Bluegill and sunfish are fun to catch and make great table fare. But for years I practiced strict catch-and-release whenever I targeted bream because I felt there wasn’t enough meat for the effort required.
Then a buddy of mine invited me to a bluegill fish fry, and I realized just how wrong I’d been.
From that point on, I was a believer in cleaning and eating a portion of the bluegill and sunfish I caught. The truth is, they’re really not that difficult to clean, and their mild flavor and flaky white meat make them some of the best-tasting freshwater fish you can eat.
If you haven’t given fried bream a try, you don’t know what you’re missing!
RELATED: Are Bluegill Good to Eat? [Answered]
There are three primary ways to clean bluegill and sunfish, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Let’s take a look at the three methods, and you can ultimately decide which best suits your needs.
By far, the easiest way to clean bluegills is the scaled and dressed method, which only requires three simple steps:
Cut off the head of the fish, right behind the pectoral fin.
Dress the fish by cutting the belly open from the anus to where you cut off the head. You can then remove all the internal organs.
Scale the fish. This is a simple process of removing the fish’s scales by scraping them from the rear of the fish towards the front (the opposite direction than they are laying).
There are tools specifically made to scale fish, but it can also be done with the edge of a knife blade or even a spoon. To get a good visual of the process, check out the YouTube video below.
The biggest benefit of this method is that it’s quick and easy. And since you often have a bunch of bluegill or sunfish to clean at once, that means less time cleaning fish, and more time kicked back enjoying a cold beverage while talking about the one that got away.
The downside is you’ll have all the bones to contend with, so you and your guests have to be extra careful to ensure no one accidentally swallows a bone. You also have the skin on, which some fish eaters don’t care for.
Skinned and Dressed
The second easiest way to clean bluegills is similar to the first, but rather than scaling the fish, you take the time to skin it. You still remove the head and internal organs.
The only real benefit to this method over scaling and gutting is that it eliminates the skin for those who don’t like the flavor. You still have the bones to deal with.
Personally, this is the one method discussed here that I don’t personally waste my time on, but I wanted to mention it for those who may find it beneficial (I’m looking at you, crunchy fish skin lovers).
Filleted
While filleting bluegill is a little more time-consuming, and requires a little more finesse, it’s my preferred way to prepare them. With a little practice, you’ll be able to filet bream almost as quickly as you can scale and dress them, and you won’t have to worry about getting a fish bone caught in your throat.
Fileting bluegill isn’t difficult, but you’ll need a couple of tools to make the job go smoothly: a sharp fillet knife and a good cutting board.
It’s much easier to show someone how to fillet a fish than it is to describe in an article, so we’ve included an excellent video below from the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.
But to summarize, after gutting the fish, you make a cut behind the pectoral fin until you hit the spine at the top, and the opening where you gutted the fish at the bottom. Then turn your blade toward the back of the fish, and run it down the spine at the top, and through the middle of the belly on the bottom. When you get to the tail, stop just short of removing the whole side of the fish.
Flip the half over the tail, then proceed to run your knife blade right along the skin of the fish, removing all the meat. Once you’ve removed the skin, you still have one step left. The rib bones are still in the fillet at this point, so you want to carefully cut them out, minimizing the amount of meat that comes out with them.
Once the ribs are out, you should have a nice boneless bluegill fillet ready for some breading and the frying pan!
Summary
Bluegill are plentiful, fun to catch, and delicious to eat. So don’t let the thought of a little fish cleaning keep you from taking advantage of the opportunity to host a fish fry for family or friends. There are a few great ways to quickly and efficiently process the fish, and whichever method you choose, the result will be mouth-watering fried bluegill.
All whitetails react differently to pressure from humans, especially during hunting season, but research shows some clues into what they do and where they go during these months of intrusion into their areas. (Photo: Getty Images)
Recent biological studies demonstrate very clearly that white-tailed deer not only perceive their environment in fine detail, but are able to respond immediately to risks and pressure.
Legal light ends in just a few minutes, but you dare not move. You’ve heard a few deer staging around you for the past half hour, and not long ago you heard the bark of your brother’s rifle from a stand not a quarter mile away.
By Dr. Stephen Ditchkoffand Jeff Sullivan
Yet, like many nights before, you’ve been left with nothing but an aching back and a dream of what might have been, while the deer that so patiently waited for darkness to fall feast upon the food plot you leave behind. This spot used to be packed with deer, but as the season comes to a close it seems that what was once your secret honey hole has lost its magic. Now you can do nothing but wonder what gave you away, and what to change for next season.
Not surprisingly, though deer hunters across the country come from a myriad of backgrounds they all seem able to relate to one issue — sometimes it feels like the deer know where you will be before you get there. While this is an often perplexing and frustrating phenomenon for hunters, biologists have been studying the reactions of wildlife to predators for decades and have developed a theory that appears to explain the activities of whitetails during the hunting season.
LANDSCAPE OF FEAR THEORY The landscape of fear theory suggests that animals are consistently at risk from predators, which in this case would be human hunters, and that the level of risk changes based upon two main factors. First is the animal’s location: While wild predators such as wolves might be more dangerous along grassy meadows, human hunters often concentrate near roadways and open areas, and often hunt repeatedly from the same location.
The second major factor influencing risk is the time of day. For instance, human hunters are limited by legal hunting times, and most often sit only during the periods around sunrise and sunset, abandoning their stands during the midday hours. This theory can be visualized as a mountain range where mountain peaks are areas of greatest risk and valleys are areas of greatest safety. Throughout the course of a day, each area’s height changes as the risk levels associated with that area change. The objective for prey species is to stay at the lowest possible elevation while still accessing all of the resources they need to survive and reproduce.
Previous studies have long confirmed what hunters already know; deer can recognize changes in risk and react as one would expect under the landscape of fear theory. Studies ranging as far back as the 1960s have demonstrated that when hunting pressure is sufficiently high, deer increase their use of dense cover areas such as thickets or hardwood drains and then use risky areas such as bait piles only during safe periods, such as nocturnal hours. Similarly, studies have found that activity patterns of deer are such that they are more active when hunters are not in the woods and less active when they are.
A fellow researcher, Kevyn Wiskirchen, with Auburn University, recently wrote an article (in the September 2016 issue of Deer & Deer Hunting) documenting just such a pattern. He detailed how white-tailed deer suppress movement during the weekend to minimize exposure to humans. But when hunters are absent from the woods during the week, the deer become much more active.
While these studies have provided great insight into larger behavioral trends, they have all examined hunt- ing pressure in relation to an entire property or large landscape, leaving the question of how deer respond to risk at specific locations unanswered. Essentially, until now scientists have not been able to account for the potential that deer could recognize risk at a spatial scale as fine as individual hunting locations and respond accordingly. It is quite possible that the responses seen at the landscape scale are completely different from what is seen in relation to actual locations of risk, especially when hunting pressure is kept very low across a property. Fortunately, advances in technology now enable scientists to investigate such detailed behaviors.
With each additional hunting event at a given stand, deer became increasingly less likely to use the vulnerability zone around that stand during mornings and evenings (Figure 1).
RESPONSE TO LOCALIZED RISK Due to the general lack of data, and thus, understanding of how white- tailed deer respond to localized risk, we, with financial support from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, set out to examine this aspect of deer biology and determine the movement patterns of adult does during the hunting season with respect to hunting stands.
To accomplish our goal we darted adult female white-tailed deer and fit each with a GPS collar programmed to collect locational data every 30 minutes, allowing us to gather highly detailed information on deer movement relative to hunting pressure. Hunting on the property was strictly managed, with hunters taken to and picked up from permanent stands by guides.
We determined the GPS coordinates of every hunting stand, food plot and automatic feeder on the property, and determined the area around each stand in which a deer would be visible to a hunter (which we called the vulnerability zone). We then combined all of this information with the movement data collected by the GPS collars, and imported it into a data visualization tool known as ArcMap. This software enabled us to actually see how deer moved each day, and where they were located on the property.
We were interested in understanding how deer moved during three specific periods: Morning/Evening (from legal light to 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. to legal light), Midday (from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m.), and Night (from end of legal light to beginning of legal light the next morning). These periods were based upon changes in risk, as hunters were present only during the Morning/Evening period, a scenario likely to be true for most regions of the country where hunters choose not to sit throughout the midday hours.
Traditional knowledge, and the landscape of fear theory, would suggest that repeated hunting events at the same location would force deer to recognize that area as being of greater risk, and subsequently deer would reduce their usage of that area during times when hunters would be present, namely surrounding sunrise and sunset. This is precisely what we observed. With each additional hunting event at a given stand, deer became increasingly less likely to use the vulnerability zone around that stand during mornings and evenings (Figure 1).
Similarly, following the day that a stand was hunted, deer use of the vulnerability zone around that stand during the Morning/Evening period was at its least. But deer use of that area progressively increased with each passing day. This result was also expected, because the fear response of an animal should decrease over time, especially in hunting environments where most stands are associated with a food source such as a food plot or corn feeder. When the areas of risk are associated with a food reward, the animal must balance the trade-off of avoiding risk with miss- ing out on the nutritional benefits of visiting that location.
