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Открытие охоты на лося и оленя благородного C 20 августа открывается охота на лося, оленя благородного и лань. В этот период, до 30 сентября разрешено добывать взрослых самцов, в том числе трофейного качества, а также селекционных животных (без учета пола и возраста). Данная охота приурочена к началу периода размножения (гона) оленьих и проводится, как правило, с подманиванием самцов (на вабу). Разрешенные способы охоты - ружейный из засады, с подхода в течение суток. Разрешенные орудия охоты: нарезное охотничье оружие с дульной энергией пули свыше 3000 джоулей, гладкоствольное охотничье оружие с использованием патронов, снаряженной пулей, охотничьи луки и арбалеты.

Из Байкала достали огромную сеть Состоялась новая экспедиция по очистке дна Байкала от брошенных сетей, при поддержке ФГБУ «Заповедное Прибайкалье». Работы проводились в акватории озера параллельно туристическому маршруту «ББТ-1» — от поселка Листвянка до поселка Большие Коты. Одним из главных объектов поиска профессиональных водолазов была брошенная много лет назад в районе Черной Пади мелкоячеистая сеть весом далеко за сотню килограммов. Сеть с множеством крыльев и грузилами в виде сантехнических труб, залитых бетоном, была обнаружена давно, но для ее подъема понадобились усилия пяти профессионалов. Сеть подняли на пирс просушить, чтобы уменьшить ее вес и увезти. В пресс-службе заповедника отметили, что подъемом брошенных сетей занимались не только профессиональные водолазы ЛИН СО РАН, но и председатель Союза автомобилистов Сибири, а также старший помощник Байкальского межрегионального природоохранного прокурора. Государственные инспекторы в области охраны окружающей среды ФГБУ «Заповедное Прибайкалье» на катере учреждения сопровождали участников, обеспечивали безопасность действий на воде и помогали в подъеме сетей на борт основного судна.

Hunting regs, deer hunting licenses now available Deer hunting licenses can be purchased starting today and the 2022 Minnesota hunting regulations are now available here. Print copies of the regulations will be available in early August wherever licenses are sold. When deer hunters venture out into fields and forests this fall, they will find healthy deer populations faring well in most of Minnesota, ample harvest opportunities, and a continued commitment to managing chronic wasting disease management adaptively statewide. “We’re excited about deer hunting this year,” said Kelly Straka, wildlife section manager for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. “Hunters in 20% of our deer permit areas will have increased opportunities for harvest, and opportunities in 70% of DPAs remain unchanged from last year. In some areas of northern Minnesota, severe winter conditions have impacted low deer numbers, so hunter opportunity in these areas is designed to help stabilize or increase those populations.” Eight more DPAs included in the hunt. Hunters will also have more license options for the early antlerless season. Increased bag limits or lottery permits in 28 DPAs, the same limits in 90 DPAs and decreased limits in 12 DPAs. In addition to deer seasons, hunters can participate in special deer hunts. The DNR, municipalities and organizations across Minnesota offer opportunities to hunt at special times and in areas that might regularly be closed to hunting. Participation in these hunts is limited and often requires special registration. More information is available here. Hunters can get the information they need for each DPA by using the interactive deer map found here. By clicking within the borders of a DPA on the map, hunters can access a “make a plan” link that takes them directly to the DNR’s Make a Plan tool, where they can view the steps deer hunters in that DPA must follow to legally harvest deer. The tool also provides information for determining where and how to submit a sample for CWD testing and whether sampling is mandatory in the DPA. Firearm and muzzleloader hunters who want to harvest antlerless deer in a DPA designated as lottery need to purchase their license by Thursday, Sept. 8. Hunters who purchase their license by Sept. 8 are automatically entered into the lottery for the DPA or special hunt area they declare. No application is needed to take antlerless deer in permit areas with either sex, two-deer limit, three-deer limit, or five-deer limit designations.

В Германии засуха стала главной природной проблемой сезона Этим летом Германия переживает не лучшие времена. Страну накрывает третий в сезоне период сильной жары, тогда как дефицит осадков становится самым большим в истории наблюдений. С начала лета выпало около 103 мм осадков, или 43 % от среднего многолетнего (сезонной нормой является 239 мм). Сравнение с другими засушливыми летами говорит о многом. Так, в 1911 году выпало 124 мм, в 2018 году — 130 мм. Теоретически лето еще может не стать самым засушливым. Но большой дефицит осадков все равно плачевно скажется на жизнедеятельности. Урожай пребывает в плачевном состоянии. Обмелевшие реки стали несудоходными. Водозаборы оказались выше уровня воды.

Стартует сезон охоты на дичь. Туры в «Браславские озера» пользуются спросом у россиян На этих выходных в национальном парке «Браславские озера» откроется сезон охоты на водоплавающую дичь. Подобные туры проводятся в этом регионе с 2014 года и уже стали пользоваться большой популярностью среди охотников из России. Важно знать, что согласно правилам, на территории Беларуси, сезон охоты на водоплавающую и болотную дичь открывается со вторых выходных августа. Иными словами, в этом году он стартует с 13 августа и продлится вплоть до вторых выходных декабря. В самом начале сезона можно будет охотиться на дикую утку, чуть позже в список добавиться гусь, рябчик и куропатка. Примечателен и тот факт, что наибольший интерес такого вида охоты вызывает у российских туристов. Таким образом, ежегодно количество российских охотников, приезжающих поохотиться на дикую утку, составляет почти 100%. Интересно, что в текущем году все охотничьи туры на дикую утку раскуплены россиянами. Прежде всего, туристов из России на Браславских озерах привлекает комфортабельное размещение, профессиональное егерское обслуживание, налаженная транспортная логистика и, безусловно, привлекательная стоимость.

Animal welfare organisations speak out against German outdoor cat ban Cat owners in the German town of Walldorf have been ordered this week to keep their pets indoors until the end of August to protect a rare bird during its breeding season. The decree is designed to help save the crested lark, which makes its nest on the ground and is therefore easy prey for feline hunters. The bird’s population in Western Europe has declined sharply in recent decades. Although it is listed as a species of least concern in Europe by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). "Among other things, the survival of the species depends on every single chick," authorities in Walldorf said. The rule applies to all cats in the southern part of the town and will be repeated for the next three years from April to August. Owners risk a fine of €500 if their cat is found roaming outside and could be slapped with a penalty of up to €50,000 if their pet injures or kills a crested lark.

