Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2017 i Petersen's Hunting

“Why do you do it? Since you don’t eat them, why do you hunt coyotes?” I have been asked this question more times than I care to recall. There once was a time when the answer was easy and simple: to control their population and to save game animals. However, some recent studies indicate that hunting coyotes has little effect in either regard. Some biologists contend that killing a few coyotes allows the prey base to expand with the remaining coyotes biologically adapting and having larger litters in subsequent years. Essentially, not only replacing the coyotes shot, but also adding more to the region. I don’t know if I completely buy the theory on a large scale, but then again, I don’t know if I completely discount it, either. In…

BULLET BASICS Incorporating innovative design elements that are a hybrid between a Power Belt and the Minie Ball of the 1860s, Federal’s new 350-grain B.O.R Lock is a lead projectile featuring a bore-riding nose portion and a“fiber”cup that encapsulates the base but leaves space between the base of the bullet and the inside base of the cup. When the bullet is fired, the cup bumps forward over a driving band, accomplishing a very tight fit that promotes consistent propellant burn and accuracy. TESTING GROUND The B.O.R. Lock bullet pictured was recovered after passing through both shoulders of a 340-class bull elk. Fired over four Hodgdon Triple Seven pellets, the bullet impacted the bull at 407 yards. FIELD PERFORMANCE The 350-grain B.O.R. Lock bullet penetrated several inches of dense muscle, shattered…

If you’re a sportsman and follow politics closely, you’ll recall a few chaotic days in December. Donald Trump publicly considered Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) as his pick for Secretary of the Interior, a role charged with the oversight of about 500 million acres of federal public land; interactions with Native American tribes; and wildlife management, including protections under the Endangered Species Act. McMorris Rodgers has a long history of advocating for the transfer or sale of public ground, restricting presidential power on protecting new federal lands, and supporting a variety of questionable measures endorsed by the oil and gas industry. The outdoor conservation community collectively freaked the hell out. A few days later Trump nominated Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), an avid sportsman, for the post. Zinke, a retired Navy…

The cougar, often called mountain lion, isn’t really a cat strictly of our western mountains. Once found coast to coast, the mountain lion is an adaptable cat, perfectly at home in forests and hills, the Southwestern deserts, and the jungles of Central America and South America as well as high country strongholds. The eastern population of the United States was essentially wiped out during our settlement era, excepting a threatened population that persists in Florida’s Everglades. That last doesn’t sound good, but cougar populations are actually extremely healthy in the western United States and Canada. In recent decades cougars have reestablished their former range well east of the Rockies. Nebraska, Oklahoma, and the Dakotas now have small breeding populations. Recent cougar sightings have been verified through much of the Upper…

INGREDIENTS ½–1 lb. elk sirloin 1 tbs. Worcestershire 1 tbs. capers, chopped 1 tbs. red onion, finely chopped 1 tbs. fresh parsley, chopped 2 tsp. Dijon mustard 1 anchovy fillet 4 egg yolks Sea salt Black pepper, freshly ground There are readers who are going find this column appalling, and likely, no small segment of subscribers who will be outraged that I dare suggest eating wild game raw. “It’s dangerous!” the sheep will shout. “You could die!” Yes, this is true. Eating raw meat does carry a bit of danger. So does gorging at a fast-food joint. Frankly, I’ll take the former, especially when I know the exact provenance of an animal I killed and cut myself. The succulent flavor and caveman thrill of biting into a rare piece of…

DEPENDING ON your perspective, the finest thing about predator hunting is that there are predators everywhere. Not such a good thing if you are a sheep rancher or small-game and upland bird lover, but a fine thing indeed if you are a predator hunter. Predators offer loads of opportunity, a low cost to get involved, and nearly unlimited (and often free) access. For these reasons it is easy to understand why some get bitten by the predator bug. And once bitten, a quest of sorts forms: trying to tag one of every North America’s main predator species. After 30 years of calling predators across much of the United States, here are the best places to secure the fabled hat trick. COYOTE IT IS NO secret coyotes have spread from coast-to-coast,…

LESS GEAR, MORE HUNTING The October 2016 issue was the first Petersen’s Hunting magazine that I’ve ever read, and when I opened it I was appalled. The emphasis in ads and articles on gadgets, devices, and guns/ammunition to make horribly long shots and to make taking game easier added to my depression about modern hunting. Hunting is supposed to be a challenge, as Aldo Leopold so accurately stated it. Hunters need to learn about the animals they hunt so they can get close and make well-placed shots. Hunters need to know game behavior, field sign, food habits, breeding behavior, and much more, but it appears the modern hunter skips over these needs and outfits himself with whatever it takes to make the experience easier. I suppose the trophy mania has…

WHERE: South Dakota WHEN: Fall 2016 OUTFITTER: Jim River Guide Service RIFLE: McMillan Custom 6.5/284 HUNTER: Mike Dubes HUNTERS VOTE Prior to election night, all the political pundits and both campaigns thought Florida, North Carolina, and Ohio would swing the election. Trump won them all decisively. Few foresaw what happened in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin —states that had voted for Democrats in every presidential election since 1988 (Wisconsin) and 1992 (Michigan and Pennsylvania). They turned red for Trump, as did Iowa, a state where voters backed Barack Obama in two elections. The caricature of Trump supporters in the media in the run-up to November 8, and the coverage shortly thereafter, was less than flattering. The typical Trump voter, it was assumed, was poor, dumb, and white. Trump won, many said,…

