ISOutdoors | November 2016

ISOutdoors enjoying the outdoors and sharing it with you

NOVEMBER 2016

Autumn

Trout

North American Best Whitetail Hunting

www.isoutdoors.com

“NOW YOU’VE MADE ME HUNGRY.” —FREDY REIHL, SHOOTING SPORTS NEWS PUBLISHED BY SKYHORSE PUBLISHING 307 WEST 36TH STREET NEW YORK, NY (212) 643-6816 SKYHORSEPUBLISHING.COM

NOVEMBER 2016

CONTENT Western Challenge Free Lance Mule Deer Getting Older American Best Whitetail Hunting Tailgate Party Tactics For Pressured Buck’s

publisher Brock RAY

Electro Mundo Gruppe 202 1st Avenue East Oneonta, AL 35121 205-625-5473 r eproduction, in whole or part, retransmission, redirection or linked display is prohibited without written permission from the publisher

Electro Mundo Gruppe

Interstate sportsman

C A N I N E

C A R E

Getting Older

As your dog ages, the likelihood he will develop various changes in the function of his body systems increases. Some of these will be normal changes due to the aging process, others may be indicative of disease. To be more easily alerted to possible signs of disease early in the disease process: • Monitor food consumption: how much is being eaten? what type of food is being eaten (e.g.; does your dog leave the hard kibble and only eat the canned)?, any difficulty eating or swallowing?, any vomiting?

• Monitor water consumption: drinking more or less than usual?

• Monitor urination and defecation: color, amount, consistency and frequency of stool; color and amount of urine; any signs of pain while urinating or defecating? any urinating or defecating in the house?

• Measure weight every 2 months: for small dogs use an infant or mail scale, or use

the scale in your veterinarian’s office; for medium-size dogs, weigh yourself holding the dog, then weigh yourself and subtract to find the difference; for larger dogs, you may need to use your veterinarian’s scale.

• Groom, check and clip nails, look for any lumps, bumps, or non-healing sores; any abnormal odors? any change in size of abdomen?, increased hair loss?

• Monitor behavior: sleep patterns, obeying commands, tendency to be around people; any house soiling? easily startled?, anxious when left alone?

• Monitor activity and mobility: difficulty with stairs? inability to exercise without tiring quickly?, bumping into things?, sudden collapses?, seizures?, any loss of balance?, any lameness or change in

gait?

• Look for any changes in respiration: coughing? panting?, sneezing?

• Provide home dental care: brush your dog’s teeth, regularly examine the inside of his mouth; any excessive drooling? any sores?, bad breath?, are the gums swollen, yellow, light pink, or purplish?

• Monitor environmental temperature and the temperature at which your dog Behavior Changes Pain associated with arthritis Loss of sight or hearing Cognitive dysfunction Hypothyroidism Liver disease Kidney disease Weakness or exercise intolerance Mitral insufficiency/Heart disease Anemia Obesity Diabetes mellitus Cancer Hypothyroidism Change in activity level Hypothyroidism Arthritis Pain Obesity Anemia Mitral Insufficiency/Heart disease Kidney disease Cancer

seems most comfortable.

• Schedule regular appointments with your veterinarian.

Some of the more common signs indicative of diseases are shown in the table below.

Remember, just because your dog has a sign of a disease does not necessarily mean he has the disease. What it does mean, is that your dog should be examined by your veterinarian so a proper diagnosis can be made.

Weight gain Hypothyroidism Cushing’s disease Obesity Arthritis Weight loss Cancer Kidney disease Liver disease Gastrointestinal disease Decreased food consumption Oral or dental disease Mitral Insufficiency/Heart disease Diabetes mellitus Inflammatory bowel disease Abnormally colored mucous membranes (gums) Anemia Mitral Insufficiency/Heart disease Liver disease Coughing Mitral Insufficiency/Heart disease Respiratory disease Heartworm disease Cancer

