Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2021 i Petersen's Hunting

WE KNOW that habitat is the key to successful conservation of mule deer and black-tailed deer. Other issues matter, but habitat improvements will make the biggest impact for our deer populations. As a result, this has been a top priority for the Mule Deer Foundation (MDF) since its founding in 1988. After the Secretary of the Interior signed Secretarial Order 3362 at MDF’s Western Hunting & Conservation Expo in 2018, MDF launched a Migration Corridors and Winter Range Initiative and has played a leadership role in this effort. Through new migration research, our state and federal partners have identified priority corridor and seasonal range habitats. Using this information, MDF and other groups have focused on projects like habitat improvement, invasive weed management, and transitioning to wildlife-friendly fencing in the places…

It’s no secret that European glass produces the highest-quality optics on the market. That quality, though, comes with a significant price tag. Zeiss came out with the Conquest V4 line of scopes to help people break into European glass at a more affordable price. These scopes are designed for the serious hunter and offer extensive magnification ranges, allowing close-quarter shots all the way out to the longest of ethical ranges. The Conquest V4 line includes five scopes: 3-12x44, 3-12x56, 4-16x44, 4-16x50, and 6-24x50. All the scopes promote extreme light transmission, allowing 90 percent of light to reach the eye. The Zeiss T* Coating has made its way onto the lenses to ensure bright, crisp images for easy target acquisition while on the hunt. If you are looking to upgrade your…

It’s time to stop dropping cash on prepackaged, bland camp meals that cost eight times more and offer half the protein than the game and vegetables collecting frost in your freezer. The concept of DIY dehydrated camp meals may seem a bit intimidating, but I promise it’s incredibly easy and safe if you follow some straightforward guidelines. If you’re wondering what level of culinary skill is required, I would say it’s easier than making your own jerky. It does require several hours (though 90 percent of that time is just waiting for food to dehydrate) of your time and some initial investment in equipment, but I would argue that if you can prepare wild game spaghetti, you can learn to dehydrate your own camp meals. A quick note on why…

WHEN THINKING of rutting elk, your mind should immediately jump to screaming bulls. There is no better time as a hunter to chase elk than during the rut. With breeding on their mind, bulls come out of the woodwork, becoming more vocal, more active, and more susceptible to a hunter’s tactics. But the more you hunt elk, the more you realize no two Septembers are the same. If you prepare only for the one rutting scenario of highly active bugling bulls, the success of your hunt will suffer. When elk hunting, your actions should be a direct result of observed behavior. Through the course of the elk rut, hunters can encounter many different conditions, ranging from the dreamed-about bugle fest with bulls going crazy to quiet mountains with extraordinarily little…

“HE HIT MY rubbing posts and the mock scrapes twice yesterday,” said my Nebraska buddy and mega-whitetail mind Terron Bauer. “He came through on the north side of the river about an hour after sunup and then, at some point, crossed the river and came through the south-side funnel about 2 p.m. That makes two days in a row he’s done the same thing. I need to kill him before he finds a hot doe and locks her down.” When I hung up the phone, I was shaking. I was happy for my friend, of course, and felt confident he’d get the job done. What ga ron’s Spartan cellular trail cameras, which I scrolled thr my iPhone while my buddy gave me the 411. This was a quality buck, and…

The smell of leather, canvas, saddle grease, and horses holds a special p ace in my memory and reminds me of the fall, of my childhood, and, most of all, adventure. Hunting partners come in all shapes and sizes. S me of the best: the four-legged kind. Hunting with stock of any kind offers an adventure all its own. I equate the relationship of a packer and their stock to that found between wingshooters and their trusted hunting dogs. While horses and mules aren’t seeking out your game, they are the muscle behind the operation. Every year I yearn for the opportunity to cinch down the saddle and strap the panniers tight. I can’t describe the feeling of mounting a horse in the backcountry; it’s primal, to say the least.…