Next, we looked at movements during the Midday period. Interestingly, previous studies at the landscape scale had reported conflicting results. Some studies suggested that deer increase activity during midday hours as a way to make up for lost opportunities when they avoid moving during crepuscular periods, while others have claimed that deer remain cryptic during all daylight hours, thus reducing usage of risky areas.
We found that deer followed the same trends during the Midday period as they did during the Morning/Evening period. That is to say that they decreased usage of vulnerability zones around hunting stands following each additional hunting event, but increased usage as time passed. Surprisingly, we observed that deer were far less likely to utilize the vulnerability zone around a stand during the Midday period than during the Morning/Evening period.
After a fourth hunting event at a given location, deer became less likely to use the vulnerability zone immediately following a hunting event and slowly increased usage with each passing day (Figure 2).
This might seem surprising at first, because deer could safely use these areas during the midday without the risk of being exposed to hunters. We believe that this response is due to the natural feeding behavior of deer being focused on crepuscular periods and the fact that vehicle traffic through the property might have been sufficient during the Midday period to make the vulnerability zones appear risky even if they were not.
While the responses we observed during the Morning/Evening and Midday periods were much as one would expect, a very interesting trend emerged during the Night period. We have all heard a hunter complain that “all of the deer have gone nocturnal” and you might very well be that hunter yourself. If so, it probably wouldn’t surprise you to hear that deer initially increased their usage of a vulnerability zone around a stand following the first few hunting events at that location and decreased usage with each passing night since hunting had occurred. Yet this trend changed with additional continued hunting pressure at that stand. After a fourth hunting event at a given location, deer became less likely to use the vulnerability zone immediately following a hunting event and slowly increased usage with each passing day (Figure 2).
Essentially, after continued hunting pressure at a particular stand, deer changed their behavioral response at night to the same avoidance we observed during the Morning/ Evening period. This suggests that deer respond to initial hunting events by simply accessing the area during a safe time and their fear decreases as time passes. But as hunters use the area more, deer respond by avoiding the area altogether. Perhaps the deer decide, in essence, to move on to safer pastures where they may be able to feed during Morning/Evening hours instead of confining themselves to nocturnal hours only.
BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION Our findings provide us with unique insight into the behavior of white-tailed deer in response to pressure from human hunters. While hunters have long known that white- tails have the ability to modify their behavior and space use in response to hunting pressure, this study has allowed us to document exactly how deer respond to spatially explicit risk and how that response differs from responses visible at the landscape level.
While one could look at the landscape level response of this population and assume that hunting pressure was not sufficiently strong enough to force deer to alter their behavior, a more thorough investigation reveals that deer are in fact recognizing and responding to the risks posed by hunters: They are merely doing so at a small enough spatial scale to reduce the impacts on their regular activities.
It’s this minor variation in their movement and activity patterns that make it seem as though there aren’t any deer in the woods. Some might view deer as creatures randomly moving through the woods from one field to the next, but this study demonstrates that white-tailed deer not only perceive their environment in fine detail, but are able to respond to risks immediately and use infor- mation about past risk at a location to make informed future decisions about using or avoiding that location.
No matter how little you are hunting an area you are influencing the likelihood of a deer using that area again, at least for a few days. Even if you never fire the gun, there is a strong likelihood that you were still detected by at least a few deer.
TAKEAWAYS FROM THE STUDY So what does this mean for you as a hunter? Well, there are a few clear takeaways from this study that you can use to aid your quest this fall. First, no matter how little you are hunting an area you are influencing the likelihood of a deer using that area again, at least for a few days. Even if you never fire the gun, there is a strong likelihood that you were still detected by at least a few deer.
While you might have still had plenty of deer come and go blissfully unaware of your presence, others might have been spooked off as they approached from downwind, or smelled the disturbance along the path you used to reach your stand. Therefore, after hunting a location try and give that stand a few days off so that the fear response can decrease before your next hunt.
Secondly, understand how the length of your season might impact deer behavior. If you live in a New England state with shorter seasons you can expect deer to have a much stronger reaction across the landscape to hunting pressure than in Southern states with more prolonged seasons. When the season is shorter, deer can afford to avoid high value areas (food plots and feeders) for the brief season and return when it’s safer, but such avoidance might be nutritionally prohibitive in states with longer hunting seasons.
Finally, consider moving your hunting stands between seasons, while this study did not investigate if the number of hunting events at a stand the year prior caused deer to avoid an area more quickly the next season, it is a good idea to reduce your predict- ability as much as possible.
We as hunters attempt to pattern deer almost every way imaginable, from extensive scouting and note taking from years on a property to a network of game cameras trying to locate that trophy buck. Yet, with all of the effort we direct toward patterning them, it can become all too easy to forget that deer are also capable of patterning us. So this coming season, as the days grow shorter and your heart gets restless, yearning for an all too brief escape into the peaceful hunting grounds, do your best to be aware of your own patterns and embrace the opportunity to outwit your prey — not by attempting to understand their predictability, but by limiting your own.
— Jeff Sullivan completed his M.S. degree in 2016 at Auburn University studying white-tailed deer under the supervision of Dr. Steve Ditchkoff. He is currently employed by USGS at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center.
— Dr. Steve Ditchkoff is a professor in the School of Forestry and Wild- life Sciences at Auburn University. He manages the deer research program at Auburn and has been conducting research on white-tailed deer for 25 years.
The following ammunition cartridge ballistics information and chart can be used to approximately compare .30-30 Winchester vs .308 Winchester ammo rounds. Please note, the following information reflects the estimated average ballistics for each caliber and does not pertain to a particular manufacturer, bullet weight, or jacketing type. As such, the following is for comparative information purposes only and should not be used to make precise predictions of the trajectory, performance, or true ballistics of any particular .30-30 Winchester or .308 Winchester rounds for hunting, target shooting, plinking, or any other usage. The decision for which round is better for a given application should be made with complete information, and this article simply serves as a comparative guide, not the final say. For more detailed ballistics information please refer to the exact round in question or contact the manufacturer for the pertinent information. True .30-30 Winchester and .308 Winchester ballistics information can vary widely from the displayed information, and it is important to understand that the particular characteristics of a given round can make a substantive difference in its true performance.
Caliber Type Velocity (fps) Energy (ft-lb) .30-30 Winchester Rifle 2370 1890 .308 Winchester Rifle 2680 2620
Velocity
As illustrated in the chart, .30-30 Winchester rounds – on average – achieve a velocity of about 2370 feet per second (fps) while .308 Winchester rounds travel at a velocity of 2680 fps. To put this into perspective, a Boeing 737 commercial airliner travels at a cruising speed of 600 mph, or 880 fps. That is to say, .30-30 Winchester bullets travel 2.7 times the speed of a 737 airplane at cruising speed, while .308 Winchester bullets travel 3 times that same speed.
Various calibers
Energy
Furthermore, the muzzle energy of a .30-30 Winchester round averages out to 1890 ft-lb, while a .308 Winchester round averages out to about 2620 ft-lb. One way to think about this is as such: a foot-pound is a unit of energy equal to the amount of energy required to raise a weight of one pound a distance of one foot. So a .30-30 Winchester round exits the barrel with kinetic energy equal to the energy required for linear vertical displacement of 1890 pounds through a one foot distance, while a .308 Winchester round exiting the barrel has energy equal to the amount required to displace 2620 pounds over the same one foot distance. As a rule of thumb, when it comes to hunting, muzzle energy is what many hunters look at when deciding on what caliber of firearm / ammunition to select. Generally speaking, the higher the muzzle energy, the higher the stopping power. Again, the above is for comparative information purposes only, and you should consult the exact ballistics for the particular .30-30 Winchester or .308 Winchester cartridge you’re looking at purchasing.
Please click the above links to take a look at all of the .30-30 Winchester and .308 Winchester ammo we have in stock and ready to ship, and let us know any parting thoughts in the comment section below.
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The new tungsten shotgun ammo from Hevi-Shot is a superior, hard-hitting, bird-killing non-toxic load. (Photo By: Jeff Johnston)
If you’re the type of waterfowler who feeds your family by hunting 60 days per year, you probably already know by now that HEVI-Shot tungsten may not be the stuff for you because it’s not cheap. You can get 5 orders of Peking duck down at the local Chinese buffet for less. It’s expensive because there are very few tungsten mines in the world, and this ultra-dense metal is a commodity coveted for making everything from competitive darts to turbine blades and rocket nozzles. But the fact is it’s simply superior to steel, and even a fair margin better than lead bird shot. How?
Imagine a tennis ball and a baseball both thrown 90mph by Pedro Martinez. Which one would you rather get beaned with? The tennis ball, of course, because it’s much less dense and results in much less energy when it hits you. I.e. it won’t hurt as much. The same laws of physics apply to shotgun pellets.
HEVI-Shot’s XII load uses tungsten pellets that measure 12 g/cc (grams per cubic centimeter). Compare that to steel at 7.8 g/cc, then imagine a No. 4 HEVI-Shot pellet and a steel pellet each going 1400 fps. The HEVI-Shot load is like a swarm of our aforementioned baseballs speeding toward that duck, whereas the steel is like the tennis balls. But most of us know this already.
