This article is one of many from our Aoudad Prep Series

Can you eat Aoudad?

You’re damn right you can. Is it the easiest game meat to prepare? No. However, it really isn’t that much different than other “tough” species like Mountain Goat or Ibex. The name of the game is to fight the texture via slow cooking, cutting thin pieces of meat and/or grinding the meat.

I personally believe the bias against eating big Aoudad rams is more cultural than anything else. Folks say “they smell like hell” or “my dog won’t even eat that rank meat”. Yes, a big ram does stink but so does a slammer big horn sheep or a bull elk who has spent the past two weeks of the rut pissing all over his belly and front legs. Be careful how you take care of the animal in the field, and aoudad meat smells just like other game meats. When I have prepared it, most folks describe the taste as mild, almost lean beef-like.

Cliff and Amy’s Aoudad Tacos Recipe

This recipe throws in the three important components to any Mountain Goat, Ibex or Aoudad preparation: 1) Physical Texture – We slice the meat thin. 2) Lean – We add a little pork fat for taste and extra fat. 3) Cooking Texture – We slow cook the meat for about 1 hr. This taco recipe is basic and doesn’t include any specific amounts or exact cooking times. Make it to your taste.

Ingredients

• Purple Onion
• Cornstarch
• Limes
• Fresh Garlic
• Corn Tortillas
• Red Chili – I use Blue Ribbon Medium Hot
• Fatty Pork Cut – I use shoulder roast
• Aoudad Back Strap
• Butter
• Salt and Pepper

You will need a deep stock pot and a large skillet.

Step 1 – Prepare the Meat

One of the most important components of preparing game meat is to remove all the silver skin, hair, dirt, etc… A lot of this can be done in the field, but tidy it all up before cooking.

Separate the muscle groups on the backstrap and slice into 6-12″ pieces so you can better remove everything except the red meat.

Next, cut thin slices across the grain of the backstrap. Shooting for slices 1/4″ thick is a good target.

Once you have all the slices done, push them together in batches and cut across the meat. The result is best described as “diced”.

When I add any domestic meat/fat to wild game meat, I try to use as little as possible so I retain most the healthy aspects of the game meat. For this preparation, using a well trimmed yet fatty pork shoulder, I used roughly 1/6th the amount of the shoulder relative to aoudad meat. Unlike the aoudad, I cut the pork shoulder into larger chunks around 1×1 inch squares. Mix the pork with the aoudad and season with salt and pepper.

Step 2 – Brown the Meat

Start off by cutting some fresh garlic and adding it to a hot pan with an ample amount of butter. Don’t skimp on that butter! Next, slowly add the meat. As the meat cooks on high heat, periodically stir. You want the meat to brown with a golden color before turning the heat off. The meat should be completely cooked on the outside, but retain it’s “juicyness”.

Step 3 – Slow Cook in Chili

This is where it starts to get fun. First, move the browned meat into a deep stock pot. Next, add the Blue Ribbon red chili with a cup of water. As we slowly cook the meat in the chili over low heat, we will get a reduction in the chili. The water mitigates some of the natural thickening and keeps all the meat covered while cooking with the chili. Stir occasionally and cook on low heat for 1-1.5 hrs.

As you get close to being done cooking the meat, use small amounts of cornstarch and water to thicken/thin the chili sauce to the consistency you prefer. For making tacos, you need the sauce to be close to syrup thickness. When using cornstarch, never quit stirring or it will ball-up into little gross dumplings.

Step 4 – Serve

This is all up to personal preference. We chop up some fresh onion and lettuce, warm up corn tortillas, cut limes, and serve with cilantro. Enjoy!

Along with bobcats and black bears, coyotes are one of the few remaining predators of white-tailed deer following the extirpation—regional extinction—of cougars and wolves in Pennsylvania. Many deer hunters believe that “coyotes keep down the white-tailed deer population.” This has led to many coyotes being killed by deer hunters in the name of “saving” the deer herd, but is this true? No. Coming to this seemingly simply answer requires an understanding of population dynamics—how populations change over time—and the ecology of both species.

Following birth, death is the most significant event in an individual animal’s life. What killed an animal is significant to the individual, but on a population level, the individual’s death and cause of death is relatively unimportant. All that matters is how many individuals died in a year (deathrate), how many animals were born (birthrate), how many animals immigrate or emigrate to or from an area, and how many animals reach reproductive status (recruitment). In Pennsylvania, the deathrate of adult white-tailed deer tends to be stable and mainly driven by hunting. Recruitment is the number of fawns that mature into adult deer. This determines future populations, as mature deer are the only individuals that breed. In Pennsylvania, a deer that survives the hunting season has a 90% chance of surviving to the next year, so fawn survival is an important driver of deer population dynamics.

In some places, coyotes keep white-tailed deer recruitment rate low, but in Pennsylvania they do not. Predation is more complex than the simple killing of animals. The effects of predation are broken down into two types: compensatory or additive. Compensatory predation is when predators do not add to the deathrate: the animals that they kill would not have survived the year regardless of predators. Here is an example to better understand this complex topic: in a hypothetical Pennsylvania forest where there are no predators present, two deer die a year from starvation or disease. Then, coyotes enter the forest and eat two deer per year, but deer do not die from any other causes (such as starvation). In this example, predation is compensatory. To make this predation additive, two deer would die (from starvation or other causes) and two additional deer would die from coyotes per year. This woulddouble the annual death rate from two tofour deer per year, thus making predation additive.

For the most part, coyotes in Pennsylvania are compensatory predators of deer. This means, they do not impact a deer population. The deer they eat probably would not have survived the year. This finding has been demonstrated by several studies, one study looked at the deer populations in the Southeast and East Coast, which had recently been colonized by coyotes. If coyote predation was additive then deer populations would go down, but that is not what the study found. It found that deer populations increased following coyote colonization. Another study in South Carolina removed coyotes from a large area for three years, and the researchers found that the deer population was largely unaffected by removal. Instead of being eaten by coyotes, fawns died from other causes like starvation and disease. A study in Delaware reported that only 45% of monitored fawns were still alive 90 days after birth, but not one of the monitored fawns was killed by predators. Again, fawns died of disease, starvation, and vehicle collisions.

A study on fawn survival in Pennsylvania found areas with and without large predators including coyotes, black bears, and bobcats, had a similar survival rate. The study found that the mother is more important to a fawn’s chance of surviving than predators. If she is stressed (by humans or poor habitat), she cannot produce enough nutritious milk to feed her fawn(s). Doe age also has been found to have an impact on fawn survival, older does had higher fawn survival rates. Mature, experienced does are more likely to choose birthing sites with security cover and adequate food nearby. Young inexperienced does typically are left with less secure birthing sites and must travel farther from their fawn(s) to find food.

