Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2024 i Petersen's Hunting

When the heavy-antlered buck I’d been dreaming of appeared, it was as if he’d materialized from thin air and thick shadows. My guide and I had been glassing that mountainside for long hours, picking apart the hidden draws and cool shadowed thickets. The buck had been right there the entire time, but until the deer moved into a tiny splash of sunlight between two mesquite trees, we couldn’t see it. There’s a reason Coues bucks are called gray ghosts. Coues whitetail deer (Odocoileus virginianus couesi to those of scientific bent) are a small, cagey subspecies that dwell in the arid mountains of Arizona, Mexico and parts of New Mexico. They don’t act like typical whitetails, and tactics to successfully hunt them are vastly different than the methods used on their…

WHEN EDITOR in Chief David Draper suggested I write a few columns about some of my high-adventure hunts, it took me only a half second to come up with this one. It involved some profoundly serious mental, physical and personal issues — like burning my buddy’s pickup to a crisp, hiking unexpectedly 25 miles in the 105-degree scorched desert, and never seeing a single desert bighorn sheep on a hunt where I’d drawn a tag against all odds. The first bit of bad news was shared by wildlife officials during the mandatory orientation prior to the hunt. A serious drought evidently caused sheep to hang out at scarce waterholes, springs and seeps in the vast southern Utah desert. There were no electronic devices in those days to pinpoint water sources.…

Joseph Von Benedikt’s Open Country column in the June/July 2024 issue is far too kind to the crowd that shoots at game at long distance. I have found the results of their excesses on the ground from Africa to Oregon. Shooting at extreme long range is best limited to targets or wartime enemies, not game animals. Sure, a long range clean kill is possible but a clean kill at short range is more likely. I have hunted in many states and several countries, and have rifles suitable for most circumstances. What 70 years of experience gained from hundreds of successful hunts has taught me is when you’re ready to shoot, don’t. Instead, hunt closer to the game and make one shot count. Respect for the animals requires nothing less. STAN…

FOR 35 YEARS, the Mule Deer Foundation’s mission has remained unwavering, ensuring the conservation of mule deer, blacktail deer and their habitat. This simple yet eloquent mission statement is the driving force behind MDF and has led to the conserving and preserving of hundreds of thousands of acres of prime mule deer and blacktail deer habitat across their home ranges. MDF excels at putting their words into action with the dedication to their goals at the forefront of everything they do. Their goals include: - Restore, improve and protect mule deer habitat resulting in self-sustaining, healthy, free ranging and huntable deer populations. - Encourage and support responsible wildlife management with govern- ment agencies, private organizations and landowners. - Promote public education and scientific research related to mule deer and wildlife…

MEAT!’s 10-Tray Dehydrator is a one-stop shop for fueling your jerky addiction, not to mention the delicious dried fruits and veggies (great snacks in the backcountry) it can spit out. Thanks to the unit’s 360-degree air circulation, there is no need to worry about flipping trays. Simply set it to the desired temperature and time and the dehydrator takes care of the rest with its built-in timer and auto-shutoff feature. Temperature can be set between 90 and 167 degrees. $300; meatyourmaker.com Benchmade’s Mini Meatcrafter features the same comfortable ergonomics and trailing-point blade design as the popular Meatcrafter, but with a smaller 4.01-inch stainless steel blade for fine, precise detail work in field-processing and food preparation. Think what you can do with it processing small game and breasting game birds, let…

I get tired of hearing it. “Left coast, land of fruits and nuts.” California is a huge state, politically controlled by the big cities. Sadly, not unusual in today’s West, folks in the hinterlands have little vote in state politics. And California has lots of hinterlands. The Central Coast, where I hang my hat (at least some of the year), is still pickup truck and gunrack West, like most of California actually. The Golden State has a large hunting public and great deer hunting. Easily the most varied in the West. In fact, one of the toughest things about California deer hunting is figuring out which deer to pursue. California admits to no whitetails, although “leakers” are not impossible. All Golden State deer are varieties of mule deer. But which…

Coues deer, often rightfully referred to as the “Gray Ghost,” may share the same whitetail designation as their distant relatives, but their diminutive disposition, cagey tendancies and the rugged regions they call home seperate them into a league of their own. Early mornings, long days and late nights are the norm when hunting Coues deer, spending countless hours behind the glass scrutinizing every nook, cranny and the deepest shadows one can find in hopes of turning up these elusive deer. Rest assured, Coues deer will test every facet of your hunting prowess and push even the most competant of hunters to their limits. However, when the stars align and a worthy buck is located, the stalk is executed and a precise shot is made, one can proudly hang their tag…

BULLET BASICS Engineered to provide state-of-the-art ballistic and terminal performance at extended hunting distances, Hornady’s ELD-X (Extremely Low Drag eXpanding) bullet has a sleek, aerodynamic profile. A generous boat tail enhances ballistic coefficient, as does the space-age composite Heat Shield tip that resists erosion and maximizes downrange consistency. Up front the jacket is very thin, enabling dramatic mushrooming even at slow impact velocities. TESTING GROUND Brian Taylor used the bullet shown to take a very good Alaskan black bear from 280 yards. Such bears are known for tenacity and for escaping into the jungle-like coastal undergrowth even when mortally shot. Taylors’ handload pushed the 175-grain ELD-X at about 2,700 fps at the muzzle, which generates about 3,050 ft/lbs of energy. FIELD PERFORMANCE Estimated impact velocity at 280 yards was 2,340…

In the late spring of 1945, the rumble of Russian armor could be heard approaching Germany’s twin gun-making cities of Suhl and Zella-Mehlis in the mountains of Thuringia. Packing frantically, the owners, their families and workers from numerous firearms factories were evacuated ahead of the Soviet host to the American zone. Among the storied gun manufacturers were Anschutz, Walther, Krieghoff and J.P. Sauer & Sohn. Fast forward to the present day. J.P. Sauer & Sohn is now part of the Blaser Group, which, along with Sauer, also consists of the elite gunmakers Blaser, Mauser and Rigby, as well as the optics and thermal imaging firms of Minox and Liemke. J.P. Sauer & Sohn is Germany’s oldest gunmaker and one of the most esteemed. Over the years they have manufactured everything…

I don’t want to give you false hope for October. I enjoy the month’s aesthetics, but taken as a whole, it’s a tough time to kill a mature whitetail. Summer-like weather often lingers well into October, but predictable summer-like deer behavior is a thing of the past. Indeed, one of the best things about October deer hunting is anticipating November deer hunting—but it’s a mistake to write off the month completely. A few special ingredients blended with a perfectly timed cold front can create one of the season’s best opportunities for killing a big whitetail, though the window is short-lived. It all came together for me last fall, on October 30, when I shot a hell-of-a buck with a crossbow at 12 steps. Here’s how it went down. A HOMEBODY…