New for 2015 in Browning’s Black Label flashlight lineup is the Disrupter. Though no bigger than a can of soda, the Disruptor pumps out a stunning 2800 lumens of bright white light that reaches out 500 yards.
Its rugged all-aluminum construction houses a 10400 mAh rechargeable lithium-ion battery. The anti-roll bezel profile helps prevent the Disruptor from rolling off a table. The lamp head incorporates heat-dissipating fins to keep the light running cool. Optically clear and scratch-resistant, the glass lens is built for years of rugged duty. Read more
With Michigan’s late turkey hunting season well under way, it was time for me to see if I could bag a bird of my own. A Day 6 Plotwatcher Pro trail camera showed a few hens as regular visitors at one property, but not one gobbler. Another riverfront property, where I’ve had permission to hunt for many years, had been good to me during previous turkey seasons, so I made an early morning visit to see what I could hear.
The raucous gobbling of toms from the roost before sunrise can give their location away. With that in mind, I cupped my hands at my ears for increased volume and patiently waited for the call of the wild. Nothing.
My hunting partner, Joe, later phoned to let me know he’d be available to operate the video camera on a hunt, (he already tagged a turkey) but Tuesday would be his only chance during the workweek. Without a clue, I knew I had to put the Browning Powerhouse blind up somewhere, so I loaded the ATV with the gear on Monday and headed to familiar grounds.
In the cutover corn field, I poked along and viewed a hen turkey several hundred yards away. The bird soon noticed my approach and scampered to the confines of the nearby woods. Proceeding down the lane at the field’s edge, I noticed some distant tom turkeys in full display that hadn’t seen me, but I proceeded, nonetheless.
After scaring them off, I set up the portable blind under a shagbark hickory conspicuously located alone in the field, trusting that the turkeys would have a short memory of my intrusion into their world.
The next day at 5:15 am, Joe and I made our way to the hideout and I set the cheap rubber decoy, dubbed Miss Direction, about 30 yards in front of us. Shortly after 6 am, far-off gobbling from the roost commenced, while a lone hen worked the cornfield.
Before long, several whitetail deer emerged from the forest, and one in particular realized the presence of the blind and began protesting with foot stomps alerting the others. Finally, it snorted loudly and the field cleared. The fact that the deer picked off our shelter reaffirms my belief that wise deer must get used to blinds for them to be effective hunting tools; however, we weren’t hunting deer today.
The gobbling got louder as the toms edged closer – still undetected visually. I scratched out the first hen calls of the morning with my cherished Ring Zone slate call and was rewarded with an immediate and resounding response. Game on!
At long last, two proud toms revealed themselves only a hundred yards from us. With the decoy in their sights, their purposeful approach continued with no additional effort from me. That same blind that spooked the deer earlier meant nothing to these love-struck fellas!
I’ll never know which of the two was a better choice but the Winchester Long Beard XR shotshell ammo with number 4 shot and my Browning Silver shotgun made the comparison a moot point, as a mature gobbler lay on the ground 35 yards away.
The beard measured 10 ¼ inches and one spur was 1 ½ inches long, while the other had been broken off quite shorter than that.
At 7:08 am – the first day of my hunting – the season was over, all because we had become “invisible” in plain sight with the help of a little misdirection.
Opening day of the 2015 Michigan turkey season was about to begin. I drove north in the early morning darkness, to Bob Knoop’s 170-acre farm near Fenton, Michigan. With clouds, rain and high winds in the forecast, it looked like it would not be an ideal opening day for turkey hunting.
I would be hunting with Brenen Twiss, who has special needs. Six years ago, while Brenen was a junior in high school, he had an unfortunate accident on his way to school one morning. Brenen hit some black ice, totaled his vehicle, and was severely injured. He lost both of his legs and received traumatic brain injuries, limiting the mobility in his upper body. He’ll be in a wheelchair the remainder of his life.
For the hunt, Brenen would be using a liberator machine – a special machine that fires a weapon with the use of a joystick or a straw, depending upon the hunter’s capabilities. The liberator, invented by Pete Odland and named for the freedom it provides special-needs hunters, can be outfitted with a rifle, shotgun, muzzleloader or crossbow. Read more
The Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp, or “Duck Stamp,” will increase in price for the first time in 24 years.
The cost will go from $15 to $25. The increase adjusts for inflation over the last 24 years. Several conservation organizations, including Ducks Unlimited and Delta Waterfowl, support the increase. Read more
The new MINOX DTC 400 SLIM Wildlife Camera lives up to its name, being so flat it sets new standards for increased concealment and inconspicuous monitoring.
