Hunting and Fishing News & Blog Articles

Do NOT ruin the cape of your deer, bear, elk, etc..

Cliff Gray tells you the #1 way that people can ruin the capes of their trophy. And here is how to do it right, every time.

NOTE: Click On The Image Below To Watch The Video.

Want to test your knowledge of archery stalking skills by taking it to the extreme. Spot and stalk antelope hunting with the speedsters of the prairie will do it for you.

At first light I was in an usual situation; switching back and forth between my binoculars and the spotting scope as I watched for a glimpse of an antelope. I had high expectations in this section of public land in my home state of Montana. Last year I had bowhunted a mile to the north, and I was fortunate enough to harvest my first P&Y antelope.

After a year of planning, I decided to stick with the country I know, and hunt the same general area in hope of seeing some of the bucks that I glassed the previous year.

Soon I glassed three antelope bucks and a doe working their way towards a pond. It was still early, and in the dim morning light I couldn’t tell the size of the bucks, so I put my pack on and used a natural fold in the terrain to get out of sight of the bucks and then worked my way around with hopes to cut them off on their way to the water. Soon I was on my stomach cresting over the hill looking out at the group of antelope, but to my dismay, the bucks needed a few more years to reach trophy class. So I just enjoyed watching them for a little bit and saw them feed and water only 50 yards away.

After the group returned to the prairie, I started picking out the sagebrush flats with my spotting scope. After 15 minutes I glassed what looked to be a good buck bedded down with some does.  From this distance I could see mass, and decent digger length.  After determining he was staying bedded down for awhile I turned towards the west to glass some rolling hills, and right away I saw a herd of antelope walking parallel to where I was.  Opportunity knocked and I saw a handful of decent bucks, so I made this herd my focus for the time being. I messed up the stalk, I could still chase after the other buck I had found in his bed.

Knife Sharpening is a skill that is difficult for many hunters to get right. Many hunters never truly master it. But I will show you how to do it correctly. With good sharpening technique and the proper type of stone, everyone can put a sharp cutting edge on their knife. Follow the steps below to learn how.

Let’s talk about replaceable-blade knives. They’re popular among many hunters who have never learned to sharpen, because they never need to put an edge on a knife—they just use a blade until it’s dull and then throw it away. Then they clip a new blade in and the knife is ready for the field. I’ve got a problem with that. Several, actually.

I have a problem with anyone who isn’t won’t to invest the time and effort to learn how to sharpen a knife has no business in the woods. For centuries, hunters and woodsmen have relied on their knife sharpening skills to keep them alive in the field and bring home meat for their table. We owe it to them to keep those skills alive.

Another pet peeve, to me, is the “use it and toss it” mentality. A good fixed-blade hunting knife won’t leave used-up razors in its wake, it will last your lifetime and possesses a balance and feel that a replaceable-blade knife can never rival.

Safety is another concern. Replaceable-blade knives are surgically sharp and can break under stress. A friend of mine was recently assisting a young hunting partner quarter an elk. As his young friend removed the hindquarter, his blade snapped, the broken portion zinged upward into rupture his eyeball, instantly rendering him permanently blind in that eye. Another friend was processing a mule deer and put his blade right through his boot and deep into his ankle without even knowing he did it.

The Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports, Director of Research and Partnerships, Charles ‘Swanny’ Evans, opened the session on hunting participation. Evans presented the findings of the Hunting License Sales 2020-2021 report. This study was the follow-up to the COVID-19 and Hunting License Sales report the Council released last year, documenting a 4.9% increase in hunting license sales from 2019 to 2020. To continue monitoring the pandemic’s impact, the Council revisited this study in early 2022 to identify ongoing changes and emerging trends in hunters’ rates of license purchases. Working with Southwick Associates, the Council collected monthly resident and nonresident hunting license sales data from 46 state wildlife agencies to quantify and compare 2021 to 2020 sales. Among those 46 reporting states:

“While there was a decrease in resident hunting license purchases in 2021, the surge in nonresident license sales blunted the overall effect and sales were still higher than pre-pandemic 2019 levels,” Evans said before turning the discussion to data from another source, the License Sales Data Dashboard.

The License Sales Data Dashboard project will transition to a real-time dashboard in the near future, providing timely information to the public and R3 practitioners. Southwick Associates recently updated it to its current form. While it currently only has data from 20 states, the overall trends demonstrated were similar to the Hunting License Sales 2020 – 2021 report.

In addition to those trends, the dashboards provide a more in-depth view into several categories when looking at hunting license sale changes from 2020 to 2021:

When asked about these projects after the Symposium, Council Executive Director Dr. Steven Leath said, “We are pleased that engagement in hunting is still higher than it was a couple of years ago, and we look forward to continuing to work with all of our partners to increase the number of states providing data to the License Data Dashboard as we transition it from the current form to a real-time resource available to everyone.”