3 Top States for DIY Big Buck Hunters These three stops all have over-the-counter tags and great potential for shooting a trophy buck For a Do-It-Yourself hunter, nothing beats the simplicity of traveling to another state, buying a deer tag over the counter, and then going to the woods. There are plenty of places for us DIYers to hunt like that and probably get a shot at a deer, too. But not as many have strong trophy potential. A 2 1/2-year-old 8-pointer is cream of the crop for most public-land hunting in states like New York, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania. If your personal standards are a bit higher than that — maybe you’re after 3 1/2-year and older bucks — you might be facing long odds in most OTC states, at least on public lands. But shooting a mature buck on public land is within the realm of possibility in a few places, for hardworking hunters. These three states — all with OTC tags —have proven that they can regularly produce mature deer, and have some good public hunting to boot. Ohio The Buckeye State keeps my social media newsfeeds as hot with big-buck pictures as draw states like Iowa and Kansas. That’s remarkable considering how affordable it is to hunt there. A nonresident needs a $180.96 (adult) annual hunting license and a $76.96 (adult) either-sex deer permit. The challenge with Ohio is that 95.8 percent of the state is privately owned (according to summitpost.org). Comparatively, Minnesota, another OTC state, is 76.5 percent privately owned. But while Ohio has a limited amount of public lands, finding a good spot requires only some research and a positive attitude. The 4,490-acre Tranquility Wildlife Area located in Adams County features an ideal mix of habitat including ponds, timber, the Ohio Brush Creek, and agriculture throughout the tract. There are crops on adjacent private lands, too. If that isn’t enough room for you to roam, check out the huge Shawnee State Forest — nicknamed “Ohio’s Little Smokies” — which encompasses more than 60,000 acres of big-timber habitat that fringes the north bank of the Ohio River and is managed for sustainable timber and wildlife. More than 250,000 acres make up the Wayne National Forest, which creates a patchwork pattern in southeastern Ohio in the Appalachian foothills. Tent camp in the backcountry or bring your travel trailer or RV and stay at a designated campground. Deer densities are generally a bit lower here than on farmlands, but the patient hunter might shoot a giant. According to the National Deer Association’s 2021 Deer Report, Ohio hunters bagged 80,138 antlered bucks during the 2019 hunting season, 28 percent of which were 3 1/2 years old or older, suggesting that Ohio hunters are pretty selective. Bowhunters get months of opportunity, as archery season opens Sept. 25 this year and closes Feb. 6, 2022. Gun hunters catch the post rut with a Nov. 29 through Dec. 5 season. And muzzleloader hunters get four days to make it happen in early January. Oklahoma The Sooner State has incredibly diverse whitetail habitat. There’s big timber and the Ouachita Mountains to the east, and red dirt hills, sage brush, shinnery oak, and mixed-grass prairie to the west. Everything between is a mix of prairie with thickets, riparian, and agricultural habitat interspersed. Oklahoma’s Department of Wildlife Conservation manages nearly 90 wildlife management areas all across the state. Many of them feature superb deer habitat with naturally occurring foods supplemented by state-cultivated food plots with plantings such as corn, soybeans, and winter wheat. Several WMAs are worth looking into. Out west is the 19,659-acre Packsaddle WMA in Ellis County, which offers mixed-grass prairies, sand-plum thickets, sagebrush, elms, cottonwoods, and hackberry. On the southern fringe is the famed South Canadian River. Native forages abound, and multiple small food plots provide additional wildlife food. Water sources in the form of ponds, guzzlers, and windmills are present throughout. Primitive camping is allowed in designated areas, but motel lodging is within reach of the WMA. If big timber is your cup of tea, some mountain monarchs roam the Ouachita Mountains and surrounding areas of Eastern Oklahoma. Deer densities and buck quality are excellent on the Three Rivers and Honobia Creek WMAs. Also, the Ouachita and McCurtain County WMAs are in the same vicinity, providing additional hunting opportunities. You could hunt these areas for a lifetime and not cover them entirely. Oklahoma’s nonresident deer licenses are reasonably priced at $280. What’s more, they allow hunters to take up to six deer (season limit), two of which may be antlered. A lengthy archery season runs Oct. 1 through Jan. 15. A pre-rut muzzleloader season runs Oct. 23-31, and a gun season runs Nov. 20 through Dec. 5. During the muzzleloader hunt, hunters can only kill one buck, likewise with gun hunters. The NDA’s 2021 Report shows that Oklahoma hunters bagged 64,364 antlered bucks in 2019, and a staggering 64 percent of them were 3 1/2 years old or older. It doesn’t mean that monsters lurk behind every Sooner State sage clump, but it does mean that shooting a buck in that age class is entirely possible. A good many public-land hunters do it every year. Missouri The Show Me State is surrounded by big-buck heavyweights Iowa, Kansas, and Illinois, but in Missouri, nonresidents can snag an OTC hunting permit. With it, archers are allowed to take two deer of either sex, but only one antlered buck prior to Nov. 16. Firearms hunters are allowed one deer of either sex. Archery hunters get to start in September, hunting unpressured deer through the beginning of the rut. Then, gun hunters get prime rut dates, with rifle season running Nov. 13-23 this fall. If you want to hunt farmland habitat, a limited number of state parcels can be explored in northern Missouri just below the Iowa border. Given the location, though, you could have lots of company during the first and second weeks of November. If larger public tracts like the 5,596-acre Union Ridge Conservation Area are busy, don’t overlook smaller tracts like the 1,638-acre Charlie Heath Memorial Conservation Area, which has great whitetail habitat with agriculture on the north end, lots of timber, and Fox Creek covering the center and eastern portions, not to mention abundant agriculture on adjoining private lands. Fox Valley Lake Conservation Area — lined by Linn Creek on the north, covered by timber in the center, and planted with agriculture at the south — is another small one to keep in your back pocket. If you want to get close to Kansas, there are fewer options, although the Four Rivers Conservation Area and Bushwhacker Lake Conservation Area provide generous deer habitat and ample room to stretch your legs. About 50 miles south of Jefferson City is the colossal 1.5-million-acre Mark Twain National Forest. This is big, rugged country that even features wilderness areas. The forest has some large, multi-thousand-acre sections, but also has smaller blocks, creating a patchwork of ground covering more than two dozen counties that you could hunt on and explore for a lifetime without covering all of it. To find deer, utilize onX Hunt’s Timber Cuts layer to unveil recent logging operations where deer will be feeding on regrowth. Back to the NDA 2021 Report, Missouri hunters harvested 134,092 antlered bucks in 2019, of which 29 percent were 3 1/2 years old or older. Conclusion Although Ohio, Oklahoma, and Missouri all have big bucks and OTC licenses in common, don’t expect an easy hunt. Remember, all OTC hunts are subject to heavy hunting pressure. Also, while researching hunts, it’s worth your while to connect with wildlife biologists to discuss any recent EHD die-offs that could hugely impact your hunt. Do that, along with diligent onX Hunt research, and you’ll be on the road to an enjoyable hunt for an OTC bruiser.

Тюменцам разрешили охотиться на кабанов и медведей На территории Тюменской области начался сезон охоты на кабанов, медведей и пернатую дичь. Охотиться на медведей тюменцы смогут до конца декабря, на кабанов — до 28 февраля. Сезон охоты на болотно-луговую дичь с подружейными собаками завершится 30 ноября. На степную боровую и полевую дичь можно охотиться до 10 января, на водоплавающую — до 31 декабря, сообщили в Госохотдепартаменте. Напомним, охотиться на диких животных и птицу могут только те жители региона, которые имеют охотничий билет и разрешение на отстрел. В охоте на пернатую дичь с собакой могут принимать участие не более трех охотников одновременно. Ранее сообщалось, что жители Тюменской области сообщали о встрече с медведями во время сбора грибов в начале лета. Косолапые были замечены в Нижнетавдинском районе — недалеко от села Бухтала и в Тюменском районе, около деревни Падерина.