BULLET BASICS This bullet is the epitome of modern hunting projectile design. It has a solid rear half like its ancestor, the Trophy Bonded Bear Claw, and a bonded front lead core. It always creates the ideal mushroom shape, retains most of its weight, and penetrates deeply. A boattail, a composite tip, and a low-drag secant profile give it excellent long-range performance. The tip initiates expansion at very low velocities. As a result, the Terminal Ascent holds together during fast, up-close impact speeds and penetrates deeply, and it mushrooms reliably even at very low, long-range impact velocities. TESTING GROUND In one of the most important shots of my life, I fired this bullet 561 yards across a canyon and through the shoulders of a 14-year-old Rocky Mountain bighorn ram. Muzzle…

A good pair of boots is necessary for a successful mountain hunt. Keep your feet comfortable and your footing sure with the Meindl Glockner. Designed for the toughest hunting scenarios, these boots feature Multigriff Vibram soles that give you a solid platform on any terrain. The leather uppers are backed by a Gore-Tex liner to keep your feet dry in wet conditions, and the Air-Active insoles are sure to keep your feet comfortable for countless miles. $350; meindl.com If you’ve ever been stuck in a downpour, you know that a high-quality rain jacket is a must for your hunting kit. The Kuiu Yukon Rain Jacket is designed to hold up in the toughest conditions. It’s made from four-way stretch polyester and a Dermizax NX waterproof membrane. The membrane is breathable…

Your rifle spoke its piece. The echoes have faded, the smoke has cleared, and now there’s a big-bodied bull elk lying quiet in the mountain grasses. You’re used to driving Grandad’s old truck to the back beanfield, loading your whitetail buck in the back, and hauling it up the road a piece to the local meat processor. But you’re miles from the trailhead, and here lies 800 pounds of bull. What’s next? Properly cutting up, caring for, and transporting elk meat from the backcountry can be a serious challenge. Particularly, if you’re on your own. First, the simple step. Notch your tag, and if required, attach it to the elk in an appropriate location. Next, stage and take photos. Take the time to get good ones, but be efficient, because…

MY THOUGHTS are often overwhelmed by big mule deer. The allure of these magnificent animals has driven me to spend days on end in the backcountry and hundreds if not thousands of dollars on gas and maintenance for my truck. It has even put me in some less-than-safe situations. Even so, I still had never been able to punch my tag on the buck that so often runs through my mind. This past season, I made it my goal to find a big buck. Not something of astronomical proportions but a buck that is a good representation of the species: a wide 4-point, with deep forks and dark horns. In Montana, I am lucky enough to be able to pursue mule deer throughout a solid majority of the state with…

35mm trail cameras were the I CAN HARDLY BELIEVE ticket when I started bowhunting 19 years ago. I vividly recall the huge anticipation each time I visited Walgreens and dropped off a roll of film to have photos developed. Today, those memories seem so quaint. Back then, if someone had told me I’d one day have a smartphone, and that scouting cameras would transmit images and even videos directly to my phone, I would’ve laughed. If they’d also told me I’d be able to manage camera settings through a phone app, I’d have laughed even louder. Early-model digital trail cameras were just hitting the market when I was 12, Wisconsin’s then-minimum hunting age. But their trigger speeds were molasses slow. I eventually got one that took five seconds to trigger…

While the use of cellular trail cameras is legal in many areas, regulations restrict their use on certain lands. Note that not every state allows for their use, especially in the western U.S. Here’s how some states currently look at the practice. ARIZONA: Banned use of live-action cameras in 2018; followed that with a ban on all trail cameras in December 2020. MONTANA: Banned trail cameras in 2010; later amended the regulation to apply only to cameras linked to cell phones. NEVADA: Banned use of all trail cameras on public lands at certain times of the year. UTAH: Gov. Spencer J. Cox signed HB0295 into law this spring, which instructs the Division of Wildlife Resources Wildlife Board to make rules and regulations for trail camera usage.…