The Delaware study found that the greatest predictor of fawn survival is weight; fawns that are underweight are prone to higher mortality than heavier fawns. Underweight fawns are more susceptible to cold and rain and therefore more likely to contract disease. An inch of rain in one day doubles the risk of death in an underweight fawn. A heavy fawn is better able to regulate body temperature when wet or chilled. Underweight fawns are also more likely to get caught by predators than those at a healthy weight.

Understanding coyote predation also requires understanding the life history and ecology of coyotes and deer. It is generally accepted that only predators 50lbs or more can consistently take down healthy adult deer without the help of outside forces like injury, disease, or deep snow. Thus, only the largest coyotes could consistently prey on adult deer. This does not mean that coyotes do not eat deer. A recent review of the diet of coyotes, found that cervids (deer, elk, and moose) were the most common food item in their diet followed by rodents, plants, and rabbits and hares. The review could not differentiate between animals that were hunted or scavenged, and according to the study’s author it is likely that most of the cervids that are eaten were probably scavenged (e.g. roadkill, hunter-killed, or individuals that died from other causes).

Since coyotes struggle to take down healthy adult deer, they mainly predate fawns. But fawns are hard to find, they are camouflaged, almost scentless, and spend most of the day motionless in dense vegetation. If a fawn survives its first 30 days, it is highly likely to survive to adulthood, as it will be able to outrun potential predators.

Deer also avoid predation by “predator swamping”. This is when all does give birth around the same time each spring. By doing this, there are so many fawns on the landscape that predators cannot find and eat them all. If a coyote can find and eat one fawn, it will be satiated for a few days giving the rest of the fawns a better chance at surviving the crucial first 30 days. By giving birth in the spring, does are setting themselves up for success as this is the time of year when plants are the most plentiful and nutritious. This not only allows does to produce the most wholesome milk possible, but it also maximizes the potential cover for fawns, so they can better hide from predators.

If the goal of coyote population reduction is to increase deer populations, time and money would be better spent on deer habitat improvements than on coyote control. Proper habitat management increases available food and cover in a forest. Improved habitat conditions not only allow fawns to better escape predation it also reduce stress on does, increasing fawn birthweights and allowing them to produce more nutritious milk. Stress on females can also be reduced by establishing “reserve” areas or sanctuaries on a property where recreation does not occur or is limited. Limiting the use of motor vehicle and high-impact recreation in spring when fawns are especially vulnerable will help their survival.

It is important to remember that even with the best management, deer herd size will always be limited by habitat carrying capacity, the number of animals an area can support. Proper habitat improvement practices can increase carrying capacity. However, it does not go away, and there will always be a limit to the number of healthy deer an area can support.

References

Alex J. Jensen, Courtney J. Marneweck, John C. Kilgo, David S. Jachowski. 2021. Geographic and Seasonal Patterns in Coyote Diet. Proceedings of the 44th Annual Southeastern Deer Group Study.

John C. Kilgo, Mark Vukovich, H. Scott Ray, Christopher E. Shaw, Charles Ruth. 2014. Coyote Removal, Understory Cover, and Survival of White‐Tailed Deer Neonates. The Journal of Wildlife Management.

Justin R. Dion. 2018. Neonatal Survival and Spatial Ecology of Adult Female White-Tailed Deer in the Functional Absence of Predators. Thesis at the University of Delaware.

Justin K. Vreeland, Duane R. Diefenbach, and Bret D. Wallingford. 2004. Survival Rates, Mortality Causes, and Habitats of Pennsylvania White-Tailed Deer Fawns. Wildlife Society Bulletin.

Tess M. Gingery, Duane R. Diefenbach, Bret D. Wallingford, Christopher S. Rosenberry. 2018. Landscape-Level Patterns in Fawn Survival Across North America. The Journal of Wildlife Management.

Todd M. Kautz, Jerrod L Belant, Dean E. Beyer Jr., Bronson K. Strickland, Tyler R Petroelje, Rahel Sollmann. 2019. Predator Densities and White-Tailed Deer Fawn Survival. The Journal of Wildlife Management.

Reviewed by David Jackson

Perhaps it’s because I’m an admitted deer geek, but I find whitetail anatomy absolutely fascinating. It’s come to the point where — when I’m hunting and decide I’m going to shoot a deer — I can’t focus on the deer itself.

I start focusing on bits and pieces of the deer. The whitetail’s arteries are among these “bits and pieces.”

Take the femoral artery, for example. That’s the one thing the absolutely jumped out at me the first time I looked at this Browning Trail Camera image of an adult doe. Yes, the doe is awfully pretty — standing there almost broadside (technically slightly quartering to), and she seems to be heading into fall in optimum health.

But just look at that bulging artery in her leg! Quite dramatic, isn’t it?

More About Deer Anatomy

Wisconsin’s Norman Johnson and Alabama’s Dr. Phillip Bishop are two experts in this subject matter, and I’ve had the pleasure of working closely with both of them to help educate millions of whitetail bowhunters on the nuances and associated science connected with femoral artery wounds in deer.

In his work with D&DH, Johnson reminds us of how the upper hindquarters of a deer are a highly blood-rich region, just below where the aorta bifurcates (branches) to a network of other arteries, deep femoral and common femoral arteries, terminating in the lower legs. The vascularity (blood supply) to the entire rear end, including the hams, presents a very effective killing shot for a sharp, well-placed broadhead.

“While working 25 years in the field of radiology directly performing angiography on all parts of the human body, we clearly demonstrated the highly vascular blood supply to this entire region,” he continued. “Man and animal share a direct resemblance in anatomical and physiological makeup, as blood is pumped to all regions of the body. Main arteries resemble the roots of a tree comprised of divisions that branch and re-branch, finally forming smaller vessels. A large enough, razor-sharp broadhead is imperative as an anti-prothrombin (coagulation) measure.”

Both the late John Trout Jr. and Chuck Adams coined the phrase, “The deer (should be) (is) in a big heap of trouble” referring to the rear-end shot. Adams wrote this in his book, “The Complete Book of Bowhunting” (1978): “I’ve personally shot over a dozen deer in the rear-end and none went over 100 yards before keeling over.”

Trout, widely considered one of the foremost experts on blood-trailing whitetails, was more reserved. He said he had recovered many whitetails shot through the hips, even when the femoral artery was missed. He concluded: “Nonetheless, a hip shot is not a shot that any hunter should take intentionally.”

The Whitetail’s Femoral Artery

Dr. Phillip Bishop of the University of Alabama has taught us a lot about deer physiology over the years. The femoral artery topic is one instance where he shed light on what used to be a rather taboo subject, especially among bowhunters.

“Because high blood flow requires high blood pressure, the femoral arteries carry blood under very high pressure when the muscles are working hard,” Bishop writes. “Once the arteries branch several times, they are lined with smooth muscle that can tighten and reduce the diameter of the blood vessels. Every time the vessel diameter is reduced by half, the blood fl ow is reduced by a factor of 16.”

