Горностай - News

<strong>Горностай</strong> – это один из самых маленьких хищников России. Длина его тела от кончика морды до основания хвоста в среднем составляет около 28 см, а длина хв

Горностай – это один из самых маленьких хищников России. Длина его тела от кончика морды до основания хвоста в среднем составляет около 28 см, а длина хвоста – 6-10 см. Самцы несколько крупнее самок. Длина самцов от кончика носа до кончика хвоста равна 19,7-32,5 см, самок – 17-27 см. Самец горностая весит 180-300 г, вес самки – 100-150 г. Это изящный зверёк, с тонким, вытянутым, гибким телом. У него небольшая голова на высокой шее, притупленная треугольная мордочка, стоячие, довольно широкие, но аккуратно закругленные уши. У млекопитающего 34 небольших, но очень острых зуба. Угрожая, горностай так широко открывает пасть, что нижняя челюсть становится под прямым углом к верхней, и голова его в этот момент становится похожей на змеиную.

Post: 31 May 22:22

В Беларуси широко распространен на всей территории, встречается во всех районах, но всюду относительно редок. В целом численность <strong>горностая</strong> в 2-3 раза ни

В Беларуси широко распространен на всей территории, встречается во всех районах, но всюду относительно редок. В целом численность горностая в 2-3 раза ниже численности ласки. Горностаи Беларуси относятся к подвиду среднерусский горностай (Сержанин, 1961 и Савицкий и др., 2005). Однако эти авторы приводят разные латинские названия. Первый указывает М. е. erminea, вторые - M. e. aestiva. Fauna Europaea относит наших горностаев к М. е. erminea. Мелкий зверек с удлиненным, гонким и гибким телом, короткими конечностями и сравнительно длинным непушистым хвостом.

Post: 5 July 10:01

<strong>Горноста́й</strong> Русское «<strong>горностай</strong>» — из праславянского *gornostalь/ *gornostajь(?), а там — заимствование из древнесаксонского, *harmenes t

Горноста́й Русское «горностай» — из праславянского *gornostalь/ *gornostajь(?), а там — заимствование из древнесаксонского, *harmenes tail, буквально «хвост горностая». Слово отражает экономические связи, как и заимствование в обратном направлении, славянское хомѣсто́ръ («хомяк»), которое распространилось на все современные германские языки (и не только на них) и дало hamster, hamstere или hamstur.[источник не указан 758 дней] Однако, согласно М. Ф. Мурьянову, славянское хомѣсто́ръ происходит непосредственно от латинского comestor (вариант chomestor), то есть буквально «обжора», а также переносное значение «нахлебник». Вероятно, в германские языки проникло из латыни независимо[1]. По мнению Фасмера, этимология праславянского *gornostajь остается невыясненной[2]. В ряде диалектов северного наречия русского языка и диалектах позднего формирования севернорусского типа, распространённых в Поволжье, Урале и Сибири для наименования данного животного употребляется слово «горносталь/горнос

Post: 6 October 10:09

СРОКИ ОХОТЫ В КАБАРДИНО-БАЛКАРСКОЙ РЕСПУБЛИКЕ 2025: Даты и правила; Осень, зима, весна, лето Кабардино-Балкарская Республика сезоны охоты 2025. Когда открытие и закрытие

СРОКИ ОХОТЫ В КАБАРДИНО-БАЛКАРСКОЙ РЕСПУБЛИКЕ 2025: Даты и правила; Осень, зима, весна, лето Кабардино-Балкарская Республика сезоны охоты 2025. Когда открытие и закрытие охоты в Кабардино-Балкарской Республике, правила региона, нормы и сроки добычи по зонам и районам. Охота в Кабардино-Балкарии 2025, полезная информация для охотников. Важно строго соблюдать установленные сроки, охотиться в разрешённых угодьях, оформлять путёвки и лицензии заблаговременно, не превышать норм добычи. Когда открытие весенней охоты в регионе и каких чисел выходят сроки по видам дичи? Актуальные параметры сейзона приведены ниже. КАКИЕ ВИДЫ ДИЧИ доступны в Кабардино-Балкарской Республике? - Тур (кавказский горный козёл) - Пернатая дичь (перепел, дикий голубь, куропатка, болотная дичь) - Боровая и горная дичь (вальдшнеп, кеклик) - Водоплавающая дичь (дикая утка, гусь) - Пушной зверь (соболь, куница, горностай, ласка, норка, хорь, ондатра) - Заяц-русак - Кабан - Олень пятнистый (все возрастно-половые группы

Post: 21 March 16:01

トロフィームース：それは何ですか、そしてそれを見つける方法 トロフィームースは、ハンターの間で広く使用されている用語です。 それはそのサイズ、ビルドと角のために際立っている個々のムースを指します。 この記事では、トロフィームースとは何か、それを識別する方法、そしてその狩猟と保全について知っておくべきことを見ていきます。 トロフィームー

トロフィームース：それは何ですか、そしてそれを見つける方法 トロフィームースは、ハンターの間で広く使用されている用語です。 それはそのサイズ、ビルドと角のために際立っている個々のムースを指します。 この記事では、トロフィームースとは何か、それを識別する方法、そしてその狩猟と保全について知っておくべきことを見ていきます。 トロフィームースとは何ですか？ トロフィームースは、その健康と遺伝子の強さの兆候として使用される印象的な角を持っている大人の男性です。 ヘラジカの角のペアは2メートルのスパンに達することができ、最大30キログラムの重さがあり、有蹄動物の中で最も印象的なトロフィーの1つにな トロフィーの特性は、ほとんどの場合、ホーンのサイズ、それらの対称性、および「枝」の数、つまりメインロッドからの枝によって評価されます。 どのようにトロフィームースを識別するには？ 1. 角の大きさ（トロフィー） 最も明白な基準は、角のサイズと形状です。 ヘラジカがトロフィーと見なされるためには、その角が十分に発達していなければならず、通常は狩猟協会によって設定された特定のサイズを超えていなければなりません。 2. ムースの時代 高齢の人は、ほとんどの場合、より大きな角を持っています。 ハンターは、ヘラジカの年齢を、歯のサイズと状態、および角の厚さによって判断できます。 3. ムースの一般的な健康 トロフィームースは、そのサイズだけでなく、その健康状態によっても区別されます。 光沢のある毛皮と健康な角を持つよく飼われたムースは、高い遺伝的性質を「語ります」。 トロフィームースはどこで狩ることができますか？ トロフィームースは、カナダ、アラスカ、スカンジナビア、ロシアとベラルーシの一部などの北部地域に住んでいます。 狩猟を成功させるためには、彼らの習慣、生息地、季節的な移動を知ることが重要です。トロフィームース狩猟には、準備、地域の知識、狩猟ルールの尊重が必要です。 ムース狩猟ライセンスを取得する：ムース狩猟ライセンス法は、国や地域によって異なりますので、お住まいの地域のルールを確認してください。 原則として、トロフィームース狩りは猟師とハンターと一緒に行われます。 ヘラジカ狩りの戦術: ムースの行動を研究し、監視方法やアプローチを使用し、トロフィームースを見つけようとするのがいつ、どこで最善かを一般的に知っています。 トロフィームース狩猟は信じられないほど困難で危険です、それは地元のハンターの中から熟練したトレーナーを見つけることが必要です。 ムース狩りの倫理: 人口と生態系の保全を心に留めておくことが重要です。 そして、ムースを狩る猟師の勧告に厳密に従ってください。 ヘラジカの個体群の保全と生態学: ムースは生態系において重要な役割を果たしています。 狩猟は、家畜の数を維持し、人口の健康を確保するために規制されるべきである。 保全と持続可能な狩猟プログラムは、この雄大な種とその自然の生息地を保護するのに役立ちます。 そして、ムースはかなり一般的な動物であり、絶滅の危機に瀕していませんが、トロフィーの標本はますます稀になっています。 結論 トロフィームースは単なる獲物ではなく、野生生物の成功、強さ、健康の象徴です。 これらの生き物の尊重、狩猟規範の尊重、生態学の理解は、将来の世代のためにそれらを保存するのに役立ちます。 あなたがトロフィームース狩りに興味があるなら、必要な訓練の世話をし、倫理的な狩猟基準を遵守してください。

