Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2022 i Game & Fish East

My first Western big-game hunt was for mule deer, and what I remember most about the experience was the preparation leading up to it. Like many whitetail hunters, I was intrigued by the “other” deer species and knew I had some work to do. I believe my longest shot at a deer up to that point was something around 120 yards, and I wanted to have the confidence to shoot three times that far. By the fortune that only a grandson can have, I happened to be in possession of my grandfather’s Winchester Model 70. It was an oldie, made in 1954, but a goodie that just needed a bit of attention. In the months leading up to the hunt, I disassembled the rifle and gave it a thorough cleaning.…

It is routine for me to travel to three or four states each year to hunt. With a couple decades of whitetail road tripping under my belt, I have learned that no plan is infallible. When preparing for a trip I naturally make every effort to be as successful as possible. That means doing my best to be prepared. Whether that’s hours spent staring at digital maps and marking locations of interest or making multiple checklists to ensure I have everything for the journey. But experience has shown me, all of that planning can only take me so far. The rest will be reactionary because it’s not a matter of “if” something will go awry, it’s a matter of “when.” There was a time when these unexpected turns would derail…

I was hunting mule deer in an aspen forest when I heard strange, bird-like sounds off in the distance. Something about it wasn’t right, though; these were unlike any birds I’d heard before. I eased up to a ridge and looked down the other side to try and identify the source of the sounds. To my surprise it wasn’t birds at all, but a herd of elk. That incident took place many years ago. I didn’t give it much thought at the time, other than to acknowledge that elk make sounds that resemble a bird’s chirp or a cat’s meow. Years later, in 1985, I was chatting with Don Laubach about elk hunting in a Gardiner, Mont., saloon. Don lives in Gardiner, a small town next to Yellowstone Park’s North…

Early last summer, fishing partner and lifelong saltwater pro Tim Lasusa and I drifted on a conveyor belt of seawater along Old Saybrook, Conn. The conditions were perfect: We had two hours until sunset, a gently-flooding tide, light wind and the striped bass run was on. Eager for explosive surface action, we started tossing topwater lures over depths ranging from 6 to 12 feet with a sloping sand bottom. My offering was a typical 5-inch cupped plug, which I deftly chugged across the current. It gurgled and popped and appeared as if it should be irresistible to hungry predators. After nearly two-dozen casts and a couple of short strikes, I remained optimistic. Tim, on the other hand, landed his first fish—a 39-inch striper—on only his sixth cast and wrestled into…

Mule deer country starts in the Great Plains, continues over the Rockies and Sierra Nevada, and eventually bumps into the territory of the smaller blacktail along the Pacific Coast. There are also whitetails in much of the mule deer’s range today, plus Coues deer in desert mule deer country. However, the muley is the primary quarry for most Western hunters, pursued annually and avidly. It stands to reason, then, that Westerners know their deer, just as Eastern deer hunters are the real experts on whitetails. Many whitetail hunters journey to mule deer country every fall, and others dream of a trip out West. With millions of acres of public land, hunting mule deer is a doable deal, but hunters from elsewhere are going into new country after unfamiliar deer. Research…

In 2015, when I heard Mercedes-Benz was set to release the 4x4 version of its popular Sprinter van in the U.S., I said: This is it, I’ve found it, and I can’t live without it. I researched and made lists to justify the choice and proposed upgrades, but in the end, the decision was easy. With a family of four, it needed to perform at soccer tournaments and ski trips, then convert into a solo or two-person, expedition-grade fishing and hunting rig, while being able to cruise in comfort on family road trips. The first of which was a cross-country trip from Oregon to Louisiana to visit my wife’s parents, whom I included in my sales pitch. VEHICLE CHOICE These demands leave two realistic vehicle choices in my opinion: the…

As summer temperatures continue to soar and the daily amount of sunlight remains great, bass are focused on two things: staying cool and looking for easy meals. One way to accomplish both is to position themselves in and around vegetation, where there is ample shade and a steady diet of baitfish and sunfish to munch on. Vegetation in a lake or river can take many forms and varies depending on your location, but you can probably find one or more of the following five common types of vegetation in a waterbody near you. COONTAIL Coontail is a favorite summertime haunt of offshore bass. Yes, some coontail grows in shallower depths, but in my opinion, coontail gets good and holds a lot of bass when it is in 12 to 20…

Although I don’t have an exact number, it wouldn’t be an ex-aggeration to claim that the first dozen or so deer I shot in my lifetime all fell to the Remington Core-Lokt. I started hunting when I was 12, and Core-Lokt loads were the only ammo I used for whitetails until well after I graduated from college. In fact, for all but four of those years, I used a single Core-Lokt load, the 150-grain .308 Win. Took a bear with it, too. (Not long ago I found an old empty box of .308 Core-Lokt that must have been from my high-school years. The price sticker was marked $8.99, which might buy six rounds today.) I’m not alone in my connection to the Core-Lokt. No doubt some of you reading this…

