Field & Stream February - March 2016

BACK IN 2011, FIELD & STREAM published a report about the state of American deer hunting. A lot has changed in five years. At that time, overall deer populations and the number of big bucks being taken by hunters were at all-time highs. Now, in 2016, it’s a different story. But are we seeing a crash in deer numbers, or a correction of an inflated “deer bubble”? There are no easy answers, but “State of the Deer Union” (p. 42) will give you a much better understanding of the status of American hunters’ favorite sport—both the good and the bad. In another big report, fishing editor Joe Cermele conducts an in-depth survey with some of the country’s top fishing guides, who don’t hold back the straight story on tactics, tackle,…

› PHOTOGRAPHER: DUŠAN SMETANA + LOCATION: VENICE, LA. On a warm day just off the Louisiana coast this past October, Brady Smith, a Nebraska native, was enjoying his first time fishing for redfish when he and photographer Dušan Smetana decided to try something besides the typical grip-and-grin shot on the boat with this 20-pounder. “We stuck an 8-foot rod down to the bottom, and I thought I’d be able to stand by that water hyacinth and hold the fish above my head,” Smith says. Smetana adds, “The depthfinder said it was about 5 feet deep, so Brady stepped off the ladder into the water. The next thing I knew, he was submerged.” “The mucky bottom sucked me down,” Smith says. “I was trying to tread water and hold up the…

TWO FOR ONE Dang it, F&S, why did you have to make me cry twice while reading one magazine? First with “Butch’s Legacy” (Nov. 2015) about the dead dog, and then with “True Grit” (A Sportsman’s Life) about Bill Heavey’s sick buddy. Chad Salsbury, Rockford, Ill. GRIT AND BEAR IT Bill, you got me. I always read F&S from beginning to end and eagerly anticipate A Sportsman’s Life as if it were dessert waiting for me on the last page. You usually make me chuckle, or at least feel better about my three-car garage full of hunting and fishing stuff I barely know how to use. But this time, I’m sitting at my desk, wiping away tears, hoping that my wife doesn’t walk by and see me. Dan Jensen, Gothenburg,…

MARC UDELHOFEN, 32 Killed a 184-inch 14-pointer on Nov. 4 near Dodgeville, Wis. When I tore my Achilles in September, I worried that I wouldn’t be able to deer hunt this year. On Halloween, I tried to climb a ridge up to my best stand but failed. It was still too much. After sitting in a less-than-ideal spot for a few hours, I finally said, “I’m getting up that ridge. I don’t care if I have to crawl.” And that’s what I did each day, digging my fingers into the mud. A few days into my hunt, this shooter stepped out at 22 yards. I had a lot of lows this season, but that deer made them all worth it. BRANDON NAPIER, 36 Shot a 120-inch 8-pointer on Nov. 14*…

IT’S 10 A.M. and I have three hours before I meet my wife for a beach barbecue on the north shore of the island. Until then the flat before me—a huge expanse of turquoise water—is all mine. Along with the bonefish flooding in with the incoming tide. I wade in with the same caution I’d use on a big-game stalk, since bonefish spook easily. I stop when the water is just below my knees. Much deeper and I won’t be able to see the fish. An angler on foot simply can’t see as deep or as far as someone on a flats skiff. I put the sun at my back so it lights up the bottom of white sand and marl. I work out about 10 feet of line and…

WEARING TATTERED logging chaps and wielding a chain saw, Dr. Craig Harper looks a little like a ’90s slasher villain. The disgust in his voice is audible as he stares into the timber. “Just look at this,” he says. “It’s summertime and I can see 100 yards. There is no understory. If your woods look like this, you have problems a food plot won’t fix.” Harper cranks the saw and cuts a deep ring around the trunk of a towering maple. Then he pulls a spray bottle from his belt and pumps a few good squirts of Garlon 4 into the ring. “There. That tree is now dead,” he says. It’s the happiest I’ve seen him yet. This is a part of the timber-stand improvement lesson from the Quality Deer…