ISOutdoors | December 2015

ISOutdoors enjoying the outdoors and sharing it with you

December 2015

After My Favorite Things www.isoutdoors.com

CONTENT The Big Bad /American 45/70 Bear and Son MGC 8�

Snow Goose Hunting

COLUMNS

After My Favorite Things

hitchhiker

The Old Ways Still Work

bass fishing

Kansas Whitetails

big game canine care destination nation field t est

publisher Brock RAY

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TROPHY QUEST:

kanSaS w

whItetaIlS “Your odds for taking trophy bucks in Kansas are the best in the country.”

by Bob Foulkrod

When you were in school, did you ever tell anyone you had a Saturday night date with a cheerleader?

Yeah, their eyebrows went up, eh? Mere mention of the tidbit that your date was a cheerleader was sufficient to evoke the looks of envy and admiration you wanted from a buddy. Well, you can get the same response from fellow hunters if you mention you have hunted in one of a handful of wellknown whitetail hunting havens. Just tell a hunting buddy you are going to Alberta or southern Illinois, and watch his eyes get big.

Kansas is one such whitetail hunting spot. Until recently, times it was the closely-guarded secret of its resident hunters, many of whom for years successfully convinced their state wildlife agency that nonresident whitetail hunters were not needed. However, in keeping with the philosophies of other states’ game management departments, Kansas wildlife officials finally opened whitetail hunting in that state to those living elsewhere.

In my opinion, the farmlands of southwestern Kansas provide the state’s best trophy buck whitetail hunting.

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Kansas has less public hunting land than just about any other state. In fact, the wildlife department leases what is known as “walk-in” lands from private landowners to help resident hunters find a place to hunt. For nonresident hunters, an outfitter or landowner who has exclusive access to private lands is the way to go.

I had such a hunt in southwestern Kansas.

Just as one might expect from “table-top flat Kansas,” the terrain consists of gently rolling grasslands and wheat fields. Trees are generally sparse except along creek meanders, and those creeks are important keys to understanding whitetail movement in this region. Streams and small rivers wind through the countryside, usually www.isoutdoors.com

flanked by the steep ravine walls, sometimes more than 100 feet deep, that they have cut through the soft glaciated soil and substrata.

Trees such as oaks and cottonwoods grow to considerable size along these waterways. Thickets are common there, and are used extensively by whietail. When standing along the edge of one of these creeks, you sometimes feel like you are in what we call a “hollow” in Pennsylvania. Deep gullylike draws occur frequently along these waterways. These lead to the top of the ravines, where the surrounding terrain is flat. These gullies are excellent bottleneck ambush points for catching bucks moving from the grain fields and grasslands, where

ISOutdoors they feed, to the safety of the creek bottoms.

Find The Food My hunt occurred in southwestern Kansas wheat county, but the area also holds an abundance of prairie grasses relished by deer. In addition to this, acorn-bearing oaks are abundant along the creeks.

The ranch also had numerous green food plots for attracting whitetail.

I began hunting from a ground blind, located where a 400-yard-long alfalfa field narrowed to a bottleneck. Deer trails leading into this field were wide enough drive a jeep along! It had gotten quite bright when I spotted a nice buck milling lazily about, only 75 or 80 yards out in the brown alfalfa.

Everything went well as the buck closed the distance between us but, when it was within arrow range, I was hit by the worst charly-horse cramp in my leg I had ever experienced. Yes, I missed the buck. Yes, I was upset. End of that story.

That afternoon we tried in vain to stalk a buck. We attempted to cut it off as it browsed its way down the creek, but it spotted us. We had fun, but the wind was tricky, and Lady Luck was not there to lend www.isoutdoors.com

a helping hand.

On the first day of my hunt, I had passed on a nice eight-point buck. During the rest of the week, I didn’t return to that spot, but on the afternoon of the last day, I remembered the buck and took a chance it would still be there. My guess was good. Shortly after we set up, we spotted the buck coming along the rim of the ravine overlooking the creek.

This time luck was not against me or the cameraman. My Satellite broadhead sliced between the ribs protecting the lungs and heart of the animal. The buck ran less than 50 yards across the open field before collapsing. The eight-pointer was a nice one-not as big as I had hoped for, but still a buck I was proud of taking home.

