Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2023 i Game & Fish West

I didn’t start hunting turkeys in the spring till I was a sophomore in college. A fraternity brother who had years of experience with the birds took me that first season, yelled at me for moving too much, and on our third or fourth morning of hunting together called in a gobbler that strutted over the rocks in front of my wavering gun barrel. Somehow—and I’m sure it came as a complete surprise to my pal—I managed to sit still long enough with cramped arms and legs for the bird to swagger into range. When the longbeard flopped over at my shot, I don’t know what made me happier: tagging my first gobbler or finally being able to stand and stretch. During my rookie season, I learned three important lessons…

Inshore angling is the most common and popular way to experience the excitement of saltwater fishing. Whether pursued from the beaches or on the flats, in mangrove-lined lagoons or roseau cane marshes, prized inshore gamefish from speckled sea trout to redfish, snook, striped bass and tarpon beckon anglers to the shallows as the sun warms waters from their wintertime lows. Indeed, the fleeting weeks of spring are some of the best times to stretch a line in preparation for a long season ahead. LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION During the cold winter months, many inshore gamefish gravitate toward creeks and deep-water areas with soft, muddy substrates. This general movement occurs in part because the darker sediment will hold heat from the sun and create a slightly warmer environment for the fish. In…

Love to hunt turkeys? You can thank the National Wild Turkey Federation for much of the restoration of turkeys across the continent decades ago, and for improving turkey habitat—and hunting opportunities—ever since (see page 26). Fan of elk? Tip of the hat to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF) staff and members for conserving entire landscapes and ensuring hunting access to herds that have grown in number and distribution because of their habitat work. You can trace that same origin story of many species-specific conservation groups, born of a poverty of animals and members’ collective determination to bring them back to abundance. Waterfowl, mule deer, ring-necked pheasants and ruffed grouse have all benefited from organizations with members who have sweated and advocated and fund-raised on their behalf. If you doubt…

The words are simple and bold: “Dedicated to the conservation of the wild turkey and the preservation of our hunting heritage.” We could also say they’re timeless. The words that make up the National Wild Turkey Federation’s mission statement have guided the organization from its earliest days and continue to steer it half a century later as leaders and volunteers look toward a challenging, yet exciting, future. To be sure, it’s a future with a lot of promise. When the organization was founded in 1973, there were an estimated 1.3 million wild turkeys in North America. Many populations had been extirpated from their traditional forested ranges of the 1800s as a growing nation cut timber for farms and killed the birds for food and market. Today, through coordination with state…

When veteran bass angler Courtney Copley relocated from the East Coast to Arizona, he tried bringing his familiar power tactics for bass with him. While there were occasional windows of time in which the old standbys of bulky jigs and fast-moving spinner-baits would work, the ultra-clear and heavily pressured waters around his home near Mesa, Ariz., required a change of tactics for consistent success. What would ultimately benefit Copley’s need for change was being refined halfway around the globe by Japanese anglers facing very similar conditions: intense fishing pressure and extremely clear water. One of those Japanese tactics that made its way to the U.S. market—and eventually into Copley’s bass boat—was the free rig, which involves running the fishing line through a heavy cylinder or bell-shaped drop-shot sinker and tying…

Friend Dave Bryant targets winter kokes on Dillon Reservoir in Colorado. Unlike the immature kokes that were our objective, Bryant keys in on mature salmon that are collecting off the Snake River inlet where it feeds the reservoir. The salmon spawn successfully in the river. The mature kokes are much different than the immature fish. The males have a pronounced kype and turn a brilliant red with an olive-colored head. The flesh is not as orange, but is still firm and edible. Bryant says he slays the kokes before anyone usually realizes there’s fishable ice. Because of the elevation of Dillon Reservoir, Bryant says it’s a ritual to hit the ice around Thanksgiving. High-mountain lakes in other Western states provide similar opportunities. Look for outstanding winter kokanee action in Idaho…

My boots weighed all of 94 pounds apiece, caked in gooey cornfield mud. I struggled to wave foggy breath from the beam of my headlamp while placing a Dave Smith jake decoy where I hoped dreams would come true. Beats mosquitos, I guess. My then 6-year-old son anxiously awaited in the blind about 20 yards back against the tree line. To be honest, I really wasn’t sure where a gobbler might be roosted, but I knew the birds weren’t far. The objective? To deliver my boy his first successful hunt. As fate would have it, a throaty long-beard broke the pre-sunrise darkness not 150 yards from our position, and I knew we were in the game. The Good Lord blessed us with a gullible one that morning. We watched the…

Like two bored cavemen, we poked at the dying embers of our fire, belching, scratching and wondering why that helicopter kept flying up and down the canyon. A confused-looking guy with a gigantic paper map exited the whirlybird, a puzzled look on his face. “Can you tell us where we are?” he asked sheepishly. We spread the map on the dusty ground and showed him. He thanked us, folded the map and trotted toward the chopper. “By the way, what are you doing?” I asked “We’re from the U.S. Geological Survey and we’re mapping gold mines in the area,” he said over his shoulder. Yeah, the guys who made the map were lost. That time it was “operator error,” but that map also had at least two inaccurate place names.…