Post: 2 August 17:22

The 5 Best Thermal Monoculars of 2024 Everybody wants to know what goes bump in the night, even if it doesn’t bump and even if it’s not nighttime. Happily, thermal monoc

The 5 Best Thermal Monoculars of 2024 Everybody wants to know what goes bump in the night, even if it doesn’t bump and even if it’s not nighttime. Happily, thermal monoculars, a new and energetic category of gear, often identify what used to be invisible. They can help you see everything from human intruders on the other side of a fence, to coyotes and raccoons crouching in the dark, to a problematic wire in a household electrical outlet. We’re talking about monoculars, rangefinders, and cameras that use temperature variations, rather than visible light, to form images that can be captured as photographs or videos, or simply delivered to your eye to answer that ancient question: what’s out there? I’ve used this new class of “optics” over the past year to find newborn calves in a deadly blizzard, to find my ice-fishing buddies in the fog, to detect hidden electrical problems that might burn my house down, to hunt coyotes at midnight, and to finally even the odds on crop-raiding feral hogs. You could also use them to recover wounded game where it’s legal. Here are my picks for the best thermal monoculars, which range from flashlight-looking monoculars to small thermal viewers that connect to smartphones. Best Overall: Leica Calonox View Best Rangefinding: Pulsar Axion 2 LRF XG35 Best Entry-Level: FLIR Scout TKx Best Phone-Enabled: Xinfrared T2 Pro Best for Hunting: Zeiss DTI 3/35 How I Tested the Best Thermal Monoculars The field includes brand-new units that are just hitting the market this winter, others that I’ve tested over the course of the past year, and a few oddballs. My intention wasn’t to test every unit on the market, but rather handle a representative sample of products in order to provide a performance baseline. Also note that we’re not covering thermal rifle scopes in this particular roundup. I started by measuring attributes, assessing how far each thermal monocular could effectively detect a standard chemical hand warmer in the dark. I then used each unit on midnight-shift rounds of a calving operation to detect cows that wander away from the herd at night to give birth. The thermal mapping capability of these viewers can even show which cows are close to calving based on rising abdominal temperature. I also used the thermals on a series of sub-zero winter coyote and cottontail hunts to test their capabilities in the field and assess how their batteries would hold up to extreme cold. I enlisted the help of a digital (and thermal) native, Kaden Fossum, who independently tested all the units over the course of the fall and winter from his home in southeast Montana. Fossum measured the range, thermal sensitivity, and field-worthiness of each unit over several weeks of coyote hunting. Most of the videos and images that accompany each product review is from Fossum’s field work. Both Fossum and I assessed each unit’s imagery, both the type and utility of the palettes available and the resolution of the images. And we scored each unit’s ease of use and ergonomics.

Post: 29 January 17:54

🇺🇸 🍿 NEW FILM on its way! - Join us for one of the most sought after hunts in Spain, the Spanish Ibex Slam. Follow the steps of our good friend Craig, on what has been

🇺🇸 🍿 NEW FILM on its way! - Join us for one of the most sought after hunts in Spain, the Spanish Ibex Slam. Follow the steps of our good friend Craig, on what has been an amazing trip with us. 10 incredible days sharing the same passion and a friendship that will last forever. From north to south, subscribe our youtube channel to watch what a hunt for our 4 Ibex subspecies is all about! Stay tuned and don’t forget to visit us in Nashville at SCI booth # 2932. Dreams in the mountains come true.🇨🇦 ~ ~ #spanishibex #spanishibexslam #gredosibex #beceiteibex #rondaibex #southeasternibex #huntinginspain #capra #mountainhunting #safariclubinternational #cic #sci #dsc #gsco #wildsheepfoundation #firstforhunters #laexcelenciaenlacaza #hunt #caza #chasse #caccia #jagd #охота #охотник #caminorealhuntingonsultants

Post: 24 January 09:32

ЛЫЖИ, ЗУБРЫ И КИНО ❄️ Новинка! Ещё один зимний экотур на 1 день Это путешествие пройдет вдоль берега Западной Березины, по заснеженным тропам, через старые еловые 🌲 и

ЛЫЖИ, ЗУБРЫ И КИНО ❄️ Новинка! Ещё один зимний экотур на 1 день Это путешествие пройдет вдоль берега Западной Березины, по заснеженным тропам, через старые еловые 🌲 и смешенные леса. Настоящая зимняя сказка, не иначе!) В местных лесах обитает много диких животных, 🐾 следы которых мы изучим и определим. Отличительными особенностями этого тура станут новая трасса зимнего маршрута, новая уютная усадьба прямо на берегу реки, зубриное сафари утром 🦬 и тематическое вечернее кино на проекторе! Но, как и прежде в наших зимних путешествиях вас ждут специальные широкие лесные фотогеничные лыжи, наши природные гиды, четкая организация, забота и уют 🤗 Это путешествие вы можете подарить в виде сертификата 🎁 своим друзьям и близким). Мы всё оформим, подготовим и вышлем вам почтой. Или можете получить оперативно сертификат в электронном виде. Желаем прекрасного зимнего настроения!

Post: 3 January 09:16

В США зафиксировали случай превращения оленя в «зомби». Об этом пишет The Guardian. Сообщается, что смертельное заболевание CWD, которое является одним из видов коровьег

В США зафиксировали случай превращения оленя в «зомби». Об этом пишет The Guardian. Сообщается, что смертельное заболевание CWD, которое является одним из видов коровьего бешенства, поражает мозг оленей, заставляя их бесцельно бродить в округе, пока не умрет. При этом животное перестает реагировать на внешние раздражители и не боится людей. По словам ученых, болезнь не лечится и чрезвычайно заразна. Ученые опасаются, что болезнь может мутировать и начнет заражать людей. На данный момент она зафиксирована в 31 штате США и двух канадских провинциях. Подъехали спойлеры на 2024 год.

