This article will go through the process, step-by-step, of how to flat tan a squirrel skin using the Advanced Tanning Solutions Tan-a-Fur Skin Kit. We are demonstrating on squirrels, but the process is similar for other fur skins.

The Tan-a-Fur Skin Kit includes everything you need to tan a life-size mountain lion, a medium bear, or several small animals. It’s a perfect kit for beginner or experienced home tanners and DIY taxidermists. You’ll get a professional-quality result with a simple, all-in-one experience.

The kit includes:

• Fleshing/Shaving Tool
• Degreaser
• Pickle Tan
• Fur Oil
• Softening Stone
• Silk Powder
• Dust Mask
• Non-Latex Disposable Gloves (2)

You will need table salt, bleach, baking soda, a plastic bucket, and hot water.

Before You Begin

The skinning process should already be done. We like to say, “treat it like you’re going to eat it.” Meaning, get your animal dressed, skinned, and on ice (both meat and hide/skin) as soon as possible after the animal is harvested. This will prevent bacteria from starting to grow which will cause hair slippage, specially with small game, like squirrels.

Step 1: Fleshing a Squirrel Skin

The following process is basically the same for any of your small critters with fur. Even though you’ve skinned your squirrel, there’s likely a little bit of membrane and flesh that remains attached to the skin. The first step is to remove as much of that as possible to achieve a soft and supple tan.

Since you’re making a flat skin, you won’t need to do any face turning. Face turning is the process of turning the face inside out to flesh that area. It also involves splitting the nose, ears, and lips and then turning the ears inside ou (for larger animals)t. This is done for taxidermy purposes if you were going to mount your tanned hide or fur skin.

Using the fleshing tool that comes in the kit, gently scrape, peel, and pull away all the little bits of flesh and fat that remain on your skin. Fleshing always works best when you go with the grain of the hair, so start at the head and work your way to the tail. Feel free to also use your fingers to pull off loose pieces. Use the pointed edges of the fleshing tool to get into tighter areas, like the tail, especially for smaller rodents, like squirrels.

☞ This type of fleshing is called “table fleshing.” The rounded edge you see on the tool is for pipe fleshing. With pipe fleshing, you would lay your skin over a pipe, stretch it tightly, and then use that rounded edge to scrape the flesh. That type of fleshing isn’t necessary with squirrels, but you can use pipe fleshing for beavers, raccoons, possums, and other greasier, fleshier animals.

Removing the musk glands

Removing the musk glands

Most fur-bearers have little sacs, called musk glands near the tail. They are oily, greasy, and don’t tan well so they need to be removed. Simply pull them away using the edge of your fleshing tool as shown.

How do you know when your hide is clean?

You’ll know your hide is clean when you see a blue color on the skin. If you see the blueing, it means there’s no flesh there to scrape off. But dark areas and white areas are flesh and fat — those need to be removed.

Once you’ve removed all the flesh, the musk glands, and all the membrane from your hide and you’re happy with it, you’re ready to move on to the next step — salting.

Step 2: Salting a Squirrel Skin

The salting process removes all the fluids, oils, fat, and non-tannable proteins from your skin. It will dehydrate the skin and help to lock the fur in to prevent hair slippage — nobody wants a bald squirrel!

To salt the skin for a flat tan, flip the face open and add a generous amount of salt to this area then fold the lips in. Next, apply a heavy layer of fine table salt over the entire skin so you can work it into the edges. Make sure every bit of the flesh areas gets salted. If you’re worried about staining, use non-iodized salt.

Salting the tail

After you’ve salted the squirrel’s body and face, open the tail all the way down and apply salt to fill in the crease. Next, pinch the tail together, just to keep all the salt in the tail. After that, you’ll flip the tail so that it rests on top of the body. Finally, add additional salt to cover the tail, just to make sure the whole tail gets nice and dry.

Let your skins dry in salt overnight for about 12 hours. Larger fur skins need 24 hours to dry. The next day, shake off the excess salt and if the skin still feels damp, re-apply another layer of clean salt and let it sit again overnight.

When your skin is dry, you’re ready to move on to the next step, rehydrating your squirrel skin.

