Alan Clemmons

Hog Hunting Destinations

outdoorlife-editor — Wed, 06 May 2009 11:18:58 -0400

When he was a younger man, Danny SantAngelo would follow his hounds anywhere they pursued a wild Everglades hog. These days, SantAngelo, who runs Okeechobee Outfitters in Lorida, Florida, waits for company before he wades into the fracas of slashing tusks and gnashing canines.

Hurricane Strikes

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:35 -0400

Just when residents of Florida and other Gulf states thought it couldn't get any worse, another hurricane slammed the region. With Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne all making landfall over a six-week period last summer, the storm season was a record breaker. Estimates put the damage at more than $23 billion.

In addition to the human toll, thousands
of acres of wildlife habitat were damaged, including barrier islands and inland locations where toppled trees and flooding destroyed or damaged nesting habitat for turkeys, migratory birds and other wildlife.
While trees and aquatic vegetation near Punta Gorda, Charlotte Harbor and the Ten Thousand Islands area
in Florida were damaged, the destruction wasn't as bad as it might have been since Charley stormed through so quickly. Despite original concerns, fish stocks were not severely affected. Oddly enough, they might have actually been helped.

"The old-timers always say that we need a hurricane once in a while to clean things out," says Capt. Ralph Allen of Punta Gorda. "I don't know if there's any science to back that up, but I do know that since the storm, the crabbers and shrimpers have been having outstanding fishing."

Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge was closed due to extensive damage, part of more than $44.5 million in damage on refuges in Florida and Alabama. Fort Morgan Marina was among many marinas nearly destroyed. Beaches at Gulf Shores, Orange Beach and Pensacola, Fla., were redeposited inland. Ivan destroyed as much as 80 percent of the Alabama Gulf's oyster beds.

Many charter captains and boat owners moved vessels to protected bays, yet for some it was futile. Boats of all sizes were strewn in yards and roads. Lack of accommodations hurt captains trying to salvage the red snapper season before it closed Oct. 31.

"As usual, the hurricane brought in a preponderance of groupers. You can go to a natural bottom and catch all the groupers you want," says Capt. Maurice "Fitz" Fitzsimmons, based out of Orange Beach, Ala.
"There's a lot of reef damage. The larger ones probably have moved and it will take going out to find them. We'll come back strong and be ready for the April 21 snapper season."

Targeting Trophy Cats

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:34 -0400

Wintertime trophy hunting often brings to mind thoughts of whitetail deer, but it's also one of the best times of the year to catch monster blue catfish that will amaze your friends and put your angling skills to the test.

Big blue cats head to deep water in winter, so they're often easier to locate. Catching them is another matter. You might get one bite all day, you might get 5 or 10. But if the stars and planets line up just right, you'll be tangling with the fish of a lifetime.

"It takes a commitment," says Lake of the Ozarks guide Jeff Williams. "A lot of people can't buckle down and fish for two fish a day. But if someone wants to come to fish for big ones, that's my kind of guy."
On rivers, deep holes attract and hold big catfish. Not only do they provide ambush points, but the water temperature is more stable than near the surface, where air temperatures, wind and current cause it to fluctuate.

Big cats typically stay put in winter, instead of roaming around shallow areas as in spring and summer. On rivers such as the Cumberland or Tennessee, look for depths of 40 to 60 feet where there are natural depressions, or scour holes in river bends.

"The Cumberland River produces some awesome catfishing during the winter months," says longtime guide Warren Byrd, who primarily fishes on Lake Barkley in western Kentucky. "Once you find an area with a big cat in it, chances are there are several more there. One hole could pay off day after day."

The Big Four

The Tennessee and Cumberland rivers flow through Alabama and Tennessee, joining the Ohio before it dumps into the Mississippi. All four are legendary waterways due to their structure,
cover, gravel bars, mussel beds, channel drops, snags and tributaries. They also have stable forage bases of threadfin shad, gizzard shad, skipjack herring and crayfish.

World-record blue cats have come from the Mississippi and Tennessee rivers. Keith Floyd, a fisheries biologist with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, says the unpressured catfish population and
its great habitat helps the Tennessee River solidify its stature as one of the nation's best.

"You've just got good habitat," Floyd says. "You have a high fertility level, which in turn produces a large forage base. There is everything there that a fish will want."