Conversely, he continued, the muscles lining the arteries can also expand, and when the diameter doubles, blood flow increases by a factor of 16. The blood flow increase from smallest to largest is like comparing a garden hose to a fireman’s hose.

“When a large artery, like the femoral artery, is cut, the high arterial pressure causes very rapid blood loss. With every contraction of the heart, the pressure rises and blood is pushed out. In the case of a shotgun slug through the hams, the blood pressure causes the bright red, oxygen-rich arterial blood to spray out impressively, leaving the biggest blood trail we’re likely ever to see from a whitetail.”

When the deer runs or jumps, the pressure rises and the spray is even more widely dispersed.

“The rapid loss of blood from the femoral artery, or any other major artery, causes a rapid and merciful death. Plus, a deer with a major arterial wound that has an exit outside the body will leave an easy blood trail. I have read accounts of deer expiring very quickly when one or both femoral arteries are severed.,” Bishop concludes.

The bottom line: All of these insights should be used to add depth and breadth to your knowledge of white-tailed deer anatomy. Contrary to the opinions of some of my bloodbrothers (and sisters), I would never, ever purposefully shoot a deer “in the ass” on the hopes my broadhead would severe the femoral artery. It is true: A razor-sharp broadhead to the femoral artery will put a deer down quickly, but the odds of this happening on purpose are extremely small. Granted, accidents happen. A twig deflect and arrow. You flinch badly at the shot. Etc. It happens, and if you shoot at enough deer, odds are it will happen to you.

In that event, knowing precisely where the artery is located and how it works are critical pieces of information that can help you decide which next moves to make.

The Mathematics of Deer Blood

The average white-tailed deer of about 150 pounds in live weight carries at least eight pints of blood in its arterial system. For a bowhunter to easily recover a wounded deer, the blood loss must be extensive. A deer will have to lose at least 35 percent of its total blood volume for the hunter to recover it rapidly. That means a loss of at least 2. pints of blood in the case of a 150-pound buck. The quicker the blood loss, the sooner you will recover the animal.

According to Professor Aaron Moen, a deer biologist at Cornell University, a running white-tailed deer has three times the heart rate of a bedded deer.

Why would we want to wait and allow the deer to bed down after being wounded? Any shock the bow-hunter hopes to inflict on a whitetail will only result through great and rapid loss of blood. Applying basic mathematics to his findings on wounded deer behavior, blood loss and shock, University of Pennsylvania researchers once presented us with this interesting and speculative scenario of a hard-hit 150-pound deer leaving a blood trail of l00 yards. They cited an example of a deer wounded to the extent of leaving a very well-defined blood trail indicative of arterial or other heavy bleeding caused by the arrow passing completely through the deer:

“This deer would have to lose 52 ounces, or about 3. pints of blood before collapse,” they reported. “Internal blood loss would have to extend to 41 ounces, or about 2ó pints to stop the deer within the trail distance of 100 yards. In other words, the internal loss rate would have to be almost four times that of the external rate in order to down the deer. Average internal blood loss needed would be .41 ounces per yard; the external rate, .11 ounces per yard.”

Final Thoughts

How far can a deer run before collapsing after a major artery has been severed? How many yards can it run before going down? In his book The Deer of North America, Leonard Lee Rue III estimates that a deer with a major rupture of its arterial system can probably run for approximately 85 to 120 seconds on the oxygen in its bloodstream and brain: “Running at a speed of 35 mph, the deer could potentially run 3,850 feet in 85 seconds, or 5,390 feet in 120 seconds. Although it is not likely that a deer will run this far, the potential exists.”

Put glide baits to use when you find that next big fall blitz of bass and blues.

There’s nothing quite like standing on shore with hundreds or thousands of fish blasting bait out of the water mere feet in front of me. The energy, chaos and visual aspects of an inshore “blitz” are intoxicating. Conversely, often the most frustrating days fishing are when I have a seemingly endless glut of fish in front of me but I cannot catch a single one! Sometimes I could almost reach down and grab them, but cast after cast, they snub my offering and leave me ready to throw my rod into the surf. A similar scenario, albeit somewhat less frustrating, is when I see large fish slashing and attacking bait, yet all I’m catching is small schoolies.

This seems to happen more than one would think. If you have a few years fishing the salt under your belt, you may have experienced it. However, I always believe there’s a way around it; after all, the fish are there and feeding with reckless abandon, so the hard part is taken care of. Yet, despite the fish not taking their offering, some anglers insist on just casting the same plug or two over and over into the melee, hoping something will change. What they are thinking I can only guess, but I believe they assume that because the fish are feeding aggressively that it’s just a matter of time before they catch something.

This is not a good tactic. Waiting for the fish to cooperate is inviting the skunk—you need to go on the offensive and figure out what they want. Even if I’m catching a fish every handful of casts in a blitz, I’m not content. If the fish are going bananas at my feet, I should be hooking up every cast. One way I have recently begun to increase my catch numbers in these classic fall blitzes is to fish glide baits heavily. Sometimes called stick baits, these plugs are the perfect blitz busting plugs.

Glide baits originated in freshwater fishing—specifically musky fishing—and they quickly became popular with fishermen at the Cape Cod Canal. While they have proven to be extremely successful for anglers up and down the coast, they remain somewhat underutilized by the masses. So much so, I believe I’m letting you in on a personal secret that allows me to out-fish poppers, tins and swimmers by as much as 20 to 1.

Why Glide Baits?

First, glide baits are versatile. Many assume they are only good for areas with current. This is inaccurate. I use them everywhere: on sand beaches, in boulder fields, in big surf, and calm backwaters. The glide baits I use can be fished many different ways: fast and loose, or slow and low, and everything in-between. This is a huge advantage over the ubiquitous poppers used by most anglers during day time blitzes—glide baits can be implemented essentially anywhere, at any time. During a daytime blitz, I start by fishing glide baits with a moderate retrieve and a rapid tip action similar to how I work a pencil, but with smaller jerks of the rod. This puts the glide bait just below the surface, or waking on the surface, making a lot of commotion. Worked with slower tip action, the plug will begin to shoot rhythmically back and forth subsurface, like an underwater spook plug. The action will vary with the specific plug you’re using, but this hyper-erratic motion seems to really draw the fish when surface plugs and swimmers are coming up short.

I also rely heavily on working both small and large glide baits slowly with sharp, random, jerks and twitches. This seems especially effective if stripers and blues are on bunker, or larger baits, where the predators sit below the forage fish waiting for the injured individuals to fall out of the school. Casting a glide bait out, letting it sink for a moment (or longer!) and then working it slowly with erratic twitches, seems to be irresistible to cow bass, and I have landed more than a few big fish using this technique. Just hold on when you twitch it, because that’s nearly always when the hit comes, and it is often violent!

