Hunting Tips

Antelope hunting is one of the most enjoyable and action packed hunts in the west! For me hunting trips are meant to be an escape from stress, a chance to bond with your hunting partners and a way to just have a good old time in general.  It can be tough to accomplish this on your more pressure packed hunts, say for trophy whitetail or dall sheep, but the antelope is perfect.  Normally, antelope are in abundance in their typical home range.  They spend their time in wide open sagebrush … [Read more...]

Following this weeks spring bear hunting theme, today I want to talk about the perhaps the finest hunt in the world, coastal grizzly and black bear hunting! Every spring in Alaska when the first bears emerge from the den, they wipe the sand from their eyes and decide they want to get the heck down out of the snow.  Black bear or brown bear alike, this means if they live in a coastal region they'll head for the beaches, where the first green shoots of sedge grass that will be easy on their … [Read more...]

The opportunity to hunt bear in the spring is something I look forward to every year. It's a chance to shake off the affects of old man winter and roam the mountains where the new growth and promise of spring time abound.  There are three basic ways to hunt bear here in Idaho, all having their positive aspects, spot and stalk, hound hunting and baiting. 1.  Spot and stalk bear hunting is probably the most challenging of the three as far as success rates are concerned.  What's wonderful … [Read more...]

Getting lost while we're hunting, however rare, should be a important subject to every hunter! It can happen in the Eastern hardwoods while chasing after whitetail,  the Western Rockies while hunting for elk or Alaska while in quest of moose, sheep or caribou.  What makes this subject so important is obviously the fatal repercussions of not making the correct decisions when the circumstance arises.  So today I'll offer a few quick tips, that hopefully will help if such a situation ever … [Read more...]

How does winter affect our big game populations? As I look out the window a few snow flakes are falling in, what I can only describe as, one of the most mild winters I can remember.   It got me to thinking how the game should fare well and gives me good hope for the hunting season ahead.  But how do winters affect our big game populations?  In the west, the deer, moose and elk are front and center through those cold months.  As well as in Alaska, where the moose and caribou face a winter … [Read more...]

One of the quickest ways to ruin a special hunt is to have a bad personality in camp. There isn't much info on it, but trust me, the quickest way for you to have a bad experience, whether your hunting in the wilderness of Alaska or the Africa bush is to have a sour grape in your group.  What do I mean by this statement?  A sour grape is a member of your group who decides that no matter what, they are not gonna have a good time.  The biggest problem is that the poor attitude can spread … [Read more...]

Correct field dressing techinques in Alaska are of the utmost importance! Whether your hunting the hulking bull moose, the nomadic caribou or the reagle dall sheep, how you preserve your meat is just as important as how you preserve the trophy aspects of your game.  The edible portions of your kill, dilectable in deed, can bring about just as man fond memories of the hunts as a mount on the wall. The first step in Alaska game care is to render it as soon as possible.  Non desireable portions … [Read more...]

What if you could only have one rifle to hunt whitetail deer, elk, moose, grizzly, etc.? Thankfully most of us don't have to make that decision.  We can afford at least a few different weapons specifically for the purpose of smaller and larger game.  Still its an interesting question, what if we could only choose one?  What caliber would be the best?  What caliber will work for both a sitka black tail deer and the continents top predator the formidable brown bear.  What caliber has the … [Read more...]

Buck fever can happen to any hunter while hunting any type of big game. Whether you are in Alaska, out west or in Africa buck fever can strike at any time.  So today I'd like to take a stab at helping you avoid this all to common occurrence.  Next time you have that big whitetail, monster bull elk or lumbering grizzly bear in your sights, hopefully these hints will help you stave off disaster! 1.  Visualize and attack!  In the early stages of a hunt it has always payed off for me to … [Read more...]

If you're on the hunt of a lifetime, it obviously will pay big dividends to be proficient at judging trophy bull elk. Elk aren't as hard as some species to score on the hoof but still there are some tricks that you need to be aware.  When most novice elk hunters see their first bull the only thing they can compare it to is a whitetail back home to which their body and antlers dwarf.  Elk are more complicated than that however.  There are several factors  the hunter should keep in mind when … [Read more...]