Innholdsfortegnelse for October/November 2019 i Field & Stream

ABOUT 10 YEARS AGO, I interviewed six veterans for a story in F&S. All of them had recently come home for good from tours, and we talked about what it meant for them to get back outside after having been away from hunting and fishing for so long. Even a decade later, I can remember specific moments from each interview, but there’s one exchange I know I’ll never forget. I asked a staff sergeant named Brad Alexander what he loved most about sitting in a treestand. He told me: There’s that point in the morning when it’s dark and nothing is happening and nothing is stirring except for those unseen things scooting about. Then the sun comes up over the ridge, and everything comes to life—birds in the trees,…

THE OLD MAN called the fly the “skull crusher” because the brook trout would come after it so hard and fast that they’d bash their heads on boulders. He tied them with one arm, in the cool of the little store in the shadow of Grandfather Mountain, not far from the creek where he’d first heard of the fly when he was a kid, some 75 years earlier. I thought I knew about the Yallerhammer, arguably the most traditional of the old Southern Appalachian fly patterns, but this was news to me. The region has birthed a number of homegrown fly patterns—among them the Thunderhead, Jim Charley, Sheep Fly, and Tellico Nymph, the region’s true breakout to fame and widespread use. But the Yallerhammer is the fly that seems…

Day One: Monday, October 28 If you’re on to a mature buck, today is the day to kill him. Park on a hot scrape or rub line leading to a feeding area, and you can be tagged out and sitting over duck decoys in November. Day Two: Sunday, November 3 Bucks are seeking company right now—does to sniff and other bucks to challenge. Grab your rattling horns and grunt tube, and get aggressive. Day Three: Friday, November 8 There’s a full moon coming, and the days preceding that event usually see excellent afternoon buck movement. Get on a feeding area where does gather, and stay alert. Day Four: Monday, November 11 Your pre-full-moon hunt didn’t produce? No problem. The days following a full moon are typically packed with stellar…

John Cleveland of Eppinger MFG says when the red-and-white Dardevle Spoon was created in the early 1900s, there was no science behind the color. “It was an experiment,” he says. “I’ve heard everything from the red representing blood to the white stripe representing a pork strip. But they’re just stories.” Cleveland believes the color combo simply creates contrast that triggers strikes. And thanks to the Dardevle, red-and-white remains a common pattern on all sorts of lures.…

First: A Canada goose at Lake Lowell, Idaho. “In those days, you wrote to the FWS to report the band,” he says. “I remember checking the mailbox every day for my certificate.” Farthest: Wrangel Island on the edge of the Siberia Sea. “The snow geese are banded in towns with Russian names 30 or 40 letters long.” Most Unusual: “I shot a mallard some guy had banded illegally in his backyard right in Seattle.” Precious Metal: “I almost died saving a dog on a day when we shot two bands, including the first stainless mallard band I ever saw. The dog broke through the ice in 20 feet of water, and I lost all my fingernails clawing my way out, but I saved myself and the dog.”…

First: A Canada goose in Fairmont, Minnesota, banded in northwest Iowa. Farthest: A Canada goose from the Peace River area in northern Alberta. Most Unusual: A 17-year-old honker. Precious Metal: “After all those years of goose hunting, I had a lanyard full of bands,” Anderson says. “One morning, hunting at my parents’ place in northern Minnesota in 2015, I was having trouble with the boat motor. I took my lanyard off, set it down, and forgot about it. I never saw it again, and I lost 20 years’ worth of bands. I have just three mallard bands now. I don’t hunt geese much anymore, and they don’t band nearly as many ducks as they do geese. Bands still mean a lot, but they don’t mean as much as they…

While the big bow companies race to make a 400 fps compound and a crossbow that fits in a holster, a handful of artisans around the country understand that for many traditional-minded sportsmen, archery is more about form than function. A proper bow should be an effective hunting tool but also a work of art. That’s why traditional recurves and longbows never go out of style—because style is front and center. It’s also why custom bowyers like Georgia’s James Babcock of Big Jim’s Bow Company (big jims bow company.com) are busier than ever. You only have to hunt with a trad bow once to understand the magic. That’s how it happened for Babcock. (He’ll ask you to call him Big Jim, and at 6-foot-3 and 320 pounds, he comes…

Photographer Matt Hansen shot this issue’s cover photo—his first ever for F&S. CK: What was it like watching those two deer battle? MH: It’s always exciting to watch bucks mix it up. The whitetail on the left was running back and forth in the field, picking up the scent of a nearby doe. The other buck came out of the trees and went straight at the buck already out there, resulting in what you see on the cover. CK: What is something a hunter can learn from a wildlife photographer as far as getting into position? MH: It sounds simple, but patience. A lot of people see antlers and panic and rush the shot. This is a good time to do the opposite. CK: I almost forgot to ask:…