В Хакасии установили сроки сбора лесных ягод и кедрового ореха С 20 августа 2022 года во всех районах Хакасии можно начинать собирать дикорастущую ягоду (черника, брусника), а с 1 сентября — кедровый орех, сообщила пресс-служба Минприроды РХ. Сроки сбора дикоросов на землях лесного фонда утверждаются Минприроды Хакасии ежегодно, исходя из климатических особенностей и наблюдений специалистов лесной отрасли. По заготовке грибов и лекарственных растений ограничений нет. Посещать леса и собирать дикоросы в установленные сроки можно беспрепятственно и на арендованных участках, но только для собственных нужд. Для сбора дикоросов в коммерческих целях необходимо заключать договор аренды лесного участка. Напомним, применять скребки, гребенки для сбора ягод, а также колоты для сбора кедровой шишки запрещено, так как это негативно сказывается на дальнейшей продуктивности растений. За нарушение сроков и способов сбора дикоросов граждане будут привлекаться к административной ответственности.

Лосей и снежных баранов Чукотки поделили между коренными и охотниками-любителями На Чукотке приближается пора охоты на парнокопытных животных. Разрешено добыть 114 лосей и 8 снежных баранов. Квота поделена между коренными народами округа и теми, кого называют любителями спортивной охоты. Добыча снежного барана открывается 1 августа и продлится до 30 ноября. Место охоты – Корякское нагорье Анадырского района. На 8 особей претендует 38 «любителей» и 14 коренных зверобоев. К охоте на сохатого на Чукотке приступят с 15 сентября, конец сезона – 10 января 2023 года. Для промысла отведены лесные угодья в Билибинском и Анадырском районах. Билибинские чукчи, эвены и юкагиры получили 45 квот. Ещё 40 лосей разыграют между 138 любителями. Сверху на пору сентябрьского гона добавлено 5 самцов, на которых претендует 12 охотников. В Анадырском районе одобрено изъятие 24 лосей. Желают попытать удачу 50 ценителей трофейной охоты и 28 представителей коренных малочисленных народов Севера. Жеребьевка проходит 1 августа в окружном департаменте Природных ресурсов и экологии в Анадыре. Распределение квот на лося на Чукотке – предмет дискуссии в округе. Существует мнение, что старожилы, как и коренные (около трети населения), должны обладать пропорциональным по количеству охотников доступом к дичи. Такая же ситуация и в других арктических странах.

«Вопрос не совсем приоритетный». Нужен ли Беларуси закон о жестоком обращении с животными? Новости Беларуси. Герасимы нашего века. Почему животные становятся жертвами человеческой жестокости? Колючие заборы, черствые сердца и умышленные убийства. Почему такие преступления получают широкий общественный резонанс? Подробности нового закона о защите животных. Эксперты и жертва громкого дела «собачьего ада Кореличей» в студии ток-шоу «По существу» в прямом эфире. Алена Сырова, СТВ: Ситуация коренным образом, на мой взгляд, преломилась в этом году, когда во время Послания Президента к народу и парламенту была возможность задать вопросы и Мария спросила как раз таки о животных. Тогда очень многие поулыбались, поухмылялись. Мол, несерьезная тема. Но по факту оказалось, что имеет она глобальнейшее значение. Мария, я знаю, что вы в этой теме очень давно, с этим заходили как раз таки в парламент. Действительно ли ситуация поменялась сейчас или мне так кажется? Мария Василевич, депутат Палаты представителей Национального собрания Беларуси: Я абсолютно с вами согласна, что действительно ситуация поменялась. И, в первую очередь, она поменялась в связи с тем, что общественность и журналисты, и, в принципе, государственные органы все больше стали внимания на это обращать. Нельзя сказать, что раньше жестокого обращения было меньше. Скорее нет, просто меньше было огласки этого вопроса. А сейчас еще поменялось… Дело в том, что закон разрабатывается и действительно многие государственные органы и представители их готовы идти на диалог. Я с вами согласна абсолютно в том, что можно услышать, что вопрос не совсем приоритетный. Тут бы с людьми разобраться. Я так предполагаю, что предыдущие попытки, возможно, и столкнулись с этим самым барьером – вопрос приоритета. Но можно долго ждать самого подходящего момента, а можно действительно взять и начать разрабатывать законопроект.

How to Hunt Africa on a Budget Chances Are You Can Do It Cheaper Than a Premium Elk Hunt My palms hurt and my knees were bloody from crawling over rocks. My legs ached. My lungs were threatening to quit on me if I had to climb one more mountain chasing a herd that was skittish to the point of paranoia. The guide and I had pursued them up and over so many mountains and glassed them from so many hidden vantage points that I had no idea how much territory we had covered or how we’d ever find our way back to the truck. When the shot opportunity finally came, it was a long one — 320 yards from our spot on a hill to where the bull was feeding on the opposite ridge. “Hold a foot high,” the guide said, and that turned out to be dead accurate. The cows scattered in a panic at the blast, and not long afterward we were standing over a mature bull I had worked harder for than any animal I’ve taken before or since. Sounds like a fairly typical elk hunt, right? Except it wasn’t an elk and I wasn’t in Colorado or New Mexico. It was a red hartebeest, and I was in South Africa. Afford a Dream Hunt That’s because an African safari is much less expensive than most people realize. In fact, it’s a good bit cheaper than a typical outfitted elk hunt. Don’t believe me? Look at the numbers. I hunted with Tollie’s African Safaris and booked the hunt through SHE Expeditions, a full-service booking agent. Over the course of five days, I shot that red hartebeest, a springbuck and a beautiful impala ram. Tollie’s outfit is no bargain-basement backwoods lodge — it’s a top-rate place with excellent food, comfortable accommodations and luxuries such as a spa and a first-class taxidermist on-site. It’s also almost entirely free range; an extraordinarily rare find in South Africa. Total cost for the trip breaks down like this: Lodging, food, and all necessary hunting services for five days: $2,250 Springbuck trophy fee: $400 Impala trophy fee: $520 Hartebeest (or kudu, gemsbok, duiker or wildebeest) trophy fee: $1,200 That’s $4,370. Add in airfare and a few odds and ends such as immunizations, tips and gun permit fees and you’re coming in around $7,500 for the whole deal. It’s not cheap, but compare it to a stateside elk hunt at a comparable lodge. SHE Expeditions recommends a New Mexico lodge that runs in the average price range for an outfitted elk hunt. Total cost for this trip: Lodging, food and five days of hunting: $10,000 Hunting license: $550 Meat processing not included Tack on tips and the cost of getting there and you could be pushing $12,500 or more. And you can shoot one animal as opposed to the three (or more) you could have shot in Africa. Additional Costs My mounts were done in Africa by Tollie’s taxidermy service and the cost was about what my local Alabama taxidermist would charge. On top of that, I had airfreight and customs broker fees of about $1,300 for three wall pedestal mounts. Other potential costs for a South Africa trip are firearm permits fees (around $100); immunizations you might need; additional airline baggage fees and the cost of any extra services or day trips you’d like to tack on. I recommend the hot-stone massage at Tollie’s spa and a day on the beach in Jeffreys Bay. Don't Miss: Hunting Eland in South Africa Know Before You Go The services of a booking agent are highly recommended. I booked through SHE Expeditions, which caters to hunters with a focus on female- and family-friendly locations. They handled every detail of the hunt, and believe me, there are dozens of little, but very important, details that you will overlook without such a service. It does not cost you anything to use their booking services, and they are absolutely invaluable, especially if this is your first hunting trip abroad. Whatever booking agent you use, make sure the agent has personally hunted at the lodge you plan to go to. The Johannesburg airport is not a safe or secure place and corruption among the employees (and police) is a problem. There are “safe house” services you will want to use if you must stay in the area overnight; ask your booking agent if they don’t mention it. We used the Afton Guest House, and its representatives met us at the Johannesburg airport and escorted us through the process of collecting our firearms and gave us safe lodging for the night until our connecting flight the next day. Don’t ask me how I know this, but its services are absolutely essential to keeping you out of jail should the slightest thing go wrong with your firearms permits — and there are many, many things that can go wrong. For that reason:

