Survival Gear Review: Choetech 19-Watt Solar Panel

Your mobile phone, GPS units, or iPad might just be the most important pieces of survival gear you carry into the woods and the wild places. These digital wonders allow you to navigate, call, text, and even email a message of distress (and your coordinates) in the event of an emergency.

But what happens to you and your digitally dependant family when your device runs out of juice? This would be the perfect opportunity to use a compact, ultra-light solar charging panel to power your gadget from the sun’s abundant energy. Here’s one more piece of gear to help protect yourself and your family when the electrical grid goes down or you are far away from a power cord.

The Choetech 19-watt solar panel consists of three highly efficient mono-crystalline panels. It folds up into a small package for easy of transport. The perimeter of the nylon sleeve sports a number of string holes, which allow the panel to be attached to the exterior of your backpack or hung in a sunny spot to deliver a maximum charge. The unit has dual USB ports, which allow it to charge two devices at once. One charging cord is supplied with the unit (note that the cord won’t fit all devices).

My favorite thing about the Choetech panel is that you can charge your device directly from it. Other panels require the use of a separate battery, which could be lost or could fail. With this unit, you just need the panel, the cord, the device, and the sun! No waiting around to charge a battery, then waiting for the battery to charge your device.

The panel measures 10-by-7 inches closed and 10-by-21 inches open and it weights just under a pound. Under full sunlight, it will charge a dead phone in about an hour.

I couldn’t find a thing wrong with this neat little solar savior. The only thing I found was a wide range of prices. The MSRP starts at $100, but I found prices online as low as $54.99.

You can learn more about it at Choetech.com.

In Praise of Pigeons

Sky rats. Vermin. Urban scourge.

Not my pigeons. They may not be the most elegant, or the smartest bird. Nobody waxes poetic about the common rock dove.

Columba livia domestica is much maligned, even among those of us who keep them. Like most others, it's unlikely I'd be a pigeon fancier if I didn't have bird dogs. But trainer George Hickox said it best: "no birds, no bird dog." And it's true.

My birds are first and foremost, a training tool. But watching them roost, calmly ruffling feathers on a nest, elegantly circling the loft, even pecking the ground for grit, they are in many ways like our horses. Both exude a calming influence, a soft and peaceful aura enveloping nearby humans. There is therapy in being near them.

It helps that most people find them objectionable in one or more ways. After all, we do need to abuse them a bit and a certain disdain softens the blow. But they are partners in our dog training effort and I appreciate that.

Stoic, patient and maybe a bit oblivious ... all are attributes that fortify a pigeon for its job, a job that is crucial to the polishing of our dogs' skills. Without pigeons, spaniels would be less motivated questers and flushers. Pointing breeds would be phoning it in, going through the motions, and those motions would include breaking point. Retrievers who never picked up a bird in the yard will be baffled upon encountering their first in the field.

Europeans and Middle Easterners have revered pigeons along with their cousins the doves, for eons. Steeped in romance and history, they've been hand-in-glove with humans since Egyptian times, enshrined in hieroglyphics and lauded in papyrus scrolls. In World War I, lowly pigeons couriered vital information. Such noble genealogy has not stopped modern society from relegating them to the role of cooing ornaments in city parks, denizens of grain elevators, desecrators of windshields.

Some passionate racers still exist, speaking in hushed tones about breeding and strategy. Sure, they have their quirks (the same can be said for bird dog folk), but many of us are grateful for their culls.

They are not chukars, ringnecks, or even pen-raised bobwhites. But rock doves are available, inexpensive, and tough. When a bob will often die of fright during its first retrieve, a pigeon will heroically endure numerous retrieves, ultimately arriving mangled and bloody, but ready to go again after a few days' rest. They are quite content to be the bird we have to use, but don't want to use.

There's a certain amount of pride among dog owners who also keep pigeons. There's an element of propriety in one's loft design, birds' homing abilities, even colors become the subject of endless debate, the tone of which clearly indicates a visceral connection between man and bird. I won't call it affection, but look deep enough and you detect the same attitude one has toward a good set of tools.

For all of us, let me say thanks, pigeons.

Q&A with Archery Coach and Educator Heather Pfeil

Pfeil strikes a balance between coaching others and shooting for herself. Photographs by Silas Crews

Heather Pfeil first picked up a recurve at the age of 8. her hobby has since morphed into a full-blown competitive and coaching career. Now she’s introducing new shooters to the sport

Outdoor Life: You’re the program coordinator for Lancaster Archery Academy. How did you end up there?
Heather Pfeil: I grew up immersed in archery. My dad is a hunter and he took me to this beautiful range where all these kids were shooting. I nagged him for weeks to take me back. I ultimately joined Junior Olympic Archery Development, shot Olympic style recurve for 10 years and trained as Resident Athlete at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. I’ve competed in the national compound and 3-D divisions for 10 years, and I’ve got my Level 3 coaching certification from USA Archery.  Then I moved to Lancaster, Pa., in September 2013 to start the Academy’s program from the ground up.

OL: There are tons of archery programs out there. How is yours unique?
HP: Coach-student interaction. We have dedicated instructors with unparalleled experience. We teach all ages, and we believe anybody can shoot. Our goal is to grow the sport and show newcomers how much fun archery is. In the two years since we've launched our program, we’ve introduced 5,000 people to archery.

OL: What’s the biggest mistake beginners make?
HP: Probably the most common error lies in the process of shooting. It might be their draw cycle or follow through, but everything ultimately boils down to not understanding how much focus and energy goes into a good shot. A lot of coaches say—and I agree—that archery is 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical. It requires more visualization than a lot of people realize, and a lot of focus.

OL: So how do you achieve that?
HP: We have several drills, but we’ll try exercises beyond target practice.  I’ll have some go home and try yoga. Or I’ll ask others to visualize themselves shooting a perfect bull’s-eye. Everyone knows what a bad shot feels like. But can they envision a good shot?

OL: What’s the most common question students ask?
HP: Beginners usually ask “How do I aim?” Everyone is quick to seek those immediate results. The more intermediate and advanced archers ask more involved questions ranging from mental topics like, “How do I block out distractions?” to technique-specific questions like, “How’s my follow through?”

