Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2025 i Petersen's Hunting

Over the last decade I’ve grown to rely on a bipod while hunting. I’ve also become more particular about which bipod I carry in the field. After using Warne’s Skyline Lite bipod, I’ve come away very impressed by the performance it offers. My first requirement for any bipod is durability, and the Skyline Lite doesn’t disappoint in that department. It’s made from aircraft-grade aluminum and the legs, attachment points, and hardware are very robust. Everything secures in place without any wobble, and when you load up on this bipod in the prone position it offers the stability you want without any flexing. Everything about this bipod is well-built and rock-solid. It’s also very easy to use. The legs can be extended by simply pulling downward and a durable spring-loaded lever…

Are you tired of the same old vanilla deer hunting tactics? It’s time you use atypical tactics for monster typicals and non-typicals. Use these proven unconventional tactics to outsmart a wary trophy this coming deer season. PISS IN A SCRAPE It sounds counterintuitive. Put human scent in a scrape or mock scrape? I mean, as a collective, we’ve dangled and aimed at plastic bottles for decades. And I’d venture to say more than a few pee bottle tops backed off just enough for some seepage in the pack. Was it all for naught? It seems so. Simply, human urine doesn’t spook deer. Some research suggests that’s true. But my own anecdotal experiences showcase it, too. When necessary, I’ll jumpstart mock scrapes with my own special Bluegrass State brew, and it…

LAST FALL I killed a Texas buck at 412 yards, which was by far the longest shot I’ve ever taken at a whitetail. He was a great deer: an old 9-pointer with a split ear that I’d been hunting for a couple days before we finally spotted him midday, locked down with a doe in a cedar thicket on the far side of a big draw. The buck was far enough away that I needed my spotting scope to positively identify him, and because of the distance, he didn’t view me as much of a threat. That was his mistake. I locked my rifle into a Bog tripod and killed the deer with one bullet through the lungs. I was proud of that buck and of the shot too. Yet,…

A successful deer hunt doesn’t always depend on a punched tag. For seasoned hunters, it’s the overall experience that matters. The sunrise on a crisp fall morning as we watch the world wake up from a treestand is often worth the long wait from one hunting season to the next. Sure, we all hope our paths cross with a whitetail buck, and when it happens, we pray our aim is true. But, success shouldn’t just be measured in antler inches. There’s so much more to be gained from a day in the woods. With this in mind, it’s up to us to mentor new hunters in all the things we enjoy about the outdoors. Passing along that storied sporting tradition is just one of the ways we all can ensure…

BULLET BASICS Swift’s A-Frame bullet is considered the toughest of all lead-core bullets. It features an H-type jacket with a solid wall of copper that separates the front and lead core. Copper jacket walls are extremely thick, and the lead cores are bonded into place. On impact, A-Frame bullets mushroom with predictable perfection and generally retain more than 80 percent of original weight. As a result, A-Frame bullets penetrate deep and straight while creating a massive wound channel. A-Frame bullets are the preferred choice of most professional dangerous-game guides. There can be no greater endorsement. TESTING GROUND Neal Lane used the bullet shown to shoot a wounded blue wildebeest bull from about 160 yards while hunting in Namibia. Blue gnu, aka wildebeest, are known for extreme toughness. Muzzle velocity out…

Moultrie’s new Edge 3 cellular trail cam brings a host of valuable features to the table at a budget-friendly price point. Features include an improved 40 MP camera, the ability to shoot 1080p video, 0.5 second trigger speed and valuable offline settings. Through the use of Moultrie A.I., users also have the ability to filter what they do and do not want to see photos of, such as racoons, does, turkeys, etc. Last but not least, the Edge 3 integrates seamlessly with the Moultrie app and is easily paired with a variety of other Moultrie accessories. $100; moultrie.com Fifty years after the introduction of the first Fullfield Riflescope, Burris has revamped and redesigned the fifth generation of the proven optic. The new Fullfield line is a lightweight scope featuring fully…

MY MATRIARCHAL grandmother grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and from all the old photos I’ve seen in her albums over the years, it was about as flat as a steamrolled pancake. You can understand my confusion when I was asked by my friend Tyler, the marketing manager at Weatherby, to go deer hunting in the state’s Sandhills region. “Sand, sure,” I thought. “But hills?” I surely wasn’t aware of any. It’s these kinds of situations—when we say yes to adventure—that we discover and learn new things about ourselves, and in this case, geography. It turns out the north-central region of Nebraska is aptly named, consisting of mixed-grass and native prairie-stabilized sand dunes—a crux of diverse ecological habitat that fosters numerous bird species and mammals. These unique hills were formed over…

THERE ARE SOME things you don’t want to hear your guide say to other guides when you’re about to jump on a horse and head into the wilderness. Things like: “I sure hope that mean cow moose ain’t in that little willow patch.” Or “I hope we don’t have a wreck with the pack string in that dark timber.” Or, even worse: “I sure hope that river ain’t so high we gotta swim the horses.” All these scenarios and others have happened to me. Sometimes I think the guides are having a little fun when they check the hunter’s faces for various degrees of fear and trepidation. Maybe it’s a way to size up the clients. In some situations, the guides may be speaking the truth, or they might be…

FOUNDED IN 1982, Whitetails Unlimited is a national nonprofit conservation organization that has remained true to its mission and has made great strides in the field of conservation. They have gained the reputation of being the nation’s premier organization dedicating resources to the betterment of the white-tailed deer and its environment. Their mission is to raise funds in support of educational programs, wildlife habitat enhancement and acquisition, and preservation of the hunting tradition and shooting sports for future generations. Since beginning, Whitetails Unlimited has spent over $147 million on projects supporting this mission including research, wildlife agency assistance, habitat enhancement/acquisition, scholarships, educational materials, hunter safety/education, anti-poaching measures and cooperative projects with other conservation organizations. As a part of the Preserving the Hunting Tradition Program, Whitetails Unlimited supports hunter rights and…

WILEY X EPIC SHOOTING GLASSES From dirty lenses to poor fits, eyeglasses are a pain to wear in the field, but I was missing opportunities due to my nearsightedness. Knowing age always wins in the end, I finally bought a good pair of glasses for hunting and haven’t looked back, pun intended. Epic Shooting Glasses from Wiley X are available in both standard and Rx options, and offer maximum ANSI Z87.1 impact standards with polycarbonate, scratch-resistant lenses. The nylon frames are durable enough to take a beating when stashed, but ride comfortably and securely.…

THE FAINT SNAP of a twig in close proximity over my left shoulder heightened my senses. Turning my head at a snail’s pace, I caught a glimpse of a doe feeding not 20 yards behind me. Then I heard it. The unmistakable grunt of a buck behind her. Unable to contort my neck any further, I waited. Finally, out of the far corner of my eye I saw the buck, head erect with a crazed look in his eye, 100% of his attention locked onto the doe that was evidently at the peak of her estrus cycle. He was clearly a mature buck sporting bladed browtines and notable mass that carried out to the ends of his tines. Sitting on the ground with the buck directly behind me at 25…