Next, glide baits are deep, big-profile plugs. Even if you’re using the small 1-ounce Sebile Stick Shadd, it is relatively deep for its length. This is in contrast to many other plugs like the SP minnow or a pencil popper, which are slender profiles. This can be a huge advantage if the fish are on deep-bodied baits such as peanut bunker, adult bunker, snapper blues, mullet, etc. However, even if they aren’t, the deeper profile can attract the attention necessary to garner a strike when the surf is a proverbial soup of bait and predators. For example, I was on a spearing blitz last year where the fish were especially picky. Poppers and bucktails were useless, and while I could get them to hit an SP Minnow, the cast-to-hook-up ratio was only about 10:1. Frustrated, I put on a small glide bait and began hooking-up every cast. In this situation, I believe the glide bait was cutting through the noise and making itself seen.

Further, the fat, large profile of a glide bait seems to attract bigger fish. This past September I was fishing a blitz where bass were attacking silver-dollar sized peanut bunker. The bass would roll into the surf riding the white water of a wave, and I only had a short moment to cast to them before they sped back out to deeper water. I started with a small spook plug, and I was immediately into schoolies on every cast. After catching a couple dozen, I began to get bored, and decided to try a glide bait. My first cast was rewarded with a fish pushing 15 pounds, and I landed several more to low-teens. This repeated for three days in a row—schoolies on spooks and poppers, bigger fish on glide baits. I would have had no idea if I hadn’t decided to try the glide bait. It always pays to experiment.

Another key to the blitz-busting capacity of the glide bait is they cast phenomenally. They are no tin, but they cast about as far as a comparable popper. And the larger sizes cast as well as the smaller sizes if used with properly-sized gear. This makes them especially effective if you find yourself on an adult bunker blitz, but the fish are on an outer bar, or if you’re casting into a strong on-shore wind. While a metal lip might be a perfect plug when the fish are on big bunker, good luck casting one into a 30mph on-shore wind. And if the fish won’t take a popper, glide baits offer a similar profile as a metal lip and easily cast twice or three times the distance. Add in the versatility in which you can fish them, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a plug that is better suited for these “bait on the bar” situations.

Finally, glide baits offer another advantage in blitz situations: they can be fished with single trebles or two inline hooks. Whichever you use, it makes no difference in the action or fishablility of the plug, and may even slightly increase the casting distance. When I’m fortunate enough to be in a blitz situation, I want to be able to get the fish off the plug as quickly and safely as possible so I can get back in on the action fast. Fishing with a single hook makes releases much easier on the angler and fish. Wasting time unhooking rear trebles from smaller fish is especially frustrating, and has led to more than a few injuries to my hands and the fish.

Glide Bait Options

I mainly rely on readily-available plastic glide baits. In my plug bag you’ll find the following: the suspending 1-ounce Sebile Stick Shadd, the 1-1/2-ounce Savage Gear Freestyler, the 3-1/4-ounce Freestyler (a personal favorite), and the 3- and 4-ounce slow-sink Sebile Stick Shadds. Sebile offers a staggering array of sizes and weights, and I have used others than those listed, but find the above to be my favorites. It is easy to pack several of these plugs as even the largest slides between the tubes in most surf bags.

A few notes about these plugs. The small Sebile is not through-wired so one must be cautious with drag pressure. I’ve yet to break one, but I’ve bent the hanger substantially even on smaller fish. However, it is the perfect peanut imitator, and worth its small space in your bag. The Savage Gear Freestyler plugs are overall my favorite. They are inexpensive, come with two sets of strong forged hooks and have a thick profile that produces excellent action. For me, they are the more versatile of the two brands. Savage is coming out with a new line of Mackerel glide baits this fall that look phenomenal, but I have yet to test them. The larger Sebiles in slow-sink still sink faster than the Savages, but they cast better, and the increased sink rate makes them useful in a strong surf or current sweep. The fast-sink models are less useful where I fish, but have their time and place in Nor’Easter storm situations.

In addition to the glide baits produced by Sebile and Savage Gear as noted above, several other manufacturers produce similar plugs in plastic form. The Yo-Zuri Diving Slider was produced with pelagics in mind so it has the strength to stand up to most inshore gamefish and produces a great sub-surface side-to-side swim. Rapala produces several glide baits in the X-Rap Saltwater SubWalk, X-Rap Twitchin’ Minnow and X-Rap Long Cast Shallow, Williamson makes the SubSurface Pro, Strategic Angler produces some great crossover glides that work both inshore and off, and Tsunami will be introducing the Surface Striker this winter. On the wooden side, glide baits have become the “in” lure for garage builders to produce the last few years. Several options include glides produced by Fatty Lures, Loki Lures, Surf Asylum, RM Smith and others.

The list goes on and on for plastic and wooden glide baits, so don’t be afraid to try different manufacturers to see what works best for you; just make sure you have a few of these versatile plugs in your bag for the last of the late fall blitzes!

For well over 100 years the most popular configuration in a lever action is a .30-30 caliber carbine with a handy, maneuverable 20-inch barrel. But a few years ago, it looked like the era of readily available lever actions was over as Winchester closed its doors and Marlin experienced production delays after it manufacturing facilities were relocated.

For a while Mossberg was about the only source for a hunting-ready lever action .30-30 with its Model 464, although Winchester and Marlin are now back in the fold as well. So for those of you pining for a new all-American hunting tool, here’s a head-to-head performance review featuring a classic .30-30 carbine from each.

When requesting test samples, I specified 20-inch barrels in .30-30 Win. caliber, in a standard configuration without bells and whistles. Marlin sent its Model 336C, which the company considers its flagship lever action. Although it has several nice but subtle features such as checkering and a grip cap, it’s not fancy. In fact, it’s the second least expensive model the company offers. A thin rubber buttpad does little to dampen recoil but prevents the rifle from slipping and clattering to the tile floor when it’s propped in the kitchen corner. Capable sights, decent straight-grain walnut and a satin metal finish complete the package.

Mossberg provided a sample of its pistol-gripped Model 464. Like the Marlin, it features checkered walnut stocks and a thin rubber buttpad. Sights feature fiber-optic inserts, which are helpful in low light but less robust than simple steel sights. One Model 464 costs less – the straight-gripped version without checkering or fiber optics – but only by $37. The nicer version is worth the dollars.

After the first Winchester I received wouldn’t accept a scope, I swapped it for the 94 Short Rifle, which has the same 20-inch barrel as the carbine but sports a steel fore-end cap and optic compatibility for a measly $30 more. A traditional (and slippery) plastic buttplate graces the carbine, and the clean, straight-grain walnut stocks are free of checkering.

