Successful Hunter January/February 2020

Forgive me if I have used the word “fortitude” as the title of this column before, but in many ways fortitude can decide the outcome of a hunt. According Merriam-Webster, it can be taken to mean “strength of mind that enables a person to encounter adversity with courage. ...Read More >

Corey Hibbard had been watching a mule deer all summer, keeping tabs on it when scouting. Add to that the multiple photos captured of the buck on trail cameras, and a tree stand was set up with the hopes of hunting in late August. Set up on opening morning for a 30-yard shoot, Corey said six small bucks had come through first, and if the hunter hadn’t known that a big deer had been hanging with the smaller bucks, he might have taken one of the younger deer. ...Read More >

More than 10 years ago a non-hunting acquaintance in California once asked what big-game animal I preferred to hunt. It seemed to be an odd question from someone I hardly knew, and a question for which there probably was/is no definitive answer. Then he put it another way: “If you could only hunt one big-game animal in North America for the rest of your life, what would it be?” ...Read More >

Location, location, location. It’s the real estate agent’s creed, and the number one reason why certain properties are more valuable than others. It’s the same with animals, both predators and prey. They fight tooth and claw to occupy those spaces with the best resources – food, water and security. These territories will be used by generations of predators as long as the resources remain stable. ...Read More >

Nearly every hunter I know has dreamed of hunting from a traditional elk hunting camp. The comfort and nostalgia of a canvas wall tent, complete with wood-burning stove and sleeping cots, make fall nights spent in such accommodations a “sure to be remembered” experience. However, many hunters simply attempt to tough it out in unheated camping tents or burn up their recreational cash in rented motel rooms. When the weather turns really cold and nasty, though, a nylon tent offers precious little protection from the chill. On more than one occasion, I’ve seen hunters thus outfitted packing it up for civilization at the first hint of foul weather – even though such storms often boost game activity to its highest levels. ...Read More >

When I first met Clare Irwin, I had no idea the lasting influence he would have on my life. He was a small-town bank manager who was also a life-long deer hunter. He inherited hunting from his father and passed it along to his son – learning from one, teaching the other – and through a combination of circumstances, ended up teaching me, too. Clare was a devotee of the Winchester 94, and was rather a connoisseur of rifles. All the evidence we needed was the fact that his 94 had a Lyman tang sight. This showed great sophistication. Clare had been hunting so long, and taken so many whitetails during the milk-and-honey years between the big fire of 1917 and the whitetail drought of the 1960s, that no one questioned his credentials as a hunter. Also, the fact that both his rifle and its “exotic” tang sight had barely a trace of bluing left was proof that they had spent many long days (and more than a few nights) in the woods. ...Read More >

Growing up, hunting was never just a hobby for me; it has always been a passion and a part of my life. I owe a great deal of thanks to my parents for starting me out hunting at an early age, and being so passionate for wildlife conservation. Without them, none of my hunting success would have ever been possible. I started hunting with my dad at the early age of four, following him around with a Red Ryder BB gun while he did the real bird hunting. It stuck in my veins, and now at 26, hunting is all I ever think about. ...Read More >

Two bucks were bedded below the ridgeline and surrounded by several does. The rut was still a few weeks away and these deer were “resident” mule deer, those that don’t migrate but live in the foothills all year long. A small 2x3 buck stood up and started feeding, but the larger 3x3 stayed bedded as the morning sun started to heat up the hillside. My hunting buddy had first spotted the deer as we peeked over a large basalt outcropping that overlooked a deep draw. The deer had fed up the hill during the night, and now that the morning sun was shining it wouldn’t take them long to move back down into the safety and cooler shade the draw offered. ...Read More >

The wind had picked up again, leaden skies threatened and off in the distance a small rockslide clattered. Bill Cash and I were in northwestern British Columbia. The previous few days had been terrible – mud bog after mud bog on the trail ride in, just as we remembered from our last trip into the area. My partner had a grizzly bear authorization in his shirt pocket while I had a Stone’s sheep permit in mine. ...Read More >

Planning an elk hunt in unfamiliar territory is bewildering to many outdoorsmen, whether traveling from Wisconsin for a first crack at a wapiti as a whitetail hunter or starting the Subaru in Boulder, Colorado, on a quest for elk as a confirmed “locavore.” Tens of thousands of acres of habitat are found on public land in the average elk hunting district in the West. How do you even begin choosing a place to hunt? ...Read More >

Daylight was quickly fading as 16 mule deer trotted across the snow-layered landscape toward a standing cornfield – a pattern I had identified while scouting and hunting for a few days on land I’d gained permission to hunt that borders Nebraska’s legendary Pine Ridge region. I clutched my muzzleloader a bit tighter as I watched the deer from a Double Bull blind I had set up a couple of days earlier. ...Read More >

Designed to bridge the gap between archery hunting and competition bow sights, the Sidewinder series provides the fastest, easiest and most precise elevation adjustments of any single-pin sight on the market. The Sidewinder and the Sidewinder XL, with its longer sight radius and windage micro-adjustment capability, are useful on the 3D course and in the field. ...Read More >