Hunting and Fishing News & Blog Articles

This review features @Kryptek‘s new Obskura camo pattern. Ike Eastman and Brandon Mason break down the thought process behind the pattern’s design and share their favorite Kryptek layers. Get all the details on the Kryptek system the Eastmans’ team hunts with at www.kryptek.com/eastmans

The post Camo for Any Hunt! Kryptek’s Obskura Review appeared first on Eastmans' Official Blog | Mule Deer, Antelope, Elk Hunting and Bowhunting Magazine | Eastmans' Hunting Journals.

If you pay attention to the news, which I wouldn’t recommend, you’d think the entire western U.S. is on fire, raging out of control, flames reaching to the sky, burning up vast swaths of landscape. Well, let’s take a closer look since hunting season is right around the corner and fire closures have a definite impact on hunting plans. 

If you visit https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/ you can see exactly how many fires are active across the western states we cover, how large they are and percentage of containment and if you dig you’ll find a treasure trove of information, including historical data. 

There are around 60 wildfires currently burning in the 11 western states we cover in our MRS and TagHub. That looks like a lot but when I gander back at last year, it’s about the same or less and that doesn’t compare with 2006’s record breaking 10 million plus acres incinerated! 

https://www.predictiveservices.nifc.gov/intelligence/2021_statssumm/historical_data21.pdf

Add this one to the list of “piss poor” policy decisions coming out of this administration. On Tuesday, July 26 a committee of unelected bureaucrats chose to shut down Dall’s sheep hunting in two entire hunt units within the mostly federally managed Brooks Mountain Range in northern Alaska. Having hunted this area personally, I can honestly say, it is one of the most majestic and rugged locales on this continent. 

The Federal Subsistence Board (FSB) voted unanimously to “restrict hunting by all users for the Brooks Range Dall’s sheep on Federal public lands.” This affects Alaska hunt units 24A and 26B for the 2022-2024 wildlife regulatory cycle. 

Despite public and state opposition to the proposal, which clocked a more than 11:1 ratio against the restriction including the State Game and Fish Department and conservation groups such as SCI, the FSB board voted in favor of the restriction. 

For some time now, we have been hearing rumblings of this board being used by “Green” groups to eliminate hunting in Alaska and now I guess we have our answer to that question. 

This gear review features Seek Outside’s Peregrine 3500 backpack. Scott Reekers gives this fully loaded backpack the dunk test! This backpack is built for multi-day hunts in any weather nature can storm up. No rain cover needed! It boasts a UltraPE 400 fabrics making the packages waterproof and YKK Aquaguard zippers that are highly water resistant. Compression straps, large side pockets, additional load shelf and a top lid are some of the other features that make this a well-rounded backpack.

The post Waterproof Backpack?! Seek Outside Peregrine 3500 Review appeared first on Eastmans' Official Blog | Mule Deer, Antelope, Elk Hunting and Bowhunting Magazine | Eastmans' Hunting Journals.

Sage Grouse are an icon of the West and unless you’ve been sleeping under a rock the past few years you know that states like Wyoming, the energy industry, game and fish departments (both state and federal) and groups like the Audubon Society have been going full court press to help the birds not just maintain but grow in number. 

Unfortunately, growth hasn’t been the case overall and the big birds continue to struggle. However, the fight is far from over even in the face of, “Wildland fire, invasive annual grasses, conifer encroachment, and drought…”https://cowboystatedaily.com/2022/07/25/liz-cheney-bob-budd-sage-grouse-management-continues-to-be-critical-for-wyomings-future/

Of course the greatest fear concerning Greater Sage Grouse is an ESA listing. Such action would likely bring catastrophic results to western states and our country as whole via the effective killing of western economies; think billions of dollars being stripped away thanks to closures of public lands to energy development, livestock production and, yup… public access for just about any reason. 

Not a bird hunter? What about pronghorn, mule deer or elk? Other multiple uses? If the Greater Sage Grouse is listed on the ESA you stand to lose access to hundreds of thousands of public land acres, period. 

Bow hunting elk on a public land, over-the-counter tag with single digit success rates might be as tough as it gets! Dan Pickar breaks down his strategy for hunting a bull with cows on high-pressure, low elk density, public lands on this episode of Beyond the Grid by Eastmans’.