OL: What’s next for you?
HP: We’re going to keep expanding our programs at the Academy and I’d personally like to continue expanding my own knowledge. Archery is an ever-growing sport, so learning something new every day or week is my goal. The more I know, the more I can pass on to my students. I’d like to compete in more tournaments and shoot more. It gives any instructor an edge when they’re both an athlete and a coach.

How to Make a Cow-Horn Yelper to Call in a Turkey

Hailing from eastern Virginia a century ago, this call was employed for fall turkey hunting, though its high-pitched yelps will work equally well in the spring. It operates like a wingbone yelper, but the cow horn softens and directs the sound of the call. With practice, you can add clucks to your repertoire.

1. WINGBONE MOUTHPIECE
The old timers insisted on a young hen wingbone for a mouthpiece. They believed this gave the call a keener, more piercing tone because of the bone’s smaller diameter. Gobbler wingbones will work, but to best imitate the call of a hen turkey, you need a hen wingbone.   

2. CATHETER TUBE
A rubber catheter tube is the best material to mate the mouthpiece with the horn. Look for a size 22 or 24 French-style catheter, available at medical-supply stores. Push the flared end of the tube over the horn. Cut the other end on a 45-degree angle, and push it over the wingbone. Use a wine cork to keep the mouthpiece clean. Play the call by sucking in with short, sharp purses, as if you were blowing kisses.

3. COW HORN
Preparing the horn is the first and most difficult step. Saw the horn about 4 inches below the tip, and then shave down its thickness both inside and out. The old masters did this with a pocketknife and a piece of glass, but a wood rasp and increasingly fine Emery paper will work. The thinner the wall of the horn, the better—the horn should vibrate slightly in your hand when you call.

How to Call Fall Bears with Prey Distress Calls

Once you get a bear’s attention with a call, keep calling until the bear approaches or loses interest. Photograph by Mark Raycroft

Tom Anderman from Mt. Pleasant, Mich., spent his Upper Peninsula bear hunt sweltering over a bait site on unseasonably warm September afternoons and listening to coyotes howl in the distance.

Bears were hitting the bait, but always after dark. So on the last day of his hunt with Wild Spirit Guide Service, Anderman decided to use a dying-rabbit predator call to try to entice a coyote into range.

He squealed three times every half hour. No coyotes came in, but toward evening a young black bear ambled into range. Half an hour later, a much bigger bear appeared, ears cocked to the sound of the wounded rabbit. Anderman killed the bruin, which had a live weight of 483 pounds and dressed out at 412.

CALLING BEARS
A call that imitates the screams of a dying rabbit or a fawn in distress can be the key to filling a fall black bear tag anywhere bears are hunted in North America. As bruins search for as much food as possible to build fat reserves for the coming winter, they are frequently willing to take advantage of what they perceive to be an easy meal. The path to success is setting up within earshot of a hungry bear.

The ideal scenario for calling is when you spot a bear that’s beyond bow or rifle range and you want to bring it closer. If the bear responds favorably, keep it up as much as possible, especially if the animal goes out of sight. If you must take a break from calling to catch your breath or reposition, don’t pause for long. Bears tend to lose interest fast once the sound of a promising meal stops.

Where terrain isn’t open enough to spot bears at a distance, scout for natural food sources such as fruits, nuts, and berries. If you find bear sign, set up downwind early and late in the day, and try cold calling. Black bears also love corn, oats, and other grains, so calling in the vicinity of fields that are being raided by bruins can be effective, too.

Where it’s legal to hunt bears over bait but the bruins are only feeding after dark, calling, as Anderman did, might be the trick that’s needed to get a shot during legal shooting hours.

To avoid being caught by surprise, call from a treestand. Or if you’re hunting on the ground, pair up with a partner and sit back-to-back. If both hunters are bowhunting, carry pepper spray or handguns for backup. When you’re in grizzly country, try to call where you are least likely to attract a grizzly, but be prepared in case one shows up. Stop calling immediately if you see a grizzly approaching.

4 Online Mapping Tools to Plan and Scout Your Hunt

Photograph by Brian Klutch

Maps are the serious hunter’s best friend, especially when it comes to scouting. And in today’s digital world, there are a plethora of online mapping options available on your phone or tablet. We tested the various capabilities of four of the most popular online mapping tools by using them to remotely scout the same property. We compared the maps on their ease of use, detail, cost, mobile functionality, and coverage.

1. Google Earth // earth.google.com
With its unique ability to change point of view and virtually fly across a 3D rendering of a property, Google Earth was the best tool for clearly showing the lay of the land. On a property such as the one we scouted, with its many fingers and ridges, this is a must-use feature. Google Earth also offers the ability to measure distances, see historical imagery of a property, and make custom markups.

Best for:
• Crystal-clear 3D rendering of topography
Disappointment:
• Lacks additional default overlay options

2. OnX Maps // onxmaps.com
OnX Maps has premium options for desktop computers and mobile devices, but the latter is where OnX really shines. With the Hunt app open, we could see satellite imagery, topographic maps, and even parcel borders and owner information. The only downside is the $30 cost to access the full mapping tools on a phone.

Best for:
• On-the-go trips where multiple views of a property on your phone are useful
• Deciphering property and public hunting borders
Disappointment:
• Image resolution 

3. MyTopo.com // mytopo.com
For a property with varied features, a true topographic map is a tremendous asset. And for high-quality, easy-to-navigate free online maps, MyTopo.com is a good choice, though it doesn’t have a mobile app. MyTopo offers satellite imagery and print options.

Best for:
• Viewing high-quality images of landscapes with significant terrain features
Disappointment:
• Not mobile-friendly

4. Bing Maps // bing.com
For speed and simplicity, it’s hard to beat the basic map functionality of Bing. We were able to toggle between a road map, regular satellite imagery, and an angled bird’s-eye view all in a matter of seconds. 

Best for:
• Getting a quick bird’s-eye view of a property
• Getting driving directions 
to and from property
Disappointment:
• Aerial imagery not always as clear as other sources’
• Lack of features such as distance calculator

Scoring

Fishing Tips: Feeding Preferences of Tidal Bass

That bass often thrive in tidal waters is fairly common knowledge; but here’s something to bear in mind: they not only rub shoulders with redfish, flounder and other saltwater species—they often eat some of the same things.