Increased thirst and urination Cushing’s disease Pyometra (uterine infection) Diabetes mellitus Liver disease Kidney disease Vomiting Kidney disease Liver disease Gastrointestinal disease Inflammatory bowel disease Cancer Diabetes mellitus Diarrhea Gastrointestinal disease Sudden changes in diet Inflammatory bowel disease Kidney disease Liver disease Seizures Epilepsy Cancer Kidney disease Liver disease Mitral Insufficiency/Heart disease

U LT R A L I G H T H U N T I N G

AVA I L A B L E O N LY AT W W W . K U I U . C O M SERVICE@KUIU.COM | 855-367-5848

Interstate sportsman

W H A T

’S

N E W

BOKER PLUS EXSKELI MOOR II The newBoker Plus Exskeli Moor II features contoured red handles made out of rustic Bog Oak, mounted on double titanium liners. The blue anodizing of the liners and clip provide an attractive contrast to the wooden scales. 440C stainless steel, with its well known edge retention, in combination with the hollow grind, provides superior cutting capabilities. The horizontal satin finish completes the noble appearance. Bladeis length: 2 3/4’’; and overall length: 6 1/2’’. For more information visit www.bokerusa.com.

Orvis Mirage LA Fly Reel Orvis’ new Mirage large arbor fly features a sealed, maintenancefree drag impervious to saltwater, dirt, grit and corrosive elements to last longer and hold up to hard use. It has a positive-click drag knob for accurate, repeatable drag settings. It is constructed of lightweight anodized 6061 T6 aluminum with a heavily-ventilated spool to shed weight. For more info visit www.orivis.com.

Federal Prairie Storm Federal’s new Prairie Stormshot shells feature their innovative FLITECONTROL wad and FLITESTOPPERlead. Specially designed for pheasant hunting, these loads produce full, consistent patterns via a mix of Premium copper-plated lead (70%) and nickel-plated FS lead (30%). This edge-toedge pattern consistency, excellent retained velocity and energy mean increased lethality and fewer lost birds. For more info visit www.federalpremium.com.

Heddon One Knocker Spook Heddon’s new One Knocker Spook thumps bass with a sound like no other topwater bait. The single tungsten rattle contained in a sound-intensifying chamber produces a loud thump that draws fish from long distances.

Its positioning within the body of the lure makes walking the dog easier than ever. For more info visit www.lurenet.com.

Adam Vinatieri, Indianapolis Colts Kicker

I am a Sentry, Are You?

and trapping rights. Sign up FREE at www.ussportsmen.org/BeASentry.

801 Kingsmill Parkway, Columbus, Ohio 43229 Phone- 614-888-4868 Fax- 614-888-0326 Website- www.ussportsmen.org Email- info@ussportsmen.org

OVER 60 PREDESIGNED FLOOR PLANS! OR CUSTOM DESIGN YOUR HOME.

1·866·LOG·HOME (1-866-564-4663)

RIPLEY, WV |

info@mail.applog.com

www.applog.com

LOG HOME PACKAGES · PRECUT OR LINEAR FOOT LOG HOME MATERIALS · LOG SIDING & CORNERS LOG RAILING & POSTS · LOG HOME HARDWARE · TIMBER FRAME MATERIALS · WOOD CARE PRODUCTS

Can a spooked buck be successfully hunted? Unfortunately, there is no clear-cut answer to this question. There are circumstances where it can be accomplished, and times when no one can successfully bag a spooked buck. Prime examples of the latter include when spooking or seeing a spooked buck too late in the evening to develop a cut-off and stalk strategy. Another example is a wise old whitetail that goes beyond the usually predictable 300 to 600 yards before stopping. Occasionally, a hunter-wise old buck will run this distance, then continue walking for up to a mile more before stopping. www.isoutdoors.com

On the other hand, at times spooked whitetail can be successfully hunted, especially if they are given an opportunity to settle down, and do not wander too far from where you expect to encounter them. Knowing your hunting area very well is a key to having a reasonable chance to bag such animals. Your odds of taking a spooked whitetail are better if you know the escape routes used by these animals, or the refuge spots they like to use.