The post Bull at 6 yards!! – Bow hunting Elk on Public Land appeared first on Eastmans' Official Blog | Mule Deer, Antelope, Elk Hunting and Bowhunting Magazine | Eastmans' Hunting Journals.

We still can’t harvest grizzly bears under a wildlife management/science-based hunting season structure with long-term management goals for the grizzly population, but scores of grizzlies are killed every year because of human-wildlife conflict. The disappointing fact in these scenarios is that much of the time, the conflicts of this nature with one of the famed grizzly bear 399 cubs, (click HERE to read the news release) can be avoided if people would quit breaking wildlife management laws, including feeding bears intentionally or unintentionally via irresponsible food and garbage storage.

    The problem with feeding apex predators, as in this case, is the habituation that comes with it and the eventual and inevitable human injury or death. The bears get used to being “rewarded” for being too close to human activities because they find easy food sources. The bears don’t know the difference between someone intentionally feeding them and someone irresponsibly leaving food or garbage in places that bears frequent.

    The wildlife, hunters, and the general public lose in these situations. While I’m not a fan of the continued listing on the Endangered Species Act of the grizzly bear, which leads to proposed hunting seasons being shut down, I’m also not a fan of wildlife having to be terminated because irresponsible people continue to violate wildlife feeding laws that exist for the safety of all involved. 

Don’t get me wrong, human life needs to be protected and measures need to be taken to do so, but if we had the regulated hunting seasons that are needed to help manage grizzlies, they would have a healthier fear and respect for humans and would avoid them at all costs, thereby reducing the number of bears needing to be euthanized which is a far greater number than what a regulated hunting season would account for.

    Hunters participating in regulated hunting seasons are the best conservation participants in history, not the people who are breaking the law by habituating grizzly bears to human presence.

Hike deep into the high country with bow hunter and Eastmans’ Elevated podcast host Brian Barney on his quest for a trophy class, public land mule deer. It’s an early season bow hunt and there’s good potential for Brian to take a buck still in velvet. Brian uses his wealth of DIY knowledge to hunt country that’s difficult to access and has few reliable water sources on this episode of Beyond the Grid by Eastmans’.

The post Bow Hunting Backcountry Bucks appeared first on Eastmans' Official Blog | Mule Deer, Antelope, Elk Hunting and Bowhunting Magazine | Eastmans' Hunting Journals.

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The post Eastmans’ Preseason Hunter Giveaway appeared first on Eastmans' Official Blog | Mule Deer, Antelope, Elk Hunting and Bowhunting Magazine | Eastmans' Hunting Journals.

This review highlights Wyoming Whiskey’s partnership with Eastmans’ Hunting Journals working toward a bright future for mule deer conservation. Ike Eastman teamed up with members of the Mule Deer Foundation of Wyoming to select a single barrel of whiskey to represent Morty, one of Wyoming’s living legends mule deer. About 150 custom Morty Living Legends bottles are available. This is the second bottle in a collector’s series featuring all three living legends mule deer. Join the Mule Deer Foundation at their Wyoming banquets for a chance to take home a bottle of this LIMITED edition Wyoming Whiskey small batch. Proceeds will directly benefit mule deer conservation in Wyoming.

Find an event near you here: https://muledeer.org/wyoming/?fbclid=…

Learn more about the story of Morty and Wyoming’s mule deer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Bcfn…

The post Whiskey for mule deer! Wyoming Whiskey + Eastmans’ Support Wildlife appeared first on Eastmans' Official Blog | Mule Deer, Antelope, Elk Hunting and Bowhunting Magazine | Eastmans' Hunting Journals.

Utah has proposed an increase in their license fees across the board for residents and non-residents due to inflation. The DWR is currently 92% self-funded and since prices have increased dramatically for fuel, materials, goods and services the department has no choice but to raise prices. The proposed cost hike will be roughly 10% for licenses across the board except for youth and disabled veterans. 

DWR has also analyzed the market price for neighboring states and will adjust prices to be more comparable to other Western states based on a “right sized fee” aligned to the demand and type of permit. There’s a good chance those licenses that are already high, like moose, sheep, bison, and goat, will see major spikes for non-residents as they are the most in demand and highly valued, where-as a swan or sandhill crane tag will align to cost the same as a neighboring state’ turkey license. DWR has also noted there hasn’t been a significant price increase in licenses across the board since 2020. Price changes will go into effect July 1, 2023 if this proposal is passed.