Step 3: Rehydrating a Squirrel Skin

Now that your squirrel is dry salted, it’s time to rehydrate it. You rehydrate your hide by putting it in a rehydration bath that consists of the following items PER gallon of hot water. Since the squirrels are small we mixed just 1 gallon of rehydration solution, but larger skins will require a bigger bath:

• ¾ cup of salt
• 1 teaspoon of Advanced Tanning Solutions Degreaser (in the Tan-a-Fur Kit)
• ½ teaspoon of bleach

Mix to dissolve the salt and let the bath cool to room temperature. Do NOT put skins in hot water as this will cause bacteria to grow resulting in hair slippage.

Shake off the loose, excess salt. Don’t grab any chunks of salt and pull them, you will risk pulling out fur with it. Instead, crush or pinch the salt, and it should fall off easily. This goes for the salt that’s packed into the tail and face area, too.

You’ll notice the hide is dry and stiff. Next, dunk your skin in the rehydrating bath, much like you were dunking a cookie in milk. When it starts to soften and bend, you can let your skin gently sink into the bath.

Soak your skin in the rehydration bath until it is soft and supple. You’ll notice some layering of color in the water as a result of the degreaser working as it pulls the dirt and blood out of the skin. The result will be a soft, fluffy fur rather than greasy fur.

After rehydrating

When the skins are relaxed, remove from the rehydration bath, give it a very gentle squeeze to remove excess liquid, and then hang it — fur side out — over a bucket to drip dry.

You can see the Degreaser working as it pulls the dirt and fluids out to the bottom of the rehydration bath.

In about 15 minutes, your squirrel skin will be ready for pickling. To continue, see the next guide in our series How to Tan a Squirrel Part 2: Pickling and Shaving.

A freakishly huge bull elk that was killed on a high-fence ranch in southeastern Idaho could potentially set a new world record in Safari Club International’s Record Book. Brian Dhooghe harvested the bull from Broadmouth Canyon Ranch, and he brought the meat from the animal into Bay City Sausage in Aberdeen, Washington, to be processed last week.

The local game processor shared photos of the massive bull’s rack on Facebook, where they’ve generated upwards of a thousand comments. The majority of those comments are negative, as many took the opportunity to criticize the idea of shooting elk on a game preserve.

Outdoor Life, the Boone & Crockett Club, Pope & Young Club, National Deer Association, and other hunting organizations do not believe that taking animals behind a high fence qualifies as traditional fair chase. But still, high-fence hunts are a multi-million dollar business in the U.S., and simply turning a blind eye, or leaving negative comments on a Facebook post, won’t change that. So, it’s worth taking a closer look at these types of hunts—or shoots—and some of the animals they produce.

Some commenters on the Facebook post questioned if the animal was even real, and a few claimed the pictures were Photoshopped. But according to Kyle Strode, who works at Bay City Sausage and saw the rack in person, it’s real, alright.

“Yeah, it was pretty wild. I took a picture of the rack,” Strode tells Outdoor Life, adding that he knew Dhooghe from processing some of his other animals over the years. “Brian has been bringing stuff in forever. So, yeah. It’s a legit animal.”

Outdoor Life was also able to catch up with Dhooghe, who shared the story behind the giant bull.

“What the hell is that thing?”

Brian Dhooghe never claimed his bull was wild or that he killed it “way out in the boon-toolies.” He says he didn’t travel to Idaho just to shoot a record-sized bull that he could brag about. His trip to Broadmouth Canyon Ranch was a 50th birthday present from his wife. The trip was initially booked in 2020, and after a two-year pandemic delay, Dhooghe went out to the ranch last Monday.

He says he had originally paid to shoot a 500-inch bull (for context, the Boone & Crockett Club world-record nontypical elk, known as the famous Spider Bull, scored 478 5/8 inches), but then the head guide made him a deal he couldn’t pass up. The guide mentioned a record-class bull they had walking around the 10,000-acre ranch. He told Dhooghe if they could find it, he could shoot that elk in addition to a mid-500’s bull, and he threw out a price that Dhooghe was willing to pay.

