Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2015 i Outdoor Life

I CROSS-TIE STRUTTER/ Springfield, MO APRIL 25 8:09 A.M. On the edge of Missouri’s Ozarks lies a crossroads where a trail intersects a set of freight tracks. With a creek nearby, it’s a gathering place of sorts for gobblers. All the Easterns know about it—and so does photographer Rick Adair. After a few quick yelps on his box call, Adair reached down to fish his camera from his pack. When he looked back up, he was startled to see this long-beard in full feather on what had been empty tracks just seconds before. “I’m thinking, How did he get there so fast?” Adair says. “He was the perfect model. He turned this way, turned that way, then gobbled as if on cue.”…

THE NEW-MEDIA STAR LAST SEASON, Mark Kenyon got a shot at Jawbreaker. That’s the name he’d given a 10-point buck after it first appeared on his trail cams prior to the 2013 season. Kenyon had writ en about the deer on his blog, talked about him on podcasts, and recorded videos of his hunts for the buck. Then, on the evening of October 16, 2014, Jawbreaker strolled beneath Kenyon’s stand. The hunter found the buck in his camera, drew his bow, and shot. However, he immediately suspected his arrow had hit too far back. In the hunt video, Kenyon looks into the camera with wide eyes and whispers, “Please, Lord, let him go down,” but he never recovered the deer. Nonetheless, he shared the whole story, in detail, with an…

Build this low-cost overhead waterfowl blind for less than $20. First, obtain a 4-to-8-foot extension pole (the kind used for paint rollers). Next, recruit an old umbrella from around the house, or buy a cheapie. Spray-paint the open umbrella fabric to match the surroundings you’ll be hunting in: greens for earlyseason tules or reeds, tans and browns for late-season cattails. Tightly duct-tape the umbrella shaft to the end of the pole, but leave the mechanism uncovered. In the field, extend the secondary pole, insert the pole into the soft marsh substrate, and open the umbrella to hide yourself from prying duck eyes.…

GEAR Want to improve your footing on the river, but don’t want to drop $200 on wading boots? An old pair of light hikers, a couple of dollars, and a trip to the hardware store can keep you upright. Look for self-tapping ¼-inch hex-head sheet-metal screws no longer than ½ inch long. Plan on 16 to 20 screws per boot, but buy extras, as you’ll lose a few over the course of the season. Create an even pattern, keeping in mind that the balls and heels of your feet make the most contact with rocks. Because the screws are self-tapping, you should be able to just screw them into the soles without predrilling, but be careful not to strip them.…

If you’re in the market for a new hunting companion, you might consider a trip to the local shelter. You could find a diamond in the rough, as a friend of mine did—a beagle that became one of the best hunting dogs he ever owned. The key to success is examining each dog to determine which will work best for you. Breed: Pound hounds don’t come with a pedigree, but you should do your best to determine the breed of any dog you’re considering. Some dogs might have abilities that are outside the breed’s intended purpose, but selecting a dog with the most suitable background is a step in the right direction. Temperament: Dr. Mark Hayes of the Mount Orab (Ohio) Veterinary Clinic suggests that all shelter dogs be examined…

[DIY PROJECT ] 1 REPLACE A GUIDE Use a candle to heat the epoxy around the guide’s factory wrappings and break the seal (a). Cut off the old wrappings with a razor blade, cut ing on the rod guide’s feet to avoid marring the blank (b). Clean the area well with acetone or isopropyl alcohol and let dry. Place and position the new rod guide. Using rodguide thread or heavy-duty nylon sewing thread, wrap the new rod guide on. Seal the wrapping with a coat of clear epoxy glue or hot glue around all threading (c). 2 RESTORE A TIP Clip of the jagged end to make a clean break. Sand down the end so the new tip will just fi t. Put a few drops of hot glue into…

[DIY PROJECT] [STEP ONE] Find a chunk of aged wood that is straight-grained and free of knots. The growth rings must be oriented so they'll run parallel to the fl at side of the finished handle. Hickory is good; Osage orange is best. With a hatchet or saw, reduce the wood to a plank roughly 1.x4x32 inches. [STEP TWO] Any ax handle that feels good in your hands will work as a pattern. Lay it on top of your plank and trace the outline, staying a shade wide. Use a farrier rasp to trim away everything outside the lines. [STEP THREE] Clamp the handle in a vise, headup. Place the ax head on top of the handle end. Make sure it’s oriented perfectly, then trace the inside of the eye…

