Hunting and Fishing News Blog Articles

Taking any big game animal with a bow is a challenge! Now imagine that you have a potential record book ram from a limited entry, once in a life time hunt in Arizona and the stakes go up tremendously! Press play to watch the video from Randy Spray’s feature story in the 100th issue of Eastmans’ Bowhunting Journal. Make sure you subscribe so you won’t miss an issue and great feature stories like this one!

Want to share the story of your hunt with us? Send a few of your best images to our editor for consideration at [email protected] and make sure you use the #myhuntstory tag on social media! We might just send you a T-Shirt for tagging us!

You will also want to make sure that you take a listen to this episode of the Eastmans’ Elevated podcast. Host Brian Barney is joined by Clint Casper, a successful bowhunter, and how they have adventure bowhunter across the West. Deciding what state to hunt, which unit to apply for and how to prepare physically and mentally can be a daunting task. Brian and Clint break down some of the tactics they use to prepare for an out of state hunt and hopefully help you prepare for your next western adventure hunt!

Eastmans’ Publishing, Inc. is a multimedia corporation whose roots are grounded in the ethics of fair chase hunting. We strive to help our audiences become more skilled and ethical hunters, while expanding their knowledge, appreciation, and awareness of the outdoors and wildlife through entertainment media.

Eastmans’ Publishing, Inc. is a holding company engaged in publishing. We publish book and magazines, along with producing videos, DVDs, and TV programs. We also develop and sell products such as apparel, hats and artwork.

When it comes to elk, Wyoming continues to be a very consistent state to hunt. With an ever-growing, lengthy list of hunt options, a stabilizing elk herd and a very consistent management plan, Wyoming is the quintessential elk opportunity state. The state Game and Fish Department has not made many changes to the statewide elk management plan and this year is no exception. It seems as though Wyoming has its elk herds figured out and maximized for the perfect balance between trophy quality and overall opportunity.

Historically, Wyoming is a very good place to gather preference points to hunt for a good bull. Wyoming remains a very consistent place to hunt for elk and we don’t see that fact changing anytime in the near future. Statistically speaking, Wyoming is a very strong elk state even when it comes to record book bull elk entries. The Cowboy State remains in the top four states to kill a book bull elk all-time and is still in the top five states to find a Boone and Crockett bull over the past 15 years, further proving the fact that Wyoming’s best elk hunting days are not in the rear-view mirror. Even with Wyoming’s wolf and grizzly bear problems, the state still manages to produce some very good hunting for some big bulls. Nearly six record book bulls per year have been taken in Wyoming the last few years. The next one could be yours.

So without any further comment from me, here are my top three units according to my research for the MRS. This year I have included the chart that covers those units. We also decided that we would sweeten the pot a little, when you buy the 2016  MRS Annual we will email you a full copy of the Wyoming MRS, for free. Good luck in the draws!

Every year here at Eastmans’ we say that this one went faster than the last and I hate to beat a dead horse but this year that seems to be very true. The western hunting world seems to be moving at a breakneck speed every day and the crazy part is that I think it’s only going to keep moving faster.

2016 has been a year full of challenges, growth and of course some great hunting. Our EBJ elk hunt winner harvested a great bull and you can find some great pictures and a short video on our Facebook page recapping that hunt. Our EHJ mule deer hunt winner harvested a solid buck and had a great time finding the right one. Every season I find myself looking forward to these hunts more and more and the 2016 winners did not disappoint, class acts who were a lot of fun for our crew to be around.

The MRS has continued to grow and improve and every year I learn a little more about where to apply in each state as I comb through the data. Our staff writers put together some excellent content and I am really proud of each of the contributions they have sent in, the content was some of the best I remember in recent history.

We are now kicking off 2017 with some innovative things moving forward. Many of you have received the E-News with our new digital show called “Beyond The Grid,” and the next episode will be dropping on our YouTube channel February 1. Make sure you find the Facebook and Instagram pages for this new show so you won’t miss a single episode.