Охота кота Сколько кота ни корми, он все равно будет охотиться. Потому что коты — хищники, причем настолько успешные и всепожирающие, что попали в список ста самых вредных инвазивных видов мира. Это значит, что куда бы ни привезли этих зверей — выходцев из Плодородного полумесяца и Египта, — они освоились, размножились и теперь угрожают местной фауне.

Making the Traditional Bow Switch Trading your compound bow for a recurve adds a whole new twist to your bowhunting experience Over the past few years, traditional archery has surged in popularity among recreational shooters and bowhunters alike. For many, making the switch from a compound to a recurve or long bow is a way to increase the challenge of a hunt; for others, it’s a way to embrace the simplicity of traditional archery. Choosing to bowhunt with traditional gear not only requires hunters to get closer to game but also to spend a significant amount of time practicing with their equipment to become proficient. When it comes to equipment selection and shooting style, there are many differences between a stick bow and a wheel bow that can be confusing for traditional newcomers. So, I recruited the help of long-time traditional bowhunter Travis “T-Bone” Turner to help you understand where to get started with traditional archery. Select a Bow If you think there are a lot of options in the compound market, you’re in for a surprise when it comes to selecting a traditional bow. First, you’ll have to choose between a manufacturer’s bow and a hand-made model. Many manufacturers produce traditional bows on a large scale, but bowyers all across the country make beautiful, hand-crafted recurves, long bows and self-bows. It can be tempting to shell out for a beautiful hand-made bow, but there are plenty of fantastic options from manufacturers for a more affordable price. You’ll also need to decide between a one-piece bow and a take-down bow, though Turner recommends a take-down style recurve for new traditional archers. Take-downs provide more versatility because they allow you to swap out limbs. You’ll also need to consider the length of the bow. “I’d suggest a guy go with a little bit longer bow,” Turner says. “Something that’s 64 or 66 inches, the string won’t be so tight on your fingers and they’re easier to aim.” Choose a Draw Weight Selecting your new bow’s draw weight can be one of the most difficult decisions when making the jump to traditional archery. Most compound shooters today are pulling 65 to 70 pounds but, after let-off, are typically holding less than 20 pounds at full draw. With a traditional bow, that poundage builds as the bow is drawn, leaving the shooter holding the most weight at full draw. Turner says one of the biggest mistakes new traditional archers make is choosing a bow with a draw weight that’s too heavy. Go for a 35- to 40-pound draw weight starting out, and adjust that according to your own needs. “Don’t think you have to be a macho man,” Turner says. “A slow hit is better than a fast miss.” Note, too, that draw weight is measured differently for traditional bows. The weight-rating of a traditional bow is measured when the bow is drawn to 28 inches. As the draw length changes, the bow will gain or lose roughly 3 pounds per inch. For example: If you start out with a 40-pound bow and you have a draw length of 30 inches, you would actually be pulling about 46 pounds. Choose a bow with a comfortable draw weight that will help you develop good form and accuracy. This is also where choosing a take-down model comes in handy, because you always have the option to change limbs as you build your strength – without the added cost of buying a second bow. Develop a Style Once you have your bow, you need to select a shooting style. Some archers use the split-finger method, placing their index finger above the arrow, and the middle and ring fingers below it. The alternative is the three-under method, where the index, middle, and ring finger draw the string from below the arrow. Choosing which style is right for you really comes down to personal preference. Try both and see what feels right. Shooting with split fingers is generally used for the instinctive shooting method, while three-under puts your eye closer to the arrow, allowing you to look down the arrow at full draw. “For compound shooters who are used to having a pin to aim, three-under is usually easier since you use the tip of your arrow as a sight reference,” Turner says. “It used to be about a 50/50 split between the two, but today there seems to be more people shooting three under.” Add a Draw Check Unlike a compound bow, traditional bows don’t have a back wall or draw stops. Because variation in draw length directly affects the energy a bow will produce, it’s critical to develop a consistent draw. That’s where draw checks come in handy. They provide a reference that allows you to draw to the same length every time. The most common type of draw check is a clicker. This small accessory consists of a piece of cord tied between the bow string and a metal tab on the upper limb of your bow. When you reach the desired draw length, the cord tightens and causes the tab to click. Using a clicker will help with consistency, but hunting with one is a topic of debate. Some folks dislike the noise in a hunting situation, but Turner finds them useful. “Clickers are a great way to make sure your shot is consistent,” Turner says. “In a hunting situation when the adrenaline gets pumping, it can be easy to over-draw, so I think clickers are a good idea.” Regardless of how you do so, establish a consistent anchor point. Implement a knuckle on the jaw bone or ear lobe, a thumb along the jaw line, or some other consistency." Tune the Arrow to the Bow Shooting an arrow with the correct spine is important for both compound and traditional setups. With a compound, however, there’s more room for adjustment. “With a compound, you can’t have too stiff of a spine, in my opinion,” Turner says. “With a traditional bow, you need that arrow to flex so it bends around the riser of the bow.” When setting up a traditional bow, it’s important to remember that you don’t tune the bow to the arrow, as is commonly done with a compound. Instead, you tune the arrow to the bow. There are a couple different ways to do this. “I’m a big fan of heavy FOC,” says Turner, referring to the arrow’s front-of-center, or the percentage of the arrow’s weight that’s in the front half of the arrow. “By adjusting the FOC by changing the arrow’s point weight, you can change its spine. Starting with a long arrow and cutting it down a little at a time is another way I tune my arrow to get good arrow flight.” When tuning an arrow, remember that increasing point weight – the FOC – will weaken the spine of the arrow; shortening the arrow shaft will make it stiffer. To evaluate arrow flight, tune the bare shafts and paper tune until you get a perfectly flying arrow. If your arrows aren’t flying straight, you’re going to lose energy and penetration. Adjust arrow length and point weight until you get it right, and don’t worry what arrow weight or point weight you end up with. Get Closer There are a lot of things to consider when making the change from a compound to traditional bow, and you’ll learn as you go. Just make sure to ramp up the frequency of your practice sessions, since consistent accuracy will be more challenging to achieve than with your compound. “The standard distance for target practice seems to be 20 yards, but with a traditional bow, don’t be afraid to move up to 10 or 15 yards when you’re first starting out,” Turner says. He also notes that you’ll want a glove or tab for your string hand. “Try out several different gloves and tabs to find what you like best. If you go with a glove, buy a size smaller than you would typically wear because that leather will stretch, and a sloppy glove can make it hard to get a good release.” When it comes to working on your shooting form, try drawing your recurve in front of the mirror or camera to ensure the bow string stays straight up and down. A lot of people will turn their hand out as they draw, making the string curve. And remember: Perfect form isn’t as important as consistent form.