Post: 27 December 11:12

Une bonne journée de réussite et de rigolade, l’occasion de sortir le beretta aux petits gibiers avant les fêtes, j’aurais l’occasion de prélever deux bécasses et deux fa

Une bonne journée de réussite et de rigolade, l’occasion de sortir le beretta aux petits gibiers avant les fêtes, j’aurais l’occasion de prélever deux bécasses et deux faisans, beaucoup d’oiseaux de vu concernant les bécasses c’était excellent, mais j’ai fait mon plus beau loupé sur un faisan je peux vous le dire 🤣 Un superbe arrêt des chiens, tout était au top sauf le tireur 🥳 Tout le monde avait les yeux sur moi en plus 😆 Voilà rien à ajouter vive la chasse et les copains 🤩😂 #chasse #petitgibier #becasse #faisan #Season20232024 #harkila_official #beretta #berettaofficial #chasseenfrance #chassepassion #huntinglife #hunterxhunter #Hunt #lovehunting #chasseurs #winchesterammunition #chasseresse #huntress #passionchasse #faunesauvage #faunesauvagedefrance #outdoor #shotgun #Hunting_outdoors #bellejournee #berettashotguns #copains #cartridge #Hunter #shooting

Post: 22 December 09:11

I shot this button buck Saturday night while sitting at the base of a giant oak tree. Three does came out of the cedars earlier that evening, but they were about 155 yard

I shot this button buck Saturday night while sitting at the base of a giant oak tree. Three does came out of the cedars earlier that evening, but they were about 155 yards away and moving at a pretty good clip. Then this young deer came out, and when he finally moved out from behind a couple trees in front of me, he stopped quartering toward me and gave me a shot at about 75 yards. I don’t prefer to hunt with a muzzleloader, but the December season seems to be about the only time I get the opportunity to hunt deer. The shot rang and after a moment of blindness, the smoke cleared. I saw the deer bolt about 50 yards to my right. I thought I’d missed him, but as he approached a couple lone cedar trees in the open, he made a sharp, confused U-turn, and then crashed down into the dry creek bed to the north. I almost expected him to get up and continue running over the hill, or slip away down the dry bed. Trembling, I reloaded my gun. If he was there, I needed to give him time to die without the shock of my presence. But I couldn’t wait too long. It was getting dark, and I am not an experienced tracker. Finally, I worked up the nerve to walk up. I looked up and down the dry creek bed, but saw nothing. Then I walked toward the cedar trees, and there he was, lying at the edge of the dry bank. As I watched the last bit of life leave his eyes, I gave out a cathartic sob, the tension of the last few minutes releasing like the valve on a pressure cooker. Then I wiped my face, got myself together and called my friend and colleague at the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission Cassidy, who was already making her way toward me. Cassidy made an offering of water as “last drink,” because there was no sage nearby to place into his mouth. She spoke words of grace and gratitude over the fallen animal — I’ve always admired my friend’s way with words. My bullet tore up his liver, which caused massive bleeding and a quick death. Cassidy and I dragged the deer to the truck in the dark. Back at the cabin, I seared his tenderloins in a hot pan and made a quick pan sauce of balsamic vinegar and jelly that I found in the kitchen. We enjoyed our celebratory deer camp meal with wild watercress soup, which I picked while scouting that morning.

Post: 21 December 18:48

One for the Road Pachydermia The fading symbol of Africa To the wide world, the elephant is the symbol of Africa. Hunters might hold out for the lion, and the greater

One for the Road Pachydermia The fading symbol of Africa To the wide world, the elephant is the symbol of Africa. Hunters might hold out for the lion, and the greater kudu has it advocates, but ask the average person what animal he thinks of when you mention Africa and the answer will almost always be “the elephant.” This fact is important when you consider the coverage given to game conservation generally by the mainstream media. The mountain nyala may be seriously endangered, or the eastern bongo, or giant sable, but mention those to the average journalist—or, more to the point, the average editor—and you will likely get nothing more than a strange look. Every couple of years, The Economist, London’s highly respected international news magazine, remembers the elephant and sends someone to take a look at its status. One expects high quality journalism from The Economist, and usually gets it. Its most recent articles on elephant are broadly excellent, but with one curious blind spot: Nowhere that I can find do they mention legal trophy hunting, either as a means of raising revenue or controlling elephant numbers. And nowhere do they credit hunting organizations such as Safari Club International for their efforts to save wildlife in general, and the elephant in particular. The Economist’s writers, who are anonymous, seem to operate under the same biases that afflict journalists everywhere. Certain subjects are taboo. Saying anything good about big-game hunting is one such. The corruption and venality of African politicians is another, especially if that politician was somehow connected with “freedom fighting.” For example, in the 1970s, Jomo Kenyatta’s wife (one of them, at least) was acknowledged to be one of the biggest traffickers in illegal ivory in East Africa. Was this ever mentioned in The Times when it wrote about the massive elephant slaughter that occurred back then? Never, that I know of. Kenyatta, one of the least admirable of all the immediate post-independence leaders, was given almost saintly status, and this particular wife enjoyed the same untouchable reputation. I knew foreign correspondents in Nairobi back then who were well aware of the situation and filed stories about it, but these were invariably spiked or all references to Frau Kenyatta removed. Twenty years ago, Gray’s Sporting Journal dispatched me to Africa with instructions to come back with an in-depth story on the status of the African elephant, which was widely believed to be seriously endangered. Of course, it was not endangered in the least. At the time, the numbers were estimated at about 750,000 remaining—a far cry from 2.5 million, or even the 1.5 million estimated in the 1970s, but still a long way from endangered. Certainly, in some areas, notably Kenya, numbers were down drastically due to poaching, but in other areas, like Kwando in Botswana, elephant numbers were burgeoning to the point of serious habitat destruction. I spent time with various elephant biologists, and all told the same story: The major obstacle to any positive action on behalf of elephants was public misconceptions about the actual situation. No question, the situation was dire, and probably terminal in some areas. But in others, circumstances were totally different, and totally different actions were required—actions that were blocked by supposedly well-meaning people who thought they knew best. The essential problem, I was told, lay in one fact. In the mid-1800s, when Europeans began arriving in central Africa, they found islands of people in a sea of elephants. Today, there are islands of elephants in a sea of people. That’s fact number one. Fact number two is that, historically, these vast numbers of elephants moved in continuous migrations, covering thousands of miles. Fact number three is that elephants, all their admirable qualities aside, are intensely destructive animals. They kill and uproot trees, devour vegetation, and generally devastate their environment. As long as they were migrating, this was not a problem; quite the opposite, it was an essential part of regeneration, just like periodic veld fires. Once they could no longer migrate, however, once they were confined to a particular area, the devastation became intense, not only to their detriment but to all the other animals, birds, and reptiles that called it home. This is really an insuperable problem, since the expanding human settlements and infrastructure of Africa block migration routes, and this is almost certainly going to get worse. Some do-gooder conservation groups look at this situation and suggest that the answer is to take elephants from where there are too many and relocate them to areas where there are too few. This is an attractive proposition, especially when it conjures images presented in movies of a baby elephant in a sling beneath a helicopter, squealing with glee as it is transported to its new home. First of all, where do you put them? When elephants have been eradicated from an area, it is usually for a reason. Either they threatened the human population or they were easily vulnerable to poaching. Will those people want elephants returned? Unlikely. Would they be safe from poachers? Unlikelier still. As for relocating them in the first place, it’s a massive, expensive undertaking fraught with difficulties. They need to be relocated in family groups. They need to be transported in a sedated condition, in heavy vehicles, for long distances, over bad roads, with veterinarians in constant attendance, and even then they can only be sedated for short periods. Intelligent elephants may be, but they don’t seem to accept the explanation that all of this is for their own good. Ask the average person about legal hunting, or even culls, to reduce numbers, versus relocating surplus animals, and everyone will say they should be relocated. When was the last time you saw an article in The Economist, The Times, or anywhere else, about the realities of relocation? In its most recent article about African elephants, The Economist concluded that the causes of elephant poaching were poverty and bad governance and law enforcement. No kidding. Really? In another Economist article several years ago, looking at the plight of elephants and rhinos in the Northern Frontier District of Kenya (the NFD, as it was known years ago), the writers concluded that the animals needed somehow to be given economic value in order to encourage the local tribes, like the Turkana, to protect rather than poach. Nowhere in the article did they even mention legal sport hunting as a possible means of helping to do so. Legal hunting has been a thing of the past in Kenya since 1977. That is not going to change, and the idea that rich eco-tourists will want to visit the hostile environment of the NFD, and pay enough money to make it worthwhile, is a pipe dream. Other Economist articles have stressed how dangerous it is to even approach the NFD, and it’s been closed to outsiders because of that, off and on, for years. The advantages of having a legal hunting infrastructure are well known: You have camps with armed men in them, you have regular patrols as hunting vehicles crisscross the territory, you provide permanent employment and a source of hard currency for the locals, and you give the game department more revenue with which to hire and pay game scouts. The abolition of legal hunting in 1977, with the resulting elimination of all of these benefits in and around protected areas, was a major factor in the explosion of uninhibited poaching of elephants and rhinos in Kenya in the late ‘70s and ‘80s. There was little to stop them. Yet the hunting ban was widely applauded as a positive move toward game conservation when, in fact, it was the polar opposite. The other advantage of having such a hunting community is that it gives it hunting a constituency, and a constituency has a voice in government. No voice in government? Then no one cares. Would a big-game hunter pay big bucks to hunt elephants in the NFD? Probably he would, but once you start looking at all the different aspects and difficulties of such an idea, the possibility is extremely remote. In an area where tribes depend on cattle, where grass is scarce and water scarcer, trying to convince herdsmen to value elephants and rhinos over cattle and goats is a waste of time. To my mind, probably the best use of the mountains of “save the elephant” donations held by the big wildlife funds would be straightforward bribes to the tribesmen, along with giving modern weapons and substantial salaries to the guards, and instituting a shoot-on-sight anti-poaching policy. The alternative is having game scouts and guards who are outgunned by the poachers, who have no qualms about shooting anyone in uniform—or anyone else for that matter. In today’s environment, the surest way to raise an outcry is to have some predominantly white organization try to tell a black government what it should do. In between the black and the white lies the grey of the elephant, at the mercy of politics, political correctness, and irrevocable change. Elephant in the Okavango. Botswana has one of the few remaining healthy elephant populations—healthy to the point of threatening their own well-being through habitat destruction. Proper elephant management is difficult because of international opinion, made all the worse in the age of the Internet. By Terry Wieland

