Successful Hunter March-April 2019

It was about two o’clock in the afternoon when one of my companions at a deer camp in Pennsylvania set down the magazine he was reading, got to his feet, and announced to no one in particular, “Time for the ritual.” With that, the rest of us got up and filed downstairs after him. Camouflage jackets were pulled out, boots were pulled on, cuffs were carefully fastened. We began to apply camouflage paint to our faces with the attention to detail of Comanche warriors preparing for battle. No debutante on her way to the ball was ever so meticulous about her makeup. ...Read More >

The human is as capable as any animal on Earth when it comes to bearing extraneous weight over long distances in varied topography. Nepalese sherpas have ferried loads up to 150 percent of their body weight over considerable distances by moving slowly and resting frequently. ...Read More >

I think it is the diversity and idiosyncrasies of furred critters and the microenvironments they occupy that I find so compelling about hunting predators. No other pursuit demands a higher degree of determination – and specialization when it comes to equipment. From head-to-heel camouflage clothing, terrain-specific boots, special-purpose guns and ammunition and a wide variety of sighting options, hunters select gear that precisely matches the hunt if they want to eke the most from each outing. This is especially true when it comes to sighting solutions. From open sights to scopes, red dots and even lasers and night-vision optics, today’s predator hunter has never had it so good. ...Read More >

Africa covers 11.7 million square miles and is home to the world’s most diverse and unique assemblage of game animals. The legendary Cape buffalo and African elephant have lured intrepid, well-heeled riflemen since the first Europeans began taking safaris to explore, trade, hunt and eventually settle on the world’s second-largest land mass. Most hunters, however, are not rolling in spare cash, including me; yet scraping and scrimping over the past 16 years has allowed for a double-handful of enlightening hunts for plains game. ...Read More >

It was the middle of October when Matt Church decided to explore a new piece of public ground near Lander, Wyoming. It is a dry part of the state that is best described as a desert, with large expanses of sagebrush growing in the flats. It is typical mule deer country, and although Matt had never been there before, he had a hunch there had to be mature bucks in the area. ...Read More >

Now and then I run across hunters who are more than satisfied pursuing the same game in the bottom of the same canyon or atop the same mountain year after year. This I find peculiar because from age 12 to the present, what I enjoy most about hunting is seeing new country and spending time with people I would never have otherwise met. ...Read More >

Lay the map out on a table and clues begin to appear, vague hints of forgotten events. There is the Delore Place near Suplee – ex-Hudson’s Bay trapper Pete Delore was the first settler in the Ochoco mountains. There is Beaver Creek. Imagine the myriad dams and the miles-long patches of willows that thrived here when old Silvailles trapped these waters with Peter Skene Ogden and whose name was given to the Silvies River. There is Buck Mountain, where 3,000 western Shoshoni camped for three days, pursued by Bernard and Howard in the 1878 war. ...Read More >

Surrounded by the sounds of the rut, I finally found myself amid the herd. Their vocalizations filled the air. Sparse alpine trees provided cover for the elk and me. The herd bull was just out of sight, but its bellowing gave the bull away. My legs were burning from the hurried trek across the canyon. A descent of 1,100 feet, followed by an immediate gain of 1,300 feet, put me in the perfect position. I knew I was playing a risky waiting game. The closest elk were mere feet away. It was only a matter of time before an elk spotted me, or worse, winded me. ...Read More >

As this is written I am reclined against the driver’s seat of an SUV, facing rearward. To my left is a cot upon which I will sleep in an hour’s time, but although it is dead-dark, the face of my watch reads 6:49 p.m., still too early to turn in. I am parked at 6,594 feet above sea level (according to my Garmin GPS watch), approximately 15 miles and more than an hour from asphalt in the Gravelly Mountains of Montana. When legal shooting light commences some 12 hours hence, I won’t be driving up the road or wondering exactly where I will be hunting in the morning. One half hour before the magical moment, I’ll depart the vehicle and hike east to a timbered knob overlooking a draw clotted in sagebrush and fine-stemmed grass. It’s an ideal feeding stop for elk, creatures that by this point in the season (the fourth weekend) are not about to wait around in the open for a hunter who arrives 15 minutes late to the rendezvous. ...Read More >

We were kicking up cactus as we worked our way up the hill. The spiny thorns were stuck in the toes of my boots. We neared the crest and got low. I didn’t want to spook the antelope that were just 150 yards down at the base of this hilltop. Our guide, Clifford, motioned to us. He spotted the buck bedded with four or five does. I raised my binocular and found the buck. Of course, the pronghorn buck had made us, and it was looking right at us. It was nervous but couldn’t smell us. I knew we only had a few short moments before the fastest land animal in North America would make its break. ...Read More >

Driving toward camp, we saw hundreds of deer feeding in fields along the highways and backroads. Wildlife, in general, was plentiful with turkeys, ducks, geese and a smattering of predators making the red-dirt hills look productive. Oklahoma is still part of the Wild West, rich in history thanks to characters like Roy Rogers, and the landscape remains excellent habitat for wildlife. The view has changed since Rogers rode his horse through the hills, and instead of campfire smoke rising from the ridgetops, there are miles of power-generating windmills. ...Read More >

Federal Premium’s Edge TLR blends great bullet designs with the latest bonding technology and components to offer match-grade, long-range accuracy and reliable expansion at low velocities. It also provides high weight retention, deep penetration and lethal terminal performance up close. A large hollow cavity in the bullet nose along with exterior jacket skiving further aid expansion and penetration. Serrations allow petals to peel back on contact at velocities as low as 1,350 fps – velocities typically seen at 1,200 yards downrange in the 200-grain .30-caliber loads. ...Read More >