So how good is whitetail hunting in southwestern Kansas? On a scale of one to ten with ten being only slightly short of Heaven, I give it a 9.8.

STill HUnTing WHiTETail:

The Old Ways Still

Work

Treestand hunting is not the only way to deer hunt.

by Brock Ray

Most of my hunting for whitetail is done from a treestand.

However, experience has taught me that there are often times when stalking is the only opportunity I may get against a buck.

There are times when these animals do not move and, if you want a chance at taking a buck, you have to actually go to that animal. Once you master the basic skills and get the confidence needed to make it happen for you, still-hunting will make you a vastly better hunter.

By definition, still hunting and stalking are the same. It is a game of strategy between you and a whitetail buck. He is

ISOutdoors armed with incredible hearing, eyes that can almost spot movement when they are closed, a keen nose, and enough intelligence to evade most humans.

Toss in the home-court advantage, and it is easy to see that you face a formidable opponent. You, on the other hand, are armed with a modern bow that is deadly up to 40 yards or more, vastly superior mental prowess, and the determination to kill your opponent. To win, all your quarry has to do is evade your efforts.

When you are still-hunting, resist the urge to move

too fast, or cover too much ground too quickly.

Sound A buck’s defense mechanisms often factor into whether or not a still-huntis successful. Out-of-place sounds often need to be complemented by visual or olfactory stimuli, although once you alert the ears of a buck with noise, your chances of success fall dramatically. If you think you can approach a buck without making every effort to reduce the sounds of your footsteps, and other sounds, such as your bow scraping against a limb or rattling when striking a rock, you need to stay in your treestand. www.isoutdoors.com

The ground is the key, followed by vegetation and your equipment. Wet ground and leaves are ideal for stalking, while crisp, dry leaves or ground with loose rocks are the toughest challenges.

Most of the time, it is only necessary to move slowly and avoid stepping on twigs and leaves, or kicking loose rocks. Even if a whitetail hears something amiss in its world, it may not bolt.

My rule of thumb is to make it work—no matter what the circumstances are. When I first began doing this, I used to take off my boots and stalk in my socks to reduce noise. But that was before I tried Bear Feet, made by Crooked Horn Outfitters. Bear Feet slip over your hunting boots, and have an outer sole that is cushioned just like the paw pads of a bear. They are an incredibly useful aid.

Smell Scent interpretation is a key to the whitetail’s existence. It not only is how they communicate, but also how they locate food

and foes. If you are winded during a stalk, that marks the end of the game.

There are two basic rules that cannot be circumvented if you wish any real chance of hunting success. The first and most important is still-hunting with the wind in your favor. Succinctly, that means approaching your quarry from downwind. This cannot be ignored.

When there is a strong wind in your face, it is easy to determine your approach. When there is little wind evident to you, the task becomes a little dicey. You can pour dust from your hand or use a squeeze dust bottle to determine wind direction. A few seasons ago, I began using wind floaters. “Wind floaters� is my name for those fluffy white wings that are attached to the seeds packed into a milkweed pod. When hunting, I carry a dozen or so of these chickenegg-size seedpods then, when stalking, I crack open a pod and cast the seeds into the breeze. Wind floaters are 100 percent natural, and reveal the slightest breezes without tipping off your location.

Once a buck is spotted, or you know of a likely spot, you want to approach without alerting any whitetail you suspect might be

there, so your approach should be tailored to put the wind in your face. As long as you move into the wind, it is unlikely that you will be scented.

So what happens if you are within close proximity of a buck and the wind shifts so that it is neutral to you or, worse still, against you? This is when you find out just how effective your personal odor suppression efforts are.

Sight Sight is the third obstacle whitetail hunters must overcome when still-hunting. Whitetail have exceptional vision that is geared more toward noting movement and out-ofplace things in their world than it is to deciphering visual stimuli that is not moving or which tends to blend into their surroundings. To suggest becoming a chameleon is helpful would be accurate. Realtree makes a selection of camouflage patterns that were conceived to help you blend invisibly into virtually any habitat where whitetail live.