In most high-fence operations, the client chooses which species and size of animal they would like to shoot and then is charged accordingly. For example, Bull Basin, a high-fence operation in Colorado charges $15,900 for a 381- to 399-class bull. Most of these operations guarantee success.

“They had told us this potential record was walking around, but I wanted a nice, big, sexy-looking bull to mount on the wall. And this thing is definitely not that,” Dhooghe says. “He’s ugly. I mean he’s awesome, but kind of freaky lookin’. It looks like something prehistoric, like, what the hell is that thing?”

Dhooghe shot his first bull (which scored 571 inches) during one of his first mornings on the ranch. The next day, he joined a group of four other folks for an afternoon elk drive, where the shooters lined up at the end of a patch of timber and the guides walked through the trees pushing the animals out. The others were looking for 300- to 400-class bulls, so when they saw the record-sized bull step out, there was no question as to who would take the shot.

“We’re all sitting there when up comes this thing,” Dhooghe says. “We saw him close to 400 yards, so I put him in my scope and the damn thing didn’t even fit in there!”

Dhooghe shouldered his .300 Weatherby and waited for the bull to reach 150 yards. With the bull quartering to him, he aimed in front of its shoulder and fired. The hand-loaded, 180-grain Nolser Accubond bullet took out the bull’s heart, and after trotting about 15 feet, the massive animal cartwheeled over and died.

A High-Fence World Record?

Two of the guides at Broadmouth Canyon Ranch are certified as scorers by SCI. Dhooghe says that when they put a tape to the bull’s rack, they conservatively scored it at 648 and 4/8 inches.

Unlike Boone and Crockett and the Pope and Young Club, which don’t allow animals harvested on high-fence ranches into their record books, SCI recognizes these trophies as potential records. The organization simply categorizes them as “estate animals.”

Read Next: The Biggest Nontypical Whitetails of All Time

Dhooghe still has to wait until the mandatory 60-day drying period is up. At that point, he plans to bring the rack to an SCI-certifed master scorer in Washington State. If the master scorer concurs with the original green score, the rack will then be judged by a panel of five or six master scorers, who would make the ultimate call as to whether Dhooghe’s bull replaces SCI’s current world record for the biggest bull ever killed with a rifle.

To clarify, bigger bulls have been killed at Broadmouth Canyon Ranch. This September, a hunter named Brian Bailey shot an elk there with a pistol that scored 689 and 6/8 inches, according to the ranch’s Facebook page.

Outdoor Life reached out to SCI, but their Record Book Committee was unwilling to comment on Dhooghe’s bull until they see it officially. SCI’s Online Record Book has two separate books for non-typical Rocky Mountain Elk—one for elk harvested on high-fence ranches and the other for free-range animals. Looking at the high-fence record book, the biggest bull killed with a rifle was harvested from Bull Basin Ranch in Gunnison, Colorado, in 2020. It scored 648 and 2/8. The high-fence record book also includes two larger bulls: a 649-and-2/8-inch bull taken with a crossbow from a ranch in Utah, and a 671-inch bull killed with a muzzleloader from an undisclosed location in Saskatchewan.

High-Fence Controversy and Ethics

The overwhelming number of negative reactions to Bay City’s original Facebook post are proof that a lot of people (hunters included) have strong opinions about high-fence hunting. Many hunters bristle at the notion of killing an animal inside a fenced enclosure—no matter how large the enclosure may be. They make a distinction between “hunting” and “shooting”, saying that high-fence operations violate the most basic fair chase principles and create unnaturally large specimens that are more akin to livestock than wild animals. To many hunters, these outsized antlers and breeding programs designed to grow the largest racks possible degrade the importance of truly wild animals which earn every inch they grow and season they survive.

Plus, high-fence whitetail operations are under extra scrutiny these days as they’ve been connected to the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease.

“Bought bull, high fence pet,” one commenter wrote. “Basically an animal raised like a beef cow that rich dudes pay to shoot. Would be no different or challenging than running down to your local dairy and shooting a Holstein cow with its head in a feed trough.”

It’s important to note that Dhooghe never violated any laws and never did anything to bring this heat upon himself. He didn’t brag about the elk or lie about where it was shot (the way some high-fence hunters have with trophy animals). In fact, Dhooghe isn’t even on social media. If it wasn’t for Bay City’s post, hardly anyone would know about the bull he harvested in Idaho.