Post: 15 December 09:27

A Night in Hippo Heaven By Donald J Stoner It is said that hippos kill more people in Africa than any other animal (if you exclude mosquitos). But does that qualify

A Night in Hippo Heaven By Donald J Stoner It is said that hippos kill more people in Africa than any other animal (if you exclude mosquitos). But does that qualify them to be classified as dangerous game. I have certainly had my doubts until, that is, an experience I had one night in a farmer’s field. There is no question that an animal that weighs two tons, can run up to 20 mph and has huge teeth, has the potential of being dangerous. The danger is highest if you happen to catch a hippo on the land. Water is their preferred environment and they seem less threatened there. I don’t think any predator will attack a full-grown hippo in the water, although a big croc will certainly snatch a small hippo given half a chance. On the other hand, lion, especially a large pride, will attack a hippo if they catch it on land. This may have something to do with hippo temperament when they are away from water. Threaten a hippo on land, and it will head straight for the nearest water and run over or through anything foolish enough to get in the way. This is usually not “charging”; it is simply escaping. Of course, if you happen to be between the hippo and the water, the effect for you is not much different. He will not hesitate to kill you as he goes by. Since I have never really considered hippo “dangerous” game, I have never had a great desire to hunt one. Shooting a hippo in the water, while it can be challenging, is hardly dangerous. Thus, hippo was never on my “wish list”. However, in 1996 when on safari with my wife, an unusual opportunity arose that changed my opinion of hippo. I had a wonderful safari in a game-rich area bordering the Kruger Park. During that safari I had taken both lion and leopard. The leopard had not been planned but the opportunity came due to heavy predation on a nearby farm. The hunt for lion and leopard consumed almost all of our three weeks scheduled safari time, but in addition to taking a lot of bait, I had also taken several quality trophies. I was well past satisfied with the success of the hunt, so I had packed up my rifles and gear and planned to enjoy another couple of days in camp before catching the plane home. On the morning of our next to last day in camp, my PH excitedly came to our room and asked if I would like to take a hippo. “Well, not exactly! But I will listen to your proposition.” He then explained that a sweet potato farm in an area about an hour from our camp had just called him because they had been given a problem permit to kill a hippo that had been raiding their farm every night for two weeks. This was a real problem because the hippo was consuming an estimated 450 pounds of potatoes a night and doing great damage to the remaining plants. He then explained that the farm was near a reserve that was fenced off from private farm land to protect the crops. The fact that the hippo was leaving the reserve indicated it was probably a young male that had been driven out of the pod by the dominant bull. When displaced, they can become quite a problem as they search for new territory. Because of this behavior, my PH thought the offender would not be a trophy bull, but since the price was right, he suggested we take the job. He explained that we would have to be certain we killed the culprit and to do that we would have to catch him feeding on the field at night. He explained that we would have to wait till late evening and then, every hour or two, we would start near the river and walk the fields, working our way toward the back of the farm moving in absolute silence and darkness. We would find the hippo by sound since they make a lot of noise chewing up potatoes. Once located, we would get as close as we could and then turn the lights on him. That would trap the hippo. He would have to come by us to get back to safety and would probably try to kill us as he went by. His selling point was not the trophy, but rather that it was indeed a dangerous hunt. OK! Now you have my attention. I unpacked my .375 and solid ammo and my PH began making the arrangements with both the farmer and the game management department. Late in the afternoon we drove the hour or so to the farm where we met the farmer and his farm manager. They showed us around the farm just as it was getting dark. In doing so, we surprised a sounder of bush pigs which they also needed to remove, and I made a lucky shot from a moving vehicle at a running pig and put him down. It was a good start to the evening. After we surveyed the farm and developed our strategy, we parked under an old tree near the riverside of the farm and had some coffee and a light snack. It was a clear, cold night and the miles of plowed fields soon were shrouded in darkness. I was then given strict instructions that I will never forget. “You must remain absolutely silent until we locate him and get the light on him. As soon as the light hits him, you start shooting. Shoot for the head or neck, but get as many shots into him as you can. I will be standing next to you and the second I don’t see empty cases flying from your rifle, I will start shooting. This is serious and you must put him down quickly or someone will get hurt. Do you understand?” OK, I think I had the picture! I better shoot fast and well or you are going to do it for me and if I mess up, we will all be in a lot of trouble. I got it. Yea, right! Can I go home now? This was not exactly what I expected. Stumbling around in the dark with a hippo, not to mention all the other interesting things you might stumble into like mambas, cobras, adders and who knows what else, scarcely seems like fun.