The big advantage of tungsten, however, is that because it’s denser than steel (it’s also denser than lead, Bismuth, and most other materials) the shooter can choose a shot size two to three sizes smaller than comparable steel load and still maintain the same downrange energies. So by choosing a HEVI-Shot No. 4 pellets for geese over No. 1 steel load, for example, shooters are afforded many more pellets per load for denser patterns and more wound channels on the bird. Fact is, denser pellets penetrate deeper and kill quicker.
Tungsten just may pack the most punch on the market; HEVI-Shot’s new HEVI XII is now available for 12-, 20-, and 28-guage shooters.
Tungsten Tested
When I tested HEVI-Shot’s new HEVI-XII shell (3”, 1 1/4-oz. No. 4s) here’s what I found: The load contained an average of 166 pellets that together averaged 583 grains, or 1.33 ounces per payload. (That’s more than advertised.) This payload is touted to travel at 1,450 fps, which equals 2,549 ft.-lbs. energy at the muzzle. Although my actual results were very similar, the inputs differed slightly. From my 28-inch barrel I recorded a mean velocity of 1401, that, when multiplied by a payload mass average of 1.33 ozs, equals 2,541 ft.-lbs. But it’s when the individual pellet energies are compared that the heavier tungsten pellets shine like diamonds in a sea of decoy weights: Consider that the average No. 4 HEVI-XII pellet weighs 3.6 grains; when going 1400 fps it results in 16 ft.-lbs. per pellet! Compare that to a 2.4-grain steel pellet going 1,400 fps for 10 ft.-lbs energy and you can understand where your money’s going.
However, this is where HEVI-Shot also gets a little shaky: I had to use a pellet weight average because, due to the process HEVI-Shot uses to make its tungsten shot, the pellets aren’t uniform. A payload of No. 4 shot contains pellets that individually weigh anywhere from 3.4 grains to 6.6. This leads to my second criticism of HEVI-Shot: It is not known for perfectly uniform patterns, which I suspect is a by-product of the varietal shape and weights of the pellets.
Results from my patterning board bore this out. I achieved best results from a modified choke tube. I must add this observation though: Regardless of how non-uniform the patterns look to my eye, ducks don’t seem to mind. All the HEVI-Shot I’ve used in the past have performed admirably on live game.
As for recoil, it’s academic. A 1¼ ounce payload of steel going 1400 compared to a 1¼-ounce payload of tungsten hurts equally bad by producing around 40 ft.-lbs. free recoil energy from a 7.5-lb. shotgun.
Packed to Perform
HEVI-Shot utilizes a healthy load of flaxseed to serve as buffer from the ultra-hard shot that can ding barrels and choke tubes if the choke is too tight or the load is not properly buffered. While I can’t be sure of flaxseed’s performance as a buffer compared to plastics and silicones used in other loads, frankly I’d rather be shooting natural flax seed in my lakes and fields over plastic. Speaking of plastic, HEVI-XII employs a rather simple, 4-petal, 50-grain plastic wad. The load is available in 12-gauge, 20-gauge and, interestingly, 28-gauge in size 2 (12-gauge only) 4 and 6.
HEVI-Shot’s new XII product differs from past HEVI-Shot tungsten shells mainly in that it is packaged in boxes of 25. At around $50 for a box, certainly they cost more than the 10-round boxes, but packaged as such they cost less per shell. Look, I’ve killed my share of ducks, but I also know that regardless of what shell I’m using, sometimes birds refuse to die. More times than I care to admit I’ll empty my gun at a bird only to wing it before it skims down 60 yards out, where I’ll have to shoot it 5 more times on the water. Perhaps you’re better than me, but boxes of 10 just don’t cut it.
In sum, HEVI-Shot’s new HEVI-XII load is far superior to nearly all duck loads that utilize less dense material. If you choose it, you’ll get the added advantage of choosing smaller shot sizes for denser patterns whose individual pellets hit hard. Trust me, you’ll be able to see that difference in the field. You’ll also feel it in your wallet, but that’s just it. New HEVI-XII is expensive to be sure, but in 25-round boxes it’s not as bad as it used to be. What waterfowler can’t appreciate that?
The internet has been buzzing with the question “what dinosaur has 500 teeth?” The answer leads us to one of the most peculiar dinosaurs ever discovered: Nigersaurus taqueti, aptly nicknamed the “Mesozoic Cow.” Let me break down this fascinating creature’s most remarkable features.
A Dental Marvel Nigersaurus possessed an astounding dental arrangement that made it unique among its sauropod relatives. Its claim to fame was its more than 500 teeth, arranged in an innovative “dental battery” system:
The upper jaw contained 60 columns of teeth
The lower jaw featured 68 columns
These teeth were constantly replacing themselves every 14 days
All teeth were aligned along the front of its mouth in a wide, straight row
Physical Characteristics Despite being a sauropod (the family of long-necked dinosaurs), Nigersaurus was relatively modest in size:
Length: About 30 feet (9 meters)
Weight: Approximately 4.4 tons
Distinctive vacuum cleaner-like wide muzzle
Remarkably light skull with bones as thin as 2 millimeters
Air-filled vertebrae that made its skeleton surprisingly lightweight
Habitat and Lifestyle This unique dinosaur lived around 110 million years ago in what is now the Sahara Desert in Niger, Africa. Unlike its tree-browsing relatives, Nigersaurus was a ground-level grazer, using its wide muzzle and numerous teeth to efficiently crop low-lying vegetation like ferns and horsetails. The environment it inhabited was quite different from today’s Sahara:
Lush forests
Braided river systems
Shared its habitat with dangerous predators like Sarcosuchus (giant crocodile relatives)
Discovery and Scientific Significance The Nigersaurus story spans several decades:
Initial fossils were found in the 1950s by French paleontologists
The definitive discovery came in 1997 when Paul Sereno’s team found better-preserved specimens
Named and described officially in 1999
Its skull became one of the first dinosaur skulls to be digitally reconstructed using CT scans
This remarkable dinosaur challenges our understanding of sauropod diversity and adaptation. While most of its relatives were reaching for treetops, Nigersaurus evolved a specialized feeding strategy more akin to modern grazing animals, proving that dinosaurs were capable of filling diverse ecological niches.
Whether you discovered Nigersaurus through recent internet memes or genuine paleontological interest, this unique dinosaur serves as a reminder of the incredible diversity of life that once roamed our planet. Its specialized adaptations and unusual features make it a fascinating example of evolution’s capacity to produce remarkable solutions to the challenge of survival.
DULUTH — Northern Minnesota’s moose have been hanging on for the past decade, reproducing and surviving at a rate barely able to keep up with an onslaught by wolves, bears, ticks and brainworm from deer.
First it was northwestern Minnesota’s moose that disappeared, in the 1990s, from thousands to virtually none over just one decade.
Then, northeastern moose numbers crashed by 70% from a modern high of 8,840 moose estimated in 2006 to just 2,700 by 2013.
The only good news since then is that their numbers haven’t dropped any more, hanging near the lower number with glimmers of hope that they might bounce back.
Now, an effort is underway to bring multiple groups together to bolster moose habitat and maybe work on other threats so moose can thrive — to build back to the moose numbers of 30 years ago.
“Our goal is not to have our moose population always hanging by a thread,” said Kelly Straka, wildlife section manager for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. “Our goal is to see them thrive. … Moose are iconic in Minnesota. They are critical to our ecosystem in the north. And people want to see them.”
To that end, Minnesota’s moose just received a big Christmas gift from the National Fish and Wildlife Federation, a federally funded grant of $443,600 to form a new moose collaborative that will lead to large-scale habitat projects in core moose range. It was one of 55 projects selected out of 500 applicants for the America the Beautiful Grants. The Minnesota DNR and tribal natural resource agencies are adding another $43,000.
The goal is to restore massive tracts of moose habitat over the next decade — at least three areas of 10,000-50,000 contiguous acres, 15-75 square miles each — considered huge parcels even in the vast wilds of Northeastern Minnesota.
The patchwork of tribal, federal, state, county and private land in Northeastern Minnesota makes large-scale habitat restoration particularly challenging. The grant isn’t buying any land or paying for any actual work on the ground.
Instead, it’s aimed at hiring a coordinator and bringing multiple parties together: the U.S. Forest Service, tribal resource agencies, the Minnesota DNR, county forestry departments, conservation groups like the Ruffed Grouse Society and Nature Conservancy as well as many private landowners.
The grant will pay for workshops through 2024 and into 2024 to see if the participants can get past the social, political and practical barriers and agree where it’s possible to conduct massive habitat work — either intentional fires or logging or both.
“The goal is to have a plan, to get all their parties at the table and come up with a plan to see where it makes the most sense for moose, and where it’s possible for us, to create some really large-scale habitat blocks,” Straka said. “It’s not that forest management hasn’t been occurring. It just hasn’t been big enough to really help moose.”
More logging, more fires, more moose
Mike Schrage, wildlife biologist for the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, watched moose numbers decline from his seat in a helicopter as part of a team of biologists who count moose each January in an annual aerial survey coordinated by the Minnesota DNR. What he saw most winters was depressing for anyone who enjoys moose.