Byrd targets big cats from late
October through March, when water temperatures begin to cool rapidly. After locating a hole, usually around 40 to 60 feet deep, he anchors about 50 feet upriver so his baits will drift back. He fishes four rods with oily skipjack herring, using the fillets, head and guts for a sizable presentation. Two lines are cast to the edge of the hole for aggressive fish, and two are cast directly into the hole.

"A normal day will produce catfish in the twenty- to fifty-pound class," says Byrd, who has caught blues weighing more than 80 pounds. "I would say we get four to six big bites a day, but you have to remember that we're targeting trophy catfish."

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Reservoir Cats Prowling

On large reservoirs where current isn't a factor, such as Lake of the Ozarks in central Missouri, catfish will follow schools of bait in autumn and winter. Trophy cats hang below the schools, mopping up scraps left by smaller fish or shad that are dying due to the drop in water temperature.

Guide Jeff Williams begins targeting these fish when water temperatures drop below 50 degrees, usually in mid-November. He uses chunked gizzard shad, which dominate the forage base, and relies on his Lowrance sonar unit to locate structure anywhere from 20 to 75 feet deep.

"In a reservoir, the fish move continuously because there's no current to hold them in an area," Williams says. "They will dominate an area such as a ledge, a stair step on a ledge or a brush pile. But if the forage leaves, tthe fish will leave in a hurry."

Williams applies two strategies in winter. With a little wind, he will drift gizzard shad fillets near a flat where there is an active school of baitfish suspended halfway off the bottom. If there is no wind, he will anchor near channel basins or deep holes with nearby structure such as a ledge or dropoff. Then he'll cast his baits at different depths to see which one produces.

"More than once, I've seen the same rod get hit over and over because that bait is going to the one specific depth where they're feeding," he says. "This can change from spot to spot all over the reservoir, so you have to home in on the subtleties. What may work in one spot may not work three miles away.

"Where the Lowrance tells me the structure is, that's where I'm fishing. These fish are going to change on you just about every day and you have to pay attention to where the first bite comes from."

Williams targets fish in the 30- to 60-pound range, trying to eliminate smaller fish by using bigger baits. He also uses Driftmaster steel rod holders to keep his rods secure. "If you don't have a good rod holder, your rod will be out of the boat."

Big Fish, Big Tackle

Targeting trophy catfish isn't like sitting on a bank catching squealers for a weekend fish fry. It takes big gear and tough line to pull in fish weighing more than 40 pounds. More than likely, too, you'll be hauling them out of river holes over 50 feet deep. That means your equipment needs to be able to hold up for a long fight. Big blue catfish won't just swim up to the surface, they'll play a hard game of tug-o-war.

Barkley Lake guide Warren Byrd uses Quantum Big Cat rods with Penn 309 reels, spooled with 40-pound-test Berkley Big Game line, a 100-pound-test swivel and an 8/0 Gamakatsu Octopus hook. Depending on the current, use a 3- to 6-ounce lead sinker.
On Lake of the Ozarks, guide Jeff Williams opts for a 7-foot Shakespeare Tiger spinning rod with a Pflueger 7550 Contender reel, spooled with 30-pound-test superline.

He Carolina-rigs his setup, using a heavy swivel, 2 to 4 ounces of weight, depending on the depth, and a 2-foot leader of 50-pound-test monofilament. Williams uses filleted or chunked gizzard shad on a Daiichi Circle Chunk Light 7/0 hook.

Contact: Jeff Williams (866-466-5738; www.catfish-guide.com); Warren Byrd (931-232-9786; www.warrens guideservice.com).

Southern Tactics for Northern Bass

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:33 -0400

As we trolled around Cedar Lake on a gorgeous August morning, Scott Lambert suggested several options for fishing the 1,100-acre waterway's docks and shoreline laydowns.

"Topwaters, crankbaits and spinnerbaits are typically good, although around the docks I like to pitch jigs or tubes because the docks are the main cover in the lake," said Lambert, who lives in Jordan, Minn. The tournament angler and guide regularly fishes Cedar, Spring, Prior and other smaller bass-filled lakes near his Scott County home. "Because the bottom is primarily gravel and rocks, tubes and jigs that imitate crawfish or smaller panfish work really well."