Post: 15 December 09:24

In Chile, an Animal Whose Numbers Please No One CERRO SOMBRERO, Chile — The guidebooks for Tierra del Fuego somehow fail to mention the gunfire. From the mist-shrouded

In Chile, an Animal Whose Numbers Please No One CERRO SOMBRERO, Chile — The guidebooks for Tierra del Fuego somehow fail to mention the gunfire. From the mist-shrouded Patagonian steppe to the dense beech forests, shots pierce the air here for months on end each year. Hunters armed with telescopic rifles roam this archipelago at the southern tip of South America in pickup trucks as they pick off their prey: the guanaco. Humans have already hunted the guanaco, a wild cousin of the llama, out of existence across big swaths of the continent. While hunting the animal here is legal, the culling of Tierra del Fuego’s guanaco herds is setting off a fierce debate over the fragile recovery of a native species and the sway of powerful ranching and logging interests, which contend that rising numbers of guanacos are competing with sheep for pasture and foraging in commercial hardwood forests. “We’re witnessing a grotesque subordination to businessmen who view a creature of remarkable beauty and resilience as little more than a nuisance,” said Valeria Muñoz, a prominent animal rights activist in Punta Arenas, the regional capital. “It’s a return to a 19th-century mentality, where logging and sheepherding triumph over everything else.” Elsewhere in South America, the hunting of animals for population control has largely focused on curbing invasive species. In Colombia, hunters have targeted the descendants of hippos imported by Pablo Escobar. In Ecuador, park rangers in the Galápagos Islands mounted an eradication campaign against goats that compete for food with native species like tortoises. Chile’s hunting of guanacos seems more akin to the disputed control of native species in other countries, like Australia’s kangaroo hunts, raising the ire of animal rights groups and tourism officials who say the culling stains the reputation of a remote place where visitors are often stunned to come across herds of wild guanacos. Guanaco hunting is prohibited along the main roads cutting through Tierra del Fuego — a land divided between Chile and Argentina that juts out from South America’s mainland like a spike — but along the back roads during the hunting season in the Chilean winter, the signs of the killing are clear. Gunshots from the hunters’ rifles echo through the forests of lenga trees. Blood from recently hunted guanacos blemishes the snow. Communicating with the hunters by walkie-talkie, work crews fan out on private lands in search of the carcasses, hoisting them into pickup trucks for transport to slaughterhouses. Ranchers who are allowed to carry out the hunts argue that they are victims of policies that have expanded Tierra del Fuego’s guanaco herds in recent decades. As recently as the 1970s, only a few thousand guanacos were thought to remain on Tierra del Fuego’s main island, an area larger than Belgium, after widespread poaching. A crackdown by Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship on firearms ownership (and by extension hunting) opened the way for guanaco conservation efforts; the number of guanacos in Chile’s portion of Tierra del Fuego has climbed to about 150,000, according to Chile’s Agricultural and Livestock Service. The authorities allowed as many as 4,125 guanacos to be killed this year. “Aside from competing for food with our sheep, there are now so many guanacos in Tierra del Fuego that they represent a risk for motorists trying to avoid them when the animals cross our roads,” said Eduardo Tafra, a rancher who butchers guanaco meat at his slaughterhouse in Cerro Sombrero, a windswept outpost on the plains. “We do not want to exterminate the guanaco,” Mr. Tafra explained, “but we cannot idly sit by and watch it threaten our livelihood.” Tierra del Fuego’s ranching culture has roots in the sheepherding operations established near the end of the 19th century, largely by British settlers who displaced nomadic hunters of guanacos. By the early 20th century, the Selk’nam, the indigenous people who had lived in Tierra del Fuego for thousands of years, had been almost completely wiped out in a brutal extermination campaign. Throughout it all, the guanacos, one of the main sources of food for the Selk’nam, persisted in Tierra del Fuego and other parts of Patagonia. The animals are thought to have first been glimpsed by Europeans in 1520 when Ferdinand Magellan, the explorer who sailed through the strait that now bears his name, described seeing a “camel without humps.” Part of the camelid family, guanacos once numbered as many as 50 million in South America, their numbers exceeding other big hoofed creatures around the world like the caribou, African wildebeest and saiga antelope, according to the American zoologist William G. Conway. “Enormous numbers of guanaco haunt these grim plateaus,” the British explorer H. Hesketh-Prichard wrote in “Through the Heart of Patagonia,” a 1902 book in which he describes no-holds-barred hunting for guanacos. “They were about as tame as English park deer, allowing us to approach on foot to within 70 or 80 yards.” As herds of nonnative sheep expanded in Patagonia, the number of guanacos plummeted, reaching a current level of only about 500,000, said Cristóbal Briceño, an expert on guanacos at the University of Chile. Guanaco herds have dwindled significantly in other parts of Chile where they were once plentiful, he said. While the guanaco is not threatened with extinction on a continental scale, the animal still faces serious threats of poaching and the degradation of rangelands, and is likely to disappear from several of the regions that make up its historical distribution range, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The Chilean authorities have quietly allowed hunting for guanacos in Tierra del Fuego over the last decade, arguing that the culling is needed to maintain a “sustainable” population that does not adversely affect other underpinnings of the regional economy. Residents here generally abhor eating guanaco, so most of the butchered guanaco meat is exported to Europe. (An exception can be found at La Cuisine, a restaurant in Punta Arenas that offers Guanaco Grand Veneur, a stew of the camelid in a red wine sauce accompanied by mashed potatoes and pumpkin.) “We closely monitor every aspect of the hunting to ensure it is carried out in a proper way,” said Nicolás Soto Volkart, an official with the Agricultural and Livestock Service in Punta Arenas. “We’re convinced this is good policy after guanacos recovered in numbers since the 1970s.” Still, tensions run high over the hunting of guanacos, herbivores that eat everything from cacti to lichens and fungi. A proposal in 2012 to expand the program by allowing tourists to take part in the guanaco hunts was shelved after it met with fierce criticism. Advocates of “rewilding” forests — essentially restoring ecosystems to something resembling how they once functioned — say that guanacos could help areas where they are reintroduced by dispersing seeds for certain types of trees. “Guanacos seem to be an important missing species that used to play an important ecological role,” said Meredith Root-Bernstein, a conservation scientist at Aarhus University in Denmark. Pointing to a growing resistance in Chile to hunting of various types, officials at the Agricultural and Livestock Service remain on edge after protesters attacked their building in Punta Arenas this year with firebombs in response to a separate proposal to allow the hunting of feral dogs accused of attacking sheep. Even during the hunting season, the silhouettes of guanacos can still be glimpsed on stretches along the Strait of Magellan. The guanacos often gaze at approaching vehicles before sprinting away across the steppe. “Hunting these animals is an aberration that reflects our skewed priorities,” said Enrique Couve, the president of Tierra del Fuego’s chamber of tourism. “The guanaco is a treasure of Patagonia that brings a sense of wonder to people who are fortunate enough to see it,” he said. “And here we are, watching it be killed as if it were some sort of pest.”