«Рыбалка на сазана как охота»: барнаулец выловил 12-килограммовую рыбу Большой улов получился у жителя Барнаула Никиты Голубева. О своей недельной поездке в Новосибирскую область он рассказал в паблике «Алтайское рыболовное сообщество». Мужчина поделился, что отправился на отдых в составе большой компании. Там помимо развлечений планировалась рыбалка. Во второй день экспедиции мужчины поймали сазана весом 7 килограммов. Однако после этого несколько дней клёва не было. «Так продолжалось несколько дней. Сидели без поклёвок, но не сдавались. Общались, жгли костёр, вкусно ужинали. Шашлыки, «Реган Бурже», казан-кебаб, плов, оладушки, жареную картошку и т. д. Красота», — поделился Никита. Но вскоре барнаульцев ожидала хорошая поклёвка и 8-килограммовый сазан на два тигровых орешка. Четвёртый день принёс им четыре рыбы весом в 7–8 килограммов. Большой улов удался на шестой день: семь рыб от 5 до 12 килограммов. Рассказчик поделился, что сазан в 12 100 — его личный рекорд. До этого он вылавливал рыбу, весом 9 600. Теперь перед мужчиной новая цель — 15 кило. На этом рыбалка закончилась. Но барнаулец не стал скрывать, на что получилось выловить таких рыб. «Корм — кукуруза, пшеница, бойлы, конопля, орех, пелетс, жидкое питание. В общей сложности скормили около 60 кг кукурузы, 30 кг пшеницы, 10 кг бойлов, 5 кг конопли и 5 кг ореха. Кормили три раза в день. Насадка: орех тигровый. Больше не работало ничего. А попробовали много», — заключил он, добавив, что рыбалка на сазана как охота: найди правильное место, корми и жди.

12 Reasons Why Your Venison Tastes Like Hell Is your deer meat tough, dry, and gamy? It shouldn’t be. Check out this list of 12 deer-butchering sins to find out why your venison tastes bad — and how to make it better I’m often amazed at the people, deer hunters included, who tell me they just don’t like venison. That statement is usually followed by a qualifier: it’s tough; it’s gamy; it’s dry. And so on. I’ve eaten a lot of good deer meat. But I’ve eaten some really bad deer meat, too. I’m only a self-trained butcher, but I’ve been processing five to six deer a season for the better part of 20 years. When it comes to cooking, I’m no Scott Leysath or Michael Pendley, either, but my wife, kid, and I do eat venison in some form two or three meals per week, year-round. I think we eat pretty good. Some things consistently make venison really tasty. And some things will ruin the flavor, too. Here are a dozen of the worst offenders. 1. Poor Field Care In the real world of hunting, things happen. We all make bad shots on occasion. And while we know not to “push” a deer that’s been hit marginally, realize that the longer it takes for the animal to die and the farther it runs, the more adrenaline and lactic acid builds up in the animal’s system and muscles. Ever had a glass of good-tasting acid? I didn’t think so. The faster a deer hits the ground and can be field-dressed, the better the meat will be. Some of the best-tasting deer I’ve ever had have been shot in the head with a gun. The animal is killed instantly, and the meat is uncontaminated by blood and entrails from the chest cavity. That said, head shots are risky. The lungs remain the best place to aim. 2. Failure to Cool Quickly Internal bacteria rapidly takes over after death, expelling gases and causing the animal to bloat. That’s the first step in decomposition. This process is accelerated in warm weather. Learn how to field-dress a deer, and get to it ASAP. Removing those organs is the first step in cooling the animal down. On a cold night — in the mid-30s or lower — a deer can be left hanging skin-on overnight. In especially cold weather, some hunters like to age a deer in such a manner for several days (more on aging in a bit). I live in a warm climate, and most of the deer I shoot in a season’s time are during early bow season, so I don’t have that luxury. When I find my deer and get it field-dressed, I plan on having it skinned, quartered and on ice within the hour. 3. Shooting the Wrong Deer Modern deer hunters are in tune with deer herd management. We’ve learned of practices that contribute to the health of a herd, including which deer to shoot. Given the chance, most of us want to shoot a mature buck with big antlers. Me included. Old bucks are perfectly edible but rarely the best. Muscles get tougher with use and stringy with age. An old buck that’s spent a full autumn fighting, rubbing, scraping, and chasing does will be lean. Expect chewy steaks. Same thing goes for an old doe that’s burned all her summertime calories producing milk to nurse fawns. I usually make hamburger, sausage, and jerky out of such animals. For steaks, you can’t beat a young, crop-fed deer. Deer that spend a summer munching on corn and soybeans have an easier life — and more fattening food sources — than those that spend a lifetime wandering the big timber in search of scattered mast and browse. The tastiest venison I’ve ever eaten came from a 1 1/2-year-old forkhorn shot through the neck near a picked cornfield during early bow season. That young deer had nothing to do all summer except get fat. Am I saying to whack every young buck that walks by? No. But I am saying if a deer for the freezer is your goal, young bucks from the early season are usually good eating and have more meat than does to boot. If you want to shoot one and it’s legal, go for it. You don’t owe anyone an apology. 4. Failure to Age / Purge I’ve been told that aging venison on ice is a mistake, but I don’t buy it.** The mercury rises above 50 degrees on most days of deer season in my area. That’s too warm to let a deer hang, so icing them down is my only option. I line the bottom of a cooler with a layer of ice, add my deer quarters on top of that, and then cover them with more ice. I keep the cooler in the shade with the drain plug open and on a downhill incline. That’s very important. The idea is to let the ice slowly melt and drain from the cooler. This not only keeps the meat cold, but purges an amazing amount of blood from it. Do this for at least two days, checking the ice a couple of times per day in especially warm weather. (Note: If you do this without a drain plug, you’ll get the opposite effect — deer quarters that are essentially marinated in bloody, dirty water. Does that sound tasty? Didn’t think so.) 5. Dirty Knives and Power Saws A deer’s legs are held together just like yours: with ball-and-socket joints and connective tissue. Learn where these are, and you can cut an entire skinned deer apart within minutes with a good pocketknife. Laying into a deer’s legs and spine with a power saw puts bone marrow, bone fragments, and whatever mess was on the saw blade into your venison. Would you season your steak with bone fragments and wood shavings? Didn’t think so. I keep three sharp knives handy when I’m cleaning a deer. One is for field-dressing. This one will be a stout knife with a drop point for prying through bone. Another is for skinning. Though a skinning blade with a gut hook is nice to have, I’ve been using a long-bladed fillet knife the last couple of seasons, and it works beautifully. These knives can be honed to a razor’s edge and quickly resharpened. Other than quickly dulling a knife’s edge by slicing through hair, skinning is not taxing on a knife’s blade, so a flexible fillet knife works fine. Finally, I swap over to another knife — again, with a heavier blade — for my quartering. The point to take from all this is to keep your knives separate so you reduce contamination of the meat with blood and hair. 6. Poor Trimming Unlike beef fat, deer fat does not taste good. Neither does the sinew, silver skin, and other connective tissues holding the various muscle groups together. Venison, whether destined for steaks or hamburger, should be trimmed free of anything that’s not rich, red meat. 7. Burger Is Too Lean Ironically, because fat needs to be trimmed away for the best flavor, venison often becomes too lean for hamburger purposes. Patties made for grilled double cheeseburgers often fall apart soon after hitting the hot grate. The solution is to add some fat, either beef or pork, when you’re grinding venison. We use cheap bacon, mixed at a rate of 5:1 (5 pounds of venison per pound of bacon). It makes our patties stick together, and the bacon adds a great flavor. 8. Using a Cut-Rate Processor Some commercial deer processors do a great job. But some do not. I once took a deer to a processor, filled out my paperwork, and watched him disappear to the freezer room. He weighed my animal and returned with a corresponding amount of packaged, frozen venison. “We mix all our meat together and package a lot of burger at once,” he said. For all I knew, the deer I was getting could’ve been gut-shot, left to hang in 90-degree heat, and then dragged along a blacktop road en route to the processor. No thanks. Insist on getting your own deer back when you have processing work done. 9. Marinade Problems “First, soak for 48 hours in Italian dressing …” It’s enough to make a venison lover cringe. Look, Italian dressing and BBQ sauce taste fine, but you’d better be a ravenous fan of them if you’re using them to soak venison steaks for two days. At the end of those two days, your steaks will taste just like … Italian dressing or BBQ sauce. There’s nothing wrong with a little splash of flavor enhancement, but try lighter flavors that complement the flavor of deer meat, and keep the marinade time short. My usual maximum is three or four hours. A favorite marinade for grilled venison steaks is a mixture of olive oil, a spoonful of balsamic vinegar, a spoonful of Worcestershire sauce, some minced garlic (with the juice), a squirt of mustard, and salt and pepper to taste. 10. Cooked Too Cool, for Too Long Venison recipes, especially grilled recipes, often call for removing the meat after a couple of minutes per side. For many, the result of that is “This is raw and gross.” And so they place it back on the grill. After a while, it turns gray, chewy, dry … and still gross. Grilled venison is best when eaten with a medium-rare interior, but the outside needs to be cooked. In order to do that, your grill needs to be hot enough to instantly sear the meat surface and lock in those flavors and juices. Flip your venison steaks one time. If you don’t have nice grill marks after three or four minutes, the grate isn’t hot enough. 11. Improper Packaging and Freezing Freezer burn doesn’t help the flavor of ice cream or anything else, deer meat included. Modern vacuum packaging systems are handy and save on space, but I’ve used some that resulted in freezer-burned meat after a few months. If you’re buying a vacuum-sealing unit, get a good one. We package our deer the old-fashioned way, first wrapping each portion in clear plastic wrap, and then covering that with heavy-duty freezer paper. Every package is clearly labeled, so we not only know what cut of meat is inside and when it was killed, but also which deer it came from. If one animal proves especially tough, we know to use that meat for slow-cooking recipes. 12. Getting Too Fancy There’s no big mystery or secret to cooking venison. Treat it as you would treat very lean beef, and you’ll get outstanding results day in and out. We substitute deer burger for beef hamburger in virtually everything — chili, tacos, sloppy Joes, burgers on the grill, spaghetti, and who knows what else. We never plan on a “wild game night” at the house. We just plan to cook dinner, and that usually means wild game by default.

