Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2021 i Game & Fish East

Free-range aoudad hunts aren’t for the faint of heart or wimpy gear, as the terrain is unruly and unforgiving. I carried a Ruger Hawkeye Hunter chambered in .300 Win. Mag.($1,099; ruger.com) and loaded it with Hornady Precision Hunter 178-grain ELD-X ammo ($49.99 per 20 rounds; hornady.com). It proved to be a winning combination, offering a muzzle velocity of nearly 3,000 fps and plenty of power to down a hefty ram. The Hawkeye’s one-piece, stainless steel bolt features a non-rotating, Mauser-type controlled-round-feed extractor, which makes cycling rounds foolproof. A hinged, solid steel floorplate allows easy unloading without having to chamber each cartridge. The free-floated, cold-hammer-forged stainless steel barrel has 5R rifling and precise headspace to ensure tight groups downrange, while a radial-port muzzle brake significantly reduces felt recoil. As smooth and…

Whether you’re a dyed-in-the-wool predator of predators or a whitetail hunter seeking a little revenge on herd-harassing critters, one thing is for sure: Late winter is a great time to hunt coyotes. Deer and duck seasons are done, turkey season is still a couple months away, the fur on these beasts is as thick and beautiful as it’s going to get all year and the breeding season is on, so you can work a little howling into your calling repertoire. But there’s a catch. While out West these toothy creatures can often be called throughout the day this time of year, nighttime is when you need to make your move here in the East. “Coyote prey species are moving at night, and that’s when coyotes are out pursuing them,” Andrew…

The thing I like about yellow perch through the ice is they’re not difficult to catch once you find them, and they’re eminently catchable by a variety of methods. Jigging with plugs, spoons and jigs with or without bait, as well as using tip-ups with natural bait are all productive techniques. This is never more evident than during February and early March, as perch go heavy on the feed bag to sustain themselves during the coldest days of winter and to gear up for the spawning period that’s just a few weeks away. Yellow perch are notorious for constantly being on the move, but they’ll always be near food. Find the food and you will find yellow perch. In general, channel edges, deep and shallow mud flats, points that gradually…

Deep into the February freeze, my bud Sean Reilly and I stood on deck of the Dauntless, bottom-fishing the Shark River Reef 15 miles offshore of New Jersey. Our lines, baited with fresh clams, were dropped down in 150 feet of water. The snow was falling so thick, all we could see was the gray, frothy sea water directly below us. We clutched the heated handrails as 20-knot winds whipped up an offshore white out. It was magical. What do I remember most about that trip? It wasn’t the bitter chill in the middle of the Atlantic. It was the two 150-quart coolers full of sea bass, cod, ling, pollock and blackfish that came back to the dock with us. The smell of hot, fried fish fillets crackling in oil…

MASSACHUSETTS Capt. Joe Huckmeyer Hyannis | 100-foot Helen-H Sea Bass, Cod, Pollock | helen-h.com NEW YORK Capt. Jamie Quaresimo Montauk | 85-foot Miss Montauk II Sea Bass, Cod, Blackfish | missmontauk.com NEW JERSEY Capt. Jerry Postorino Point Pleasant | 46-foot Fish Monger II All Species | fishmongercharters.com Capt. Butch Egerter Point Pleasant | 85-foot Dauntless All Species | dauntlessfishing.com MARYLAND Capt. Kane Bounds Ocean City | 34-foot Fish Bound Blackfish | fishboundcharters.com VIRGINIA Capt. Bill Pappas Virginia Beach | 25-foot C-Hawk Blackfish | playinhookeycharters.com…

When most folks think trekking into the backcountry on a big-game hunt, they think of elk or sheep. As majestic and iconic as both of these hunts can be, they come with a price tag just as stunning. Hunting in the United States is not a sport limited to royalty like it was for our European ancestors, but some hunts require significant savings for sure. Thanks to Adam Beaupré of Horse Creek Outfitters (HCO), wilderness dreamers like me have a more affordable option. HCO is based out of Challis, Idaho, and operates on roughly 300 square miles of public land. A respected outfitter in Idaho for more than 20 years, HCO offers guided opportunities for elk, deer, moose, pronghorn, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, mountain lion, coyote, wolf and bear. HCO…

