Sportsmans News

The May Gun of the Month is the Smith& Wesson M&P 340 .357 Magnum revolver. To enter to win this gun and all of the gun of the month giveaways, go to our forum by clicking here and register. You receive one entry for registering and an additional entry for every 25 forum posts. The drawing will be at noon on May 31. Good luck.

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By Josh Harris, Co-Owner of Worldwide Trophy Adventures

If you like hunting here in the West, hunting in awesome country, hunting for trophy animals, and also like hunting with a great outfitter, then J&J Outfitters is a great choice for you. J&J Outfitters is located right here in our home state of Utah and is owned and operated by Jed and Jenni Wayment of Henefer, Utah. They manage thousands of acres of private hunting ground throughout the state of Utah and offer quality fair-chase hunting for trophy mule deer, elk, Shiras moose, and mountain lions. They have guaranteed tags on most of their ranches and they run professional, high-quality hunting camps, with knowledgeable and experienced guides to provide you with some awesome hunting. No matter how extreme or novice you are as a hunter, these guys have been doing it for a long time and they seem to pull it off no matter what type of client they are hunting with. Continue Reading

Here is last week’s episode recap from Gary, who works at the gun counter in the Reno, NV Sportsman’s Warehouse.

This week we come back to the range fully rested having the previous day completely off from production. The six of us are feeling good and very comfortable in our new green jerseys. As we walk up to the practice range, I can see a familiar pistol sitting on the table next to Colby. It is the FNH 5.7 chambered in 5.7x28mm. It is a pistol I have fired on several occasions and it is one I am confident with. In fact it is a weapon in which we stock here at Sportsman’s Warehouse although they are considered exotic. Continue Reading

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The gun giveaway for April is the Taurus Millennium Pro 140SSp. To register to win this great pistol and for all of the gun of the month giveaways, log onto our forum and register. Additionally, you will receive an additional entry for every 25 forum posts you make. Make sure you register so you can join our long list of other winners. Check them out here.

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This week on Top Shot was one of my favorite episodes of the season.  I love exhibition style trick shots! My father and I have studied the best and have duplicated some of their most entertaining shots, so as Colby explains the practice and what we will do at the challenge, I find it hard not to smile.  I know that precision shooting is something everyone in this competition is capable of, but some of the types of trick shots are not what most people practice, especially in a crowd of military/law enforcement trained shooters.  Advantage: Gary and the Red team! Continue Reading

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I have now been on two different hunts with Steve Jones Back Country Hunts and both of them were for Aoudad in west Texas.  We have been successful on every trip and I get more and more respect for these critters each and every time I chase them.  They will challenge your glassing techniques because they blend so well with their surroundings.   They are one of the smartest and most elusive animals that I have ever had the pleasure of hunting.  We always hunt them the first quarter of the year when everything else is closed. Continue Reading

By Jason Campbell

Yep, I have heard it a number of times already this year. One friend from Arizona missed the Nevada application period for the second year running and “Lost” all of the points that he had been building! What is he going to do now? The first thing to do is log on to huntdraws.com. For $2.99 the service would have reminded him not once, but six times for each of the application periods in any state. That’s right, “Each” of the application periods for a state. That friend of ours that missed his draws in Nevada would still be building points for sheep, deer and elk. For $2.99 the service would have sent him three text messages and three emails, for each of the application periods, prompting him to enter the draw. How many states do you have to keep track of the draw periods in? Have you ever forgotten one? Odds are that you have. Huntdraws.com is one more tool that you can count on to help you remember the application periods in each and every state that is important to you. Continue Reading

This week on Top Shot as we walked up to the practice range, I could see Colby with a big smile on his face standing with an enormous tarp-covered weapon behind him.  At this point I knew it had to be either a cannon or a Gatling gun.  Colby unveils an 1898 3.2 inch bag gun that quite possibly was at San Juan Hill during the Spanish American War!! I’m thinking to myself, this is why I wanted to be in this competition! Although I have fired cannons before, during my Civil War reenactment days, I have never fired one for accuracy. Continue Reading

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Congratulations to Bethany Faber of Minnesota on winning the Smith & Wesson M&P15 in the March gun giveaway. Bethany, please give us a call on Monday so we can arrange to ship you your prize. (435) 865-1680.