Hunting with Hawks Perhaps you'll never try falconry yourself. Katherine Browne once thought the same thing. But these days, the Prois pro-staff coordinator and licensed falconer does her small-game hunting with a raptor named Hades Katherine Browne’s hunting partner, Hades, can be a little high strung and aggressive at times, but Browne overlooks it. Hades is pretty good at what he does, and that behavior is typical for his kind. A northern goshawk, Hades is a member of the raptor family, and his natural maneuverability and speed make him a top predator and excellent hunting companion. When Browne, the dealer relations and pro-staff coordinator for Prois Hunting Apparel, is not working, you can often find the licensed falconer training Hades to hunt ducks, pheasant, grouse and quail in the woods and fields by her home. How does a young woman, such as Browne, become a falconer? “I have always been intrigued by raptors, and I love the idea of being a part of something wild and ancient,” Browne says. “When I’m working with my birds, I feel like I’m a part of the drama of nature that unfolds daily. I love working in a symbiotic relationship with a bird of prey, and I love that once the bird is trained, it has a choice to leave me while it’s flying free.” After watching a TV show of two men hunting rabbits with red-tailed hawks, Browne decided “if they can do it, I can do it.” She devoured literature on the subject, and after moving to Oregon five years ago, found a sponsor, built a mews (hawk house) and took her test to become a falconer. After trapping and training her first red-tailed hawk, she became hopelessly addicted to falconry. “Being a licensed falconer is a huge commitment,” she says. “You must train with a sponsor, take a test and have knowledge of raptor disease, health issues and care. Falconry is more of a lifestyle than a hobby, especially for someone like me who hunts with her bird five to six times a week. Not only does the bird require feeding and care, but you must weigh it daily, calculate how much to feed it so it will be at hunting weight when you fly it and constantly monitor its health and condition. You must provide your bird with whole-bodied animals, a bath pan filled with fresh water, and safe housing and equipment. It is unfair to try to keep a bird of prey if you don’t have the time to commit.” TRAPPING THE BIRD To trap her raptors, Browne often uses what is called a bal-chatri trap (BC), which is essentially a weighted-down wire cage with monofilament fishing line nooses along the outside. The bait animal is placed inside the trap. When the hawk lands on the trap, its feet become entangled in the nooses. Browne drives the roads in search of a raptor to trap. When she spots a bird, she slows the vehicle down almost to a stop and drops the trap in the bird’s vicinity. Then she drives a couple hundred yards down the road and sits and watches the bird and the trap with binoculars. BC traps need to be monitored constantly because after the bird is trapped, it can be injured or attacked by predators if left unattended. In fact, it is illegal to leave a BC unattended (it’s also highly illegal to trap birds of prey without the proper permit). “Once the bird is snared, I run up and grab the hawk, preferably without getting footed or bitten,” Browne says. “Trapping is by far one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done.” Browne says once you trap a bird, you must determine if it’s a legal bird to keep and if you want to keep it. Passage (juvenile) birds that have left the nest but are still in their first year of life are legal to take. You can also take eyasses (chicks) after you become a general falconer. You’re limited to either trapping a juvenile red-tailed hawk or an American kestrel for the first two years of your falconry training. Check your state's falconry laws for additional rules and regulations. “I am currently a general falconer, which requires at least two years of falconry experience,” Browne says. “My northern goshawk is a much more challenging species to train than a red-tailed hawk or kestrel.” The longer you are a falconer, the more species are open to you. The most challenging birds are reserved for master falconers who have been at the sport for at least five years. TRAINING THE BIRD Not only is each species different in terms of training, but so is each individual bird. And, even though there are many methods and schools of thought on training, she uses a few basic steps with the birds she’s trained. “Perhaps the most important part of this process is weighing the bird daily on an accurate scale,” Browne says. “Falconry is all about weight management and figuring out the flying weight, which is the weight at which the bird is most responsive.” Unless the bird is very thin when trapped, most falconers begin reducing their bird’s weight slowly and steadily during the training process and recording the bird’s responses in a log book along with the amount and type of food it’s eating. When the falconer first arrives home with the bird, he or she begins a process called “manning.” During this time, the bird gets used to being indoors with the trainer. The trainer touches and carries the hawk around as much as possible. “When I brought Ares, my last red-tail, home and removed the hood, he sat on my fist with his eyes wide, wings spread, feathers puffed out and his tongue sticking out,” Browne says. “He was terrified. This is pretty typical behavior for a freshly trapped hawk. Initially you want the room to be dimly lit and for things to be quiet and calm. After sitting for a moment, Ares bated (jumped from the fist) and hung upside-down by his jesses (the leather straps around a falconry bird’s feet). I call this stage the bat-bird stage. My red-tail Athena hung upside-down most of the time I worked with her for the first three days. Luckily, Ares caught on faster, and after gently helping him back on the glove a few times, he stopped hanging like a bat and started hopping back up to the fist on his own.” Browne explains that the next step is getting the hawk to eat from her hands, which can be a difficult task. She’ll rub the meat on the side of a raptor’s beak causing it to bite reflexively. When hunger takes over, the bird will swallow the meat. Every time Browne offers her new bird a piece of meat, she whistles. By making the same noise each time, the bird will start to recognize the sound as an indicator for food. Like training any animal, consistency is incredibly important. After the bird learns to eat from the trainer’s fingers, it is then trained to eat from a gloved hand. Next the bird learns how to hop to the glove, which is Browne’s favorite step. “This is the leap of faith where your bird makes the jump to your fist,” Browne says. “I place the bird on a solid perch (I favor a saw horse) and hold my garnished glove (glove with a piece of meat on it) just out of reach so the hawk has to stretch out to get it.” Next the bird learns how to fly to the trainer inside the home. Browne says this step is a lot of fun as well. She uses a long leash and calls the bird to her for longer and longer indoor flights. Once she accomplishes this step, she takes the bird outdoors. “When I first take my bird outside after working with it indoors, it’ll often get what I call ‘blue sky syndrome’,” Browne says. It’ll see the sky and will try to fly off. At this stage I often have to reduce its weight and do some shorter flights than I was doing indoors. I’ll also introduce the lure, which is my safety net while flying the bird. I attach meat to a padded leather boomerang-shaped lure. Every time I feed the bird from the lure it should get a good meal so when it sees the lure, it will come readily, even if its weight is a little high.” Browne explains that as she flies the bird outside, she increases the length of the creance (a long tether), and as she reduces the bird’s weight, she watches for an immediate response to her whistle. A quick response is a good indicator that the bird is approaching its flying or hunting weight. Once it comes without hesitation, it’s time to cut it loose and start hunting. THE HUNTING Since juvenile birds have already been out on their own, they know how to hunt, but Browne says she has to teach the bird that it will have more opportunities at game and more success if it hunts with her. “I train my bird to see me as a partner, not a predator,” Browne says. “I have to be very careful not to give the impression that I will steal food from it. I have to develop a relationship with my bird so that I can approach it on prey and dispatch the prey without it carrying it away, hiding it from me or showing aggression toward me.” Browne says falconers often have to train their birds to pursue the quarry of their choice and build their confidence that they can be successful catching this particular animal. Many juvenile birds have only caught mice and small ground quarry and do not necessarily see larger game as food. Trainers often set up a couple easier hunting scenarios to build the bird’s confidence at catching larger prey, such as rabbits. This is called “entering your bird.” “There is so much work and dedication involved with training a falcon,” Browne says. “That’s why it is so important that you go through the proper channels to become a falconer. It’s hard work, but if you are passionate and committed, it’s more than worthwhile. During the first two years, beginner falconers are required to have a more experienced falconer as a sponsor. The knowledge you gain from your sponsor in your first two years (or more) as an apprentice falconer is irreplaceable. If you’re interested in pursuing this sport, start off by reading one of the many books on training and hunting with different birds of prey. My favorite is North American Falconry & Hunting Hawks by BeeBe and Webster, which many, including myself, consider the bible of North American falconry. Take the time and do it right. You won’t regret the effort and time you put into being a falconer. We get to see things that most people will never see in a lifetime. ”

