Deer Hunting Season

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

Release of Next Twilight Movie Postponed to Re-Shoot Hunting Scenes

Sarah Smith — Mon, 07 May 2012 11:20:06 -0400

--Chad Love

I'm willing to bet that (for the male readers, anyway) whatever knowledge you may have of the "Twilight" books and/or movies was gained through the reluctant and incidental osmosis of a wife, girlfriend, sister or daughter. It's about clowns, right?

At any rate, it seems the release of whichever film is next up on the schedule has been delayed because the director had to re-shoot some important hunting scenes, apparently because he wanted to get the scenes of deer-hunting vampires as close to reality as possible.

From this story on shockya.com:

Kristen Stewart has revealed that the recent reshoots for ‘Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2′ were focused largely on the romance drama’s hunting scenes, Cinemablend is reporting. The news comes after director Bill Condon announced last month that he was bringing the cast back to Vancouver to do some reshoots for the final film in the successful franchise...Stewart also said the main reshoot she worked on was her character, Bella’s, first hunt as a vampire. She said “The first hunt is always so important. I just wanted more of it. We all wanted more of it.” The reshoots came after Condon’s first entry in the ‘Twilight’ series, last year’s ‘Breaking Dawn Part 1,’ received the worst reviews of the franchise. They were done because Bella’s transformation into a vampire is a major part of the story. As seen in ‘Breaking Dawn Part 2′s trailer, Bella hunts in the woods for animals to feed on, as she wakes up after her transformation into a vampire hungry for blood.

We all knew this was coming, didn’t we? The reintroduction of benevolent, good-looking vampires to our western states is going to absolutely decimate our deer and elk herds. Do you know how many elk the average vampire takes in a year? But the pro-vampire groups don’t care. They falsely portray these killing machines, with their strong cheekbones, flawless skin and smoldering good looks, as kind and gentle souls who reluctantly take only the weak, old, and infirm ungulates so that they may live in harmony with us, their bipedal sunshine friends.

Not only is that a gross mischaracterization of the vampire's true nature, but what about the animals that are attacked and bitten, but get away? Not only will our deer and elk herds decline, but the ones that remain become undead themselves, and have you ever tried to shoot a Nosferatu elk? Let me tell you, it 'aint easy. We better mobilize and get all over this one before it gets all over us. I'm not necessarily anti-vampire, mind you, but I do think they need to be controlled and managed just like any other crypto-zoological game animal. They've been doing it for centuries in Europe, and they don't have issues with their vampires...

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

Unlicensed Brooklyn Hipsters Shoot Out-of-Season Deer While Filming Movie

Online Editors — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:42:13 -0400

--Chad Love

You may as well just call this next story "Clash of the Zeitgeists" because it has it all: indie film, ironic urban hipsters, backwoods survival, an Apocalyptic event and slow food. It's like someone took a snapshot of Google Trends and decided to make a movie out of it. Now if someone could get that Gotye dude to score the soundtrack and then throw in a zombie attack it'd be perfect.

From this story on DNAinfo.com:

The actor who illegally gunned down a deer on camera for Tribeca Film Festival entrant "First Winter" has been charged for killing the animal. Paul Manza, a yoga instructor who played a main character in the film, admitted to shooting a pair of deer without a license and outside of hunting season for a scene in the movie where at least one of the animals was skinned, cooked and eaten on camera...

The kill was part of a 23-day film shoot for director Ben Dickinson's debut feature about naive Brooklyn hipsters learning to survive on an upstate New York farm after an apocalyptic event. It took them several days to find a deer, he said, and they had started to think they would have to revise the script to drop the scene.

But here's the money quote...

"We are idiots. We didn't know how to do this [hunting] stuff," Dickinson told DNAinfo before the film’s premiere at the festival on April 19.

Now that's irony any hipster worth his skinny jeans would be proud of: a bunch of naïve Brooklyn hipsters unknowingly committing deer hunting violations while out in the woods making a movie about a bunch of naïve Brooklyn hipsters deer hunting out in the woods. I don’t know about you, but this movie just rocketed to the top of my "must see" list...

