Successful Hunter March-April 2018

In many parts of the West, the pungent smell of sagebrush is synonymous with mule deer, pronghorn and sometimes elk habitat. Some variety of sage can be found (even if only in pockets) from near the Canadian border south to Arizona and New Mexico, and from the plains of Wyoming and Montana down into California and up into eastern Oregon and Washington. Sage covers much of this country’s best big-game habitat, and for a few hunters, pursuing game in sage country is an annual tradition as important as a good camp fire. ...Read More >

Most instruction on predator hunting dwells long and hard on strategies, calling techniques and associated gear. While it’s true that these things are important if a hunter wants to be consistently successful, there’s an element of hunting that is too often overlooked: The mental aspect of predator calling. I’m not talking about a furbearer’s intelligence – that’s fodder for another article. Rather, it’s the preparedness and mental toughness predator hunters must exhibit if they want to stay in the game when the going gets tough. ...Read More >

He was a keeper of livestock and a caretaker of crops, a man respected in his community but viewed with less than affection by some. His communication with his sons was sparse, consisting primarily of orders and observations, seldom fostering interchange or engaging felt emotions or aspirations. He was my father, the one who taught me to hunt. But in an age where a premium is placed upon a child-centered approach and early success as a means of cultivating hunters, many would regard him as a pretty deficient mentor. Take my first elk hunt as an example. ...Read More >

It seems like every time I meet someone new, when they find out what I do for a living, their first question is, “What’s your favorite kind of hunting?” Occasionally, for variety, it’s “What’s your favorite place?” Since this has been going on for a couple of decades now, there has been lots of time to think about it. ...Read More >

Though I’m not quite sure how the photo showed up, it nonetheless was forwarded in an email. It was a picture of a gigantic North Dakota mule deer buck with antlers splayed out and reaching 35 inches in spread (a measurement found out later). My first thought was quite simply . . . Wow! There was very little information contained in the email, but I was intrigued enough to respond to the message’s sender, Cole Frenzel. ...Read More >

When Kevin Wilkerson made plans to take his father, Henry, on a trip to build a great memory, little did he know how much of an adventure it would become. He planned and researched extensively, spending hours looking at maps, deciphering trails and planning routes to access points. It took two years of accumulating points for Wyoming mule deer and antelope, and on the third year the two were able to draw tags. ...Read More >

The weather report for the second day of North Dakota’s 2017 archery deer season was calling for winds gusting up to 40 mph and extreme heat in the mid 90s. This would make ideal stalking conditions because a lot of deer would be using shade as a trump card over the wind, making themselves more vulnerable, rather than normally keeping the wind at their backs and being able to see what is in front of them. ...Read More >

My eyes opened wide with terror as the long, wet grass allowed my feet to slip out from under me. I landed on my backside and began to slide down the steep hillside, gaining speed rapidly. Sensing imminent danger, I twisted my body to face the mountain, dug my toes into the earth and clawed at each piece of brush, desperately hoping to halt my slide before plummeting down one of the numerous granite cliffs on the slope. ...Read More >

The 2010-11 winter slammed into the Northern Plains with a vengeance. Snow depths increased with the progression of the season and temperatures plummeted, punctuated with a handful of brief thawing periods. The warm respites momentarily relieved wildlife of energy-robbing temperatures, but devilishly crusted snowfields severely impeded the local and regional migrations mule deer and pronghorn often rely upon to dodge winter’s worst. ...Read More >

Nancy Mallory held a Winchester lever-action in one hand. Night had fallen, but she had had a buck in the iron sights just an hour before. She took the shot when the animal turned broadside. “I want to make this one into buttons, but I don’t think Levi will let me,” she said. ...Read More >

Steven Tisdale eased the truck onto a commanding knoll by feel and familiarity. We stepped out to survey a series of canyon heads choked with the usual assortment of West Texas’ Caprock Escarpment mesquite, hackberry, blueberry juniper and prickly pear, though none was visible at the moment. The countryside was as black as the inside of a crow. I scanned a brushy draw through a Trijicon IR-Hunter thermal imaging scope only briefly before spotting movement. ...Read More >

An oblong box marked “Burris Veracity” showed up at my door weeks ago, so I couldn’t wait to sight it in after mounting it on a Montana Rifle Extreme X2 6.5 Creedmoor with Warne scope mounts. The plan was to shoot sage rats in eastern Oregon. Nosler’s 129-grain AccuBond Long Range bullet provided the motivation. ...Read More >