As mentioned, a whitetail’s vision notes movement. Movement is essential when still-hunting, but is also a potential bane to your efforts. The challenge is moving close enough to launch an arrow, without www.isoutdoors.com

ISOutdoors being detected. There are circumstances and terrain where virtually no one can stalk within 40 yards of a buck, and there are settings where even a novice can accomplish this. Forgiving terrain is a godsend. Nothing beats a gully or enough trees, rocks, or other obstacles that can be used for hiding places during your approach. But even with good cover, choosing your approach route carefully is the heart of successful still-hunting with a bow.

tion in mind—for example, just moving along into the woods on a windy day when whitetail are not moving, the same slowmotion advice is doubly important. Make a few steps, then stop, listen, and look. Gusty winds will, for the most part, largely cancel out your movement noise, but unless you are alert for the often-shrouded existence of bedded whitetail, the odds of you jumping one before you realize their presence is high.

When plotting my approach along the last couple of hundred yards of a stalk, I invest a lot of time in glassing every detail of my route. Many times, I will use my laser rangefinder to precisely determine the distance between cover where I can hide during a stalk. My most successful stalks have occurred when I had an approach blueprinted in my mind that enabled me to know exactly where I could catch my breath and settle my nerves without being spotted.

Reading the Buck When still-hunting where you can see the buck, keep a close eye on the animal you are approaching. The deer’s body language, such as fidgeting or its ears going up in an erect position, may indicate it is responding to noise. If you see nervous body movement, or ears snapping from side to side, I strongly recommend that you freeze where you are for a few minutes. Give your quarry an opportunity to return to a calm state, them continue your stalk.

When you are still-hunting, resist the urge to move too fast, or cover too much ground too quickly. If a buck is not moving, odds are that it will stay where it is while you are trying to stalk it. Moving too fast ups increases the odds you will be noticed. If you are still-hunting without a specific destinawww.isoutdoors.com

Try your hand at still-hunting, and invest the time needed to hone these skills. When whitetail are not moving, or following the hunting script you wrote, then climb down out of that treestand and join them in the woods.

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F I S H I N G

A Few Of My

Favorite Things

by Craig Haney Every year at this time, it seems like Christmas music is playing everywhere I turn— radio stations, gas stations, grocery stores, the veterinarian’s office—everybody is www.isoutdoors.com

playing Christmas music. I don’t want to sound like Scrooge, but sometimes I’d just like to hear Waylon singing about not letting your babies grow up to be cowboys, fly-fishermen, or whatever. However, there are a few songs I enjoy hearing regularly on

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the radio’s playlist. In one song, the singer reflects on Christmas and sings “these are a few of my favorite things.”

Since I probably think about fly-fishing more often than is emotionally healthy, I started to ponder on some of my favorite fly-fishing things. There are lots of them and it’s hard to choose, but I wanted to give you a few ideas for Christmas gift for the fly-fishers on your list. Consider them gift wrapped with the blessings of the season.

Rods For Tight Spots My favorite fly-fishing for trout is on smaller streams in remote places—Hazel Creek in the Smoky Mountain National Park or Lime Creek in southwestern Colorado come to mind. If I Google their names to get directions, I might very well get the response “you can’t get there from here.” Hazel Creek requires a seven- or eight-mile hike or a twentyminute boat ride across Fontana Lake just to get to the trailhead. When you get to the turnoff for Lime Creek, you still have a forty-five-minute drive down into the canyon on a road barely big enough for your vehicle, not to mention the one coming toward you with seemingly no place to go. www.isoutdoors.com

About 18 years ago, I bought a fly rod which, for me, is great on this type of stream; a Scott G series 7-foot 7-inch, 3-piece rod, 4 weight, made from lower modulus graphite. It has a sensitive tip that allows me to precisely place my Parachute Adams, whether I cast it from 10 or 30 feet away.

You’re probably thinking, “How can that rod be any good, since it’s not the latest hightech, high-modulus graphite 37 with plutonium scrim and kryptonite guides?”

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I guess the answer is that Scott got the design right back then, so they just keep selling. The hollow internal ferrules, along with Scott’s flex rating of the individual rod pieces, make an extremely smoothcasting rod that feels as if it is part of my arm when casting. I can fish a tiny BWO or a size 8 Wooly Bugger and this rod doesn’t care—it delivers either effortlessly and with accuracy. I also use it for small stream bass and bluegill fishing closer to home. It delivers a size 8 Boogle Bug popper tied to an 8-pound tippet just as easily as it does dry flies. It has been a lot of fun for a lot of years.