The Lost Art of Hunting I’ve never been in a hunting situation where my success determined whether or not I got to eat that night, but I’ve been close. When I was in college, I usually had just enough money to buy a burger off the value menu on any given evening. And I was OK with that. The only problem besides being a poor college kid was the fact that I much preferred to put that change toward .22 rimfire cartridges and gas to get to my favorite squirrel hunting woods. Ryan, Bandit, Squeaky and I would pitch in for a group squirrel-gathering effort at least once a week when the fall season was open. This also gave us a good reason to skip class. After hunting, we’d prepare wild game dinners right there in the little dormitory kitchen. We ate squirrel and dumplings, squirrel and cream of mushroom soup, Cajun-fried squirrel, lemon-pepper squirrel and of course, Kentucky Burgoo. Often as not, we ended up feeding a half-dozen other residents who smelled hot grease and gathered around our plate. Most of them knew us well enough to know the frying smell wasn’t from chicken, but you won’t see many picky appetites in a building full of college kids who are stuck with school cafeteria food. We each had our favorite hunting spots, mostly consisting of small woodlots interspersed among cattle pastures and crop fields. We didn’t hunt with shotguns much—too loud in those little wood lots. Rimfires were our game, and there was always a little marksmanship competition taking place among us. The fellow who sailed an errant .22 bullet through an edible part of a squirrel could expect some teasing come skinning time that evening. I hunted with an open-sighted pump-action .22, and I seldom took a shot beyond 15 yards with it. I knew I could hit exactly where I wanted at that range, and the process of sneaking in that close was a lot of fun. In fact, if you need some woodsmanship skill lessons taught in a fashion that’ll serve you well while hunting all types of game, go squirrel hunting and see how close you can get to a squirrel before taking the shot. Better yet, carry a small-bore muzzleloader or even your bow and make getting close a requirement for success. A couple years before college, I frequently squirrel hunted with a .32 caliber muzzleloader that I’d bought with yard-mowing money. I spent several afternoons during the first summer I owned it trying to find a powder-bullet combination that would shoot reasonably well. I didn’t have a chronograph, and my shooting range consisted of a table in my parents’ backyard, but I finally learned that with 12 grains of FFG black powder (I later found that finer FFFG pistol powder worked better) behind a tiny patched 45-grain round ball, the rifle was suitable for squirrels out to 25 yards or so. Closer was better. But as is the case with all muzzleloader hunting, it was a one-shot proposition. It was also erratic accuracy-wise when loaded with just a few grains too much or too little powder, so it required even more time to prepare the charge between shots than a large-caliber gun. I had to ensure absolutely no powder was spilled, which was sometimes difficult with such a tiny hole in the muzzle. To consistently kill numbers of squirrels with that gun required a “plan ahead” strategy for each shot—and very good stalking skills. It was much easier to hit squirrels at 10 yards with it than at 25. Stalking Technique Chances are you’ve had squirrels very close to you while deer hunting and turkey hunting that could see you, but didn’t seem overly concerned about it. It’s likely because you seemed much more “stump-like” than predator like. That’s the same mindset to adapt when stalking squirrels. Limit yourself to covering no more than couple hundred yards in an hour, spending much more time stopping and looking than walking. Picking out a quiet route for your stalk rather than wandering haphazard through the woods helps as well. A squirrel stalker can move more slowly and remain more focused on spotting squirrels by slipping up a dry creek bed or old ATV path than by picking his way around fallen tree limbs. That’s not to say you always have to travel slowly to get within bow range of a squirrel. Once you spot an animal, use your own judgment on the best way to get within range. One of the best times to hunt those small wood lots when I was in college was after a rain in mid-October. By this time, squirrels had shifted from feeding in the trees on green mast to acorns that had fallen on the ground. It was easy to initially approach to within 50 yards or so of a feeding squirrel by just slipping through the woods. Since the animals were after acorns, they were often near the base of a fairly large oak tree. At some point, they’d move behind the tree, and I’d be obscured from their view. I could quickly move toward them at a near jog without making much noise on the wet leaves and stop only a few yards the other side of the tree. Squirrels would sometimes see me after scampering back into sight, but they almost always froze for several seconds, often after jumping onto the tree’s trunk to try and decipher what I was. They’d rarely bolt immediately away. This bushytail character flaw resulted in a lot of really easy shots. The Seasonal Squirrel Shift One of the beauties of hunting squirrels is they aren’t as difficult to locate as whitetails or turkeys, but you still have to hunt where they live. In temperate hardwood forests during the fall, squirrels have predictable food preferences that coincide with ripening mast trees. Some of this stuff overlaps, but in general, I always found squirrels in pine trees during the earliest part of the season, usually around mid-August. Fortunately, they don’t stay there long, as pinecones can give the animals a turpentine-like flavor. Hickory nuts ripen soon afterward, from the end of August till mid-September or so. Between dropping the large nuts to the ground and scraping their teeth against the hard shells, squirrels make a ton of racket in hickories. Hunting them in these trees, although a lot of fun, can be a test of patience. It can sometimes take a squirrel half an hour to finish one hickory nut, and if he’s obscured from your view by leaves, you can’t do much other than wait for a shot. Around mid-September through the first of October, squirrels often move to smooth-barked beechnut trees where they’re available. These trees often grow near creek banks, have small leaves that make spotting squirrels easy, and produce very small nuts that squirrels can quickly finish eating. Squirrels don’t make much noise when cutting in beech trees, however, so knowledge of where these trees grow in your hunting area is important. The golden days for riflemen and primitive weapons hunters occur in mid- to late October. If you can pull yourself away from the deer stand for a day or two, squirrels will be actively feeding on the ground near any oaks, especially white oaks, that have produced acorns. As any deer hunter will tell you, they make a lot of noise when the leaves are dry. When the leaves are wet, you can slip right up on them. Like many hunters, as the years have gone by, I’ve found myself going squirrel hunting much less often than I once did. My attention has increasingly shifted to whitetails, waterfowl and turkeys. I don’t have a squirrel lease or hang squirrel stands. I don’t plant squirrel food plots, or do much practicing with my squirrel calls. I sold that .32 caliber muzzleloader several years ago, and last year’s season was the first opening morning of squirrel season that I’ve missed since I was 7 years old. But it seems every time I figure out something else to do besides go squirrel hunting, I end up regretting the decision. When I do drag myself away from the “more serious” hunting pursuits, I’m reminded just how much I enjoy creeping to within easy range of a busy grey squirrel. Once I’m out there, I’m not thinking of it as practice or simply a way to pass time until deer or turkey season—I’m thinking of putting that critter in the bag and eating it for supper. I’m thinking of squirrel hunting—it may be one of the purest hunting experiences out there. Archery Squirrels Squirrels are great bowhunting targets, particularly when they’re foraging on the forest floor. Bowhunters in particular must be patient when stalking to within range for a shot, but bagging a few squirrels nearly every trip out isn’t as difficult as it may seem. The small size of your targets combined with the high number of shots you’re likely to be taking requires a little change in the way of gear. Your carbon arrows and broadheads will certainly kill squirrels, but you’ll quickly find yourself pulling more than your own weight in bringing us out of the economic recession (i.e., a carbon arrow and broadhead is expensive and you’ll lose a bunch of them). A broadhead destroys more meat than necessary on a squirrel as well. A better option is to invest in a dozen arrows tipped with small game points of some type, such as the Muzzy SG-X, G5 Small Game Head and others. These points are designed to immobilize squirrels and small game on impact without inflicting excessive cutting damage. They’re also equipped with forward-facing barbs to minimize arrow loss. If you’re shooting at squirrels in the trees, using Flu-Flu-fletched arrows of some type is a good idea to keep arrow loss at a minimum, although you’ll need to shoot off the shelf or with a rest that allows enough clearance to keep from damaging the large feathers.

