Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2019 i Petersen's Hunting

HISTORY Based on the legendary .475 Linebaugh cartridge case shortened to a length of 1.285 inches, the .480 Ruger was launched in Ruger’s Super Redhawk six-shot revolver in 2003. Max pressure was established at 48,000 psi, just 2,000 psi shy of the Linebaugh cartridge. Velocity ranges 100 fps to 200 fps slower, depending on bullet weight. Ruger continues to support the .480 in various handgun models, including the ultra-svelte, five-shot Bisley Super Blackhawk. It’s a big-bore wheelgun dream for shooters on a blue-collar budget. Ammo is available from Hornady, Buffalo Bore, Federal, CorBon, Underwood, and Grizzly. APPLICATION Because the .480 Ruger operates at a lower pressure ceiling than the .454 Casull, to which it is often compared, it recoils with much less vengeance. Granted, it also produces around 10 percent…

I liken treestand repair to gun cleaning: No normal person looks forward to it, but it’s vitally important. Indeed, making sure your treestands are in tip-top shape is likely the most important task you’ll perform all year. Other than saving your neck, last-minute tweaks can also be critical to your success, as one squeak from a loose screw can send a big buck sprinting away faster than you can mumble “greased lightning.” Of course, hunters are best served by bringing all their treestands in after the season and stacking them in a rat-free shed or garage. But it’s often impractical to pack up all those metal ladder stands. So hunters should venture into the field a month before the season starts to check them, too. INSPECTION First, inspect all your…

Typically, a bull elk will grow five points per side in his last semi-adolescent year. These are like the college kids—out of high school and really interested in being taken seriously by the ladies and other bulls, but not quite dominant yet. In most OTC public-land units, a 5x5 bull is a solid bull, and few hunters will pass one up. Then there’s the “first-year six,” which is a bull that’s achieved the classic 6x6 antler configuration but still has slender antlers and shortish points. He’s a mature bull and is beginning to develop savvy. Unless the area has really wonderful genetics, this bull will score 240 to 280 inches. Once you’ve laid eyes on a few truly big bulls, you’ll recognize the first-year six at a glance. Narrow racks…

Fur prices may be down, but a single bobcat earned three hunters more than $48,000 last February. Kelby Frizzell, Colby Frizzell, and Clay Allen won the West Texas Big Bobcat Contest (WTBBC) with a bobcat that weighed 33 pounds, 14 ounces, the heaviest among 689 teams. Thanks in part to increasing payouts, hunting contests like the WTBBC have grown popular in recent years. It drew 19 teams in 2008, the event’s first year. Nearly 2,000 teams participated in three 2019 WTBBC events. Organizers awarded $393,400 in prizes, including a record $48,230 for the heaviest bobcat. If anti-hunting organizations get their way, those and countless other contests may be living on borrowed time. That’s because a growing number of states have banned or are attempting to ban various hunting contests. California…

The UL Bend Wilderness Area occupies a neglected nook of northeastern Montana’s Missouri River Breaks. It’s full of sagebrush, boot-sucking gumbo, blood-sucking mosquitoes before a killing frost, and big bull elk. But it’s not full of roads. As a federally designated wilderness area, the 21,000-acre UL Bend is off-limits to a number of activities, including permanent settlement, roads of any kind, and all wheeled conveyances, including Jeeps, unicycles, and baby strollers. The land’s designation as federally protected landscape is a product of the Wilderness Act, passed in 1964 in the heady days of pre-hippie ecology. As someone who embraces the idea of keeping wild places wild and preserving a few shreds of pre-civilization landscape (not to mention hippies), I gravitate toward wilderness, both upper and lower case. But as a…

If you don’t know Bergara Rifles, you’re probably not alone. I’d never heard of the Bergara brand until a decade or so ago. Named for the town in Spain’s gunmaking country where the company is based, Bergara is a relative newcomer to branded rifles in the U.S. Over the past several years, though, this company has established itself as one of the leading producers of factory and custom sporting rifles in the world. Though you may never have heard of the company, you’ve probably used their barrels—Bergara’s button-rifled barrels are used by numerous U.S. rifle manufacturers as OEM parts. Though all Bergara barrel blanks are made in Spain’s Basque country, finished rifles are either made in Spain or in the company’s Lawrenceville, Georgia, custom shop. As part of the standard-production…