The SLIM’s extremely flat body is only about one inch thick and is slightly curved so it fits every tree trunk neatly and snugly. Combined with its camouflage housing, the result is the unobtrusive presence you want and need in an effective trail camera.
Equally important, the MINOX DTC 400 features a MINOCTAR lens, ensuring a nearly distortion-free recording with every movement in sharp, high-contrast detail. The SLIM provides outstanding image quality with brilliance and natural color rendering, and videos are recorded in HD resolution for 10 to 60 seconds. Even in bad lighting or twilight, a powerful IR-flash with a range of up to 49 feet provides reliable images. Read more
DALLAS – Animal-rights group PETA is suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to stop a management hunt that scientists say would benefit endangered rhino populations both biologically and financially.
Against a torrent of death threats, DSC auctioned the hunt in 2014 on behalf of the Namibia Ministry of Environment and Tourism. The auction generated a record $350,000. All proceeds were earmarked for rhino conservation in the African nation, and held in escrow pending U.S. approval of an import permit that would allow the hunter to bring home the taxidermy from his hunt. That permit was recently approved after U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists confirmed the benefits to rhino populations.
Basically, the hunt would be used to remove an older, non-breeding, aggressive black rhino bull known to decrease productivity and increase mortality of its herd, while the $350,000 would fund law enforcement efforts to thwart indiscriminate rhino killing by poachers.
PETA’s lawsuit could postpone the hunt as well as the funding for rhino protection.
“Next time you hear about poachers slaughtering rhinos in Namibia, thank PETA,” said Ben Carter, executive director of DSC. Read more
BIRMINGHAM, Al. – Moultrie Feeders, the worldwide leader in game cameras and feeders, has launched a new ATV spreader that features a category-leading 100-pound capacity and a new and improved manual gate.
Timing could not be any better for the launch of this ATV spreader – now’s the time to begin planting and fertilizing food plots. This new, improved design features a plastic, tapered hopper that will not rust and will completely empty all contents. The completely redesigned manual gate allows you to adjust the opening on the bottom of the hopper to distribute different seed and feed types – and to regulate how much seed or feed is dispensed. Read more
There’s a very good reason iHUNT by Ruger remains the best-selling hunting app for smartphone users. Featuring high-quality animal and hunting calls with no audio noise, iHUNT brings the ultimate hunting call system right to a user’s mobile device.
To further increase the value of the premiere hunting call app available on Android and iPhone, iHUNT by Ruger has added the very popular Solunar Times, Activity log, Weather and Photo Sharing features that had previously only been available to iTunes users. Hunter’s can now plan their hunt using the Solunar times and weather, record the results on the activity log and share photos of their trophy with the iHUNT community. All this plus the ability to create an infinite number of playlists using the 600 sounds from 47 species and the ability to connect via Bluetooth with the iHUNT by Ruger speaker ensures a successful hunt.
A thoughtful design and presentation of feature options makes the iHUNT incredibly easy to navigate and use. With iHUNT by Ruger, hunters carry a high-quality calling system afield with the convenience of a smartphone.
The iHUNT by Ruger app features an unmatched selection of more than 47 animals and 600 hunting calls. The app has 40 different deer calls, 54 coyote calls, 37 turkey calls and 29 duck calls. There are even 26 alligator and crocodile calls on the iHUNT app. And that’s just a sample of the calls and variety of animal species. Read more
Inside the Browning Powerhouse hub blind, Joe and Glen work a young, yet hefty, Tom turkey into range. The Winchester Long Beard XR, 3-inch turkey loads in #5 shot hit hard at 42 yards.
The Department of Natural Resources reminds hunters that applications for Michigan elk and bear hunting licenses are available now through June 1. There will be 100 elk licenses and 6,951 bear licenses available for the 2015 hunting seasons.
Only Michigan residents are eligible to apply for an elk license. Bear licenses are available for both residents and nonresidents; however, no more than 2 percent of licenses in any bear management unit will be issued to nonresidents. Hunters can apply online at www.michigan.gov/huntdrawings, at any authorized license agent or at a DNR Customer Service Center. A nonrefundable $5 fee is charged at the time of application. Hunters may purchase just one bear and one elk application. Read more
The Department of Natural Resources reminds hunters that applications for Michigan elk and bear hunting licenses are available now through June 1. There will be 100 elk licenses and 6,951 bear licenses available for the 2015 hunting seasons.