This melty game stew originated centuries ago in Polish hunting camps. Legend has it that a giant kettle of cabbage and sauerkraut would be kept simmering over a fire all morning. As hunters returned with their game, meat would join the pot, and this cycle would continue for days, with the stew constantly being refreshed and reheated. Our version calls for venison and wild boar, but as the legend indicates, bigos welcomes any and all game; goose and rabbit would be great additions. INGREDIENTS 1 small head green cabbage, cored, quartered, and finely shredded1 oz. dried mushrooms2 lb. venison roast, cut into 1½-inch pieces1½ lb. wild boar (or pork) shoulder, cut into 1½-inch pieces1 tsp. olive oil½ lb. slab bacon, diced large (or sliced bacon, roughly chopped)1 lb. kielbasa,…

New ERT targets (effectiverangetargets.com) can help you determine your maximum effective range on game. They are species-specific, with a series of circles that correspond to the vitals zone of the animal at different distances. You shoot them at 100 yards from a practical field position, like sitting using shooting sticks. If you can’t group all of your shots in the 300-yard circle, you know you have no business hunting at that distance. They are great motivators to practice more.…

I WAS IN HIGH SCHOOL the first time I rattled up a buck. My buddy and I were sitting on the edge of a big clover field, watching a little 8-pointer chase two does at the other end. “I’m gonna rattle at him,” I whispered with the clueless confidence of a 16-year-old. I’d watched enough hunting tapes to know how to do it. Not 30 seconds into crashing a pair of shed antlers together, a Booner-class 13-pointer charged into the field from our right and stood 35 yards away. “Shoot him,” I hissed. And my buddy did, right through the lungs with a muzzleloader bullet. It’s still one of the biggest bucks I’ve ever had in front of me. The next day, I was thinking about dropping out of…

If you (or you and the kids) need a fun project, it’s fair to say that there’s not an easier, more effective lure you can build at home than a spoon. If you don’t have some old silverware sitting around, a visit to a flea market, thrift shop, or antiques store is in order. And unless the spoons you find happen to have been used on the Titanic, you can expect to pay less than a buck apiece for them. As kitchen spoons come in all shapes, sizes, and depths, experimentation possibilities are almost endless. Once you cut off the stem and file the connection point smooth, you’ve got a blank canvas. The cool part is that no matter how simple or snazzy you make your spoon, it’ll catch…

The USFWS uses reward bands to increase the likelihood that hunters will return bands. Rewards commonly range up to $100. If you shoot a bird with a regular band on one leg and a green band on the other, congratulations, your duck hunting is paying for itself. Banding birds as chicks makes it possible to determine their age. The oldest known wild duck was a 291⁄2-year-old canvasback. Since 1977, there have been 16 pintails banded in Japan that were shot in California—5,000 miles away. More than a million birds are banded annually. Only about 6 percent of those bands are ever recovered. A bluewing teal banded near Oak Lake, Manitoba, was shot near Lima, Peru, having flown 4,000 miles south. The oldest recovered goose band was taken in Ontario—33…

Because waterfowling is usually a team sport, it’s common not to know for sure exactly who killed a banded bird. There’s even a shell made for just such a situation: Spectra Shot comes in four different pellet colors, the idea being that everyone in the group buys a different colored box so you can conduct an autopsy to find out who shot the bird. Of course, most of us don’t go to such extremes. Back when calling champion Mike Anderson (p. 64) hunted with the same four friends, they took bands in turn if no one knew who shot the bird. It’s more common to do a coin flip or, if it’s a big group, dump the appropriate number of shells into a hat and see who pulls the…

GEAR REVIEWS FROM THE EXPERTS SEEKINS PRECISION HAVAK BRAVO $1,950 • seekinsprecision.com Priced just under two grand, this rifle is ready to compete in the PRS Production Class—or be the most accurate hunting rifle you own. It runs on Glen Seekin’s slick Havak action mated to a KRG Bravo Chassis stock. The 24-inch barrel comes threaded for a brake or suppressor. It also has an adjustable Timney trigger. You can get it in 6 Creed, 6.5 Creed, .308 Win., or 6.5 PRC. The one I shot, in 6 CM, averaged .608-inch five-shot groups with factory ammo. —John B. Snow MAGNETOSPEED RIFLEKUHL BARREL COOLER $60 • magnetospeed.com The small fan in this unit buzzes like a mosquito next to your ear, but in this case it’s a welcome sound. By…