In tidal fisheries from the Potomac River to Florida’s St. Johns River, bass often encounter blue crabs and shrimp — both of which they’ll readily gobble.
In the Homosassa River, when Capt. William Toney casts a DOA shrimp at docks and laydowns, he knows the next rod-bender could just as easily be a redfish, snook, or a bass.

In the St. Johns, Bassmaster Elite Series pro Cliff Prince often finds bass schooling on the fall-run shrimp. To capitalize, he'll tempt these active fish with a Heddon Spook Jr. Also effective: Popping cork rigs like the DOA Deadly Combo.

In Jacksonville, Florida, Capt. Chris Holleman probes docks, sea walls, bridges and piers within the St. Johns with a live shrimp under a Thill cork rig. He’s generally targeting redfish and snook, but reeling in a plump largemouth is no surprise to him.

FLW Tour pro Mike Surman likes mimicking small blue crabs with a ½- to ¾-ounce jig and a Gambler twin tail grub. He finds that blue or green baits with a little touch of red or orange in the skirts do a fine job of impersonating these pinching machines.

Natural movements, Surman said, close the deal.

"Emulate how a crab moves – sometimes they're swimming on top; sometimes they're scurrying on the bottom," he said. "And remember the stronger the tide, the more aggressive the fish will be. But the slower the tide, the slower you'll need to work your bait."

New: Hornady ELD-X Bullets

The secret is out. Hornady has a new long-range bullet for hunting called the ELD-X, for extreme low drag. Why is this a big deal?

Well, during the development of this bullet, Hornady says it uncovered a problem with current tipped bullets, specifically those with high ballistic coefficients (G1 B.C.s of .5 and higher). Basically, after 150 yards or so the tips on these bullets were melting. And that it happens to every high B.C. tipped bullet on the market. (Note, this doesn’t happen with bullets with lower B.C.s because they don’t retain their velocity long enough for sufficient heat to build up at the bullet tip for the material to melt.)

I’ll get into more detail in this in a moment, but Hornady’s answer was to come out with a new tipped bullet, using a patent pending material Hornady is calling Heat Shield, that stays intact and delivers better accuracy. Prices have yet to be set, but Hornady says the ammo will cost about $1 more per box of 20.

Hornady is offering the new ELD-X bullets in a line of ammo called Precision Hunter that will be loaded in the following cartridges:

6.5 Creedmoor, 143-gr. @ 2,700 fps* 
7mm Rem. Mag., 162-gr. @ 2,975 fps
.308 Win., 178-gr. @ 2,600 fps*
 .30/06, 178-gr. @ 2,750 fps*
.300 RCM, 178-gr. 2,900 fps* 
.300 Win Mag., 200-gr. @ 2,860 fps
.300 RUM, 220-gr. @ 2,910 fps
.30-378 Wby. Mag., 220-gr. @ 3,025 fps*

* Muzzle velocities listed with an asterisk are estimates as Hornady is still developing these loads.

Hornady is also releasing these bullets as individual components, along with a number of other bullets in the ELD-X line. Here are the calibers, grain weights and B.C.s.

6.5mm, 143-gr. (G1 .620 / G7 .310)
7mm, 162-gr. (G1 .613 / G7 .308)
7mm, 175-gr. (G1 .660 / G7 .330)
.308, 178-gr. (G1 .535 / G7 .271)*
.308, 200-gr. (G1 .626 / G7 .315)
.308, 212-gr. (G1 .673 / G7 .336)
.308, 220-gr. (G1 .650 / G7 .325)

* The B.C. on this bullet is an estimate as Hornady is still developing this projectile.

Here’s a little more background on how this new line of bullets came to be. As you might guess, having the tip of your bullet melt off during flight is less than ideal, as this will alter the bullet’s B.C. leading to issues both with accuracy and with the ability of the shooter to correctly predict bullet drop with a ballistic calculator.

This variance in B.C. is how Hornady learned about the problem in the first place.

While profiling bullets using a Doppler radar system, Hornady noticed that the drag on tipped bullets was increasing as their speed dropped in a way that didn’t make sense. (When charting drag vs. mach speed, the curve is supposed to have a concave profile, but the curve with the high B.C. tipped bullets was convex.)

After experimenting with new tip materials, Hornady achieved results that not only conformed to the correct concave drag curve but that offered more consistent drag coefficients from bullet to bullet.

Better yet, Hornady says these bullets are exhibiting excellent terminal ballistics in gel, both at high-speeds (3,000 fps and up) all the way down to 1,600 fps, which would represent the impact velocity on a very long shot. The way the bullet is designed, hunters can expect to see 50 to 60 percent weight retention at close ranges with high impact velocity and more weight retention at long ranges with lower impact velocity. (Spotty terminal ballistics is one of the issues with shooting game with match bullets, which might have great accuracy but are not designed to expand or penetrate animals in a consistent manner.)

Additionally, Hornady is coming out with a line of ELD Match bullets in 2016 as well. These are the four bullets in the Match line.

6.5mm, 140-gr (G1 .610 / G7 .305)
7mm, 162-gr. (G1 .627 / G7 .313)
.308, 208-gr. (G1 670 / G7 .335)
.338, 285-gr. (G1 .789)

Hornady will load two of these bullets in factory ammo:

6.5 Creedmoor, 140-gr. ELD Match
.338 Lapua Mag., 285-gr. ELD Match
 
All this is good news for long-range shooters and for hunters who might take animals at extended ranges. 

As an added benefit, now that Hornady has a Doppler radar system to use, the company says it will be verifying the B.C.s on its bullets, publishing 800-yard averages and correcting the B.C.s for standard atmospheric conditions, meaning the B.C.s will reflect shooting at sea level at a temperature of 59 degrees. This should give shooters much better data to employ when creating drop tables for their loads and when using ballistic calculators.

I will be getting a batch of these new bullets shortly, and as soon as I have a chance to load and shoot them, I will report back here.

5 Ways to Be a Better Blocker When You're Hunting Pheasants

If you hunt pheasants by flushing them out with a group, don’t let the drivers get all the birds. A few simple strategies will put blockers in the right place for more shooting opportunities.