The post Utah Proposes License Fee Increase Due To Inflation appeared first on Eastmans' Official Blog | Mule Deer, Antelope, Elk Hunting and Bowhunting Magazine | Eastmans' Hunting Journals.

“Idaho is continuing in the tradition of the white supremacists and eugenicists who were the patriarchs of how the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation is still applied, foremost amongst them being Madison Grant, the author of The Passing of the Great Race, justifiably called ‘the Bible of scientific racism,’” said Rain, film director (Somebody’s Daughter/Family) and executive director of the Global Indigenous Council. “Grant perversely but cleverly packaged trophy killing as an articulation of conservation before seeing his theories on wildlife management transposed to human beings by the architects of the Third Reich. It’s important to understand why actions like this by Idaho aren’t ‘wildlife management’ issues to many tribal people. They are social justice issues, rooted in the epitome of systemic and institutionalized racism.”

https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/lawsuit-challenges-idaho-wolf-trapping-laws-that-endanger-grizzlies-lynx-2021-12-06/

Recently there was a settlement reached between the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services, The U.S. Forest Service and the BLM vs. the Plaintiffs; Western Watersheds Project, Wildearth Guardians and Predator Defense. How does this affect you and I? Well, to keep it short and sweet, you probably won’t feel it directly, at least right off unless you are a rancher or landowner that borders wilderness study areas, wilderness or several other areas that are now effectively on hold for the next 2.5 years. 

So why bring it up? Glad you asked, many of you are likely wondering why we keep wading into the political pool with these extremists and instead just keep to ourselves and focus on hunting…well, I wish that was an option. We have long passed the time of standing on the sidelines and letting these groups tear down our God-given legacy one regulation at a time. It’s rather lengthy but hits to the core of our current situation both with wildlife management and our rights as citizens of the USA. 

We almost all know by now that our Government lives under the rock of unintended consequences regarding ridiculous legislation. There is no more clear example than the commercial filming law introduced nearly three decades ago by Wyoming’s own Senator Craig Thomas, God rest his soul. Senator Thomas was a good legislator and like many had good intentions when he introduced the law to the Senate. This law was based on the experience his local Forest Service office had regarding a car commercial that was being filmed high above the valley floor on one of the most scenic highways in the entire country. The film crew left the area in complete disrepair once the filming was completed, costing the local office thousands of dollars to clean up and repair for the busy upcoming tourist season. 

Based on that, and many other such incidents throughout the country, the Senate, House and President signed the bill giving federal and state agencies the power to require filming permits to film commercial projects. Like so many, the actual law itself was very vague and directed toward large commercial filming operations like Hollywood, large scale Television and Commercial film crews. Of course, once the bureaucratic establishment got ahold of the bill for “interpretation” the outcome was something much, much more confiningly restrictive. Many offices simply didn’t want to do the paperwork to get a filming permit approved. Some offices had no interest in letting anyone film on “their” district lands. And we even encountered some who would not approve a filming permit because they didn’t want “their own personal hunting location” publicized. It was a complete disaster in the making for most of the smaller content operators. 

Before his death, Senator Thomas even admitted that his bill had been transformed into a bureaucratic swamp monster, something well beyond what its original intent was meant to be. But it was what it was for decades, and many of us did the best we could to operate inside the bounds of the law-no, easy task to say the least. 

My personal dealing with this law was lengthy and daunting. At one point even discussing a possible remedy with a prominent outdoor media organization to push back in the court system based on a First Amendment violation argument. We were told by that organization’s legal representative in Washington DC that this tactic would not work and we did not fully understand the true capacity of the US Constitution. Come to find out, after all these years, I was a better lawyer than that clown. 

Right on the heels of the blog that Todd Helms just wrote about a poacher’s sentence in Montana being too light (click HERE to read Todd’s blog), more discouraging news hit our radar.

This time it involved a taxidermist in Wyoming, White Mountain Skulls out of Green River Wyoming. The husband and wife tandem seems to have a knack for breaking wildlife laws, including purchasing resident hunting licenses in both Utah and Wyoming in 2018, plus the recent case against their taxidermy business.

