Innholdsfortegnelse for June/July 2023 i Game & Fish East

With this being the June/July issue, it only seems appropriate to reflect on the freedoms we will celebrate on Independence Day. Thanks to the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, we Americans can include hunting among them. And while we enjoy the freedom to hunt within regulations we as hunters have agreed to in order to conserve game species, it is a freedom—like many others—under attack. Take, for example, hunting black bears with hounds. Anti-hunters have already managed to get the method banned in many states, even though it’s a traditional and highly effective way of managing the species. I was fortunate to go a hound hunt with Table Mountain Outfitters in Idaho last June, and my story on the adventure begins on page 20. It is a story that…

The first bluefish I ever caught was by mistake, and it was one of best and most fortunate angling mistakes to ever come my way. I was surf-fishing a favorite beach for striped bass with little luck. The tide was starting to ebb and with it my hopes of success, and I was thinking about calling it a day. One more cast, I thought as I launched the Kastmaster, dropping it just off a string of exposed ledges. My hunch was that bass might have bait corralled against the rocks. As I started the retrieve, I felt a solid tug on the line. My first thought was big striper! but this fish fought with more anger and aggression than a bass. It also made longer, faster and more tenacious runs.…

A resounding “Yes!” was my answer when my college-aged daughter asked if I’d take her fishing during the first week of summer break. Now, understand, she might fish one time per year. Therefore, I needed a lure that would give her (and me) the best chance of catching bass with the simplest means possible. The clear choice was the curiously versatile 5-inch soft stick bait. When Gary Yamamoto introduced the Senko more than two decades ago, he initiated a genre of soft plastics that has likely become the most effective bass-catching worm of all time. The simplicity of its design (based on a ballpoint pen of all things) lends itself to multiple rigging methods that can produce bites when bass simply won’t eat other lures. The method that produced multiple…

In some of my deer hunting areas I run more than two-dozen trail cameras year-round. In distant places I’ll be hunting, I try to make a road trip, scout and set out trail cameras in early to mid-July. When I return for the hunt, I gather cameras and study footage on my laptop. Eight months ago I started using Browning Dark Ops Pro DCL cameras ($179.99; browningtrailcameras.com). I run all my cameras on video mode to get the full story. High Definition (1080p) video captures movements, behaviors and sounds that still images can’t. With the ability to increase the length of the video clips captured by the Dark Ops, these cameras have revealed a lot about deer—and predators. Think a 10-second video shows a lot? Let it run for 2…

The federal Farm Bill, reauthorized by Congress every five years, is the most important piece of legislation that most of us ignore. That’s because the $1.4 trillion bill, which influences everything from public-school lunches to disaster payments for drought-crippled corn farmers, is dense, complicated and so full of acronyms that it’s hard to know whether you should support ACEP, VPA-HIP or EQIP. Happily, folks far more familiar with the process and details are watching the development of the 2023 Farm Bill with an eye for what it can deliver to America’s hunters, anglers and outdoor recreationists. Folks like Jim Ingles, director of governmental affairs for Pheasants Forever. “Depending on what part of the country you live in, or whether you are a farmer or a hunter, you’re going to hear…

The two isolated humps rose to within 12 feet of the surface, a couple hard-bottomed structures associated with a much larger mid-lake complex of reefs. While performing a quick scan of the two humps with side-imaging sonar, I marked what I suspected was a loose school of walleyes sitting near the crest of the eastern hump. After dropping an icon to show the location of the fish, I positioned the boat within casting distance, roughly 50 feet away, and fired a glide jig—in this case an Acme Hyper Rattle—in their direction. It took only a few seconds for the dense bait to rocket to the bottom. I then imparted two quick, robust snaps of the rod to shoot the lure off the bottom, allowing it to sink back down on…

Florida likes to bill itself as the “Fishing Capital of the World,” and with thousands of miles of coastline, gazillions of freshwater lakes and a wide diversity of species, the Sunshine State seems on pretty solid footing with its claim. Taking a cue from Florida, we wondered what the Fishing Capital of the East might be. But we’re not going to hang it all on one state. Rather, we’ve decided to spotlight five of the best fishing towns in the region. To be on this list of piscatorial paradises, a location must have a wide range of species close by—something that appeals to worm dunkers and fly anglers alike. It should be accessible to shore anglers, those with kayaks and canoes, as well as bass boats and larger craft. And…

I was halfway through a slow, steady retrieve when my line suddenly pulled tight, a noticeable bend forming in my rod. Something in the shallow, clear waters surrounding the Sister Islands had inhaled my black marabou jig. I set the hook and felt a weighty fish dart off in another direction. A short but dogged fight later, I had a chunky smallmouth bass in hand—my first of the day. After a few quick photos, I slid the feisty fish back into the cool water, and my boatmates congratulated me on my first Door County smallmouth. It was mid-June, and our group of anglers was on Lake Michigan’s Green Bay for two reasons: to catch lots of smallmouth bass and to test Humminbird’s new MEGA Live Imaging TargetLock system before its…