There isn’t much in or around the town of Elsmere, Neb. In fact, the nearest place where a turkey hunter might get a few stitches after taking a chunk out of a finger while cleaning a gobbler is Ainsworth (pop. 1,655), approximately 40 lonely miles to the northeast. I know this from experience, but we’ll get to that part of the story in a bit. Indeed, as far as I can tell, the only business currently in operation with an Elsmere address is Goose Creek Outfitters, run by Scott Fink and his wife LaCaylla. And it was on their land, which, remarkably, has been in Scott’s family since his great grandfather homesteaded there in 1904, where a group of friends and I set up a wall tent turkey camp last…

Last spring, I mentored a veteran waterfowl hunter in the turkey woods whose waterfowl wisdom is vast and surpasses my own. I figured turkey hunting would be a cinch for him, but when he started asking questions about his first turkey hunt, they opened my eyes. This is my 37th year of turkey hunting. I’ve delivered seminars around the country on turkey hunting the West, wrote a book on the subject and have called in countless toms over the decades, both when hunting and photographing them. If you’re new to turkey hunting, these are my answers to the 10 most frequently asked questions I hear from novice gobbler chasers. 1 WHAT SHOTGUN DO I NEED? The most common questions I get are on shotguns and loads, usually in the…

Shane had practiced his calling, scouted thoroughly and knew he was ready to hunt turkeys on his own. After a couple more weeks of hunting together, his father agreed. The next Saturday morning he and his father drove to the woods well before dawn. When they heard two birds gobbling, Shane’s father started after one bird while Shane headed toward the other. He hadn’t fully set up before he heard the bird double-gobble then fly down. Shane yelped lightly. Moments later he saw the top of the tom’s white head bobbing through the oak forest, 75 yards out, as the turkey made its way toward him. At 60 yards the bird unleashed a thunderous gobble that stunned the young man. Shane began to shake. His breathing turned heavy. He dropped…

Many hunters don’t understand riflescopes. A riflescope is not a sight. It contains the sight—the reticle—and provides magnification, eliminates parallax and allows for sight adjustment. But, the reticle within the riflescope is the actual sight; it’s what you use to aim. When hunters are considering a new scope, too often they overlook reticles or do not understand that they function differently depending on where they’re placed within the riflescope. With variable-powered scopes, the reticle is either placed in the front or the rear of the erector tube, and the erector tube is what allows for the riflescope’s magnification—zoom function—to be adjusted. FIRST FOCAL PLANE If the reticle is in front of the erector tube, when the riflescope’s magnification is increased, it not only magnifies the image but also the reticle.…

March is prime time to scout for spring turkeys, and if you can’t physically be afield searching for birds, trail cameras will make a big difference. Trail cameras are your eyes and ears in the woods; set up properly they’ll reveal a lot about turkey behavior, population densities, even sounds turkeys make. THE BENEFITS March is when a great deal of breeding takes place among turkey populations throughout the West. Being able to see when the turkey rut commences and how it progresses is just one benefit of running trail cameras. Another plus is that trail cams show what time of day turkeys are moving, when they stop to preen, what new toms show up and what predators are in the area. I’ve had a number of hunts not come…

If you’re like me, you probably carry way more flies in your trout vest than you’ll ever use on any given trip to the river. Truth is, there are about a dozen go-to patterns that I end up tying on when there isn’t an active hatch happening. When you’re forced to downsize you fly-box selection, like with a pack-in trip or a quick evening session, and space is limited, there are some tried-and-true favorites you shouldn’t be without. Many don’t imitate anything in particular, but simulate a variety of insects and other creatures trout eat. Most can be fished in a variety of ways, making them both productive and versatile. Some are favorites because they are easy to tie with inexpensive materials, and they flat-out catch trout. WET FLIES It’s…

On the dry side of a wet state, a spring trip to the Crooked River is a no-brainer. It’s a stone’s throw east of the hub city of Bend, where, no matter what you like to do, it’s probably in season. Spring skiing, golf and mountain biking are all a big deal in central Oregon. There are 25 craft brewers, several distillers and even a few wineries. Re-stock your fly box at shops in Prineville, Redmond or Bend. Lodging of all types (plus riverside camping) is plentiful in spring. Oh, and if you just can’t resist, the Deschutes runs right through Bend.…

Turkey shotguns can be as purpose-built and specialized as the scatterguns used for the various clay-shooting disciplines. The major difference, besides appearance, is that shotguns designed for clays games are carefully tailored to deliver an evenly spread pattern of shot where the shooter looks, while turkey shotguns send a tightly packed swarm of pellets where the hunter aims. That’s a big distinction, and in part it drove the development of Mossberg’s new 940 Pro Turkey. It’s almost counterintuitive to think of a scattergun as a precision instrument, yet precision is exactly what most turkey hunters desire. A gobbler’s head and neck combined are roughly the size of a dove, and a turkey gun is charged with putting as many pellets into that zone as possible. Hitting any upland bird with…