Another favorite rod is my Winston BIIX 8½-foot 5 weight, which I bought earlier this year. I didn’t really need another 5 weight rod, but my friend Bill had one of these and I knew it cast wonderfully. What sealed the deal was that I could order the rod with a full Wells grip (for an upcharge) that would fit my hand better than a slimmer grip. Like most Winstons, this is an extremely smooth-casting rod. I’ve used it on larger streams, in the Smokies as well as out West, using everything from midges to hoppers to wooly buggers. Like the Scott, it feels as if it is part of my arm when casting and I feel I am painting the stream with www.isoutdoors.com

my fly. With this year’s drought in my part of the world, I decided to use this rod for bass fishing on the streams near home, instead of my usual 8 weight. It did a great job with Boogle Bugs, Clouser minnows, and wooly buggers. For 2011, Winston has tweaked the rod to make it even better and renamed it the B IIIX. Gear And More Gear “My name is Craig and I’m a gearhead.” No, I don’t go to meetings for the problem, but I probably should. My wife says that I could probably buy my grandson a car if I would use E-bay to list and sell all the excess gear I own. But she she doesn’t understand the difference between excess gear and backup gear. Actually, I feel as though I am helping the economy with my purchases and we all know the economy needs help.

Carrying fishing gear requires specialized equipment, too. After trying more fishing fanny packs than I can remember, I finally found one that has become my favorite.

Made by Fishpond, the Guide pack has room for all the gear I need, plus some I don’t. Inside the two main compartments are smaller compartments to help you be more organized with your gear, such as leaders, floatant, peanut butter crack-

ers, etc. The third compartment unzips to reveal a large foam flypad that doubles as a workstation and has a couple of smaller pockets perfect for leaders. On the outside are two mesh pockets for tippet spools. I guess what makes this guide pack a favorite for me is that it is extremely comfortable to wear and has the toughness and quality I’ve come to expect from Fishpond.

Essential Flies All the fly-fisherman I know prefer to catch their quarry on topwater flies. Since I discovered Boogle Bugs, I haven’t bought another brand of cork popper for bass fishing. In more than 40 years of bass bugging, these are the best-looking, toughest, fishcatchingest bugs, period! ‘Nuff said.

Cut To The Chase I always have a pocketknife with me when I’m fishing or involved in any other outdoor activity. For the last several years, I have also carried a fixed blade with me in my fanny pack or vest. I like it better than a folder for slicing summer sausage or whatever I have brought for lunch, as it is much easier to clean and much safer to use. A few years back, I had a folder close on my right forefinger, and it took a hand surgeon to repair the digit and three months of thera-

py before I was able to use it again. A fixed blade is also better for emergency situations because, being one piece, it is inherently stronger.

There are a lot of good knives on the market with three- to four-inch blades for the fisherman/outdoorsman, but there is a new one that is becoming a my new favorite. Although it is called the J.Wayne Fears Deer Hunters Knife, it works equally well for anyone who needs a great knife for other outdoor pursuits. Its oil-stained ash handle fits my hand comfortably, and the four-inch 1095 high-carbon steel blade is perfect for use around camp. The leather sheath is excellent and holds the knife securely, whether on your belt or in your pack.

Wishing you good health, happiness and dumb hungry fish in the coming year!

For more information about the products mentioned, contact these manufacturers.

Scott Fly Rods: www.scottflyrod.com Winston Fly Rod: www.winstonrods.com Boogle Bugs: www.booglebug.com Fishpond Guide Pack: fishpondusa.com Fears knife: protoolindustries.net

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Snow Goose Hunting Paradise www.isoutdoors.com

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by Don Kirk When snow goose hunting in the rice country of southern Texas, every day that you hunt is a different experience and setting. Mobility is crucial for staying a step head of these fickle geese. You begin in the darkness of pre-dawn, with all hands helping place out decoys. After this chore was complete, our party of hunters shared a thermos of coffee while our outfitter, Tony Hurst, and his guide huddled to formulate their game plan. The decoy spread was as www.isoutdoors.com

nearly perfect as possible., since of all North America’s many species of waterfowl, snow geese are the most decoy shy.