Post: 14 December 09:44

WHY YOU NEED TO BE HUNTING SQUIRRELS RIGHT NOW What if I told you about a hunting opportunity that’s happening right now, which offers abundant access to productive land

WHY YOU NEED TO BE HUNTING SQUIRRELS RIGHT NOW What if I told you about a hunting opportunity that’s happening right now, which offers abundant access to productive land, requires a minimum of technical gear, and provides the chance to bring home tasty meat that is routinely overlooked for its palatability? You’d probably think I was blowing smoke, but I’m talking about one of the most neglected and productive hunts in the U.S.—for common tree squirrels. Squirrel seasons start now, in the lazy days of late summer, giving you time (and an excuse) to get out in the woods to scout for deer while also ground-truthing the gear that you’ll rely on all autumn. But you don’t need an excuse to go squirrel hunting. The first argument in its favor is that squirrels live almost everywhere, from the leafy hardwoods of the East to the piney woods of the South to the mountains of the West. Squirrel hunting is also a great way to introduce new shooters to small-game hunting. The two squirrel species most often pursued by hunters are the largest and most widely distributed: the fox (or red) squirrel, and the gray squirrel. While peripheral habitats can hold squirrels, you’ll have the best luck finding summertime squirrels in their core habitats of nut-producing hardwoods, especially oak and hickory stands. But here’s the other appeal: hardwoods define a lot of public land east of the Mississippi, from small tracts of county land to larger state game lands and wildlife management areas, to big U.S. Forest Service tracts. Find hardwoods, and you’ll almost certainly find squirrels. But don’t neglect private land, either. Your chances of getting permission to hunt a patch of farm-country hardwoods for squirrels is orders of magnitude better than getting on that same land for deer. SUMMER SQUIRREL TACTICS Now that you know where to find them, how do you hunt squirrels? You’ll change tactics once the leaves drop, but for summertime squirrels, when the critters can be hidden in the dense green foliage, the best approach is to first walk and then sit and listen for rustling high in the branches. Patience is a virtue with this style of hunting, because not only must you positively identify that the movement is being made by a squirrel, but you must wait for a clean shot. Try sitting near the top of a steep hillside that drops into a ravine or creek drainage. Your elevation will provide you with a better view of the upper limbs of trees that hold squirrels, and you can look over several acres of trees on the slopes below you. Another benefit to hilltop stands, especially for rifle hunters, is that your shots will be traveling safely downward, often with a tree trunk or limb behind the squirrel to stop your bullet. A small binocular—either an 8x24 or 8x32—is useful for this sort of surveillance. Scan areas where you hear or see leaves moving, then be ready to follow up positive identification with a rifle shot. The perfect set-up for this type of hunting is a .22 rimfire topped with a 4-power scope. Your shots won’t be much over 50 yards, but the scope enables you pinpoint aim, an important advantage when you often see only pieces and parts of leaf-hidden squirrels. Your goal should be head shots. If you’re a morning hunter, get in the woods early and sit against the base of a large tree with a wide vantage of the woods around you. Squirrels are often active on the forest floor in the mornings, and you can have good shooting as long as you can move quietly from place to place. Once you’ve shot a couple times, squirrels will get nervous and remain in the sanctuary of the treetops. This is also a good time to try calling. If you know squirrels are hanging out of sight in the treetops, blow or push a chatter call. You’ll need to experiment with the rhythm and volume (as well as various brands), but the idea is to mimic the sound of an agitated squirrel, causing the real chatterboxes to show themselves, often with their tails puffed out, standing on an exposed limb. A call is a great device to use with a buddy. Your friend calls, you get ready to shoot. After you’ve bagged a tree rat, switch jobs and call another one. LATER-SEASON SQUIRRELS Visibility in hardwoods improves greatly once fall arrives and trees drop their leaves. Squirrel hunting can be red-hot for the first few weeks of the bare-branch season. This is the nut-gathering season for squirrels, and they’re working overtime to store acorns, hickory nuts, and chestnuts for winter consumption, so they’re often visible and vulnerable. If summer was .22 season, the fall is a better time for a shotgun. Walk the woods and look for snap shots on the forest floor as squirrels run from tree to tree and scamper up trunks. But if you prefer a rifle, then sit on a hillside, wait for the forest to settle down from your intrusion, and then take longer shots at squirrels pausing from their nut-gathering mission. This can also be a wait-and-listen game, only at this time of year, you’re listening for the loud rustle of squirrels moving through dried leaves. You’d be amazed how often a 2-pound squirrel can sound like a 200-pound whitetail buck moving through the woods. GUNS & LOADS The most effective all-around squirrel gun is a scoped .22. You want a rifle that can repeatedly stack shots inside a 2-inch bullseye at 50 yards. Good options include the durable Ruger 10/22, Browning’s T-Bolt, or Marlin’s Model 60 or 795. An accurate .22 pistol, such as Browning’s Buck Mark, topped with a red-dot sight is another great squirrel rig. If you want to opt for a little more range, consider a .17 rimfire; the light, fast Savage A17 in .17 HMR is a good choice. A suppressor is a smart addition, because its blast-taming muzzle keeps you from announcing yourself to squirrels with every shot you take. For shotguns, there’s no need to go heavier than a 20 gauge, and a 28 gauge or even .410 is a better choice. In fact, the introduction earlier this year of Federal’s Heavyweight TSS (Tungsten Super Shot) is a wonderful squirrel load. Designed for turkeys, the size 9 shot delivers great penetration and range and is a good choice for a walk-about squirrel hunter who doesn’t want to lug around a heavy shotgun. OTHER GEAR CONSIDERATIONS A vest with a bloodproof game bag, a good knife, some snacks, water and a binocular round out your gear needs. Here’s one more: a good shooting stick to settle your gun for longer shots. Look for a telescoping monopod or tripod with a head that fits the forend of your rifle, and then use it on different pitches of slope or any time you can’t find a tree trunk or other support to stabilize your gun.

Post: 13 December 17:47

4 NEW WAYS TO TAG PUBLIC-LAND TURKEYS RIGHT NOW Try these four surefire guerilla tactics to bag your public-land gobbler this spring. 1. START SCOUTING EARLY February is