Part of the problem is that large areas of Northeastern Minnesota, especially in the core Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and other blocks of the Superior National Forest, have trees that are too old for moose to thrive. Efforts to snuff most wildfires, a prohibition on logging in the BWCAW and a reduction in logging across the Superior National Forest and on private land has led to an older, mature forest that doesn’t offer great food for moose.
But Schrage noticed a few places where moose seemed to be doing better, namely wherever a large forest fire had occurred in recent years, like the 92,000-acre Pagami Creek fire inside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in 2011 and the 75,000-acre Ham Lake fire along the end of the Gunflint Trail in 2007. Apparently, size matters when it comes to moose habitat, and these were the state’s largest wildfires since the 1930s.
It didn’t take an expert in moose biology, Schrage noted, to see what was going on. It’s in those big burned areas, now lush with new growth, where the highest moose densities have been seen in the past decade. That gives Schrage and others hope that moose will respond quickly to any large-scale habitat work conducted as part of the new collaborative.
Not every tree was burned of course, pockets of older trees remained — good cover for moose to hide in — but enough trees were gone to open the forest floor to sunlight and a new crop of vegetation for miles on end.
“I think we can double, maybe even triple moose numbers in those (habitat project) areas, if they are large enough,” Schrage added. “In the areas of the big fires, when we fly now, we may see 10 or 20 moose per 13-square-mile unit, compared to one or two moose, or none at all, in some areas outside the fires.”
Research crews for the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa now have about 30 moose wearing transmitter collars in and around the Grand Portage Reservation. In January, they will begin collaring another 25 moose in Minnesota and another 25 on Isle Royale as comparisons continue between the mainland and island moose herds.
Seth Moore, director of biology and environment for the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, is especially interested in how moose respond to the 26,000-acre Greenwood fire from 2021 in Lake County, near Isabella. While that fire forced evacuations and destroyed several cabins and homes, it also created prime moose habitat. Moore’s already seeing more moose in that area and he expects the ongoing aerial surveys to show a noticeable jump.
It’s unlikely that huge, intentional fires will be a major part of the moose habitat project — there’s simply too much opposition from home and cabin and owners now numerous across much of the moose range. But a series of smaller fires, or much larger-scale logging operations, or both, could mimic the same results as a single, larger fire.
“We have in our minds what the forest, what the northwoods, should look like. Big, old trees are usually in that picture,” Straka said. “But variety is important. Moose need variety. They need old trees for cover and they especially need young forest for food.”
Moore said social attitudes will need to change if efforts to truly restore the state’s moose population are going to succeed: attitudes about managing and killing some wolves, attitudes about large clear-cut swaths of forest and attitudes about wildfire.
Fire, Moore noted, is how nature created moose habitat for millennia.
“We’re going to have to make some difficult decisions to keep moose on our landscape in northern Minnesota,” Moore said. “I’m not sure how we got to a point where people think clear cuts are all bad. … It’s how we keep part of the forest young. And moose can’t make it without young trees to eat.”
Schrage agreed. While some people may bristle when miles of forest briefly appear blackened from fire, or void of big trees after a logging operation, Schrage says they will also be surprised at how fast the forest regenerates. And it’s that young growth that moose need most: shoots of aspen, paper birch, alder and balsam fir. Many species of tree and brush that moose favor regenerate on their own.
“I think people wouldn’t mind looking out over a clear cut if there was a moose in the middle of it,” Schrage said.
For Minnesota moose, many maladies
It seems at times as if humans and Mother Nature are ganging up on moose, throwing a bevy of problems at the big animals that they seem unable to overcome.
Perhaps foremost is the warming climate, with warmer summer temperatures taking a toll on the big, dark animals that tend to stop feeding when it gets too hot. Warmer winters allow white-tailed deer to thrive farther north and allow tick numbers to build.
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So-called “winter ticks” have become a huge problem for moose, with sometimes thousands of them building up on a single animal. Moose, for whatever reason, don’t seem to notice the ticks until it’s too late, then begin to furiously scratch their thick hides on trees in an attempt to get rid of the parasites.
That causes moose to lose their insulating hair, and many of the tick-infested moose eventually have so much bare skin exposed that they die due to exposure to the elements.
Generally, warmer winters also have allowed deer to thrive farther north over the past 50 years. Whitetails were not native to the northern forest but moved in after the massive logging and fires of the early 1900s. Deer numbers peaked during a string of mild winters in the early 2000s, thriving far into moose territory and bringing along a parasitic brainworm, P. tenuis, that, while harmless to deer, is fatal to moose.
The brainworm’s unusual life cycle requires that it passes through a snail first, and then is picked up by moose as they forage. Moore’s research found that 25% to 30% of moose mortality in Northeastern Minnesota was from brainworm, a larger percent of adult moose than are killed by predators.
Snowier winters, fewer deer may be helping
A string of deep-snow winters in the past decade has substantially reduced the region’s deer population, which is good news for moose. To curb the brainworm problem, Moore said, deer numbers should be kept to six or fewer per square mile in moose territory.
“We thought 10 (deer per square mile) would be low enough. But in areas where we had that many deer we still had a lot of brainworm,” Moore said.
The number of moose infected with brainworm seems to be dropping some as deer numbers have dropped in recent years, Moore added. But when deer numbers rebound from the tough winters, as they always have in past decades, Moore wants the Minnesota DNR to encourage more hunters to kill more deer in the state’s moose range by offering more doe permits and longer hunting seasons.
The DNR already has designated much of eastern St. Louis, Lake and Cook counties as primary moose habitat. But intentionally keeping deer numbers very low is likely not something many deer hunters in the region would support.
“The deer will come back after a few mild winters. And we need some sort of ongoing effort to keep their numbers down,” Moore said.
Wolves, bear taking most calves
A cow moose and her calf. A new national grant aims to bring landowners and agencies together to create large swaths of better moose habitat in a long-term effort to increase moose numbers in Northeastern Minnesota. (Courtesy of Pete Takash/Minnesota DNR)
Moose have lived alongside wolves for millennia. But, in northern Minnesota, wolves have grown to higher densities thanks to white-tailed deer – some of the highest densities of wolves anywhere in the world. Wolves are most numerous in areas where deer are more numerous because it’s far easier for wolves to kill a deer than kill a moose or elk.
But now that deer numbers have declined in the northeast, wolves either move out, starve or turn to other prey. And, for several weeks each summer, wolves and black bears are feasting on moose calves too small to escape. The number of calves surviving their first year, and getting old enough to reproduce on their own, is extremely low, barely enough to keep moose numbers stable. Until more calves make it, Minnesota’s moose population can’t grow.
“The primary cause of calf mortality is predation,” Moore said. Of the calves researchers have collared, 80% are killed in their first two weeks by wolves and bears.
Wolves in Minnesota are considered an officially “threatened” species, with slightly less protection than endangered status. That’s allowed an ongoing federal program to trap and kill wolves near farms where livestock have been killed. Moore thinks that would be a good idea in prime moose range, too, if public hunting and trapping moose remains off the table.
“Moose are the primary subsistence species of the Ojibwe people, that’s their livelihood, their crop, so to speak. And you wonder why we can have a management program for farmers to protect cattle but not a wolf management program to protect moose,” Moore noted.
Moore added, however, that several tribal officials across northern Minnesota remain opposed to any wolf killing efforts.
“It’s a difficult topic. … I realize some tribal people are opposed to killing any wolves. But we have to realize what’s at stake here? Do we want to lose moose in Minnesota?” Moore added.
Good news, then bad news, but still hope
Last winter, the annual state survey of moose in Northeastern Minnesota showed an increase to about 4,700 moose after their numbers appeared stuck around 3,500 for several years. Crews will be back out next week to start the 2024 survey, with results released in spring.
The 2022 aerial survey found calves comprised an estimated 19% of the population with an estimated 45 calves per 100 cows. That’s the highest both indicators have been since 2005, when the population was near its peak and considered healthy. Both factors are indicators of potential improvement in reproductive success, critical to increase overall moose numbers.
In 2005, when the moose population was healthy, 52% of all cow moose surveyed had a calf still alive in January. That number dropped as low as 32% in the worst years recently but rebounded to 45% in 2022, the 2022 survey found.
But the 2022 survey was conducted in January, still early in a winter that became so severe that even long-legged moose struggled to survive, Moore noted. Some areas of moose range had nearly three feet of snow on the ground well into spring.
“We lost most of our collared deer due to winter severity last winter. But we also lost probably 25% of our collared moose. They started going in April and were still dropping even into July … they just got so weak during winter they couldn’t recover and died,” Moore said. “I have a feeling that the (2024) moose survey is going to be back down again after seeing so much mortality after last winter.”
Moore wants to see a cooperative effort eventually agree to a Minnesota moose recovery zone — an experimental area where extra efforts would be tried to see if moose numbers can be increased. That would mean not only large-scale swaths of fires and logging, but also an ongoing effort to keep deer numbers very low as well as some sort of focused wolf management, at least short term, to give moose calves a fighting chance at growing up.
Moore said he believes the effort can work if obstacles are overcome.