To give each .30-30 carbine a fair and equal shake, I mounted matching Leupold VX-3 2.5-8x32mm riflescopes for accuracy testing. The slim little optic is one of my favorites for any quick-handling, lightweight hunting rifle, and it’s particularly suitable for a lever gun.

I also used Leupold hardware to mount the scopes. Putting an optic on the Marlin was painless. I simply screwed down the mount, installed the rings and leveled up the scope before torqueing the screws to spec.

The Mossberg was equally easy; once I’d obtained the correct bases. Oddly, the carbine takes two of the front bases intended for a Winchester. Once that dilemma was solved and the duplicate hardware obtained, the Leupold mounted up beautifully.

The Winchester base protrudes forward and partially blocks the ejection port, and I was initially concerned it would interfere with ejection, but both empty cases and unfired cartridges ejected without argument. However, all things considered, a pair of No. 403 Weaver cross-slot bases is an easier solution.

With Winchester 94 Short Rifle, the bases and rings screwed into place perfectly. With only low rings on hand, I had to finesse the optic to just the right spot to prevent interference with the rear sight. Medium-height rings would work better unless a scope without a belled objective housing was used.

What with barrel bands, weighty magazine tubes hanging from slender barrels and fore-ends that are anything but free-floated, I suppose it would be kinder to allow one’s .30-30 carbine to cool between groups, but lever actions are often shot fast and frequently, and I wanted to see how well they held their point of impact and accuracy. So I fired three consecutive three-shot groups with each type of ammunition without pause except to reload. I did allow the carbines to cool thoroughly between ammo types.

To my surprise, accuracy didn’t deteriorate materially as the barrels heated, and in the case of the Winchester – which started out good – accuracy got even better. Nor did point of impact wander appreciably.

Also surprising is that the Winchester averaged the best overall accuracy. Many Marlin aficionados will boast that rifles from their favored company will outshoot the average Winchester, but in these new-made lever guns the Winchester ruled. Although each of the other two produced sub-two-m.o.a. averages with one type of ammunition, the Winchester scored sub-two-m.o.a. with two of the three types of test ammo.

As you’ll see by perusing the accuracy charts, the Marlin preferred Barnes VOR-TX 150-grain TSX ammo, the Mossberg shot the Hornady LeverEvolution 160-grain Flex-Tip best, and the Winchester – perhaps appropriately – shot Winchester 170-grain Power-Point into tidy groups indeed. It fact, it shaded just outside of one m.o.a., eyebrow-raising accuracy from a lever gun.

It’s interesting to note that the faster-twist rifles, the Marlin and the Mossberg, shot bullets in the lighter-weight range better, while the Winchester’s slower 1:12 twist provided best accuracy with the heavier 170-grain bullets. That’s counterintuitive to conventional bullet-stabilizing expectations – until you factor in the extra length of the all-copper Barnes 150-grain TSX and the boattailed, polymer-tipped Hornady 160-grain Flex-Tip. Although the 170-grain Winchester is heavier, its flat-nosed, flat-base, lead-core design makes it easy to stabilize.

I also tested for reliability. Why? As one buddy would put it, “There’s a picture of a lever action beside the definition of ‘reliability’ in the dictionary.” Perhaps I have an extraordinary ability to make things malfunction and break, but I’ve used lots of gun designs that should never jam yet they do. So as I shot the three lever guns, I kept track.

Only two hiccups stood out. One was minor: The Marlin was stubborn to load. Not that the cartridges stuck, but the loading gate was really tigh,t and the path into the tubular magazine felt rough as the rounds were thumbed in.

The other issue occurred with the Mossberg. After each empty was ejected and the lever was closing, the new cartridge heading into the chamber tended to hang up halfway in. A quick joggle on the lever usually resulted in its letting go and chambering easily, but at least twice it stuck hard, requiring me to finger it out and start over.

By very design a lever action should run fast and smooth, so I couldn’t really ignore the problem. However, it’s worth noting I’ve had considerable experience with Mossberg’s Marinecote 464 – an early weather-resistant iteration now discontinued – and it ran like greased lightning.

As for the Model 94, it loaded, fed and fired in stellar fashion – just as one would expect from the highest-selling lever-action model (more than 7 million units) in history.

With accuracy testing complete, I spent some time shooting each of the lever-action carbines casually, thumping distant large targets, shooting at smaller ones up close, and levering fast shots into a half-bushel box at about 25 yards as quickly as I could. Which leads us to the way they feel.

All three carbines balance beautifully in the hands, are responsive in the extreme, and shoulder and point nicely. Decades ago — after mankind’s primary mode of transportation shifted away from horseback — Marlin beefed-up the fore-ends of its carbines. As a result, trying to push one into a saddle

scabbard sucks, but they feel good in the support hand and point more naturally than their more slender cousins. I’ve always thought the fat fore-ends look ugly and don’t feel right to me, but in fairness I must admit they do rest comfortably in the hand.

While bead front sights were once popular for deep-woods, fast-and-close shooting, I grew up shooting match-type post front sights and struggle to achieve consistency with a bead. However, they are traditional, and many shooters do well with them.

The only real ergonomic issue I encountered with any of the three carbines was with the Mossberg’s lever, and it was a result of the wood-to-metal fit along the lower tang behind the trigger, where the wood stands considerably proud. Like the Winchester, the Mossberg features a trigger block activated by opening the lever. To fire, the lever must be squeezed

completely closed, and occasionally when I squeezed it the lever it pinched a fold of skin from the fleshy lower part of my birdy finger. It got my attention, I can tell you.

I despise any sort of safety other than a half-cock notch on a lever action, but they appear to be here to stay. There’s nothing worse than squeezing a trigger on a good buck and hearing the horrible loud “click” that signifies your failure to disengage the safety. You’ve then got to ear the hammer back again (another click), thumb the safety off (and yet another click) and hope against hope you can get another crack at the buck.

Complaints registered, I prefer the tang-located safeties of the Winchester and Mossberg to the crossbolt safety of the Marlin. They are much easier to access without shifting your firing-hand grip. However, the actual safety slide on the Mossberg is made of plastic, and I don’t think plastic belongs on a lever action.

When it comes to fit and finish, I’ll just come right out and say the Winchester Model 94 has the best

wood-to-metal fit, and the high gloss blue on the metal parts is both superbly beautiful and appropriate. It will shrug off corrosion more easily than a coarser finish, too. As for the walnut stocks, the finish is simple and non-shiny. A bit better filling in the wood pores and a few coats of hand-rubbed oil would bring out the depth and beauty of the wood better, but there’s nothing ugly about it as is.

Next best on the fit and finish scale is the Marlin. Wood-to-metal seams aren’t perfect by any means, but they’re respectable, and the metal has a nice brushed satin finish. The wood is finished in a spray-on varnish, a durable option.

