Sportsman's News October 2019 Digital Edition

FREE October 2019 | Volume 15 | Issue 10

Hunting the Land of Giants

4th season hunts for mule deer bordering the Mesa Verde National Park are highly sought after hunts with very limited opportunities. However those fortunate enough to draw these tags or purchase a landowner voucher are usually rewarded with great bucks like this one Ian Radich took in 2018.

Chad LaChance: Fishful Thinker

Can't We All Just Get Along?

Battle of the .264

Gary Lewis: PacWest Outdoors

Winning More Pheasant

6.5 Creedmoor Vs. 26 Nosler: Head to head Page 14

Relentless Reliability: LEUPOLD’S NEW-FOR-2019 BX-2 ALPINE BINOCULAR PAGE 8

SPORTSMAN’S NEWS 2322 W. Industry Way Cedar City, UT 84721

PRESIDENT/PUBLISHER Mike Deming President/Publisher 435-669-4624 mdeming@sportsmansnews.com

SENIOR EDITOR Kent Danjanovich 801-231-9838 kdanjanovich@sportsmansnews.com MANAGING EDITOR Dan Kidder 435-865-1680 dkidder@sportsmansnews.com EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Lisa Deming info@sportsmansnews.com VIDEO PRODUCTION MANAGERS Steven Jackson sjackson@sportsmansnews.com Jared Lombardo jlombardo@sportsmansnews.com Subscribers should contact Managing Editor for changes of address.

Sportsman’s News is published monthly.

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October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

Send Us Your Stories And Win A Hunt Of A Lifetime With

Backcountry BackcountryHunts.com Hunts This is an outfitter we have hunted with every year for the past seven years and look forward to every March. We have been able to harvest some extremely large Aoudad on 40,000 acres. One 33” whopper, 31.5”, 31”, 29.5”, and 28” rams. ~ the Sportsmans News Team

New Mexico & Texas Hunts (575) 361•1053 17th Annual

OUTDOOR WRITING CONTEST Grand Prize Package

• Winner will be chosen to join the Sportsman's News Team on a fully guided hunt in Texas with Steve Jones Backcountry Hunts the last week of March 2020. Included is meals, lodging, 1 on 1 guided hunt for 3 days for Trophy Aoudad in west Texas. This is a free range wild sheep hunt. License is included for the winner. Camp will be shared with the Sportsman’s News team and we will film the adventure for an episode of Sportsman’s News Television.

• Contest will run from November 1st, 2018 through November 30th, 2019 with two stories selected each month and published on our website. One grand prize winner will be randomly selected from those entries and notified by e-mail.

• Every published entry will receive a knife from Outdoor Edge and will be entered into the grand prize drawing.

• E-mail stories and photos to info@sportsmansnews.com.

• Stories should be between 900 and 1500 words and be sent as a MS Word document or pasted into an e-mail.

• Photos should be high resolution JPG’s, TIF’s or PDF’s: if you have any questions regarding photos call (435)865-1680.

• Stories without photos will not be considered for publication or contest entry.

All stories may be edited for content and size. Published articles and photos become property of Sportsman’s News. All prizes are provided by Sportsman’s News Inc. Must be 18 years of age to win grand prize.

All entries must include author name, address and phone number to be considered for publication.

WORDS FROM THE PUBLISHER

By Michael Deming

WHAT’S INSIDE

4 Hunting The Land Of Giants

Big bucks and elk with Souwthwest Colorado Hunting Services

Relentless Reliability: Leupold BX-2 Alpine Binos 8 The newest BX-2 Alpine is the best performance for the value.

10 Platinum Approved Outfitters

Choose a Sportsman's News Endorsed Guide for your next trip.

14 Battle of the .264s

6.5 Creedmoor goes head to head with the .26 Nosler.

18 Pro's Tip: Taking Good Field Photos How the pros get great shots of their trophies.

Outdoors: Poker-Faced Strategies for Winning More 22 Pacwest Pheasant

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all is here my friends and the Sportsman’s News crew is running hard and fast.

So far it has been extremely productive for our Pro Membership Sweepstakes winners who have been on hunts as well as the few outfitter evaluation trips we have done. Even with a good number of these trips being short range weapons like archery or muzzleloader, we have still pulled off 100% success. In my book, that’s a pretty darn good number and better than expected.

A lot of this success comes from picking the right outfitters to work with and we have years of experience in this department. Tapping into this resource is a great benefit of being a Sportsman’s News Pro Membership Sweepstakes member. You not only get five tickets in every drawing we do the 10th, 20th, and 30th of each month, but you can also get tried and true information on outfitters that are truly the best of the best. That information is extremely valuable even if you never win one of our grand prizes. We will give away over $400,000 worth of trips, guns and gear this calendar year alone. These are trips with these hard-core, field tested outfitters and since we have hunted and fished with them personally, we know the very best trips they have available. We pay full price for these trips and get the best dates years in advance.

If you aren’t a current member, you might want to consider joining at www.promembershipsweepstakes.com The trips we give away are truly bucket list types of trips which include Brown Bear hunts, Dall Sheep hunts, Mossback Outfitters Utah Premium Elk hunts, late season Colorado Mule Deer hunts with landowner vouchers included and much more. Every ten days, we give away one of these world class trips and video it for all to see. We have been doing this for the past four years and have given away over one million dollars worth of world class trips.

One of the additional benefits of being on these trips is the ability to field test gear.

Sportsman’s Warehouse is hands down the best place to get all of the latest and greatest gear. We know that many of you would like to test it out before you buy stuff and we do our very best to give you this information in the pages of Sportsman’s News and on YouTube. The tech team at Sportsman’s Warehouse is utilizing all of these YouTube videos we create to build a massive library of information for their consumers.

Some of the most current videos we have put out are the hard-core broadhead test.

We shot some of the top named broadheads through concrete blocks to see if they held together as well as through stacks of plywood to see how well they penetrate. We also put the new CVA Paramount long-range muzzleloader to the test and shot it out to 735 yards with some pretty impressive groups. We also provided actual load data and drop chart information in this video to get you on track quickly and save you some money on powder and bullets. Every month, we do several videos just like this and If you haven’t subscribed to this YouTube channel, you are missing the boat. If you subscribe to the Sportsman’s Warehouse YouTube channel, you will be notified every time we upload a new video.

If there is something specific that you would like us to test out or compare, please let us know. Since we are in the field right now, it is very easy to put these products to the test in a real-world situation. We know this is what everyone really wants to see. Send inquiries about this to info@sportsmansnews.com and in the subject line put, “Product Test Request”. We will do our very best to get these products coordinated for a future field test.

Best of luck to all in your fall endeavors. I hope to see you in the field. If you see our Pro Membership Sweepstakes truck parked in the field, please stop in and say hi. We love meeting our customers and sharing your experiences.

How to turn a straight into a flush and put more birds in the pot.

24 Pro's Pick:Phone Skope

Save time and shoe leather by adding this vital tool to your kit.

26 Video Product Reviews

Otis Smart Gun Care 28 Get smart about cleaning and protecting your guns.

30 Trigger Time With Team Doubletap The Gear for Competition

Fishful Thinker: Can't We All Just Get Along 34 In-fighting among user groups harms every angler.

35 Amateur Outdoorsman: Cleaning a Shotgun The quick and dirty way to a clean shotgun.

37 Business Directory 38 Pro Membership Update: Renfro's Alaskan Adventures Our winner had the hunt of a lifetime chasing Alaskan moose.

40 Adventures on a Budget: Isle Royal National Park Michigan's Secret Access to Lake Superior.

44 Outdoor Writing Contest: The Best Squirrel Hunt Ever Passing on the outdoor heritage can also be a fun experience in itself.

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Gary Lewis Chad LaChance Greg Severson Michael Duff Steve Mayer Michelle Scheuermann Byron Coburn

October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

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By Michael Deming

henever the topic of giant mule deer comes up, Colorado is at the top of the list. Flip through the pages of the of the Boone and Crocket record book and it will show you just how many giants this state produces. The world record typical buck was taken in Dolores County in the southwestern part of the state back in 1972 and it still holds that position today. There have been a lot of great bucks taken in this area since, but none have topped this giant. They say to kill big bucks, you have to hunt where they live and this is definitely a great place to start.

The Sportsman’s News team has spent plenty of time in this area chasing big bucks and everyone knows that we do our best to search out the best outfitters to work with as well as buy trips for our Pro Membership Sweepstakes. Whenever we are in this area, Josh and Gina Boren, who own SWC Hunt Services (Southwest Colorado Hunting Service) names always comes up.

Regardless of the doors we pounded on looking for permission in the past, it always appeared that Josh had the rights to hunt it. We always got to see a lot of big bucks but were only usually able to take photos on these private land havens. I had made several calls to Josh over the years trying to get an opening to hunt some of these big bucks, but he was always booked full and for years in advance. His book of business clients consisted of well-known names like Hall of Fame Quarterback, Jim Kelly, who hunts with them nearly every year. Our conversations were always pleasant, but he said that he wanted to keep his operation small and focused on great deer and a high level of customer service.

Finally, my phone rang in July and lo and behold, it was Josh. I immediately answered the call and Josh asked if we wanted to fill a cancelation archery deer hunt he had available. Having already drawn a tag for another unit in the state, I knew that I couldn’t do this hunt personally, but I wasn’t going to miss an opportunity at getting our foot in the door with SWC Hunting Services. I told Josh that we were in and would be there in early September to chase some fuzzy antlered muleys.

I immediately called my archery expert, Shane Chuning, who at one time was a full-time employee with us, but now only moonlights when his has time. He is handsdown the best archery shooter I know and is well-known around the industry as a bow tuning expert. He had been unsuccessful in the draws for 2019 and he jumped at the opportunity to hunt some muleys as well as throw in an elk tag just in case he got an opportunity at some alfalfa fed bulls.

The second week of Colorado’s archery season would be our timeframe to hunt, which was September 6-10. The bucks would still be in the velvet, but ready to rub out and the elk should be starting to rut. We felt that our timing for getting a big buck was perfect. The first weeks’ hunters would be able to provide a bunch of current intel and the trail camera data would fill in the gaps.

Hunting the Land of Giants Hall of Fame Quarterback Jim Kelly has been coming here for almost a decade and brings several hunting buddies because of the high quality hunting and hospitality provided by SWC Hunting Services.

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October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

SWC Hunting Service provides very limited hunting opportunities for both mule deer and elk in southwestern Colorado near the town of Dolores.

Lodging and accommodations are first class and sit aside a privately stocked fishing pond which is a great way to spend the midday on early season hunts.

Great hunt to bring a spouse or girlfriend due to the quality of accommodations, great food and the tourist opportunities in the area while you are off hunting.