Having never been to Minnesota to fish, I asked several local anglers about lure possibilities prior to my trip. Most of the advice was to downsize to smaller offerings such as
1/8-ounce jigheads with finesse worms or Â¼-ounce jigs. Those might work in the creeks or streams of my native
Alabama, but for a Southern boy they ran counter to my typical bass setups of ½- or Ã‚Â¾-ounce sizes-or larger-for fishing on weed-choked Southern
impoundments such as Guntersville, Eufaula, Seminole and Toho.

After 30 or 40 minutes of throwing a Spook Jr., I asked Lambert if he had anything along the lines of a ½-ounce black-and-blue jig, or some ½- or Ã‚Â¾-ounce slip sinkers and a 4-inch tube. His eyes lit up as he dug around in his tackle boxes. I selected a green pumpkin Vibra King tube and matched it with a 3/8-ounce Excalibur Tg tungsten sinker, along with a ½-ounce black-and-blue Booyah jig.

"Man, if you like to pitch," Lambert said, beaming me a grin as he put his trolling motor on high to move to the next line of docks, "we'll have a heck of a time today."

Mighty Fine Pitchin'

For the next several hours we had a slugfest, dissecting docks, pulling out largemouths weighing up to 4½ pounds, and missing several more in the 5- to 6-pound range. It was simple power fishing, nothing more than choosing a likely target, making an
accurate cast and staying focused to set the hook and extract the fish. A strong forage base anchored by crayfish, shad and bream support the bass, muskies and northern pike.

It didn't matter where we put our baits-in the shady spots under walkways at the shoreline, on the corner posts, between docked boats-because on almost every dock there was at least one hungry bass that would put up a fight. Though sometimes, getting the fish out of the water was a battle.

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Lambert explained that the winter-proof metal docks "make fishing tougher because sometimes you're going to get broken off by a fish sawing the line against a piece of metal. You check your line and retie a lot. But that's part of it. The fish are under the docks, and you have to put the baits where the fish are hiding."

For heavy action, Lambert typically spools up with 25- or 17-pound-test Silver Thread line on a G. Loomis flipping stick and opts for a few basic lure colors: red shad, green pumpkin, black-blue and watermelon. He favors a 3/8-ounce Excalibur Tg tungsten sinker, secures it with a plastic peg and inserts rattles in the tube.

On the River

The day before Lambert and I hit Cedar Lake, I joined pro angler Curt Samo of Creston, Ill., on the Mississippi River between Minneapolis and St. Paul to try to pick up some largemouths and smallmouths, both of which flourish in the system.

We locked through Dam No. 1 on the river and began targeting cuts, shallow gravel bars, laydowns and rocky banks. Although everyplace we stopped looked inviting, the bite was tough and we struggled.

An old bridge truss covered in graffiti proved to be a winner. Logs and limbs had piled up around part of the toppled rocky support, and a sandbar dropping into a scour hole on the downriver side looked especially good. My smaller baits kept drifting away in the current, though, so I resorted too my Southern instincts again.

A tube or worm, unless rigged and pegged with a big sinker, wouldn't get to the bottom in the current, and the slack water was too shallow on top of the gravel bar. A crankbait might work, but these were close quarters; the targets were a short pitch away.
Rummaging around in Samo's jig box, I found and tied on a ½-ounce green pumpkin Booyah jig with a matching Yum chunk trailer.

The fish thumped the jig when it hit the bottom of the scour hole. I missed two bites, then on a hunch turned and pitched the jig to the trashy logjam on the other side of the boat. I landed a feisty 2-pound largemouth. After another bite Samo picked up a jig he had tied on. A few more fish couldn't resist and were hauled in for examination.

We decided to lock through the dam and head downriver toward St. Paul, where Samo stopped below an old
railroad bridge. Water was coursing around the rocky support and over a gravel bar. It created a perfect scenario: a hard-bottom feeding shelf of shallow water dropping into deeper water, with current and structure to attract and hold baitfish and bass.

Bass occasionally whacked minnows in the small eddy behind the
current break, which is where Samo and I cast our Spook Jr. and Pop-R topwaters. We noticed fish also feeding in the current rip over the deeper edge of the bar. Patience prevailed and Samo hauled in a 3-pound smallmouth that couldn't handle watching his
topwater bait sashay overhead.