1. Plan your Span
End blockers should stand close enough that birds will flush rather than run between them. The spacing is correct when a rooster can’t fly between two hunters while out of range of both guns.
 
2. Close the Side Door
Space side blockers a little farther apart. They should stand far enough from the edge that they don’t flush birds while walking in.

3. Try “Moving” Blockers
If you’re short on people, use fewer side blockers, but have them advance ahead of the drivers by 30 to 50 yards and stay outside the cover. This keeps them in range of birds that flush in front of the line as it progresses. 
The moving blocker strategy also works with as few as a carload of hunters, but with a little change-up. Everyone drives, and when the line gets to about 100 yards from the end of the field, stop walking and have the side blockers swing wide around and reposition at the end. This ensures everyone gets some shooting.

4. Plug the Gaps
Smart roosters stay concealed as long as possible by following drainage ditches, fencerows, and other strips of cover. Position a blocker close to these escape routes, and always block field corners. 

5. Use Cover
Stand behind a fencerow or round bale, or even in a road ditch, where legal. Safety is paramount. Make sure all shooters know where other hunters are, and overdo the blaze orange.

The Silver Lining When a Shooter Buck Steps Out After Legal Light

The first few moments after seeing a big buck are unlike anything else I can think of. In just a split second you might experience shock, disbelief, and even confusion—not too unlike the chemical response to a narrowly avoided car crash—but what follows is the real kicker. Now, amid a face melting adrenaline dump, you’re faced with the unenviable challenge of somehow picking your jaw up off the ground, taming your frazzled nerves, and preparing for the even more pressure-filled moment of the approaching shot.

So when I first glanced over my shoulder last Friday evening and caught a glimpse of his rack, you can imagine how I felt. As if a friend had popped a balloon right behind my ear, I nearly jumped right out of my seat. But quickly the realization that I might get a shot brought me back down to earth, albeit a very shaky earth. I reached for my bow, checked my watch, and prayed I’d have enough time to get a shot.    

He was the largest eight-pointer I’d ever seen in person and had one of those racks so tall and wide that it almost looked unnatural. But just as quickly as the initial excitement came, another realization followed. He was too late.

As darkness settled upon me, no matter how much I mentally urged him on, the buck continued to take his sweet time meandering through the briars and grasses between him and me. Soon light had faded enough that I knew a shot would no longer be possible.

Still though, here he came. Closer and closer, just as I’d hoped he would, only five minutes behind schedule. And before I knew it, there he stood; 20 yards away, perfectly broadside, pausing so kindly, as if waiting for the arrow that now rattled on the rest attached to the bow that I shakily held down at my side. Though my nervous system hadn’t yet come to terms with it, my mind knew that there would be no pull of the trigger tonight. But as a product of this late arrival, I was afforded something that I don’t often receive. I simply got to watch.  

So often when a buck of our dreams comes into view our minds simply melt and we slip into auto-pilot, just barely holding it together well enough to perform the simple act of remaining upright on our own two feet and releasing an arrow. But tonight, with the pressure of a shot lifted off my shoulders, I simply watched in admiration. Despite being too dark to shoot, I could clearly see his barrel chest rise and fall with each deep breath he took, his tongue flicked in and out as he checked the air around him, and his head swayed heavily side to side as if the antlers on top might topple him over at any second.

And in that moment. I wasn’t disappointed at all. I wouldn’t be getting a shot tonight. No meat for the freezer. No monstrous rack for the wall. But I would have a memory, and I would have this moment. And it was unlike anything else I can think of.

Downsize Buzzbaits for Situation-Specific Bites While Bass Fishing

Say “buzzbait” to a bass fisherman and common replies will likely include “big” and “bulky.” In most cases, those terms fit well, as the buzzbait is one of the most non-subtle presentations in all of fishing.

But that’s not the only flavor in this ice cream truck.

FLW Tour pro Mark Rose doubts not the sputtering surface bait’s ability to tempt vicious bites; but when bass are looking up at small shad dimpling the surface, big and bulky is more likely to spook ‘em.

His solution: A tiny buzzbait like the Strike King Mini Pro Buzz.

A relatively heavy head (1/8-ounce) for its frame and small arm promote casting distance, while the smaller blade further minimizes wind drag.

Equally important, Rose said, is straight-line tracking. Make sure your buzzbait maintains a true course and you’ll see better performance efficiency.

“Whenever you’re fishing targets, whether that be a dock, a tree, a stump or whatever; if you have a true running bait, you’re always going to fish your targets effectively,” he said. “If you have a buzzbait that always pulls to the left, you’re going to miss your targets on the right hand side. 

“If you have a target that’s really tight to the bank and you can’t cast to the right side of it, and you have to go on the left, you’re going to miss it because your bait’s going to be running away from it.”

Rose has no problem fishing his tiny buzzbait on braid – especially around heavy cover, but he prefers 17-pound monofilament, which provides a little stretch to make sure the fish get the bait.

Rose said he needs no plastic trailer, but a trailer hook is a must. A motivated fish will gobble the whole bait, but if the bite is sluggish and the fish are just slapping at the bait, you’ll hook more with that extra grab at the back end.

From Firing Line to Field: How This Dry-Fire Drill Will Put More Meat in Your Freezer

A hunt is made up of many parts, and hopefully culminates in the crisp break of a trigger. Although the shot is a small part of the overall hunt, it is arguably the most critical one, the deciding factor between relief and heartbreak. Occasionally, a perfect shot is presented, with plenty of time, and a rock-solid rest. However in my experience, many shot opportunities aren’t so perfect.

Sometimes a shot needs to be executed quickly, often with an improvised rest. If you’re prepared for that, you’ll be the one grinding meat rather than telling tales of the one that got away.
There are a million methods that promise to make you a better, quicker shot. This may be just one more, but dry-fire practice is probably the single biggest thing that helped improve my shooting. Dry firing is nothing new, and OL's Shooting Editor John Snow wrote a great piece on many of the positive aspects of it, but here’s what it did for me.

I began my dry firing practice when I started shooting competitive service rifle. I practiced different shooting positions, but the majority of my practice focused on the standing position. Even with a shooting jacket, consistently hitting a 7-inch 10 ring with iron sights while standing is a challenge. The best of shooters will tell you that they can never hold a totally still, perfect sight picture. The key to consistent accuracy in standing or any other position is to program yourself to automatically pull the trigger as soon as the sight picture is right. 