Shane’s uncle and his family from St. Louis were visiting, and 10-year-old cousin Marcus was keen on going hunting. Though he didn’t hunt, Marcus’ father knew Shane had an impeccable safety record. He also knew that at 18, Shane had already taken several great bucks. His uncle could think of no one better than Shane to take young Marcus afield, and Shane was glad to do it. “So what do you want to hunt, buddy?” asked Shane as soon as the luggage was unloaded. “Umm, I don’t know. Anything really,” said Marcus. “What’s the most fun?” “Well, I really like hunting deer—big bucks,” Shane replied. “Why?” asked Marcus. “It’s challenging. A mature buck is a wise animal with a nose like radar,” explained Shane. “If you can kill an old…

The good news? February is the shortest month of the year. The bad? It can often feel like the longest since the hunting and fishing options are rather limited right now. Much of the early part of the month is still solidly winter, but after President’s Day and the winter school vacation period passes by, the options begin to wane. Still, there are enough unique options to get you off the couch and outside if you know where to look. 1 VIRGINIA IS FOR DEER HUNTERS The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources first implemented an urban archery season in 2002 to assist towns and cities across the Commonwealth with urban deer management issues.The 2021 season began Jan. 3 and runs until March 28, and while only antler-less deer can…

Hunters looking to score with spring snows in the East have several solid options within a few hours’ drive. Here are a few places to try. 1. Delmarva, a large peninsula comprising Delaware and parts of Maryland and Virginia, is one of the better places to find snows on the East Coast. The landmass, bordered by the Chesapeake Bay, the Delaware River, Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, draws hundreds of thousands of snow geese every winter. Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge is located in the heart of Delmarva and offers excellent public hunting opportunities. 2. New Jersey is a snow goose hotspot, with the agricultural fields and coastal marshes in the southern part of the Garden State providing plenty of food and habitat. Hunters can score here with either…

Ultra-light jigging rods made of graphite or composite blends with medium or fast actions and enough backbone to handle the heavier lures and plugs are popular for winter perch fishing. Most jigging reels are loaded with 60 to 80 feet of 2- to 6-pound-test monofilament or fluorocarbon line. Monofilament line specifically designed for ice fishing has soft, low-memory characteristics and are slightly buoyant in water. Fluorocarbon lines are tougher, more sensitive to bites, have less stretch and are nearly invisible in the water. Tip-ups are commonly loaded with 8- to 10-pound-test braided line with a swivel or snap swivel attached to the end, followed by a 5- to 6-foot-long, 4- to 6-pound monofilament or fluorocarbon leader. Add a sinker and size 8 or 6 hook.…

y February standards it was a mild day, the air temperature holding steady on the plus side of the freezing mark. My guide client Jason casually mentioned he felt a light tick on his line before setting the hook of his jig-and-minnow combination. Our outing was aimed at walleyes, but the U-shaped bow in Jason’s rod suggested the fish on the end of the line was no walleye. It made several powerful if not overly lengthy runs, before rising close enough to the surface for identification. My suspicions were confirmed: Jason had hooked into a musky—and a big one at that. A few minutes later, the 48-inch fish slipped over the rim of the Stowmaster net. It was quickly photographed and released. Though winter still raises its frosty head, we…

There’s a sweet new line of gear—including killer grinders—on the block for DIY meat processors. Aptly named, MEAT! has established an attractive brand across social media during the past year. But it’s not all just flashy marketing; MEAT! products have proven to be ultra reliable among at-home processors, restaurant chefs and even commercial butchers. Perhaps the most alluring part of the MEAT! brand is that its products are sold online, direct to consumer, removing middleman markup and allowing working-class ladies and gentlemen to get more (and better) gear for less cash. I’ve been using most of the new equipment from MEAT!, including the 1/2-horsepower grinder ($350; meatyourmaker.com). It grinds meat faster than I can cycle the bolt on my rifle. This model includes sausage-stuffing accessories and a handy drawer to…

