by Phil Bourjaily

Here’s me, on the set of the Gun Nuts TV show, holding my pick for the ideal youth turkey gun: a 20 gauge 870 Express Jr. with a red dot sight.

It is short, light, doesn’t kick much with the right loads, and it’s easy to hit with. My younger son shot his one and only turkey with it, and I have since taken it from him and killed turkeys with it, too. While you don’t have to put a $500 Zeiss Z-point on a kid’s gun, I think some form of red dot sight (and a lot of target practice before the season) is the best way to be sure a kid doesn’t miss.

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--Chad Love

Are too many deer in the woods hurting biodiversity? That's the thought-provoking argument set out in this New York Times op/ed piece, which argues there are so many deer in the United States today that they are literally eating critical migratory bird habitat into oblivion.

From this story in the New York Times:
"...But one of the biggest contributors to the decline in migratory bird populations has gone largely unnoticed: white-tailed deer. By 1900, deforestation and unregulated hunting had reduced deer populations in the Eastern United States to tiny remnant clusters surviving in remote sanctuaries. But subsequent protective laws and aggressive habitat management allowed deer to bounce back. To this day, wildlife managers slice intact forests into sunny woodlots that maximize the number of deer and the frequency of encounters between deer and hunters. Private landowners are encouraged by wildlife agencies to crisscross their forest acreage with tasty plantings of clover and wheat in support of what is now a burgeoning population of perhaps 50 million white-tailed deer — in some places as many as 75 deer per square mile. 

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by David Draper

Although both of these dishes were cooked within the last week or so, stylistically they’re of two very different seasons. The first, a hearty braise of venison shanks, reminds me of winter, when roasting meats is the affair of long days trapped inside. In the second, that icon of April—the wild turkey—is prepared simply and quickly. Served with asparagus and mushrooms, it’s just the thing to get you in the mood for spring.

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by T. Edward Nickens

A little bit here and a little bit there. You keep your eyes open. That’s how you learn. You pick up a new knot from a new fishing buddy, or try a decoy trick you saw in a magazine. You make mistakes. And if you’re lucky, like I was, there will be a mentor along the way. An unselfish someone who cares enough about you that he wants you to know everything he’s ever learned.

That’s the good thing about hunting and fishing and camping: You can never know it all, and you’re never as good as you could be.

Over the years, I’ve learned from the best—mentors, buddies, guides, story subjects, and some of the most dedicated outdoor-skills competitors this world has ever seen. Put them together, and they’ve got a half dozen different ways to shoot a double or cast a fly rod. Here’s the best of what I’ve learned from them, and on my own, in 35 years of hunting and fishing. And this is what all sportsmen should do with such knowledge: Pass it on.

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by T. Edward Nickens

I used to dread the backbreaking task of getting a buck up and over the truck tailgate solo. Until I discovered this trick.

Step 1:
Throw one rope over a branch. Tie one end to the rack and the other to the trailer hitch. Tie a second rope to the rack  and toss the tag end over the branch.

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by Dave Hurteau

Okay people, here is the third buck in our scoring contest. I’ll say again that you are playing for a brand new Bowtech Insanity CPX compound bow, the company’s flagship model for 2012.

If you are joining us late, here’s what is going on: I have now posted three of four bucks photos. (Click here if you missed the first one, here for the second one.) I will post the fourth and last buck next week. Your job is to guess the gross B&C score of each and keep track of your guesses. Fractionals will count. When I post the final buck, I’ll ask you for your grand total. Whoever is closest wins the bow*. If there is a tie, we will have a tiebreaker buck.
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