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December 31, 2012
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We were having a slow morning of duck hunting in a delta marsh outside of Seadrift, Texas. There were plenty of birds flying, just not in our direction. But then, my hunting partner Jens Krogh of Franchi whispered "Right here on the right," as two ducks dropped straight out of the sun and over our decoys.
"Cut'em!" our guide hollered, and we rose up in our blind. Jens hit the bird on the right and I popped the second bird hooking in.
I was sure we had just killed two hen mallards but our guide happily called out "Mottled ducks."
What's a mottled duck?
[ Read Full Post ]December 26, 2012
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I'll spare you the over-told cedar plank joke and get to it … there's a good number of outdoorsmen who like to hunt, but not eat, wild ducks. If those ducks happen to be fish-eating divers, that number only multiplies.
Last week I had the opportunity to hunt Bay Flats Lodge in Seadrift, Texas and found a simple solution to this predicament: duck soup. We polished off half a dozen redheads this way and it was one of the best duck dishes I've ever had.
[ Read Full Post ]December 20, 2012
by The first rule of wildlife management is that populations matter. Individuals don’t.
The second rule is that long-term trends—in species’ range and distribution, in habitat health, and even in human tolerance for various wild critters—trump the peaks and valleys of annual gain and loss.
Unlike the bloodless analytics of other scientific disciplines, wildlife management is organic. It happens outdoors. It’s often bloody. To borrow Hobbes’ perspective of humanity, most wild animals spend lives that are “nasty, brutish, and short.”
In Dan Nosowitz’s misinformed and virulent essay on wolf hunting around Yellowstone National Park, he seems ignorant of these tenets—and realities—of wildlife management.
[ Read Full Post ]December 19, 2012
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I spent the last two days hunting northern ducks in southern waters out of Seadrift, Texas along the Gulf of Mexico. Redheads, pintails, wigeon, and gadwall made have made their way down the central flyway to spend their winter in the massive delta marsh here. Myself, a few other outdoor writers, and the guides from Bay Flats lodge are ready and waiting for them.
While the hunting has been very good, it's not easy. Here's what I've learned so far; use it to capitalize on northern birds south of the Mason Dixon.
[ Read Full Post ]December 14, 2012
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Nontoxic shot has been required for waterfowl hunting since 1992. And more states are mandating its use in select areas for upland bird hunting—even for doves on some state lands.
During the past two decades, despite a plethora of nontoxic-shot types coming to the market—steel, bismuth, and tungsten composites—bird hunters have taken primarily to shooting steel shot. Steel currently makes up nearly 90 percent of all nontoxic shotshell sales.
[ Read Full Post ]December 13, 2012
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Ghastly weather, the kind that keeps most people indoors, sounds the alarm to waterfowlers that the best days afield have arrived. But if last season taught us anything, it’s that Mother Nature is a fickle mistress—the 2011–12 season featured the greatest migration that never really happened. With two back-to-back record spring hatches, however, this season could serve as a huge comeback for duck and goose hunters.
[ Read Full Post ]December 13, 2012
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You probably first learned about carbon in earth science—how it is the basis of all life and has countless applications and uses. But what your teacher likely left out of the curriculum is the history of how carbon came to be used to control hunters’ scent.
In 1901, inventor Raphael Von Ostrejko made the first microporous activated carbon, which is capable of trapping molecules. In the 1970s, activated carbon cloth was invented to protect military personnel from nuclear and chemical agents. In 1992, Scent-Lok Technologies developed and sold hunting apparel containing activated carbon to prevent human odors from reaching game, and—voilà!—a new industry was born.
But activated carbon isn’t the only technology on the scent-control block these days. Zeolites, antimicrobials, and ozone also are being used to keep hunters from getting winded. Here’s a look at how each of them works.
[ Read Full Post ]December 11, 2012
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Earlier this year I was turned on to a new camera accessories company, Peak Designs. Peak makes the Capture Clip, which I field-tested this fall.
The Capture Clips is a plate that screws into the bottom of your camera, where you’d attach a tripod. The plate can then buckle to any strap or harness. I’ve used mine to go up treestands and attached it to backpack straps.
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