What I did to practice (since I was using iron sights) was pin a piece of paper on the wall with a small black dot that from a few feet back appeared as a 200-yard target would through my sights. I would go through my pre-shot routine, focus on my breathing and other fundamentals, and finally drop the firing pin on an empty chamber. It was very difficult at first, as I often found my sights already drifting off target by the time I heard the click. As I improved my form and shot process, I would find that more and more consistently, I “automatically” broke the shot when the dot was centered perfectly on top of my front post. This translated very well to the range, and my scores showed it.

There is a fair amount of good reading on cognitive thought (or lack thereof) during the shot process, most of what I’ve read is in respect to archery, but it's applicable to rifle or handgun shooting as well. The idea is that during a properly executed shot, you don’t consciously tell your fingers to release an arrow or pull the trigger. It is more of a programmed response to a perfect sight picture that comes with lots of practice. As that sight picture lines up, your subconscious response is to break the trigger.

You might ask, “How is this applicable to me and my hunting?” Well, if you hunt very much at all, you will no doubt find yourself in situations that give you little time or room for error. Eventually, that giant buck or bull will stop for just a few seconds to look back, or pause in the one opening you are able to thread a bullet through. You don’t have to do any competitive shooting to train and prepare yourself in the same manner. Whether you use a scope or iron sights, try picking out a small target to aim at, and practice dry firing over and over, always striving for a perfect sight picture when the trigger breaks. You can customize your practice routine to whatever shooting positions you like, but the key is repetition. As you practice, over and over and over again, you will not only improve your shooting fundamentals, but you will program yourself to break the trigger at the exact moment the sight picture is correct without even thinking about it. You will be better prepared for the next time you find yourself out of breath and watching your crosshairs drift back and forth across the vital area, or any number of other situations.

It’s not a miracle fix, but I’ve found that it can often make the difference between watching an animal disappear into the woods forever, and loading it up in your backpack. I’ll never know for sure, but the ram I killed this year had spotted me just as I found him in the scope, and I don’t think he would have stuck around long. Fortunately I was able to make the shot quickly, and I honestly don’t even remember making the decision to pull the trigger. How many times have you had an animal take off into the ranks of those that got away just before your crosshairs settled?

The Year of the Deer

The author with a mature 8-point he spent a whole year chasing. Photograph by  Eric Suhm

What does it take to kill a mature deer? For some hunters, it takes nothing more than good luck and a well-placed shot. For those who kill mature bucks consistently, it takes months of careful planning and access to property that holds big deer. This story is about the latter. 

Last year I made a series of trips from my home in New York to western Illinois to hunt with Aaron Milliken and Michael Turbyfill of Whitetail Properties—a real estate company that sells and manages prime deer hunting land. The idea was for me, an average but diehard deer hunter, to shadow Milliken, a bona fide trophy-buck expert, and hopefully take my biggest whitetail ever. Here’s what I learned, and how you can use those lessons wherever you hunt.  

10/27 3:00 A.M. The big 8-point was first photographed in July, then disappeared for months until he showed up again in October.

February 28: Digital Scouting
It’s a little after 9 p.m., and empty Coors Light cans are starting to clutter Milliken’s computer desk. The 34-year-old land specialist is showing me different properties throughout western Illinois on Google Earth and we’ve been staring at the screen for a few hours. But that’s nothing compared to the time Milliken spends in late winter looking at different farms, planning food plots, and identifying potential buck bedding areas. The best farms, Milliken says, have large stretches of timber that link neighboring properties. These types of properties will hold more deer, they’ll be more resilient to hunting pressure, and they’ll draw more bucks during the rut.

With each Silver Bullet, we get a little more excited. 

Lessons
It doesn’t matter if you’re evaluating a piece of land in late September or late February: The process is the same. Identify terrain (rivers, fields, steep ridges) that funnels to food sources and likely bedding areas—you’ll want to focus your boots-on-the-ground scouting efforts there first. Tilt the angle of your Google Earth view to show elevation changes, and use this view to predict prevailing wind patterns. Remember that wind flows over landforms similar to the way water does. It will swirl in certain places, making them unhuntable. 

Photographs by Alex Robinson

3/1: A monster rub; a deer track frozen in mud; sheets of ice cover the creek; Aaron Milliken points to the high water line.

March 1: Ground Game
March is an ideal time to scout for the upcoming season, as historic trails, feeding areas, and rub trees are made obvious by the melting snow. Milliken, his wife, Jess, and I focus on trails that run off major food sources. We walk these trails back into the timber and find rub trees thicker than my thigh. We mark the highest traffic areas on a map. 

Photograph by Alex Robinson

Lessons

As bucks break their summer patterns, speed-scout through the weeks of early October. The protocol is the same as the one we executed in March. Walk trails back from food sources—mature bucks probably won’t be hitting food during daylight hours now—until you find smoking-hot buck sign. Hang a camera here—or, even better, just hang a tree-stand and hunt. 

Not all rubs are created equal. A buck will rub a single tree just because he feels like it, Milliken says. However, if you are able to locate an area that has a series of large, fresh rubs and holds older rubs from years back, you’ve found a great place to hang a camera and stand.

Photographs by Ian Sparks

July 1–August 20: Camera Work
All summer, Milliken sets cameras around the farm and texts me photos as they come in. Dozens of two- and three-year-old bucks are regulars on the half dozen cameras. I’d be thrilled to tag most of these bucks back East, but the point of this whole season is to target and kill a mature buck. 

On July 25, we find him. Milliken sends me a series of 12 photos showing a tall, wide 8-point in velvet working down the timbered edge of a cornfield.

Lessons
Milliken’s philosophy on summer and early-fall trail cameras is simple: Station them on a good food source and leave them alone. You’re only going to blow out deer if you check your cameras every week. Summer and early fall are for taking inventory. By the third week of October, Milliken moves his cameras to large community scrapes. Always check your cams on a good wind.

Photograph by Ian Sparks

August 23: Taking a Stand
Turbyfill, Milliken, and I set eight stands today, on a 240-acre property. We trim shooting lanes, screw in bow hangers, and rig up bow ropes. When we’re done, each stand is hunt-ready. 