We also put together our 13th digital issue and the reception has been great. Inside its pages were exclusive feature stories, exclusive gear reviews and tips and tactics to make you a better hunter. Make sure you bookmark this issue until the next time in 2017, it’s a great read in the backcountry and if you load it before you hit the trail it will be fully functional.

Eastmans’ Publishing, Inc. is a multimedia corporation whose roots are grounded in the ethics of fair chase hunting. We strive to help our audiences become more skilled and ethical hunters, while expanding their knowledge, appreciation, and awareness of the outdoors and wildlife through entertainment media.

Eastmans’ Publishing, Inc. is a holding company engaged in publishing. We publish book and magazines, along with producing videos, DVDs, and TV programs. We also develop and sell products such as apparel, hats and artwork.

When I hear the word activism I usually cringe. Like many of you I picture someone who has probably been labeled a hippie of sorts by most of middle America. They are usually touting some cause, likely one I don’t agree with. The question then is this, if hunting is conservation does that make me an activist?

After a little thought, I think that it does make me an activist. In fact I am not even a silent activist, I put my money behind three lifetime memberships for various hunting and 2nd Amendment non-profits that I believe in. I did my due diligence, made sure I supported their causes and methods and signed on the dotted line. Those memberships give my organizations of choice political clout to fight for things like access to land for hunting, gun rights and even the pull to stop bad tag allotment ideas and management practices.

Of course there are more ways to get involved and be an activist for hunting conservation. My schedule as a business owner dictates how much boots on the ground, hands in the dirt-type of work I can do and that isn’t much. For some hunters, getting out and working in the field for wildlife conservation is a way of life and a great family activity. It never ceases to amaze me how many people jump at the chance to help with habitat improvement and the great work they do.

It goes even deeper than that. Hunters put boots on the ground for conservation every time we buy a rifle, a box of ammo or a hunting tag. Wildlife management is primarily funded in most states by the people buying the tags. In fact in my home state of Wyoming the game and fish is self funding, they don’t get money from the general fund. The quotas that dictate tag numbers have to be put together by people who have built careers in wildlife management. By buying tags we are funding the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.

Eastmans’ Publishing, Inc. is a multimedia corporation whose roots are grounded in the ethics of fair chase hunting. We strive to help our audiences become more skilled and ethical hunters, while expanding their knowledge, appreciation, and awareness of the outdoors and wildlife through entertainment media.

Eastmans’ Publishing, Inc. is a holding company engaged in publishing. We publish book and magazines, along with producing videos, DVDs, and TV programs. We also develop and sell products such as apparel, hats and artwork.

Beyond The Grid is a new digital docu-series from Eastmans’ showcasing bow and rifle hunts across the West and beyond, delivered to you by our digital channels. This is exclusive big game hunting content at the tip of your fingers on your phone or the press of a button on your computer. In the first episode, Giant In The Mist, hunter Dan Netluch finds himself in elk heaven amidst the rugged western Montana hills. Surrounded by bugling bulls, Netluch, at first, has a hard time picking a target. Watch him harvest a 370-class bull in this Eastmans’ exclusive hunt.

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Eastmans’ Publishing, Inc. is a multimedia corporation whose roots are grounded in the ethics of fair chase hunting. We strive to help our audiences become more skilled and ethical hunters, while expanding their knowledge, appreciation, and awareness of the outdoors and wildlife through entertainment media.

Eastmans’ Publishing, Inc. is a holding company engaged in publishing. We publish book and magazines, along with producing videos, DVDs, and TV programs. We also develop and sell products such as apparel, hats and artwork.

“Poaching is a crime committed by thieves – not hunters” and I completely agree, 100%. And based on what I have seen on the Internet, in the papers and first hand, poaching is as bad or worse than ever. These very strong words come from a joint research task force formed by a partnership between the world-class conservation organization the Boone and Crockett club and world-renowned optics manufacturer, Leupold & Stevens. The partnership called “Poach and Pay” was developed to study the possibility of higher fines in an effort to further deter poaching throughout North America.