Authorities hadn’t received their 2020 records as required by the State and an investigation was underway in April of 2021. The case finally closed and White Mountain Skulls was found having over 70 unfinished taxidermy pieces.

While I’m glad the two have been caught and prosecuted, I’m discouraged by the lack of stiff fines to make them second-guess their actions in the future. Their 2018 and 2020 cases amounted to a mere $4,043.55 in fines and restitution total! For repeat offenders, the fines need to be much more serious, in my opinion.  What say you? Am I being too hard-nosed on this???

Over the past two years we’ve kept you up-to-date on the growing changes surrounding the elk feedgrounds in western Wyoming. 

The public comments and meetings over this topic, in addition to the growing push for a change to the 22 feedgrounds the State administers, have brought us to the point of the Wyoming Game & Fish Department entering the next stage of development of a long-term elk feedgrounds management plan. 

“After several months of shared learning sessions and input from 60 volunteer stakeholders from across the state, the department’s elk feedgrounds steering team is now beginning to draft a long-term feedgrounds management plan,” Game and Fish said. “Game and Fish intends to have a draft plan for review by stakeholders and the public this coming winter. Ultimately, the steering team would like to bring a completed elk feedgrounds management plan before the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission for their approval in the summer of 2023.”

Whether you love it or hate it, changes are coming to Wyoming’s elk feedground program. For more in-depth info on this topic, click HERE to visit the ELK FEEDGROUNDS: A CHALLENGE WE CAN TAKE on page on the Wyoming Game & Fish Department website. 

The 12 member elk management citizen advisory group that was formed this year has been meeting the last few months with the hopes to solve some of Montana’s elk management problems. One thing that has come up to help curb the hunting pressure in Montana is to make hunters choose their season. As most of you know, Montana’s general season is perhaps the longest in the country. Archery starts the Saturday before Labor Day and goes for six weeks into October. There is a week off for the youth hunt then general rifle starts the last Saturday in October and finishes up five weeks later, the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Then there is the 10 day heritage muzzleloader hunt after a week long break after general rifle. Then some late seasons stay open into February. That is a long season and a lot of pressure. No wonder all the elk end up on private property!

The citizen advisory group is in place to debate how to manage some burgeoning elk populations and difficulties with public access. A big topic in the Montana hunting community  has been overcrowding on public lands. Most of these hunters are residents as records have shown. In 2011, roughly 39,000 resident base hunting licenses were sold. There were 87,000 sold in 2021. This is just the tip of the iceberg of the increased hunting pressure on public land the last 10 years.

An even larger problem is that the number of elk on public land (western Montana) has decreased dramatically and the elk on the mostly private part of the state (eastern Montana) have increased over the last 30 years. So where are hunters going to gravitate to? Where the elk are! 

Also brought up in the citizen advisory group by a concerned citizen and public land elk hunter follows… “One of the hardest hit areas in Region 1 is the Great Bear and Bob Marshall wilderness areas. Historical data from the 1920’s – 1950’s show elk populations on the Flathead National Forest which corresponds largely to the Bob Marshall Elk Management Unit (districts 130, 140, 141, 150) fluctuated between 4,000 – 6,000 elk and the annual elk harvest ranged between 700-1,800 animals. Today this area is home to a mere 300 elk when surveyed in 2019. The historic harvest data for the Bob Marshall Elk Management Unit ranged from 700-1,800 elk, FWP harvest records for 2021 record 89 elk being harvested. The elk count data available online from 2008-2019 shows a reduction in elk numbers in the Bob Marshall Elk Management Unit from 603 to 300 animals. A reduction of 50% and this is getting little to no attention from the department. When local biologists are contacted, you’ll hear “elk populations in these districts are stable or slightly increasing”, this is simply not true and the data shows it. This is greatly due to the rise of the grizzly bear and wolf populations, and little is being done about that on a governmental level.

Earlier in the year I reported on this case, Brayden Reed poached four deer and damaged recreational property in Yellowstone County, MT. Well, he has been sentenced and it’s once again a slap on the wrist! 16 years of revoked hunting privileges and a fine of $6,000. 

