Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2024 i Game & Fish East

Anyone who is hunting elk has plans well underway by August. Drainages, slopes and basins that show promise have been noted and scouted, either in person or via app. Access and camping spots have been identified. Used gear has been checked and new gear has been ordered. Bows and rifles have been shot, tuned, zeroed and adjusted. Drives—especially those that cross the county—have been planned. Vacation has been confirmed. OK, maybe there are a few tasks left on the to-do list, but a large amount of time and effort has already been put forth into making sure the hunt comes together as planned. But then what happens when life gets in the way? Maybe it’s work, maybe it’s family, maybe it’s just plain bad luck that you crack a tooth…

Hornady introduced the 6.5 Creedmoor in 2008 and only a handful of long-range competitors really cared. But in 2014, after the movie “American Sniper” came out, Chris Kyle was vaulted to John Wayne status, and instead of a cowboy hat and a six gun, everyone wanted a sniper rifle and a tattoo. Today, the Creed is phenomenally popular, and that movie, along with those aspiring to have sniper-like skill, have influenced our hunting rifles and the way we use them. Some of these influences have been good. Others, not so much. GOOD GIFTS One benefit long-range shooting has brought to the hunting rifle is the adjustable length of pull, which is now quite common. Steyr incorporated it into the Scout Rifle in 1997, but custom builders have been crafting rifles…

My first hunting dog had ectropion—saggy lower eye lids that caught every seed, leaf, stick and bug that he ran past. I quickly learned to do an eye check and lid dump frequently in the field. Fortunately, he was tolerant of my mini-strations, and I didn’t do anything stupid to endanger his vision. I’m sharing the following tips so you don’t do anything stupid around your dog’s eyes, either. After his nose, a hunting dog’s eyes are his most important sensory organ. Eyes keep him from running off a cliff, help him mark shot birds as they fall and guide him to you when you call him back. Taking care of them helps ensure that your dog will have good days afield for the rest of his hunting career. How…

You often hear about walleyes seemingly vanishing into thin air once the weather gets hot during the dog days of summer. On large bodies of water, such as Lake Erie, this happens because walleyes migrate literally hundreds of miles as water temperatures begin to rise. In fact, the majority of Erie walleyes spend their winters in the western end off the shore of Ohio as they prepare to spawn in the spring. Once the spawn is over, mature fish quickly begin moving east. The Eastern Basin of Lake Erie begins around Erie, Pa., and stretches all the way to the end of the lake around Buffalo, N.Y. Unlike salmon and other species that tend to migrate into cooler water, this walleye migration has more to do with food than comfort.…

Traveling anglers find Burlington, Vt., to be a convenient launch point. It’s serviced by the Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport. Numerous car rental agencies and lots of shops with all the provisions you’ll need for a fishing adventure are available. Look around the waterfront and you’ll find several representations of “Champy,” the Champlain lake monster of local lore. Hello Burlington (helloburlingtonvt.com) offers a complete guide for lodging, dining and entertainment, but here are a few favorites to consider. FOOD AND DRINK Bistro de Margo Upscale French cuisine bistrotdemargot.com Farmhouse Tap & Grill Farm-to-table gastropub farmhousetg.com Pascolo Ristorante Handmade Italian cuisine pascolovt.com Finnigan’s Pub Irish Pub serving local beers finnigansvt.com Lake Champlain Chocolates Delicious sweet treats (Take some home to share!) lakechamplainchocolates.com LODGING Courtyard Burlington Harbor National chain with lake views…

Suppressors—now legal for hunting in 41 states—are becoming increasingly popular for big-game pursuits. Beyond reducing noise (and corresponding noise complaints) and protecting the shooter’s hearing, they also offer other benefits, like reducing recoil and flinch due to muzzle blast. Among the latest suppressors developed for hunters is Savage Arms’ new AccuCan series, which comprises three models—the AC22, AC30 and AC338—and covers most popular hunting calibers. The rimfire-rated AC22 works with .22 LR, .22 WMR and .17 HMR, while the AC338 handles up to .338 Lapua Mag. and .338 Win. Mag. The AC30, which I used in New Mexico, is rated for .300 PRC, .300 Win. Mag. and .308 Win., among others. The AC30 performed exceedingly well in New Mexico. While the suppressor didn’t make shots whisper quiet—that level of sound…