GEAR Time is not on your side when it comes to the fragile exterior of your synthetic- or feather-filled vest or shell. Eventually, an encounter with a barbed-wire fence or the tip of a knife being returned to its sheath will slice an opening in the nylon. The best repair for such a tear is simple duct tape. (I’ve found Gorillabrand tape to be the stickiest and most waterproof of the bunch.) But to save us from looking like a frat boy wearing his brother’s hand-me-down puff y, we’re going to put the tape on the inside so it won’t curl up and fall off in a week. Tear off a piece of tape larger than the rip. Trying to avoid the sticky surface, trim the corners with a pair…

The word “caviar” appeared in the English language in the 1500s, but Egyptians were pickling roe as early as 2400 B.C. In some cultures, caviar was reserved for royalty. In 19th century America, it was served free at saloons, where the salty flavor caused patrons to drink more beer. Today, caviar comes from sturgeon, paddlefish, salmon, trout, and other species. Chef Anthony Compagni of Benvenuti’s Ristorante in Norman, Okla., is well versed in the caviars of the world—and he’s partial to paddlefish. “Beluga is the most famous, especially among caviar snobs. But for the American palate, paddlefish has a more enjoyable flavor, and it’s usually fresher,” says Compagni. “Paddlefish caviar can be served plain on a nice cracker, or with cream cheese, chopped green onion, Tabasco, or lime. Even people…

Catching slab crappies may be a challenge during some parts of the year but not in spring, when rising water temperatures put them in specific locations. Here’s how a couple of veteran guides and a tournament angler follow the big-slab bite. WATER TEMPS: BELOW 55 DEGREES When spring water tempratures are still cool, longtime Oklahoma guide Barry Morrow (barrymro.com) likes to cover deeper water in his hunt for fish. He doubles down on slabs by trolling with two 11-foot Todd Huckabee rods with tandem-jig rigs. “I’ll have two rods, one in each hand, both rigged with an 1∕₈-ounce Lindy jig on top and a .-ounce on bottom,” Morrow says. “Color doesn’t always make a big difference, but I like to tip the jigs with either a Lindy Fuzz-E Grub or…

A couple of years ago, the deer-management bug bit me—hard. I hung trail cameras. I planted food plots. And I dreamed big about the giant bucks that I’d kill on my land along Montana’s Milk River. For a few years I made a job of not killing beautiful deer. Not old enough, I’d tell myself. Not big enough. Oh, how much better those bucks in my bow sight and riflescope would look on my wall next year. Then epizootic hemorrhagic disease hit the Milk River area, and I made a job of dragging putrid deer carcasses out of alfalfa fields. During pheasant season that year, I carried a short-stroke saw in my bird vest, and I filled my shop with the stinking racks of EHD-killed bucks I found in the…

DISPATCHES As a hunter, I have always maintained that if the right opportunity presented itself on a game animal, I wouldn’t hesitate for a second. I’d take the shot, then and there, before my quarry could slip away. But this sensible philosophy directly conflicts with my chosen line of work. As the host of an outdoors TV show, I am only allowed to shoot when the cameras are rolling. Don’t get me wrong—I love the spotlight. Problem is, my first instincts are those of a hunter, and my television hosting obligations finish a distant second. So one sunny South Dakota afternoon found that second, pestering voice inside me screaming, “Don’t shoot, you idiot!” In my sights stood the biggest pronghorn buck ever to roam the South Dakota prairies. He paused,…

OTHER NOTABLE RODS 1 G. LOOMIS PRO 4X SWITCH $480/GLOOMIS.COM Switch rods are designed to be fished with either one or two hands, depending on the fishing situation. They excel on broad rivers, when you’re fishing against steep backdrops, and under windy conditions. They allow the angler to snap out a T-cast when there’s no room for a traditional back cast, and to punch out long overhead casts to hard-to-reach lies. The new Pro 4X Switch from Loomis is a nicely balanced switch rod. Its 10-foot 6-inch length strikes the right compromise. It can be wielded with reasonable comfort with one hand, yet it has the length and leverage to perform Spey casts. In a 5-weight, it can handle trout and lighter steelhead and salmon duties. 2 REDINGTON VAPEN BLACK…