CLOSE OBSERVATION OF human behavior confirms that a man’s basic needs include food, shelter, and somebody to feel superior to. This is because, deep down, we all feel inadequate. Actually, some of us know that we are. Actually, some of us, having no choice but to accept this situation, now derive our living from it. Still, the need to appear superior runs deep. Why else would Bear Grylls drink his own urine out of a snakeskin in the desert right in front of a well-hydrated camera crew? It’s to show that he’s tougher than you are. Otherwise, you’d be slurping down your own pee too. Some outdoorsmen are so insecure that they’ve got online quizzes to separate “true” outdoorsmen from those of us who frequently can’t find our cars…

Q: What’s worse, flying with your gun or borrowing one at hunting camp? —BENNET LEIBER, INDIANAPOLIS, IND. A: Borrowing one at hunting camp, by a narrow margin. It may turn out to be a real horror. Whereas if you fly with your gun, it will probably get there. Q: What’s the worst shooting advice you’ve ever heard? What’s the worst you’ve given? —MORGAN CORNELIUS, LOUISVILLE, KEN. A: The worst I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard it endlessly, is “Squeeze the trigger slowly and be surprised when the gun goes off.” What a crock. You want to know to the millisecond when the gun is going to go off so you can arrange for it to be on target. The worst I’ve ever given was setting up a brand-new shooter…

I like insulated knee boots for cold-weather rut hunts, when I’ll be sitting in a tree for hours on end. These new ones from LaCrosse ($130 and up; lacrossefootwear.com) fill the bill, but they’re also lightweight and comfortable enough for sneaking around on the ground—which is a good way to rattle if you have a gun in your hand. Available uninsulated, or with 800 or 1,200 grams of Thinsulate, they make great all-purpose whitetail-hunting boots.…

BLING LEADER: BILL SAUNDERS CREDENTIALS: CHAMPION CALLER AND NOTED CALL-MAKER, AND OWNER OF BIG GUNS GUIDE SERVICE, KENNEWICK, WASHINGTON FAVORITE HUNT: TRAFFICKING LESSER CANADA GEESE The Setup: “We’re lucky to have a great spot, a stone’s throw from the refuge line,” Saunders says. “The geese are tough to decoy on their way out in the morning. They won’t relax until they’ve flown 4 or 5 miles. I tell my hunters, ‘Don’t worry. We’ll get ’em on the way back.’ Geese are pigs, and they can’t resist a bite on the way home. “Because we hunt in alfalfa fields just an inch or two high, we can only hunt from pits. Our pits are really well manicured, and we’re careful not to disturb the ground around them so they stay…

First: “It was so long ago, I don’t remember, but it would have been a Canada goose. I remember hunting with my uncle when I was 8. Five geese came in. He shot three, and I shot two. One of his and one of mine had bands with consecutive numbers. It was my first double on Canada geese.” Farthest: Several lesser snow geese from Nunavut, Canada. Most Unusual: A banded and radio-collared mallard from Arkansas. Precious Metal: “One of my clients’ teenage son shot a beautiful blue goose with a band so old, it was paper-thin and all the lettering was worn off. It was his first band. At the end of the hunt, they were packing up to leave, and the boy gave me the goose. He said,…

First: A mallard on Seneca Lake, banded 35 miles away at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. Farthest: A greater snow goose from Ellesmere Island, the northernmost point in Canada. Most Unusual: In 2011, Murphy and a buddy shot a pair of snow geese that had been banded together as adults in 1997. Precious Metal: “I was duck hunting with some friends, and we had gotten all our mallards and all but one black duck,” Murphy says. “The hunting had really slowed down, but we decided to stay until 3 o’clock. At 2:58, one of my buddies said, ‘Let’s pick up the decoys.’ The guy who needed one black duck said, ‘No, we decided to stay until 3.’ And then, at exactly 3 o’clock, a mallard-black hybrid came in, and my…

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CUTTING-EDGE STRATEGY FOR THE WATERFOWL FANATIC SPECIAL BONUS SECTION I’ve heard some say that the good old days of DIY hunting the Dakotas and Canada are over. Used to be, farmers would invite you to dinner after letting you hunt their fields. Now they’re pestered all fall by strangers who find them with phone apps and ask for permission to hunt without ever shaking hands. It’s led to more POSTED signs. It’s true that freelance hunting the prairies isn’t as easy as it once was—but it’s still doable, and you can still be highly successful. Last fall, a couple of buddies and I took a trip to North Dakota, shot limits of ducks every day, and even drank a little whiskey with farmers in the evenings. Here’s what modern…