“I have some hope. I think it’s possible to keep moose on our landscape, but we have to act soon,” Moore said. “The good news is that the (Minnesota) DNR seems to be reinvesting some time, energy and thought into moose again, and that hasn’t really happened for a while. We need the DNR, and the Forest Service, fully engaged to really make this work.”
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There are many different types of fishing, yet which is the most effective? In this guide, we will explain everything you need to know about fly fishing, including whether you will catch more fish and how to catch as many fish as possible. We believe that fly fishing can be one of the most productive forms of fishing.
One of the unique things about fly fishing is that every detail of your cast can be customized to specifically target the sort of fish you’re aiming for. You can utilize a general-use fly rod, or you can opt to purchase a rod that has been designed to assist you in specific ways. Combined with the endless amount of techniques and combinations it gives you the most optimal approach at catching large amounts of fish.
Before we delve deeper into fly fishing and just how effective it is, it is essential to explain what this method involves. When fishing via traditional means, a cast is made that will use some sort of bait or lure, which is attached to the end of the line. The line is typically one of the newer braided lines or a monofilament.
One thing that is noticeable about this type of setup is that the line is a lightweight and very thin material, with the bait or lure being the heaviest part. This makes it so that when the cast is let loose, your bait or lure is what will carry momentum through the air, trailing the lightweight line behind.
Now, if you were to cast an object that was light in weight, you would have noticed that making the cast go very far is a challenge! In all traditional types of fishing, it is the weight of the lure that is vital.
Traditional Lure Casting Method
If you have ever seen someone fly cast, you will have probably noticed some distinctive differences between traditional lure casting and fly casting. Specialized fly fishing equipment is used by the angler to achieve this cast. This includes a purpose-built fly rod, as well as fly, tippet, leader, and a fly line.
The main difference when it comes to fly casting is that the artificial flies utilized to catch the fish are very lightweight. Even when you use much larger flies for pike or bass fishing, the weight is going to be minimal when compared with traditional bait, such as casting a spinning lure.
Fly Casting Method
With this approach, the key to getting the fly out to where the fish are is with the right fly line. In this casting method, the fly line is the weight. Through the use of a casting method that enables the fly line and the fly roof to work in unison, the weight of lined is utilized for carrying the fly out in front of you through the energy being transferred that has been built up in the line, down through the line, and out toward the end of it.
The most important aspect of fly fishing is knowing how to fly cast. There are some specific techniques in fly fishing that are not going to need much casting. However, the vast majority of what you will do in fly fishing will incorporate casting.
So, now let’s get into fly fishing and what it actually is. This revolves around the presentation of an artificial lure called a fly to a fish, which will typically imitate some sort of insect. This is the basic concept of fly fishing. The aim here is attempting to mimic the natural food base for a fish, getting them to take the fly. You are mostly trying to trick the fish.
The flies that you use for this can vary to insects that live under the water’s surface to those that float on the surface, from caddis to mayflies. Different approaches to fly fishing are required based on the type of fly you use. Some of the materials that tend to be used are as follows:
Feathers from birds, such as pheasants and ducks
Hairs and furs from animals, like moose, elk, deer, muskrats, and beavers
Wires, tinsel, and other types of ribbing materials
Tungsten beads, brass, and glass
Artificially created synthetic materials
The Main Differences Between Spin Fishing and Fly Fishing
In order to give you a true reflection of the differences between spin fishing and fly fishing, we have put together the main differences in a table below.
Differences
Spin Fishing
Fly Fishing
Lures vs. flies
Spin fishing utilizes heavier lures, which frequently imitate fish.
Fly fishing uses flies – including streamers, emergers, nymphs, and dry flies – to imitate all of the different types of food that fish feed one.
Rod type
Spin rods are used. They are heavier lines, which are cast monofilament lines that have a single cast.
Fly rods are used. These use false casting to cast the line, which is lightweight.
Lakes vs. rivers
Spin fishing tends to mainly be done on Stillwater.
Fly fishing tends to be done on moving water. However, it can also be done on Stillwater as well.
Line type
A monofilament line or another sort of line is used to cast lures that are heavier and do not require a heavier line to cast.
To cast the lightweight flies, a fly line, tippet, and leader are used.
Presentation
Spin fishing works effectively when imitating crawdads or baitfish. They are presented in the water at all depths, after which they are retrieved and then brought to you.
Fly fishing enables you to have a stealthier and upstream presentation. When you are fly fishing, you can also work in tighter quarters.
Some other differences do exist between the two types of fishing. However, we hope that the table above will help you to clearly understand the main differences between the two.
Does Fly Fishing Catch More Fish?
While each of the fishing styles is different, they all offer unique advantages in specific situations. However, there are a number of reasons why people believe that you can catch more fish with fly fishing, so let’s take a look at them below…
You can customize your fishing experience.
One of the unique things about fly fishing is that every detail of your cast can be customized to specifically target the sort of fish you’re aiming for. You can utilize a general-use fly rod, or you can opt to purchase a rod that has been designed to assist you in specific ways.
Once your rod has been personalized, this gives you the ability to customize your line. The weight, style, and length can be adjusted. This means your line is going to more significant meet your needs; you can amend the tippet and the leader. With fly fishing, you can quickly achieve a shorter or longer leader.
When it comes to tippets, there are several different styles of tippets that can be utilized with your line. The leader and the tippet are utilized so that the line is virtually invisible to the fish. They also make it a lot easier for the flies to be attached and detached from your line, enabling easy and quick transitions between casts.
One of the most customized parts of fly fishing is the flies. There are a number of different flies that you can buy that can help you with attracting the sort of fish you want to catch. You can do some research, watch your surroundings, and tie your own flies. This means that your fishing experience is ultra-customized, and it also means that you are going to be able to increase your chances of catching as many fish as possible.
The fly is delivered to the fish in a manner that is inconspicuous
Aside from the benefits that have been mentioned so far, there are a number of other advantages that are associated with fly fishing that tend to make it more beneficial. This includes the fact that the fly is delivered to the fish in a manner that is inconspicuous when the cast is done properly. The fly will be cast against the current, and then it is allowed to drift for a distance, in the same manner, that a typical bug falling into moving water would. Your goal here is to make sure the fly is delivered in a manner that the fish does not think there is something unnatural about it. If you are able to fool them, they will take a bite on the line.
You can catch a wide range of species
Last but not least, another reason why people believe you can catch more fish with fly fishing is that you will be able to catch all types of species. This includes bluegills, bass, trout, and many more.
Some of the main species of fish that fly fishing are successful with are as follows:
Bonefish
Tuna
Tarpon
Carp
Panfish
Bass
Pike
Salmon
Grayling
Trout
How to catch even more fish with fly fishing
As discussed, there are a lot of different characteristics that are associated with fly fishing that result in it being more successful than conventional fishing. However, this is only going to be the case if you get your technique down. With that being said, below, we are going to reveal some of the different tips that you can use in order to catch more fish with fly fishing.
Watch the bugs
The first step you need to take when fly fishing is to be observant and watch the bugs! Before you begin to cast away, you need to pay attention to the bugs that are near the water or on the water. Take a look at what kind of bugs the fish are eating. By doing this, you will be able to determine what sort of fly is going to be the most effective and result in you catching the most fish. You also need to think about what trout could be eating under the surface of the water. Try some of your wet flies or nymphs that match the most common underwater snacks. Simply choosing a fly without thought is not the way to go if you want to catch as many fish as possible while trout fly fishing!
Test the length of your leader
The next tip to ensuring you catch as many fish as possible when fly fishing is to test the leader’s length. Depending on the technique and fly you use, you may want either a shorter or longer leader length. For wet or dry flies, try using a longer leader. This should be anywhere between 12 and 20 feet. A shorter leader is going to be more beneficial if you are utilizing a streamer, so go for something between seven and eight feet. It is more than okay for you to try out different lengths on your leader so that you can figure out which is going to be the most effective for you and the fish you are trying to catch.
For more information on leader length check out our full article here:
Approach fish carefully
When you are stalking fish, make sure you approach low and make the most of any cover that you can, for example, bushes and long grass rushes. If you can, make sure you keep a low profile, especially when you are on a high bank with the skyline behind you. Remember, when a fish is deep, it is going to be able to see you from further away than fish that are close to the surface. This is because of the way in which fish see. They have an impeccable vision. They have the ability to uniquely adapt their vision to distinguish predators and locate food. This is why you need to do everything in your effort to blend into your surroundings. You may not think so but wearing bright clothes is only going to lower your success rates.
Walk softly and be as quiet as possible
Once you are in pole position, it is important to walk softly and to be as quiet as possible. This is something a lot of people take for granted. Nevertheless, fish are as sensitive to vibration and noise as they are to visual warnings. If you walk softly on the banks of the river and you try to wade as quietly and slowly as you can, you will definitely notice better results. Of course, trout don’t have ears, but what they do have is lateral lines that they use for detecting vibration and movement in the surrounding water.
Avoid overcasting to the fish
This is one mistake we see a lot of people make when it comes to fly fishing. Catching a fish does not always demand that you use a long cast. After all, you never know what fish could be right in front of you, do you? Before you attempt to catch any fish that are further away, make sure you check the area close to you. Not only do you never know what sort of fish are going to be near you, but it is going to be a lot easier for the hook to be set from a shorter distance rather than one that is far away.