The National Wild Turkey Federation’s Conservation Seed Program takes seed from dealers that can no longer be sold commercially (usually because it’s outdated) and offers it to NWTF chapters and their members for just the cost of shipping. That means a 50-pound bag will run roughly $5. Typically, only grains like corn, milo, and wheat are available—no turnips, clover, or rape—and it’s likely to be a year old, but that should have minimal impact on germination rates. If you need to plant 10 percent more than normal, so be it—it’s free! The seed can only be used for wildlife purposes (no harvesting), and you have to put it in the ground, but it’s treated corn (usually RoundUp Ready), so it shouldn’t be used as bait anyway. To keep costs manageable,…

[STEP ONE] A forked whitetail antler is the right size for small hands. Size up to a muley shed for larger hands. Cut off the tine tips and file grooves near the ends. [STEP TWO] For the bands, I like TheraBand Gold. Double them to increase the poundage for squirrel-thumping velocity. At ach them with smaller strips of the TheraBand. Wrap a strip six times around the slingshot band where you made each groove. Place a doubled over piece of thin string vertically (up the tine) over the wrappings and make two more wraps. Push the end of the TheraBand strip through the string loop and use the string to pull the end under the last two wrappings (making a nail knot). Trim the ends. [STEP THREE] Use the same…

DIY PROJECT [ STEP ONE ] Use sandpaper to rough up the outer ends of the PVC pipe and inside the socket cap and hub collars. [ STEP TWO ] Apply a liberal amount of PVC cement around one of the scored ends and seat the pipe into the socket cap. Repeat on the other end with the hub. [ STEP THREE ] Drill a hole through the center of the FPT cap. Insert the eyebolt, add the washer and lock nut, and tighten. [ STEP FOUR ] Tie on a loop of cord with a carabiner or snap hook for quick at achment to a boat cleat or stern lift . [STEP FIVE ] Drill multiple holes through the barrel of the PVC pipe. A 1⁹∕₆₄-inch bit will…

The key to the effectiveness of a cover scent is how well it matches the aromas of the area you hunt. Commercial scents work fine, but they’re not always regionally accurate. However, you can make your own scent for next to nothing and tailor it to your hunting grounds. [STEP 1] Collect vegetation from your home woods and put it in a pot of water. Aromatic plants make the best cover scents because they’ll infuse more oils and resin into the solution when cooked. This usually means evergreens like balsam fir, spruce, pine, and cedar, though you can use deciduous leaves or forbs like sassafras, sage, or goldenrod. If there aren’t any strongly aromatic plants around, gather duff from the forest floor, and don’t be afraid to throw in a…

THE HEAD-BOAT MATE $ EVEN GRIZZLED charter-boat captains will agree that the most critical—and thankless— job on any fishing boat belongs to the mate. Long hours, strenuous daily routines, low pay, and zero recognition? Jodi Waibel, a mate aboard the Black Hawk out of Niantic, wouldn’t have it any other way. OL: What’s your typical day like? JW: I’m usually up at 4 a.m. and at the boat an hour before our first trip at 6. I prep bait, rig up, greet customers, and sometimes sell trip tickets, hats, and T-shirts. It takes us 45 minutes to an hour to get to where we’ll fish. When we’re fishing, I untangle lines and net fish. On the way in, I cut and bag fillets. Once we’re back in, I clean the…

[ HOW TO ] “First, using my table saw, I cut a slot in the horizontal part of a 1 ½ x 1 ½ x ¾-inch PVC tee to accommodate a fl oater’s keel, then I insert a ¾-inch PVC leg. Early in the season, I put the leg directly into the ground. I slide it over a piece of ½-inch rebar when the ground is frozen. A 5-gallon bucket will tote the rebar and stands for about three dozen decoys. The PVC materials run about $2.50 per decoy. ”…

