Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2018 i Petersen's Hunting

NOSE TO the ground, the buck trotted down the long ridge, caring about nothing other than scent laid down by the doe that had come by earlier that morning. It was about 10:30 a.m., on my third day of a hunt in then-famed Pike County, Illinois. If the buck followed the course, he’d come within 30 yards of my stand, hopefully giving me a chance to tag my very first bow-killed white-tailed buck. Before I could get too excited, some advanced calculations were required. As a writer and an editor, I’m a words guy. I excelled in English classes, but math was never my strongest subject. So, as the buck approached at a steady gait, I started figuring inches. The farm I was hunting had a strict 135-inch minimum, and…

BULLET BASICS Arguably the best of all the value-priced big-game bullets, the Core-Lokt is a flat-based design with a simple lead“protected”tip, which means the tip is fairly flat without much lead exposed. This prevents excessive tip damage when heavy recoil slams cartridges against the front of the magazine box. Its jacket is thin at the nose to enable immediate and dramatic expansion yet thick at the rear to prevent too much expansion. A ring swedged into the jacket mechanically locks the core inside the jacket, resulting in above-par integrity and consistent penetration. The design’s one downside is that it is not aerodynamic. This is not a bullet for extended-range hunting. TESTING GROUND A friend shot a mature mule deer buck from 200 yards using the bullet shown. Exiting the muzzle…

“ YOUR BIGGEST DREAMS ARE POSSIBLE. FIND WHAT YOU TRULY LOVE. BECOME AN ABSOLUTE EXPERT IN THIS, AND YOU CAN BUILD A CAREER OR BUSINESS. YOU WILL NEVER REACH YOUR FULL POTENTIAL BOTH IN LIFE AND IN BUSINESS UNLESS YOU DO WHAT YOU LOVE. MOST PEOPLE USE FEAR TO COME UP WITH THE REASONS THEY SHOULD NOT CHASE THEIR DREAMS. INSTEAD, USE FEAR TO MOTIVATE YOU TO WORK HARDER AND PREPARE MORE. THEN, THESE DREAMS WILL HAPPEN. ” JASON HAIRSTON 1971 - 2018 If over the course of the past decade you’ve weathered a mountain storm, Jason Hairston had a hand in keeping you warm and dry. Hairston, who passed away earlier this fall, revolutionized the business of protecting hunters from the harsh elements. Dedicating himself to bringing the very…

The Remington 700 is such a staple among North American hunters that a cottage industry of adapting them into custom rifles has developed over the past decades. These rifles often mate a 700 action with a match barrel, a McMillan stock, an aftermarket trigger, and a Cerakote finish on the metalwork. With the release of the Model 700 American Wilderness Rifle (AWR), much of the work traditionally provided by small custom builders has already been done at the factory—at a price few can beat. The AWR is currently offered in six chamberings from .270 Winchester to .338 Remington Ultra Magnum. We chose .270 Winchester for the test rifle, which provided a magazine capacity of four rounds and a barrel length of 24 inches. The rifle tipped the scales at just…

Occasionally, I’ll come across a whitetail lunatic who spends his nights poring over maps, trailcam pics, and scent concoctions when the rest of society is sleeping. During the day, if he’s not at work, he’s scouting. Sometimes, one of these dudes will tell me he hates the rut because it makes the big buck he’s found less predictable. But for everyone else who leads a somewhat normal life and also loves to hunt big whitetails, the rut is by far the greatest time to score. It’s like hockey during a three-on-five power play. The whitetail’s overwhelming instinct to procreate induces even the wariest bucks to take risks they normally wouldn’t, and it also invites cruising bucks onto your property that you’d never otherwise see. So when the rut is wide…

WIND AND SNOW were blowing out of the northwest, as usual. We’d parked on the southeast corner of three contiguous sections of rolling pasture, climbed over the barbed-wire fence, and walked in. Icy pellets stung our faces. The sun was cutting through, just enough to make you squint against the glare. On a day like this, I said to my son Sam, deer will be laying up just out of the wind on the lee side of a hill, catching warmth from the sun and watching downwind, counting on their noses to let them know if any danger comes from the upwind side. Unless they’re feeding ahead of this storm. In any case, we need to spot them before they see us. A half-mile and two hills down, we walked…

I enjoyed Mike Schoby’s article on hunting mountain goats (“Goat Country for Old Men,” September). I was wondering if he could itemize the items that made up his 18.5-pound pack. He has motivated me to reorganize my guns and buy a Kimber Ascent. DOUG KNEE Via email Over the years I have refined my pack to the bare essentials, and the older I get, I find I carry less and less. That said, here is what I use on my mountain hunts. I start with a KUIU Icon frame and bag (you can change the bag size to fit the hunt/ duration of stay, and they are all super-light). Then I will put in a Big Agnes Prima-Loft quilt (one pound) and an ultralight triangle-shaped rainfly with cordage to make…