Hunts are $7,000 for a 1 on 1 hunt or $5,800 for a 2 on 1 hunt.

Landowner vouchers are available for most hunts if you book early and range from $1,500 to $2,000 except the most sought after 4th-season vouchers which are usually around $5,000 each.

Late season hunts provide great opportunities to hunt bucks that spend most of their lives in the Mesa Verde National Park and are unhuntable until they migrate out during these later dates. Josh has large tracts of private land in the migration path of these giants.

Mule Deer are the focus on these hunts, but a $1,500 kill fee for elk can be added to any hunt where you have a tag in your possession.

SWC Hunting Services hires veteran local guides who have hunted here most of their lives and know the area as well as the landowners in the community.

First season elk hunts are available on a D.I.Y opportunity. It provides each hunter access to a lot of private land as well as great accommodations for $3,000 per hunter. This is a great opportunity for those who don’t want to be guided. Many of these properties back-up to public land which gives you millions of acres to hunt with easy private access. This option is only available during the first rifle elk season when no mule deer hunting is going on.

• Archery season is a month long and SWC only provides 12 hunt opportunities.

• Muzzleloader season is 9-days long and provides six hunt opportunities.

• 2nd Rifle Deer season is 9-days long and provides twelve hunt opportunities.

• 3rd Rifle Deer season is 7-days long for 2020 and provides eight hunt opportunities.

• 4th Rifle Deer season is 5-days long and provides 5-8 opportunities.

Owner/Oufitter Josh Boren holding one of a successful client's 2nd season rifle hunt bucks.

We were to arrive late evening on September 5th, but Josh called me early in the morning and asked if we could try to get there early enough to hunt. All of his first week’s hunters were gone and he had seen a giant go into an area that might give us a good evening play on him. I picked up Shane and we were on the road for the 7-hour road trip.

We rolled in just in time to meet Josh, throw on some camo and head down the road.

We were close to town where the houses are on two to 1,000-acre pieces. These are small farms and ranchettes where good crops, water and lots of fruit trees are abundant. These are little havens for a big buck to grow old and since Josh lives right here, he knows the majority of the residents. It’s like having hundreds of guides out there looking for bucks on a daily basis. His phone rings constantly with possible candidates to hunt and here we were about to reap the benefits of some of this intel.

As we pulled up next to a hay barn, Nate walked out to greet us. Being a landowner as well as one of Josh’s guides, he knew how to handle the situation. He immediately went through a brief explanation of the topography of the land and where the big buck had bedded. Shane grabbed his bow and I had the camera in hand. We worked through the tall weeds for about half a mile and settled in along the edge of the fence, forty yards from where the buck had jumped out of the field. The wind was good, but the mosquitos were horrible and the humidity generated from the pond below was driving the 90-degree day heat to almost unbearable. We were planning on a long miserable wait, but about that time a buck jumped the fence less than sixty yards away. It wasn’t our target buck, but a great young deer with tremendous genetics. He had extra points off the back G2 and all the makings of a future wall hanger. Unfortunately, our first night didn’t yield a sighting of our shooter buck but passing on a solid 170’s type of deer on day one was a great start.

So, here we were on our first day, which wasn’t even supposed to be a real hunt day as Gina had huge ribeye steaks with all the fixins’ prepped and ready for us when we got back to the lodge. Yes, great home cooked meals and hospitality were a common theme every day we were at the lodge. After dinner, Josh said that we would go west in the morning and look over some bigger parcels of land.

TROPHY MULE DEER & WESTERN BIG GAME HUNTING

Josh Boren

SOUTHWEST COLORADO HUNTING SERVICES FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO BOOK A HUNT CALL:

970-749-6153

October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

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Guide Terry Amrine was fortunate enough to get his own muzzleloader tag in this area and put his tag on his biggest buck ever.

Well the next morning, we found that he wasn’t kidding! We would spend the entire first and second day looking for bucks and taking inventory on the current situation. We looked at over seventy bucks on the first day and sixty on the second.

We had multiple stalks on great bucks, but one of the biggest problems with hunting in an area with a lot of deer is that there are just too many deer. The number of eyeballs and noses that you have to beat is often not workable when you are shooting with a bow, but Josh was confident that if we continued to do our time out west and with Shane’s shooting ability, we would eventually get a big buck in a place where we would get within archery range.

As we were finishing up our morning hunt on day three, Josh got one of those special phone calls. It was Nate calling again and he said that he had two really good bucks near his parents’ house. He said that they were in the shade and would probably be there for the afternoon. We would be heading back to the same place we had hunted the first night.

We rolled into the yard and the whole family was there enjoying a family weekend.

They filled us in on the layout of where the bucks were bedded and what they told us had me a bit shocked. There was an old hay barn less than a hundred yards from the house and Nate’s dad, Lonnie said, “They are in the barn” which caught me a little off guard. I wasn’t sure how I felt about shooting a buck in a barn. Apparently, this is a common place for big bucks to get some good shade and this happens all the time.

All of our talking and commotion was out of the norm for these old warrior bucks and suddenly they busted out of the barn without any arrows being launched as they headed across the road where we had hunted the first night. We decided to head back to the lodge for a few hours and come back for the evening hunt.

A few hours had passed while we waited and wouldn’t you know it, Josh got another one of those calls. He rousted us and said, “Let’s go. Nate found another big buck bedded on the other side of the road.” When we pulled up, the family party was still going on and they had the Vortex Razor spotter trained on a big mature buck across the road, bedded in the shade of another old barn. We quickly gathered our gear and jumped in Nate’s Polaris Ranger, as the deer are used to hearing it and seeing it around the ranch which would allow us to get across the road into a good position for a stalk.

Within 20-minutes, we were fifty-two yards from the bedded buck, using an old tack shed for cover. I could tell by the way the buck was moving his head around that he would be getting up soon and sure enough, he stood. Shane came to full draw, but the heavy weeds prevented a clear shot at his vitals. Shane had held at full draw for nearly two minutes when the buck finally put his head down to feed, giving him a chance to let down. Shane shoots a one Sam Tolley with Josh and his alfalfa pin HHA sight which had been set field bull taken with SWC.

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October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

Sportsman’s News team member and archery expert Shane Chuning connected on a great early season buck during this evaluation trip with Sportsman’s News owner Mike Deming running the camera for a future episode of Sportsman’s News TV. for the 52-yards. All of a sudden, the buck started walking towards us, presenting no shot, but when he went behind some old equipment, Shane came back to full draw.

The buck had no idea that we were there but stopped quartering to us at 38-yards.

Shane held that one pin way low and released the arrow. I watched the arrow through the camera lens as it sailed over his back. I was completely shocked as I didn’t think Shane could possible miss at any distance, let alone at 38-yards. Once we watched the video playback, the buck had dropped over 20” to duck Shane’s well-placed arrow.

We made it back to the house or should I say the “peanut gallery” where everyone commenced harassing poor Shane for missing such an easy shot. It was all in good fun and Shane took it like a champ. It wouldn’t be long before he would get a redemption opportunity.

Nate said, “Let’s take a drive and check that lower field to see if anything else has come out.” Sure enough, there were several good bucks already feeding and Nate knew just how to use that Polaris and the topography to get us inside a couple hundred yards. The bucks never even raised their heads as we drove out of sight. Twenty minutes later as we were being chowed on by the local mosquito population, the bucks were headed right at us. Shane crawled through the tall grass and put himself into position ten yards closer. As the final minutes of daylight approached, one of the mature bucks presented a perfect broadside shot at seventy-one yards and Shane redeemed himself with a well-placed shot into the vitals.

We recovered the buck early the next morning and he had only gone about a hundred yards. Shane’s skills were on display with this shot and I was able to capture it for a future episode of Sportsman’s News TV. Josh and Gina Boren, with SWC Hunting Services proved to be everything we had heard about them and more. The opportunity to hunt with them was well worth the wait and we will be buying one of their coveted 4th-season rifle hunts and a landowner voucher for the Pro Membership Sweepstakes to give away each and every year. We have definitely provided them with our full Platinum Approved Outfitter endorsement as well. Give them a call to check out what they have to offer at (970) 749-6153.

An aerial view of the lodge and fishing pond that sit on 80 private acres. The pond is stocked with great trout and bass and big bucks even frequent this pond for an afternoon drink.

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Relentless Reliability: Leupoldís BX-2 Alpine Binocular

hether you’re putting on the miles during a preseason scouting operation, deep in the backcountry chasing a trophy elk, or tucked snugly into your treestand waiting for that buck you’ve had on camera all fall to show itself, we can promise you one thing : You won’t be able to hunt what you can’t see. You’re going to need optics you can trust – optics that are ready to deliver the combination of performance and relentless reliability that a hunter like you needs. And when it comes to a binocular, the choice is clear: the new-for-2019 BX-2 Alpine from Leupold.

“We’ve designed the BX-2 Alpine to be the very best binocular in its class,” said Zach Bird, Product Line Manager for Leupold & Stevens, Inc. “With it, you’re getting a combination of optical performance and rugged reliability that competitors in its class can’t match. We wanted to make sure that they delivered exactly what core hunters have been asking for – and we achieved that thanks to our in-house optical engineering team working right here every day in Beaverton, Ore., to bring our consumers the product quality that they deserve.”

Built to deliver an unparalleled combination of value and performance, the BX-2 Alpine binocular is available in 8x42, 10x42, 10x52, and 12x52 models. It starts with an optical design that comes from Leupold’s very own in-house engineers. It’s taken a step further with the company’s proprietary Twilight Max Light Management System. Capable of adding up to 20 extra minutes of glassing time, the Twilight Max system is the very same one that Leupold applies to its award-winning VX-3i and VX-3i LRP riflescope lines.

What is the Twilight Max Light Management System? Well, it’s designed to deliver the perfect balance of image color and contrast, light transmission, and glare management - so you’ll get the best picture any time of day. Most optics only focus on transmitting high percentages of midday light, whereas the BX-2 Alpine will give you maximum transmission of the entire visible spectrum. Why does that matter? The human eye is most sensitive to colors outside the middle of the spectrum (like red and blue) during dawn and dusk, which usually happens to be when game is moving. This system helps you see more in less light. Superior glare reduction, meanwhile, ensures the maximum amount of usable light gets to your eye. With Twilight Max, your prey shouldn’t be able to give you the slip in low light.

Better yet, you’ll be able to see those crystal-clear images faster than ever, thanks to precision focus adjustments.