Make Mock Scrapes in Spring to Score Big Bucks in Fall

Dave_Maccar — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:31:53 -0400

by Scott Bestul

Knowing that bucks visit scrapes year-round, savvy hunters often make mock ones well before the rut. Now is not too early. In fact, early spring is an ideal time because the lack of foliage, compared with late summer or early fall, makes your fakes more visible to bucks.

Make sure the licking branch is obvious; it should be living, 5 to 6 feet high, have a bent or broken tip, and be located at the edge of an opening or near a pond or stream.

An active mock scrape will pull velvet bucks to a trail camera placed nearby all summer long, and it can start a buck-movement pattern that can help you score in fall.

Make Mock Scrapes in Spring to Score Big Bucks in Fall

Dave_Maccar — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:31:53 -0400

by Scott Bestul

Make sure the licking branch is obvious; it should be living, 5 to 6 feet high, have a bent or broken tip, and be located at the edge of an opening or near a pond or stream.

An active mock scrape will pull velvet bucks to a trail camera placed nearby all summer long, and it can start a buck-movement pattern that can help you score in fall.

Best Ground Blind Ever?

Online Editors — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:40:06 -0400

by Scott Bestul

After three decades of hunting from elevated stands, I’m learning to come down from the trees. I’ve been using ground blinds for deer — with varying degrees of success — in the last few seasons, mainly when taking my kids with me to the deer woods.

While I love the portability and easy setup of most pop-up blinds, they have their drawbacks. In my experience, the blind has to be out there for a while so deer can get used to its presence. Otherwise, they can get pretty jumpy. Or the setup has to be near perfect: Plenty of brushing in and other prep to camouflage the game-spooking silhouette of most blinds.

So I perked right up when a bowhunting buddy from Alaska tipped me off to the Nature Blind. Designed by a Hollywood set designer, the Nature Blind mimics a gnarly old tree trunk that, I’m convinced, would hoodwink any whitetail. The thing looks darn comfy (it has a carpeted floor, insulated walls, plenty of shooting windows, and can hold 2-3 people comfortably), appears weatherproof, and seems to have all the hunter-friendly features you’d expect in a quality blind.

Of course, no product is perfect. The Nature Blind weighs 300 pounds, which means that moving the thing requires at least a couple helpers and — at minimum — an ATV with a trailer. Oh yes, and then there’s the $3,500 price tag. The only way I’m going to own one of these is if Hurteau gives me a massive raise, or if I find that wealthy, ailing uncle we’re all searching for. Sigh … Guess I’ll just keep zip-tying branches to my pop-up model.

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

March Madness: The Final Four of All-Purpose Deer Rifles

Dave_Maccar — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:20:35 -0400

by Dave Hurteau

So far this tourney has been like hanging with Gomer Pile: “Surpise”—the Kimber 84M gets booted in the first round. “Surprise”—the Ruger No. 1 makes the Final Four. “Surprise”—the Remington 700 obliterates the great Savage 99. I expected the 700 to win the last matchup, but not by such a wide margin?

Anyway, with the 700 and 70 predictably moving on, the Savage squeaking past the Weatherby, and the No. 1 upsetting the X7, our Final Four is set. So let’s tip it off. As usual, check out the bracket (you can click here to print out a copy if you want to fill it out by hand). Then vote for your preferred all-purpose whitetail rifle in each matchup below to begin the Final Four round and see which two guns will go head-to-head for the F&S All-Pourpose Whitetail Rifle Championship.

Division I Final Four
(1) Winchester Model 70: The rifleman’s rifle is back better than ever, and the Featherweight version is both easy to carry and deadly at long ranges. Jack would approve.
(2) Savage 11/111: One of several modern successors of the classic Model 110, this one features Savage’s proven AccuTrigger, the new AccuStock, and is nicely priced.

Division II Final Four
(1) Remington Model 700: Perhaps the most popular American bolt action ever made, even though it’s a push feed. Its time-tested accuracy has only been enhanced by the new X-Mark Pro trigger.
(7) Ruger No. 1: If you’re a really good hunter, this single-shot is all you need. A compact killer that looks as good as it shoots.