In  February a major migration of hunting manufactures travel to Fort Worth Texas for the NBS Show. After the show, a number of Owners, Buyers, Reps, & Manufactures take advantage of the time off for great hunting for Hogs, Exotics and late season Whitetail deer.

One year I arranged for the ‘Bad Hombres’ at Grim Reaper Broadheads to travel down south and hunt with outfitter Zane Beckmann at Hugelland Safaris. I’ve had the privilege of bowhunting with The Big Kahuna, Jay Liechty, el Presidente of Grim Reaper Broadheads, for deer and wild hogs and let me tell you Jay is a passionate bowhunter.

Jay really loves the meat he takes on his bowhunts. In fact Jay can glean more meat off an animal than a vulture. Jay and  the rest of the ‘Bad Hombres’ Matt Bateman, Regional Sales Manager, Brock Zobell, Manufacturing Engineer, Jace Johnson, Sales /Customer Service, Jared Demille, Machinist, Dan Medaris, Machinist, and Tyler Carter, Product Assistant arrived on the Tuesday following the NBS Show and were ready fo bowhunt wild hogs.

I was sure that swimming was fun and easy to do when I noticed other neighborhood kids swimming in a nearby pond. I told my father that I want to go swimming in the pond. He asked me about my plan. I told him that I would directly jump into the pond and start swimming.

He smiled at me and said, “I will help you get started”. The next day he enrolled me in swimming classes and I learned the basics of swimming and got trained to perfection. Now I realize why my dad smiled at me that day.

It doesn’t matter if you are 14 or 40 and you’re thinking about entering the hunting world, you must be wondering how to get started. Maybe you’re thinking about what all gear you will need to hunt. Buying the necessary hunting gear is a secondary task; your primary job is to learn how to hunt, and where to hunt. Answers to these questions can be tricky if you do not know anyone who has been involved in hunting before. 

Let’s get started

Type of hunting – There are several types of hunting like bird hunting, small game, big-game. Then comes the question of the weapon to use. Generally you can use a crossbow, bow, a shotgun, or a rifle. 

In the spirit of Rick Philippi’s successful bowhunt for Moose in Alberta, Canada we share three delicious recipes for cooking moose from Cooking With SusieQ. Welcome to the 2022 Moose Recipe Page.

This recipe is from Letha N. (avid hunter)
MOOSE MEATLOAF

Ingrediants:
1 egg
¾ c. milk
1 c. shredded Cheddar cheese (Colby Jack is also good)
½ c. quick cooking oats
½ c. chopped onion
1 tsp. salt
1 ½ tsp. Garlic Pepper
1 lb. ground moose / elk
1 c. ketchup
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 ½ tsp. prepared mustard

DIRECTIONS
In a bowl, beat the egg and milk. Stir in cheese, oats, onion, salt, & pepper. Let sit for five minutes to let the oats soak up the egg and milk mixture. Add ground moose/elk, then mix well (it works better if you mix it with your hands). At this point you can shape into eight mini loaves and place in a greased 13 x 9 baking dish, or you can just make one big loaf and place in a greased bread pan. Combine ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar. Stir. Spoon over loaves or loaf. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 1 hr. or until a meat thermometer inserted in center of loaf reads 160 degrees.
This recipe is from Scott & Nancy

MOOSE ROAST
This is the best moose roast recipe I have ever tasted.

Ingredients:
1-4 lbs. moose roast
3-4 strips  bacon
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. dry mustard
4 tbsp. brown sugar
2 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
2 tbsp.  chopped onions
3 tbsp. flour
1 cup cranberry juice
1 cup milk 

DIRECTIONS

I’ve been buying Sony digital Cameras for over 20 years. But for the last few years they just haven’t been as dependable as they used to be. Their quality has fallen off too. So I spent some time online reading reviews and checking camera stats; researched all the new cameras. And I decided to purchase a Minaulta.

After it arrived I wanted to check it out. I waited until good daylight and walked around looking for deer to take pictures of. The sunlight spread around at ground level and I moved into the woods on a nearby deer trail. Bingo! A doe stood up 20 yards away and looked at me.

We both stood in place watching one another. What seemed like 2 or 3 minutes, but was probably only half a minute, the doe watched me. It was one of the does that has a lot of ribs showing. Surprisingly, she was not overly concerned about me and casually walked away.

I continued to walk through the trees and soon I noticed another doe. But I saw it first and carefully moved my camera viewfinder to my eye and took the doe’s picture.

I stayed frozen in place and the doe turned and continued walking and soon she was out of sight.

