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The 35 Best Photos From Field & Stream's 2012 Spring Trail Cam Contest: Round II

Dave_Maccar — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:15:02 -0400

Who says trail cams are only fun in the fall? Set yours out this spring, then send us your best photos. You could win a new Bushnell Trophy Cam HD (MSRP $323.95).

Here's how it works. This contest will have three rounds. The first, Round I, began, March 12, and closed on April 12. Round II ran from April 12 to May 12, and Round III from May 14 to June 14. We're giving away three Bushnell Trophy Cam HDs (MSRP: $323.95) in each round, one cam each to the top three entries, as chosen by our editors.

Congrats to users luna, mod70 and Semibald, who each have won a Trophy Cam for their shots in Round II.

So go set your trail cams up already. And have fun! --The Editors

Click here for more info on the prizes.

Click here to enter ROUND III of the 2012 SPRING TRAIL CAM CONTEST

DVD Review: 'The Essence of Elephant Hunting'

Online Editors — Wed, 02 May 2012 13:44:31 -0400

By David E. Petzal

The late Finn Aagaard, who was a PH for many years, claimed that elephants were the greatest of all African dangerous game, and among people who have hunted the Big Five, I doubt you’ll find much disagreement. “The Essence of Elephant Hunting” is a DVD put together by Charlton-McCallum Safaris, and after watching it I doubt you’ll disagree either.

The photography is professional (except for when the cameraman is running for his life along with everyone else) but the disc is devoid of the shuck and jive that you see in the hunting programs produced for television. As one example, mopane flies swarm in front of the camera lens, and everywhere else. The little bastards are a fact of life in Africa, and no attempt is made to hide it.

What you get to see is elephant hunting as it really is, and also, in the course of events, some very good shooting, largely with double rifles. Buzz Charlton’s clients are experienced with elephants, and very proficient with their guns. Getting off two fast aimed shots with a .500 while something that weighs 6 tons is bearing down on you at 5 yards takes a certain degree of skill, and possibly a change of underwear.

“Essence” is more expensive that a conventional DVD, but on the other hand you’re not going to see anything remotely like it anywhere else. For information on ordering, go to the website.

The 50 Best Field & Stream Reader Photos from April 2012

Dave_Maccar — Wed, 02 May 2012 09:25:49 -0400

Each month, Field & Stream editors review the hundreds of photos submitted by readers to our Trophy Room. If your photo is chosen to be printed in the Game Faces section of the magazine, you’ll win a Rapala Fish ‘N Fillet knife!

Submit your photos here!

Here are the other best reader photo collections from this year:

January 2012

February 2012

March 2012

The 50 Best Photos From Field & Stream's 2012 Spring Trail Cam Contest: Round I

Dave_Maccar — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:22:02 -0400

Who says trail cams are only fun in the fall? Set yours out this spring, then send us your best photos. You could win a new Bushnell Trophy Cam HD (MSRP $323.95).

Here's how it works. This contest will have three rounds. The first, Round I, starts today, March 12, and closes on April 12. Round II runs from April 12 to May 12, and Round III from May 12 to June 12. We're giving away three Bushnell Trophy Cam HDs (MSRP: $323.95) in each round, one cam each to the top three entries, as chosen by our editors.

Congratulations to users Kim Doucette Kelly, Isham C. Shelby and Stephen Schimacher who each will receive a camera for their entries in Round!

So go set your trail cams up already. And have fun! --The Editors

Click here for more info on the prizes.

Click here to enter ROUND II of the 2012 SPRING TRAIL CAM CONTEST

The 50 Best Field & Stream Reader Photos from March 2012

Dave_Maccar — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 15:00:43 -0400

Submit your photos here!

Here are the other best reader photo collections from this year:

January 2012

February 2012

Enter The 2012 Spring Trail Cam Photo Contest to Win a $323 Camera from Bushnell!

Dave_Maccar — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 10:59:09 -0400

The 2012 Spring Trail Cam Photo Contest

Who says trail cams are only fun in the fall? Set yours out this spring, then send us your best photos. You could win a new Bushnell Trophy Cam HD (MSRP $323.95)!

Here's how it works. This contest will have three rounds. The first, Round I, started March 12, and closes on April 12. Round II runs from April 12 to May 12, and Round III from May 12 to June 12. We're giving away three Bushnell Trophy Cam HDs (MSRP: $323.95) in each round, one cam each to the top three entries, as chosen by our editors.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER YOUR PHOTO IN ROUND I!

Meanwhile, click through this gallery of the best photos from last year's Spring contest.

The 45 Best Field & Stream Reader Photos of February 2012

Dave_Maccar — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 10:46:15 -0500

Submit your photos here!

Here is the gallery of the best reader photos from January 2012.

