Sportsmans News

Ryan Dethlefsen

Deer season brings with it an aura that can’t be found anywhere else.  The Dethlefsen household  is no exception to this rule.  There is an attitude change in the members of our tiny clan as the time stretches on into the fall, closer and closer to the rifle deer season.   Every year brings with it a plethora of memories that will undoubtedly last a lifetime.  Though we kids are slowly leaving the house in pursuit of lives of our own, deer season is one of the constants that bring us all back together year after year.  The 2011 Nebraska deer hunt is without a doubt one of the most memorable to date. Continue Reading

Join the forum discussion on this post

By Craig E. Kimball

Normally, an over the counter hunter, I decided to use my preference points and hunt public land in Colorado near my longtime friend and former student, Mark Alward. He had described this area as tough to get to with plenty of elk and a fair number of bulls in the 250 to 300 class. Having shot a few bulls already in that range, I was hoping for something bigger. As always, the preparation began long before the hunt with tuning, shooting from various positions in varying conditions, calling practice; and, of course, antelope hunting. Spot and stalking speed goats in open terrain sharpens the senses and skills. Continue Reading

By Seth Holcomb

Last June I received a phone call from my excited 16 year old cousin, Preston, who explained to me that he had finally drawn the youth only either sex elk hunt in October.  This was a hunt that he unsuccessfully tried to draw for five years.  Preston has been hunting with me for the last eight years and has become one of my regular hunting partners.  The first time I took him hunting he was just eight years old and it was one of the coldest hunts I’d ever been on. It was a late December cow hunt, and despite the cold he stuck right by my side without complaint for three days. Although we did not see any elk for those three days, the sparkle in his eye and his excitement never wavered.  Preston had to return to school, so he missed seeing me bring down a cow the next day, but when I called him with the good news I could tell by his excitement he was hooked! Continue Reading

Join the forum discussion on this post

By Doug Burkman

I have looked forward to an Alaska Brown Bear hunt for over 40 years.  I finally realized that goal this spring when after nearly a year of planning my friend Cody Davis and I boated to the north end of Revillagegado Island to hunt brown bears. As we arrived in the area we planned to hunt we saw what appeared to be a beaver swimming a small channel.  We looked through our binoculars only to find that what appeared to be a beaver was a brown bear swimming the channel. Continue Reading

Join the forum discussion on this post

By Ken Judd

When my good friend Dan called and asked, “How about coming out to my place and shooting a buck this Fall?” there was only one possible answer.  The arrangements were quickly made.  I got lucky in the draw so I was all set for a good hunt in December. Continue Reading

Join the forum discussion on this post

By Grant Olsen

A light rain drizzled around us when we arrived at the airport in Juneau. The family friend who had come to pick us up informed me that this was one of the wettest summers in the past forty years. I heard the roar of engines overhead and looked up in time to see a column of helicopters heading off to the east. Continue Reading

Join the forum discussion on this post

By Mark Gardner

It was October and an acquaintance of mine from Indiana by way of California said he’d like to try elk hunting. I knew him from church and he was referred to as Crazy Dave. After some inquiry I found that he got his nickname after nailing a deacon’s toolbelt to the floor during a work party at church. Doesn’t matter if you’re a rocket scientist, have conquered world hunger or what you’ve done up to that point, one small indiscretion and the rest of your life you’re Crazy Dave.

Believing he was somewhat harmless (I would find out just how harmless later) I agreed to take him elk hunting. He would have to hunt in Colorado’s general over the counter season which is crowded. The success rates are dismally low especially for trophy bulls which he planned on shooting because of my reputation. He really was crazy! Continue Reading

Join the forum discussion on this post

By Andrew Scott
My wife and I like a good adventure.  To qualify as a good adventure, it needs to have breathtaking scenery, lots of excitement, some unexpected events, good company, good food and be somewhat gentle on the budget.  We are always on the lookout for a good hunting or fishing trip that we can also include some other type of adventure.   After exploring  the internet and devouring articles from the Sportsman’s News for most of 2009, I boldly announced to my wife we were heading  back to Alaska to stock up on halibut and salmon and whatever else the ocean might  feel charitable to give up.   Our first trip together there in 2007 filled our freezer with wonderful Homer halibut fillets, but the supply was running low. Continue Reading

By Sue Bashista

I never wanted to go north and “freeze to death” on a vacation, but I agreed to go with my husband on a Wild Alaska Cruise; in other words, a fishing trip.  If Larry Csonka and Tred Barta did it, then it was enough endorsement for my husband, Steve and brother-in-law, John.  The arrangements were made a year and a half before at a Sportsman’s Show in Reno, Nevada.  However, this first trip is not the one I want to talk about.  Believe it or not, the first cruise was so great we did it again two years later with our grandsons. Continue Reading

Join the forum discussion on this post

By Dave Wardell

I grew up in Denver and my first memories of hunting were with my dad when he took me pheasant hunting in Eastern Colorado when I was eight years old.  During my growing up years, and into high school I began archery hunting for mule deer, elk, antelope, and mountain lion with a friend whose dad was a lion-bear outfitter.  In fact, that leads me to the title of this article “shed hunting”.  During many of my trips into the mountains hunting big game, I would find elk and deer antler sheds.  Also along the waterways when waterfowl hunting, I would pick up whitetail deer antlers.  But this story is really about turkey hunting from the “shed”. Wild turkey is my favorite game bird to hunt.  I’ve been blessed to harvest a significant number of turkeys, and completed my Grand Slam when I killed an Osceola in Central Florida in 1996.   Continue Reading