“I don’t have Facebook, but my wife does,” he says. “I was looking at some of those comments and I had to quit looking because all it did was piss me off. All these people on there…can’t you just be happy for a guy to kill an animal like that?”

Dhooghe admits that he understands all the controversy around what SCI calls “estate animals.” At the same time, though, he says that regardless of what most people think, not all high-fence operations are created equal.

Read Next: Our Favorite Cartridges and Rifles for Hunting Elk

“I think there are places out there that give this kind of hunt a bad name. Where they keep them in a pen and you basically go out and pick one, so they can kick it across the field and you shoot it,” he says. “This place isn’t like that at all. They bring these elk in and then they turn them loose on 10,000 acres. My bull had been on that ranch for four years. He’s not a tame elk like everyone wants to think he is.”

No matter how much the hunting community decries high-fence hunting, there are clients willing to fork over tens of thousands of dollars in return for a guaranteed opportunity at trophy-class animals that they won’t get otherwise. And, there are plenty who say these hunting estates have their place. The North American Elk Breeders Association lists several reasons for why game preserves exist, including the opportunities they provide for physically challenged hunters, and the incentive they give landowners to turn a profit while maintaining large, undeveloped open spaces as wildlife habitat.

“I just can’t let it bother me, and it really doesn’t,” Dhooghe says about the vitriol over his giant bull. “I think I was 12 years old when I started hunting, and I never dreamed I would shoot an animal like that, or even have the opportunity to. I’m ecstatic about it.”

Whether you are a hunter or just curious about what animal is in the woods near you, being able to identify them by their eyeshine is a pretty cool skill to have. I did a lot of research but had trouble finding a good resource. So, I decided to compile everything I learned and share it here with you. This is what I found out.

In identifying animal eyes at night, you should consider four primary factors – the color, the shape of the eyes, pupil slit orientation, and eyelid shape. Predatory animals have glowing eyes with vertically elongated pupils, while harmless animals have horizontally elongated pupils.

In total, there are five primary eye shine colors that are visible in animals: blue, green, white, yellow, and red.

Here is an eye shine chart of 38 animals:

By the way, this fascinating book on Amazon covers how animal eye color affects behavior.

This article will examine why some animals have eyes that glow in the dark and how this feature helps them survive. We’ll also share a helpful eyeshine chart that you can use to identify animal eyes in the dead of night.

Why Do Animal Eyes Shine at Night?

Before we look at what colors go with actual animals, let’s talk a bit about the science.

Many animals have a thin reflective membrane at the back of their eyes, known as tapetum lucidum. This reflective membrane layer lies behind the iris and acts as a retroreflector, which means it reflects light back at the source – in this case, back at your flashlight.

It reflects visible light passing through the retina back to increase the amount of light on the photoreceptors. The presence of a tapetum lucidum gives nocturnal carnivores superb night vision.

Animals reflect the light directly toward the light source to give the retina a succinct image to analyze. Cats have incredible night vision because the reflective effects boost their night vision.

By matching the original and reflected light, the reflective layer maintains the image’s contrast and sharpness. The reflective layer uses constructive interference to increase the amount of light passing through the animal’s retina.

This phenomenon is also known as eyeshine because the glowing eyes are simply reflections of the light source trained at the animal. Shining light directly on the face of an animal with a tapetum lucidum causes the eyes to glow.

Eyeshine comes in various colors, including white, yellow, red, blue, pink, or green. Since the reflective layer is iridescent, the pupils’ color is affected by the angle of vision, eye color, and the mineral makeup of the tapetum lucidum.

Related Which Animals’ Eyes Reflect at Night? | A Biological Insight.

Night Vision and Eyeshine

A tapetum lucidum improves an animal’s ability to see in the dark and low-light conditions. The reflective eye membrane is typical in mammals, reptiles, invertebrates, and amphibians.

The eyeshine color depends on the animal and can be red, orange, yellow, pink, blue, or green. The sheen depends on eye color, the shape of the eyes, and the light’s angle shining on the animal.