Canadian Sportsmen Speak Out Against Negative Polar-Bear-Hunting Story

Online Editors — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 10:27:25 -0500

--Chad Love

Canadian hunting groups are fighting back this week over a series of news stories that tried to portray Canadian polar bear hunts in a negative light.

From this story in the Toronto Sun:

Canadian hunting groups are loaded for bear after the sport hunting of polar bears got some bad international press this week. A story in the U.K. newspaper the Daily Mail reported that rich Chinese sportsmen were trophy hunting endangered polar bears in Canada's Far North. "It was very biased and misleading," said Glen Williams, a wildlife consultant with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc in Iqaluit. "Polar bears are not endangered in Canada; they are probably the best managed wildlife species in the country," Williams said. "There's millions of dollars spent each year doing surveys and population estimates on polar bears."

Trophy hunting is when only a head, pelt or antlers are taken by a shooter, leaving the meat to rot and waste. Williams says all of the polar bear is used, eaten and shared in the host village closest to the kill. "It's food. We just had polar bear ribs for supper on Sunday," said Williams, who says the taste and texture is similar to pork roast -- with a bear flavour. "You are legally required to hunt with a dog team; it's not mechanized; you cannot hunt from an airplane; you cannot hunt from a snowmobile; and you have to go with an Inuk guide," Williams said. The hunting of polar bears is strictly controlled and monitored using a quota tag system in Canada, similar to elk tags or moose tags obtained by hunters every season.

Each Inuit community decides how they want to use their allotted tags, either leasing them to sport hunters or using them for sustenance. Young people who are employed as hunting guides raise their own dog teams and make their own incomes with sport hunts. "In Nunavut, hunting is a part of everyday life," said Steve Outhouse, director of communications to Minister Responsible for the North and Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq. "When any hunt takes place, including a sport hunt, the meat from the animal is used to feed community members, no usable part of the animal goes to waste."

Your thoughts? Check out the story of an Inuit polar bear hunter here.

Minnesota Moose Numbers Drop, Officials Consider Scrapping the Season

Sarah Smith — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 09:59:19 -0500

--Chad Love

Minnesota's moose are in trouble. Numbers have declined by 50 percent in just the past six years, and now officials are considering scrapping this year's hunting season.

From this story on twincities.com:

Minnesota's moose are continuing to die off, and the situation is dire enough that state officials are thinking about scrapping the fall hunting season for only the second time in 40 years. Results of this winter's aerial survey, released Thursday by the Department of Natural Resources, estimate that the moose population declined by 670 animals, or 14 percent, in the past year in the northeastern part of the state.

Last year, the DNR estimated there were 4,900 moose; this year, 4,230. In just six years - about half the lifespan of a moose in the wild - the population has been cut in half. In 2006, there were an estimated 8,840 moose. "We're always losing some moose that are 12 to 15 years old," said Mark Lenarz, leader of the DNR's forest wildlife and populations research group. "But moose are dying at 5 to 7 years of age. They're in their prime, and they shouldn't be dying." Hunters kill a fraction of the moose that die every year. As do wolves. And cars.

Scientists aren't sure what's killing moose, although diseases and parasites, along with warm winters like the current one, are suspected of playing a part. When temperatures rise above 23 in January, for example, moose have to work hard to stay cool, perhaps weakening their immune systems. DNR studies have shown a correlation between warm Januarys and low moose survival. "No, this was not a good winter if you're a moose," Lenarz said...."It's both making a decision whether we will have a hunting season, and also if we have one, how many permits we should issue," Lenarz said.

A decision will come within weeks. Last year, 105 moose hunting tags were issued, less than half the previous year. Moose hunting was banned in 1922 but returned in 1971 after the population flourished. In 1997, hunting ceased in the northwestern part of the state as that population crashed. Hunting in the northeastern part of the state was suspended in 2000 but resumed the following year. Last year, hunters killed 53 moose, all males.

Thoughts?

Talking African Dangerous Game Hunting with Tony Sanchez-Arino

Dave_Maccar — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:54:08 -0500

by David E. Petzal

The other night I had the pleasure of listening to a talk by Tony Sanchez-Arino who, at age 82, is about to begin his 60th season as an African professional hunter. In addition to countless safaris, he was also an ivory hunter and, I would guess, a game-control shooter. His numbers of animals taken are staggering: just under 1,300 elephant, 2,044 Cape buffalo, and 322 lion. His talk dealt with the three questions he is most often asked.

Which is better, a double rifle or a bolt action?

Answer: "They’re both good. You go with whatever is most familiar to you. Don’t go to Africa with a rifle that’s new and strange."

What’s the most dangerous animal?

"That’s impossible to answer, because a lot of it depends on the country in which you hunt them. For example, Cape buffalo in open country are as easy to kill as cattle, but in heavy cover they’re something else. I can tell you what is most likely to kill you if it gets hold of you, and those animals are, in order, elephant, Cape buffalo, and lion."