The findings from this effort will not be fully known until its conclusion sometime during the summer of 2017. Based on preliminary research however, nearly 93% of respondents support higher fines for poaching, while 88% of those support even higher fines for the poaching of trophy class animals. To define a trophy class animal some states have already adopted the B&C scoring system to make a determination of such. Currently only the western states of Idaho, Montana and South Dakota use such a system to asses higher fines for larger animals. This needs to change.

Poaching is an egregious crime against all of us. This crime attacks our sport, our livelihoods, our credibility and reputations as hunters as well as undermines conservation efforts and are a theft on our public property. And to treat them, in some cases, like a simple speeding ticket or misdemeanor infraction should be an embarrassment to our judicial system. I have talked to many wildlife investigators, game wardens and biologists and nearly all can agree when it comes to prosecution of these crimes, we just are not doing enough. By the time many of these crimes are brought to court, they are usually pled down to fines that won’t even cover the raw costs of the investigation that built the case.

Eastmans’ Publishing, Inc. is a multimedia corporation whose roots are grounded in the ethics of fair chase hunting. We strive to help our audiences become more skilled and ethical hunters, while expanding their knowledge, appreciation, and awareness of the outdoors and wildlife through entertainment media.

Eastmans’ Publishing, Inc. is a holding company engaged in publishing. We publish book and magazines, along with producing videos, DVDs, and TV programs. We also develop and sell products such as apparel, hats and artwork.

Eastmans’ Publishing, Inc. is a multimedia corporation whose roots are grounded in the ethics of fair chase hunting. We strive to help our audiences become more skilled and ethical hunters, while expanding their knowledge, appreciation, and awareness of the outdoors and wildlife through entertainment media.

Eastmans’ Publishing, Inc. is a holding company engaged in publishing. We publish book and magazines, along with producing videos, DVDs, and TV programs. We also develop and sell products such as apparel, hats and artwork.

Former World Record Typical Plute Bull Elk Antlers Sold at Auction for $121,000

—Below are excerpts about the Plute Bull  taken from “Greatest Elk – The Complete Historical and Illustrated Record of North America’s Biggest Elk” composed by Roger Selner, our record-book expert. —

It was sometime around 1899 when John Plute looked down the iron sights of his .30-40 Krag and pulled the trigger. His shot was good, and he must have been overwhelmed at the size of the bull elk that lay dead from his bullet. Plute was an expert woodsman and skilled hunter with many elk to his credit, but this bull in Colorado’s Dark Canyon was enormous. It was so big, in fact, that Plute was determined to pack the antlers out, something he had never done before. He hunted only for meat, but he wanted others to see this elk. No one would ever believe him otherwise.

More than half a century later, decades after Plute’s death, the elk was officially declared the world record by the Boone & Crockett Club, scoring 442 3/8″.

Eastmans’ Publishing, Inc. is a multimedia corporation whose roots are grounded in the ethics of fair chase hunting. We strive to help our audiences become more skilled and ethical hunters, while expanding their knowledge, appreciation, and awareness of the outdoors and wildlife through entertainment media.

Eastmans’ Publishing, Inc. is a holding company engaged in publishing. We publish book and magazines, along with producing videos, DVDs, and TV programs. We also develop and sell products such as apparel, hats and artwork.

Eastmans’ Publishing, Inc. is a multimedia corporation whose roots are grounded in the ethics of fair chase hunting. We strive to help our audiences become more skilled and ethical hunters, while expanding their knowledge, appreciation, and awareness of the outdoors and wildlife through entertainment media.

Eastmans’ Publishing, Inc. is a holding company engaged in publishing. We publish book and magazines, along with producing videos, DVDs, and TV programs. We also develop and sell products such as apparel, hats and artwork.

Eastmans’ Publishing, Inc. is a multimedia corporation whose roots are grounded in the ethics of fair chase hunting. We strive to help our audiences become more skilled and ethical hunters, while expanding their knowledge, appreciation, and awareness of the outdoors and wildlife through entertainment media.

Eastmans’ Publishing, Inc. is a holding company engaged in publishing. We publish book and magazines, along with producing videos, DVDs, and TV programs. We also develop and sell products such as apparel, hats and artwork.