The intensity of the eye glow varies between species, with some animals glowing brighter than the rest. The animals with the brightest eyeshine have excellent night vision because their eyes have fewer cones. Unfortunately, perfect night vision comes with limited color vision or complete color blindness.

Eyeshine in Predators

Most of the nocturnal predators have a tapetum lucidum to help them see in the dark. Dogs, house cats, big cats, alligators, and ferrets are some of the predators with eyes that reflect in the darkness.

Improved night vision is essential to these predators because it allows them to track prey in pitch darkness.

Cool Fact: Some predatory fish, like walleye, need excellent night vision to hunt in the dark, deep waters. As a result, they have reflective eyes.

Interestingly, while owls have eyes that glow in the dark, they lack a tapetum lucidum in their eyes.

Glowing Eyes in Predators

Unsurprisingly, some of the prey targeted by the predators with improved night vision developed a tapetum lucidum layer. The layer evolved as a defense mechanism to help these herbivores detect predators in low-light conditions.

Some non-predators with excellent night vision include cattle, deer, pigs, camels, kangaroos, and horses.

Identifying Animals by Eye Glow at Night

While it’s possible to identify some animals by their eyeshine, the eye glow color is more of a guideline than accurate science.

Several factors influence the color of an animal’s eyeshine, including:

• The color of the light source – flashlight, camera, LED, or moonlight
• The color of the animal’s eyes
• The size of the animal’s retina
• The distance between you and the animal
• Your position and light source angle

Here are charts grouping animals by their eyeshine color:

Eyeshine Charts

It’s important to note that accurately identifying an animal at night might require more information than just its eye color. If you can, try to use the animal’s general size, behavior when looking at you, habitat, eye size, and more.

Related What Does Moon Overhead and Underfoot Mean?

Animals With Red Glowing Eyes at Night

Some animals with characteristic red eyes at night include:

• Alligators and crocodiles- The large eyeballs of alligators and crocodiles glow fiery red in the dark, making them easy to identify. If you’re near a river, lake, or swamp in an area that these creatures live in, take extra caution if you see red eyes in the dark.
• Owls- Owls are nocturnal birds with big eyes that glow red or orange after dark.
• Red fox- Foxes have red glowing eyes with perpendicular pupils.
• Rabbits- A rabbit’s eyes will exhibit a light red tone when you shine a light on them.

Animals With Yellow Eye Glow at Night

Some animals have glowing yellow eyes at night, including:

• Bears- A bear has dark brown eyes that take on a bright yellowish glow when you shine a light on them in the dark.
• Cats- Some cats have eyes that give off a yellow glow in the dark, but this can vary depending on the cat in question.
• Deer- A deer’s eyes glow yellow in the dark. As deer often live in the same habitats as bears, you should also look at the height and size of the eyes to determine which animal you’re looking at.
• Raccoons- Raccoons have big eyes that glow bright yellow in the dark.
• Chinchilla- Commonly kept as exotic pets, chinchillas also have big eyes that glow yellow in the dark.
• Panthers- This big cat has smallish eyes that glow yellow in the dark. You might not see the yellow glow if you shine the light directly on their face.

Animals With Glowing Green Eyes at Night

Some animals with eyes that glow green in the dark include:

• Dogs- Some dogs can have an eerie green nighttime glow that can be unsettling in the dark. A dog’s eyeshine can take on different colors, including blue, orange, green, and red.
• Foxes- Some foxes have an intense green glow in their eyes as they forage for food after dark, though a few types of foxes have white or yellow eyes instead.
• Opossum- Opossums have big eyes that light up green in the dark. You’re likely to find them perched up high on a tree at night.

Animals With White Eye Glow at Night

Some of the animals with eyes that glow white in the dark include:

• Coyotes- Coyotes have big eyes that glow bright white in the dark. While they’re predators that typically hunt in packs, you don’t need to panic if you see a pack of white eyes staring at you, as coyote attacks on humans are extremely rare.
• Deer- A deer’s eyes will reflect the white light of a camera equipped with a flash to assume a bright white glow in the dark.
• Tigers- Tigers would be difficult to spot in the dark were it not for their large eyes that glow white in the dark.

