Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2025 i Game & Fish West

I’m blessed to work with folks who like to hunt turkeys. They understand the difference that a couple pellet sizes or hundredths of an inch of choke tube constriction can make, and they will tell me of their experiences with both. They, too, see the necessity in carrying no less than a dozen calls when perhaps three at most will be used during a morning’s hunt. They know better than to expect I’ll answer my phone before 10 o’clock on a May morning. This spring, three of my turkey-hunting coworkers are joining me on a mission to bag the four U.S. turkey subspecies on a nationwide hunt spanning three months. Kevin Steele, publisher of Petersen’s Hunting, started things off in March by chasing Rios in his home state of California.…

Some 35 million strong, the whitetail deer is the world’s most populous big-game animal, pursued annually by about 11 million American deer hunters. The deer cartridges we use are important, driving sales and new developments, and influencing shooters and hunters worldwide. Cleanly taking a deer is rarely a matter of extreme precision. The vital zone is not small. For most of us, shooting distances at deer aren’t far. Properly ventilating your venison is largely a matter of keeping your cool and making one reasonably good shot when the chance arises. How well you place that shot is far more important than what you’re shooting. That said, it’s important to have confidence in your choice. Around campfires, we argue endlessly and split our hairs, comparing one cartridge to another. There are…

The riprap arsenal may vary by angler, but a handful of choices generally appear on most decks. For simplicity, we’ll break it into reaction baits and targeting baits. ON THE MOVE Probably the most widely used moving bait for a variety of shallow to mid-depth bass habitat, the bladed jig blends flash, vibration and sizable profile. Tungsten versions like Z-Man’s ChatterBait Elite EVO add a unique sound created by the blade impacting a denser head. “I use a Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits Zako when I want to imitate bluegills or shad, and the Yamamoto Flappin’ Hog when I know they are eating crawdads,” says California Delta ace Blake Dyer. Cranking fits the riprap scene, and Dyer’s shallow-water go-to is the Bill Lewis Echo 1.75 in the red crawfish or fire…

I wasn’t confident it would work, but I couldn’t sit in the ground blind, hoping a gobbler would materialize out of thin air, any longer. The boss and his ladies were long gone. After pitching down in dawn’s glow, the girls led the boisterous tom up the canyon toward a sage flat littered with cow patties. Hesitantly, I strapped a bow-mounted strutter decoy to my bow’s top and bottom limb pockets. The puddled creek snaking through the canyon’s bottom provided cover, and thanks to the echoing booms offered by the king of spring, the group wasn’t challenging to find. My rangefinder told me I was 161 yards from the tom. He was strutting left and then right for a pair of gals I assumed he’d yet to share his genetics…

The right equipment can significantly enhance your tournament kayak fishing experience and allow your day to run much smoother. That gear includes the following must-haves. PERSONAL FLOTATION DEVICE (PFD): Never compromise on safety. A comfortable, Coast Guard-approved PFD is non-negotiable. Foam PFDs are inherently buoyant and reliable. Inflatable PFDs are more compact and comfortable in hot weather but require inflation. Look for PFDs with pockets for storing smaller gear or a phone and features designed for paddling comfort. Make sure your PFD fits correctly and gives you freedom of movement for casting and maneuvering. COMFORTABLE SEATING: Unless you are fishing a weekday evening series, you are likely spending at least eight hours in your kayak during a tournament day. Invest in a kayak with a comfortable, adjustable seat that provides…

Hunters received the Axis very well when Savage introduced it in 2010, and rifles in the line have served hunters admirably for more than a decade. Now, Savage has introduced the enhanced Axis 2. This model is similar to the original Axis only with a modernized design and new features, but it’s still very affordable. Depending on how you count them, currently Savage offers seven variations of the new Axis 2. I recently got a chance to wring out the Pro version, and I think it should appeal to a lot of hunters, especially since it comes in numerous chamberings and stock configurations. Savage’s goal with the Axis 2 Pro was to offer an entry-level, performance, feature-rich rifle that was a step above the original Axis. (Savage has discontinued most…