Contact: For information on fishing Minnesota lakes with Scott Lambert, call 612-221-8135.

Trolling for Big Stripers

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:30 -0400

Jim Duckworth firmly believes in the "big bait, big fish" theory when he's trolling for trophy striped bass on the Cumberland River. Hundreds of huge stripers are caught each year by anglers pulling A.C. Plugs that are as long and fat as a stick
of salami. Duckworth has his own
favorites. The central Tennessee guide trolls 10-inch, three-piece hand-painted A.C. Plugs made for him by Allan Cole, the lure's originator. The 10-inch lures will attract stripers that weigh about 25 pounds, although bigger fish may hit them. A 13-inch model, also made by Cole, is Duckworth's go-to bait for targeting trophy stripers in the 40- to 50-pound class.

Lunker Lairs

Summer is prime time for trolling rivers where striped bass are present. In hot weather, the fish tend to congregate in the cooler water at the mouths of feeder creeks or spring holes. Trolling at night and early in the morning in places where cool and warm water meet can be productive. Stripers often suspend around submerged cover such as downed trees in shady areas along the bank. Casting a topwater lure, such as an Excalibur Super Spook
or a Matzuo Spit & Sputter, might result in a hookup if fish are feeding on the surface.

"For someone who is after a trophy, we won't put anything in the water under eighteen inches and often we'll go with the big plugs," Duckworth says. "But it's hard on your psyche to do it. You might go eight hours without a bite. When you get one, though, it's definitely a 'picture fish.' When the fifty- or sixty-pounders are working, and there's a fog on the river in the morning, you can hear them chasing bait. You might have six or seven lines out and every one of them will load
up with a twenty-five- to thirty-pound fish-and there may be a bigger one in there with them."

Duckworth fishes from a 21-foot homemade aluminum boat equipped with a MotorGuide Brute trolling
motor and quiet four-stroke 10-horsepower outboard. He moves about 3 miles per hour, sometimes flowing with the current if it's fast enough. When fishing, Duckworth turns off his depth finder to further reduce subsurface noise that may spook the stripers.

For giant stripers, Duckworth trolls closer to the bank, where fish might be positioned around creek mouths or underwater springs. The A.C. Plugs are put out on Cabela's Off Shore planer boards, which keep the lures about 20 feet off either side
of the boat. Duckworth runs one lure 40 or 50 feet back, with the second about 100 feet behind the boat. He might also have two trolling rods on the front deck, paired with lures that work straight behind the boat about 40 feet back.

Trolling Patterns

On days when strikes are few and far between, Duckworth sometimes uses 8- to 12-inch skipjack herrings. He snags the baitfish below river dams on a rig that consists of multiple small gold hooks tied to a weighted main line. Duckworth hooks the minnow through the lips with a Daiichi Bleeding Bait Octopus Hook. He uses 4/0 for small baits, 8/0 for bigger baits and a 12/0 for the largest herring (the 2-pounders, about 20 inches long).

He rigs a bait to run off one side of the boat and an A.C. Plug on the other. The large planer boards keep the skipjack closer to the surface and prevent
it from diving into cover. The A.C. Plug has a 4-inch, hand-poured tail and two large saltwater treble hooks. A large Lexan lip gives the jointed plug a wide wobble on or just under the surface.

"I pull these baits over gravel bars that might be three feet deep in a twenty-foot river channel, like where a creek comes out," Duckworth says. "I'm looking for the ambush points. If I'm pulling live bait, I'll try to get them close to the bank. But you're constantly reeling in and putting them out because of the cover. Stripers will hold around standing logs that have washed off the bank. If there is flowing water, they're an ambush fish. If not, they're swimminng. They have to have something running over their gills all the time. The bigger they get, the more oxygen they need."

And the bigger the fish, the more wary they become. That's why trolling can be feast or famine some days. "I can catch the bigger stripers three out of five days," Duckworth says. "They're finicky."

Fighting the Fish

Patience and determination are required to whip a big striper.

