bird during the boy’s first year afield. Tim missed a tom earlier that morning (the shot jolted Jarred from a nap), but their second setup paid off despite challenges posed by the tall wheat. As soon as his dad killed the bird, Jarred said, “Now we don’t have to be quiet anymore.” WAYPOINT SECTION EDITED BY NATALIE KREBS • PHOTOGRAPH BY PATRICK “BUZZ” HAYES…

OUTDOORLIFE IN CONGRESS AND AROUND CAMPFIRES, Americans are debating the fate of federal public lands—640 million acres of national forests, wildlife refuges, and parks. Some politicians and special-interest groups say that Congress should dump these lands by transferring them over to individual states . Proponents of transfer say that state governments can do a better job of managing public lands than the federal government can, and that states would better utilize natural resources to bolster local economies. Opponents argue that transferring lands to the states is just a step toward privatization and would jeopardize the country’s natural treasures. Plus, it could lock sportsmen and women out of the best public hunting and fishing in the country. In hopes of demystifying the debate, we examined claims from both sides about why…

SECTION EDITED BY JOHN B. SNOW • shooting@outdoorlife.com Once I fired three consecutive bullets into a 4-inch circle at 1,000 yards and fancied myself quite the marksman. Then I missed a bull moose at 150 yards. Apparently, shooting targets isn’t the same as shooting game. At the moment of truth, with game in our sights, we tend to fall apart—physically and mentally. According to instructors at FTW Shooting School in the southwest corner of Texas Hill Country, most of us don’t realize which mistakes we’re making. So let’s figure it out. The following are five of the most common shooting errors. NO. 1 FLINCHING This is how a hunter of 38 years’ experience can miss a moose. I knew I’d flinched before my bullet even landed below my moose. Fortunately,…

THE CLASSIC SPRING-MORNING turkey setup is classic for a reason: It works, at least some of the time. The birds are gathered in one spot—their roost tree— and they are usually vocal and callable. But every veteran turkey hunter knows that even a sure-thing flydown strut-buster can sputter and fail. Here are four ways to salvage what remains of your day. TACTIC #1 KILL A CANYON GOBBLER THE TOUGHEST TOMS to tag can be those that hang out in vertical landscapes—the steep slopes of Western canyons or the corduroy country of Appalachia and the Northeast. Sometimes the terrain is so vertical, you can call a gobbler to 15 yards and still not see it. When you finally do, just his red head pops up, and the rest of the bird…

IN TODAY’S world of high-capacity, polymer-frame, semi-auto pistols, we oft en forget about the original repeating handgun. While the roots of the revolver go back to the revolving arquebus, produced by Hans Stopler of Nuremberg in 1597, it wasn’t until 1836 that Sam Colt figured out how to make it work reliably. Once Colt started making revolvers, the world of repeating handguns changed forever. Whether you’re in the field hunting, hiking, or exploring, or in any wilderness setting, the revolver is the top choice in a handgun. For personal defense, the doubleaction revolver may be a bit less popular nowadays, but it’s every bit as good a choice as it ever was. RELIABILITY AND VERSATILITY ? ONE BIG UPSIDE of a revolver is that it is almost totally reliable. A…

Eels aren’t glamorous. In fact, among fishermen, eels generally fall under the classification of undesirable—unless you’re using them to catch stripers and cobia, but that’s an entirely different story. But here’s a quick story about eels—at least, one of my earliest remembrances of them—that may make you appreciate their virtues. It was a sweltering summer weekend in Hunterdon County, N.J. I was just out of high school, and after cutting the grass for Mrs. Scheier, our former high school health teacher, Chris “River Rat” Lido and I had big plans. We “borrowed” a half-empty bottle of Jameson whiskey from the Scheier’s liquor cabinet and set up tent stakes on the muddy banks of the South Branch of the Raritan River for an overnighter. There, we rigged up and cast out…

SHELL-SHOCKED Your feature that explains how to make a turkey call from a turtle shell [“Next-Level Turkey Calls,” April 2017] depicts a box turtle, which is a vulnerable species and is listed in many states as threatened or endangered. Taking the shell—whether the turtle was dead or alive—would be a crime. You should have noted this or done some research before printing the story. Brad Bumgardner Chesterton, IN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ANDREW MCKEAN REPLIES:While it is illegal in some states (including the reader’s home state of Indiana) to possess the shells of box turtles, it is not in others (including Nebraska, where we photographed our feature). Readers should be familiar with the laws in their state, and if in doubt, please do not pick up or possess turtle shells. PRECISION SHOTS…

SOME GUYS HIT THE WATER LOOKING FOR A QUICK LIMIT, AND MAYBE A LIFETIME TROPHY. OTHERS ARE FOCUSED ON THE AFTER-OUTING FISH FRY. Regardless of the reason for fishing, there is one universal theme : Catch as many as possible as fast as possible. Here are seven tactics you’ve likely never employed, each designed to put maximum pounds in the boat . 1. CATFISH A SPREAD OFFENSE FOR BLUES CATCHING A BUNCH of catfish can be easy. Anyone with a bucket to sit on, some stinkbait, and a patch of riverbank could fill said bucket in a few hours if luck is on his side. However, if you’re looking to fill a truck bed with a load that will seriously test the vehicle’s suspension, take notes from Zakk Royce. This…