How to Introduce Your Older Hunting Dog to a Puppy Some Tips for Young and Old Dogs Living Together You're likely pretty excited about bringing your new puppy home. Your older hunting dog might not share the same feelings. Ways to introduce your adult dog to the new pup in your life follow here. Short, Positive Interactions Your adult dog has learned plenty in your time together. It's the pup that needs some schooling. Dogs of course have instinctive ways of sorting out the pecking order. An older canine has earned territorial rights over your home, yard, truck and where you exercise (and hunt) this dog. Enter the puppy. S/he has no rules and is full of endless energy. The older dog is set in his or her ways. A hard-charging, wildly running pup changes this. Read their body language as they interact. The older dog will likely growl when the pup pushes things too far. Slowly, surely, the young dog should get the message, and show increasing respect for its elder. You've introduced this wild child into the mix. The older dog will also do its share of the teaching. This effort takes time, energy and patience. Territorial Respect You likely feed you older dog in the same spot, at around the same times. This canine expects and appreciates it with a tail wag and alert eyes, full of anticipation. The pup might just be thinking "food" when it hears you scoop from the kibble bags (one for the young one; one for the older dog). They might dash in fast with no respect to the older dog's food or eating spot. This can spell trouble. Anticipate it. This is a teaching moment for the pup. If possible, always feed them separately at first, in different locations. Control the young dog as the older dog eats first. Or, if you don't feed the two at the same time, still maintain separate areas, as the older dog will likely check out the pup's new food bowl and water dish. Again, this will take time, too. Outside of feedings, older indoor dogs often like to relax in comfortable chairs or couches. Teach the puppy to respect these locations. The elder canine will also do plenty as this goes, expressing a hard look, low warning growl and even more displeasure. Again, the pup should get the message, though you want to ensure its safety while learning the ropes. Browning Insulated Dog Crate Bedding in Realtree MAX-5 Time Together Indoor dogs interact in a smaller space, confined by the limits of your home. Often "trouble" occurs here; less so outdoors, especially as they begin to hunt together. Again, reflecting back on the short, positive interaction theme, combined with the territorial respect notion, the dogs – older and younger – will begin to accept each other. The key is to give each dog a steady amount of your time, both separately and together. Pay attention to how they interact. Gently but firmly, using verbal commands of "no," "sit," "stay," and "leave it," teach the puppy to respect the older canine. Eventually, they'll learn to accept the other, or at least define limits to the relationship.