Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2020 i Petersen's Hunting

FUNNY how wildlife conservation slips our minds right when we rely on it the most. It’s the meat of the season. If you’re like me, you have a laser focus on what and where you’re hunting this coming weekend. Sure, conservation might briefly cross your mind as you pass by that Pheasants Forever sign posted at the local walk-in area or when you see an RMEF sticker on your buddy’s hunting truck. But otherwise, you’re concentrating on how to kill that big buck that showed up on the trailcam last week. I don’t blame you. I trust many, if not most, of you belong to one or more of the well-known wildlife conservation organizations. You pay your dues and, hopefully, serve as a board member or, better yet, spend a…

HISTORY Made legendary almost single-handedly by President Theodore Roosevelt, who famously called it his “medicine gun for lion,” the .405 Winchester cartridge was designed specifically for the Model 1895 lever action and introduced in 1904. To this day it is the most powerful factory-introduced .40-caliber (actually 0.4115) lever-action cartridge available. The traditional load pushes a 300-grain bullet at 2,200 fps. Hornady produces excellent ammo loaded to that spec and sells 300-grain InterLock bullets in component form, too. Winchester currently makes Model 1895 rifles, and Ruger has offered No. 1s in .405 Win. APPLICATION While many Cape buffalo, water buffalo, and even pachyderms have fallen to the .405 Winchester, the cartridge is—as Roosevelt knew—at its best when used on thin-skinned dangerous game of medium size. It’s splendid for African lion and…

Times are hard right now. The economy is in a tailspin, and unemployment rates are into the double digits. At best, we could call the situation “uncertain.” With folks suffering from economic hardship, we thought it was appropriate to focus this column on a simple goal: build the best-performing big-game setup we could at the lowest price point. Thanks to new manufacturing technologies and modern design, hunters have a few great choices when it comes to affordable rifles. These choices include Savage, Mossberg, Ruger, and others, but we chose the Thompson/Center Arms Compass II. The Compass II is a rifle that is packed with features, but is available at a very low price. MSRP is $405, and the street price is often as low as $350, which is a serious…

You’ve likely guessed that in the old argument about the merits of a bullet that deposits all of its energy inside the animal versus passing through and exiting, I come down on the “exit wound” side. Most fall seasons in my native Rocky Mountains, I hunt mule deer and elk, often black bear or antelope. I sometimes hunt moose or caribou in Alaska. A good, controlled-expansion bullet offers versatility no matter the species I’m hunting. It enables me to ethically take shots at raking angles where a soft, shallow-penetrating bullet wouldn’t cut the mustard. And importantly, such bullets tend to provide excellent blood trails. Some of our favorite controlled-expansion bullets include the Browning BCX, Hornady InterLock, Barnes TTSX, Winchester Power Max Bonded, and the classic Remington Core-Lokt.…

With an entire week dedicated to all things deer hunting, #DeerWeek airs Sept. 14-20 starting at 7P ET on Outdoor Channel and Sportsman Channel. Featuring the best deer hunting programming on TV, #DeerWeek will be hosted by Jeff Danker and country music star Tyler Farr. Additional programming will be available for streaming on MyOutdoorTV throughout September, all brought to you by Academy, Old Trapper, and Forloh. For a complete schedule, original recipes, and more information, visit deerweek.com.…

Montana has a great Block Management program that provides access for sportsmen all over the state. In 2019 around 1,200 landowners were enrolled in the program, which made 7.1 million acres of land available to the public. There are two types of BMAs (Block Management areas). Type I BMAs are areas where hunters administer their own permission by using sign-in boxes on the property. With Type II BMAs, someone other than the hunter issues permission to hunt the BMA. This can be either a Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks member or the landowner. These areas often require reservations and can have limits on the number of hunters at a given time. For more information about the draws as well as the Block Management program, visit —fwp.mt.gov…

The Bergara B-14 Ridge strikes an even balance between t - tional styling and modern features. Weighing in at little more than8.1pound d No. 5 contour, 24-inch, light var-min barrel, the Ridge wears a synthetic stock, the same one used on the B-14 Hunter, that has anearlystraightcom o cheekpiece. The black and gray surface of the stock is covered in a coatin SoftTouch, which is a slightly springy,non-slipco ed three-round magazine with a hinged floorplate means there is no detachable mag box to lose—call it idiot proof. The matte blue finish is attractive and functional. The barrel is threaded 5/8-24 for mounting a suppressor or a muzzle brake, and if no device is desired, a knurled thread protector makes that feature all but invisible. Like the Remington 700, the Bergara’s…

In “Is Hunter Education Failing” (August), the author equates the importance of [hunter education] class to buying a hubcap or gutting a deer. He states you can pull these activities up on You-Tube instantly. The implication is maybe you should be able to do this with a hunter education class and still be a safe knowledgeable hunter. The author suggests diluting the class because it may not be all that important anyway. There is no mention most state on-line courses take the average student six to eight hours to complete. An in-person field day of three to four hours is required. Sounds like an instant YouTube few minutes could handle this, right? There is no implication in the article whatsoever the parent could have done better. The article is questioning…

