Браконьер, стреляющий кроликов, может испортить большую охоту. (к/ф «Отпетые мошенники»)Post: 17 September 14:45
Бигль Тип охоты: кролики, зайцы Особенности: развитый нюх, компактные, отличные трекеры Бигли — маленькие, но мощные охотники. Они прекрасно подходят для охоты на мелкую дичь, такую как кролики и зайцы. Благодаря своему остроумному нюху и способности идти по следу, бигли стали одними из самых популярных пород для охоты на тропе. Они также обладают добродушным характером, что делает их отличными домашними питомцами.Post: 13 September 10:02
Медведь уже разорил курятник, расправился с кроликами и добрался до овец. Жители города в страхе за свою жизнь пытаются достучаться до чиновников, но уже две недели им приходиться лишь довольствоваться обещаниями разобраться с ситуацией НУР-СУЛТАН, 11 июн — Sputnik. Дикий зверь несколько дней разоряет курятники и убивает домашний скот, жители Серебрянска Восточно-Казахстанской области напуганы - медведя не удалось отпугнуть от жилых домов, а застрелить его по закону нельзя. Первые заявления от жителей на то, что зверь выходит на улицы города начали поступать в акимат Серебрянска еще 27 мая. Первыми жертвами хищника стали куры, кролики и овцы. По рассказам местных жителей, зверь не реагирует на шум, не боится людей и не собирается покидать черту города. Медведь не дает покоя жителям города в Восточном Казахстане Горожане бьют тревогу - зверь выходит на охоту по ночам, забирается во дворы частных домов. Что будет, если ему на пути попадется человек, такими вопросами засыпают они полиPost: 20 September 11:32
В Новой Зеландии прошли забеги джек-расселов — из более 60 участвующих собакенов побеждает тот, кто первый схватит мёртвого кролика. В этом году победил 15-месячный Фред и добыл для своих хозяев приз в размере 1000 новозеландских долларов (~ 57 тысяч рублей). Post: 15 March 09:33
Грандель (Grandel, grandl) – традиционные украшения народов Германии, Австрии, Швейцарии и Северной Италии. Изготавливали такие украшения из драгоценных металлов, в основном серебра, со вставками клыков кабанов, оленей, кроликов и других животных. Украшения из гранделя всегда представляют собой элементы желудя, обрамленные дубовыми листьями.Post: 10 January 09:16
Такса Тип охоты: барсуки, лисы, кролики Особенности: малы, но смелы, отлично подходят для подземной охоты Несмотря на свои небольшие размеры, таксы — удивительно смелые охотники. Они были выведены для подземной охоты на барсуков и других животных, которые прячутся в норах. Их длинные тела и короткие лапы помогают им легко проникать в узкие проходы, а мощный инстинкт охотника делает их отличными следопытами.Post: 23 September 10:09
Немецкий курцхаар (Короткошерстный пойнтер) Тип охоты: птицы, кролики Особенности: универсальные охотники, быстрые, выносливые Курцхаары — это настоящие атлеты среди охотничьих собак. Они могут долго работать в поле, оставаясь при этом энергичными и внимательными. Эта порода обладает мощным нюхом и способностью быстро находить дичь, будь то на земле или в воздухе. Их универсальность делает их подходящими для различных видов охоты — от мелкой дичи до более крупных животных.Post: 9 September 09:54
Уиппет Основная добыча породы на охоте – кролики и зайцы, но при правильной натаске с ее представителями можно ходить на лис, енотов и прочую некрупную дичь. Обычно миссия уиппета заключается в обнаружении бегущего зайца, его преследовании и отлове. Не боятся собаки и нор, поэтому охотно ныряют в любые траншеи. Кроме того, малые английские борзые чрезвычайно прыгучи, что особенно ценят охотники на пернатую дичь. Например, в прыжке животное способно взять на излете небольшую птицу вроде рябчика. Охотятся уиппеты исключительно по зрению, то есть для того чтобы собака потеряла интерес к преследуемому зверю, тому достаточно просто скрыться из виду. След эта порода либо не берет вообще, либо делает это крайне непрофессионально.Post: 23 January 10:23
О Feast Over Game Эксклюзивный конкурс совместно с The Grove & Feast Over Game. В честь прибытия Feast Over Game в Holland & Holland с 3 октября по 9 ноября мы разыгрываем невероятные впечатления для одного счастливого победителя. В октябре этого года стрелковых площадках Holland&Holland состоится долгожданное возвращение Feast over Game. Этот уникальный ресторан, вдохновленный успехом Feast over Flame, призван отпраздновать самое лучшее в британском охотничьем сезоне. Гостей порадует тщательно продуманное меню из шести блюд, приготовленное их талантливыми шеф-поварами с использованием барбекю Big Green Egg. С нетерпением ждем возможности отведать изысканные блюда из вяхиря, кролика и оленины. В завершение каждого необычного вечера мы приглашаем вас насладиться морсом, горячим шоколадом и захватывающим дух фейерверком — достойным завершением вечера исключительной еды в компании. Приз включает в себя: Стол вместимостью до восьми гостей в ресторане Feast over Game Съемка для двоих Post: 15 August 16:17
Всем привет.Начинал я охотиться на гуся с 2012 г.Сначала делал в поле шалаши.Втыкал палки ветки и про меж них забивал сухой травой.Пробывал копать окопы как бы лежачая засидка см 30 глубиной и вокруг выкладывал травой а когда охотился и себя ей накрывал но сзади смотреть совсем не удобно.Копал и нормальный окоп по грудь но его после дождя или сразу затапливало.Купил более менее дешёвый...Post: 16 September 16:00
Сегодня был отличный день на охоте с моим верным спутником - собакой! 🐾 Ничто не сравнится с адреналином, который ты испытываешь, когда собака находит след своей добычи. Благодаря ей, я смог поймать свою утку, и это было незабываемо! Верный друг, охотничий помощник и просто самая лучшая компания на природе - моя собака. 🌿🦆 Post: 25 March 14:10