In addition to top-notch optical design, you’re getting a binocular that’s built to Leupold’s unprecedented standards for reliability. A lightweight magnesium body delivers incredible ruggedness, and the rubberized EXO-Armor helps protect against the harshest conditions – and give you a firm grip, even if you’re dealing with precipitation. Further features include a magnesium chassis designed to mount easily with a 1/4 - 20 threaded tripod adapter, and lenses that are treated with DiamondCoat2 abrasion-resistant coating.

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October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

Tested for extreme climates, the BX-2 Alpine is waterproof, fogproof, and guaranteed to perform for life. Leupold means that, too. Whereas some companies warranty failure, Leupold stands by its pledge to guarantee performance. A warranty won’t do you much good when you’re eight miles deep in the backcountry, right?

You want an optic that’s going to withstand anything you can, and that’s why the BX-2 Alpine is backed by the company’s legendary Lifetime Guarantee.

Whether it’s your first set of binoculars or your 50th, your glass needs to give you a bright image, feel comfortable in your hands, and be able to take a beating. The BX-2 Alpine binocular checks all these boxes and more.

The Leupold BX-2 Alpine binocular is available now at your local Sportsman’s Warehouse.

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The Sportsman’s News Platinum Approved Outfitter is an outfitter These are outfitters you would be proud to refer to a friend. We that has excelled in every aspect of their business. They put know this because we are proud to endorse each one of these people and customers before profit. They do what it takes to make sure that they will be in outfitters based upon our staff members personally visiting each one of these business for the long haul and ensure that they have repeat customers. They practice good operations. These outfitters have proven to us that they have what it takes to be game management, which will ensure a top quality trip with them every time you book. “Sportsman’s News Platinum Approved.�

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12 October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

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13

The 6.5 Creedmoor Versus the .26 Nosler - Which is Best?

By Michael Deming

T

his is somewhat of a loaded question, no pun intended! The talk about these cartridges on forums, social media and at the range has gotten a bit on the ridiculous side. Some of the statements are downright false like, “That the Creedmoor has the best long-range ballistics ever”. “That .26 Nosler is going to burn out that barrel in less than a season”. Between burning thousands of rounds a year at the range and fielding an equal amount of emails from various outdoor enthusiast, I felt the need to share some real-world testing data of these two cartridges to set the record straight.

This isn’t really a comparison of two different .264 caliber cartridges because that would be a lot like putting a grizzly bear in the ring with a rabbit. It’s just not a fair fight. That being said, there is definitely a place for each of these cartridges. We are going to share some field data as well as four years of history with these two cartridges.

Using premium ammunition is essential whenever you are testing or comparing loads.

Long-range accuracy and precision can only be achieved with high quality components and DoubleTap Ammunition has delivered that for us time and time again. They are out of Cedar City, Utah and their premium rifle ammunition is hand-loaded just as I would at home. Both of the rifles used here have been in service with us for several years and shoot the 127-grain Barnes LRX the best and accomplish Sub-MOA groups from 100-yards out past 1,000-yards. The 6.5 Creedmoor load is coming out of the 26” Browning X-Bolt barrel at 2,950 feet per second which is quite a bit faster than most factory loads. The .26 Nosler

6.5 Creedmoor

2,950 fps 2,309 fps 1,724 fps 1,483 fps 18.8" 145" 273" 1,478 ft lb 838 ft lb 620 ft lb 1,450 Yards 15.7" 48.8"

14 October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

Testing with DT Hunter Barnes LRX 127 Grn. .26 Nosler Muzzle Velocity Velocity at 400 Yards Velocity at 800 Yards Velocity at 1,000 Yards Drop at 400 Yards Drop at 800 Yards Drop at 1,000 Yards Energy at 400 Yards Energy at 800 Yards Energy at 1,000 Yards Transonic Distance Wind Drift at 500 Yards (10MPH) Wind Drift at 800 Yards (10 MPH)

3,650 fps 2,886 fps 2,200 fps 1,941 fps 11" 89" 167" 2,343 ft lb 1,404 ft lb 1,062 ft lb 1,825 Yards 11" 32.8"

"The ultimate answer to the original question is – both the 6.5 Creedmoor and the .26 Nosler are good calibers.

Each has a purpose, but they shouldn’t be compared, even though they shoot the exact same projectile."

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October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

15

6/28/19 12:43 PM

is pushing the same bullet out of my custom rifle on a Remington 700 action with a 26” Lilga barrel at 3,650 feet per second. Both rifles are zeroed at 200-yard zero.

At 400-yards, the 6.5 Creedmoor has 18.8 inches of drop and still packs 1,478foot pounds of energy. The .26 Nosler has right at 11-inches of drop and hits with 2,343-foot pounds of energy. If we extend that out to 800-yards, the 6.5 Creedmoor is going to have 145-inches of drop and is down to 838 -foot pounds of energy. The .26 Nosler has 89-inches of drop and has 1,404-foot pounds of energy which is right where the Creedmoor was at half that distance. It is still speeding through the air at over 2,200 feet per second and the Creedmoor is down to 1,724.

At 1,000-yards, the Creedmoor has 273-inches (22.75’) of drop and the Nosler has 167-inches (13.92’). The velocity on the Creedmoor is 1,483 and the energy has fallen to 620-foot pounds whereas the Nosler still packs a punch with 1,062-foot pounds of energy and is still traveling at 1,941-feet per second. The Creedmoor will drop below the subsonic speed of 1,100 FPS at 1,450-yards which is where your accuracy drops off. The Nosler will get you out past a mile at 1,825-yards before you go subsonic.

With today’s rangefinders and the ballistics technology, both of these cartridges can be deadly accurate. I’ll let each reader determine what they feel is ethical for a hunting situation. A precise shot that goes right where it is supposed to be placed can be deadly at a thousand yards with either of these setups. However, the shot that doesn’t hit its mark is the problem. Judging wind for one of those long-range shots is truly an art and even for someone that does it all the time, is often wrong.

According to several ballistics applications, a ten mile-per-hour, full-value wind is going to drift that 6.5 Creedmoor round 15.7” at 500-yards. If you missed your wind estimation by 5 MPH one way or the other, it could mean the difference in a fatally hit animal or a wounded one.

At 800-yards with the same ten mile-perhour wind, you are going to have four feet (48.8”) of drift. The .26 Nosler is significantly faster and bucks the wind a lot better. At 500-yards, that same 10 MPH wind is going to drift you right at 11-inches and at 800 yards you will have 32.8” of drift.

These baselines on wind drift are established with apps like Strelok Pro, but the real-world testing has shown the .26 Nosler to be even less drift than posted.

Overall, I’m not going to tell anyone which one of these rifles and cartridges to purchase. I own a couple of each. The 6.5 Creedmoor is extremely inexpensive to shoot and has almost no recoil. I feel that it is a great rifle for kids, women and people looking to shoot animals inside of 400-yards. I don’t consider it a viable long-range hunting caliber out past that range strictly because of the wind drift issue and the lack of energy if you make a bad shot. With its lack of recoil, it is definitely a rifle and cartridge that many people are going to be able to shoot well and a well-placed shot is essential for making quick and humane kills.

The .26 Nosler has been my go-to round for the past four years and I’m north of over 1,000 rounds out of this rifle and my barrel is still going strong. My good friend and long-range shooting buddy has probably shot over 2,000 rounds through his identical rifle, which was built at the same time, but is now started to see signs of wear. The rifle still shoots sub-MOA groups but has now gone from 15-minutes of elevation adjustment at 1,000-yards to 16-minutes, which means the barrel will need to be replaced in the near future.

I’ve taken bison, moose, brown bears, black bears, numerous elk and more deer than I can count with this caliber over the past four years. Most shots were right where I wanted, but a few didn’t hit their mark because of the wind. However, all animals were recovered quickly. “Speed Kills” is the motto when shooting the .26 Nosler and it has performed very well during this timeframe. The major downfall of this cartridge is finding available ammunition. Even DoubleTap has a limited amount each and every year. When you do find it, it is going to cost you about $4.00 per round, which makes it hard to justify plinking. Even if you are a hand loader, components for this are often hard to find.

The ultimate answer to the original question is – both the 6.5 Creedmoor and the .26 Nosler are good calibers. Each has a purpose, but they shouldn’t be compared, even though they shoot the exact same projectile.

16 October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

IN MEMORIUM

Theophile Jean Antoine Bourgeois III

C

J U LY 1 0 , 1 9 6 4 – A U G U S T 1 8 , 2 0 1 9

ajun renaissance man, Theophile Jean Antoine Bourgeois III, left this world on August 18, 2019 doing what he loved in his Seaplane in a tragic incident. He took his Captain’s oath to the grave, ensuring the safety of his two passengers over his own in one last act of nobility.

Born July 10,1964 to Theophile Bourgeois Jr and Helen Sievers Bourgeois. Theophile was a man who mastered everything he touched, his hands and mind knew no limits. An avid fisherman and outdoorsman, master carpenter, cunning businessman and entrepreneur, Inventor and larger than life television personality; Bourgeois was a patient father and grandfather who always took the time to teach his son and grandsons everything he knew and was always eager to share his knowledge with anyone willing to listen.

He built his sport fishing empire, Bourgeois Fishing Charters, from the ground up and set the standard for those to follow. Always re-inventing himself and his business strategies, Bourgeois was in a constant state of self-improvement and was always eager to help everyone around him with a smile. Anyone who knew him, knew of his sincerity and compassion. A man whose work ethic was only rivaled by his humor and kindness; anyone who crossed paths with Theophile, was forever left with a story that they were eager to share.

He is survived by his mother Helen Bourgeois, son Theophile Bourgeois IV, sister Lisa Smith (Chris), grandsons Theophile V and Jameson Bourgeois, his beloved soul mate Ginger Jenné and her three sons, Derek “Coon dog” Billiot, Arec and Alec Prestenbach as well as many, many loved ones.

The Sportsman’s News team was greatly sadden with the news and we wish only the best for those that are left behind.

October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

17

PRO'S TIP

How to Take Good Field and Trophy Photos

I just want readers to know this option exists. Being able to adjust the exposure, aperture, shutter speed and other things that will get you great photos is achieved much better with a separate camera as opposed to your mobile phone.

Having your camera and putting it to use is the most important part of good field photos. If you take enough of them, you are going to get a few good ones even if only by accident. As you take more photos and share them with friends and family, you will start to see what gets noticed and this will make you better. Since we have been doing a publication and producing 25-30 shows per year for the past 15-years, we have made lots of mistakes and learned from them. This is an overview on how to capture your field experience through photos and get the most out of them.

A good photographer can tell a story with all of their photos.

You should be able to look though the photos you take on a hunting or fishing trip and do just that without ever giving someone an explanation. Setting up camp, cooking meals, sitting around the campfire, glassing from a lookout and various shots like this are things you will look back on years later and they will help you relive the entire trip. This is so much better than just having a few photos of your success. I don’t want to seem like trophy photos aren’t important. They are extremely important, but they aren’t the only thing.