A guide and I were sitting in a pop-up blind, not far from the Texas coastline. I was helping with a culling operation for whitetail deer. It was my job to do the shooting and the guide’s job to tell me what to shoot. I’d already taken two deer at a little over 100 yards with a rifle when several came out of the brush closer to the blind. Pointing, the guide said, “That one.” I unholstered my 4 5/8-inch Ruger Single Seven revolver in .327 Fed. Mag. and said, “If you don’t care, I’ll use my handgun.” The guide kind of grimaced, “I’m not sure that thirty-two is enough gun.” Leveling the little revolver on the whitetail at about 30 yards, I whispered, “Watch.” The revolver bucked and so…

This month I’ll enter my third decade as a volunteer Hunter Education instructor for Montana’s Fish, Wildlife & Parks Department. Actually, I’m not doing this for the department. Because I’m a selfish muck, I do it mainly for myself, with the perennial hope that some stray comment or perspective might hit a student in the right way, and they’ll see my view of our shared obligation to the animals we hunt. There are maybe half a dozen instructors in my little town, and we’ve been teaching together so long we know which chapters of the coursebook each will lead, and who we can count on to come to Saturday’s field day. I generally teach the squishier parts of the course, the ones on situational ethics and how to tell your…

When I was 10 years old, my dad and dzedo (Slovak for grandfather) took me to Canada to fish for big walleyes, northern pike and lake trout. As a boy, the entire trip was better than anything I could have dreamed, even when I was told the crystal clear water I’d been swimming in was home to countless leeches. Didn’t bother me a bit. But the best part of the trip, bar none, came at noon each day when, after a morning of trolling Johnson Silver Minnows, crankbaits and Flatfish, Dzedo would beach our small, 14-foot rental skiff on some remote stretch of beach and, while I continued to cast from the sand, orchestrate the absolute best lunch … perhaps in the history of lunches. After working a mountain of…

About the time I thought the fish had given up pestering the shad chunk I’d laid out, the rod bounced once, twice and then doubled over. After a solid hookset, the battle waged upstream and down, at one point threatening to change venues to the interior of a huge fallen cottonwood 50 feet away. I applied enough pressure to steer the fish away from the tree, and a few minutes later it was flopping on the cobblestones on which I stood. The 3-pound channel catfish would’ve been a fine eater, but this one earned a reprieve. With a quick flick of its forked tail, it darted back to the depths. Summertime and channel cats. For many anglers, it doesn’t get any better. Relaxation. Minimal gear. Plenty of places to fish.…

Soil tests are crucial for success. These are necessary because using random fertilizer without it is a shot in the dark. Land managers can do soil tests through their local ag extension agency or via online services. However, manufacturers also provide soil tests, such as Whitetail Institute’s Soil Test Kits. The next order of business is spraying unwanted vegetation. Those with access to tractors or ATVs can use mounted sprayers. Budget-based, backpack-style sprayers and herbicides work, too. The next thing to consider is a chainsaw or hand saw. Clearing ground for plots isn’t easy. Removing unnecessary trees, shrubs and other underbrush requires sharp teeth, too. Of course, knocking down weeds and grass can be done with tractors, brush hogs and other fancy equipment. For those without access to those, a…

The warm and fuzzy feeling of hunting season is just around the corner, and if you have yet to tag out on a whitetail in velvet, Maryland can help change that. The Old Line State’s archery hunting season opens in early September and offers one of the best opportunities in the East at shooting a velvet buck. This whitetail sleeper state can offer hunting much like you might find in the Midwest. From the rolling hills in the western part of the state to the thick forested wetlands of the Eastern Shore, Maryland provides plenty of public-land opportunities to capitalize on a buck. Start planning now, and “warm and fuzzy” might describe the feeling of an early-season Maryland buck’s rack in your hands next month. MYRTLE GROVE WMA 4,460 acres…

Shane returned home from school one day to find his father cleaning the garage on his day off from the steel mill. “Learn anything today?” his father asked him. “Well yeah, actually,” Shane said as he grabbed a broom to help. “I learned Steven McDonald killed a 12-point buck last year.” “Twelve pointer, eh?!” crowed Shane’s father. “I didn’t even know they grew that big ’round here. That’s the trophy of a lifetime!” “Not really,” said Shane. “The year before that, he got a nontypical 14-pointer.” “Shane, I hate to say this because I don’t know Steven, but plenty of guys stretch the truth. You know, tell fish stories.” “That’s what I was thinking before I saw the pictures,” said Shane. “They’re legit.” “OK, I stand corrected. I guess I’m…