Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2024 i Petersen's Hunting

THEY SAY you never forget your first, and 20 years later, I still have a vivid image of a bull elk staring me down from 30 yards before letting out a soul-shaking bugle that, I swear, blew my hair back. It was the first day of my first elk hunt, and my friend (and noted photographer) Bill Buckley was somewhere behind me. His pleading cow calls and aggressive bugles, complete with tree raking, had pulled this bull up from the dark timber below. I don’t remember drawing my bow, but I do know my pin was dancing to the beat of my pounding heart as I attempted to settle it behind the bull’s shoulder when it finally turned broadside. I was so wound-up that arrow sailed high, never to be…

THE POTENTIAL that bowhunting had in becoming a regular faction of the hunting community was first seen by Pope and Young Club founder, Glen St. Charles in 1961. St. Charles was a bow shop owner from Washington state and a member of the Field Archery Association. Field archery already had a decent following at that time, however, archery hunting wasn’t accepted as a valid method of harvest in many states. St. Charles approached Boone and Crockett Club, which he was a member of, and asked permission to utilize their published scoring criteria during his creation of a similar conservation organization that would serve as the records keeping organization for archery taken trophies. They agreed and the Pope and Young Club was born. Pope and Young’s first efforts involved going to…

SEVR’s new Ti 1.75 is the newest release in a long line of proven deadly broadheads. The new head features SEVR’s patented Lock-and-Pivot blade system, paired with a titanium ferrule, creating a dynamic duo designed to maximize penetration through dense bone and heavy muscle while providing an impressive 1.75-inch cutting diameter. Archery hunters will also appreciate SEVR’s Practice Lock system, allowing shooters to practice with their broadheads at the range without damaging or dulling the ferrule and blades. $16/per head; sevrbroadheads.com Easton’s new Match Grade Series is available in some of Easton’s most popular arrows, including the Full Metal Jacket, Axis, Sonic 6.0 and Easton 6.5. All Match Grade Series arrows undergo an extensive five-point straightness test, sport superior helical fletched AAE Hybrid 26 vanes and utilize premium insert/outsert components.…

The latter end of the 19th Century was the golden age of big single-shot rifles. The bolt-action wasn’t yet perfected and lever-actions capable of housing large cartridges were scarce and costly. The single-shot was more accurate and stronger. Big single shots—Remington rolling blocks, Sharps, Winchester high walls—were premier hunting rifles. Then they died away. When Bill Ruger introduced his No. 1 falling-block single-shot in 1966, no American centerfire single-shot had been produced for 30 years. Many were skeptical. One well-respected scribe opined that hunting with a single-shot was unethical. Bill Ruger was not amused. The No. 1 has always been a premium product, often the costliest, always gorgeous. They have never made large numbers, in recent years few. As he often was, Bill Ruger was right: Many Americans appreciate the…

MOST AMERICAN hunters over 50 grew up reading Jack O’Connor. In 1973, O’Connor’s retirement from Outdoor Life cemented Bob Petersen’s decision to start this magazine. I was delighted with the first-ever magazine devoted strictly to hunting, delivering feature-length O’Connor adventures every month. The Professor contributed to every issue until his death in 1978, gracing these pages with 50+ great O’Connor stories, many on the wild sheep he loved to hunt. It wasn’t O’Connor, but New York advertising executive, Grancel Fitz who borrowed a baseball term for the feat of taking one each of the four North American wild sheep, penning a 1948 True article “Grand Slam in Rams.” O’Connor’s writing did much to popularize the challenge. Late in life he came to regret this bitterly, believing too many hunters were…

Hunting with stick and string, particularly across the vast expanses of the West, is romanticized in mainstream outdoor media. Truth be told, bowhunting is an incredibly challenging endeavor that will test every facet of your hunting prowess and push you to your limits. However, as with any challenge, success is sweetened by the sting of defeat. Practice religiously, be a student to the craft and revel in the journey of a bowhunter. Rest assured, when your weeks, months and years of preparation hit pay dirt and your arrow finds its mark, you will be left with an authentic and primal feeling of satisfaction and an unquenchable desire to chase the bowhunting high for seasons to come.…