This photo does the best job of really showing off this pronghorn buck. The image below of the same animal just fails to really show what a great antelope this is.

By Michael Deming

A “

picture is worth a thousand words!” I’m sure just about everyone has heard this statement and if you have seen a really good photo, you understand what it means. With the invention of the cell phone camera, nearly everyone has a camera with them in the field and that’s the first step in getting good photos. If you don’t have the ability to snap a photo, you won’t have those memories in the future.

First off, let’s talk about the camera itself. Today’s phones will give you a picture that is good enough in quality to be able to have printed and put in a frame and look good. They are definitely fine for sharing your experiences on social media. Many people buy $1,500 phones for their cameras’ ability alone, which in my opinion is crazy. A great quality camera that has all the versatility and settings to get you photos in any situation as well as have a good flash will cost you half of that. Most have the ability to pair with your phone via blue tooth and share the photos. This is getting a bit on the techy side of things and that isn’t what we are going to cover in this article.

18 October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

Trophy photos are going to be the exclamation point on your trip. This is especially true when you are sharing them with other people who have likeminded interests. I want to share some of the tips and tricks I’ve learned over the years for getting the best trophy photos possible.

We want to provide a good representation of the animal and show it respect with these photos. This takes a great deal of work and effort to get good photos. This is especially true if you are talking about animals like elk or moose which are extremely large. You are going to have to make the most out of the situation and take photos where they lay.

These are a few things that I take to the field with me to insure we do the best job possible on these photos. A small 7” folding saw made by Outdoor Edge is one of my favorite tools and I use it a bunch. I cut away all of the foliage and things that will get in the way of taking a good picture. I often wish I had a weed whacker, but it’s not feasible to pack one of those around. We usually end up pulling and cutting the long grass and bushes with a knife to make sure we have a clear shot for photos. Once you have a clear shot for the animal and hunter, you can now stage the animal. Rolling them onto their stomach as if they are laying down is a very natural position and great for photos if possible. A big Alaska/Yukon moose isn’t going to get moved to that position unless you have a lot of people, horses or a block and tackle. However, make the most of the situation. You are going to want to get the animal cleaned up and ready for photos. This means to either tuck the tongue back into the animals’ mouth or go ahead and cut it off like we do. Nothing distracts from a photo more than a bloody tongue hanging out of the animals’ mouth,

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You would think these were two different animals, but in reality, it is just using the best angle to showcase the attributes of your trophy in the best way.

especially when you share with a nonhunter.

Next, I always carry a package of wet wipes as well as a few dry rags in my pack. I make sure to get all of the blood off of the animals’ face, mouth and anywhere that will be part of the picture. The blood distracts from the animal in your photos and although it is part of what we do, there is no need to take photos that show us hunters as disrespectful to our trophy.

One extremely valuable lesson in taking trophy photos is that there is usually one pose or angle that will show this trophy to be as good as he can possibly be. All of the different antler configurations that grow make this pose different for each and every animal. This is a great place for your cell phone pics, as you can take numerous different angles to see what works best. Taking pictures from high, low, side, frontal, etc. are going to get you what you need.

You will learn as you go and you will get much better with each and every outing.

Here are a few examples of photos showing the same animal at different angles and poses.

Many would think that these are two totally different animals. The Sportsman’s News team stays away from creative photography and forced perspective created by sitting 20-feet behind the animal to make them look bigger.

We just use the different angles, lighting and what they grow to give them a final resting spot worthy of publishing.

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Poker-Faced Strategies for Winning More Pheasant Never reveal your next move when playing the high card.

Article and Photos By Gary Lewis

P

heasant hunting, like the game of poker, is a contest of decisionmaking in the face of incomplete information. The correct decision in any given situation is the decision that has the highest expected value.

We might as well have been playing poker. Dennis Foster revealed none of his cards. The tableland turned cornfield in front of us had been harvested, except for a couple of strips of corn, in which, presumably, pheasants had taken refuge. A collection of dogs, 13 in all, mostly flushers, waited for their chance to be played, like wild cards in a deck. Dressed in canvas and oilskin, arrayed in various shades of orange, 15 hunters betrayed their anxieties, clustered in knots of twos, threes and fours.

Behind us, the combines waited. Across the table waited the pheasants.

I blocked at the end as the drivers pushed toward us. Pheasants rattled out of the stalks to the cries of “hen” and “rooster” that echoed down the line of standing corn.

When someone shouted “rooster” it was quickly accompanied by a shotgun blast.

I didn’t draw a winning card on the first hand, but on the next play, Foster slipped me an ace and put me on the wing.

By the end of the first day our group of 15 hunters and 13 dogs had accounted for 25 roosters, three of which I managed to put in the game bag.

That day in the cornfields and marshes taught me a few things about roosters and strategy.

The hunt is like a poker game. The leader of the group is the dealer and the pheasant is the opponent that learns from every deal. Whatever cards are played depend on the habitat and the number of players at the table.

After opening weekend, the roosters have learned that the slam of a pickup tailgate and a whistle means hunters and dogs are coming. While we are loading our guns, the pheasants are looking for the side door.

The first rule is to make a plan. To draw to a royal flush, a hunt needs drivers and blockers. If there are only two in the party, play all the cards in the fringe cover and leave the food plots to larger groups.

A rooster pheasant taken on a cold morning in a cornfield near Aberdeen, South Dakota.

22 October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

Mid-morning, when the sun is already high in the sky, the birds work into the thickest, densest cover they can find, lying low until late afternoon.

The second rule is to play the wind. A hunter needs the breeze in his or her face or more accurately, in the dog’s face. Working into the wind, the dog smells the bird before he flushes it. Watch the dog for the “tells” that signal he is close.

To beat a pheasant at his own tricks, call the strategy before driving into the parking area. Visualize the play in advance. Here are four different approaches to take when pitted against savvy roosters.

1. Passive Aggressive Play

When there are fewer hunters and an abundance of cover, a measured, methodical, silent entry is important. Stay ten yards apart, work from one edge to the other in zigzag fashion. Move slow. Work brushy fence rows or grassy ditches. One or two drivers should bull through the tallest cover with a dog, searching a slow back and

Dennis Foster and Casey Weismantel admire a hard-won rooster flushed from the edge of a cat tail swamp.

4. The Deception

Use this move when hunting long ditches or strips of cover, such as along a railroad track or a river. One hunter is the point of the triangle, moving through the cover about 25-yards ahead of the rest of the group. The other two hunters then take the edges and push a wedge into the pheasant habitat. As the birds in the deep cover move out to the edges, they get kicked up by the hunters at the base of the triangle.

The pheasant doesn’t want to leave his hideout, so rather than flush, it would rather hold or sneak. Just when it gets around the point man, headed in the opposite direction, it runs into the next hunter. Strip habitat is taller than the surrounding cover. Here are willows and tall sagebrush, cottonwood trees and junipers. The high cover can obscure the hunters’ vision. Use the blue-sky-beneath-the-bird rule to keep partners out of danger.

The Fundamental Theorem

When a rooster has a season or two under its belt, he knows what it means when hunters park close to cover and turn dogs loose. forth pattern. Post another hunter at the end of the row to jump sneaking birds into the air. Keep communication between the hunters to a minimum so that plays aren’t telegraphed to the birds.

Most hunters work a field by walking through, ten yards apart with the dog moving back and forth. A passive aggressive approach keeps a rooster guessing. For a moment, the rooster thinks the hunter is coming toward him, then he thinks the hunter is moving away.

When a bird starts to run, keep him between hunters or hunters and dogs. He has everyone located and as the stakes are raised, he will flush or hold.

Now the dog goes on point. Make a half-circle 20 yards around the dog to come in looking straight at him. With the bird between you and the pointer, watch his eyes.

He knows where the bird is. This is the chance to make the best approach, knowing where the pheasant is going to come from.

This then is the fundamental theorem the poker-faced pheasant hunter should grasp: Every time you hunt a field differently from the way you would have hunted it if you could see all the pheasants in advance, they gain; and every time you hunt the same way you would have hunted it if you knew where they were, they lose.

Plan the hunt then hunt the plan. With wised-up birds, it is a matter of knowing the fundamentals of deception. Play the cards close to the vest. Leave the whistles in the car. Turn off the beepers. Hunt into the wind and slow down. Use blockers when you can and work the edges.

Avoid the urge to play the cards the same way on the second day. If there are birds left in a field, let them filter back in and hit them the next day with a trick they haven’t seen before.

It comes down to legwork and deception.

It is not a game that is won on every hand. Sometimes the luck of the draw runs in favor of a cagey rooster. The best a player can hope for is that a pheasant will play a flush over the dog. When that happens, number sixes beat a straight flush every time.

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2. Loose/Tight Play

Pheasants live along the fringe. Moving from roost, to gravel, to feed and water are easiest in edge habitat. The lone hunter and a dog will make the most points on midday jaunts through fringe cover. Here the birds go to rest when the sun is high or to escape from the pressure a large group may be putting on a nearby crop field.

When hunting along the edge of a river or lake, you may flush pheasants that have sought refuge on the fringes of nearby fields. They’ll almost always fly over the water instead of back over the resting cover.

These are the birds that have learned that at the first hint of danger, safety lies on the other side. This mindset of hunting the edges also pays along the railroad tracks.

Where the cinders end and the bushes start is good escape cover. And the bird will most often fly across or along the tracks, rather than breaking back into the fields.

Ditches are another sideline play. When pushed, a seasoned rooster knows how to use a ditch, whether it is a dry irrigation canal or a barrow pit, to his best advantage.

Once he hits the furrow, he will go one way or the other, most often at top speed.

3. The Sandwich Effect

This tactic is best when there are six or more players. Come in quiet. Stop the car about a mile before the hunting field and let the dogs run off their early-morning excitement.

Watch to see that they obey commands and work close before they belly up to the table.

Sometimes it pays to sketch the field and the hunt in advance. Drivers and blockers should have the plan in hand and know their positions. Turn off the music, don’t slam the door and keep conversation to a whisper.

Give all the players 15 minutes to get into position. Place blockers on the sides, as well as the ends, to get the advantage on birds that squeeze out through the middle. Drivers can come in loud or quiet, depending on the game plan, but the best rule when working toward blockers is to keep the safety on until there is blue sky beneath the bird.

A variation on this trick can pay off when the field is too big for the group. Focus the strategy on one section. Quietly post the blockers then create a diversion with loud voices and car doors on the side you won’t hunt to make more birds move into the hunt area.

