Technique

The new SWR Radius from SilencerCo is a highly capable rail-mounted rangefinder that gives lightning-fast distance ranging information out to a mile.

Many people don’t understand that hunting provides so many benefits, not only in bringing people together, but also in conservation. Natalie Foster meets with NRA Women’s Leadership Forum Co-Chair and Diana award winner Suzie Brewster and Nicole Reeve of Driven TV to discuss the reasons we hunt.

The folks at Winchester have a pretty cool new “app” for showing shot patterns for turkey loads. These are not computer modeled guesstimates of what the pattern should look like in an ideal world. Winchester took the time to shoot all of the different shells and shot weights through a variety of different chokes to give an idea of how they should perform. This is a Winchester app so all of the shells are theirs.

Turkey season is right around the corner. Although you don’t have to have a shotgun that is dedicated to turkey hunting there are a few options that will help. Turkeys have great eyesight, they see a lot better than we can. Cammo for the hunter is a must for hunting turkeys. I don’t think it is a must for your shotgun, but it can’t hurt. At the very least you want one that is not going to shine and sparkle in the sun like vampires in tween movies. I prefer an optic or rifle sights on a turkey shotgun. These guns with the proper chokes are capable of taking a turkey out to 40 yards or a bit more. The head on a turkey is small and the bead found on typical shotguns really doesn’t cut it. We want a bit more precision here.

With so many first time gun owners out there are bound to be a whole bunch of first time hunters as well. Wild hogs are available to hunt year round, and because they have a short gestation cycle, there are almost no bounds to their numbers. Corn feeders can bring wild hogs in to a specific location at fairly reliable regular times, and the wild-caught meat is not gamy at all. Most would agree that especially corn fed wild hog is much better than feedlot commercial pork. This is a photo essay on how to butcher your own wild hog.

Britney Starr gives us some bird hunting basics. It’s always good to be reminded of ways to remain safe when you’re out in the field.

I’ve just come back from my first black powder hunt and I’ve learned a few valuable life lessons that I’d like to pass on. Learn from my mistakes and my successes, and you may have a much more productive hunt–even if the only thing you bag is a big fat rat.

Sometimes we take for granted some of the most obvious things, then when you find out that what you took for granted doesn’t actually exist anyway, it can be terribly disappointing. A lot of people have been asking our resident guide Dwayne Powell of Kissimmee River Hunt & Fish about “free range” game lately, as opposed to fenced in game. The guided hunt market exploded a couple years ago, and this far down the line some people are getting wise to the fact that a lot of guided “hunts” aren’t hunts at all. They make it feel like a hunt, but really what you are shooting are caged animals on very small parcels of land. There are guys selling “open range” hog hunts, turkey hunts, deer hunts, and even alligator hunts, on from 100 down to even 5 acres of land. Around the property is a high fence, and none of the game is native and wild on the property. it has all been deposited, to be caged and killed. On the smaller properties the “guide” will drive around in circles, then take you a feeder you would swear is deep in the woods, but is really only a couple hundred yards from where you started.

Haven’t started preparations for the fall? Now’s the time. The deer are gorging on grass, and you need to see where they are. The StealthCam P12 can help. This affordable game cam shoots day or night, and can take video or stills. Check out our review.