IT’S STILL TURKEY TIME There’s still time to get out there and punch your turkey tag. Check out our “Regional Strut Update” with tons of turkey content to make the spring season a success, in the “Hunting” section. SUMMER CAMPING GUIDE From helpful how-tos on camping setups and reviews of top camping gear to family-favorite outdoor recipes and destinations, our Summer Camping Guide will get you ready for the outdoors. WILD KITCHEN Considered an invasive plant, garlic mustard is perfect for making pesto to add to pasta and more. Find an easy-to-follow garlic mustard recipe and others like it under “Recipes.” FISHING HEATS UP May is a great month to hit the water and reel in a few keepers. Find tips, tactics and the latest tackle for bass, crappies, trout,…

Whether you’re staying overnight in the woods or just stopping for lunch along the shore, a campfire is the perfect complement to spring and summer outdoor activities. A good fire quickly becomes the centerpiece of any outdoor gathering, providing warmth, sparking conversation and serving as an essential element in a celebration of being outside. Although a fire pairs well with many pursuits, at times conditions can make it tough to build a good blaze. For one, the ground and any wood lying on it may be damp from rain. Combine that with fickle breezes, and tinder and kindling gathered on the spot can be seemingly impossible to light and keep burning. With some knowledge of the best materials to use and attention to key fire-building principles, however, you can count…

The gently rolling sagebrush flats stretching before me were lit in the first slanted rays of morning sun. Tall stone plateaus and ancient limestone cliffs backed this high-desert land where very few humans had ever put down a footprint and no wagon wheel had ever etched a trail moving west. It’s one of my favorite places on Earth to call and hunt predators. Time has literally passed it by. I lifted the big, horn-shaped call to my mouth, drew in a deep breath of air and began calling. The high, quavering pitch that came out wasn’t the usual pitiful distress cry of a jackrabbit or cottontail that most predator hunters are used to. Instead, my efforts produced the high, lonely howl of a coyote, and the effectiveness of this type…

I stood thigh-deep in the chilly water, gob smacked by what I saw in the current sluicing through a break in the streamside alders. Like customers in a bakery, trout took a number, then waited patiently in line to slurp tiny mayflies from the lazy current. Every few casts, a suicidal rainbow would suck in my imitation and streak downstream. I quit after an hour of non-stop action. Beautiful, reliable, rich in nutrients and insect life and often the first streams to be fishable after a long winter. Those are just some of the reasons fly anglers gravitate to spring creeks this time of year. What better way to start your season than on a crystalline stream where trout beckon and challenge awaits? Author Robert Traver may have been thinking…

Just as fishing techniques are ever advancing, so, too, are the watercraft that take anglers to their targets. This is especially evident in the latest kayak designs, which are engineered with emphasis on the latest technologies in hull and deck construction, propulsion, electronics and onboard organization to help anglers not only reach fish faster but catch them more consistently. The kayak specialists at Florida Sportsman recently tested a number of new kayaks that showcase the latest in design advancements, and the following models are among the top options for anglers wanting to make the most of their time on the water. OLD TOWN SPORTSMAN PDL 120 PRO LENGTH: 12' | WIDTH: 36"WEIGHT: 131 lbs.CAPACITY: 420 lbs.HULL CONSTRUCTION: high-density polyethylenePROPULSION: pedal, paddleMSRP: $3,499oldtownwatercraft.com TOP FEATURES: There’s a reason the PDL 120…

The lever-action rifle is revered on this side of the Atlantic. It symbolizes so much in the American psyche, and a lever gun with great handling characteristics, near-perfect balance and sights unerringly aligned as soon as the rifle touches the shoulder will always be well-received. Case in point: the classic, though modernly upgraded, Marlin Model 1894 Dark in .357 Mag. The superb combination of the 1894 Dark’s minimal width, light weight, balance and capacity of 8+1 rounds in a mildly recoiling package cannot be denied. The Marlin Dark lever gun satisfies the modernist preference with its black nylon-reinforced polymer buttstock and black anodized aluminum fore-end, featuring plenty of M-Lok slots for various accessories a user might want to carry. Spare ammunition, high-intensity light, laser target designator and more can easily…

“Hold on hair, never on air.” That’s some of the great advice from Craig Boddington’s latest book, “50 Great Stalks.” Basically, it means do not shoot from so far away you must utilize a shooting technique or tool to compensate for trajectory or wind. Of course, with today’s high-velocity cartridges, precise-shooting rifles and high-tech optics, hunters are shooting at previously unimagined distances. There are several effective techniques for this, but what many don’t realize is the oldest of these is the one you should be most familiar with. Let’s examine the most common distance-shooting techniques and tools, and the pros and cons of each. KENTUCKY WINDAGE This approach has been around as long as we’ve been shooting rifles. Kentucky windage refers to any shooting where you aim at a point…