I can smell this strong smelling liquid a couple hundreds yards away. So I’m sure with a bear’s powerful nose that distance is stretched for hundreds of yards. So before the hunt begins I put the bear lure on WRC’s Pro-Wick scent pads and hang them high on the bait sights. Ninety-five percent of the areas are hit within 2 days.

Ralph & Vicki Cianciarulo, ‘America’s Favorite Hunting Couple’

INTERVIEW: Ralph and Vicki Cianciarulo – Part 2

FA (): Ralph, why did you try so hard to get Vicki hunting with you? And if you had to do it over again would you do it the same?

RC (Ralph Cianciarulo): We need to get as many women and children involved in this great lifestyle and I truly felt a long time ago that the best way to  ()do that is introduce everyone to women who can truly hunt, ones that were not afraid to get dirty, get bruised climbing mountains, be able and close the deal when it came time, to show everyone that this is just not just a man’s sport.

Getting more Moms hunting will bring in the children and this will increase the pie and that is when we all win. I can tell you there were not a lot of women hunters and none on TV when we started but we have been very fortunate to see the new couples, the new families and witness the birth of all this and be a part of it. I will put Vicki up against any hunter, she is the real deal and I am proud to say she is my best hunting partner, that is until RJ starts hunting with me more, LOL. If I had to do it all over again, I WOULD NOT CHANGE A THING!

VC (Vicki Cianciarulo): I am sure he wouldn’t do it all over again since I am always shooting the bigger critters. He didn’t have to try too hard to get me hunting more, except on those really cold mornings!

Ralph & Vicki Cianciarulo, ‘America’s Favorite Hunting Couple’

INTERVIEW: Ralph and Vicki Cianciarulo – Part 2

FA (): Ralph, why did you try so hard to get Vicki hunting with you? And if you had to do it over again would you do it the same?

RC (Ralph Cianciarulo): We need to get as many women and children involved in this great lifestyle and I truly felt a long time ago that the best way to  ()do that is introduce everyone to women who can truly hunt, ones that were not afraid to get dirty, get bruised climbing mountains, be able and close the deal when it came time, to show everyone that this is just not just a man’s sport.

Getting more Moms hunting will bring in the children and this will increase the pie and that is when we all win. I can tell you there were not a lot of women hunters and none on TV when we started but we have been very fortunate to see the new couples, the new families and witness the birth of all this and be a part of it. I will put Vicki up against any hunter, she is the real deal and I am proud to say she is my best hunting partner, that is until RJ starts hunting with me more, LOL. If I had to do it all over again, I WOULD NOT CHANGE A THING!

VC (Vicki Cianciarulo): I am sure he wouldn’t do it all over again since I am always shooting the bigger critters. He didn’t have to try too hard to get me hunting more, except on those really cold mornings!

Cone along with YouTube’s The Hunting Public and scout a 150 acre area piece in a public land forest. Learn many excellent tips about scouting. right now. You will enjoy the many useful comments in this video as he locates natural food sources, shows us how he locates key buck and doe traveling routes, and finds buck beds and other buck sign. 

MORE…

Wow! There won’t be any leftovers when you bring this great looking, great tasting venison meal to the table. Hannah McCauley of Whitetail Heaven Outfitters knows how to prepare and cook venison so it’s tender, juicy and delicious.

She uses the backstrap for this particular dish. Hanna cuts a lengthwise slit in each section of venison and inserts her stuffing, which she shows you how to make. Then she rolls the backstrap up and, first, she puts it on a hot grill and sears the meat.

(Below:) The pan on the far right is Hanna’s special gravy. The next destination for the bacon wrapped, stuffed venison is the oven. Overcooking venison can dry out the meat so one of the extra good things about watching Hanna’s cooking video is she knows how long and at what heat you want to cook venison on the grill and in the oven.

Meanwhile she makes perfect mashed potatoes. Lastly, when the meat comes out of the oven Hanna cuts it into healthy slices, plates it, adds the mashed potatoes and then cascades the gravy on.

It looks great doesn’t it. Absolutely fit for a bowhunting deerhunter.

Back in the Pre-Digital picture taking days I loaded my film in a high end Nikon camera with a motor drive, a telephoto lens and sometimes a zoom lens. So when I heard about digital cameras I thought I could add up-to-date pictures regularly in my website comments and hunt reports on Bowhunting.net. That was in 1996 or ’97 and back then I could only find a couple of digital cameras and I bought an Agfa camera. Nikon had one too, but it was twice the price.

It was almost deer season so I hurriedly took pictures of a few wild hogs and a couple of deer, but, let’s get into the reason I gave that crummy Agfa camera away. Here we go.

That year I was keeping up with a very big racked 8-point a mile down the road I live on. I had thought I’d be able to get a picture of him with the Agfa. On my Aerial Map I could see where I had a treestand on the adjacent property — it was 400 yards straight South from where I was seeing the huge buck.