Lessons
How you set your stand can make or break a hunt, so be methodical about it. When possible, push back just a little farther off a well-worn trail. Young bucks might cruise right beneath you, but a mature buck likely won’t. You may not have the luxury of setting eight hang-on stands, but you can still get your sets ready so that when the conditions are right, you can slip in, hang, and hunt.

November 6–15: Rut Crazy 
Milliken and I call a wild audible. Just before I arrived, he secured permission to hunt an incredible 2,655-acre property. Milliken, Turbyfill, a local farmer, Jason Endres, and I would have the run of the place, and the embarrassment of riches is too good to pass up. Turbyfill kills his biggest buck ever on the first night (below), and the rest of us all have close encounters with Pope and Young deer.

Photograph by Nick Skinner

I spend seven days sitting dark to dark, most of the time in a thick creek bottom. I see three shooter bucks on three different days, but they pass by out of range. The long, cold days and close calls wear my nerves thin. On the last day of my bowhunt, a stud buck finally charges into range behind a doe. But he comes in from a direction where I don’t have a shooting lane. He stops behind some brush with a plate-sized window exposing his vitals, so I let the arrow fly. The shot ricochets off a branch and whizzes into oblivion. The buck, totally unfazed, breeds the doe 60 yards out. 

Lessons
Move your damn stand if it doesn’t feel right. If deer pass through an area in which you don’t have a shooting lane, clear some branches. Do this during the middle of the day and make scent control the priority. Wear gloves and rubber boots, and don’t touch any vegetation. Do not doctor any scrapes or spread attractant scent, Milliken says. This might work on two- and three-year-old deer, but a mature buck knows exactly what his area is supposed to smell like, and anything out of order—even the scent of an unfamiliar doe—will keep him out of range. 

November 22: Buzzer Beater 
I’m back on our original 240-acre farm, sitting in a stand along the north edge of a cut cornfield, a southern breeze in my face and a shotgun on my lap. Turbyfill hung this stand  just hours ago. We’d glassed the big 8-point hitting the field during shooting light on a regular basis, using the wind and avoiding our other stands. The south wind hurts us. If deer approach from the timber to the north, they’ll bust me. 

With shooting light fading, I see four deer enter the field from the northwest corner—thankfully, too far west to wind me. The first two deer trotting through the corn are does, the second two are heavy-racked bucks. I level my scope on the first buck and see that he’s a big, old deer. He’s quartering away from me, following the does toward the middle of the field. The buck is a little more than 100 yards out and gaining yardage with every step. I don’t dare bother with the second buck. I center the crosshairs on the first buck’s shoulder and squeeze. 

Photograph by Eric Suhm

The deer scatter and I hear a faint crash in the middle of the field.

Turbyfill hears the shot, waits about 30 minutes, and then heads into the field to find me with my hands wrapped around the high, wide rack of an old 8-point buck. He’s the deer we’d been after all along. 

Lessons
Use the intel you gather all season to make decisions late in the hunt. Log activity and conditions in your phone. We had hunted and scouted that cornfield enough to know how the deer were using it, so even with less-than-ideal conditions, I could sneak in and kill a buck. The biggest key was not blowing deer out of that field throughout the season. 

Gun Stories of the Week: More Americans Oppose Gun Control, Support Concealed Carry

TOP STORY
Polls: More Americans oppose gun control, support concealed carry

What’s a week without two or three new polls being released to fill the news cycle blatherfest with discussion, debate and analysis? Gallup and CNN/ORC both released polls last week to re-ascertain—again—Americans’ views on guns and gun control. Apparently, they need to get a spotlight freeze-frame of ambient opinion at least 100 times a year.

The Gallup poll released on Oct. 20 shows 56 percent of Americans believe that if more people carried concealed weapons after passing a criminal background check and training course, the U.S. would be a safer place.

According to the CNN/ORC poll released on Oct. 21, about half of all Americans oppose stricter gun control laws, which is a larger segment of the population than those who support tighter controls on guns. 

Maybe CNN/ORC should poll the media about what its polls mean because while most outlets called it what it is—a majority of Americans do not support more gun control laws others, such as Maxine Mendoza in an Oct. 22 blog for tvnewsroom.org, interpreted the “more than half of all Americans saying they oppose stricter gun control laws” thing to mean “Americans favor stricter gun control laws.”

According to the CNN/ORC poll, 52 percent of Americans oppose stricter gun control laws, which was 6 percentage points more than the 46 percent of Americans who support such laws. That's a wider gap than in June when CNN last surveyed Americans on gun control, when the public was equally split at 49 percent on the issue.

Most non-white Americans—55 percent—who participated in the poll support tighter gun control laws, while 43 percent stand opposed. While 14 percent more men oppose gun control restrictions, women are nearly equally split on the question with 49 percent in favor and 48 percent opposed.

The largest split is partisan: 76 percent of Republicans oppose stricter gun control compared to just 25 percent of Democrats. 

The Oct. 20 Gallup poll in which 56 percent said if more people carried concealed weapons after passing a criminal background check and training course, the U.S. would be a safer place, revealed young people between the ages of 18-29 are the most favorable toward concealed weapons, with 66 percent saying an increase will improve public safety.

Compared to a 2014 Gallup poll, more gun owners want stricter laws (30 percent to 36 percent this year), as do more people non gunowners (57 percent in 2014 to 64 percent this time). However, a near-record low of Americans (27 percent) said they favor a law only allowing authorized personnel—such as police—to possess handguns.

The bottom line: No matter how many times you poll, the results are the same—Americans don’t see gun control as a solution to gun violence. In fact, they see it as a contributor.

“Those hoping for a popular resurgence for The Daily Caller. “Not only do most Americans oppose more restrictive laws but they also believe more concealed weapons will make the country safer.”