One of the hardest parts of being a parent of teenagers is listening to all the ways that they’re right and you’re wrong. A favorite debate strategy of this population—and I say this from experience as the father of three former teens—is doubling down on those few and fleeting instances when a parent admits their teen is right about something. I cringe to say this, but I think our hunting and angling community is increasingly acting like truculent, tone-deaf teenagers. All we want to hear are different variations on the self-validating theme that we saved America’s wildlife, or how our fees fund wildlife conservation in America, or how hunters and anglers deserve special treatment because of all the sacrifices we make for wildlife. Meanwhile, our standing in American society is…

Blake Dyer calls March 7, 2024, his son Brock’s birthdate, the biggest day of his life. Close second: September 28, 2019. That’s when Dyer won the FLW Costa Series tournament on his beloved California Delta home waters. He did so by fishing what he considers one of the most dependable bass habitats. “Riprap was definitely the key to my success in that tournament. Especially on the Delta, it’s something I’m always going to fish,” says Dyer, who makes his home in Discovery Bay, Calif. “Those rocks hold heat well, and there’s always a lot of food around them.” Generally defined as manmade lines of stacked rock, riprap forms breakwater boundaries, protecting everything from marina walls to residential banks to the tall levees bordering navigational routes crisscrossing the Delta’s vastness. Mark…

My bobber twitched, then dropped out of sight for an instant before it re-emerged in the chocolate-brown water of the Milk River. Same thing on the second float, then the third. I knew I was onto a big channel catfish. On the fifth pass, I finally hooked the fish and managed to steer its head away from a tangle of submerged cottonwood limbs before I brought it to my kayak. It turned out to be a broad-shouldered 9-pounder, a good channel cat for the Milk, and about what I expect for a heavy-water fish at the height of the May spawn. The give-away that this was a sizable cat and not a bait-robbing goldeye or smallmouth bass was the action on my bobber. Sometimes called “swimming tongues,” catfish have taste…

Kayak fishing is unlike any other method of fishing. It’s not fishing from the bank, and it provides a different perspective compared to that of fishing from a boat. You’re more immersed in your surroundings, more intimate with the body of water you’re fishing. Many anglers fish from a kayak purely for these reasons, but some crank things up a notch and participate in competitive kayak fishing tournaments. Tournament kayak bass fishing has exploded in popularity, offering an accessible and thrilling entry point into competitive angling. It strips away the complexities and allows anglers to make their experience on the water what they want, tailoring their rig to best fish in their style of choosing. Whether you’re an avid angler looking for competition or a weekend warrior eager to test…

As advanced as kayaks have become, they still benefit from being outfitted with a variety of gear that makes them more efficient and comfortable on the water. The cool thing about a kayak is you can rig it yourself, customizing your craft to the conditions you expect to encounter. Here’s a roundup of new and solution-based products that will take your kayak experience to new levels. NEWPORT 12-, 24- AND 36-VOLT 100AH LOPRO LITHIUM BATTERY PACK The Newport LoPRO (LiFePo4) lithium battery is the ultimate compact power source for small boats and kayaks, offering a lightweight design with expandable capabilities. Its rugged construction and optimized connectivity ensure unmatched performance and versatility for every fishing expedition. We think the footprint is an impressive detail with this battery system—one of the many…

The long Memorial Day weekend was upon him, and Shane planned to go fishing all day on Sunday with his buddy Lee. On Saturday afternoon he began readying his tackle. “Dad!” called Shane from the doorway of the garage. “I just noticed I’m low on flies. Can I borrow yours?” Shane’s father was walking through the kitchen and stopped to talk. “That’s fine, bud, but remember: You aren’t 10 years old anymore; you have your own money and your own wheels. If you borrow my stuff, return it. If you lose it, replace it. I’m going fishing next Friday with one of my clients, and I want my gear to be squared away.” “Understood,” said Shane. “In that case, help yourself. And good luck tomorrow!” The following morning Shane and…