RULE NUMBER ONE The average deer hunter in America has higher expectations today than ever before. Flip the television to any hunting show and you’ll find a host like Mark Drury of Drury Outdoors, who killed six bucks last season scoring more than 130 inches, four of which were over 150. Or pull up your Facebook newsfeed on a random day in early November, and you’ll probably see 10 buddies showing off pictures of their giant bucks. But just because trophy deer are more present in the media doesn’t mean that they’re easier to kill. In fact, Boone and Crockett Club entries are down across the country (see map at right). Average deer hunters have expectations that cannot be met and they’re left disappointed, says Neil Dougherty, an experienced wildlife…

RULE NUMBER FOUR L and co-ops might be the next cornerstone of state-level management, but they’re also the most consistent way for an individual hunter to kill mature deer. This is so for two simple reasons: (1) In order to effectively manage deer, you need to have access to the majority of the deer’s home range. (2) Most individual hunters can’t afford to buy or lease that much property. A quick example: A buck’s home range can span a square mile or more, and on average, a Quality Deer Management Association member owns fewer than 200 acres of land. Nobody knows this better than renowned whitetail photographer Charlie Alsheimer. In 1989, Alsheimer hunted with Al Brothers—who many consider to be the grandfather of quality deer management—in Texas and was blown…

TACKLE THE ENFORCER BEST SUITED FOR Big Swimbaits and Wake Baits, Alabama Rigs, Frogs Yanking chunky fish out of matted vegetation or pulling heavy swimbaits requires stout gear. Our industrial-strength rod-andreel combo includes a 7-foot 6-inch Castaway Invicta rod and an Abu Garcia Revo Beast reel. Though robust, the Invicta is surprisingly sensitive and easily handles big baits and magnum fish without fuss. The Winn nonslip split grip is impervious to wet, nasty conditions and provided enough leverage to muscle fish from cover. With 22 pounds of drag force, the Abu Garcia Beast is a stout cranker. In our test on Lake Okeechobee, I punched the thickest hydrilla, dragging deeply wedged fish (up to 9 pounds) out without a hitch. (rod: $250 , CASTAWAYRODS.COM; reel: $350, ABUGARCIA.COM) THE SLINGER BEST…

GREG CZECH, NEW BRIGHTON, MN BE A BETTER SHOT NO MATTER WHAT YOU SHOOT—A SHOTGUN, PISTOL, RIFLE, OR ALL THREE—THIS BOOK, WRITTEN BY OUTDOOR LIFE SHOOTING EDITOR JOHN B. SNOW, WILL HELP YOU TAKE YOUR SKILLS TO THE NEXT LEVEL. THE ULTIMATE SHOOTING SKILLS MANUAL INCLUDES DETAILED DRILLS AND TIPS TO IMPROVE EVERY FACET OF YOUR SHOOTING. AVAILABLE AT OUTDOORLIFE.COM/SHOOTINGMANUAL. STORY TIME We pay cash for all true adventures published. Only those used will be acknowledged. Send to Outdoor Life, THTM, 2 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016; or THTM@OutdoorLife.com. Please include a daytime phone number.…

MAILBOX THREE CHEERS ▶ The February issue was the best Outdoor Life I’ve read in a long time. The articles were informative, interesting, well-written, to the point, and not too long. I loved the story on the young trappers, the review of the Remington muzzleloader, and the accuracy tips. Keep up the good work. Richard Brady Flint Hill, VA OUT OF LINE ▶ After seeing the conibear trap on p. 60 of “Holding the Line” [Feb. 2015], my blood pressure went through the roof. Are you trying to encourage trapping newcomers to use that dry land set? There is no “catch and release” with these killing traps. I hunt with both bird dogs and hounds. I’m concerned with how I might react if I ever found one of them dead…

FYI MEPPS SPINNER 200 MILLION NUMBER OF MEPPS SPINNERS SOLDIN THE US. ALONE SINCE 1960 15 NUMBER OF PAST OR PRESENT WORLD-RECORD FISH CAUGHT WITH A MEPPS. PLUS 62 STATE AND LINE-CLASS RECORDS TOP 5 SPINNERBLADE COLORS BY PERCENT OF SALES 12% ANGLERS WHO PICKED THE NO. 5 MEPPS AGLIA AS THEIR LURE OF CHOICE IF LIMITED TO USING JUST ONE LURE FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES.* 6,034 Number of Mepps spinner combinations available MEPPS IS AN ACRONYM FOR MANUFACTURIER D’ENGINS DE PRECISION POUR PECHES SPORTIVE. OR IN ENGLISH: PRECISION EQUIPMENT FOR SPORT FISHING. 5,475: GREATEST NUMBER OF SQUIRREL TAILS SENT IN BY ONE HUNTER. 65,000 TO 300,000 TAILS ARE SOLD TO MEPPS EACH YEAR.…