Larry Cook and I have often hunted for the snow geese that winter in Texas. However, since discovering hunting at the Paradise Hunting Club our of Garwood, Texas, we feel like we have found a home away from home for our snow goose outings. Hurst and his guides operate a top-notch snow goose hunting service. The area they hunt is not only blessed with a wintering flock of

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snow geese that easily passes the one million mark, but these men have the experience—they have studied the local webfeet long enough to master the fine details of consistently luring them within shotgun range. And they can lure them even under the least productive conditions the weather can conjure up for waterfowlers.

The Break of Morning As the eastern sky grew increasingly pale, we could hear hundreds of noisy snow geese as they came to life in the roosting ponds located several miles beyond our location. At first, the heavens displayed a few long strings of snow geese, winging skyward in the distance. But with each passing minute, the cloudless sky grew increasingly www.isoutdoors.com

full of these highly vocal geese.

Lying on the ground amidst our decoy spread, we could see birds passing overhead, suspicious, but checking out our lifelike display of faux geese. The first customers to show real interest were a trio of blue geese, frequent companions of the far more numerous snows. These were three mature “eagle heads,” something of a trophy in the wacky world of snow goose hunting. It is common knowledge among snow goose hunters that no den full of mounted waterfowl is complete without at least one eagle head blue goose—the primo bird of goosedom.

At Hurst’s command to “get em,” we rose,

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firing volleys of steel BBB shot at the startled blues. All three of the geese plummeted to the ground before our videocamera’s unblinking eye.

When we called it quits at 10:00 AM, our party had dropped a very respectable bag of 30 snow geese.

Studying the Numbers In recent years, wildlife biologists have taken their closest look ever at snow geese, a waterfowl species that is currently exceedingly plentifu. Not only are there record high numbers of snows, but most of www.isoutdoors.com

these birds have dodged hunters for many years. Biologists speculate that the average age for a snow goose is between 8 and 12 years. Comparatively, Canada geese rarely exceed 8 years of age, with 4 to 6 years old being average. Ducks live to 3 to 4 years of age, and the average is 2 to 3 years old. Due to their longevity, snow geese are hunted longer than any other species of waterfowl.

Hurst’s operation is located approximately one hour east of Houston, in the heart of the country’s top rice-producing region, a table flat, almost treeless area. He annually leases exclusive snow goose hunting rights to more than 40,000 acres of territory. Each

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hunting season, this corner of the Lone Star State hosts well over a million wintering snow geese. Hurst has access to enough hunting territory that he can keep the snow geese there from becoming quickly overeducated on hunters. To do this, he alternately rests prime areas long enough for the geese there to forget the last hunt.

Hurst and his guides excel at creating inviting decoy spreads that even wary snow geese cannot resist. However, as important as a decoy spread is when hunting these birds, calling is just as vital. These guys understand the latter perfectly, and they rank among the most skilled snow goose callers in the business. Years ago, it was almost universally believed that decoys were the key to reeling in snow geese, but as calling strategies have improved, the value of calling has become more widely recognized.

An excellent case in point: The US Fish and Wildlife Service has relaxed their former prohibitions on the use of electronic callers for hunting snow geese during the current special spring season.

At the end of the hunt we returned to the lodge for a big home style lunch. I do not know about you, but when I am waterfowl hunting I do not mind sleeping with the www.isoutdoors.com

dogs and freezing weather if there is plenty to shoot at—as long as the food provided is plentiful and tasty. Hurst’s lodge not only has lots of birds to shoot at, but also first-class accommodations for the weary hunter. However, please indulge me while I wax eloquent for a minute about the food we were served—it teetered on the edge of unbelievable. Each meal was a scrumptious treat—both in terms of quality and quantity. And feeding a table full of alwayshungry waterfowlers is no small challenge.

Another Dawn The second day’s hunt started much the same as the first.. At 4:00 AM we were up— moving about, downing coffee, and eating breakfast before loading up to go to the rice paddies. Hurst has a large operation, able to accommodate more than 40 waterfowlers at a time. Expect to hunt a different area daily. We needed the lights on our vehicles to illuminate the muddy rice field,

where we emptied large sacks of hard- shell and plastic rag-style decoys. Under Hurst’s direction, we placed out every single deke.

It was still dark when party donned our white parkas and nestled into the reclining benches Hurst had provided us. One of the toughest parts about snow goose hunting for middle-aged waterfowlers like us, is lying on your back in the mud, then being expected to spring up like a jack-in-the-box at the command of a 20-year-old guide.

