Category: Hunting

Enter your Youth to Win GPO’S Free 2-Day Youth Turkey Hunt

RICHMOND, Va. (Feb. 21, 2023) —GPO USA, a leading manufacturer and distributor of high-quality sporting optics, has partnered with other industry leaders to award one of seven guided and filmed two-day youth turkey hunts in North Carolina. The hunt will take place on a luxury 11,000 acre private ranch. The youth must be between the ages of 10-15 and must have a valid hunter safety certificate. All meals and lodging will be included for the youth and an adult companion. Each winner will also receive a turkey gun from O.F. Mossberg & Sons, Inc. topped with a GPO SpectraDotÒ scope and a care package from the others sponsors which include Methodical Media, Edge of the Wild, SPUR Brand, Fox Trot Ammo, HOV Outdoors and Killum Calls.

Entering the contest is easy. Simply go to the GPO Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/gpousaoptics, like the post and nominate a youth hunter in the comments (if they don’t have social media just comment their name.) Bonus entries can be obtained by sharing the post and tagging GPO. The more you share the more chances you have to win the GPO giveaway. Participants can also enter to win one of the other six hunts from the other sponsors Facebook pages. Each sponsor will be giving away a similar prize package. Read more

Hunting

Burris Introduces New Shotgun Mount for Red Dots

Greeley, CO – Savvy turkey hunters understand that precision aiming is a must when using today’s advanced turkey loads. The tighter patterns and longer effective distances offered by the increasingly popular tungsten shot, for example, means careful aiming is a must — and for that, nothing beats a red dot.

Now, mounting a red dot to your vent-ribbed shotgun is super easy and lightning fast with the new Burris SpeedBead™ Vent Rib Mount. Designed for use with the Burris FastFire series red dots or any red dot that uses a Docter mounting pattern, the SpeedBead™ Vent Rib Mount is a simple DIY installation that requires no drilling or tapping.

The mount’s unique design makes it self-centering, and the mount comes with assorted rib adapters to fit multiple shotgun vent rib widths. Constructed of aluminum with a black anodized finish that will last and won’t harm your gun, the SpeedBead™ Vent Rib Mount completely captures the vent rib on both sides for maximum clamping power along the full length of the mount. Simply install your red dot onto the mount and clamp the mount to your preferred location on your shotgun’s rib. It’s that easy.

The Burris SpeedBead™ Vent Rib Mount is perfect for updating any shotgun that did not come from the factory with an optic-compatible receiver. This is an ideal solution not only for shotguns utilizing high-density ammunition but also for shotguns fitted with tight chokes or for hunting styles that bring big toms into close range.

Model: 410688

MSRP: $60 Read more

Firearms, Hunting

Michigan 2022 deer hunting season recap

The 2022 deer hunting season has officially come to a close. Kicking off with the Liberty Hunt Sept. 9 and finishing with the urban deer hunt in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties, which ended Jan. 31, it was a memorable season for Michigan deer hunting.

It was a year of firsts in 2022, highlighted by the requirement that successful hunters report their deer harvest within 72 hours. Because of declining response rates with the traditional deer hunter survey, Michigan joined many other states in requiring deer harvests to be reported, which should improve harvest estimates and the timeliness of deer season reports in the future. Supporting the new harvest reporting process was the launch of the Michigan DNR Hunt Fish app, which allows hunters to purchase licenses, manage hunt drawings, get important updates from the DNR, report harvests, and more.

For 2022, 586,595 hunters purchased a deer license, which is about 1% less than in 2021. The first year of electronic harvest reporting resulted in a reported harvest total of 303,087 deer. Sanilac County led the state with a reported  8,150 deer harvested, followed by Montcalm (8,103), Newaygo (7,422), Jackson (7,141) and Lapeer (6,976) counties. There were 182,586 deer reported harvested in the southern Lower Peninsula, 97,714 reported from the northern Lower Peninsula and 22,787 reported from the Upper Peninsula.

There is a full harvest report summary dashboard that contains all the antlered and antlerless harvest statistics by county and season for anyone wanting to look at how things rounded out in their neck of the woods. Read more

Hunting

Vermont: Moose Hunt Proposed to Improve Moose Health

MONTPELIER, Vt. — The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department has proposed issuing 180 moose hunting permits in Vermont’s Wildlife Management Unit (WMU) E in the northeastern corner of the state in a continued effort to reduce the impact of winter ticks on moose in that area. No permits are recommended for the rest of the state.

The proposal was given initial approval by the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Board at its February 15 meeting and is now available for public comment.

The goal of the department’s 2023 moose harvest recommendation is to improve the health of moose in WMU-E by reducing the number of moose and thereby reducing the abundance and impact of winter ticks.