I named the stand area ‘The Hammer Hole’ and on opening day I was there. That first afternoon the sun was low and still visible above the treetops when the bomber 8-point walked smack out of the thick woods 30 yards from me. I didn’t know it yet but I was about to make two mistakes, very big ones.

Truthfully, I was eaten up with wanting to take a picture of this big buck with my new camera. I rested my bow between my legs and turned the camera on. Hmmm, those two things changed my mistake total to three.

Michele Eichler shows you the recipe she uses to prepare and cook the bear taken by her family. She makes bear pot roast in her crock pot and cooks it at 150 degrees. You can see that boiling the bear meat in the crock pot makes the bear meat tender and delicious.

We join a member of ‘The Element’ Youtube Show on a public land bowhunt in Kansas. On the second day of his hunt K.C. brings his tree saddle, bow, and grunt tube and sets up in a tree where he located lots of scrapes and deer sign.

Later on he spots a big Whitetail Buck cruising downwind of a doe bedding area. K.C. eases out his Grunt Tube. The wind is blowing hard and K.C. grunts as loud as he can.

The buck turns 180º and heads directly toward K.C.’s stand, and stops a few yards away! K.C. takes his shot. The blood trail starts out right away and leads K.C. to a fence that joins an adjacent property.

He needs permission to cross a private land fence but he can’t deal with this situation until the morning. Two of his bowhunting buddies join him in the morning and the search continues.

And K.C. and friends prevail.

Tim and Sydney Wells meet up with Working Class Outdoorsmen Outfitters and they set the course on Chesapeake Bay in search of some hot bowfishing action. And they find it, big time.

You can tell that Sydney Wells has done this bowfishing thing before. And there is no doubt that she loves it.

The VIDEO is below. You’re one click from watching some very cool people have plenty of fun in the Blue Catfish haunts of Chesapeake Bay. Get ready to see a father and daughter spending time together having great fun in the outdoors. This is for sure cool.

Tim Wells bowfishes with his Oneida bow and below he connects on a big Bluecat.

Here is Tim Wells and one of his several Bluecats.

I remember Dave Thomas from the Archery Trade Show back in 2009. He had a website named Bow Hunter Planet and he reviewed and talked about Bows, Bowhunting products and Archery Gear. There was competition for that but when I visited his website I was impressed and I felt like Dave would be successful in the bowhunting and archery industry.

Two of the main things about https://bowhunterplanet.com are apparent in this video you’re about to see about the new compound bows. Dave intends to show you what’s up with  all the compound bow companies. Most review sites show you one bow from a handful of companies and and talk forever about each one.

Not Dave, he shows you plenty of bows and from lots of companies. He shoots each bow several times and tells you straight about each one. And Dave has a knack for cutting directly to what is important and he’s not overly wordy about it.

To report on all these bows Dave shot scores of arrows through a bunch of bows. But the way Dave has the videos edited moves along energetically and quickly, what you see and what he says melds together perfectly. Click on the video below.

Dave Thomas shoots a lot of arrows.

Bob Fromme flies into Kodiak Island and the next day his guide takes him to an area near the coast. The two hunters glass the area and see a few bears. Eventually they spot a huge brown bear.

They make a plan to wade through a wet area and get to a rough wooded area that the bear is headed for. Once there they locate the bear in the trees and sneak towards him. On the way Bob stops and takes his boots off and slowly moves closer.

The wind is in the bowhunter’s favor and Bob gets to 40 yards from the bear.

And to see what happened Click on the Video below…

By William Hovey Smith

Bowfishing alone in a boat has an element of risk. If the boat hits an unseen snag or rock there is always the danger of pitching out of the boat. When the boat is in water that’s only inches deep this is no problem, but in deep water the boat will often drift away and it will be difficult to re-enter it without capsizing the boat. Always wear a flotation vest when going to and from your fishing area and while bowfishing in waters that are more than a few feet deep.

Many lakes with good bowfishing are noted for standing timber. This also means that there will often be floating logs and branches in the water. If you hit one at almost any speed these can or flip a boat. Be very cautious about boating under conditions of limited visibility.

Some big shallow lakes like Okeechobee in Florida and Pontchartrain in Louisiana may look glass smooth in the morning, but are extremely dangerous for small boats. A thunderstorm over the lake can result in strong winds and high waves that can easily swamp small craft. Be extremely careful in these waters and leave the lake in enough time to return to shore before a storm starts. After the wind picks up and the rain starts, it is too late.

Drinking and bowfishing just don’t mix. A cold beer tastes awfully good when back on shore, but there is no place for alcohol on a bowfishing boat. The risks are too great for going overboard or falling on a sharp arrow. The bowfisherman needs to be fully observant, see potentially dangerous situations before they occur and be able to react quickly should something go wrong.