School had been in session for a couple weeks, and most evenings the conversation at the dinner table centered on classes and activities. After Shane’s younger sister expressed her excitement and trepidation about trying out for a singing role in the middle-school play, it was Shane’s turn to tell about his day. “Kevin Watson and Danny Simmons got suspended for fighting in the bathroom,” said the high-schooler. “Oh yeah, and I got into a pretty good argument with Mrs. Hanson during biology class.” “Shane!” snapped his mother. “You shouldn’t argue with a teacher! Are you in trouble?” “No, Mom. It was really more of a debate. She brought it up, and I couldn’t let it slide. She said in modern times with grocery stores full of food, there’s no good…

DOVE HUNTING SUCCESS If you’re going on an early September dove hunt, read Keith Sutton’s advice on how to set up in “Choose the Best Hunting Spot at a Dove Field.” BOWHUNTING’S OPENING BELL Early fall delivers opening day for whitetail bow-hunters. To fill an early-season tag, give Adam Moore’s “Fab Four Opening-Day Strategies for Deer Season” a careful read. CICADA CIRCUS How did this year’s cicada emergence affect the fishing? Lynn Burkhead chronicles the event in “Here They Come: Cicadas Arrive to the Delight of Gamefish, Anglers.” ICAST INTEL To get an inside look at the best new fishing tackle and gear before it hits the shelves, see our online stories, videos and social-media channels for cover-age from this year’s ICAST trade show. NEW REEL OPTIONS In our “Tackle…

With bow season just a month or so away for many white-tail hunters, preseason scouting efforts are in full swing. Because of this, I’m far more likely to fill a few tags this fall. There’s an important distinction to make here … my success will not come because of my preseason scouting efforts. It’ll come as a result of yours. I have no preseason plans aside from continuing to spend the last few weeks of summer chasing smallmouth bass around. My preseason whitetail scouting efforts will be minimal. And that’s by design. STAY OUT OF THE WOODS After spending a couple of decades preaching the merits of the importance of preseason scouting, I’ve finally wised up and looked objectively at the results of those efforts. In those seasons when I…

Imagine this scenario: You are tracking a wide and heavy mule deer buck over a low ridge some-where in the sagebrush ocean of public land in eastern Oregon. The minute you crest the ridge, though, you are greeted not by the buck of your dreams within rifle range, but rather an industrial complex of high-tension power lines, chain-link fences and access roads. The buck has vanished into a labyrinth of modern machinery. It’s not a gas field or a mine; it’s a solar farm, converting the abundant sunshine of the prairie into kilowatts. But to a publicland hunter, the effects of a shallow-gas well, a wind farm or a solar installation are the same. Each fragments habitat, introduces invasive weeds, promotes off-season travel and shatters the pristine experience that our…

I’m decidedly a light-tackle guy. Always have been and always will be. I grew up throwing topwater plugs to structure and freaking out every time a largemouth bass blew up on one. Decades later, I discovered that striped bass reacted similarly, though far more violently. Then, as I got older and started my saltwater guiding career in earnest, I realized there was always a lull during the dog days of summer when the stripers just weren’t active, which was no good for a guy like me with zero patience. In 2005, schoolie bluefin tuna began to invade New Jersey’s Ambrose Light region in August, and we crushed them on topwater stuff. While that run didn’t last long, I had caught the offshore bug, and it wasn’t something that was just…

Science has repeatedly shown that humans have a clear negativity bias. Our brains process negative emotions differently, and we tend to remember bad experiences more vividly than positive ones. The death of a loved one. The end of a relationship. Moments of extreme physical pain. Financial blunders. Trying setbacks. Abject failures. All are recalled more clearly, and longer, than happy moments or successes. Perhaps this explains why, crouched behind a rolling hill in northeastern New Mexico, I was still hung up on a bad shot I’d made on a pronghorn buck two years prior in Wyoming. That had been my first pronghorn hunt and my first time hunting big game in vast, wide-open terrain. I’d stalked a decent buck for some time, even crawling on hands and knees the last…