4 NEW WAYS TO TAG PUBLIC-LAND TURKEYS RIGHT NOW Try these four surefire guerilla tactics to bag your public-land gobbler this spring. 1. START SCOUTING EARLY February is usually a gloomy month for outdoorsmen. Waterfowl and whitetail seasons have recently closed. It’s too cold to go fishing, and cabin fever seems to be a common illness. However, this time of year offers the best chance at getting a jump-start on killing a spring gobbler. To beat the February blues, I like to grab my .410 for squirrels and rabbits, and lace on a good pair of hiking boots. Boots on the ground is one of the biggest factors in setting the table for spring gobbler success as knowing the lay of the land is critical. The foliage is off the trees this time of the year, which makes a walk through the woods fairly easy. The snakes and ticks usually haven’t made their warm weather debut quite yet, either. And since whitetail deer shed their antlers this time of year, you can keep a lookout for sheds while you search for turkeys. Before I set foot in the woods, however, I use satellite imagery to locate roads, ridges, hollers (the bottom of deep hardwood ravines), edges (where pine trees and hardwoods meet), and crop fields, which are all prime places to find turkeys. Once I begin walking, it’s important to keep an eye out for tracks, droppings, dusting sites, and feathers. If I find a track or feather, I’ll come back later in the spring and have a listen. 2. CONCENTRATE ON BURNS For thousands of years, fires have been used as a tool to regenerate the forest floor and activate growth that directly benefits the wildlife that calls the understory home. On public lands all across the country, there are seasonal prescribed fires conducted by professionals to enhance the ecosystem. Since these areas are normally open to hunting and other outdoor activities, fire warnings, burn areas, and fires breaks are usually visibly marked with signs for safety. Since professionals conduct these burns, forestry agencies keep detailed maps and records of burn areas and fire breaks for logistical and safety reasons. Visit the forestry office that manages the area where you want to hunt and ask to see these maps. Foresters are usually willing to share their knowledge of the woods. Once you have located fresh burn areas, finding a turkey is usually not very difficult as these areas draw turkeys like a magnet. Firebreaks provide easy trails to sneak along and call in search of a willing gobbler, but they also create edges within vast tracks of timber. In my experience, gobblers love to strut and feed along the edges of these burned areas. Fire exposes many dormant seeds and produces new green growth at turkey level, providing a natural food plot. Unfortunately, every year there are uncontrolled forest fires across the country that burn with devastation, but they also have a positive effect on the ecosystem. The same tactics can be applied to finding and killing a long beard in these areas where natural burns have occurred. 3. TRY AN AMPHIBIOUS APPROACH Successful public-land turkey hunters all have their own unique tactics that set themselves apart from other hunters. Sometimes finding birds requires going farther than most hunters are willing to go. When looking for new areas to find turkeys, water sources of all kinds are an excellent starting place. Turkeys love to roost over rivers, creeks, swamps, sloughs, and lakes because of the safety water provides from predators. Fortunately for us, most of the water sources turkeys like to roost over are fairly easy to navigate with a kayak, canoe or jon boat, allowing for a somewhat silent approach to gobblers off the beaten path. Even a set of waders or hip boots can be worn to quietly walk up creeks and ditches to get close to roosted turkeys. 4. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF AFTERNOONS When thinking back through my years of successful turkey hunts, nearly half the birds I’ve taken died in the afternoon. In the peak of the breeding season, hens will leave gobblers in the late mornings and afternoons to go sit on their nests, leaving gobblers lonely and looking for love. I prefer to tackle afternoon hunts in one of two ways. The first is covering as much ground as possible, walking and calling loudly or using various locator calls (crow, owl, or red tail hawk) to strike up a lonely tom. Oftentimes, if a bird gobbles in the afternoon, they will come quickly and willingly to the call. The second method emphasizes patience. When I have located or established a pattern on a tom and I know the general area he likes to strut, roost, or feed in, I will quietly sneak in to those locations, set up, and softly call every 20 minutes. The openness of the terrain and the hunting pressure in a given area will usually determine whether I use a decoy or not. A lot of hunters normally hunt the roost and once gobbling activity shuts off for the morning they pack up in frustration and leave the woods. That’s a mistake. Take advantage of the afternoons because they are often the most exciting and rewarding times to tag a turkey. One word of caution, however. Hunting public land can be extremely gratifying, but it also presents a certain level of danger. Always be cautious of other hunters when hunting public land. I rarely use a decoy on public-land hunts. If the situation calls for one, I only use a hen decoy to lessen the chance that another hunter might confuse it with a gobbler and accidently fire in my direction. After a successful hunt, wrapping my dead bird in a blaze orange vest and simply wearing an orange hat and vest for the walk out are two precautions I take to ensure safety in the turkey woods. Ultimately, success on public land requires time afield, so step outside and go explore our wild public lands. They are teaming with turkeys.

Post: 13 December 17:45

SUMMER PREP EQUALS A BETTER FALL DEER SEASON Don't wait until the season starts. It’s hard to think about frosty mornings at hunting camp this time of the year. The outs

SUMMER PREP EQUALS A BETTER FALL DEER SEASON Don't wait until the season starts. It’s hard to think about frosty mornings at hunting camp this time of the year. The outside temperature for many of us is still hovering around the triple-digit mark, and the air is so thick you could probably squeeze water out of it if you made a fist. But now is exactly when you need to be putting in the work for the upcoming season. UPGRADE YOUR GEAR Think back to last season. Did a fogged scope cost you a big buck? Did your treestand squeak when you tried to get into position for a shot? Did you leave a hunt early or skip going out altogether because of inclement weather? Now is the time to remedy all those problems. Available stock on sporting goods always seems to be in short supply just before season. Don’t wait until the gear you need is sold out before you start shopping. Purchasing early also allows you to get familiar with your new equipment, particularly firearms and optics. Not having to stop to think about where the safety is on a new rifle can mean the difference in getting off a shot and watching your quarry disappear into the cover. Summer is also a great time to score deals on merchandise that will be full price as fall and early winter hunting seasons draw near. Many retail and online suppliers drastically mark down leftover merchandise from last season before new stock comes in, and you might be able to upgrade gear that needs replacing without spending as much as you will later on. PUT IN THE RANGE TIME Not everyone is lucky enough to have the space to safely practice with their favorite hunting firearms on private land. That means regular trips to a public shooting range or an investment in a gun club membership will be the solution. As hunting seasons draw near, these ranges get crowded, though, and long waits, lots of distractions and short time limits don’t make for quality practice time. Go to those same ranges in the month or so before the official start of autumn and you often have them to yourself. That means more time to work with multiple firearms, less downtime for target changes and easy access to multiple lanes for various firing distances. MOUNT A NEW OPTIC If a fogged or malfunctioning scope messed up last year’s deer season, now is the time to upgrade. You’ll need a few tools to mount a new scope to your rifle, starting with a set of gunsmithing screwdrivers with bits that fit tightly into your scope mount choice. The right bits lessen the chance of one slipping out and scratching your rifle or scope. A quality torque screwdriver, preferred by many gunsmiths, can also prevent overtightening a screw and either snapping it off or stripping the threads. Most scope manufacturers recommend 20 to 25 pounds of torque to adequately tighten screws without causing damage. To keep your screws from backing out from repeated recoil, a drop of thread-locking compound like Loctite applied to the screw threads before tightening is a good idea. Clean the screws with alcohol or a commercially produced gun scrubber to remove any oil from the threads before applying the thread locker. When it comes time to mount the scope, place your rifle (unloaded, of course) in a vise and, while sitting in a normal shooting position, adjust the scope back and forth until you can see the full scope diameter while looking through it. A dark ring around the view means your scope is too far away. Slide it back a bit until you get a full view through the scope. Take care not to move the scope too far to the rear—no one likes to get cracked in the eye by their scope when their gun recoils. For most scopes, three to four inches between the scope’s eyepiece and your eye—the eye relief—is about right. The scope’s manufacturer also states the eye relief for whatever model you have. Once you have your scope positioned correctly for eye relief, use a scope level to ensure your crosshairs are vertical. (Tip! A scope level also helps you keep your rifle aimed in a level way and can help you correct cant, or tilt, in your gun before you pull the trigger.) When everything is to your liking, apply the thread locker and install the screws to the recommended torque. Tighten them in rotation—left, right, front, back, repeat—until tight. Give the thread locker 15 to 30 minutes to dry before firing your rifle. STOCK UP ON AMMO Walk through the ammo section of your favorite store these days (the summer of 2020, with coronavirus pandemic news still in focus) and the empty shelves might shock you. You may have to do some internet digging, place an order with your favorite retailer or start hitting the road to find a dealer further out that stocks what you need now, because if you wait until just before season to stock up, and you might be plumb out of luck. Not every firearm shoots well with every brand of ammo or even every load within a brand. Luckily, hunters have a dizzying number of choices across just about any caliber imagined, and summer, with its less-crowded ranges, is a good time to get together with your hunting buddies and compare loads. If you happen to shoot the same caliber, share a few loads with each other and test them in your rifle. You might find a new favorite. Don’t know anyone who shoots the same caliber you do? Pick three to four factory loads with different velocities, bullet weights and styles applicable to the game you hunt and test each one. Chances are good that one will outperform the rest. Once you’ve found your load, stock up all that you can (especially in this unusual year) to get you through the season so you don’t find yourself scrambling to find more when inventories are at their traditional lowest. The one caveat about summer rifle shooting is that once temperatures do drop, you’ll want to hit the range again and confirm your zero. This is especially true for really cold mornings. The first shot out of a cold rifle is going to be the same cold shot you take on a deer, so you want to know where it’s going to go, and it’s likely going to be different than that first shot out of a barrel on a 90-degree day. Shoot often and reconfirm as conditions dictate. It’s all about knowing your gun. SAFETY CHECK FOR TREESTANDS AND OTHER GEAR Summer—not the weekend before season opens—is the time to get out treestands, ladders, climbing sticks, harnesses, and safety ropes for a safety inspection. (Stand placement and placement timing are a column all their own; we’re concerned with safety here.) Check stands for worn straps or chains, rusted bolts and cables and any missing nuts or hardware. Most companies offer replacement parts for stands, allowing you to do any needed maintenance to keep you safe. Go over your safety harness and safety ropes, inspecting for worn, nicked or frayed areas. Check clips and carabiners, too, to make sure they open and close correctly and aren’t bent or dented. Lubricate any moving joints on stands and other equipment so they will operate quietly while hunting and to give any lingering odors time to dissipate before season. If a squeak got you busted last year, the value of this will not escape you. Besides eliminating the worry and stress of rushing to get everything together at crunch time, knowing your gear is ready to go frees up your fall for important things like scouting, hanging stands and running trail cameras. As your hunting buddies rush frantically from store to store trying to locate everything they need for the upcoming season, you’ll be kicking back, making a game plan for getting in close to a big buck.