What’s the toughest animal to stop?

"The Cape buffalo is by far the toughest. Sometimes when you’re shooting them it seems like you’re giving them vitamin pills. Lions can be difficult because they’re so fast; a lion can cover 100 meters in 6 seconds. People get in trouble because they shoot at them from too far away. Get close and you won’t have a problem. Elephants are comparatively easy to drop."

And as a side note, Sr. Sanchez-Arino’s favorite bullet is the Swift A-Frame (which is true for a number of PHs I've talked to) and the rifle he uses most is a .416 Rigby bolt-action.

He’s contemptuous of a number of things: “Ballistics tables, all these formulas and numbers, anything you read on the Internet, and ‘experts.’ All you need is a bullet with enough penetration to reach the vitals of whatever you’re hunting. The rest is nonsense. And never believe anything you read on the Internet, or anything you hear from an ‘expert.’ From them, you get horse***t in industrial quantities.”

He has never, in the course of all his years in the profession, gotten so much as a scratch.

The 50 Best Shots From The 2011 Field & Stream Fall Trail Cam Contest

Online Editors — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:03:25 -0500

Here are the editors' picks for the 50 best entries in our 2011 Fall Trail Cam Photo Contest. Congrats to KSwhitetails who took first place with his "Bobcat catches a turkey in flight" shot and will receive the grand prize: a pair of Steiner 10x42 Predator Xtreme binoculars.

Congratulations to all this year's winners and thanks to everyone for the hundreds of great submissions.

You can check out the top photos from each round of the contest here:
ROUND I
ROUND II
ROUND III
ROUND IV

The Best Field & Stream Reader Photos From January 2012

Dave_Maccar — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:06:52 -0500

Submit your photos here!

Here are the monthly Best Reader Photo Galleries from last year:
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November

NY Hunter Pays $300K for Montana Bighorn Sheep Tag

Sarah Smith — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:57:51 -0500

--Chad Love

How much is a Montana bighorn sheep hunt worth to you? For one New York hunter with deep pockets, it was worth a cool $300,000.

From this story in the Great Falls Tribune:

A New York hunter paid $300,000 for this year's Montana special auction license for bighorn sheep at the Wild Sheep Foundation convention in Reno, Nev., in January. The price, while not a record, ensures that the bighorn sheep tag continues to be the high interest big money tag of all the special auction tags Montana offers.

James Hens of East Berne, N.Y., bought the tag. He will be able to hunt a sheep in any Montana bighorn sheep hunting district this fall. Last year, James Liautaud of Champagne, Ill., owner of the Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwich Shop chain, paid $295,000 for the same tag. The year before, Liataud bought the tag for $275,000. The highest price ever paid for the bighorn tag was $310,000 in 1994.

Montana offers several big game tags for auction by groups who make pitches to the FWP Commission to sell the tags. The groups get 10 percent of the money the tag brings in and the rest goes to FWP for research and habitat improvement for the species. So far this year, the bighorn tag is the only one to sell. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation will sell the elk and moose tags when it holds its annual rendezvous in Reno. The Mule Deer Foundation will auction the mule deer tag and the Great Falls Safari Club International will auction the mountain goat tag at its annual spring meeting.

So here's the question: Is this really fair? Is the entire idea of these special auction tags antithetical to the fundamental tenants of our cherished and unique North American model of wildlife conservation? Should our state governments be in the business of giving away, to the highest and wealthiest bidders, a precious public resource that belongs to all of us? Or do the economic benefits these special auction tags bring to cash-strapped wildlife agencies and conservation groups outweigh that perceived unfairness?

Can High-Fence Hunting Save the Scimitar Horned Oryx?

Sarah Smith — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:59:18 -0500

--Chad Love

Can hunting endangered African species help save them? That's the question the news segment that aired last night on 60 Minutes is asking.

From this story on cbsnews.com:

The scimitar horned oryx . . . the addax . . . the dama gazelle - three elegant desert antelope that you'd hope to see on a journey through Africa, except that their numbers are dwindling there. Which is why Lara Logan went to Texas -- yes, Texas. There, on large grassland ranches, some exotic species that are endangered in the wild have been brought back in large numbers. But there's a catch: a percentage of the herd is hunted every year by hunters who pay big money for a big catch.

The ranchers say this limited "culling" gives them the money they need to care for the animals and conserve the species. But animal rights activists don't buy that argument, claiming the hunts are "canned" and that hunting is wholly inconsistent with conservancy.

The transcript of the segment can be read or the segment itself can be viewed at the CBS website, but did anyone manage to catch it last night? Your thoughts?