TURKEY DECOYS TIP Replace the plastic stakes that come with many decoys with metal versions that won’t break in compacted soil or fall over in the wind. Fifteen years ago, turkey hunters had few decoy options that were both portable and realistic. Now, you don’t have to stake your success on a decoy at all. Indeed, some innovative new ploys go way beyond imitating struters and hens. STUMP THEM If you must bag a turkey at any cost, buy a Nature Blind (natureblinds.com). This is a Hollywood-scale prop that costs $4,000, weighs 350 pounds, and looks like a home for Keebler elves. Hide in it, do jumping jacks in it, kill a tom from its clandestine gun ports, then emerge and go home—or not. You might rather live in this…

SHOOTING It’s irresponsible to hunt with a rifle that you haven’t sightedin, but you needn’t burn through a box of ammo to zero your gun. [STEP 1] To begin, bore-sight it. Using sandbags or a shooting rest to support the rifle, remove the bolt or open the dropping-block action. Looking through the bore, align it with a rock on a distant hillside. Next, adjust the scope’s windage and elevation until the reticle set les onto yon rock. [STEP 2] Scrounge as big a cardboard box as you can find and tape a quarter of a sheet of printer paper in the center. Set the box 35 yards from your rest. [STEP 3] Steady the rifle and fire one round. The bullet should drill the paper target, or at least hit…

THE GUN - STORE CLERK I WORK IN MY family’s sportinggoods store. The worst thing about working with my dad is that we can’t hunt or fish together except on Sundays, when the store is closed. The other downside is that we’re stuck working when everybody else is out hunting or fishing. Even though we’re in a rural area, we feel the competition from the big-box stores and the internet. We have to be competitive on price because anybody can get on their phone and see what an item sells for in Billings or online. And we try to be competitive with inventory, but it’s been tough ever since the gun boom in 2008. We do a lot of special ordering, but sometimes it’s years before we get the product…

GEAR [STEP 1] Wrap the target with self-adhesive drywall joint tape. Make sure it’s wrapped tightly, and secure the edges with duct tape, but leave an opening on one side to insert the nozzle of a can of foam sealant. [STEP 2] Fill the hole with the sealant (use the kind made for filling small gaps and cracks; the kind designed for large cracks is not adequate for stopping arrows) by covering the inside edges and slowly letting the foam expand. [STEP 3] Once the target is filled, add another wrap of the mesh tape to completely enclose the repaired area. The foam should continue to push out through the mesh tape. Remove excess by gently scraping with a piece of cardboard. Let dry for 24 hours. [STEP 4] Use…

RULE NUMBER TWO I will always remember the summer of 2012. It was the summer that smelled of death. Southerly breezes would carry the stench of rotting whitetail carcasses—deer that had died from the worst outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) in Michigan history—from the nearby river bottom toward my house. One year later, I bought a small chunk of hunting land that adjoins that river bottom. It might seem like a stretch to talk about “managing” deer that live on 17 acres, but it’s my responsibility to do the best I can. And every decision I’ve made links back to that summer. It wasn’t that I mistrusted the antlerless quotas set by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. It was that I simply understood a harvest quota covering a…

RULE NUMBER FIVE Deer management, like other political issues, isn’t always guided by pure science. Often it’s the constituents who complain the loudest that end up calling the shots. You can see such a struggle being played out in Pennsylvania. In the 34 years that Matt Hough has worked for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, he’s responded to everchanging public opinion. “You set antlerless harvests to get the population down until hunters start clamoring that there aren’t enough deer, so you back off and the pendulum swings the other way,” says Hough, who is now executive director of the game commission. “Eventually the farmers and foresters complain about too many deer, so you jack up the antlerless harvest and swing the pendulum back.” As a way to balance the varying public…