“Moose are abundant in WMU E with significantly higher population density than in any other part of the state,” said Nick Fortin, Vermont Fish and Wildlife’s moose project leader. “Winter ticks only thrive on moose, and higher moose densities support high numbers of winter ticks which negatively impact moose health and survival.” Read more

Hunting, Wildlife

8-Year Old Wins ALBBAA Big Buck Photo Contest

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (Feb. 15, 2023) – As Grayson Milner sat in a deer stand with his dad just before sundown on New Year’s Eve, the 8-year-old was running out of hope and daylight.

“I don’t think I’m going to get to shoot again,” Grayson thought.

He had missed a deer earlier in the day and figured darkness would put an end to the day’s hunting. Then, just before dusk, a buck emerged. Grayson and his father, Daniel, knew this was likely their final chance.

Daniel peered through his binoculars at the deer about 130 yards away. “That’s a shooter right there,” Grayson’s dad said.

Grayson, an experienced hunter who began hunting at age 3, took aim, squeezed the trigger and bagged the 9-point, 200-pound buck on private Dallas County property owned by family friend Keith Vickers.

“It’s my biggest deer ever,” said Grayson, a student at Wilmer Elementary near Mobile.

Added Daniel, “He’s got the biggest one in the house.” Read more

Hunting

Upland Hunting Deepens Connection to Conservation

By Tera Baird

A covey of bobwhite quail taking to the wing is an unforgettable sight. The sound, startling and chaotic. Add a German Shorthaired Pointer named Rhett locked up like a stone staring nervously into hummocks of switch grass, followed by the dull report of a Baretta O/U .20 gauge on my shoulder, and it all makes for a treasured experience. And a pivot point in one’s trajectory.

I am a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Southeast. I have spent most of my career as a non-game biologist, and I was raised in a family that doesn’t hunt. So I’ve always felt a bit outside the realm of the hunting world. That changed when I had the opportunity develop further as a professional and participate in Conservation Leaders for Tomorrow (CLfT) at Charlie Elliot Wildlife Center in Mansfield, Georgia. The center is named after the renowned outdoor writer and the first director of Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

The workshop, sponsored by the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation, is an intensive five-day hunting awareness and conservation education program designed for natural resource professionals who didn’t come into the profession through the portal of hunting. The workshop aims to give natural resource professionals a hunting immersion and encourages participants to explore and discuss the past and future roles of hunting in wildlife management. The goal isn’t to create new hunters but to foster a connection to a constituency we serve and provide that context for future natural resource leaders. Read more

Hunting, Wildlife

Crow Active in Michigan

Crow season runs from now until the end of March statewide.  Here, Doug takes the first one of the season with #8 shot with his 12-gauge scattergun.

Doug Schaberg’s First Crow of the Season

We tried to set up early in the darkness of pre-dawn, but dang it if the crows were already flying.  Sure enough, they picked us off before we could get to hiding and made sure the local crow population knew trouble was afoot.  Doug popped one that didn’t get the memo.

Hunting

SAAMI Announces Acceptance of 360 Buckhammer

Lonoke, Arkansas –– Remington Ammunition is proud to announce that The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute (SAAMI) has announced the acceptance of the groundbreaking 360 Buckhammer as an official new cartridge.

“The acceptance of cartridges by SAAMI is crucial in the process of making new loads legitimate for American hunters and shooters,” said Remington Senior Director of Engineering Jared Kutney. “Whitetail hunters needed a straight wall cartridge that functions flawlessly in a lever action rifle, and we’re thrilled to have 360 Buckhammer accepted by the high standards set by the organization.” Read more

Ammunition, Hunting

National Parks React to Crowding

From Jim Shepherd

During “the great lockdown” an equally great number of us discovered -or re-discovered- the allure of our national parks. The desire to get outside and breathe some non-filtered fresh air was strong-to the point that infrastructures already rundown due to a lack of government funding, took quite a hit.

Since the National Park Service started recording visitation numbers in 1904, more than 15.4 billion visitors have come to the sites. The most recent year (2021) saw 330 million annual visitors. Those numbers were record-setting in many of the more popular parks. Yellowstone National Park and Arches National Park, for example set new monthly records for consecutive months. The summer of 2021, for lack of a better word, saw huge visitation numbers.

There were more travelers last year- especially after the borders reopened, allowing foreign visitors to see our natural wonders.

2021 made it obvious that there needed to be something done to help balance the wear-and-tear of visitors and the capacities of the 424 sites of the National Park Service.

George, Thomas, Theodore and Abraham aren’t requiring reservations to visit, but there are plenty of restrictions in place at other national parks. Jim Shepherd/OWDN photo.

The solution for crowd control wasn’t simple, but it has been effective: reservation systems. They went into place at many of the most popular national parks: Yosemite, Zion, Rocky Mountain NP, and Dinosaur National Monument.

Last year, more parks and park service properties added them.

No, everyone isn’t a fan, and the idea of having to apply for a time to visit public land has rankled plenty of tempers. Read more

Fishing, General, Hunting, Wildlife
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