Post: 13 December 09:33

HOW TO HUNT DUCKS THE EASY WAY Follow these six easy steps to enjoy your first duck hunt this season. Duck hunting is one of the easiest hunting sports for new shotgunne

HOW TO HUNT DUCKS THE EASY WAY Follow these six easy steps to enjoy your first duck hunt this season. Duck hunting is one of the easiest hunting sports for new shotgunners to expand into. Ample public-land hunting opportunities abound for waterfowlers and the gear you’ll need to get started is not overly expensive. Hunting ducks is also a great way to spend some quiet time with your kids or grandkids, while introducing them to gun safety and hunting. Best of all, you can get started with just a few simple tips. Follow these six easy guidelines to start enjoying gorgeous sunrises in the blind and the thrill of whistling wings coming in to your decoys this season. KEEP IT SIMPLE Learning to become a proficient waterfowler takes time and experience, but you can begin enjoying the fun right now. If you have a friend or someone at your local gun club who can take you out your first time or two, that’s best. They can share their knowledge and you’ll pick up a lot of tips on your first trip out. Hiring a guide can also get you started down the waterfowling path quickly as they have years of knowledge and all the gear you’ll need. I recently spent two great days hunting ducks at Beaver Dam Lake (see sidebar) in Tunica, MS. Their full-service operation featuring experienced locals guides and top-notch accommodations is a good example of how a well-run operation can bring the excitement and tradition of duck hunting to newcomers and veteran waterfowlers alike. WHAT YOU’LL NEED The beauty of waterfowling is that it doesn’t involve a huge investment. You probably have a lot of what you need to get started right now, but here are a few of the essentials to consider. Shotguns: While nearly every major gun manufacturer makes waterfowl-specific shotguns, the autoloader or pump you’re using for trap and skeet may be just fine for your initial outing. Either 12- or 20-gauge guns will work perfectly well for waterfowling when paired with proper loads designed for ducks and geese. Chokes: For ducks in close over decoys using steel shot, improved cylinder (or even skeet) is ideal. For longer-range pass-shooting opportunities, you’ll want to step up to modified. Loads: Check your state regulations, but non-toxic shot is required for waterfowl in most areas. No. 2 steel is a good all-around choice, but you should pick up several different brands/types of non-toxic shot to see what patterns best in your gun. Splitting the ammo costs with a friend or two and patterning your guns together at your local range will help all of you get off to a good start. Decoys: A dozen decoys will easily get you started making simple spreads that will bring ducks in close. Look for close-out sales at the end of the season or pick up a set of used decoys on Craigslist to minimize costs. Camo: A simple waterfowl parka with a hood, worn over layered clothing will block the wind, keep you dry and let you blend into surrounding cover. I used insulated bibs and a wader jacket top with a zip-out liner from Banded camo on my recent hunt and it worked really well. Given that temperatures can be at freezing in the mornings (even in southern regions), make sure you bring warm gloves and an insulated hat that covers your ears. Waders: In the early season when temperatures are still relatively warm, hip boots or the waders you like to fish in will work fine. As temperatures grow colder, you’ll want to transition to insulated knee-highs or waders. Again, shop online for bargains. Calls: If you book a guide, they’ll do all the calling, but you don’t need a fancy call to do it yourself. Ask your local dealer what they recommend, but choose a model that’s easy to make a few simple calls with. Hearing protection: Don’t forget earplugs as the report of guns in an enclosed blind is greatly amplified. TRY THIS BASIC SPREAD While decoy spreads can become an elaborate art form, they don’t have to be. A basic “fishhook” or “J” pattern with just a dozen or two decoys is all you need in many small pothole areas or shallow warm-water sloughs, to get plenty of ducks headed your way. It’s perfect to use on days when you have a strong wind blowing consistently from one direction. (A simple “C” or “horseshoe” pattern, with the open ends of the C extending out from the shoreline, works great on days when winds are lighter.) Put a few “feeding decoys” right in front of your blind. Extend the foot of the fishhook out and away from the shore on the upwind side of the blind. These visible decoys will be your attractors. Let the tail of the hook trail down and out from the shoreline to the downwind side. Ducks will normally come in heading upwind, see your attractor decoys and hopefully set down right in the open hole created by the hooked end of the spread. Set your blind up on the open (downwind) end of the pattern. Figure about 30 to 40 yards from one end of the hook pattern to the other. Try to keep the sun at your back as much as possible. This will keep the sun in the birds’ eyes to minimize their picking up your movements. Brush in your blind and keep your movements to a minimum. DO’S AND DON’TS Don’t overcall.Let the decoys do the work. Here are some simple pointers from veteran Beaver Dam guide, Lamar Boyd, on how to bring ducks into your spread. Minimize movements: Ducks are sharp-eyed. Keep movements to an absolute minimum, especially when birds are on the approach to your decoy spread. Any false movements or upturned faces that catch the sun will cause birds to flare. Be patient: Wait for ducks to fully commit to landing before you pop up to shoot. Know the regulations: Regulations on bag limits and what kinds of ducks you can legally harvest vary by state. A quick visit to your state’s DNR website will familiarize you with the regulations for wherever you’re hunting. Be safe: Gun safety is always of vital importance and is critical in crowded blinds and excited conditions when ducks come in. Go over the ground rules with your party to make sure muzzles are always pointed in a safe direction and safeties are always on unless you’re shooting. Make sure everyone unloads and actions are clear before anyone ventures out to pick up downed birds. THE ABC’S OF LEAD Like any moving target, ducks require lead. The biggest mistake beginners make in shooting any moving target is that they simply stop the gun. They see the bird, they swing to the bird and then they stop. You must keep the muzzle of the gun moving out in front of the bird and train yourself to “follow through” even after you’ve pulled the trigger. When taking passing shots on ducks, the simple acronym “butt, beak, bang” can help. Here’s how it works: A. As the duck crosses in front of you, bring your muzzle up from behind the bird. B. Swing through his butt and past his beak, then pull the trigger. C. Keep the muzzle moving out ahead of the bird after you’ve fired to finish your follow-through

Post: 13 December 09:21

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