If you want to put a face on the national ammunition shortage, then it would look a lot like my friend Jason. A little pudgy in the cheeks, a little red in the neck, with a scraggly mustache in the middle. Jason has a storage unit full to overflowing with ammo. There’s more 5.56 and .308 match ammo in there than most rifle ranges see in a decade of slow-fire matches. There’s even more 9mm and .40 S&W. And he has cases upon cases of shotgun shells, from No. 9 target loads to heavy pheasant and waterfowl shells. Cases of .22 long rifle are stacked along one wall. He still snatches up more ammo every time he gets the chance. Jason also gets the big picture, which is that all…

From just after the Great War until a handful of years ago, bolt-action sporters changed very little in terms of style and appearance. Most rifles were converted surplus military rifles, but commercial models such as the Winchester Model 70 mimicked the prevailing style. American hunters came to rely upon straight combs, open grips, and slim fore-ends. Barrels were from 22 to 26 inches long and of a medium-light profile. But for a flirtation with then-radical designs inspired by Roy Weatherby, this trend held for nearly a century. Then came the synthetics. The first bolt-action sporters to wear inorganic stocks were custom rifles clad in fiberglass. Chet Brown gets credit for producing the first examples going way back to 1965. Rifles became lighter and more durable and were perfect for rough…

For working on elk, you want a quality knife that is keen-edged and comfortable in the hand. I like a fixed blade of 3.5 to 5 inches, and a svelte handle with good, comfortable lines. Clunky knives are heavy and uncomfortable to work with. Find one that feels right to you and pay the money for quality. Choose a blade with a tip that’s fine enough to cape with but also robust enough to skin, detach hip sockets and skulls, and bone off big hindquarters. Replaceable-blade knives are extremely popular among modern hunters, and as long as you use them with extreme care, they are a capable tool. However, they are a specialty tool. Don’t use them to work between bone, because the blades often wedge and snap, leaving a…

IT’S BEEN SAID that variety is the spice of life, and for the big-game hunter, few places provide it like the West. It’s home to multiple species of game and landscapes vary greatly. Those craving a Western adventure can hunt sage-dappled plains, treeless alpine basins, and dense conifer forests. Then, there’s the room. Most public tracts measure in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of acres. From National Forests to BLM to Walk-In Access, the West has it all. Regardless of where you plan to roam this fall, here are some spots worth considering. ELK ARIZONA: Peek at Arizona’s Elk Harvest Tooth Age Results, and you’ll see bulls in the seven-and-up age class taken each year. This is partly due to the state’s strict trophy management plan. The current elk…

Since its inception, the Paramount Pro has been a game-changer when it comes to hunting with a muzzleloader. Black-powder rifles have been known by many as limiters on their hunts, being just 100- to 150-yard weapons. CVA wanted to end these limitations and delivered a rifle that—when paired with the PowerBelt ELR bullets—performs just as well as its centerfire counterparts. The impressive accuracy of these rifles comes from the free-floated barrel designed by CVA’s sister company, Bergara. The barrel is free of a ramrod so as to not affect accuracy. The ramrod for the Paramount Pro is collapsible and stored in a small pouch that can be attached to your hip belt or sling. What’s more, the barrel is Cerakoted for protection and threaded to fit a muzzle brake. The…

I WALKED into Cody’s historic Irma Hotel to meet five hunters and their outfitter in the saloon. I was eager to hear about their hunt. I’d met the hunters while giving seminars at a sportsmen’s show and had suggested this outfitter when they inquired about making a Wyoming elk hunt. When I walked up to their table they all wore big smiles. In fact, they were jubilant. All of them had taken nice 6-point bulls. But one of the hunters was missing. He’d booked the hunt solo and left early without an elk. The outfitter explained the hunter was terrified of riding horses in the dark and was miserable on the 23-mile ride from the trailhead to the wilderness camp over rugged trails in grizzly and wolf country. The hunter…