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November 29, 2012
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Putting out a set of decoys and getting the attention of far-off ducks and geese isn’t hard. Any arrangement of painted plastic blocks and a halfway reasonable honk or quack will do the trick. Finishing those birds, however, is another story. Under close scrutiny, proper calling technique is essential.
“When a flock is working your spread, pick out a single bird that you can see is reacting to your calling and call just to him. Keep him interested and coming,” says guide Mario Friendly of Sherwood, Oregon. “But don’t call too loudly as they approach. Add more feeding chuckles and contented calls.”
[ Read Full Post ]November 27, 2012
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Whenever a fresh, midnight snow falls on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, you can find Ron Edgerly out before dawn, prowling back roads looking for fresh bobcat tracks. “Last year, I called into shotgun range my biggest ever—a 40-pounder—after tracking it for two and a half hours,” says 73-year-old Edgerly. On his pre-dawn hunts, he looks for a precise combination of factors.
1. The Weather
When targeting a predator with a typical home range of anywhere from 25 to 36 square miles, simply finding the animals is the biggest challenge for most bobcat callers. That’s a problem solved by a little fresh snow.
“Locate the thickest cover in an area with a good rabbit population, and then find a road or snowmobile trail that runs through it,” says Edgerly. “After a night of snow, drive those roads in the early morning before the plow truck gets to work. If you find where a bobcat crossed the road, you know that trail is fresh.”
[ Read Full Post ]November 26, 2012
by Black bears don't seem so tough until one climbs into your treestand. This video was uploaded to LiveLeak, so we don't know much about it, other than that it makes for some high-quality entertainment.
[ Read Full Post ] November 20, 2012
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Tracking animals in open terrain is difficult, but not impossible. Chances are you’ve seen an old Western movie or two in which an Indian kneels down in the dirt and—like magic—determines the direction a horse took. Well, it’s not magic—it’s a skill. And with time and attention, it’s a skill you can learn.
Tracking on bare ground without the assistance of snow requires focus and attention to detail. Whether you need to track an animal that has been hit but is not bleeding, or you caught a glimpse of a bruiser in the distance and hope to slip up on him from behind, here is what to keep in mind.
[ Read Full Post ]November 14, 2012
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The New York Giants defensive end is a bowhunter with Dixieland roots. Here’s his take on bows, balancing football with hunting, and living in the big city...
▶ I’m originally from Alabama and I grew up hunting rabbits and deer. But I was always playing sports as a kid and wasn’t as passionate about hunting as I am now. It wasn’t until college that I really got into it.
▶ Hunting with a rifle was a little too easy for me. The challenge of bowhunting, getting 20 yards away from an animal, is just really unique.
▶ The coolest hunt I’ve ever been on was a bowhunt in Africa two summers ago. I shot a buffalo with a bow, plus hartebeest, hyena, zebra, and wildebeest. My wife and I took a total of 12 animals on the trip. It was all spot-and-stalk, and it was kind of crazy, to be honest with you.
[ Read Full Post ]November 14, 2012
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I’ve always wanted to hunt black bear. So when Ralph Seamons of Artic Edge Outfitters offered me a bunk and a barrel the second week of September, I jumped in the truck. After a 2 a.m. start, 12 hours of driving, an hour stuck at the border - “Yes, we are hunting. Yes, it is business.” – and a near-deadly food intake of eggs, Funyuns and rancid gas station coffee, my butt was firmly in the bear stand.
As you can see in the video, it didn’t take long for a bear to show up.
[ Read Full Post ]November 8, 2012
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To me, the animal that defines our wild continent isn’t the bighorn sheep, or the whitetail deer. It’s the tundra swan, massive waterfowl that—as their name suggests—live most of their lives in the fragile taiga of the polar north.
But every year about now they make an epic migration out of their snowbound habitat on their way to winter in Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf Coast, the Panhandle of Texas, and the Central Coast of California.
Every year, their migration through my part of Montana signals the end of fall and the arrival of winter. When they pass over, often at night with their bugling calls the only sign of their passage, I know it’s time to split wood and insulate windows, and make sure the heat tape is working in the livestock water tank.
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