In a big field, a pheasant will run as far as it can before it takes to the air. At the edge, where the crops or the grass give way to a stream, a ditch, a road or a stand of trees, expect the birds to flush wild.

October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

23

PRO'S PICK

Phone Skope

By Dan Kidder Managing Editor

R

ubber or glass? That is the question. Would you rather invest in hours of walking to get to an animal you have spotted in your binoculars to determine whether it is something you would like to harvest or would you rather look through a spotting scope from miles away before deciding to make the hike or pass for a better animal?

Both have pros and cons. If you rely on spot and hike, you can expend not only a lot of energy, but a lot of time that could be better spent looking for a better option. If you rely on glassing to determine the quality of an animal, you can expend a lot of money on good glass, but it can also wear out your eyes looking through the tiny eyepiece for hours.

Phone Skope is a digiscoping adapter that transforms the relatively small eyepiece of your spotting scope or binoculars into a screen, by allowing you to attach your smartphone to your optic. It also lets you use your phone’s onboard camera to capture photos and video so you can show them to your buddies or look at them in more detail back at home base on a larger screen such as a television or computer monitor.

There are several options on the market for this task, but at Sportsman’s News, we exclusively use Phone Skope products for our own hunting as well as capturing footage to bring Phone Skope lets you use your smartphone's onyou great video for Sportsman’s News Television. The other board camera with your spotting scope or binos to view products on the market take a much more universal approach and capture animals far off. This can save you hours and to their adapters and they generally are a “one-size-fits-none” miles of hiking to get a good look at them. approach in that they never seem to get the proper eye relief, alignment or clarity that Phone Skope gets. The reason the model case, coupled with an adapter, customized specifically for your particular Phone Skope adapters work better is that they utimake and model of optic. This properly aligns the camera on your device with the lize a two-piece format to use a specific phone optimal placement on the optic.

With Phone Skope, you purchase to different pieces. First you select the proper case for your phone. These are available for most major manufacturers of smartphones. Obviously, this doesn’t include antiquated flip phones. It is the Twenty-First Century already and if you are still using those, then get ready to burn some shoe leather the same way the other cavemen hunted before you. These cases also can be purchased to slip over your favorite Otterbox or Lifeproof phone case without removing the phone from your protective cover of choice.

The next piece you purchase is the eyepiece adapter that slips snuggly over the eyepiece of your optic. They make an outrageous number of these to accommodate the vast number of major optics-makers on the market. The selection of options is staggering. This adapter has three lugs on the outside that engage the case with a twist with three locking tabs on the phone. Once done, you may need to move the adapter back and forth a little on the eyepiece, but otherwise,

24 October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

PRO'S PICK

This small herd of elk was spotted from over a mile away with a pair of binos. The Phone Skope adapter let the crew see if it was worth putting a stalk on them without moving position.

the set-up does a great job of properly aligning the camera and setting the correct distance from the focal lens.

Because not all phone cameras work the same way or are of the same quality, if the adapter and case combination still doesn’t work properly, you can download the free Phone Skope app from Google Play or the Apple App Store. This allows some fine tuning to get everything just right.

While Phone Skope makes an impressive number of adapters, you may have an off brand or something that is older and they don’t make an adapter for it. They even have a solution for that contingency that doesn’t require you buy new binos or a spotting scope. They make two different universal adapters that employ the same three-lug locking system but feature a rotating ring that will snug-down on your eyepiece. These universal adapters come in large or small sizing and will fit an unlimited number of models of optics.

Phone Skope also makes a Bluetooth remote that will allow you to start recording or snap a photo without touching the screen. But this option can also cause the tripod to move slightly and cause distortion or loss of the subject at extreme magnification as your finger hits the record button.

As I get older and the body parts start to protest more and more from hiking over rough terrain, the Phone Skope system saves my knees, back, feet and eyes from extra strain and allows me to use that extra time that I would have spent hiking miles to get a closer look at an animal, to sit back and let my glass do the walking. And that is why it is an indispensable aid for western big game hunters looking to harvest big animals and why it is always on my spotting scope when I am in the field.

October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

25

Video Product Reviews

CVA Paramount Long Range Muzzleloader

L

ong Range and muzzleloader seem to be a bit of a contradictory term, but with everyone wanting bigger, better, and faster with everything they own, it’s not surprising that there is a demand for it. CVA was definitely up to this challenge in delivering a muzzleloader capable of accuracy out to 400 yards and beyond. We jumped at the opportunity to put one of these to the test and prepare it for the upcoming hunting seasons.

The stock is a fully adjustable synthetic stock with an internal aluminum chassis.

Adjustment for the length of pull is done with removeable spacers and full comb adjustment is fast and easy with loosening one large knob/bolt on the stock. The barrel is a .45 caliber 26” Bergara heavy barrel, which is 416 stainless steel and nitride treated.

It is free floated and ready for long range accuracy with its 1:22 twist.

It is a bolt action gun, which makes it very different than most other muzzleloaders and was designed to eliminate pressure loss with magnum loads. This bolt setup completely seals the breech making sure this newly designed VariFlame breech plug and magnum rifle primer gives you consistent shots time after time. The action is drilled and tapped to accommodate a Remington 700 short action base and it is recommended that you put on a 20 MOA rail for best long-range results.

This muzzleloader uses the VariFlame adapter and large rifle primers in lieu of a 209 shotgun primer for ignition. This requires you to install these rifle primers into the VariFlame adapter.

Your rifle comes with one package of 15 Powerbelt .45 caliber, 280 grain ELR (extended long range) series bullets. These bullets performed far beyond our expectations.

With 20-minute rail and scope mounted, and our preparation completed, we headed to the range to see exactly what this rifle was capable of. It is recommended that you sight the muzzleloader in at 200 yards. The 20-minute rail and this sight in distance, will provide you with enough travel in most riflescopes to shoot well past 400 yards. During our testing at 6,000 feet of elevation and 105 grains of Blackhorn 209 measured by weight, we were shooting a consistent 2,320 feet per second. The lows were measured right at 2,315 and a high of 2,332, which is very consistent with what we see shooting regular rifle loads.

At 400 yards and everything totally dialed in, we were able to put sub-MOA groups on paper and one measured 2.875 inches, which is extremely impressive for any rifle let alone a muzzleloader. Scan the QR code in this article to see the video of this muzzleloader performing out to 735 yards.

Scan this QR Code with your smart phone to view the Sportsman's News YouTube Channel.

Sitka Gear Rebooted Baselayers

F

or 2019, Sitka Gear culminated a three-year project to redesign their base layering system. Sitka Gear has always understood that proper layering is the key to spending more time in the outdoors and the baselayer acts as the foundation of that system.

While their base layers were already extremely popular among serious hunters in extreme environments, Sitka wanted to integrate better materials that provide more stretch and range of motion as well as more efficient moisture management.

This year, Sitka was able to get that improved system to market in time to make it into your wardrobe for this season’s hunts.

It features several redesigned pieces in heavy, medium, and light weights so they can be configured for a variety of activity levels and weather conditions. The proprietary fabrics can be used together or by themselves under your outer layers to create a base or midlayer for even more options, to protect you during periods of inactivity waiting in the extreme cold, yet still be versatile enough to keep you from overheating, or worse, getting wet from perspiration during sudden bursts of vigorous activity. They have also improved the drying capability of these baselayers. They dry 25 percent faster than the previous versions.

Not only do these baselayers hide you from your prey, but they also protect you from the sun. The lightweight pieces have a 30 UPF sun protection rating, which is twice the level of the previous version, and the mid and heavy-weights provide a 50+ UPF rating.

In addition to upgrading the materials, they have even improved the mesh in the face mask on their hoodies so they breathe better without fogging up glasses.

The material has been impregnated with Polygiene Permanent Odor Control Technology to cut down on your scent for human and animal consideration. This technology uses silver to cut odor, so that it doesn’t wash out over Scan this QR Code with time, but continues to work for years of use. your smart phone to view The new top pieces are the Core Lightweight Crew in the Sportsman's News long and short sleeves and the popular hoodie, the Core YouTube Channel.

Midweight Zip, the Core Heavyweight Zip, and the Core

26 October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

Heavyweight Hoodie. On the bottom, Sitka has the Lightweight Bottom, Midweight Bottom, and Heavyweight Bottom. Each is made of the new proprietary materials and feature a performance fit so they hug your buddy and are more comfortable under outer layers. The heavyweight layers are also 30 percent warmer. They have also been engineered with fewer seams for more comfort underneath outerlayers and to avoid rubbing and hot spots.

The top layers are designed to be worn by themselves without outerlayers in warmer and drier weather, but easily fit under heavier jackets and shirts.

The rebooted baselayers are an ideal fit for any outdoor activity and come in Optifade Subalpine, Waterfowl Marsh, Optifade Open Country, and non-camo Pyrite, so every outdoor activity is covered from waterfowl hunting, to upland birds, to climbing, to big game hunting. They also offer the Lightweight and Fanatic hoodies in black, which is perfect for use in ground blinds.

With a wide range of motion, better stretch, odor control, and the versatility to use pieces together or by themselves, the new baselayering system from Sitka Gear is sure to find a place in your closet, as well as in the hunting blind. Check out the video by scanning the QR code with your smartphone to see the entire Sitka Gear Rebooted Baselayer System in action and find them before your next hunt at your local Sportsman’s Warehouse.

Winchester SX4 20 Gauge

Video Product Reviews

W

inchester introduced its new line of auto-loading shotguns, the Super X4 (SX4) in the spring of 2017.

Its platform continues with many of its predecessor’s, the ever popular SX3’s features, plus a few great changes and modifications that make the new generation even better.

When the SX4 was originally introduced, only 12-gauge models were available.

Now, by popular demand, eight new 20-gauge models have burst onto the scene in an effort to reach out to even more hunters and shooters looking for their perfect, go-to shotgun, suitable for any application.

The Sportsman’s News team has had the chance to “Test Drive” a number of SX4’s since their introduction and we have loved the functionality and dependability they offer, especially the shotguns’ quick cycling and Winchester’s Active Valve Gas System that automatically self-adjusts to cycle a vast spectrum of scattergun loads. But, the SX4 and especially the new 20-guage models offer even more great features.

The most glaring change is its balance. With a more forward-heavy center point in its weight distribution, the balance point has been moved a little more toward the forearm, which was very evident the first time we took it Scan this QR Code with to the range. And with the even lighter weight of the new your smart phone to view t h e S p o r t s m a n ' s N e w s 20-gauge models (compact models as lite as 6lbs 4oz) the YouTube Channel. swing-through is very smooth, allowing you to lock-in

quickly on flushing birds or fast-moving clays.