It had taken us all day to find the blacktail buck bedded on the side of a hill rising from Alaska’s Kodiak Island. I was lying prone on an adjacent hill, a light wind quartering from right to left. The range was 284 yards, and my rifle was steady when I squeezed off the shot. The buck took one bound from its bed and rolled down the hill until it stopped on the edge of an alder patch. It never moved again. Thus was my introduction to Remington’s Premier Long Range load, a performance that didn’t really surprise me given the top-end components the company has put in its new line of big-game ammo. Bullets built for long-range hunting have to possess three primary features. First, of course, they must…

There are two rules of thumb when it comes to field shooting positions. The first is that the easier the position is to assume, the less steady it will be. The other is that the closer you can get your rifle to the ground, the steadier you will be. Competence from field shooting positions can help you find success while hunting, but competence only comes with practice. Here’s a crash course in the four field shooting positions with some tips to help you assume them faster and shoot better from them. STANDING The standing off-hand position is the fastest to assume and the least steady, but sometimes it’s required when you’re surprised and need to take a fast shot. Most think that to assume it, you just snap the rifle…

When the mud-spattered Toyota stopped at the end of the gravel road, I slid out and strode to the edge of a clearing that had most likely been a log landing in the recent past. The ground dropped off quickly beyond the crushed stone and scattered bark fragments, and below me stretched a vast forest of pine towering above thick, green undergrowth. A soft wind swayed the branches of the trees at the edge of the landing, and I caught my breath when the breeze delivered the faint yet unmistakable sound my ears had been straining to hear. A bark, a bawl … somewhere down in there—way down in there—the hounds were still on the trail. I turned around to get the attention of the guys in the truck and,…

Being unprepared will send you home faster than any other circumstance. The good news is being unprepared is completely avoidable. As a wildlife biologist and habitat consultant, I travel far and wide to help landowners transform their properties from a hunk of dirt into the wildlife and hunting paradise of their dreams. Due to the nature of my work—outdoors in the elements—I always carry a backpack to keep track of my gear. On any given summer day, whether completing habitat improvements on my family farm or working with clients around the country, the contents of my pack rarely change. To keep things brief here, I have omitted no-brainers like multi-tools, toilet paper, insect repellent, snacks and PPE such as chaps, a helmet and earplugs. I put together the following list…

I became a trout junky as a kid. As soon as spring arrived, time not spent in school or doing chores was usually spent dunking worms in several brooks within walking distance of home. The trout fishing was generally excellent until school got out in early June and for a few weeks after, but the action tapered off considerably during the summer break. I still caught fish, just not as many or as easily. In the beginning I didn’t know anything about seasonal environmental changes or the role they play in trout survival. I was perhaps 13 years old when I started putting two-and-two together. It would be years before I fully understood how water temperature, dissolved oxygen levels and other factors dictate trout behavior and activity and where they…

By 3:30 a.m., Dad and I were where we wanted to be. It was Oct. 1, opening day of general rifle season. I had been scouting the area since early August and had seen some good bucks. We assumed the place would be overrun with hunters, but we didn’t see a single truck until 10 minutes before legal shooting light. Over the next few minutes, we watched more trucks making their way down various logging roads in Oregon’s Cascade Range. Daylight came and the sun eventually crested the mountains behind us. Dad and I had yet to see a deer, but we dared not move. The logged unit we glassed was tall with weeds, willows and briars, making it hard to see deer unless they moved. Finally, more than three…

Capt. Adam Rasmussen runs his charter business out of Sturgeon Bay. A testament to Door County’s multi-species diversity, Rasmussen offers smallmouth and walleye trips through his Rasmussen Outdoors Guide Service (rasmussenoutdoors.com) and trout and salmon trips through his Salmon Depot Charter Fishing (salmondepot.com). Book him for a no-hassles adventure and to shorten your learning curve on the water. DIY anglers should visit Howie’s Tackle (howiestackle.com) for local info and to stock up on necessary supplies. There are ample boat ramps on both the Green Bay and Lake Michigan sides of the Door Peninsula, along with a few fishing piers and shore access points for shore-bound anglers. The Wisconsin DNR (dnr.wisconsin.gov) has an interactive map showing launches, shore fishing access and more. Also, bone up on regulations, which can vary. If…

When school let out for summer, Shane’s cousin Kurt invited him to his family’s dairy farm in New York, with the promise of lots of good fishing after the daily chores were done. Shane quickly talked his parents into letting him go, and a couple weeks later he was in Kurt’s room, organizing his gear in preparation for an afternoon on the water. “I brought Rat-L-Traps, buzzbaits, deep-diving cranks and a whole slew of plastic worms,” said Shane. “I’d probably leave the buzzbaits and those anaconda-sized worms at home,” Kurt suggested, chuckling a little as he looked over Shane’s tackle. “Do you have any eighth-ounce white jigs or Rooster Tails?” “I don’t have anything that small,” said Shane. “I just can’t imagine a bass—even a Northern bass—not devouring a 10-inch…