Finally, the Mossberg features a brushed satin finish similar to that of the Marlin. It offers respectably tight wood-to-metal joints, but in most areas the wood stands a bit too proud for my taste. In the lower tang area mentioned earlier, it creates a bit of discomfort. On a favorable note, I prefer the Mossberg’s slender fore-end to the bulky fore-end of the Marlin, and the reddish stain on the well-filled walnut is very attractive.

This isn’t really an apples-to-apples comparison because you can literally purchase two of the Marlin or Mossberg rifles for the cost of one Winchester. As you’ve seen throughout the evaluation, the Winchester consistently outperforms the other two, which makes good sense: If you’re going to pay that much more you should get more performance.

Candidly, I didn’t expect it to turn out that way. You pay a good deal for the Winchester Model 94 name, and, conversely, Marlin rifles have an outstanding reputation for offering tremendous performance for the dollar. Frankly, I expected the two to run neck and neck through most of the tests.

The takeaway? If you like fine rifles and want one superb, classic, historical tool that will offer the utmost performance of its genre, pony up the money for a Winchester Model 94.

If, on the other hand, you want the allure of a lever action coupled with a more practical price tag, opt for either of the other two. The Marlin is an established name in lever actions, and features an action legendary for strength and smooth operation, but the Mossberg runs about $100 less. You won’t go wrong with either.

The doe bleat call (or doe grunt) can be a very effective tool in a hunter’s arsenal. Using a doe call during the pre-rut/ rut period can bring in dominant bucks that may ignore a buck grunt. After all, they are looking for does to breed, the fights are secondary. These types of calls can also be especially effective during the later or repeat rut periods when does who “missed” come back into estrus. Just remember, having a buck hear your bleat is one thing; it is another to successfully get him into range for a bow or crossbow.

Doe vocalizations during hunting should be used sparingly. Perhaps make a few doe bleats/ grunts every 30 minutes. Don’t overdue it. When was the last time you heard does making all kinds of noise in the woods? Too much calling is an unnatural presentation. To perfect your calling, look online for videos of both people demonstrating and of the deer vocalizing themselves. You will be a pro in no time.

Once you have the calling down, are you good to go? Not really because you can do better. Generally speaking, when bucks hear another deer vocalize, they don’t come straight in. Instead they tend to circle down wind and investigate the scene with their noses. That is where a good synthetic scent comes in. If you want that smart old buck to believe the doe is there, let him smell her when he is checking it out. A great scent for this early in the season would be Lucky 7 Nanny Doe, one of our Confidence Scents. Now the buck will not only believe he heard a doe make a bleat or grunt, we will smell an older doe, a breeding age doe. He will relax, believe it is real and hopefully pass right by your stand on his way in. If it is the rut, a scent Like Lucky 7 Synthescent Doe In Heat PLUS can be extremely effective. If the rut is in full swing, one of our doe estrus/ buck scent combinations can really rile those big boys up.

Often time, hunters use decoys while calling. Why not add an enticing sight picture with a doe decoy? If you do, removing the odor from it is important and then you’d want to make it smell right. Lucky 7 Decoy Dope is just the scent to accomplish that. If your decoy smells like “nothing”, bucks get very suspicious. If they see her, they want to smell her.

If you haven’t used doe vocalizations before, perhaps it is time to pick up this terrific tactic. It can be very enjoyable to “talk” to the animals you hunt and adds a satisfying new dimension to deer hunting. Nelson Creek Outdoors also carries a couple effective yet affordable deer calls. It is convenient to pick one up at the same time as you order your scents for the year. One of my fondest memories is using one of our grunt calls to bring in a 170 class 10 point buck and then watch as a larger bodied 8 point charged in and kicked his tail. I didn’t get either deer as it happened fast and just out of bow range, but it is still among my most exciting deer hunt memories.

Doe Bleat Call

Shed hunting Michigan is tough, but it can be done.

As I walked past my treestand over to the puddle of standing water in the forest, I glimpsed what looked like tines poking out of the standing water. As I came closer, it immediately became apparent from the milky white coloration and the layout that I was looking at a brow tine, G2, and G3 just barely breaking the surface. Had the water been any higher, I might have missed seeing the shed antler completely.

After using a stick to pull the small 4-point side out of the water, I stood up, glanced to the side, and immediately felt dumb. The matching side was also laying in the water only about six feet away, and I hadn’t spotted it until then.

The tines were sticking barely half an inch above the shallow water’s surface. It was my second matched set of the year.

It also just goes to show that looking for deer antlers in Michigan can be much harder than other parts of the country. These antlers easily could have been lost to time. As soon as the rains that accompany this time of year come, the antlers would be submerged completely, and quickly hidden by dead leaf litter in that swampy area.

After more than 25 years of looking for shed antlers in Michigan, I’ve discovered many of the tips and techniques that are good for other states don’t always translate to the Great Lakes State. Fortunately, I learned how to shed hunt this state the hard way. Now you won’t have to do the same. This is how I find shed antlers every year in Michigan.

When do bucks shed their antlers in Michigan?

In my experience, most Michigan bucks seem to start shedding their antlers around the second week of February. Many are completely shed out by March. The earliest in the year I’ve found a shed is mid-January. There are always outliers to these times though. I’ve gotten trail camera photos of bucks holding their antlers into late April here before. The factors that affect when deer shed their antlers are going to be different for each animal based on the animal’s health, testosterone levels, and other factors. Although it does seem like more bucks shed earlier the more severe the winter. As much as I hate long, lingering snows, those kinds of winters always leave me rubbing my palms together in anticipation. Mainly because it seems to concentrate where bucks shed their antlers more than a mild winter, but we’ll talk more about that later.

I should also note that you shouldn’t believe the myth that all antlers get completely chewed up if you don’t hurry. I’ve found shed antlers in Michigan in July and even September before. I will note that on private lands in Michigan, it helps a lot if you can hold off searching until March. On public lands that isn’t always an option because of the competition of course. In my experience, the less pressure on the deer the better, especially if you have exclusive rights to shed hunt a spot.

Think small when searching.

It’s easy to get excited scrolling through Instagram and seeing people piling up the big antlers in Iowa, Illinois, and other states of the Midwest. However, we need to temper expectations in Michigan a little.

Let’s be honest; our deer management is not great here. Most whitetail deer do not live to see their second birthday, especially the yearling bucks. You can thank our overly-long deer hunting seasons and bag limits that may be a little too generous. But I digress. The point is, if you go out looking for a sun-bleached 5-point side, odds are you’re not going to find it here in Michigan. Unfortunately, I think that’s why a lot of Michigan shed hunters get discouraged.

I finally found my first 5-point side this year and it took me nearly 25 years to do that. I’ve found antlers every year for the last decade, but it took that long to find a 5-point. It’s just not easy to find the big ones here.

Speaking of tempering expectations, you also shouldn’t expect to find a ton of antlers in Michigan, not without a ton of walking anyway. My record for a year is 11 and I’ve done that twice. Most years I’m finding around five at the most. They’re not easy to find in this state!