It’s no secret hunter numbers are declining nationwide. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports showed that just four percent of the total population hunted in 2016. That’s roughly 11 million out of 327 million. Why should those numbers alarm us? Shrinking hunter numbers means a decline in the revenue of state agencies tasked with taking care of the wildlife we love. Some of those agencies receive as much as 60 percent of their operating budgets from the sale of licenses and excise taxes on guns, ammo, and outdoor gear. Add to that a decreased political voice to stand against those forces who would like to see all hunting stopped completely and the future looks dire. Along with declining hunting numbers, the average age of active hunters continues to go up.…

Mule deer live in big country and are often found in sparse cover. Hunters should be prepared to take longer shots and carry the necessary gear that allows them to confidently and accurately put a bullet on target. My Seekins Precision Havak Pro Hunter with Sig Electro Sierra3 riflescope is my go-to gun for hunting at extended ranges. And the chambering I choose is Hornady’s new 6.5 PRC pushing a 143-grain ELD-X bullet. Consider the 6.5 PRC a “magnum” 6.5, with a boost of about 300 fps over the popular Creedmoor and up to four inches less drop at 400 yards. That equates to a flatter-shooting bullet with tolerable recoil that carries enough oomph for nearly all big critters outside of dangerous-game category.…

Crossbows are better than ever. Even the lowest-scoring crossbow in our test is a phenomenal weapon any hunter would be proud to own. My best advice to aspiring crossbow hunters is to visit their local pro shop and shoot as many crossbows as they can. This crossbow test provides some great baseline information that will help you make an informed decision, but everyone has their own preferences. In my opinion, there is no “best crossbow.”But there is a“best crossbow for you.”Find that crossbow and you’ll have a favorite new hunting partner for years to come.…

BULLET BASICS Solid copper with a large-diameter polymer tip, this bullet combines tough, deep-penetrating abilities of monometal with expansion. The goal is a deer bullet that shatters vitals and dumps massive quantities of energy with bone-breaking, deep-penetrating characteristics. A mild boattail helps aerodynamics, although being intended for deer, most CI XP projectiles are too light-for-caliber to have really high ballistic coefficient numbers. TESTING GROUND Last fall, I shot a mature Colorado mule deer buck from 180 yards. Exiting the 26-inch barrel of a Winchester Model 70 Extreme Weather at about 3,260 fps, it impacted with about 2,800 fps remaining velocity and around 2,600 ft.-lbs. of energy. FIELD PERFORMANCE Impacting the quartering-to buck on the point of the shoulder, it passed through heavy muscle, ribs, vitals, more ribs, and came to…

Tip your tapered Easton arrows with a razor-sharp two-blade broadhead designed to penetrate deep and carve incredible wound channels. SEVR’S Titanium 2.1 is a rear-deploying head that flies like a field point and cuts like a razor. On impact, patented Lock-and-Pivot blades lock open and then pivot around bone to maximize penetration and ensure the head achieves a true 2.1-inch cut. Best of all, perhaps, is the fact that you can practice with the same heads you plan to fill your quiver with. Simply add an additional screw into the ferrule and the blades won’t deploy. $14 ; sevrbroadheads.com Capable of measuring big game out to 1,000 yards, the NIKON Monarch 3000 Rangefinder is small, ergonomic, and functional. The unit’s Stabilized Function reduces vibration caused by nervous/shaky hands (like when…

Just 40 yards away, partially hidden by oak brush, a bull elk stared me down. Heavy brow tines jutted toward me, but I couldn’t gauge their length. His nose tested the air, searching the drifting breeze for scent molecules that would bust me. He kept his head tipped back enough that I couldn’t see the top of his rack at all. What I could see were his thirds. Massive, wide sweeping, and long, they were pushing 20 inches or more. The tag in my pocket had taken 17 years to draw, and impressive as they were, big thirds alone were not enough to gamble on. Suddenly, the back of my neck cooled, a light wind tugged leaves in his direction, and like a wraith, the bull turned and drifted into…