Why Human Eyes Don’t Shine

Human eyes do not have a reflective layer called the tapetum lucidum. In fact, all haplorhine primates are diurnal and do not have the tapetum lucidum.

To read more about this topic, go here.

Conclusion

Shining a flashlight into the darkness only to see a pair of glowing eyes staring back at you can be a bit frightening. And unless you know whether those eyes belong to a dangerous predator or a harmless herbivore, you won’t know whether to ignore them or be on your guard. Fortunately, you can identify an animal by its eyes at night if you have the correct information.

Some animals have eyes that glow in the dark because they have a special reflective membrane behind their retinas. The membrane is a unique adaptation to help their ability to see at night.

Most common eyeshine colors include white, green, red, yellow, and orange. The eye glow color depends on the specific animal, eye color, and light source, among other factors.

You’d need more information about an animal in addition to its eyeshine, such as habitat, size, behavior, eye size, and more, to identify it accurately.

Still, the included eyeshine chart should help. And don’t forget to check out this book on Amazon, it’s extremely helpful.

I hope this article has provided the info you needed. Thanks for reading!

For more, check out What Can Deer Smell? (How To Avoid Detection).

Remember your excitement when you got your first AR-15? If you’re like me, it was memorable! Now imagine something even more so – getting something BIGGER! Yes, it’s just a matter of time before you’ll get the itch to join the “BIG BORE” club. Typically characterized by calibers .44 greater, big bore ARs are a ton of fun to shoot, usually better for hunting and good for the ego! One of these “BIG BORE” bad boys is the 450 Bushmaster, a formidable beast with the ability to provide a one-shot kill at 250 yards. Feel the itch yet? I did, and that .450 Bushmaster became my first entry into the Big Bore Club.

The 450 Bushmaster DNA goes back to the legendary Col. Jeff Cooper and his disdain for the .223 caliber AR-15 platform. Cooper was convinced of the need to go bigger. He envisioned a cartridge for big game hunting out to 250 yards. That idea inspired Tim LeGendre of LeMag Firearms, LLC to develop the “.45 Professional Cartridge” which would utilize .452 projectiles.

Later, LeGendre licensed the .45 Professional to Bushmaster Firearms International. Bushmaster teamed up with Hornady Ammunition to produce it. Hornady wanted to modify the original concept to incorporate its 250 grain Super Shock Tip (SST) bullet. This forced a compromise to shorten the cartridge case and the Bushmaster 450 was born.

I’ve used Hornady ammo for years in most of my traditional hunting rifles, so the decision for me was simple. The .452” 250 grain FTX features Hornady’s Flex Tip technology is a solid choice. It provides great velocity and devastating energy out to 300 yards. It has a ballistic coefficient .210 and 2200 feet per second muzzle velocity. These FTX bullets (this one is built for the .45 Colt) are designed to have a much higher BC than normal flat-nosed bullets standard in those types of cartridges. The FTX bullets are somewhat soft and offer very good expansion, but are not the best bullets for the toughest game. In North America they are suitable for anything but brown or polar bears, and perhaps bison.

Zeroed at around 175 yards, this load is easily a 200 yard load without worrying much about hold overs.

Remington also jumped into the mix and now provides several options for the .450 Bushmaster. For reloading, the 275 grain Barnes XPB has a .215 ballistic coefficient. Designed for the increased muzzle velocity and long barrels available on .460 S&W hunting pistols, this Barnes solid projectile is a game-changer for the .450 Bushmaster. This is the load I would choose if I were using the .450 BM in bear country. Trajectory is basically identical to the Hornady 250 grain FTX load at practical ranges, so the same zero could be used for both in most cases. Zeroed around 175 yards, you would be in the kill zone out to 200 yards without holding under or over.

Also useful to reloaders is the Remington 260 grain Core Lokt Ultra Bonded bullet with its .144 ballistic coefficient. Core Lokt bullets have a strong reputation for being consistent performers. They may not be the flashiest new technology, but they have been working reliably for generations. They perform well at modest velocities, and it is hard to go wrong with a Core Lokt in any caliber.