You must determine the direction of the wind, and play it to your advantage. Having the wind to your advantage means the wind is blowing into your face. By having

www.isoutdoors.com

ISOutdoors the wind in your face, regardless of how strong the breeze may be, you significantly reduce the chances a whitetail in front of you will pick up your human scent. When you are lucky, the wind is in your face, and allows you to make a narrow, looping approach to reach the area where you anticipate finding the spooked whitetail.

Bagging a spooked

buck

this reason, you must always assume you are close to the animal, and act accordingly.

When moving, do so slowly and deliberately. If the wind is blowing in gusts, move when it does, and hold still when the wind is not gusting. Never get in a hurry. If it takes less than 15 minutes to move 100 yards, you are probably going too fast. Walk softly, avoiding stepping on dry twigs, leaves, or loose gravel. Strive to use the terrain and available cover, such as trees and bushes, to conceal your advance. Remember, the always keen senses of the whitetail buck are now functioning at a heightened rate.

is one of the

toughest challenges

When you are not as fortunate and the wind is not in your favor, longer, completely circular approaches must be negotiated. One of my favorite ways of doing this is to circle the area where I expect to find the whitetail, staying at least 500 yards away from the animal. If it sounds like a lot of work, you’re right, much of the time it is.

any whitetail hunter can accept.

The final approach on a spooked animal should not occur sooner than 30 to 45 minutes after you have seen or heard its alarmed movement. Before making your stalk, make sure you have the wind blowing in your favor. Unless you have already spotted the whitetail when beginning a stalk, at best you probably have only an educated guess as to where it will be. For www.isoutdoors.com

The closer you get to a buck, the lower your odds of success get. For rifle hunters, close enough may be 50 to 150 yards, depending on the terrain and cover between you and the animal. For a bowhunter, the effective killing range is usually less than 40 yards, with 20 to 30 yards recommended for less experienced shooters. Frankly, getting that close to an already spooked buck is no easy assignment, but it can be done if you keep

ISOutdoors the wind in your favor and execute a nearflawless approach.

Anticipating spooked whitetail movement is one of the most effective of all whitetail hunting strategies you can use on heavily hunted public land. If you are one of the millions of urban-bound whitetail hunters who must utilize such places as popular WMAs, national forests, or other public hunting tracts, you know all too well how the best scouting and strategies can be ruined by fellow hunters, who have thought exactly as you have.

Rather than curse the pre-dawn arrival of otherwise competing whitetail hunters at such places, develop strategies that allow you to capitalize on these hunters spooking the quarry. For example, bucks that have survived a single hunting season need little predawn, autumn season stimuli in the way of slamming doors on pickups, coughing, crashing through the trees, the smell of coffee, and such to know that their least-favorite time of the year is at hand.

These deer know the game is afoot, and for them to survive they must flee to the most remote, rugged, and thickly overgrown areas available to them in their range. Their refuge spots are rarely near easily-accessed www.isoutdoors.com

areas or along roads. Rather, they are in the steepest terrain, which you must travel a couple of miles to reach, or in areas where moving through the swamps, brambles, or thickets is so tough few hunters care to venture. However, if you want the biggest buck a heavily-hunted public area has to offer, this is what you must do.

Obtain the best maps available of the area you plan to hunt. My favorites are 2.5-minute U.S.G.S. topographic maps sold by the federal government. Using these as reference points, ask the WMA managers to pinpoint the areas from which most of the hunters approach and where they hunt.

Mark these spots on your map. Then, gleaning your map for information, look where hunters do not appear to be concentrating their efforts. If you can find a back door that enables you to get to a prime refuge area before the disturbed bucks arrive, you are really in business. It is worth the trouble, too.

Bagging a spooked buck is one of the toughest challenges any whitetail hunter can accept. It is a low percentage gambit, but one that provides a sense of satisfaction unmatched in our sport.

The

Tailgate Party

by Don Kirk

Wing shooters and dogs are inseparable, both afield and in the hearts of each other.