The problem is, there’s not as much spring in any 50-year-old waterfowler as there was 25 years ago. The reclining benches that Hurst provides enable hunters like me to sit in comfort, in a ready shooting position. Using his benches, we did not have to come up from an completely horizontal position, balance, and hope to get a shot off. Snow geese are challenging enough to kill without having to fight gravity and age-stiff muscles from a static, prone position.

Hurst also provides hunters with those previously mentioned white parkas, and makes sure you have plenty of decoys around you to help conceal you. It is the hunter’s responsibility, however, to bring his or her own face mask, and it is also the hunter’s responsibility to sit tight and mo-

tionless until the guide gives the command to shoot. Snow geese fly over decoys, inspecting them safely from 100- to 200-elevations, and are keenly alert for movement or anything else that might be out of place or not to their liking. Moving or staring directly skyward when snow geese are about reduces your chances for a good shot.

When making a hunt with Hurst, you can count on seeing lots and lots of snow geese. You will be dazzled when you see the sizes of the flocks from the well over one million white webfeet found in the region. Snow goose numbers in the area begin building in early November, and peak in January. When hunting in the last month of the season, you can count on having 10 to 12 large flocks of these birds working your spread of decoys before the sun is bright overhead. It is a caliber of waterfowl shooting reminiscent of that of a century ago, and an experience that will be indelibly etched in your memory.

For more info, contact Paradise Hunting Club; huntingplus@earthlink.com; telephone 800-368-4769.

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Bear & Son MGC 8-Inch Damascus Steel/India Stag Bone Guthook

by Don Kirk

Brock and I have long carried hunting and pocket knives made by Bear and Son MGC. Recently I field tested that knife maker’s legendary 8-inch Genuine India Stag Bone Guthook fixed-blade knife. Compact and practical, this little jewel has superior balance and it’s incredible Damascus steel blade performed like a champ on two recent hunting trips. It is one of dozens of fixed-blade and folding knives made by this southern knife manufacturer, which is one of the last remaining US companies to offer production-line knives.

Bear and Son MGC has a skilled and experienced workforce capable of performing many of the extra hand operations that go into the making of their products. Located in Jacksonville, Alabama, the Bear & Son Cutlery factory is unique; it is fully self-contained. While some companies only assemble parts brought from various suppliers and put their names on the product, everything at Bear and Sons MGC originates in the USA and. likewise, all work is done in-house, from building blanking dies to heat treating, grinding, assembly, and hand

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finishing. These steps insure that Bear & Son Cutlery is of excellent quality and a real value.

Making Damascus knives is a very old art form. The India-made blades were first seen in Damascus, Syria, giving them their name. In later years, the complex art of pattern-welding very nearly became lost but, due to the recent interest in knife making the past 30 years, it was re-discovered and has come a very long way since those early days.

These Bear and Son MGC blades begin as a USA produced slab of 440 carbon steel that is cold hammer pressed to half of its girth, then re-heated, doubled over and hammered flat again. This process is repeated hundreds of times; heat/ hammer power welding layer upon layer of steel. The end result is a blade which, when sharpened, is razor sharp to the touch, but which actually has a micro finish that functions much the same as a hacksaw blade. The edge is enduring and efficient. Additionally, the scrolled finish on the blade is stunningly lovely. No one can resist one, once they have held one in their hands.

All hardware used in the assembly of the 8-inch Genuine India Stag Bone Guthook fixed-blade knife is USA made, including its impressive leather sheath. On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate this knife a solid 10.3. For more info, visit www.bearandsoncutlery.com

ISOutdoors F I R E A R M S

The Big Bad American

45/70

that special chill of Autumn. It is the first day of moose hunting season. Bob, my hunting partner, Martha, my wife, and I are way out at the end of a long dirt road, by an old abandoned airstrip. We have been here for a couple of days, scouting and setting up stands.

by Kurt Steiner (provided courtesy of Guns and Patriot Magazine) “Where’s Martha?”

“I don’t know. I think she left out a little early for her stand.”

“Why are we whispering?” It’s well before sunrise, and the air is starting to take on www.isoutdoors.com

It has been a very dry summer; we can go a little deeper, because some of the normally impassable swamps are dry this year. Bob and I, of course, have been pushing the limits. We are out there about as far as we can go,and we have our big magnums sighted in at a couple of hundred yards. We have toiled and struggled to build the perfect setups.