There are few better cures for cabin fever than going for a late-winter walk in the woods, and there’s no better way to enjoy a walk in the woods than searching for shed deer antlers. In the East, thousands of acres of public land go untouched by shed hunters who consider the big woods to be intimidating. If you think finding a needle in a haystack can be difficult, a shed antler in big timber can be equally challenging. To help us better understand and overcome those challenges, we spoke with Cory Gulvas of Pennsylvania, a 16-year big-woods shed antler veteran who, along with his brother Cody, averages more than 200 shed antler finds a year. Few eastern hunters have the big woods figured out like Galvas. Not only is…

We joined the convoy of pickup trucks and trailers around 3:00 a.m. and worked our way south into the farmlands of New Jersey. Though legal shooting time was several hours away, we had plenty of work to do before the sun came up. As soon as we made it into the field, the trailer doors were opened to reveal the giant heaps of decoys that had to be set. The frozen earth made getting the stakes into the ground a chore, but we managed to set out the nearly 750 full-body snow goose decoys by working in teams. Holes were punched with a piece of rebar, and decoy stakes were inserted into the freshly created holes. Somehow, we managed to get the large A-frame blind that would serve as our…

HONK: Birds produce sound by pushing air through their syrinx, an organ located at the base of the trachea. Because greater snow geese are bigger than lesser snows, they have a larger syrinx, which produces a deeper toned bark than their mid-continent counterparts. To effectively hunt greaters, you need to match this call. Get a high-quality electronic caller with as many speakers as you can afford. Some of the best options include FoxPro’s Snow Commando, Snow Pro and Super Snow Crow Pro, above ($430 and up; foxpro.com). Next, load it with the greater’s distinctive call. Juvie Jukebox has an excellent greater snow goose soundtrack that utilizes both the left and right speaker channels to effectively imitate a large feeding flock ($10; juviejukebox.com). BOOM: Many states in the East have magazine…

The seas can be ruthless during this most blustery of winter months. Sea spray, stinging winds and an inescapable damp chill can cut right to your core, so the mantra is always to bundle up and bring all the extra clothing and gear you can. A few staples in my winter bottom fishing kit include, but are not limited to: · Bibs and deck jacket (right) · Thick stocking hat · Insulated underwear top and bottoms · Insulated shin-length neoprene deck boots · Neoprene gloves · Hand warmers · Face mask · Hooded sweatshirt · Two pairs of insulated wool socks · Polarized sunglasses · Lip balm and sunscreen…

Some dreams subside with time; others remain, prowling your soul, even though they seem as unobtainable as the fountain of youth. As a boy hunting whitetails in the Allegheny Mountains, like many Easterners I dreamed of packing into the wilds of the West on a big-game hunt. At the half-century mark I managed to drag that dream from a coal-mine-like hole of my memory and make it come true. I saddled a horse and rode into Idaho’s Salmon River Mountains with a rifle. Ten miles from civilization, I tensed in the saddle as my mount negotiated a tight trail above Horse Creek. The terrain was so steep I could almost lean in the saddle, reach out and touch the ground on the uphill side. I felt like I was in…

One constant that has held us all together and given us hope for a brighter future through unprecedented times is our collective love of the water. As ice begins to fade across the northland and waters warm throughout the South, our attention turns once again to boats—especially new boats rolling into marinas—as well as the powerplants and accessories that make fishing from a new boat a true joy. While the fundamental acts of fishing—presenting a lure and coaxing a strike—remain unchanged, the specific features and functions that we look for in a new boat may vary widely depending on where we fish and what we’re fishing for. Indeed, the boating needs of a halibut angler plying the waters of coastal Alaska will not match those of a crappie enthusiast in…

Certain companies become so established in the minds of consumers that even their one-word brand names are synonymous with entire product categories. Count Coleman among them, as the mention of its name conjures a venerate line of outdoor lighting products. There’s no telling how many hunting camps have been brightened by Coleman lanterns, how many blood trails have been exposed in the darkness or how many nighttime fishing docks have been illuminated. The company has sold more than 50 million lanterns during its 120-year history, and the brand continues to embody quality and dependability today. William Coffin Coleman grew up in Parsons, Kan., and eventually became a part-time traveling salesman to augment his teacher’s salary. On one of his sales trips he was introduced to the pressurized gas lamp. Impressed…