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This week on Top Shot Red team is coming off two consecutive wins and we are flying high! We are up two members to the blue team — seven of us and only five of them.  As I am walking up to the practice range, I can see Colby’s big smile and to his side is a flintlock pistol!  I’m thinking to myself, finally a gun that gives me, and thus my team, a distinct advantage over the Blue team.  I have a feeling few people in this crowd of experienced shooters have shot black powder firearms, let alone a flintlock.  However, I know that since we are up two members, Blue team gets to sit two of us out. Continue Reading

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It is hard to believe that it has been a year since the Sportsman’s News team originally went to west Texas to hunt with and evaluate Steve Jone Backcountry Hunts. It has been exactly one full year though. Josh Harris of Worldwide Trophy Adventures and Sportsman’s News Pro Staffer was the primary hunter on that trip and he tagged a whopper 33″ Aoudad on the 2nd day of the hunt. Sportsman’s News team member Kevin Orton whacked a good 28 incher on the last day of the hunt. I toted my bow till the end and came home empty handed, but I rebooked with Steve before we even left last year. Tomorrow will be our first day out in the field for a late afternoon hunt and I left my bow at home. I have my Browning X-Bolt in .300 WSM with me and it is topped with my Vortex HS LR rifle scope. That spells revenge for Mike Deming (I hope!) Service is very limited near the metropolis of Marfa, Texas where we will be hunting 40,000 acres of free range Barbary Sheep, but we will make additional posts if we make it back to town. If not, we will make sure we post the photos when we return to the office on the 1st of April.

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By Gary Shank
The Red team is confident after a huge victory that the Blue team will continue to implode, leading to continued Red team domination.  They just lost Michelle, a member who meant a lot to many of the members of the Blue team.  Our spirits are high and we feel ready for whatever Colby will throw at us! Continue Reading

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Spring snow geese in Colorado doesn’t get any better than this.  Guy Perkins of Camp Chef, Bart Miller and Adam Nicosia of Goal Zero and myself had a great morning shoot during our hunt last week with Mike Adams of Webbed Feet Down in northeastern Colorado.  Our group of eight hunters downed 125 snows in two days!

Television Producer

Do you love the great outdoors? Is hunting and fishing your passion? Do you have experience in non-linear video editing, social media networking, and web programming? Have you never uttered the words “that’s not my job”? Sportsman’s News Television is looking for a talented and eager producer to help film, edit, and promote this expanding television program.

Applicants should:

• Be familiar with non-linear video editing with Apple Final Cut Pro
• Have experience using Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and other social media networking to promote our programming
• Have experience with website design and use of WordPress and PHP
• Have a flexible schedule that allows them to work weekends and odd hours
• Love to travel
• Be familiar with hunting and fishing
• Be artistic and creative
• Be teachable and desire to learn new skills
• Live in or be willing to relocate to Cedar City, UT

Interested applicants should send their resume, salary requirements, and two (2) sample videos to Sportsman’s News, 2322 W. Industry Way, Cedar City, UT 84721 or email them with links to their videos at info@sportsmansnews.com.

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Cover photo: WTA Owner Josh Harris with his 2011 Brown Bear taken with WTA Certified Alaska Outfitter #031.

By Josh Harris
Owner of Worldwide Trophy Adventures

Over the past several months I have spoken to a lot of clients while booking hunts all over the world. These clients have been scattered from all over from the East to West Coasts of the United States, and some of them being from outside of the country. The range of hunting and fishing expertise of these clients has ranged from veteran and intermediary clients to beginner more novice clients. Some of them have been Eastern Hunters coming out West to hunt or fish, and some of them have been from right here in the West booking hunts or trips in the East. One common thing that has really stood out to me in my conversations with the more veteran clients is that most of them have at least one horrible story to tell about what I call “Train Wrecks” that they have experienced with outfitters that they personally booked on their own. Now you noticed that I used the words “Personally Booked”. I’m not saying that a person can’t book his or her own hunt and have a hunt of a lifetime. What I am saying is that it only takes one bad experience or “Train Wreck” to never make the same mistake again. What I know and what I want you to know, is that; “A “Train Wreck” Isn’t Mandatory If You Choose to Hunt or Fish with Outfitters”! The majority of the veteran stories told were first-time experiences with outfitters that they knew nothing about. Most of the time the stories relate back to a hunt or trip booked at a show, a banquet, or on an online auction or website. For the more beginner or intermediate hunters and fisherman, I know that it is exciting to do the research and ultimately find a deal that seems too good to pass up and buy it. And it is also exciting to be sitting at your computer on an online auction and end up the lucky bidder at a ridiculous price. I have heard it all. I have done it once myself. And yes, I said “ONCE”! I will never do it again. My Alaska Brown Bear hunt ended up costing me twice the money and time, and I would have been much further ahead if I would have booked with the right outfitter the first time. My second trip for the same species was a dream-come-true because I went with the right outfitter. Continue Reading

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Congratulations to NEILT, winner of the Smith and Wesson Governor in .45 LC, .45 ACP, and .410 shotgun. NEIL has 543 posts to the Sportsman’s News Forum, giving him a total of 22 entries in the drawing.  The username NEILT belongs to Neil Thompson of Montana. Neil, give us a call at the Sportsman’s News office at 435-865-1680 to arrange for us to send your prize to the nearest FFL.