It has got to be frustrating for game wardens who spend hours and hours investigating and building prosecutable cases to bring before judges, many of whom don’t seem to take poaching very seriously, to watch the fruits of their labors brushed aside with little consequence. $6,000? You can’t buy a decent used vehicle for that price right now. 16 years of suspended hunting privileges? Poachers aren’t hunters anyway so the suspension of “privileges” means little or nothing to them anyway. 

Maybe I’m off base here but where’s the restitution? $6,000 is a smokin’ deal if you ask me… most guided deer hunts in Montana will set you back that much or more and that’s for one buck, not four! DO NOT get me wrong, I’m not condoning poaching deer, I’m bemoaning the fact that this poacher stripped the citizens of Montana and many non-residents of opportunity and diminished a valuable resource at the same time. I’d be willing to bet if we were to stack up figures that those deer had the potential to provide upwards of the sum of $60,000 when factors such as hunting licenses (both resident and non-resident) and tourism (money spent on local commodities: food, lodging, fuel, guide fees), are taken into consideration. 

My point with this rant is simple… poachers are thieves! They deserve jail time/prison, much higher fines, and community service to provide restitution for the damage they inflict on wildlife and tourism. Again, I’m NOT talking about hunting mistakes, those happen and lack the malicious intent that goes along with poaching. Poaching is intentional and often elaborately planned like most crimes and should be dealt with as such in our courts. 

Elk populations in Wyoming are booming… well in some places, like the areas with no large carnivores and mostly private property, namely in the eastern half of the state, the elk picture is not nearly so bright in the shadow of the nation’s first national park. It’s the same story in Montana and with growing elk numbers comes management difficulties. Namely, how to keep landowners/stock producers from being eaten out of house and home or shuttering operations due to too much competition from wapiti. 

A proposal from the Wyoming Stockgrowers Association seeks to rebrand both the regulations and name of the state’s “depredation hunts” to allow for more flexibility. The new term would be “auxiliary management” and would supposedly open possibilities for expanded hunting of big game, wild turkeys and trophy species like grizzlies and wolves. 

What does this mean for Wyoming hunters? Well, it is possible that it means increased hunting opportunities, especially for elk in areas like the Black Hills and Laramie Mountains. The problem lies in that where the elk live is mostly private land that is leased by outfitters for hunting. If these changes are in fact put in place there will be a lot of ironing to do. For example, landowners managing hunting pressure, outfitters navigating demand for access and hunters jumping through hoops to tag an elk or two for the freezer. 

If done right this could be a winning scenario or hunters, stock producers, outfitters and the state of Wyoming. This burgeoning herd needs to be managed and responsible, limited hunting is the best tool for the job. Landowners would be relieved of having too many elk to compete with, outfitters could offer expanded services and hunters would gain more access to huntable elk. 

The saga of the Wyoming Wildlife Taskforce continues and they are still open to public input and comments. It is the job of any taskforce to brainstorm ideas and present them for discussion and scrutiny, that can be a tough job. If you’d like the chance to participate in the process there are four meetings and six “Listening Sessions” remaining. 

Listening Sessions are opportunities for Taskforce members to listen to the public’s input about their “charge”. In other words it’s YOUR opportunity to voice concerns, air ideas and participate in the process. Please remember that this is civil discourse, the key word being “civil”, meaning it’s both civic responsibility and to be civil in our participation. 

One more thing… if you don’t participate and you have the opportunity to, you don’t get to whine later with things you don’t agree with. 

Listening Session Schedule

We get a lot of questions from folks about almost everything regarding western big game hunting and we do our best to answer them in a timely manner. That said, we thought it would be fun to explore some of our recent favorites and share them with you, our loyal blog readers. Let us know what you think in the comments; leave us a question or email it to [email protected]

Q: Should I hunt DIY or Guided?

A: There’s no doubt that DIY is what most of us would choose, the sense of accomplishment gained from a successful DIY western big game hunt is second to none. However, the reality can be much different. 

Take elk for example… Everyone knows they’re big but until you’ve tipped over a bull miles from your truck the reality of “big” doesn’t carry much weight. The sheer amount of work it takes to break down a mature bull and pack it out can prove too much for folks. This is where having an experienced guide with livestock can prove invaluable.