Что нужно знать об охоте на ненормируемые виды животных Можно добывать зайца–беляка, зайца–русака (любого пола и возраста), а также белку, куницу лесную, куницу каменную, норку американскую, ондатру, хорька лесного. Охота должна проходить только в светлое время суток. При добыче зайца, лисицы, енотовидной собаки можно использовать гладкоствольное охотничье оружие с патронами, снаряжёнными дробью; при охоте на остальных пушных зверей – также нарезное охотничье оружие с дульной энергией пули от 400 до 1 500 джоулей. Помните, что при охоте на зайца, лисицу, енотовидную собаку нельзя не только применять, но и носить патроны, снаряжённые пулей или картечью (металлическими шариками или элементами иной формы диаметром более 5 мм). Можно использовать патроны, снаряжённые дробью (металлическими шариками или элементами диаметром до 5 мм включительно). Правилами охоты использовать пневматическое оружие запрещено. При ружейной охоте на зайца можно брать собак всех пород, на остальных пушных зверей – всех, кроме борзых. Нарушения Правил охоты влекут административную (штрафы с лишением специального права, конфискацию ружей и других орудий охоты); уголовную (от крупного штрафа до 6 лет лишения свободы); гражданско–правовую (возмещение ущерба, причинённого окружающей среде) ответственность.Post: 13 February 10:31
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 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 #caminorealhuntingonsultantsPost: 24 January 09:32
Bonjour ces 2 petites pepettes croisé beagle anglo cherchent une derniere famille pour encore quelques belles chasse et des caressent et calins leurs maitre es décédé elles sont encore en forme et capable de chassé elles lance et méne sans probléme surtout au chevreuil mais peuvent convenir pour chasser le tout venant.sociable elles s entendent avec tous le monde. Obeissante et non fugueuses. Si vous pensé pouvoir leurs offrir une jolie fin de vie contactez nous en mp ou au 0607465925 merci pour ellesPost: 12 January 17:43
A mature County Wicklow Mountain Sika/ Red hybrid stag poses for the photographerPost: 4 January 11:03
Hope all our members had a safe and enjoyable holiday season. Send in your pictures for the upcoming monthly E-Newletter and social media posts! Thank you to Monmouth County Hunt for this Boxing Day meet picture. Post: 4 January 10:59
Goodbye 2023! Here’s 23 of my favorite images from ‘23 to round it out. I hope that this year is just as good for everyone and everyone is staying warm this winter 🙌Post: 3 January 09:04
Voilà un petit rappel des concours afaccc 30 pensé à vous inscrire rapidement sur le site de la faccc rubrique concours avant le tirage au sort. Pour les concours qualificatif la priorité est aux adhérents de Afaccc30Post: 29 December 09:29
My fiancee and I are about to move to West Virginia. He has property with a small cabin on it and we plan to build bigger in the next 2 months. Anyone live in West Virginia that can tell me more? We will be in Webster county. I want to live partially off grid and try to start our savings for years to come. I will be learning to can and garden better as I don't do it very well now. He hunts and fishes and was born and raised down there. Coming from Ohio I will have alot to learn lol. Thanks in advance for any info. Here's our small cabin for now. Also just want to clarify .we already have well and septic. So we have a lot already. Just are going to build a little bigger place next to this one for us.Post: 29 December 09:21
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
Love over all. Not a Boxing Day photo, but a Christmas Eve eve one from my dayPost: 27 December 09:26
L'APAB (Association de Photographes Animaliers Bretons) vous présentera "Entre ajonc et goémon".Post: 22 December 19:02
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
Practically brand new Mathew V3X 29 loaded asking 600 and ready to hunt. I got 6 brand new rage Broadheads with case if you want them and a range finder. Message me now if you are interestedPost: 22 December 09:06
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
Honeymoon in Yellowstone Late September / Early October 2023 Camera & Lens Info Canon Rebel T7 75-300mm zoom lens Nifty fiftyPost: 20 December 09:42
Honeymoon in Yellowstone Late September / Early October 2023 Bought a nice camera just for this trip and I'm so happy I did. I love these photos just as much as I loved being there! Camera & Lens Info Canon Rebel T7 75-300mm zoom lens Nifty fiftyPost: 20 December 09:41
Chamois ( Rupicapra rupicapra) hunted in Slovenia with Pannonvad . Szlovéniában a Pannonvad vadászvendége ejtette el a képen látható zergebakot . Tap de caprā neagrā vänat în Slovenia cu firma Pannonvad . Camoscio cacciato in Slovenia con Pannonvad . Jagd auf Gams in Slowenien mit Pannonvad . Chasse au chamois en Slovenie avec Pannonvad .Post: 19 December 09:20
Today we had Alex and his 15 year old son Myles out on a sea duck hunt. They had a blast getting old squaw,white winged scoters and some mergansers. For a nice day. We have openings if you want to get in on the action. Good hunting! #dcoutdooradventures #longislandhunts #NYSOGA #benelli #seaduckhunting #waterfowlhunting #guidedhunts #browning #duckhuntingPost: 18 December 17:45
Il nous manque des meutes sur cerf renard et lièvre. Les filles n hésitez plus inscrivez vous et réserver les 2 et 3 mars 2024 en Haute Saone. Ambiance ce assureePost: 18 December 09:15
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 WielandPost: 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 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 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, 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 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 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