Winchester’s SX4 has also incorporated a number of changes to help make its operation even better. The bolt handle, bolt-release button, trigger and safety have all been slightly enlarged, making it a little bit easier in real-time hunting situations for quick acquisition, especially on those cold days in the field or in your favorite duck blind.

They also slimmed down the forearm and pistol grip, making it more compatible when using gloves and for smaller handed shooters.

With 20-gauge options in eight different SX4 models, you are bound to be able to find the gun just right for you. But the best all-around model just might be the Universal Hunter. If you are adhering to your budget requirements, looking for one shotgun that can cover all of your shooting needs, I just don’t know if you can find a better solution than this gun. It comes in Mossy Oak’s Break-Up Country camo that is suitable for a wide variety of environments and comes with Winchester’s Invector-Plus choke tubes to cover lead, steel and even slugs if needed.

Yes, Winchester’s SX4 is definitely a hit with the Sportsman’s News Team. I have always been a little partial to the 20-gauge side of things and when the news came down that the SX4 line was introducing it, I couldn’t wait to try it out! So, if you are in the market for a new shotgun, do yourself a favor and stop by your local Sportsman’s Warehouse to see for yourself how well the new SX4 20-gauge handles.

October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

27

Otis – Smart Gun Care

O

tis was born in 1985 when their founder, a 16-year-old Doreen Garrett, fell into cold mud while deer hunting with her father. The barrel of her grandfather’s Model 94 Winchester was full of mud and the days hunt was over.

Sometimes when you fall, you stumble upon something you didn’t see before, something you were meant to find. That day sparked the beginning of an endeavor to create a smarter solution to a problem every hunter, soldier, shooter and firearm owner has encountered. On that day, Doreen had a vision for innovating gun care. That is where they began, in the mud, pulled down by their roots to reveal a tireless drive to create a quality, American-made product that will serve the men and women that depend on their firearms to feed their families and protect our country. Now, it is their uncompromising purpose and the big picture reason why they show up to work every day.

Their mission is to rethink and redefine gun care, giving gun owners better and smarter ways to keep their most cherished firearms in the best condition possible.

Otis is Smart Gun Care One of the Sportsman’s News Teams favorite Otis products is the Otis Elite which delivers top notch performance and durability to the avid gun user by ensuring a proper Breech-to-Muzzle cleaning experience unique to the Otis Brand. This universal gun cleaning kit comes complete with over 60 components for all rifles, pistols, shotguns and inline muzzleloaders, including a full Tactical cleaning kit all contained in a lightweight, portable case. Made in the USA and built to last, the Otis Elite is a must-have addition to your gun cleaning bench.

Features:

• Cleans all rifles/pistols/shotguns/inline muzzleloaders with 100% cotton 2” & 3” patches, 3 slotted tips & 2 patch savers • 16 firearm specific bronze bore brushes with size marked on brush stem (.17, .22 limited breech, .22/.223, .243-.260, .270/7mm, .30-06/.300/30-30/.308, .338-.35, .357-38cal/9mm, .40/10mm, .44/.45, .50cal, .410ga, 28ga, 20ga, 16ga, 12/10ga) • 8”, 12” and 36” aircraft grade Memory-Flex cables and thread connector for proper Breech-to-Muzzle cleaning • Small and large obstruction removers knock out mud, snow, stuck casings and double as a T-handle base for included T-handle; small T-handle & stud included for small caliber cleaning • .223cal/5.56mm chamber brush, pin punch, end brush, straight pick, locking lug scraper, scraper, short AP brush, double end AP brush and male & female rod for more precise cleaning • Lens tissue, lens spray, lens brush and lens cloth for optics care • Also includes microfiber gun cloth, chamber flag, (2) 0.5 fl. oz. Bio-CLP & instruction manual • Complete Tactical cleaning kit in compact soft pack cases included with 6 brushes, 3 cables, 2” & 3” patches, 0.5 fl. oz. Bio-CLP, chamber flag The Otis Elite is packed neatly in a rugged nylon bag that sports a handy carrying handle. It features their ‘No Nonsense Warranty’ and most importantly – is made in the USA! Check out this great kit and many other Otis products at your local Sportsman’s Warehouse.

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Where to Begin irst things first. Before we get into what gear you need, you must find a match. There are hundreds of clubs across America that host shooting matches on a weekly or monthly basis. Most of those clubs use a popular, user friendly, free scoring and scheduling program called Practiscore. By going to Practiscore.com you can find hundreds of matches, spanning all disciplines of the shooting sports, at your fingertips. Finding a match in your area and registering can all be done in a matter of minutes on your smart phone with Practiscore.

Now that you know where to find a match, you will need to pick a division. The United Multi-Gun League has steadily become the standard scoring system for multigun in the western U.S. With the arrival of the UML, the divisions were expanded to include 2 Gun, 2x4 and PCC divisions. The addition of these divisions has made it easier to jump directly into multi-gun or transition from other organizations like IDPA or USPSA. While different organizations like 3 Gun Nation will refer to these divisions by different names, the equipment restrictions are mostly the same across the board.

F

What You’ll Need Unless money is no object, don’t go out and drop a bunch of coin on gear you may not need. Instead, sign up and head to a match with what you have. You are not going to win your first match and you are not going to look like a fool if you don’t have the latest and greatest set up. I have found that competitive shooters are some of the nicest people around and most

will bend over backwards to loan you gear and put you on the road to success. With that being said, let’s discuss the basic setup.

Pistol Your pistol must be a 9mm or larger caliber. Out of the box, every day carry guns like Glock 17’s, Smith and Wesson M&P’s or Sig Sauer P320‘s are commonplace. While you will see many $2,000 plus pistols on the range, a good Glock 34 and lots of practice will get you a long way.

Holsters One of the most important and often overlooked pieces of gear you will need is a good holster and belt. The sport of multi-gun incorporates a significant amount of dynamic movement. You can expect to run, climb and even crawl, while

carrying a holstered pistol.

Retention is a key and if you choose to go with some $10 knock off, plastic holster with a single level of retention you can plan on your pistol eventually spilling out and hitting the ground, resulting in your early exit from the match via DQ. There is a saying about DQ’s; there are those that have and those that will. That may be true, but disqualification by losing your pistol is totally preventable, yet it continues to burn competitors time and time again. A quality holster with multiple points of retention like a Safariland ALS coupled with a sturdy belt will keep you in the match and away from the nearest Dairy Queen.

Magazines While you can get away with standard magazines, adding extended base pads can up your magazine capacity to 22-rounds. Just keep in mind you must not have an overall length of over 141.25mm for staggered magazines. Base pads manufactured by Dawson Precision and Taran Tactical Innovations seem to be popular.

Sights

32 October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

While pistol optics are not allowed, except in Open and 2x4 Open, many competitors will switch out their factory iron sights for something more competition friendly. This is a personal thing for most shooters, so I would recommend linking up with your fellow competitors and getting an idea of what they run and find what works best for you before buying.

Rifle Most competitors typically compete with an AR-15 semiautomatic style rifle, chambered in .223. The sheer volume of AR manufactures, availability of reasonably priced drop in parts, accessories and its proven accuracy over AK’s and other variants make the AR-15 platform ideal for multigun competition. However, if you own an AK, know that the minimum caliber is 5.45 x 39 and just like with AR-15’s shooting steel core ammunition, is against the rules. The AK market is saturated with steel core ammo and shooting it at a multi-gun match will result in you going home early and possibly result in you having to pay to repair damage to steel targets. So, turns out if AK’s your way, then it’s A ok!

Optics All the multi-gun divisions, except limited, allow you to equip your rifle with a variable power optic. Most competitors use anything from a 1-4x to 1-8x. However, 1-6x optics from companies like Vortex Optics seem to be the norm. There is a large amount of quality optic companies out there with different glass and reticles and much like handgun sights, look through as many as you can before making the investment.

Rifle Magazines Rifle magazines for the AR-15 are currently plentiful and cheap. Magpul magazines are the standard and can be found in 10, 20, 30, 40 and 60 round capacities. If you are just starting out, grab a couple 30’s and a 40 rounder. If you couple those with +5 based pads, which can be found from multiple manufactures on the web, you will be good to go on most stages.

Shotgun For all the divisions except for 2 Gun, you are going to need a shotgun. 20-gauge is the minimum, but most competitors

are running some brand of a 12-gauge semi-automatic shotgun with an extended tube and opened loading port. Benelli, Breda, Stoeger, Remington and Browning can all be seen competing on any given Saturday. In most divisions, you can start with nine shells in the gun, so a tube extension from Taccom or Nordic Components will serve you well. While you won’t see many pump guns, if that’s what you have, use it until you can make an educated decision on which semi-auto to go with.

Shell Caddies When you get that semi-auto shotgun, you are probably going to have to load it on the clock. You will find that shell caddies are a must and the quickest way to keep your shotgun up and running is by learning to quad load. Like most other things in multi-gun, there are several manufactures of shell caddies like Taccom, Invictus, Safariland and Carbon Arms. You will probably find all of the above caddies floating around the range on match day, so don’t hesitate to ask your squad mates why they run what they run.

Dot Torture Drill This is a great marksmanship drill that came from David Blinder at personaldefensetraining.com.

Start at 3 yards. You have to get all 50 hits to pass.

Once you can shoot the whole drill without a single miss, either increase the distance or add time pressure. For instance, try to finish the entire drill in under 5 minutes while maintaining 100% accuracy.

• • • • • • •

Dot 1 – Draw and fire one string of 5 rounds for best group. One hole if possible, total 5 rounds.

Dot 2 – Draw and fire 1 shot, holster and repeat X4, total 5 rounds.

Dots 3 & 4 – Draw and fire 1 shot on #3, then 1 shot on #4, holster and repeat X3, total 8 rounds.

Dot 5 – Draw and fire string of 5 rounds, strong hand only, total 5 rounds.

Dots 6 & 7 – Draw and fire 2 shots on #6, then 2 on #7, holster, repeat X4, total 16 rounds.

Dot 8 – From ready or retention, fire five shots, weak hand only, total 5 rounds.

Dots 9 & 10 – Draw and fire 1 shot on #9, speed load, fire 1 shot on #10, holster and repeat X3, total 6 rounds.

Dot Torture

Other Gear Moving three guns, ammo and spare gear between stages can be cumbersome to say the least. Add to that many ranges are dusty, windy places which wreak havoc on firearms. Investing in a good range bag that can carry three guns, ammo and gear will be worth the price. While the bag will protect your firearms and gear from the environment, it will also provide you an opportunity to pack water, a small first aid kit, including a tourniquet, spare parts, extra eye and ear protection and cleaning supplies.

See you on the range.