Use the entire rod
Another tip that is important when it comes to fly fishing success is to use the full rod. A lot of fishermen think that they are more likely to win a fight against a fish if the rod is as straight in the air as possible. However, the outcome is not usually a positive one when this happens. Instead, the line either breaks, or the rod does. Instead, you should make sure your rod is nearer to a 45-degree angle instead. This will mean that you are not just using the tip of the rod; you are going to be using the entire rod. When it comes to fighting a fish, it is not all about strength. In fact, it is skill that is most important.
Stay safe
We also have to stress just how important it is to stay safe! After all, if you hurt yourself, you are not going to be able to catch as many fish as possible, are you? There are lots of different steps that can be taken here. For example, you need to wear a hat and some sunglasses so that your eyes are protected. When spotting fish, premium quality polarized sunglasses are always going to provide you with help. Plus, only wade if you need to, and make sure you are always careful when you do. Use a wading belt as well; this is a must.
Cast from your elbow and wrist
Last but not least, our final tip when it comes to getting your technique right in order to catch as many fish as possible is to make sure you cast from the elbow and wrist. A good cast does not mean that the whole arm must be utilized. Instead, it focuses more on the movements of your wrist. Your wrist needs to be straight, yet it should also be relaxed. It is the rod that needs to be doing the vast majority of the work for you. It takes a lot of practice in order to get the perfect cast. Therefore, the best thing that you can do in this regard is to practice, practice, and practice some more!
More Fish, and More Consistent Results
Not only do you have the potential to catch a greater number of fish with fly fishing but you can expect more consistent results as well. This comes down to the tactics that are involved in fly fishing. When you are spin fishing, the lure, whether it is biological or artificial, is put into the water’s depths in order to try and allure the fish into biting it. The lure needs to look like a source of food in order to tempt the fish so that they bite it. Some people have stated that the fish need to be in a certain type of feeding mood in order for this type of fishing to be successful.
When it comes to fly fishing, the end goal is to try and trick the fish into biting a fly that looks like one of their food sources. This can be a fly, as mentioned, or another type of aquatic insect. This is done on top of the water, at the bottom or anywhere that the fish are feeding. The key here is to try and mimic the natural behaviors of the food source as closely as possible, so that is presented in a way that fools the fish and they take the bait.
If you have ever tried fishing before, you will have probably experienced the instance whereby your lure is presented and the fish end up being spooked on the impact of the lure entering the water. This is something that does not happen with fly fishing because the presentation is on the water and above the fish. Because of this, you are unlikely to spook the fish, and this is how you end up with results that are a lot more consistent.
Other Reasons Why Fly Fishing is More Productive
Aside from being able to catch a greater number of fish, because you can personalize your fishing experience, there are a number of other reasons why fly fishing is considered better than spin fishing, and so we are going to take a look at these below.
You will enjoy the experience
Not only can you customize your fishing experience to ensure you catch more fish but there is no denying that fly fishing is much more experienced orientated as well. There are more factors that go into fly fishing and a lot of different things that need to be considered. This is why fly fishing is more fun. It can also be more challenging and more practice is needed in order to get it right. However, isn’t this what the thrill of fishing is all about?
Many people use the flat shooting and hard hitting .300 Win Mag for hunting elk, deer and many other species of big game with excellent results. Here are a few great brands of .300 Win Mag ammo that will probably serve you very well next time you’re afield.
The .300 Winchester Magnum cartridge exploded onto the scene in the 1960s and quickly surpassed older .30 caliber magnum rifle cartridges like the .300 Weatherby Magnum and .308 Norma Magnum in popularity. It has also displayed a lot of staying power and remains a favorite among hunters all over the world to this day. For that reason, just about every big manufacturer like Barnes, Black Hills, Federal Premium, Fiocchi, Hornady, Norma, Prvi Partizan (PPU), Sellier & Bellot, Sig Sauer, Remington, and Winchester produces several different variants of .300 Win Mag ammo for hunting elk, deer, moose, bear, and many other big game animals.
Known for being really accurate, having a flat trajectory, and for retaining lots of kinetic energy at extended range, versatility is the name of the game with the .300 Win Mag and it’s well suited for hunting a wide range of big game at short, medium, and even long range. However, different situations (like deer or pronghorn at long range vs moose at short range) necessitate the use of different kinds of .300 Win Mag ammo for best results.
While they are very accurate and are certainly capable of killing big game animals, I don’t recommend using bullets designed for target shooting like the Hornady ELD Match and Sierra MatchKing hollow point boat tail (HPBT) for hunting because they usually aren’t designed for optimum terminal performance on big game animals. The same goes for open tip match (OTM) or boat tail hollow point (BTHP) bullets.
Instead, it’s best to stick with .300 Winchester Magnum ammo specifically designed for hunting that uses soft point, jacketed hollow point, or similar bullets.
Fortunately, the .300 Winchester Magnum is one of the most popular hunting cartridges in North America and there are a wide variety of .300 Win Mag factory loads specifically designed for just about every conceivable big game hunting situation. So, regardless of whether you’re using a bolt action Winchester Model 70, a Remington Model 700, a Ruger Hawkeye, a Savage 110, a Mauser M18, a Weatherby Vanguard, or some other hunting rifle, there is pretty much guaranteed to be something for everyone on the list below of the best .300 Win Mag ammunition for hunting.
In today’s post, I’m going to show you the best .300 Win Mag ammo for hunting elk, deer, feral hogs, black bear, and all sorts of other big game and go over the pros and cons of each individual load.
Note: some of the links below are affiliate links. This means I will earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you) if you make a purchase of rifle, handgun, rimfire, or shotgun ammunition through those links. This helps support the blog and allows me to continue to create free content that’s useful to hunters like yourself. Thanks for your support.
Federal Premium Terminal Ascent
Federal’s Terminal Ascent line is an excellent option of .300 Win Mag hunting ammo for hunters looking for really good extended range performance on medium and large game. This ammunition uses the new Terminal Ascent Bullet, which is also extremely aerodynamic and accurate. It has a very high BC (higher than the 200gr Hornady ELD-X) and is also much more robustly constructed.
With those things in mind, I personally tend to lean more towards the Terminal Ascent over the ELD-X for hunting bigger game like elk with the .300 Win Mag. This ammo is another great option for hunters going after game out west like mule deer or pronghorn who need excellent .300 Win Mag ammo for a long range hunting situation.
Don’t misunderstand me though: it will also work great on all manner of game at shorter ranges too. I’ve had a number of clients in Africa use this 300 Win Mag ammo with outstanding results on plains game ranging in size from impala (about the size of deer) all the way up to zebra, gemsbok, and kudu (about the size of elk) at ranges from 50-200 yards.
If this ammunition shoots accurately in your rifle, this is one of my to recommended loads (right there with the Nosler Partition) for hunters who need good .300 Win Mag ammo for elk or moose hunting. Terminal Ascent ammo has better long range performance than the Nosler Partition, so this is definitely the stuff you should use if a shot past 250 yards is likely on an upcoming elk hunt.
Bullet Type: Terminal Ascent
Bullet Weight: 200 grains
Ballistic Coefficient (G1): .608
Muzzle Velocity: 2,810 feet per second
GET TERMINAL ASCENT 300 WIN MAG AMMO HERE
Also Available at: Cabela’s, Lucky Gunner, Optics Planet, and Sportsman’s Warehouse
Barnes VOR-TX
If you’re a hunter who loves Barnes bullets, then you’re in luck because Barnes produces some great .300 Win Mag ammo as part of their VOR-TX line. Featuring their legendary copper Tipped Triple Shock X (TTSX) bullet, this ammunition is designed for rapid expansion, high weight retention, and deep penetration. Available using 150 grain, 165 grain, or 180 grain .30 caliber bullets, Barnes offers three outstanding choices for hunters regardless of what they’re after.
The 180 grain load is quite possibly the best .300 Win Mag ammo for elk, bear, and moose hunting. The 165 grain load will also work for larger game like elk, but it’s perfect for bigger deer and bear. That high velocity 150 grain load is great .300 Win Mag ammo for deer and pronghorn hunting, especially for hunters who want a couple hundred extra fps and a really flat trajectory to minimize their holdover for a longer shot. All that being said, there’s certainly a lot of overlap on the acceptable hunting uses for those three bullet weights as well.
All three loads are also 100% copper, which makes them an ideal choice of .300 Win Mag hunting ammunition for use in states like California that that don’t permit the use of lead bullets.
Though I’ve since switched over to Federal Premium Trophy Copper ammo (next on this list), the Barnes VOR-TX line is still great ammunition and was my personal favorite .300 Win Mag ammo for a long time. I used that 165 grain load with a lot of success on both deer and pronghorn over the past few years and this ammo is also a favorite among many North America, New Zealand, and Africa hunting outfitters.