My idea of watching a ballet is not seeing women in tutu’s being twirled by men in spandex tights. Instead it is watching a brace of English pointers work cover in search of bobwhite quail. Deft of stride, and more intense in purpose than the most focused human, these animals blissfully pursue the quest the canine was created for. I am dumbfounded when watching the dogs; the four-legged wizards detect in the air that which we cannot even fathom. It is the essence of wing shooting, and that, which elevates it above all other types of hunting.

Some of my earliest memories of life are bird dogs, I suppose, a little like General Douglas MacAuthur noting his earliest memory was the blaring of the bugle at the army camp where his father was the commander. My dad only had one good dog in his life, which is all any wing shooter can rightly hope for. Only a few days

difference in age separated this ole salt-n-pepper English setter named Sergeant and me. At the time we lived in Michigan in the heyday of the hunting for ring neck pheasants. My parents moved there from eastern Tennessee following World War II where dad had landed at Normandy on D-Day and fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

Like many returning soldiers, he was eager to pick up where he left off, and wing shooting was part of what he needed catching up on. He got a new, Belgium made, 12-guage Browning Auto Five with some of the first money the old J.R. Hudson Company bequeathed to him for his daily services. Shortly thereafter he embarked on an odyssey of going through a string of undistinguished pointers and setters. He learned one lesson very quickly--any bird dog offered to you for free is rarely worth feeding.

ISOutdoors Dad finally did manage to get a fairly decent dog, a bitch named Cindy. He had hunted with a man named Bomar, who owned a classy dog named Colonel. Arrangements were made for when Cindy came into season for the two to breed. Their successful efforts resulted in a litter of 8 pups. Sergeant was head and shoulders above his litter mates in all aspects.

Insofar as Bomar’s stud fee was his pick of Cindy’s litter, Dad was on pins and needles until Bomar chose a pup other than Sergeant.

Sergeant turned out to be one of those super dogs you hear about and wonder if they were really that good. I recall when I was three years old walking him around, giving him verbal commands he followed as sharply as the redcoat guards at Buckingham Palace. His obedience paled in comparison to his hunting skills. As methodical as a clock, this handsome canine ferreted heavy cover as expertly and thoroughly as any dog could. After a few cock pheasants eluded his careful approach, he learned to quickly change gears to circle around them to cut of their escape.

A handful of years later my family returned to eastern Tennessee, where Sergeant successfully made the transition from pheasant to quail. His first season would have been stellar except for one fatal flaw. Joined by a friend, he and Dad approached behind Sergeant who was holding tight on point in chest high brambles. As the covey of quail

www.isoutdoors.com

burst skyward, the other shooter reacted fast-blasting a bird barely clear of the tops of the weeds.

Still unaccustomed to seeing so many birds wing from one spot, Sergeant had developed a bad habit of trying to catch one for himself.

This time his bad habit put his head in the pattern of shooter’s pellets. Sergeant was not killed by the blast, however, one of his eyes took a pellet and infection set in. Despite all the vets could do, Sergeant died a month later.

So did my Dad’s quest for another dog for over a decade.

If Sergeant was the perfect marriage of style, discipline and talent, then George was his opposite. I was in high school when Dad came home with George. He was a three year old English pointer. Well marked with liver spots, this perfectly formed animal reminded me of a four-legged Heisman Trophy winner.

Remarkably, Dad was not concerned that George had never been trained, or worse still, had grown up with a pack of beagles. Thus began one of the strangest relationships between wing shooter and bird dog, if indeed bird dog was the correct tag for George.

The first time we took George (he was named before he arrived) hunting, he provided us with unparalleled shooting opportunities. He pointed three coveys of quail, a dozen singles, plus ran three rabbits and pointed a cow. As we were to learn, George’s talents were

U LT R A L I G H T H U N T I N G

AVA I L A B L E O N LY AT W W W . K U I U . C O M SERVICE@KUIU.COM | 855-367-5848

ISOutdoors many, and very mixed in nature. He minded well enough in the field, and was undaunted at our laughter. It was not until it was time to return home that George failed to display an understanding of the golden rule for bird hunting, which is “A dogs hunts with the man, not the man hunts with the dog.”

toward Dad at full run, passing by him so close and fast that he knocked Dad to the ground.