This is a good tree-stand cartridge, and should roll up a pig nicely. Within reasonable ranges it will be fine for black bear, elk, or moose. It does not have quite as flat a trajectory as some of the others, but this is not a long-range cartridge anyway. Even if velocities are low for reliable expansion at longer ranges, a .45 caliber bullet doesn’t usually need much expansion.

For loaded ammo, Remington makes their 260 grain Premier Accutip. It certainly looks cool, but I can’t find the ballistic coefficient specs for this bullet anywhere. With a muzzle velocity of 2180 feet per second, Remington says it is the most accurate .45 caliber bullet ever made. It looks like this bullet performs on game about the same as the Hornady FTX bullet does, so it should be fine for anything up to moose or black bear. Like Remington’s Golden Sabre loads, this one has a brass jacket that is cut for expansion.

My introduction to Big Bore ARs was more luck than general curiosity. A few years ago, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources added three very popular hunting cartridges to its deer hunting approved list. The 450 Bushmaster, .458 SOCOM and .50 Beowulf made their way into regulation. I’d imagine every Hoosier with an AR started salivating at the opportunity of using his or her AR to hunt deer.

It took me several months of research to decide on which big bore caliber upper to purchase. At first, I was set on the .458 SOCOM, but at the time, ammo availability and pricing held me back from going that route. The 450’s strong following, ammo availability and pricing won me over and the rest is history.

I ordered the 450 Bushmaster upper from Rock River Arms since it works with my standard mil-spec 5.56/.223 receiver. No modification of the lower receiver was necessary and it comes with a 5 round Bushmaster magazine with a 450 follower. I had an extra EOTech XPS Holographic Sight available, so my upper setup was done within minutes.

The Hornady 250 grain bullet I used provides a flat trajectory out to 150 yards. With a fifty yard zero the the drop is only 1.7″ at 150 yards. With a 175 yard zero, it stays just inside the kill zone from 2.7″ high at 100 to 2.5″ low at 200 yards. This is an excellent setup for deer hunters who use tree climbers and shoot within a limited range. There is no need to memorize hold overs. Just point and shoot!

After months of waiting it was time to get some trigger time with the 450. The ballistics tables will only tell me so much and I was really curious how a “big bore” rifle would shoot. Admittedly, the ammo itself is visually intimidating and the stories I’d heard of this beast had me a little apprehensive.

My range day with the 450 was very different from what I’d expected. The anticipated bang and shock was nothing close to what I’d imagined. Much of the felt recoil was mitigated by the factory installed Izzy Muzzle Brake. My zero session at 50 yards was fun and effortless. I followed up with another half a dozen shots at 100 yards just for good measure. The “big bore” weapon system’s setup and Hornady accuracy gave me a strong sense of satisfaction and confidence. The real test was in November, deer hunting in Indiana. Here’s where the performance really showed >>>

Editor’s note: Special THANKS to Dylan Saunders for his assistance with this story.

Read more on .450 Bushmaster >>>

Overall, catfish are some of the most abundant species of fish in the world. According to Practical Fishkeeping, there are now over 3,000 species of catfish around the world. Depending on the species, catfish can range in size from 1.5 to 2 inches (4 to 5 cm) to hundreds of pounds, like the behemoths on this list. All of the catfish on this list are over 100 pounds (45.36 kilograms). Nearly all of these catfish are listed as the world record for their species in the International Game Fish Association’s (IGFA) World Records Database. As of the time of this writing the records are accurate.

1. Table of Contents

   • Record Flathead Catfish
     • Did You Know?
   • Record Redtail Catfish (Pirarara)
     • Did You Know?
   • Record Blue Catfish
     • Did You Know?
   • Record Goonch
     • Did You Know?
   • Dino Ferrari’s Wels Catfish
     • Did You Know?
   • Record Lau-Lau (Piraiba)
     • Did You Know?
   • Mekong Giant Catfish
     • Did You Know?

   Record Flathead Catfish

Source: IGFA World Records Database

The record for the largest flathead catfish belongs to Ken Paulie, who landed his big flathead over 20 years ago. Paulie’s flathead catfish weighed 123 pounds (55.79 kilograms) and was over 5 feet (1.55 meters) in length.