Bullet Type: TTSX Boat Tail
Bullet Weight: 150 grains, 165 grains, or 180 grains
Muzzle Velocity: 3,285 feet per second, 3,120 feet per second, or 2,960 feet per second
GET BARNES 300 WIN MAG AMMO HERE
Also Available at: Cabela’s, Lucky Gunner, Optics Planet, & Sportsman’s Warehouse
Hornady Outfitter
Hornady recently introduced their new Outfitter line of ammunition. Though it will also work quite well on a whitetail deer hunt in the back 40, the company markets this .300 Win Mag ammo for use on guided hunts in really tough environments like a moose hunt in Canada or a kudu hunt in South Africa.
This ammunition is loaded with an extremely tough 180 grain CX bullet that’s designed for controlled expansion, high weight retention, and deep penetration on large, heavy boned animals like elk, bear, and moose. This ammunition also uses nickel-plated case for reliable feeding and corrosion resistance under the most demanding conditions
With all those things in mind, it’s easy to see why Hornady advertises their Outfitter .300 Win Mag ammo for use on a big hunt that’s the culmination of years of saving and planning. After all, when the chips are down on the hunt of a lifetime, the absolute last thing you need is for your ammo to fail at the moment of truth.
The CX bullet used in Hornady Outfitter ammunition is lead free, which makes this ammo another good choice for use in states like California. Note: the CX bullet replaced the older GMX bullet from Hornady and is a tiny bit more aerodynamic, but retains the great terminal performance of the GMX.
Bullet Type: CX
Bullet Weight: 180 grains
Ballistic Coefficient (G1): .469
Muzzle Velocity: 2,960 feet per second
GET HORNADY OUTFITTER 300 WIN MAG AMMO HERE
Also Available at: Cabela’s, Lucky Gunner, & MidwayUSA
Hornady Precision Hunter
The .300 Winchester Magnum is an excellent long range cartridge and Hornady’s Precision Hunter line contains an outstanding .300 Win Mag ammo option for hunters looking to squeeze every bit of long range performance out of the cartridge. Loaded with the extremely aerodynamic Extremely Low Drag eXpanding (ELD-X) bullet, this ammo is perfect for western hunters going after game like elk, mule deer, or pronghorn who need the very best .300 Win Mag ammo for a long range hunting situation.
Hornady advertises that the ELD-X bullet has the best-in-class ballistic coefficients over their entire trajectory and that their Precision Hunter ammunition also offers match grade accuracy (usually sub-MOA).
Though the ELD-X does not have a bonded core like the Hornady InterBond, the ELD-X does feature a thicker jacket and an InterLock ring to help control expansion, increase weight retention, and minimize the chances of core-jacket separation. For this reason, the ELD-X is still devastating on deer and pronghorn sized game, but it’s also a much better choice than their SST bullet used in the Hornady Superformance line for use on larger game.
Add it up and you have some .300 Winchester Magnum ammunition that’s capable of delivering great terminal performance on a wide range of big game for shots at 400+ yards.
Bullet Type: Hornady Extremely Low Drag eXpanding
Bullet Weight: 200 grains
Ballistic Coefficient (G1): .597
Muzzle Velocity: 2,850 feet per second
GET PRECISION HUNTER 300 WIN MAG AMMO HERE
Also Available at: Brownells
Remington Core Lokt
If you’re a “meat and potatoes” kind of hunter who wants some reasonably priced and dependable 300 Win Mag ammo for hunting deer, elk, feral hogs, and black bear, then the Remington’s 180 grain Core Lokt soft point will probably work really well for you (it’s also available as a 150 grain soft point load which is good for deer hunting).
It’s not the latest and greatest stuff by any means, but this .300 Win Mag ammunition has been around for a long time and countless hunters have successfully used Core Lokt ammo to take just about every species of big game in North America. The same goes for hunts overseas in places like New Zealand or Africa: one of those bullets through the vitals of a red stag, kudu, eland, or wildebeest will make for a very short tracking job.
Finally, this ammunition is very reasonably priced and has one of the lowest costs per round out of all the .300 Win Mag ammo on this list.
Bullet Type: Core-Lokt Pointed Soft Point (PSP)
Bullet Weight: 180 grains
Ballistic Coefficient (G1): .383
Muzzle Velocity: 2,960 feet per second
GET CORE LOKT 300 WIN MAG AMMO HERE
Also Available at: Brownells, Cabela’s, Lucky Gunner, & MidwayUSA
Nosler Trophy Grade
The Nosler Trophy Grade line of ammo will very likely fit the bill for those looking for some seriously heavy hitting .300 Win Mag ammo for elk, moose, or bear hunting. Loaded with a 180 grain or a 200 grain Nosler Partition bullet, this load is perfect for hunting really big game where it’s really important to use a heavy, well constructed bullet. With that in mind, this is also perfect .300 Win Mag ammunition for an African safari for really large or tough game like kudu, blue wildebeest, or eland.
This ammunition is not limited to use on bigger and tougher animals either and will also work extremely well on game like deer. Indeed, a heavier 180gr or 200gr bullet like those used in this loading will also probably cause less meat damage on deer-sized game than lighter and faster 150gr and 165gr bullets.
Though it doesn’t have the flattest trajectory out there, this load retains energy very well, so this is still excellent .300 Win Mag ammo for hunting at a reasonable range. The Nosler Partition is a very old bullet design, but it remains one of the best hunting bullets around and has a proven track record over the course of many decades and won’t let you down at the moment of truth. Nosler also produces a similar load in their Trophy Grade line featuring the newer Nosler Accubond bullet.
Bullet Type: Nosler Partition
Bullet Weight: 180 grains or 200 grains
Ballistic Coefficient (G1): .361 (180gr) or .481 (200gr)
Muzzle Velocity: 2,950 feet per second (180gr) or 2,750 feet per second (200gr)
GET NOSLER PARTITION 300 WIN MAG AMMO HERE
Also Available at: Brownells and Lucky Gunner
Federal Premium Trophy Copper
Hunters in search of a high quality alternative to Barnes bullets should definitely check out Federal Premium’s new Trophy Copper line of ammunition. Like the Barnes TTSX, the Trophy Copper provides a devastating mix of high weight retention, rapid, yet controlled controlled expansion (to approximately twice the original diameter), and deep straight-line penetration. This ammunition is available using either a 165 grain or 180 grain .30 caliber bullet and the whole line has been endorsed by the MeatEater crew.
The 180 grain load is an outstanding choice of .300 Win Mag ammo for elk, moose, or bear hunting while the the lighter 165 grain load is perfect for deer, pronghorn, and bear. Both of those loads use a slightly more aerodynamic bullet than the comparable factory loads in the Barnes VOR-TX line. Especially with regards to the 180 grain Trophy Copper, the result is some .300 Win Mag ammo with a flatter trajectory, more retained energy at long range, and more resistance to wind drift than comparable Barnes ammo.
Federal Premium Trophy Copper ammunition is also a tiny bit more accurate in my rifle. While Barnes VOR-TX ammo is great and has served me well for many years, the improved accuracy combined with the slightly better ballistics of the Federal ammunition were enough for me to make the switch from Barnes to Federal Premium in 2020.
With those things in mind (and after seeing the performance of this ammo in the field), the Federal Premium Trophy Copper line is my new personal favorite .300 Win Mag ammo for all my hunting. I could not have asked for better performance on elk than what I received using that 180 grain load. Regardless of whether you’re hunting deer, elk, and bear in North America or one of the big species of African antelope, this ammo will serve you well and get the job done if you do your part as a shooter.
Both Federal Premium Trophy Copper loads are also lead free, which makes them an ideal choice of .300 Win Mag hunting ammunition for use in states like California that that don’t permit the use of lead bullets.
Bullet Type: Trophy Copper
Bullet Weight: 165 grains or 180 grains
Ballistic Coefficient (G1): .503 (165 gr) or .523 (180 gr)
Muzzle Velocity: 3,050 feet per second or 2,960 feet per second
GET TROPHY COPPER 300 WIN MAG AMMO HERE
Also Available at: Sportsman’s Warehouse and Optics Planet
Winchester Deer Season XP
Winchester’s Deer Season XP line of ammunition is a really good choice choice if you’re planning on taking your .300 Win Mag deer hunting. The Extreme Point bullet this rifle ammo uses is similar to Winchester’s Power Point bullet (same goes for the Ballistic Tip and Ballistic Silvertip), but the Extreme Point has a large diameter polymer tip that’s specifically designed to produce a gigantic wound channel along with massive impact trauma. This normally results in a very short tracking job and a very easy to follow blood trail. Even so, it’s designed specifically to compete with popular whitetail deer hunting ammo like the Federal Fusion, Federal Power-Shok, Hornady American Whitetail, Remington Core-Lokt, and Winchester Super-X in terms of accuracy and reliability.
The Winchester Deer Season XP line is also competitively priced and has one of the lowest costs per round out of all the .300 Win Mag ammo on this list.
So, not only is this some very reasonably priced .300 Win Mag ammo, but it also has a very good reputation for producing a giant wound channel and minimizing the distance deer run after being hit. In fact, this Winchester ammo is one of my top recommended brands of 300 Win Mag ammo for whitetail deer hunting. That being said, I would NOT recommend using it for bigger game like elk or moose.
