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September 26, 2012
by There we were, 11 of us, all eager hunters and anglers with cash in our pockets. And fish to catch and birds to hunt.
We were standing around a fly shop in Boise, Idaho, minutes before departing for a fly-in float trip down the Middle Fork Salmon River and four days without so much as a single bar of cell service.
We had fly rods and shotguns. But we didn’t have Idaho hunting and fishing licenses, which is why we were at Idaho Angler, waiting our turns at the state’s automated license sales kiosk. Thing is, some of us were stopped in our tracks.
[ Read Full Post ]September 17, 2012
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If practical limitations, such as monetary concerns, or even life-preserving cares, like spousal contentment, keep you from joining the ranks of wannabe professionals with trailers splashed with decals, resr assured that a simpler path to ducks exists.
Hunting like a beginner, with little if any gear, can pay dividends and save you the hassle—and cash layout—of messing with decoys and blinds.
Remain mobile and simplify your next waterfowl hunt by keeping these tips in mind.
[ Read Full Post ]September 11, 2012
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Big-gang pheasant hunting can be logistically challenging, aesthetically unenjoyable, and surprisingly unproductive. To find greater satisfaction and shoot more birds, pursue ringnecks two-on-one: just you and your dog versus a wily, long-spurred rooster. Here are three habitat-focused approaches for getting your dog a flush or point, then giving that longtail a ride in your game bag.
Ribbons
Pheasant country is full of strip, or ribbon, cover, including irrigation ditches, fencerows, grassy swales, and rights-of-way, and hunting it into the wind is a classic tactic. Drive or swing wide around a ribbon to get into position at the downwind end. Move slowly, pause often, and don’t rush. Let the dog quarter ahead, back and forth across the cover, as you follow. Even a pointing dog should be kept within shooting range, so you can bag any nervous roosters that erupt early.
[ Read Full Post ]September 10, 2012
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Waterfowlers have proven to be some of the most resourceful of all sportsmen throughout history, with their combined approach of calling, decoying, and plain old woodsmanship. Here are six old-school tips worth remembering as you prepare to hit the water for ducks and geese this fall.
Add motion ▶ Before motion decoys, hunters used jerk strings and pumped their legs in the water to send ripples through their spread. Another great trick is to mount an electric trolling motor to your blind or on a wood frame painted to blend in, set it near your spread, and let the propeller run just below the surface. The motion will provide silent but continuous motion to your decoys and keep water from freezing, too.
Fake a water hole ▶ Virginia waterfowler Kurt Derwort can be found most days of the season hunting geese on the state’s famed Eastern Shore, where on frozen mornings old-timers used to use large sheets of plastic—cut in irregular shapes—to mimic a shallow depression of water in a field. To make the trick work for ducks or geese, Derwort says to find a depression, remove any big stalks and weeds, lay the plastic down, and put the weeds and a few decoys around the edge. Sprinkle the plastic with water to give it more reflection and shine. From the air, it will look like open water when everything else is frozen.
[ Read Full Post ]September 10, 2012
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Locals call it the “Lunch Counter,” but you won’t find that name on any map. It’s a soaring plateau of wind-blasted limestone and withered wildflowers that, at 10,000 feet above sea level, presides over a confusion of lesser ridges that march west into Idaho’s Snake River Plain.
A rumor of elk—told to a friend who told a friend who told me—has brought me to this southwest corner of Wyoming. The topography that appealed to me on maps is confirmed by the view from the trailhead. If I can grind my way to the top of the Lunch Counter, I should find a wide, grassy, miles-long mesa, a table whose top stays well above the tree line but whose shoulders drop into dozens of timbered drainages.
[ Read Full Post ]September 6, 2012
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If you love to hunt ducks and geese, and have been doing so for years, then you probably already know you can’t always wait for the birds to come to you. Heck, in some years—just last fall, in many parts of the country—they won’t come to you at all. Or if they do, it’s after the season has closed. So sometimes you have to go to them.
Here are five unsung waterfowl hotspots where you can get in on some non-stop hot-barreled action until the birds finally wing their way to your home waters.
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