"You just hang on and you do your best," says Duckworth. "You don't horse it; you just wear it down."
Typically, when you fish with large plugs or with live bait,
a jumbo striper will strike with ample aggression to set the hook
itself. Then it's up to the angler. In smaller rivers, the aim is to keep the fish from diving into cover by watching its direction and turning its head. A strong nylon net with a 26- to 30-inch hoop or a Berkley Big Game Lip Grip is needed to land the fish.

"If I hook a really big fish, I chase it down with my trolling motor and try to keep the line as vertical as possible," Duckworth says. "This makes the striper
have to fight harder, and it tires out sooner. Always keep your rod loaded and your drag set at 70 percent of line strength. This lets the fish run at you, and the rod will pick up the slack and will always keep the hook tight in the striper's mouth."

Big stripers can succumb to stress in summer. If the fish is to be released, it can be revived by holding it by the tail beside the boat (with one hand held under its belly) and letting the current work water through its gills until it has the strength to swim away.

"It's a full-boat operation to land a big fish," Duckworth says. "The boat catches the striper. Someone has to run the boat, someone has to work the net and someone has to reel in the fish. Decide who will take the rod first before you start fishing. You don't have time to argue about who gets the rod."

For information about fishing with Jim Duckworth, visit www.jimduck worth.com, call him at 615-444-2283 or email him at ducktrail@softek.net. Duckworth's fishing videos are available through his Web site or from Bass Pro Shops outlet stores.

ALABAMA:Smith Lake Spotted Bass

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:29 -0400

Alabama Hard-fighting spotted bass are gearing up for the spawn at Smith Lake, a deep, clear impoundment about an hour north of Birmingham. "Spotzillas" pushing six pounds are caught throughout the year, but there's no better time to target them than October through April.

"February is the best time to catch lots of fish of good size," says Craig Daniel of nearby Cullman, a tournament angler and guide. "In summer you can hardly catch anything, but in February the fish will begin moving up to feed before the spawn, which occurs around Easter."

Daniel targets ledges 20 to 30 feet deep, or even deeper, for bigger spots, using 6- or 8-pound-test P-Line and a four-inch Zoom Finesse Worm. He sticks with natural colors or root beer in winter, working them on a quarter- or eighth-ounce Eagle Claw round jighead. He casts to the ledges, allowing the worm to fall and then shaking it gently.

"You just work the bait off the ledge and shake it," he says. "Raise your rod slowly, shake the rod tip four to five inches and then let it fall. The subtle shaking helps the worm wiggle just enough to make it look natural. These fish are holding on the ledges or right off the ledges, suspended in the water, but they're where they can dive to deeper water immediately."

Smith Lake has a 13-to-16-inch slot limit. State officials are urging anglers to keep smaller fish to help thin the population.

Contact: Alabama Department of Conservation (334-242-3465); Speegle's Marina (256-739-0364); Duncan Bridge Marina (205-387-1208). -Alan Clemons

Contour Crappies

outdoorlife-editor — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:26:27 -0400

If you can find the areas in a lake or river where crappies spawn, catching a limit of these prized panfish in the spring doesn't require a lot of expertise. It's the rest of the year that gives some
anglers fits. Before and after the spawn, when crappies stay in deeper water, fishing gets tough.
Roger Gant has it figured out, or at least at Pickwick Lake. A longtime guide on the big lake where Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi converge, Gant adheres to a strict plan year-round for catching slab crappies. His proven method involves slow-trolling small jigs over structure along deep contour lines.

Gant looks for abrupt variances in the bottom such as drop-offs or humps, preferably with cover such as treetops or logs. Provided that baitfish are present in the area, crappies like to stay in deeper water along drop-offs. In the coldest part of winter, Gant starts looking in 20 feet of water and moves deeper from there. When spring starts warming the water, he begins to move up into shallower contours.

The Tennessee fisherman relies on an Eagle depth finder to pinpoint schools of crappies. Once he's ready to begin his search, he begins to troll along a contour line sideways, aided by a trolling motor mounted on the side of his aluminum boat. "Pulling," which is Gant's description of his fishing technique, applies to the sideways approach and to the system by which he and his customers measure out line to fish the right depths. Slow-trolling sideways over the structure allows Gant to create a wider spread, increasing the chances for a bite.