The Best Shotguns of 2012

Dave_Maccar — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:56:43 -0500

The Best New Rifles of 2012

Dave_Maccar — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:41:18 -0500

There were more exhibitors and more atendees at this year's SHOT Show than ever before. That means more guns than one could ever see, but we did our best to find the best. Here are David E. Petzal and John Snow's picks for the best rifles from the show floor.

SHOT Show 2012 From The Floor: Day 3

Online Editors — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 01:48:52 -0500

SHOT Show 2012 From The Floor: Day 2

Dave_Maccar — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:34:22 -0500

SHOT Show 2012 From The Floor: Day I

Dave_Maccar — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:48:40 -0500

Lessons Learned and Soliciting Queries for SHOT Show 2012

Dave_Maccar — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:15:08 -0500

by David E. Petzal

This past year was an unusually active one for me. I dragged my rotting carcass across both oceans and to a number of states, and took 11 head of big game, with big game being defined as a wild swine or larger.

Looking over the whole business, a number of things stand out. The longest shot I took was at an elk. It was 160 yards. The two shortest--at a red stag and a mule deer--were around 30 yards. The average for everything was 80 yards. None of this is long-range shooting, and leads me to wonder, where are all these 500-yard shots everyone is obsessing about? During the whole season, one person I was afield with took a long shot--400 yards--at an elk, hit it and was unable to find it. In the real world, at least from my experience, things still happen well inside 200 yards.

Second, of the shots I took, six were offhand. This was a lot; usually I can kneel or find a rest of some sort. And it points out that you should get the hell away from the benchrest and practice shooting on your hind legs, because not infrequently, you are going to have to do it for real.

Finally, in every single case but one, I had to shoot fast. This was because what I had in the crosshairs was either very close or already on the prod and if the wind had shifted or someone farted, it was going to leave quicker than you can say “vanishing hindquarters.” More often than not, shooting at game is something you do as fast as you can positively identify the target and get your gun up. Be advised.

And now for something completely different: In a week I will be going out to the SHOT Show, and the folks who put this website together have asked me to ask you if there is anything you would like me to look for and report on. And no, that does not include booth babes. Thank you in advance for your suggestions.

The Best Field & Stream Reader Photos From 2011

Dave_Maccar — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:15:14 -0500

Every month readers submit hundreds of photos to our Trophy Room. They include everything from grip and grin shots of some beautiful animals and fish to remarkable nature shots taken on fishing and hunting trips. These are the web editors' picks for the best reader photos of 2011.

Our Trophy Room is always open, so Submit your photos here!

Here are the monthly Best Reader Photo Galleries of 2011:

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

Field & Stream's Best Photo Galleries and Blogs of 2011

Dave_Maccar — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:53:52 -0500

A lot of interesting stories came across the web desk at Field & Stream last year. These are the web editors' picks for the 25 best stories of 2011, in both photo gallery and blog form. Click through this gallery to see what you missed or take another look at a personal favorite.

For all past blogs, click here.

For all past photo galleries, click here.

South Dakota Ranch Hand May Get Ticket for Shooting Mountain Lion

Sarah Smith — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:10:24 -0500

--Chad Love

Authorities in South Dakota are debating whether to let a ranch hand keep a mountain lion he shot out of a tree, or ticket him for it.

From this story on therepublic.com:

South Dakota wildlife officials are deciding whether a Harding County ranch hand can keep a mountain lion he killed while working on another rancher's land, in a complicated case that has the president of the state Wildlife Federation wondering if the shooter should actually get a ticket. Shannon Secrest of Buffalo told wildlife officers he discovered the lion in a tree last November when his dogs began barking. He shot and killed it, and reported the incident to the state Game, Fish and Parks Department. Secrest now wants to mount the big cat for display, but officials are trying to iron out several matters in the complicated case including whether Secrest properly killed the cat out of season.

Secrest had a lion permit that is good throughout the year for landowners on their own property and for lease holders on property they lease. Using that permit, landowners and lease holders can keep animals they shoot. However, the .22-caliber rifle Secrest used is a lighter caliber not allowed for lion hunting in South Dakota. There also were dogs involved, though Secrest said he was not using them to hunt lions, the Rapid City Journal reported. The use of dogs is prohibited for lion hunting in South Dakota.There also are other questions in the case, including whether the cats posed a threat to livestock that Secrest grazes on landowner Clark Blake's property

Thoughts? Should he be able to keep it, or should he get a ticket?

The Best Field & Stream Reader Photos From December 2011

Dave_Maccar — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 09:44:10 -0500

Submit your photos here!

Here are the monthly Best Reader Photo Galleries of 2011:
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November

First Shots Photo Collection

Online Editors — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 10:59:48 -0500

A collection of jaw-dropping hunting and fishing photos from Field & Stream's "First Shots" magazine section, updated with the most recent shots.