Another 100 yards away we watched George leaped atop the trunk. Apparently a path of communication had established between the two of them. All that remained was fine tuning.

After a half hour calling to George, and the dog coming within 100 feet of the car (in those days it was fashionable to carry bird dogs in the trunk of the family car), Dad leveled his shotgun at the reticent hound, and then peppered his hinny with number 7s. Two more doses later, George understood the command very well. Dad was a teacher of dogs.

George had considerable expertise at finding quail, as good as any dog I have seen. His weakness was rabbits. To make matters worse, when chasing a rabbit, he howled like a beagle, a source of small embarrassment to Dad when in the presence of other hunters.

George may have loved bird hunting, but he had the heart of a hound. One afternoon after he had made a successful escape from his pen (he should have been named Houdini), a neighbor called, informing Dad that George had just killed himself.

That evening the lesson was getting in the car, and the faster it was accomplished the better the teacher liked it. He opened the truck, and drop kicked all 85 pounds of George into the trunk. Normally one of the most gentlemen I have ever known, Dad then opened the trunk, and with the command, “get in”, he again booted his wayward student into the trunk.

This repeated until George understood that jumping into the trunk on his own forestalled the pain of the boot.

The next time we took George hunting, he got four coveys, many singles, three more rabbits, but no cows. The most improvement came however, when it was time to return home.

Dad yelled get in here to George who was about 100 yards out. The dog turned, running

www.isoutdoors.com

We arrived to find the still body of the dog, its head covered with blood. It seems that George was chasing a cat. With George only inches from overtaking it, the cat darted under a 1963 Lincoln. Without slowing down, George lowered his head and followed. The impact of the frame on his head was dreadful, peeling back a chunk of skin bigger than the palm of my hand. However, once revived he was no worse for the experienced, and was still as passionate about chasing cats and rabbits was he ever was right up until his last hunt.

ISOutdoors Between mid-summer and late autumn, trout rely less on their usual sources of nutrition, such as aquatic insects, than they do at any other time of the year. This is for two reasons. The first is the cyclic availability of aquatic insects. Beginning in early spring, hatches of may, stone, and caddis flies leave streambeds void of large, subadult members of these orders.

The eggs they lay in the streams between March and June replenish the streams, but it is not until late autumn that many of these become significant trout food.

Summer is when land bourn insects, or terrestrials are most available to trout in streams draining the Appalachians in the East, and the Rockies in the West.

Terrestrials become trout prey when jumping into the water, as is often the case with www.isoutdoors.com

a grasshopper, to falling from limbs and other greenery hanging over the water, as is the case with caterpillars and jassids (or, leaf hoppers). Terrestrial insects that can fly, such as bees, Japanese beetles, and locusts, often find their way onto streams. Those occasional late summer and early autumn rains wash a bounty of terrestrial insects into the water.

A late summer/ early autumn study conducted in mountain streams revealed trout relied on terrestrial insects for over 70 percent of their daily intake.

Terrestrial insects provide easily seized, highquality food. Even when dead, these insects always float due to a non-porous body.

They have an over layer of wax which makes them waterproof. That is not to say a trout will not nab a grasshopper you offer

ISOutdoors on a line weighted down with a split-shot sinker.

However, a trout is more accustomed to taking a hopper from the surface than beneath it.

The autumn terrestrial carnival is just as open to bait fishermen as to fly-rodders. One of my most memorable fishing trips occurred in October during the early 1970s, just after reading about “grasshopper wind.� The next afternoon Vic Stewart and I chased down and caught six or seven dozen grasshoppers. It rained that night and the next morning the creeks had just enough color in them to put a smile on a condemned man’s face. After spiking a brownish-colored live hopper onto a hook, I flipped it into a pool the size a hot tub. The morsel barely hit the water when five trout charged toward it.