For more, go to:

Poll: More Americans oppose stricter gun control

POLL: GUN CONTROL TRAMPLES GUN RIGHTS WITH LOSS OF WHITE MAJORITY

Support For Gun Control Rises After Umpqua Shooting

Two Polls That Smash Through The Case For More Gun Control

They're Not Coming for Your Guns: A Balanced Look at Gun Control in America

Majority of Americans want stricter gun laws

MOST AMERICANS WANT STRICTER GUN SALES LAWS, LIKE HANDGUNS

Strategy Poll: Alabamians Don’t Want More Gun Laws

POLL: GUN CONTROL TRAMPLES GUN RIGHTS WITH LOSS OF WHITE MAJORITY

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NO FRAUD INSURANCE IN POLITICS
Take New York lawmaker’s proposed gunowners’ liability bill with a grain of salt

Here we go again: For the second time in two years, a New York state assemblyman is preying on constituents’ fears while pandering to a fawning, tin-headed media by proposing a go-nowhere bill that would mandate all Empire State gunowners keep $250,000 in liability coverage.
 
Brooklyn Democrat Felix W. Ortiz’s AB 5864, was introduced earlier this year and requires every legal gun owner to obtain and keep at least a $250,000 worth of liability insurance specifically covering damages from negligent acts involving their firearms. Failure to maintain the policy would result in revocation of firearms licenses required under state law for gun ownership.

“Enough is enough,” Ortiz said. “How can we protect our children from gun atrocities without a common sense approach to provide victim compensation? We need a better way to hold reckless gun owners accountable. Laws cannot bring back loved ones, but requiring owners of firearms to have liability insurance brings us one step closer to acknowledging the risks and dangers of gun ownership.”

Ortiz, who voted for the 2013 New York SAFE Act is famous for stupid bills, such as his proposed law to ban salt in New York restaurants under threat of a $1,000 fine. He proposed a similar gunowner liability bill two years ago with a mandatory $1 million minimum policy. That measure failed to gain momentum despite support from the Brady Campaign.

Tom King, president of the New York Rifle and Pistol Association, told the  New York Daily News that Ortiz is merely seeking attention, calling the bill “ridiculous” and noting common sense shows why it can’t work.

“Insurance companies don’t insure against criminal acts,” said King, a former insurance broker. “These guys are talking about things they don’t know anything about.”

Lawmakers in at least five other states—California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania—have considered and rejected requiring gun owners have liability insurance in the last two years, according to The New York Times.

In June, Rep, Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) introduced legislation in the House of Representatives that would require gun owners to carry liability insurance coverage as a prerequisite to being allowed to own a gun. The bill has since been forgotten in the Republican controlled House.

For more, go to:

Lawmaker seeks mandatory $250K liability insurance for gun owners

House bill would require gun owners to have liability insurance

Gun Stories of the Week: Federal Bill to Require Liability Insurance for Gun Owners Reintroduced

The 5 Problems of Requiring Gun Owners to Buy Liability Insurance

Should Gun Owners Have To Buy Liability Insurance?

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STATE ROUNDUP
Bloomberg spending big bucks in Virginia

Former New York City Mayor and alleged Republican Michael Bloomberg will spend $700,000 to help the Democratic candidate in a closely contested Virginia race that could determine which party controls the state Senate.

Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund said on Oct. 21 that it plans to spend $700,000 in, among other things, TV ad targets Glen Sturtevant, the Republican nominee for the 10th Senate District.

Sturtevant faces Democrat Dan Gecker in at the Richmond-area legislative contest. Republicans control the Senate 21-19, and Democrats, led by Gov. Terry McAuliffe, are spending heavily to try to flip control of the chamber.

Kazillionaire Bloomberg has spent more than $3 million helping Virginia Democrats in the 2013 elections to advance their campaign against the Constitution by demeaning law-abiding gunowners.

Meanwhile, the National Rifle Association has spent at least $340,000 in Virginia, including $56,000 in the 10th Senate District, according to Virginia Public Access Project.

For more, go to:

Michael Bloomberg's gun control group to spend in Virginia

Christie, N.J. Legislature battle over gun control bill veto

Strategy Poll: Alabamians Don’t Want More Gun Laws

Gun-control proponent, whose son was shot to death, speaks at FSU

Editorial: State reps owe no apology for common-sense gun bill

Controversial gun bills advance in Senate

As campus fears rise, so do efforts to enact school gun laws

Can an Oregon county 'void' gun laws? Voters asked to give it a shot

Editorial: Missouri accidentally made the case for gun background checks

Child access laws can prevent accidental shootings. 22 states don't have them.

Indiana Sheriff Refuses to Comply With Obama’s Gun Laws

GAVIN NEWSOM PUTTING GUN CONTROL BEFORE POT

Senator: 'Gun-free zones are what's killing us'

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IN THE COURTS
U.S. appeals court upholds New York, Connecticut gun laws

Gun control laws passed in New York and Connecticut to ban possession of semi-automatic weapons and large-capacity magazines were mostly upheld Oct. 19 by a federal appeals court decision that a gun group vowed to appeal.

According to Larry Neumeister of the Associated Press, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan found “core parts” of the laws did not violate the Second Amendment because there was a substantial relationship between bans on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines and the “important — indeed, compelling — state interest in controlling crime.”

The ruling, written by Circuit Judge Jose A. Cabranes, states: “When used, these weapons tend to result in more numerous wounds, more serious wounds, and more victims. These weapons are disproportionately used in crime, and particularly in criminal mass shootings. They are also disproportionately used to kill law enforcement officers.”

Neumeister wrote that the court found Connecticut’s ban on a non-semi-automatic Remington 7615 unconstitutional. And it said a seven-round load limit in New York could not be imposed even as it upheld other bans on magazines.

“Like assault weapons, large-capacity magazines result in ‘more shots fired, persons wounded, and wounds per victim than do other gun attacks,’” the court said.

Noah Feldman, a Bloomberg View columnist and professor of constitutional and international law at Harvard, called the ruling inconclusive in a sweeping analysis published in The Tulsa World and other newspapers nationwide.

“On the surface, Monday's decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit upholding most of the assault weapons bans passed by New York and Connecticut is a win for gun-control advocates,” Feldman writes. “But the unanimous decision by a panel of three Democratic appointees nevertheless points to potential trouble for similar laws should they ever be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court.”

While justices held that assault weapons in general fall within the core protections of the Second Amendment, they “applied a lenient standard to uphold the laws,” he writes. “A more aggressive court might well apply a tougher standard and strike them down. You might think it's settled law that states can ban assault rifles. It isn't. The factual and legal background is more complicated.”