WHERE: Idaho WHEN: November 2017 RIFLE: Browning Bar 270 HUNTER: Melissa Spaulding that these cameras were preventing their cows from drinking. It was just becoming a big problem.” Turnipseed said he knew of one individual who was using upwards of 300 cameras scattered across several hunt units, and he’s seen a photo of 32 cameras around a single water hole. “It was getting out of hand,” said Turnipseed. “Just about every water source in the drier parts of the state had multiple cameras on it. We felt like we had to do something. Banning them on public land a little before and during hunting season just covered all the bases.” What’s the harm? In places like Arizona, Nevada, and other places with limited water, Moretti said the answer is simple.…

The Burris ORACLE is a must-have for avid bowhunters this fall. At just 17 ounces, the laser-rangefinding sight shows the exact aiming point for any distance and shot angle without adding bulk to your bow. The Oracle works for both left- and right -handed shooters and is capable of learning trajectory or drop for two different arrow configurations. A CR123 battery powers the sight and is good for 1,000–2,000 cycles—plenty of time for you to wait for a Booner to stroll by. $800; burrisoptics.com Cut down on scent and keep your feet dry with the LaCrosse AEROHEAD SPORT boots. Made with a polyurethane AeroForm shell, these boots are flexible and insulated without adding weight. The AeroHead Sport contains an oversized shank to support the arch of your foot, making it…

Many hunting gurus consider a Boone & Crockett mule deer buck the hardest of all North American game to collect. They’re probably right. Unless you have scandalous amounts of uncommitted cash and are willing to spend lots of it on elite landowner tags and outfitters, shooting a true stomper muley buck is hard. So hard that it becomes a lifelong crusade for many DIY hunters. Why is it such a challenge? Several reasons. Mule deer populations are still well below objectives in most states. B&C minimum scores are stringent enough that most bucks—no matter how long they live—will never grow enough horn to measure up. Habitat is often steep, deep, and challenging to hunt. Unless you live in a special-draw unit known for giant genetics, the fact is that without…

THE YEAR WAS 1998 and I was home from college for Thanksgiving break. Although I love turkey and my mother dearly, my focus during the holiday has always been on whitetails. Oklahoma’s rifle season coincides with the rut, and, man, was it wide open! I’D SEE PLENTY bucks on one I wa —the bu been see filmed h north of my family s property. By Thanksgiving, the buck was famous. All the locals had either seen or heard about the video, but to my knowledge no one had ever laid eyes on the non-typical brute during legal hunting hours. The buck was big, even as an estimated three-year-old, with a typical right side but with eight or more tall, twisting points on the left. His sprawling left mainbeam grew up…

Where does technology cross the line and eliminate ethical fair-chase hunting? For a growing number of states, the latest answer is cellular-linked trail cameras that send images to phones and computers soon after they are taken. The Arizona Game and Fish Commission voted unanimously in June to ban the use of “live-action” cameras. Nevada also banned the use of all trail cameras on public land during certain times of the year. Nearly 90 percent of Nevada is public. The new regulations address a number of issues, said Nevada Division of Wildlife Chief Game Warden Tyler Turnipseed. They prevent hunters from disturbing wildlife around limited water sources, and they remove any question of fair chase. “A person can literally capture photos of every single big animal in an entire hunt unit…

HISTORY One of several short-action magnum cartridges originally wildcatted by Rick Jamison and later introduced by Winchester, the .300 WSM utilizes a short, fat 2.1-inch case with a rebated rim. Performance approximates the classic, popular .300Win. Mag. cartridge but fits into short-action rifles, making for a lighter, more compact, faster-functioning gun. Its also a bit more efficient than its older brother courtesy of the broader diameter and shorter powder chamber and achieves its velocity with less propellant. However, the .300WSM has a couple of significant disadvantages: Handloaders usually can’t match factory-ammo velocities, and because it pushes case-diameter boundaries, is short, and has a steep 35-degree shoulder, it o ten presents feeding reliability issues. As a result, it has been unable to displace the legendary .300 Win. Mag. as Americas most…

TREESTANDS today are increasingly mobile; designed for strength, security, portability, and stealth; and can be found at the price point you need. For the avid hunter, here are four of the most feature-rich to help you score this season. X-STAND TREESTANDS MINI X-1 For the big-woods hunter, the Mini X-1 from X-Stand Treestands is the solution to portability issues heavier climbing stands may cause. Constructed of lightweight and strong 6061 aircraft aluminum, the Mini X-1 weighs just 8.5 pounds (11 pounds fully geared up). At 17x29 inches, the platform is a touch smaller than others, but it cinches tight to the tree with patented fleX arms. This stand is for the hunter who hikes far to hunt and wants to travel unencumbered. $180; x-stand.com PROS PORTABLE CONS…

Parallels between the European roe deer and our American whitetail are many. Both are wary animals that love the mosaic, or “edge,” habitat created by a mixture of woodlot and agriculture, and both survive well in proximity to human activities. Both are extremely widespread, and in fact, it’s a toss-up as to which has the larger range. Our whitetail spans two continents, from the Amazon Basin to Canada’s treeline. The roebuck, however, also spans two continents, from the British Isles eastward across Continental Europe and deep into Asia, found in Russia’s Ural and in Turkey, northern Iraq, and Iran. The parallels are just as strong among hunters. American hunters love their whitetails but no more than Europeans love their roe deer. As in North America, the spread of wild hogs,…