Visits to Montana’s state parks were up 60 percent this spring, as the pandemic closed most indoor recreation venues and Montanans sought outdoor spaces in which to distance from their neighbors. In Colorado, visits to state parks in the Denver metro area were up 48 percent in the first months of the pandemic, and use of state forests in North Carolina was up a whopping 200 percent this spring. Federal facilities, including national monuments and parks as well as recreation areas managed by the Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and BLM, are also seeing spikes in visitors. Detailed data isn’t yet available, but some have speculated that the BLM is on track to double the 67 million trips made to its facilities in most years. Some sites…

Compared with that of 20 years ago, the technology hunters hold in their hands today is nothing short of wizardry. Consider the Leica Rangemaster CRF 3500.com. Barely larger than a deck of cards, the compact, lightweight rangefinder delivers near-instant range at distances up to 3,500 yards. Paired with the free Leica Hunting app and connected with a Kestrel Elite weather device, the Bluetooth-equipped Rangemaster 3500.com provides complete ballistic solutions and atmospheric calculations, quickly and accurately, putting hunters on target at extended ranges. Out of the box with the CR2 battery securely in place, the Rangemaster sets up in seconds. An oversized, tactile main button turns the rangefinder on, and a second touch activates the laser, returning the range in a fraction of a second. A second button sits flush with…

Recent events have demonstrated that our food chain isn’t bulletproof. Long lines at grocery stores, nearly empty meat counters, and skyrocketing food costs have opened lots of hunters’ eyes to just how important it is to be able to process our own meat at home. Luckily, you don’t need a ton of specialized equipment to go from field to freezer with your game. If you don’t have the budget to fully outfit your butchering gear all at once, go in with a few hunting buddies and have each one of you purchase a piece of gear on the list and then share the gear or get together and process your meat as a group. You can find quality equipment from companies like Camp Chef, Weston, Magic Chef, and LEM. This…

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks offers a great program where if you draw a tag as a non-resident you can purchase a tag for your child at a reduced rate without them having to apply in the draw. This is great for those wanting to take their kids along for a hunt without having to pay the full price through the drawing. To qualify for a deer tag for a youth hunter, the child must be between the ages of 12 and 17 and must have taken hunter education. These hunters must be with a sponsor who is a parent, grandparent, or adult brother or sister. Montana Youth Deer combinations are $306. Hunters ages 10 and 11 can hunt as well if they enroll in the Apprentice Hunter Program, follow…

Greg Popichak was looking forward to attending his first Friends of the NRA banquet this spring in his hometown of Lima, Ohio. He had an entry ticket and a stash of cash he had saved for months—somehow kept unspent and unknown to his spouse—to spend on gun raffles. But the April 25th banquet was postponed due to mandatory statewide prohibitions on gatherings of any kind as the COVID-19 virus spread across the Buckeye State. The Lima event was rescheduled for the fall, but as the virus continues to spread, it’s unclear if Ohio’s social-distancing restrictions will cause banquet organizers to scrub the event altogether. If they do, Friends of the NRA will join a growing list of nonprofits that consider 2020 a financial disaster, even a threat to the continued…

When you find yourself needing to clear brush, split wood, or chop some kindling, a good axe is a necessity. The WOOX AX1 features an Appalachian hickory handle and a C45 tempered, carbon-steel head, finished with Cerakote to ensure it stands up to the most rigorous abuse. Weighing in at only two pounds, this lightweight, tomahawk-style axe punches well above its weight class. It also sports a stylish finish, making it a timeless tool. $199; wooxstore.com Processing your own game can be intimidating and buying the right tools can be expensive. The Outdoor Edge JAEGER PAK gives you all the tools to break down your game like a pro. The eight-piece set has quality blades for gutting, skinning, and boning made from heat-treated 420J2 stainless steel that retains an edge…

Modern bullets are so good that often —even usually—properly shot game falls within sight and no trailing is needed. But for those times when a big-game animal vanishes, there’s nothing like classic tracking skill in the quest to find it. In case your blood-trailing skills are rusty due to lack of use, here’s how to turn yourself into a sight-tracking bloodhound. DON’T TRAIL BY BLOOD ALONE Although it may seem counterintuitive in an article about blood trailing, don’t depend on blood alone. Hunters have a bad habit of simply taking the easy route and following the bright-red splashes. Then, when those splashes dry up, we’re suddenly lost. Africa’s world-renowned trackers focus on hoofprints and other sign first and look at blood simply as confirmation that they’re following the right animal.…

Rather than reading more theories on where to hang your stand, let’s examine the tactics two hunters employed to take giant deer last year. Perhaps we can learn something from their stories. PATIENCE IS KEY Had Chris Britton become impatient at any point during the three-year saga that was the hunt for “Full Service,” he probably wouldn’t have the brute hanging on his wall. It all started in 2016 when Britton noticed a young buck—which he named for the deer’s 6x5 rack that mimicked the full-service meter on his cell phone—with great potential on his trailcam in the middle of a 200-acre Virginia farm. By the fall of 2017 the buck had blossomed nicely, and by 2018, he was probably a shooter in most hunters’ eyes. But Britton felt the…