Except in the rarest circumstance, holstering a handgun is purely administrative, meaning there’s no operational urgency to perform the task. Don’t let trainers tell you otherwise. Putting your handgun away is the exact opposite of getting it out. When it comes to handguns and holsters, quick out and slow in is the rule of thumb. Here is a systematic guide to holstering a handgun properly. STEP ONE FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER If you forget everything else, don’t forget this. Take your finger out of the trigger guard and extend it along the frame—high along the frame. If you leave your finger inside the trigger guard, it may become pinched between the trigger and holster. This will likely result in a hole in your leg or that soft part of your…

1 KAYAK THE FLORIDA FLATS ONCE NAMED AMERICA’S TOP BEACH by Trip Advisor, Fort De Soto Park attracts millions of visitors each year. But it’s much more than just another Florida beach. According to Jose Chavez, who has camped at Fort De Soto and fished this property for more than 15 years, the flats surrounding the park are loaded with redfish, trout, and snook during May and June. Besides an incredible flats fishery, there are also full-service and primitive camping opportunities. Made up of five interconnected barrier islands just south of St. Petersburg, Fort De Soto includes Madelaine Key, St. Jean Key, St. Christopher Key, Bonnie Fortune Key, and the largest of the five islands, Mullet Key. Because of the park’s size—it’s the largest within Pinellas County—anglers will find plenty…

If you like working knives and you aren’t on A.G. Russell’s mailing list, you are missing both great deals and an education. Russell is a godfather of the American knife trade, and his quarterly catalog of aftermarket blades is not only a darned good place to shop for knives, but it’s also a resource to learn about the history of cutlery steel, blade designs, and the lineage of knife makers. It was in the pages of Russell’s catalog (get it at agrussell.com) that I discovered Ka-Bar’s Dozier folders, lock-back knives made in Taiwan that Russell promised, through his lively testimonial copy, would perform far above their $25 retail price. That’s my kind of gear, so I ordered one, in an alarming orange color and with a thumb notch in the…

FISHING KAYAK TEST RESULTS PACK-IT POWER The boats tested for the power kayak review have one thing in common: They are among the largest and heaviest fishing kayaks on the market. Anglers looking for a smaller, lighter option, however, are in luck. The following boats are easy to transport, store, and fish. ADVANCED ELEMENTS STRAITEDGE ANGLER PRO The AE1055 is an inflatable with internal supports and a drop-stitch floor to make it stiff and sturdy. External supports offer a mounting point for rod holders and accessories. Replace the tracking fin in the keel with Current Drives’ ElectraFin motor for hands-free propulsion. ($899, advanced elements.com; $1,695, CURRENTDRIVES.COM) JUSTIN CASE (SHOWN) Made of ripstop nylon over a carbon- fiber frame, this kayak packs into a small bag, weighs less than 6 pounds,…

Here’s my thinking when it comes to dreams: They’re simply not worth having if you can’t see a way to make them come true. Until a few years ago, I felt that way about owning a hunting camp. I’d always hoped to buy a place that I could share with friends and family. Finally I decided to stop fantasizing and start doing. That dream has turned into reality for me, and I’m betting it can for you, too—and it’ll likely take a lot less money than you’d think. If you can scrape together about $5,000 for the down payment and then handle a roughly $200 monthly payment, you’re in business. Even better: Buy the right piece of land and you’ll have that down payment back in your pocket in short…

TIP If you drop a firearm in dirt, spray brake cleaner in the action and other moving parts to flush out grit. Follow with blasts of canned air to clean it further. WITH THE ever-growing list of states that allow concealed carry and even Constitutional (permitless) concealed carry, smaller handguns are becoming more and more popular, and pocket pistols are one of the fastest-growing portions of this trend. They are lightweight and easily concealable, even under summertime garments. Living in Arizona, I wear shorts and lightweight shirts about 99 percent of the year, so bulky handguns are not my first choice. And even though Arizona has open carry, I prefer to keep my tactical advantage and always conceal my handgun . When the Ruger LCP was first introduced, I fell…

H ybrid stripers have identity issues—and, to an angler, it almost seems as if they’re angry about it. One parent, the striped bass, is a premier sportfish that can grow in excess of 80 pounds; the other, the white bass, rarely tops 3 pounds and is sometimes thought of as an angling nuisance. Yes, hybrids are misunderstood right down to their many monikers, which include everything from wipers to hybrids, palmetto, Cherokee, and sunshine bass to many names that are often much worse. For our purposes, we will refer to them as wipers. One of my first encounters with these hard-charging fish took place nearly 20 years ago, while I was fishing for purebred stripers on the Cumberland River with legendary Tennessee guide Ralph Dallas. My fishing partner, Paul Bristow,…