Field & Stream No. 2 - 2020

Last time I wrote in this space, I mentioned some changes to F&S. Here I am again, one issue later, announcing more changes. But then, you probably already picked up on them the second you opened the cover. This issue is the first to feature our new redesign, which came together thanks to a ton of hard work from our brilliant art team. (Join me in raising a glass to design director Russ Smith, photography director John Toolan, and associate art director Robert Dominguez.) Along with the refreshed look, you’ll see some new sections and stories. Let me give you a quick tour. I wanted the magazine to follow the progression of a trip into the wild, which is why each issue will begin where so many adventures do:…

Tom Fowlks It’s ironic how Fowlks’ photo gigs in this issue pair together. First, he flew to New Mexico for a wilderness turkey hunt that was cut short after he broke his arm (“Gone, for Good,” p. 100). Then, this spring, he profiled a Montana search-and-rescue team (“The Searchers,” p. 66). Had his injury been more serious, he says, “I would have been in great hands with this SAR team.” Doug Olander When he was 7 years old, Olander hooked into a 5-pound largemouth with his cane pole, but the fish broke off as he tried to bring the lunker into the johnboat. “I cried my eyes out,” he says of the first big fish he ever lost. That memory resur-faced as Olander interviewed the pros for “Tough Breaks”…

FIRST SHOT Muskie Mayhem Lee Kjos had been on many photo assignments to try to capture a monster muskie, but the results were always the same. “Nothing,” he says. That is, until he traveled to Lake St. Clair in Michigan last June. Day one started slow, as hours crept by without even a tug. “Then the guide yells, ‘Fish on!’” Kjos says, “and for the next 90 minutes, all hell broke loose.” The crew landed five muskies over 48 inches, with three breaking 50—including the 52-inch giant shown here, landed by Jeff Schultie. “After so many failed attempts,” Kjos says, “the fish gods shined on us in epic fashion.”…

WHAT’S YOUR OPINION ON HAND-LAPPING SCOPE RINGS? —George Gardner, Pittsburgh, Pa. With high-quality rings and/or a light-kicking rifle, lapping is probably unnecessary. However, with cheap rings and/or a hard-kicking gun, hand-grinding (lapping) the rings for maximum contact may be necessary. Cheap rings often give you hardly any contact at all. Also, scopes can slip even with lots of contact. That can be cured by applying machinist’s rosin or Barge Cement to the rings. FOR A 17-YEAR-OLD, SHOULD I GET A .30/06 OR A .300 WIN. MAG. FOR ELK HUNTING? HE IS PRETTY BIG, AT 240 POUNDS, BUT DOES NOT HAVE MUCH EXPERIENCE WITH RIFLES. HE’D LIKE THE GUN TO BE VERSATILE. —Aidan Isler, Columbus, Ohio If the kid weighs 240 pounds at 17, he’ll soon be able to kill…

WAY BACK IN THE DAY, FIELD & STREAM used to be in charge of recognizing record fish, but we’ve long since handed that job over to the International Game Fish Association. Recently, though, the IGFA opened up its 2019 database to us, so we tried to glean any trends or patterns from the nearly 300 ord fish that were caught in the last year. While we cannotrec-tell you exactly where or how to land record fish, let’s just say this: A trophy-chasing fisherman could do a lot worse than spending a week on Canada’s Great Bear Lake in July casting Dardevles for monster lake trout. Longest Fight 5 hours Shortest Fight 20 seconds Biggest Fish 665 lb. 13 oz. Blue marlin Smallest Fish 1 lb., 9.75 in. King angelfish…

ARE SPEED BOWS REALLY LESS FORGIVING? Most bowhunters would say yes, of course. A speed bow that’s demanding to pull and feels like it wants to rip your arm off at full draw is going to be harder to shoot accurately, right? You’d think so, but you’d be wrong. You might even be wrong about what the word forgiveness means in this context. THE TEST: A forgiving bow, by definition, is one that forgives minor mistakes in shooting form and execution. What better way to test that than to have a variety of shooters—each with slightly different form and making slightly different mistakes—shoot groups from a variety of bows? Well, that’s exactly what we’ve been doing for years at our annual bow test. And when you compare our test’s…