For more, go to:

US appeals court upholds gun laws after Newtown massacre

Connecticut’s sensible, constitutional gun law

Editorial: Public safety and gun rights can co-exist

Noah Feldman: State gun laws upheld, but logic is complicated

D.C. officials ask court to rehear decision overturning gun-control laws

Supreme Court doesn't act yet on new gun-control case

6 Tips to Help You Make a Snap Shot in Tight Quarters

A post-rut Alberta bull catches a sun break before heading back into dense cover. Photograph by Nick Trehearne

Noticing the recent trend toward taking shots at ever-longer ranges, I felt the need for a reality check.

I reviewed my journals on the last dozen or so elk kills I’ve been in on during rifle season on public land. One shot stretched about 300 yards and one was within 10. The rest were between 35 and 75 yards. Most often, you couldn’t shoot much farther because the elk were hiding in timber.

“Elk use a lot of different kinds of escape cover, but in forested areas when the pressure is on, a lot of elk will just timber up,” says Neil Anderson, regional wildlife manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.

The same is true with whitetails, moose, and bears. Sometimes, a 300-yard shot might be your best bet. But at other times, you have to go in after them or go home empty-handed.

You can creep into an elk’s darkest haunts, but don’t count on an easy shot. The chance will likely be off-hand and the moment of truth may be only a fraction of a second. Here’s how to make that split-second count.

1. Pick the right weapon
Short-barreled, quick-handling rifles are the trick. Bulky scopes, stock-mounted bipods, and long-barreled magnums create liabilities.

2. Pick a tree
When still-hunting through a forest, move from tree to tree. A trunk provides both cover and vertical rest for your rifle’s forearm should a shot arise.

3. Practice using your hasty sling
A hasty sling will help stabilize off-hand shots. Practice until muscle memory takes over.

4. Carry your rifle
When game is nearby, it takes too much time and motion to shrug your rifle off your shoulder. One benefit of a lightweight rifle is that it spends more time in your hands, less over your shoulder.

5. Crank down your scope
My 2X–7X variable stays at 2X or 3X in the woods to maximize the field of view. Open sights are fast, but even a low-power scope gathers light and makes for crisper detail on the target. Simple crosshairs beat complicated reticles.

6. Practice precision
The kill zone on an elk is the size of a garbage can lid—a big target. Trouble is, you will probably only see a part of the kill zone—a tan sliver between tree trunks. A small patch of vitals is all you need.

I Killed a Redfish for a Skin Mount and I’m Okay with That

The recently completed 2016 Outdoor Life Tackle Test was over-the-top awesome. As we’ve done for the past several years, the OL test team loads up the truck with rods and reels and heads down to Cajun Fishing Adventures lodge in Buras, Louisiana to do battle with redfish. The big bulls were chewing and reel drags screamed for three days straight days. 

In addition to testing new gear (the results will be published in Outdoor Life’s April issue), I headed south with a selfish goal in mind as well. I wanted to catch a bull red worthy of mounting. Fiberglass reproduction mounts are cool, but there’s just something about skin mounts that seem to do a better job of preserving specific memories for me. I wanted the fish. 

I’d caught—and released—mount-worthy reds (51 and 53 inches) in the past, but the one-pose-fits-all, reproduction-mount molds leave me unsatisfied. So, when a 42-inch bull hit the deck of our bay boat last week, he went directly into the iced-down fish box and later the freezer. I killed it. 

“My friend Ronnie Arcement does awesome redfish skin mounts,” said buddy Jared Serigne. “It’s all about the painting and he’s got that down pat.”

As it turned out, it was the only fish that our crew kept the entire trip. I half-expected having to withstand a pile of grief from fellow anglers, but thus far everyone seems okay with my decision to become a trophy fisherman for a day. And in this case, I am, too. 

What are your thoughts? If the resource is sustainable, is it okay to keep a fish to get mounted?

In Support of Youth Hunts: 14-Year-Old Girl Takes One of Oklahoma’s All-Time Biggest Bucks

Here’s a story that, in my opinion, exemplifies why youth deer seasons are so great.

Micalah Millard, 14, has taken one of the top five bucks in Oklahoma history, according to TulsaWorld.com.

Micalah and her dad Malachi planned on hunting on their family ranch in McIntosh County during the state’s youth season. So, Malachi (her dad) put out a trail camera on a piece of the property that rarely gets hunted and when he checked the camera on Saturday morning, he’d captured a couple photos of a giant buck no one had seen before. But the buck had come in at 4 a.m. 

Undeterred, the father/daughter team put up a stand in the area and then returned that afternoon to hunt it. Incredibly, the giant buck showed up a few hours later. 

“My dad saw him first and I got my gun set,” Micalah told TulsaWorld.com. “He was a lot more excited than I was. He was kinda freakin’ out, kinda as close to yelling as you can get in a whisper.”

Based on the newspaper report, her dad totally freaked out.

“He kept whisper-yelling ‘shoot him, shoot him now’ and thankfully I didn’t listen because he told me to shoot him from the back,” Micalah said.

She waited for the buck to turn broadside at 125 yards and then shot him twice, once through the vitals and once through the base of the neck. 

The 12-point buck has a 24-inch spread and grosses 193 5/8 and nets 187 ⅛ inches (both green scores), according to the paper. The state-record buck stands at 194 and Micalah’s deer will likely rank 4th all-time.

If you put the incredible numbers aside, you’ve still got a story about a young girl who killed the biggest buck on the family ranch while hunting with her dad. Without the youth season, that probably wouldn't have happened.

Haters might argue that letting kids go out early to hunt the youth season somehow sets unreasonable expectations for future hunts. "Now this girl is spoiled forever"…“She’ll never kill a buck bigger than that.”

These folks, I suspect, have forgotten what it’s like to be a teenager. Life is all about right now. It’s about school, friends, and sports/band/theater club/ect. There’s a lot of peer pressure. There’s a lot of insecurity, even among the most self-confident.

Youth hunts provide the opportunity to go out on the weekend and have some success, to be the hero. The confidence (i.e.: swagger, if you’re under age 30) a kid gains from tagging a deer, regardless how big it is, is the real value of any youth hunt. And that can’t be measured in hunter retainment numbers or harvest trends.