About the Author: Greg Severson is a 24-year law enforcement veteran and competitive shooter. He has served his community as a patrol officer, detective, SWAT officer, firearms instructor and active shooter instructor. He has taught building clearing and response to active shooter for Peace Officers Standards & Training (POST) and Salt Lake Community College since 2008. Greg has competed nationally in multigun and PCC matches and has spent way too much money on useless multi-gun equipment and gimmicks.

Go to news.sportsmans.com to download & print this drill

October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

33

Can’t We Just Get Along

L

et me set the scene. The late Jose Wejebe of Spanish Fly fame, the legendary Flip Pallot and I were the last ones at the annual Costa ICAST party. We’d been sitting there for hours talking fishing and at some point, the conversation came around to the challenges fishing faced in the future. Given the combined angling industry history of these guys, I was all ears.

Themes like access to waters, conservation, and affordability were tossed around before the conclusion was reached that society’s weakening connection to the natural world in general was the biggest threat; when, as a society, we cease to see value in something, we will no longer protect it.

Almost as quickly, the conversation turned to how do we slow this trend? Both Jose and Flip agreed that it starts from the inside, that we as anglers needed to take

Chad LaChance

34 October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

responsibility for the future of our sport and that we must unite to affect change. We could no longer afford to be fly anglers, bass anglers, offshore anglers, inshore anglers or whatever sub classification we called ourselves; we simply need to be anglers in general and we need to work together. Furthermore, we need more of us actually working on it.

They spoke of anglers taking sides with their preferred style to the exclusion of others. It had become a microcosm of in-fighting in sport fishing in general, rather than just different ways to catch fish. To this day that conversation is the single driving force behind why Fishful Thinker TV features as many species and techniques as we do. We are all anglers first and foremost.

These days, I feel just as strongly about that concept as I did way back then. After 15-years of guiding, hosting fishing shows, and speaking publicly, I still wish we would all work together to protect our sport. And sadly, I feel even stronger now that our sport - and our playing field - needs protecting.

I was once contacted by a group seeking my help in generating regulation to make a popular urban tailwater fly fishing only. ”Just think about how great the fly fishing would be if we could just keep the rednecks out!”, he spewed. I explained that I would offer no help and in fact I would vehemently oppose such regulation because that fishery is utilized by all sorts of anglers and that, by virtue of accessibility, it is a very important piece of water to our sport. Kids can bike to it, casual fishermen can stop by to wet a line after work, and it generally allows angling without excessive time or money requirements. I mentioned that there are lots of pristine places where he could fly fish redneck free ’til his heart’s content and that perhaps he should visit them more instead of inflicting a class division on a popular in-town water to the exclusive benefit of his preferred angling type. He called me names and hung up. That mindset is a serious problem for angling overall.

I wrote an opinion column once where I detailed why the fly industry needed conventional anglers. I referenced the gateway concept, recruitment, and evolution within the sport, eventually concluding with this quote, “some will argue that fly fishing is the pinnacle of angling and it may well be, but the mountain is built with conventional tackle and thus its importance to the sport cannot be overstated.” I got hate mail - lots of hate mail.

And lest you think I’m concerned only about fly versus conventional tackle, I’ve seen a gillion instances of technically advanced spinning anglers bashing “bait dunkers”, bank anglers jeering boaters and especially the keep-and-eat crowd versus the catch-and-release folks. I stand firmly on selective harvest principles and I’ve had very nasty emails for both releasing and eating pike. I’ve even been criticized for having biologists on FTTV including a guy who applauded me for working with a managing biologist, citing that I’m smart for “keeping my friends close and my enemies closer”.

Clearly, dude had issues.

I’ll be blunt. As long as anglers are fighting amongst ourselves, we are an easy target for those that see no value in our sport. Furthermore, as long as we take the “Us vs.

Them” approach with resource managers, we’ll never accomplish anything positive.

In recent years we’ve seen waters closed to all anglers, we’ve had boating access limited, we’ve had stocking decreased in some areas, all the while our population has grown dramatically. Problem is, fewer folks are anglers. If we want to even maintain, much less improve, our angling in light of this shift of demographics, we’d better work together. We’d better get over who’s preferred style is better or which fish is the best. We’d better work in conjunction with each other and with resource managers and water owners, rather than against them. And we all need to realize that there are factors beyond recreational fishing that directly affect management of our waters.

After 12-years of sitting on various resource management boards, I can say that last point has more impact than you’d guess.

At the very least, go forth with an open mind. Not everyone approves of what we do, much less supports it. Consider that all anglers, regardless of how or why they fish, need the same things - access and fish to catch. Keep an eye on the big picture. If we can’t even play nice with each other, don’t expect non-fishers or resource managers to play nice with any of us.

Properly Cleaning A Shotgun For bird hunters, the shotgun is their most essential tool. Having a gun that you feel comfortable with is very important. There is nothing like that feeling of hitting the field for the first time each year and hitting the mark on your first bird.

To make sure that perfect shot occurs each time, there is a little maintenance work to be done. Shotguns can become worn over time without proper care.

We’re all busy with life and all the requirements of each day, but taking just a few minutes after every hunt and every shoot to clean your shotgun will ensure that your favorite gun will last a lifetime.

Here are the basic steps for cleaning your shotgun: Overview Cleaning a shotgun is a very basic process. There are different variations of cleaning a gun and also different techniques for cleaning particular guns. There are different requirements for cleaning different actions of shotguns as well. For the most part, there are only a few slight variations and for this article, we’re going to focus on the basic steps for cleaning any type of shotgun you might have.

Required Materials There are different materials you can get for cleaning your gun. The basics include: • Gun oil • Bore snake • Dry rag for moisture • Chamber brush • Dry rag for oil application • Bore Brush

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October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

35

First, oil is very important. The oil you use will clean dirt and moisture from your gun. A common oil to apply is a basic gun oil. There is also lubricant oil, which you’ll likely want to get as well. The lubricant can keep you action working and it does help over time to keep your gun operating well.

Take a dry rag or paper towel and give your gun a good once over and check it twice to make sure you get all of the moisture. There is nothing more harmful to a gun, over time, than overexposure to moisture. Corrosion and rust are not your guns’ friend!

It’s best to give your gun a good wiping while it’s intact, but at this point, you’ll want to take off the various sections of the gun, including the barrel, stock and action. Now you can really dig into those crevices to get out all of the moisture.

Wipe All Parts with a Cleaning Oil Once your shotgun is free of moisture, it’s time to apply basic cleaning oil to the visible areas. Take a new, dry rag or paper towel and apply your oil to it as you start wiping down every area of the shotgun. You want to make sure you cover all areas to remove any dirt or grime present.

First let’s work on the chamber and bore, which requires the use of a cleaning rod, available in any standard cleaning kit. Each gauge of shotgun has specific sized brushes, so make sure you purchase the right brushes for the right sized barrel.

Next, using the proper sized brush, add some oil to a cloth or patch and run it through a few times. At this point, you are looking to remove the surface dust and grime. Once you have done this, it is time to get to the really difficult residue. Grab the brass brush from your kit and spray it with a little oil. Then run the brush through the barrel a few times. If you have threads on the barrel for choke tubes, make sure to spend a little extra time on those to make sure they are clean as well.

Next you will want to take off the brush from your cleaning rod and attach a holder for a cleaning pad or patch. Basically, you just want to spray it down with some oil and run it through the barrel a few times to clean out any residue that the brush knocked loose. Then check inside the barrel to make sure it is looking clean and shiny.

A more modern way of doing this process is with a bore snake. They are simple to use and make the process much quicker, hopefully giving you the incentive to run it through the barrel of your shotgun more often after each use.

How Often Should You Clean Your Gun This question comes up often and varies from person to person. Many will clean their gun after every use and before using it again if the gun has been siting for a long time.

You should look at your gun as a lifetime investment. Take the time to make sure it is in its best condition at all times.

P.S. - Remember, moisture is a gun's worst enemy. Even when in your gun safe, your firearm can accumulate moisture. Give your guns a little wipe-down periodically throughout the year.

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37

PRO MEMBER UPDATE

Renfro's Alaskan Adventures Sportsman’s News Pro Member Winner Scott Allan and his giant Alaskan bull moose.

By Michael Duff

The Sportsman's News Pro Membership Sweepstakes will give away this trip again on January 10th. Go to ProMembershipSweepstakes.com to enter to win.

Scott Allan’s smile says it all. This is why he became a Sportman’s News Pro Member

A Phone Skope photo of Scott Allan’s bull moose heading into the deep Alaskan tundra.

Renfro’s Super Cub flying over the Alaskan tundra.

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38 October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

One of Renfro’s pilots making sure we have proper gear before flying to base camp.

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Scott Allan and his guide, glassing from an vantage point, in search of the giant bull moose.

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39

Adventures On A Budget

Isle Royale National Park

Making the return from Rock Harbor to Tobin Harbor – called Scoville Point.

By Michelle Scheuermann

T

he water was clear, which is uncommon for a lake. I could see the bottom near the pier as I looked over from my kayak. It is fascinating. Was this how all lakes looked before man came into the scene? It was also very still.

You could see ripples of the badgers as they harassed the loons who were obviously in their territory. That was fascinating, too. The loon babies scurried onto mom’s back as the badgers swam closer and closer. Dad was off finding food; mom was on her own. We looked through the binoculars one of our campmates brought; we were yelling at Dad to get back to Mom, but she was doing pretty well standing her ground with two babies in tow. But wait, why am I watching loons when honestly, everyone who visits wants to see at least one of the 2,000 moose who reside here. Where are they?

Lake Superior has everything needed for a great story: drama, adventure, close encounters and even, death. You might think with the vast power of Lake Superior, it is off-limits for kayakers on a camping trip. Unless you know the perfect spot where there’s an 893-square mile National Park protected by barrier islands that helps shield kayakers from Lake Superior’s real powers.

Isle Royale National Park (pronounced ‘royal’) is the fourth LEAST visited National Park, according to park data from 2018 visits (The top three least visited are all in Alaska, go figure.) But, according Captain Ben Kilipela of the Isle Royale Queen IV 100-passenger ferry, Isle Royale sees the highest rate of return visits. And he should know as his family has operated the ferry service out of Copper Harbor, Michigan for nearly 50-years.

And why do people return? Moose sightings, probably. There are 2,000 moose reported on this small island. And if you remember the reports from last winter, a handful of wolves were airlifted into the park to help control that large moose population – and increase the wolf bloodline. The last two wolves who remained on the Island were a male and female, but they were also father/daughter and brother/sister. Think about that one for a minute.