Martha, on the other hand, is fed up with years of extreme Alaskan hunts. This year, she has chosen to hang out a couple of hundred yards from camp, in a comfy little

ground blind, with a good book. She figures she is about 25 yards from the moose trail and refuses to lug her 30-06 around.

With a little silent chuckle, I said she could use my 45-70. I told her it was zeroed at about 50 ft and an easy carry.

I just love that gun—every time I grab it, I feel like a cowboy and, when I cycle the lever, look through the iron sites, and squeeze the trigger, I feel just a bit more like a real man. I keep it around for protection, mainly. It’s not much good for hunting the wide-open spaces of Alaska.

“Damn, she’s out early” “Yeah, I think she was looking forward to sleeping in her blind on the soft peat moss instead of on the ground in the tent.”

“Alright man, you know the plan. We are pretty alone out here, so if you hear a shot, it’s probably me. Bring your big boy panties, cause it’s gonna be a monster!”

I was pretty confident in my location, my equipment, and my abilities. After all, this is serious moose country, and we have superior access this year. Bob’s no slouch, but I think I planned it out right this year—that trophy moose is going to have to pass by me to get to Bob’s site.

About 45 minutes later, I crawled into my stand. Finding it in the dark and the dense morning fog of the deep swamp was a little tricky, even with GPS. I settled in, and waited for first shooting light. The sun was going to come up at my back, and illuminate the far boundary of the swamp about 200 yards off. I knew that the only thing between the other side of the swamp and Russia was a couple of hundred miles of moose country and the Bering sea. I knew this was a good place and, God willing, this was going to be a successful hunt.

I entered that hyper-vigilant state that only the hunter knows. All of my senses peaked, www.isoutdoors.com

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each nerve raw against the chill of the morning.

The light of dawn was just starting to reflect off the willows. I could make out some promising shadows, as I slowly and methodically glassed every inch of the tree line.

BANG!, CRACK!. The report came from somewhat of a distance, and rang hard off the dense fog. I hadn’t see anybody else on the way in, but the shot didn’t sound as if it had come from Bob’s direction. Furthermore, it didn’t really sound like a rifle. It was a stout sharp crack, instead of the zing of a high-velocity round.

Sounds bouncing around a swamp in the fog can be very deceiving. I was pretty sure it wasn’t Bob’s 300, but I figured that, if it was, my radio would soon crackle with his excitement. But I heard nothing.

I kept intently glassing for my own quarry; there were a couple of cows mulling around the good grazing areas, but nothing with antlers yet. I love to watch wildlife going about their daily business. Hunting is not always about shooting—many times www.isoutdoors.com

it’s just about spending quality time with the beasts in their home.

I still hadn’t heard anything from Bob, so I forgot about the shot. I figured it must have been some far-off hunter, and the sound had just carried well in the still morning air.

“Hey, can you guys hear me?”

My radio startled me out of my stupor.

Damn it, what does she want? Doesn’t she know we’re hunting? “Yes dear, I hear you, what do you want?”

“Ah, er, I need some help…”

I took a deep breath—the kind of deep breath a man takes when his wife asks him to paint the kitchen during the Super Bowl.

I said a little prayer for patience.

“Can it wait till I get back to camp at about noon?” I said with controlled and contrived calmness.

“I suppose it could, but I’m worried about bears” “We’ve been over this, dear. The camp is pretty clean and we don’t have to worry about bears until after we hang some moose.” I choked on the last word as it hit me.

“Yeah, ah, that’s another thing... he’s a little too big for me to get back to camp by myself.”

I could almost hear Bob cracking up.

Long story short, after making my way back past camp to where Martha had chosen to sit, there, lying literally in his own tracks, was an atypical spike fork moose about three years old. This animal would easily tip the scales at over 1,000 pounds. He was legal because he was seriously atypical; if he had been symmetrical, his paddles would have probably seen 45 inches, but he only had one paddle, and a deformed rail with 3 brow tines on the other side. She had made a good call in taking this moose.

She dropped him in one shot, with my camp gun! The deep last impression of his front hooves betrayed the almost unimaginable impact of the 400-grain “nothing fancy” hard-cast lead. She had hit him broadside with enough force that he actually fell uphill! I paced it at 75 feet, and asked her where she held--needless to say, she didn’t know.