Grasshoppers are to trout what a ribeye steak is to you or me -- a tasty, substantial mouthful that does not come around frequently enough to pass on. Grasshoppers certainly are not the only major terrestrial insect which stream trout feed on, but in many instances they are of primary conwww.isoutdoors.com

cern to fishermen. When grasshoppers are available in large quantities, and this commonly occurs during late summer and early autumn, trout will zero in on merely the chance one of these ribeye steaks will spangle the surface near where they ly.

Bait fishermen can rarely do better than spiking a plump grasshopper onto a fine wire hook, and tossing it toward the head of a pool. Grasshoppers are not only irresistible to hungry trout, but they can be gathered in all but the most urban locales.

Catching grasshoppers is not for the weak of will. They are fast and agile. When captured they can be difficult to hold onto, and have a nasty habit of spitting a dark substance that will stain your fingers. Years ago I read about dragging a wool blanket through the grass to capture grasshop

ISOutdoors

pers. Upon contact with the wool fibers the legs of the grasshopper are supposed to become entangled, etc. We tried this, and caught a few hoppers, plus we picked up enough debris to virtually ruin a perfectly good wool camp blanket.

Afterward, we switched to our old method of plucking grasshoppers from leaves and flower stems. This requires quick hands and determination. Concentrate on doing this early in the morning before the sun hits the hoppers and limbers them up. Another www.isoutdoors.com

method is to pay the kids in your neighborhood a dollar a dozen for catching your hoppers. If that sounds like too much, figure what you would charge to catch them for your best buddy!

Bait shop raised crickets are a pretty good substitute for grasshoppers. They are cheap, easy to get in many places, and trout like them. On the other hand, crickets have weaker bodies than grasshoppers, so they do not stick to your hook as well. The best thing about crickets is you do not have

ISOutdoors to catch them yourself. Grasshoppers and crickets are fished just as you would night crawler or salmon eggs.

On medium to small streams, I recommend fishing upstream, concentrating on offering these baits at the heads and tails of pools, along the edge where deadfalls and undercut banks occur, and in pocket water.

On larger waters, grasshoppers and crickets can be presented downstream, across water, or upstream.

Using a single split shot enables you to cast farther, but will sink your bait (trout will strike these baits underwater). If you want to surface-fish a hopper or cricket, try putting a small bobber 18 inches above the bait.

Another related terrestrial insect, which late summer and early autumn trout often key in on, is the jassid, or leaf hopper. Related to the grasshopper, but much smaller, jassids are often common in streamside grasses and other greenery. When fishing a stream where you see trout dimpling the surface www.isoutdoors.com

along the extreme edge of the water, odds are these fish are munching down jassids, although occasionally this same activity will occur when wood ants are working near the water.

Trout fishermen who have not discovered the effectiveness of late summer and early autumn terrestrial patterns will be astounded when they try these offerings. Fly catalogs boast many patterns designed to mimic grasshoppers and jassids.

Grasshopper patterns are my personal favorite, with the old reliable Joe’s Hopper being tough to top. Should you find yourself astream without a hopper pattern when you need one, you can push a Muddler Minnow into service. Dressed with floatant, a Muddler Minnow is a pretty good grasshopper imitation.

This is the time to try hoppers and hopper patterns on the country’s many outstanding trout streams.

Howes_AD_S16.pdf

1

3/9/16

8:22 AM

You’ve Got to Get Meaner...

than the Deposits Constantly Attacking Your Engine.

Internal diesel injector deposits are a serious problem for trucks all year long. Clean them up with our new, stronger detergent package.

Nothing protects your engine and boosts your power like Howes Meaner Power Kleaner.

Grab a bottle today!

C

M

PLUS: ✓ Increases Fuel Economy

✓ Lubricates Entire Fuel System

Y

CM

✓ Removes the Water that Promotes Microbial Growth

MY

CY

CMY

K

From the makers of Diesel Treat and these other premium products.

Howes Deluxe Long-Sleeve T-Shirt 1-800 GET HOWES (438-4693) • www.howeslube.com

when you purchase 3 bottles of Meaner Power Kleaner.

Visit www.howeslube.com or call 1-800 GET HOWES Offer ends: 9/30/16, available while supplies last.