Finding sheds in Michigan requires more patience and persistence than it does in other states, and calls for a commitment to looking for smaller antlers. I’ve found more fork horns than any other type of antler.

There’s a lot to explain that we won’t get deep into, but it’s important to “train your eyes” to look for sheds. And once you do that, you need to commit to only looking for a tiny bit of antler at a time. I’m usually watching for only a few inches of bone. I probably spot more antlers by looking for the curvature of the main beam than anything else.

Unless you’re a natural, it takes time to train yourself to do this. For more detail on training and conditioning your eyes, check out this previous piece on the subject. Learn from those tips, and read on for more Michigan-specific pointers.

Where deer shed in Michigan.

If I had to estimate, I would guess I’ve found approximately 70% of my Michigan sheds in feeding areas or tall grass cover over the years, especially after a winter with snow that stays on the ground for weeks at a time. Winters like that help to concentrate the deer in one area and bucks will spend an inordinate amount of time restoring their fat reserves which were exhausted during the rut.

My second favorite spots to look are bedding areas, especially the ones on south-facing slopes. I should note that while I have found antlers while grid-searching bedding areas, they are not usually the areas that pan out best for me. This goes against a lot of the advice you’ll read in most shed hunting articles, but I cannot deny my own results favoring feeding and transition tall grass over bedding areas over the years.

Many Michigan hunters, including myself, spent years convinced that all bucks in this state drop their antlers in the thick cover where it’s hard to walk ten feet without bending over or brushing through thorns. I can count on one hand the number of sheds I’ve found in thickets like those. Not only is it hard to search, it’s also not usually the place bucks frequent during the winter months. Once the hunting season is over, they know the pressure is off, and they tend to let their guard down a little. They’ll start wandering closer to the food and in more open areas when the snows arrive.

Most hunters think because crop fields and food plots are usually more open, they can cover these areas quickly and move on. As a result, they walk right past antlers they should have found had they taken the time to slowly and properly grid-search the area. One of the worst pieces of shed antler hunting advice I ever read about was to use a four-wheeler to cover ground quickly. I did this for years without finding a single shed. I’m convinced now it’s because I was going much too fast. I shudder to think of how many antlers I’ve missed over the years due to improper search techniques.

Another prime area to search is the cover immediately surrounding food sources. Michigan deer are under a ridiculous amount of pressure during deer season. In some areas, the seasons stretch into January, well after the first snow and cold temperatures. At that point in late winter, most bucks are worn down after the rut and they just want to eat. However, they’re not stupid about it. They still like to stage up along the edges of these food sources and scope the food plot or field out before they head out.

I’ve also seen too many shed hunters in Michigan waste time randomly following heavy deer trails through the woods. I usually only start checking the trails closely when I’ve exhausted the bedding areas, feeding areas, and grassy cover.

Even then, one big thing I’ve noticed over the years is that the big bucks are rarely using the heaviest of trails. A lot of those tracks are does and fawns. Many bucks, especially the older ones, seem to take lighter trails running parallel to those, especially if there’s more cover.

Don’t forget about water. Last September I found a small three-pointer ten yards inside the woods off a public Lake Michigan beach in the Upper Peninsula. That find came after I found a 110-inch matched set from a big 7-point while kayaking a river in July. The 4-point side was what caught my eye when I spotted it laying on the bank. The 3-point match was sitting in the river itself right next to it. If there’s a pond or river running through the area you shed hunt, you owe it to yourself to check the shores of it closely. Don’t forget to look IN the water too. Case in point: my submerged pair mentioned earlier.

Other things to keep in mind.

The biggest thing I’ve learned about Michigan deer over the years is that they don’t behave like the majority of other deer. The animals here receive so much pressure from deer hunters that there is often little rhyme or reason to many of their behaviors. Many articles will tell you not to look for sheds in the same places where you had a sighting during deer season. However, Michigan deer usually don’t follow those rules. If an area provides food, water, and cover, many bucks are content to stick to the same area all season. This is especially true of areas that receive little hunting pressure.

Although you should also be aware many Michigan bucks will also sometimes roam a larger-than-normal area than other states. Case in point: I’ve found sheds from bucks I watched all season before, but I also sometimes find random sheds from deer I later learned were photographed most of year three to five miles away. You’re more likely to find those roamers during a mild winter when bucks aren’t stressed about finding food. Most hunters associate a buck’s wanderlust with seeking out does during the rut, but some will continue wandering well after the rut is over.

The bigger point is that sheds can be found almost everywhere in Michigan. If you’ve exhausted the obvious spots, it’s time to move to the less obvious ones. Think way outside the box. The biggest shed I’ve ever found was from an urban buck. I found that 65+ inch, four-point side in a tiny patch of woods behind a movie theater. The antler was laying less than thirty yards from a heavily-used bike path and forty yards from a road! Michigan bucks are extremely smart and will seek sanctuary wherever they can find it sometimes. Shed hunters who are successful here year in and year out know how to find these honey holes.

Most of all, I encourage anyone interested in shed hunting to not give up no matter where they’re searching. It takes time and patience to find antlers in Michigan. However, if I can pull it off year after year, I’m convinced anyone can at this point. Get out there and burn some boot leather, and you may be surprised at what you find.

For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and Instagram For original videos, check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.

READ MORE: 7 SHED HUNTING TIPS FOR THOSE WHO JUST CAN’T SEEM TO FIND THEM

Trout fishing is enjoyed by Pacific Northwesterners in every corner of our region, and I have put together a list of my personal favorite best trout fishing lures for you. Some of these are available everywhere, some of these are up and comers, but all of them are effective trout lures. Although I live and fish mainly in Washington State, I have travelled to Oregon, Idaho, Northern California and Montana in search of great trout fishing, and it’s helped me put together this Greatest Hits of Trout Fishing.

Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and California Trout Fishing

The lakes and rivers of the Pacific Northwest provide us with great trout fishing options. You may be headed to a suburban lake in Washington State that has been recently stocked with Rainbow Trout. Maybe you want to head to Central Oregon’s Lakes and fish for a trophy Brown Trout. Idaho and Montana have some of the most beautiful lakes with world-class trout fishing. And don’t forget about California’s epic river and lake trout fishing. While each region has it’s own unique lures and favorite riggings, there are a number of lures that you can’t go wrong with, regardless of where in our beautiful region you plan on trout fishing.

Casting Lures for Trout Fishing

I have spent many hours casting from shore for trout, and have a few favorite trout fishing lures to recommend. Being able to cast a distance is an important factor in shore fishing success. You can accomplish a longer distance cast by using lighter and thinner line, a heavier lure, or both. I prefer 4 pound to 6 pound line for most scenarios where I am trout fishing from shore.