He uses quarter-ounce jigs made by his brother Bill, and his color preferences are red head with chartreuse hair and white head with lime hair. Gant fishes the jigs in a tandem rig and adds a drop of BaitMate Max attractant to the hair of each. In warm weather, he might add a live minnow to the jig.
Gant doesn't fish less than 10 feet deep and usually drops the jigs to a depth between 15 and 25 feet. He measures his "pulls" by engaging the reel and stripping line from the reel to the first rod guide, a known distance. Clients quickly learn to do the same. The rods are then placed in holders mounted on the boat.
Gant believes the slightest wiggle made by an angler holding a rod can cause a crappie to
ignore the jig, which swims more realistically as the boat trolls slowly along over the submerged structure. "At those depths, the fish don't care if it's a quarter-ounce jig," Gant says.

Crappies prefer cool water temperatures. In spring and autumn, they are even aggressive but become more difficult to catch during the summer. That's when Gant finds the exact depth where the fish are and swims the jigs in front of them to trigger bites.

"What you're looking for [BRACKET "in summer"] is the high-percentage strike," says Gant. "There are some fish that will bite no matter what, and on each drift over the structure you'll catch those fish. Sometimes they all are aggressive and sometimes they won't hit a lick. But a few will, and that's your high-percentage crappie. Then you just keep moving on to the next batch."
Contact: Roger Gant (662-287-2017).

Disappearing Act

outdoorlife-editor — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 20:00:00 -0400

When Andy Pipkin decided to touch up the minor rust spots on his trusty deer rifle, he went all out with some spray paint and a few dollars' worth of supplies, and created a camouflage pattern from the crown to the stock.

"I found a Web site that showed how one guy had done it to his gun, but it wasn't as detailed as I wanted mine to be," says Pipkin, who lives in Knoxville, Tenn. "So I improvised a little bit."

Pipkin's simple steps worked for me with a 20-gauge Stoeger Coach Gun. I'm using it for turkey hunting this season and plan to use it for squirrel hunting. My preferred gobbler shooting range is about 20 yards. That, combined with the reliable Hevi-Shot loads available, makes the Coach Gun
a reliable turkey gun. Plus it's lighter to carry than
my 12-gauge, which still sees springtime action. The
20-gauge also will be used by my young son and daughter as they begin hunting and target shooting.

From start to finish, the project took about three hours. That includes preparation and drying time for the primer and coats of paint. The steps should apply to any shotgun, rifle or bow and the results will last for years, with minor touch-ups from time to time to take care of dings and scratches.

What You Need >>

Acetone or rubbing alcohol

Rags and cotton swabs

Steel wool

Masking tape

Rubber gloves

Gray primer

Flat spray paint-khaki, olive drab, forest green and black

Total cost approx. $30

[pagebreak]
1. Make sure the gun is unloaded; then clean the barrel, forearm and stock with acetone or rubbing alcohol and a clean cotton rag. Lightly rub the stock, forearm and metal parts with a steel wool pad. This will help the primer adhere better. The same can be done with a synthetic stock. It's a good idea to wear rubber gloves to keep oils from your hands off the gun surfaces.

2. Reassemble the shotgun and again clean it thoroughly with alcohol or acetone. Use masking tape to cover any areas you don't want to paint. I covered the triggers and checkering on the forearm and stock. If you have a scope on the gun, remove it or cover the lenses well with tape. Plug or cover the ends of the barrels.

3. If you can, tie a string to the trigger guard and hang the gun from a tree limb so you don't have to handle the gun as you paint it. Thoroughly apply a coat of dark gray primer to serve as a good base. If the outer layers of paint get scratched, the dark primer will show through instead of wood or metal. Begin painting with flat spray paint, starting with a khaki layer over the primer. Use small limbs, leaves and cedar or pine boughs to build a pattern. Start in close with the spray can for sharp lines, working with the khaki and then adding black or forest green in layers of varying darkness.

4. Spraying from a distance creates shadowing and splatter effects. If you have an area that's too dark or if one color
prevails, hit it up close with a lighter shade over a leaf or twig to add detail. When you finish a layer of a specific color, allow 5 to 10 minutes for it to dry thoroughly before beginning the next layer.

After the paint has dried, remove the masking tape and use a cotton swab dipped in acetone or alcohol to remove any wayward paint. Don't use the acetone to clean the gun again, however, because the pattern might smudge. Allow the gun to air-dry for a couple of days. To clean dirt or oils after the gun has been painted, use a soft cloth and a dab of dish-washing liquid with warm water.