In 1985 a West Virginia high-school shop teacher named Melvin Forbes introduced a bolt-action rifle weighing less than 5 pounds to the world. Between then and 2022, Forbes handcrafted and sold more than 7,000 of those rifles and set the bar for rugged, lightweight hunting rifles so high that no other maker—factory or custom—could touch it. But as Forbes aged, he knew he could not continue, so he sold his knowledge and the rights to his New Ultra Light Arms (NULA) rifle to Bill Wilson of Wilson Combat. The company tweaked the design and now offers a modernized version that builds on Forbes’ legacy of lightweight performance. The Wilson Combat NULA Model 20 is a push-feed bolt-action design perfectly sized to the cartridge it’s intended to fire. There’s no excess…

Made it with 10 minutes to spare. Glancing up from my watch, I soon located the craggy rock pile I had discovered on an earlier exploratory hunt into the basin. It would be my base to watch the nearly vertical, open slope above for signs of elk at first shooting light. Adding another layer and gulping down an energy bar finalized my setup as I settled prone with my rifle nestled in my backpack and pointing upward. After a few zaps with my SIG Sauer KILO6K HD rangefinding binocular, I felt confident that no shot would extend more than 450 yards. Relaxing my eyes for a moment, I lifted the binocular back to my eyes to begin scanning through the gray haze of daybreak. That’s when I saw the first…

With evening shadows elongating over the cut grain field, a slow, sunny afternoon gave way to unrelenting action. Overhead, the shrill flutter of the wings of doves taking roost came by surprise, the birds’ sudden approach shielded by a backdrop of standing corn. More were spotted cornering a distant hay field, angling across the atmosphere like winged darts. Upon spotting the decoys, they banked left, swept low toward a soy bean field and swung up with landing gear down. The 12-gauge barked and feathers danced across the sky. Abundant in opportunity, challenging to hit and tasty on the grill, mourning doves provide wing-shooters an exciting start to fall hunting seasons. Perhaps the best time to hunt them is early in the season when food sources are widespread, access to prime…

For many anglers, summer signifies a pause in trout fishing action. However, the purists know there is still plenty of good fishing to be had, you just need to focus on finding the coldest water possible. In the Northeast, we are blessed with bodies of water that support great trout fishing all year long. Swift-flowing tailwaters and deep lakes and ponds are all accessible in relative abundance. Before embarking on a summer trout mission, it’s important to understand a few basics of trout biology. As we know, trout species flourish in cold, well-oxygenated water, with most active feeding occurring between 40 and 60 degrees. When hot weather hits, oxygen begins to disperse, making it difficult for trout to breathe. To survive, they head to the coldest water they can find…

Hardcore bass anglers who’ve fished Lake Champlain rave about it. Those who haven’t need to get with the program. Discovered in 1609 by French explorer and cartographer Samuel de Champlain, this magnificent 514-square-mile fishery straddling the New York-Vermont border has thrilled tournament bass fishermen and casual anglers alike for years with its nearly equal numbers of big largemouths and smallmouths. Diverse habitat abounds, but the lake’s narrowing lower end takes on a mostly shallow, weedy look that has historically been considered largemouth territory. Indeed, the Ticonderoga area, named for the southwest side’s historic fort, can crank up a mean frog bite and flipping rally, while the mid- to upper-lake regions have always held the strongest smallmouth potential. Largemouths roam the entire lake, as their preference for shallow cover and structure…

Many big-game hunters, particularly those who frequent open country with a rifle or any type of country with a bow, consider both a binocular and a laser rangefinder to be essential equipment. An animal must first be found, and then the distance to it accurately determined, before a shot can be taken. Optics do a much better job of revealing game and measuring range than the naked eye. Since both will be on the trip and used almost simultaneously at times during the hunt, it makes sense to combine a bino and a rangefinder into one unit. A rangefinding binocular streamlines gear and eliminates fumbling from one optic to the next in those tense moments of preparing for a shot. Hunters can go from finding an animal or confirming it’s…