Or maybe folks visit due the fact it is truly an off-the-grid property. You can unplug and be active by hiking some of the 14 trails ranging from one mile to 24 miles or kayak around the Island and camp in various locations – like my group did. My ‘group’ was an adventure tour organized by Becoming an Outdoors Woman, who has chapters in almost every state. They’ve completed this 5-day kayak/camping trip sev-

40 October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

eral times and have perfected the art of knowing where to go, what to pack and most importantly, how to read Lake Superior. They charged an all-inclusive rate, including kayak & gear, food, transportation from Copper Harbor, Michigan to Rock Harbor, Isle Royale and back for $1,399 per person. Learn more à https://www.uwsp.edu/ucm/ news/Pages/BOW-Islekayak19.aspx Also, there are no crowds. We visited Isle Royale the third week in July, peak season and while the Rock Harbor Lodge was full, the campgrounds were not. We saw a handful of other kayakers and ran into minor groupings of hikers. It was bliss.

Ready to book? Great! but here are a few things you should know.

The Isle Royale Queen IV out of Copper Harbor, Michigan is fast, but the ride is nearly four hours each way and runs once a day during peak season. You can bring your own kayak with you to the Isle Royale, which my group did. They simply haul it on top of the Ferry. Or you can rent kayaks and canoes once on site. Roundtrip ferry cost is $136 per person, peak season.

Park fees are within the norm. Daily fees of $7 per person, per day. Or if you are with a group, opt for the $60 season pass, which covers up to three people traveling with the pass holder.

If you want to camp on the Island, you need to register in advance. Depending on group size, you could pay upwards of $100. Each campground is equipped with lean-to shelters with a wood floor and a screened-in open Packing the ferry. front. It was a treat to stand up in a shelter and be able to hang clothes. The night we were watching the loon/ badger drama, our shelters were steps away from the waters edge. It was our own lakefront property.

If camping is not your forte, the Rock Harbor Lodge is an option. It varies in costs from $200-$300 per night. The original Lodge building is from their early

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Adventures On A Budget

Array of Moose Antlers 1900’s, when there were six resorts operating on the Island. The National Park Service didn’t take over until 1938, when the ‘resort era’ was in decline thanks to the Great Depression and their main transportation vessel, America, sank in 1928 (Parts of America’s dock still exist today.)

The best time to go is July. You will pay a little less during the shoulder season of June and September/October, but you also have the opportunity of a very bumpy ferry ride and choppy waters for kayaking. Neither are appetizing. July also offers a bounty of northern flowers blooming, from lilies to berries.

Besides the moose, a ‘must-see’ on the Island is to visit Rolf and Candy Peterson aka ‘The Moose People’. They know more about moose than anyone on the planet.

They’ve been studying them since the early 1960’s and were the ones who helped change the minds of many that wolves needed to be brought into the park. They live on one of those barrier islands across from Isle Royale, the same little location as a former commercial fishing business and a former operational lighthouse (both you can also visit). They live in this off-grid lifestyle spending their days collecting moose data, which can be anything from sheds to full-on carcasses. In fact, the day we were there, the air was quite ripe from Roff “cleaning” a moose carcass.

Their “moose-eum” is a MUST SEE. All the sheds, skulls and bones collected are brought here for studying. How did this moose die? Was it from wolves? Age? Disease?

If you are kayaking, simply land at their dock and walk on in to chat with them. If you are sans kayak, take a water taxi from Rock Harbor. Lastly, if you so enamored with moose and want to help Rolf and Candy with their studies, you can. Join their MooseWatch every spring where you search the forests of Isle Royale for moose bones.

My group never did see a live moose. But we did see a dead one. Just a few feet off a main trail lay a decaying moose, innards The Becoming an in one corner, a hoof and a leg over there, Outdoors Woman Group. cavernous ribs in the middle. Again, it was fascinating. Rolf and Candy don’t think wolves did it, but rather, old age.

They already took the skull with antlers and are allowing the moose to decay further before adding more bones to their “moose-eum.”

If this article has piqued your interest in visiting Isle Royale National Park, here are a few resources: Becoming an Outdoors Woman: https://www.uwsp.edu/ucm/news/Pages/ BOW-Islekayak19.aspx More on Rolf and Candy Peterson: http://IsleRoyaleWolf.Org MooseWatch: https://isleroyalewolf. org/participate/participate/explorers.html The Rock Harbor Lodge: http://rockharborlodge.com

42 October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

View from Rock Harbor Lighthouse.

The Isle Royal Queen IV: http://isleroyale.com National Park Service, Isle Royale: https://www.nps.gov/isro/index.htm Naked in the Stream : Isle Royale Stories by Vic Forester. https://www.amazon.com/ Naked-Stream-Isle-Royale-Stories/dp/1933926228

The Lean-to Shelters.

October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

43

OUTDOOR WRITER'S CONTEST

The Best Squirrel Hunt Ever

By Byron Coburn

I

used to love hunting squirrels, but in the past several years, my desire is not as strong as it once was. That changed last year. My granddaughter, Maya, reached the age where she can handle a gun and now she wants to experience the hunt.

I have been a member of the Arizona Elk Society (AES), for a few years. They have a lot of events every year to encourage kids to get involved in outdoor activities. In particular, in the summer, they have a Wapiti Weekend event that is held up in the pine country. Some of the activities commonly available to the kids are gold panning, kayaking, animal identification, GPS operation, archery, and .22 rifle shooting, etc. Two years ago, Maya got an hour of shooting with the .22 rifle at the Wapiti Weekend. She really did well and loved it. Afterward, she begged me to take her hunting. I have been hunting my whole life, so being able to share a passion for the hunt with her, was exciting for me, but I did not want her to do it just because it was my hobby.

I had explained to her that there would be some ground rules to get her started.

First, her parents had to agree to let me take her out. Neither one of them hunt so it was pretty scary for them to think about their daughter out in the field with a gun, but they both own and shoot pistols occasionally, so as long as I was with her as a mentor, they were willing to let her try hunting. The first thing I did was to take her out to watch me hunt.

Our first hunt was for doves. We meandered around in a desert area that had quite a few doves flying. She had a good time following me around picking up the doves that I shot. Having previously explained to her what was going to happen, I held my breath to see how she would react. She took everything in stride and even managed to clean one of the doves after the hunt. A few years ago, I had taught her how to clean fish on one of our fishing trips. She actually likes cleaning fish!

Our next hunt was for squirrels. We were up in the ponderosa pines for this hunt. We would drive around on the forest roads until we spotted a squirrel. I would stop the truck and she would jump out and chase the squirrel up a tree. After pulling the truck off the road, I would stroll over with my rifle. She would already have the squirrel spotted in the tree. We bagged my limit by noon that day. She wanted to keep going but I explained we were only allowed to harvest five per day. We both had a great time.

The next step was for her to get her hunter safety certificate from the Arizona Game and Fish Department. That took a few months. Grandma took the course at the same time since she had never taken it. This provided some good bonding time and competition with Grandma. Once Maya passed the course, I surprised her with a brand new Ruger American, bolt-action, .22 rifle. She was elated! Since then, we have been to the shooting range several times.

We have also been to a couple more AES events in the past year, where she shot .22 rifles with a group of her peers. Maya shoots extremely well.

Several of the instructors have told me she has a talent for shooting. I would like to take credit for that, but honestly, I think it may be in her genes.

Her mother was always a very good shot with very little practice. Maya always impresses the instructors with her knowledge of safe shooting rules.

This past fall it was Maya’s turn to hunt. I put a scope on her .22 rifle. I am a stickler for shooting

44 October 2019 | SPORTSMAN’S NEWS

Sportsman’s News Outdoor Writing Contest Finalist See pg. 4 for entry details.

squirrels in the head so as not to waste meat, plus, I don’t like cleaning a squirrel shot in the body. I knew that with open sights, she would have difficulty making a shot accurate enough to hit a squirrel in the head at 50 yards. She also got to practice with my Winchester lever action .22 mag rifle. She actually likes that rifle better than hers and wants to trade. No way! I love that gun.

In late October, Maya, Grandma and I headed for the Mogollon Rim. At our first stop, we followed a dim track through the forest down to a dirt water tank I have hunted before. The trek was only about a half a mile. We did not see any squirrels but it was exciting, nonetheless. While circling back to the truck, we saw a small herd of deer, found some bear tracks in the mud, and stumbled on some elk bones at someone’s old elk camp. It doesn’t get any better than that!

Our next stop was an area I have hunted squirrels successfully for many years, although it had been a few years since I had been there. I was hoping the squirrels would be there. Maya and I left Grandma in the truck and headed North out into the woods. We had walked a few hundred yards before we spotted our first squirrel. We ran after it and managed to get it to tree. It was a pretty easy shot, but the excitement got to Maya and she missed on her first try. I told her to relax, take a couple of deep breathes and squeeze the trigger. Her second shot was successful!

We ended up following a ridge to the South and then down into a canyon, thick with trees and undergrowth, which usually held squirrels. We sat for a while and then I heard a squirrel vocalizing. That’s what I was hoping would happen. I had just told Maya that when hunting you used all of your senses to locate game – looking for game, hearing them, and smelling them. An experienced hunter uses all of his senses.

We were able to hike up the canyon to approximately where I thought the squirrel was located. After a few moments, Maya bagged another squirrel. We took our time tramping through the thick brush as we completed our circuit back to the truck, but did not see or hear any more squirrels.

We ate a late lunch at the truck. While we were eating, a squirrel came down a tree about thirty feet away. Maya chased it up a really tall ponderosa pine. I took her the rifle, and while Grandma videotaped it, Maya bagged another squirrel. At this point I decided we would clean the three squirrels and then head for home. Maya helped pull the hides off but I wouldn’t let her handle the knife because squirrels are difficult to clean and I was afraid she might cut herself.

Two weeks later, we went on another squirrel hunt. This time we went for two days up South of Williams. On Saturday, Maya bagged three squirrels. On Sunday, she bagged her limit of five squirrels. Maya ended up using my .22 magnum rifle for this hunt. There were two reasons for using my rifle. First, the gun fits her better and she is more accurate with it. Second and more importantly, I can buy solid copper bullets so I don’t have to be concerned about having lead chips in the meat.

I had brought a monopod pole for her to use as a rest because shooting a squirrel at the top of a tree is not any easy shot. After her second squirrel she asked me if she could just shoot offhand rather than using the rest. I told her, it was her choice. So, she ended up kneeling on one knee and shooting offhand. I was amazed to see how well she shot.

Out of the 8 squirrels she shot that weekend, only three were hit in the body. The last two squirrels she shot were difficult shots high in the trees. Maya managed to make perfect, dead-center, head shots on both of them. I am very proud of her and can’t wait to see how she progresses as a huntress.

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