Bare Bones Trophy

outdoorlife-editor — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 20:00:00 -0400

If a growling bear
or placid whitetail hanging on your wall seems a bit common, take your trophy to the next level: Boil its skull. You'll be left with a sure-fire conversation starter.

Step 1: The Pre-Boil

Remove as much flesh and internal tissue as possible before you begin. Work outdoors with a pot large enough to hold water to cover the skull. A portable propane fish cooker will allow you to regulate the gas.

Step 2: Clean and Dry

Use a handful of soda ash per gallon of water to help gel the meat. Boil the skull until the tissue is almost falling from the bone. After it cools, use a knife or brush to remove tissue inside and out. Wash the skull thoroughly with water and let it dry completely-sometimes for up to two weeks.

Step 3: Degrease It

Hog and bear skulls have more fat, and therefore more grease, than deer skulls. Degrease the skull by soaking it in lacquer thinner for about a week, completely covered.

Step 4: Final Touches

After again drying the skull thoroughly, soak it for an hour or two in 37
percent hydrogen peroxide. Once the skull is dry, even out rough spots with flat white paint, then spray on a few thin coats of flat satin clear gloss.

Disappearing Act

outdoorlife-editor — Thu, 31 Mar 2005 19:00:00 -0500

"I found a Web site that showed how one guy had done it to his gun, but it wasn't as detailed as I wanted mine to be," says Pipkin, who lives in Knoxville, Tenn. "So I improvised a little bit."

Pipkin's simple steps worked for me with a 20-gauge Stoeger Coach Gun. I'm using it for turkey hunting this season and plan to use it for squirrel hunting. My preferred gobbler shooting range is about 20 yards. That, combined with the reliable Hevi-Shot loads available, makes the Coach Gun a reliable turkey gun. Plus it's lighter to carry than my 12-gauge, which still sees springtime action. The 20-gauge also will be used by my young son and daughter as they begin hunting and target shooting.

From start to finish, the project took about three hours. That includes preparation and drying time for the primer and coats of paint. The steps should apply to any shotgun, rifle or bow and the results will last for years, with minor touch-ups from time to time to take care of dings and scratches.

1 Make sure the gun is unloaded; then clean the barrel, forearm and stock with acetone or rubbing alcohol and a clean cotton rag. Lightly rub the stock, forearm and metal parts with a steel wool pad. This will help the primer adhere better. The same can be done with a synthetic stock. It's a good idea to wear rubber gloves to keep oils from your hands off the gun surfaces.

2 Reassemble the shotgun and again clean it thoroughly with alcohol or acetone. Use masking tape to cover any areas you don't want to paint. I covered the triggers and checkering on the forearm and stock. If you have a scope on the gun, remove it or cover the lenses well with tape. Plug or cover the ends of the barrels.

3 If you can, tie a string to the trigger guard and hang the gun from a tree limb so you don't have to handle the gun as you paint it. Thoroughly apply a coat of dark gray primer to serve as a good base. If the outer layers of paint get scratched, the dark primer will show through instead of wood or metal. Begin painting with flat spray paint, starting with a khaki layer over the primer. Use small limbs, leaves and cedar or pine boughs to build a pattern. Start in close with the spray can for sharp lines, working with the khaki and then adding black or forest green in layers of varying darkness.

4 Spraying from a distance creates shadowing and splatter effects. If you have an area that's too dark or if one color prevails, hit it up close with a lighter shade over a leaf or twig to add detail. When you finish a layer of a specific color, allow 5 to 10 minutes for it to dry thoroughly before beginning the next layer.

After the paint has dried, remove the masking tape and use a cotton swab dipped in acetone or alcohol to remove any wayward paint. Don't use the acetone to clean the gun again, however, because the pattern might smudge. Allow the gun to air-dry for a couple of days. To clean dirt or oils after the gun has been painted, use a soft cloth and a dab of dish-washing liquid with warm water.

WHAT YOU NEED —Acetone or rubbing alcohol —Rags and cotton swabs —Steel wool —Masking tape —Rubber gloves —Gray primer —Flat spray paint—khaki, olive drab, forest green and black —Total cost approx. $30

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