Finally, Winchester does manufacture a lead-free version of their Deer Season XP ammo loaded with their Copper Impact bullet in 300 Win Mag for use with hunters who are prefer (or are required to) use lead-free ammunition.
Bullet Type: Extreme Point
Bullet Weight: 150 grains
Ballistic Coefficient (G1): .392
Muzzle Velocity: 3,260 feet per second
GET DEER SEASON XP 300 WIN MAG AMMO HERE
GET COPPER IMPACT 300 WIN MAG AMMO HERE
Also Available At: Brownell’s, Cabela’s and Lucky Gunner
Federal Fusion
It’s far from the latest and greatest stuff, but this Federal Fusion loading with either a 150gr or a 180gr bullet is really good 300 Win Mag ammo for deer hunting. In addition to being very effective, this ammunition is also somewhat reasonably priced and has been one of the easier to find 300 Win Mag ammo options during the past few years.
Additionally, Fusion bullets have a bonded lead core to help with weight retention. Combined with a skived tip to help initiate expansion, Federal Fusion 300 Win Mag ammo delivers a really good balance of controlled expansion, high weight retention, and deep penetration. Federal Fusion ammunition also has a good reputation for accuracy.
While I think Fusion 300 Win Mag ammo is better for elk hunting than some of the other loads out there, this is ideal ammo for feral hog and deer hunting. You could also include game like pronghorn and maybe black bear in there as well.
It will definitely work on bigger like elk or moose in a pinch, but I do not recommend using Federal Fusion 300 Win Mag ammo for hunting really big game like that unless you can’t find anything better. Instead, use one of the other loads I recommend later in this article like the Barnes TTSX, Federal Terminal Ascent, or Nosler Partition.
Like I said though, this is outstanding on deer sized game though and it’s to go wrong with Federal Fusion 300 Win Mag ammo for deer hunting.
Bullet Type: Fusion Soft Point
Bullet Weight: 150 grains or 180 grains
Ballistic Coefficient (G1): .410 (150gr) or .485 (180gr)
Muzzle Velocity: 3,200 (150gr) or 2,960 feet per second (180gr)
GET FEDERAL FUSION 300 WIN MAG AMMO HERE
Also Available at: Natchez Shooter Supplies and Optics Planet
NEXT: BEST 6.5 CREEDMOOR AMMO FOR HUNTING ELK, DEER, & OTHER BIG GAME
NEXT: 223 REM vs 5.56 NATO: WHICH SHOULD YOU USE IN YOUR AR-15 CARBINE?
NEXT: 6.8 SPC vs 6.5 GRENDEL: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
NEXT: 101 BEST GIFTS FOR HUNTERS
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In this post, we will take an in-depth look at the nitro piston air gun so you will know whether you need one, whether one is right for you, and whether you should buy one at all.
The nitrogen in this cylinder is already kept under pressure and you put more pressure on it when you cock the gun.
The air is held under tension until you pull the trigger.
When that happens, the pressurized air expands and propels the piston forward.
The piston, in turn, comes abruptly at the air-transferred port.
The compressed air has nowhere to go but behind the pellet, as the chamber is sealed completely.
As a result, the pellet is pushed out of the barrel due to the driving force of the compressed air.
Advantages of nitro piston air gun
Nitro piston guns do have plenty of advantages in comparison with spring air guns. Here they are:
First, a nitro piston air gun is lighter than a spring air gun.
This is a real advantage for the guys in the field all day who carry their guns around.
Second, the nitro piston produces much less recoil than the traditional spring gun.
When you shoot a spring air gun, the spring extends, causes strong vibration to the barrel in all directions, and generates lots of recoils.
With a nitro piston gun, the nitro piston extends smoothly and has less effect on the barrel so it has much less recoil.
The minimal recoil of a nitro piston gun gives us several benefits.
First, since the recoil is inconsiderable, a nitro piston gun requires less practice to hold the gun properly.
Second, because of very little recoil, most shooters (even the average skilled shooters) can shoot accurately with minimum effort.
Third, with the spring gun, if you don’t hold your hands in the same place every time you shoot,
A quarter of an inch in the difference of hand position can mean a half of an inch in difference in Point of Impact (the point the pellet hits the target).
However, since there’s less recoil, when you are in the field and have your gun on a bipod or other shooting rests (rock, tree, etc),
There is virtually no effect on POI EVEN if your hand positions change over the shot cycle.
Third, a nitro piston gun fires 55 % faster than a coiled spring gun and 15% faster than a simple gas piston.
It means that a nitro piston has a faster lock time (the time the pellet remains in the barrel until it is discharged)
And a faster lock time means better accuracy.
Fourth, a nitro piston is not affected by the weather.
With a spring gun, the main coiled spring is lubricated with grease.
When the weather gets cold, springs get harder and tougher.
So it slows down the gun and makes it hard to cock.
With a nitro piston, the nitro cylinder is lubricated with high-tech lubrication
So it operates almost the same regardless of the outside temperature.
Fifth, a nitro piston can be left cocked for days.
With a springer, if you left the gun cocked for a long time, the spring would lose its strength which leads to a reduction in the gun’s power and accuracy.
But with a nitro piston, you can leave it cocked for as long as you like. Nothing wears out.
And a little thing to note is that even though you can leave the gun cocked, you still have to shoot, cock, and de-cock the gun every few months to prevent the seal from getting bonded with the bore.
Sixth, since it doesn’t have spring torque like a spring air gun, a nitro piston gun is very easy to cock with only 28 lb of required cocking effort.
Seventh, a nitro piston produces 70% less noise over the shot cycle than a coiled spring gun.
Although the nitro piston has lots of advantages, it does have some disadvantages.
First, if the spring of a spring air gun is damaged or defective, it still works to produce some velocity.
If the gas ram fails, it doesn’t work at all.
But if the gas ram does fail, it will fail in the first few weeks after you buy it so you can return it anytime you want.
Second, it’s hard to find a replacement nitro ram if you want to service and modify this type of air gun.
There’s no way you can purchase an after-market nitrogen strut.
However, these disadvantages are really minor.
Conclusion
Understanding precisely what nitro piston technology is, and its pros and cons give you more information and confidence in the search for the best air rifle that fits you most.
If you want to enjoy smoother cocking, quietness, less recoil, high accuracy, and less maintenance for the gun then a nitro piston gun is for you.
However, if you want to buy a gun to service and modify it for better performance later, you shouldn’t put the nitro piston air gun in the potential buying choice list.
TextBlock(text=”# Squirrel Hunting Season in Georgia: Everything You Need to Know
As an avid hunter and outdoor enthusiast, I’m excited to share the details about squirrel hunting season in Georgia. Whether you’re a seasoned hunter or just getting started, this guide will provide you with all the essential information you need for a successful and enjoyable squirrel hunting experience in the Peach State.
The squirrel hunting season in Georgia runs from August 15 to February 28. This generous season gives hunters plenty of opportunities to pursue these agile tree-dwellers across the state’s diverse landscapes.
Key Details for Georgia Squirrel Hunting
Season Dates
Start: August 15
End: February 28
Bag Limit
Hunters are allowed to take up to 12 squirrels per day. This generous limit allows for ample hunting opportunities while still maintaining sustainable populations.
Hunting Areas
Squirrel hunting is permitted statewide on both private and public lands. However, always ensure you have the proper permissions or licenses when hunting on any property.
Why Air Rifles are Ideal for Squirrel Hunting
As an air gun enthusiast, I can’t stress enough how perfect these weapons are for squirrel hunting. Here’s why:
Quiet Operation: Air rifles produce minimal noise, reducing the chance of scaring off nearby game.
Accuracy: Modern air rifles offer excellent precision, perfect for targeting small game like squirrels.
Low Cost: Both air rifles and their ammunition are generally more affordable than traditional firearms.
Minimal Recoil: This makes air rifles easier to handle, especially for younger or less experienced hunters.
Tips for Successful Squirrel Hunting with an Air Rifle
Choose the Right Caliber: For squirrels, .177 or .22 caliber air rifles are typically sufficient.
Practice Makes Perfect: Spend time at the range honing your accuracy before heading out to hunt.
Learn Squirrel Behavior: Understanding when and where squirrels are most active will improve your chances of success.
Use Proper Hunting Techniques: Still-hunting and stalking are effective methods for squirrel hunting.
Aim for Vital Areas: Head shots are ideal for clean, ethical kills.
Safety First
Remember, safety should always be your top priority when hunting. Here are some key safety tips:
Always treat your air rifle as if it’s loaded.
Wear eye protection when shooting.
Be sure of your target and what’s beyond it.
Never shoot at hard surfaces or water.
Store your air rifle and ammunition separately and securely.
Conclusion
Squirrel hunting in Georgia offers a fantastic opportunity for both novice and experienced hunters to enjoy the outdoors and hone their skills. With the season running from August 15 to February 28 and a generous daily bag limit of 12, there’s plenty of time to get out there and experience the thrill of the hunt.
Remember to always check the latest regulations from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources before heading out, as rules can change from year to year. And if you’re new to air rifle hunting or looking to upgrade your equipment, don’t hesitate to explore our selection at Air Gun Maniac. Happy hunting!”, type=’text’)