Bob and I just stood there and shook our heads. I’ve seen other moose killed with only one shot, but they usually make one final lunge. This one just tipped over.

To Take Him Down The shell used—the .45-70 Government— was developed at the Springfield armory in 1873 as a refinement of the .50-70, which was one of the first center-fire cartridges officially adopted by the US military. Its official designation was .45-70-405, which designation meant a .45 caliber (.458 diameter) , 405-grain bullet sitting anxiously on www.isoutdoors.com

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70 grains of blackpowder. (Okay, I added the anxiously part.) Back in the day, it was all about throwing big lead. Believe it or not, the .45-70 was considerably smaller than its contemporaries. But to this day, one look at the imposing stature and girth of the cartridge is enough to send chills down your spine.

The first gun officially chambered and distributed (or issued) for the .45-70 round was the Springfield model 1873.

(They were so creative with their model numbers.) This gun is known today as the “Springfield Trapdoor.” Back then, accurate, aimed fire out past 300 yards could be considered black magic. Eventually the gun’s design was beefed up to handle a new 50- grain bullet. This offered little better downrange ballistic predictability, but the trajectory was still more like an ICBM than a rifle cartridge. Just imagine the damage a 500-grain bullet hitting a target at a reentry angle must have produced.

With the development of smokeless powders, and flatter- shooting cartridges such as the .30-40 Krag, the .45-70 became obsolete—at least for military use—by the turn of the century. I do, however, remember using a modified Trapdoor with a blank www.isoutdoors.com

.45-70 cartridge as a line-throwing gun in Reagan’s Navy.

In a way, the seminal platform for this cartridge kept its sporting potential obscured for many years. The old trapdoors were built with an action stout enough to withstand a maximum volume loading of blackpowder, but would not stand up to the higher pressures of smokeless powders.

To this day, factory .47-70 ammunition, if you can find it, is “downloaded,” so as not to feed any lawyers representing dismembered owners of the older platforms.

Over the years, manufacturers continued, off and on, to produce guns chambered for the modern incarnation of the old round.

But it was not until I moved to Alaska, and asked around about effective bear defense, that I learned of the Marlin 1895 “Guide Gun,” and its potential as a bad-ass sporting cartridge. Though I consider myself to be a bit of a modernist, the first time I laid eyes on the romantic lines of this leveraction saddle gun, I had to have it. I had seen many tricked-out versions of this gun labeled as “Wild West guns” in Anchorage, but those versions didn’t keep my mind from wandering back to the simplicity of the factory gun. I am not one to own a gun

because it is pretty: I am more attracted to functionality. Why pay for all the glamour of a tricked- out gun, if the factory gun will make the lead fly the same? Besides, my guns tend to spend way more time in hostile environments than in the cushy silk sheets of a gun safe.

But this gun was special. I saved up, and plunked the money down for a standard blued peasant’s gun. I resisted the urge to put some fancy optic on top. I did buy two boxes of factory ammo, so I would have some brass to work with. Then, I went to work.

I learned about gas checks, and why the bullets were (at the time) all blunt nose. I found a local source for lead, and I developed an even deeper bruise on my right shoulder. Man, this thing was fun! Nothing like holding 8 inches high to zero at 100 yards. I gradually increased loads until I started to mess up the accuracy, then I backed down a little for prudence. I finally settled on a 350-grain hard-cast gas check on top of 54.5 grains of H4198. My Marlin makes this fly at around 2,200 FPS. Do the math—that is more than 3,700 footpounds of pure bear-stopping, all-American torque! Damn, I’m getting excited just

writing about it!

This gun goes everywhere with me. It is absolutely my preferred camp gun. Last year it spent 4,000 miles hooked to the saddle of my motorcycle when I took an adventure ride through Canada. The year before that, I used bungee cords to fasten it to the wing strut of a Super Cub plane that we used to chase wolves through the interior. All this winter, as in past winters, it will slide into the custom scabbard on my dogsled for my adventures in the frozen north. I never have to guess as to its reliability or effectiveness.

I have made friends shake in their boots when I insisted they give her a whirl , and made men out of little boys by graduating them from the little guns to this cannon.

And, of course, there was that one time at moose camp when I lent it to my wife, who used it to put two years worth of good organic meat in the freezer with one shot!

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