BULLET BASICS This bullet has roots back to the legendary Trophy Bonded Bear Claw dangerous game bullet designed by Jack Carter. It features a modern composite tip that enhances aerodynamics, initiates immediate expansion on impact, and protects from damage while in the magazine. A drag-reducing boattail further enhances flight and the lead core is bonded in. Importantly, the rear half of the bullet is solid copper. This, combined with the bonding that secures the core in the bullet’s nose, ensures near-perfect mushrooming whether impacting at extreme speed or low velocity or anywhere in-between. TESTING GROUND My daughter Audrey used the bullet shown to kill a big oryx bull in Namibia. It was standing slightly quartering away at about 300 yards. Muzzle velocity from her 7x57 Mauser was 2,900 fps; impact…

Preparing for a hunt away from home is one of my favorite parts of the experience. For me, that process usually involves finding the perfect combination of rifle, optic and ammunition and ensuring that both I, and my equipment, are ready for the conditions ahead. Sometimes though, the real world gets in the way. Airlines lose guns, bags get stolen, scopes break in-transit and some countries make visiting with a firearm all but impossible. If you are going to travel to hunt there are times when you must use a borrowed rifle, whether it is a designated “camp gun” or simply a spare loaned by a friend, guide or outfitter. Don’t panic, with a little common sense, camp guns will get the job done. This spring I traveled way down…

Sometimes bowhunters will follow trends like lemmings, even to their own detriment. Back in the early ’90s, when I was in my early teens and just starting to bowhunt, pro shops pushed maximum arrow speed. If your bow was slow, you modified your arrow and accessories to make it faster. Since my first hunting bow had a 40-pound draw weight and two wheels, it made a drying coat of Valspar seem fast. To compensate, I outfitted it with a big overdraw rest, through which I could shoot even shorter, lighter lightweight aluminum arrows than my draw length would allow. Those arrows were tipped with 85-grain broadheads. I shot some deer with the setup but didn’t recover many of them. Of course, today’s top bowhunting trend is completely at odds with…

IT WAS the perfect spot for an elk camp. A small creek flowed through a timbered basin surrounded by large open meadows. It was 15 miles from the trailhead and well away from major trails used by outfitters and DIY hunters. A clearing provided a perfect spot to pitch a tent. Our horses would have plenty of forage and water and my pal Bill and I would be only a mile or two away from country that screamed elk. To our knowledge, and by the sign in the area, the spot was not recently used by hunters. An old timer who no longer could ride a horse told us about the camp. He hadn’t been there in five years. Hunting was outstanding. Bill and I enjoyed a quality experience for…

If I’ve learned one thing about ultralight tents for backcountry hunting, it’s that not all are created equal. Some look great on paper but can’t perform in the real world. And the real world is not your backyard; it’s the mountains. The Argali Rincon 2p modular tipi-style tent is one that I have spent an immeasurable amount of mountain nights in. From the alpine to the desert, this has been my go-to tent for years. Traditionally speaking in the ultralight tent world, a 3p is big enough for 2 people and a 2p is a perfect fit for 1 person. The Rincon 2p breaks the mold and has room for 2 people and gear inside. For one person, it’s an absolute palace. It’s also completely practical for one person to…

When you’re grunting, rattling and carrying on from a treestand, your first shot opportunity at a responding buck is frequently at a quartering-to angle. Though this shot angle does present challenges, few hits are more lethal when done right. A deer that makes it 50 yards has gone a long way. Here’s what to remember in the moment of truth. 1 FIND THE FRONT CREASE AND KEEP IT CLOSE I rarely shoot at whitetails beyond 30 yards from any angle, but I want quartering-to shots even closer than that, inside 20 yards, because the target is small. You’re not aiming behind a deer’s shoulder crease as you would on a broadside shot. On a quartering-to angle, that will put your arrow through the liver and stomach. Instead, aim just ahead…

Getting meat off the carcass quickly and cleanly is of paramount importance, particularly if the weather is warm, and/or if there are aggressive bears in the area. Deep-country hunters use a process usually unfamiliar to front-country hunters. Called the gutless method, the technique allows a hunter to remove all the meat without entering the abdominal or vital cavity. It’s quick and is as easy to do on a game animal laying on the ground as it is to one hanging in a skinning shed. The process minimizes cross-contamination if the guts took a bullet or arrow, and can be done on a steep slope, with little help if necessary. Two experienced hunters working together can do a deer in 20 minutes or less; an elk in an hour or so.…