The 29th Boone and Crockett Big Game Awards ceremony was held in Springfield, Missouri, in 2016 to honor big-game hunters and their award-winning animals that now sit atop the record charts. Boone and Crockett’s current system of measuring big-game animals was finalized in 1949 and copyrighted in 1950, with B&C’s records keeping system recognizing 38 categories of North American big game. Note that this does not reflect species, since there are Typical and Non-Typical categories for all deer and American elk. The long tradition of three-year Awards Periods predates the current system. What it means is that all animals officially measured and entered during the Awards Period are considered; the owners of top animals in each category are invited to the triennial gathering, where scores are verified by a panel…

POPULATION State wildlife agencies estimate 20,000 to 40,000 cougars in the United States, very likely with a similar population in southwestern Canada. Numbers in Mexico, Central America, and South America are not known, but the cougar is widespread and relatively common across much of this vast region. MOST EXPENSIVE HUNTS Guided hunts with good houndsmen. As with all guided hunts, prices have increased in recent years, but with cougars, costs depend heavily on experience and track record…and so does success. LEAST EXPENSIVE HUNTS Do-it-yourself on public land. Odds are not high, but it is always possible to “glass up” a cougar, and they sometimes respond to varmint calls. Although tracking a cougar on foot is very difficult, with good snow conditions it is possible. The cats are out there, so…

Trail cams have revolutionized the way many Americans hunt deer, to the point that some of the old-school think they’re an unfair advantage. After all, in past times the best trick a buck could pull was going underground during daylight hours and never letting you know he even existed. But Petersen’s Hunting is not here to judge legal hunting methods. What we are here to do is to caution you that there is a flipside to using trail cams. Becoming overly dependent on them can degrade your chances of success. Here’s how to avoid falling into the trail cam trap. THE CONFIDENCE FACTOR I believe confidence is one factor of several that can increase or decrease your odds of bagging a big buck. If you’re confident your setup is right,…

REMEMBER when semiauto rifles were dismissed as inaccurate and unsuitable for hunting? I hope those naysayers are around to see the explosion of ARs in the hunting world, but in fairness, few could have predicted the AR’s popularity in all aspects of the hunting and shooting world. Properly built ARs can be lightweight, reliable, versatile, and accurate tools for hunting everything from varmints to predators and even deer and feral hogs. The problem with ARs—if it can be called a problem—is that there are simply so many brands and variations to choose from. In this test, we focused on lightweight ARs, those that we considered ideal for predator hunting. Predator hunting demands accuracy, fast-handling characteristics, a good trigger, and handy dimensions. The good news is that the current trend of…

Last year, behind closed doors at the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s annual SHOT Show, Donald Trump made a pitch. A collection of 50 chief executives and industry leaders stood around him in a semicircle. The Iowa Caucuses were days away, and Donald Trump, the only primary candidate to attend the outdoor industry’s biggest event, seemed to care. “We’re leading every single place, but bad things happen if I lose Iowa,” the future President of the United States said. “Then I have to really go out and fight. We’re leading by a lot, but bad things happen with this dishonest press, people who don’t like you by the way.” The room laughed. “You can imagine what happens if I lose by a vote in Iowa. I think if I could focus…

HISTORY Nosler’s new .22-caliber AR-15 round is built on a freshly spawned, never-before-seen case with a rebated rim. In essence, it feeds from 6.8 SPC magazines, uses a standard .223/5.56 bolt, looks like a miniaturized 6.5-284 cartridge, and offers .22-250-esque performance. APPLICATION Engineered with a 1:8 rifling twist, the .22 Nosler shoots projectiles ranging from 50 to 85 grains beautifully. Its main claim to fame is that it almost matches .22-250 velocities but is better suited for long-distance uses. In AR-15 rifles with varmint-length barrels of 22 or 24 inches it will perform superbly on prairie dogs, coyotes, and other varmints with bullets in the 55-grain range. Handloaded with 60-grain Partition bullets or 70-grain Barnes TTSX bullets, it’s as good as a .22-caliber deer cartridge gets. BALLISTICS Initial factory loads…

I began reloading ammunition as a teenager to feed my pistol shooting habit on a limited budget. Later, when hunting became my priority and shifted my focus toward accuracy and performance, I truly became a handloader. It may sound like semantics, but to me, reloading is all about value and volume while handloading is about precision. Simple steps in the reloading process can achieve incremental accuracy gains—gains that can add up to almost incredible accuracy. These gains don’t necessarily require fancy equipment—though certain tools are a virtual necessity—but they do require a bit of time and effort. Together, we will explore the process of loading rifle ammunition. In doing so, we will progress beyond the “Handloading 101” steps and delve into the minutiae of precision handloading, the little things that…

Enchanting as elk hunting may seem, if you’re not prepared it’s mostly not fun. In fact, it’s often positively agonizing. No western species is more dreamed about by easterners than the rutting bull elk—and rightly so. Elk are, however, a species one should graduate to, as the West chews up and spits out a lot of would-be elk hunters. Elk hunting, particularly DIY wilderness hunting, can be absolutely brutal. On the bright side, once you’re finally successful, the experience can be one of the most rewarding of your life. But make no mistake: You cannot go from being a dedicated, all-day-in-the-treestand whitetail kind of guy to being a hard-core elk hunter overnight. Like transitioning from being a top-notch chess player to being a great cross-country track star—both of which require…

At Petersen’s Hunting we aren’t strangers to using mountain bikes for hunting, and it is a subject we’ve covered several times in the past. Quick, silent access into a remote spot, the ability to haul more gear into the backcountry, and ease of game retrieval all add up to make mountain bikes sensible tools—both for western hunters accessing millions of acres of Forest Service land and our eastern brethren looking to sneak into a treestand, scent- and noise-free. Past bike reviews have included the rugged, well-built Cogburn fat tire and a Kona/Safariland 29er we customized in-house with a BionX electric assist system. Both bikes have their appeal and strong suits: the Cogburn for its raw, go-anywhere ability and the Kona/Safariland for its quality construction and electric ease of use. But…