The challenge is finding that perfect lure for the spot you are fishing. You can go with the heaviest lure in your tackle box, but then again it may be too large for the trout in the lake, or it may snag bottom once you are reeling it in, near the shore. The struggle is real! But have no fear, start out with any of these trout lures in the recommended sizes and you will be well on your way!

Also, keep in mind that any of these would make a fine lure to fish from a boat, whether trolling or casting.

Kastmaster Spoon

The Acme Kastmaster Spoon is one of my go-to trout lures for rivers and lakes. Ever since that childhood trip to my Uncle’s Montana ranch, where we fished Kastmaster’s (among others) on the ranch’s lake, I have always had a good time fishing these. There is just something about the action and finish that is a major trout attractor. My favorite sizes are 1/8 and 1/4 ounce. However, they offer some smaller sizes that are more appropriate for alpine lake fishing where the forage is usually smaller.

Roostertail Spinner

The Roostertail Spinner is one of the most universal trout lures in my tackle box. I have caught some really nice trout out of my local streams, lowland lakes as well as up in the high-country. Stick with the 1/16th to 1/8th ounce sizes. I really like a black with silver blade, the rainbow trout, or the frog patterns, but these come in too many fishy colors to mention!

Vibrax Spinner

While the Vibrax Spinner is best known for catching larger fish, it also works really well for trout, in it’s smallest sizes. I really do prefer the Size 0, 1 and 2 Vibrax Spinners for trout fishing, but a Size 3 might just catch you your personal best! Blue Fox Vibrax Spinner – View on Amazon

Mepps Spinner

Mepps Aglia Spinners have been available for a long time, and generations of anglers have caught trout on them across the West. In my home state of Washington, I always carry a few Size 1 or 2 Aglias when I’m backpacking to an alpine lake in the Cascades or Olympics.

Panther Martin Spinner

The Panther Martin Spinner very well may be the most recognizable trout lure ever made! Their simple inline spinner design is a very effective trout catcher. I love fishing Panther Martin Spinners for trout!Panther Martin Spinners – View on Amazon

Trolling Lures for Trout Fishing

The Pacific Northwest has such a wide range of fishable bodies of water where you can catch trout, often times a boat can help you be more effective. If you are fishing from a boat, all these lures are on the top of my list. Most of them have a great action because they are made of lightweight materials, and although they are not designed to be the best casting lures, if you troll them they can give you a rewarding day of trout fishing.

Wedding Ring Lure

When I was a kid, I went to Oregon with a friend’s family and we ended up at their cabin on the local lake’s trout opener. This was the first time I saw the awesome fish catching ability of the Wedding Ring. We couldn’t keep the Rainbow Trout off the standard red-bodied and silver-blade Wedding Ring. Over the years I have collected dozens of Wedding Ring colors and think it makes it to the top of my trout fishing lures if you are trolling. They work great bare, but if you can tip the hook with a kernel of corn you have a Kokanee/Trout killer, tip it with a worm and the Rainbows and Cutthroat won’t be able to resist! You can cut the hook off and replace it with a small fly if you want to change it up.Mack’s Wedding Ring – View on Amazon

Needlefish Spoon

Luhr Jensen’s Needlefish is a great trolling lure for trout. This thin metal spoon fishes well if you troll it behind a dodger or bare. I usually use these in larger lakes off a downrigger, but there is no reason they wouldn’t be effective on a small lake stocked recently with Rainbow Trout.

God’s Tooth Spoon

The God’s Tooth Spoon is the newest addition to my trout fishing tackle box. They have gained recent fame on the lakes surrounding my home near Seattle, and sure are effective! I troll these for Cutthroat Trout in Lake Washington, and Kokanee in other Seattle area lakes with pretty good results. As you can see, I prefer the 50/50 Silver/Gold and the Orange, but there are a number of other good looking colors I am eager to try out.Elgin God’s Tooth Spoon – View on Amazon

Dick Nite Spoon

This small lure has gained fame in Washington and Oregon as a great lure for Trout, Kokanee and even Salmon! The Dick Nite Spoon in Size 1 or 2 will work great in any trout boat fishing situation. Dick Nite Spoon – View on Bass Pro

Flicker Shad

I discovered Berkley’s Flicker Shad trout lures when I was looking for advice on fishing some of Washington’s larger lake systems. A friend suggested this one, because it does a great job of imitating salmon smolt and other forage fish, which Cutthroat and Rainbow Trout will gobble up. It immediately became one of my regular deployments whenever I was fishing on a lake with any salmon returns. Lots of great colors, but my favorite is the Silver/Black Back.Berkley Flicker Shad – View on Amazon

Hot Shot

Luhr Jensen Hot Shot’s are one of the original trout fishing plugs. Some of my very earliest fishing memories were of trolling around on the lake for trout with these. To this day, I always keep a few Hot Shot in Size 50, 60, 70 ready to go! They are best trolled slowly, and they have a very effective wiggle and dive that triggers an aggressive bite. Luhr Jensen Hot Shot – View on Amazon

Mag Lip 2.0 and 2.5

Yakima Bait Company’s newest trout fishing product is the Mag Lip Plug in the 2.0 and 2.5 sizes. This local Washington State company offers a really good assortment of color patterns for trout fishing. I prefer the Metallic Perch, Orange, Craw, Black Glitter and the Frog as my best colors. Make sure you have a few of these if you plan on fishing for trout out of a boat. Yakima Baits Mag Lip – View on Bass Pro

Original Rapala

The Rapala Original floaters are a great trout trolling lure. Attach a small plug snap to the end of your leader to give it a little more action. I prefer to flat-line troll these in smaller lakes. If I am fishing a larger body of water I may troll these off my downrigger as well. My preferred sizes are Size 3, 5 and 7 for starters. Rapala Original Floating – View on Amazon

Jointed Rapala

While the Original Rapala is one of the most widely recognized fishing lures in the entire world, the Jointed Rapala also gains a spot of my best trout fishing lures list. I think I might even prefer it to the Original. The joint gives this lure a unique action unmatched by any other lure on the list. For lakes from Idaho to Oregon and everywhere else in the Pacific Northwest, I’d recommend you start with a Size J-05 or J-07 and go larger if you are hunting for trophy trout.Rapala Jointed – View on Amazon

Trout Fishing Success!

Wherever you go trout fishing, there are bound to be locals. And some of these locals happed to be phenomenal anglers. Those proud few are usually most successful due to the time and effort they put in. If you go to a lake for the first time, it may seem a little challenging to find that perfect technique, lure set-up, troll speed, or location. But just remember that each day is a success, regardless of how many trout you have on the scoreboard. Every day on the water is a blessing, and also provides us with the benefit of another day of experience. If you aren’t already, you will be a great fisher with a little time invested. Good luck out there!

Related Post – Hiking for Mountain Trout in the Pacific Northwest