While Paulie’s record was verified by the the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks and has been standing for over 20 years, many people have questioned the legitimacy of Paulie’s catch. Paulie was using a light tackle while he was crappie fishing and the flathead was a lucky catch.

Did You Know?

Paulie’s flathead catfish was frozen for many years before it was presented to the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism in 2016 for further examination. Researchers determined that the record flathead catfish was at least 22 years old, grew very rapidly, and was most likely a male.

1. Record Redtail Catfish (Pirarara)

Source: IGFA World Records Database

The world’s largest redtail catfish was captured in 2010 by Gilberto Fernandes in Brazil’s Amazon River. Fernandes’ redtail catfish was 123 pounds 7 ounces (56 kilograms) and 4.62 feet (1.408 meters) long. There really isn’t any more details about Fernandes’ catch, but he did use a fiberglass Sportex rod to land the redtail catfish.

According to a news report, Fernandes has over 100 IGFA world fishing records. Just a month before he made his record redtail catfish catch, Fernandes caught another redtail that was 113 pounds 8 ounces (51.5 kilograms).

Did You Know?

Redtail catfish are not picky eaters and in the wild tend to eat fish and crustaceans. In captivity, redtail catfish eat assorted worms, frozen foods, sinking catfish pellets, and dry foods.

1. Record Blue Catfish

Source: The Roanoake Times

The record blue catfish was caught in 2011 in Kerr Lake, Virginia by a man named Richard Nicholas Anderson. This large blue catfish weighed in at 143 pounds (64.86 kilograms) and was 4.75 feet (1.45 meters) long. It took Anderson about 45 minutes to land the giant blue catfish, whose size surprised Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries chief Gary Martel.

Anderson wanted to keep his blue catfish alive so that it could be put in a tank at a local Bass Pro Shops retail store. However, despite his best efforts, his record blue catfish died.

Did You Know?

Blue catfish were intentionally introduced into rivers in Virginia in the 1970s, but have now become an invasive species that grows and breeds rapidly.

1. Record Goonch

Source: fiskefuralle.se

The record for the largest Goonch ever caught belongs to Jakub Vágner, the host of National Geographic’s “Fish Warrior.” Vágner’s Goonch was 165 pounds 5 ounces (75 kilograms) and over 5 feet (1.57 meters) long. The Goonch was caught in the River Ramganga in India.

In addition to the large Goonch, Vágner has caught several other large freshwater fish, including and 286.6 pound (130 kilogram) Arapaima and an 242.5 pound (110 kilogram) Wels catfish. In an interview, Vágner said that he is sill after the world record Goliath Tiger Fish of the Kongo river.

Did You Know?

Goonch catfish have reportedly been known to eat corpses from funeral pyres on the Kali River, which runs between Nepal and India. It is speculated that this has allowed the Goonch to grow so large and develop a taste for human flesh.

1. Dino Ferrari’s Wels Catfish

Source: Adventure Sports Network

In 2015, an Italian fisherman named Dino Ferrari was featured in international news for capturing a monster Wels catfish in the Po Delta. Ferrari’s Wels catfish weighed 280 pounds (127 kilograms) and was 8.75 feet (2.67 meters) long. Although Ferrari’s catch is impressive, unfortunately he was just shy of the world record for a Wels catfish catch, which weighed 297 pounds 9 ounces (134.97 kilograms).

However, other than the official record listing on the International Game Fish Association’s website, there wasn’t enough information to feature the story of the record Wels catfish. Ferrari’s sponsor did say that his catch may hold the world record for a fish caught with a Torpedo spinning rod made by an Italian manufacturer.

Did You Know?

It took Ferrari 40 minutes to catch the Wels catfish and he decided to release the fish back into the water so he could be caught again in the future.

1. Record Lau-Lau (Piraiba)

Source: bigfishesoftheworld.blogspot.com

Jorge Masullo de Aguiar currently holds the world record for the largest Lau-Lau (Piraiba), which is a species of catfish that is native to South America. Masullo de Aguiar’s Piraiba was caught in 2009 and weighed 341 pounds 11 ounces (155 kilograms). This giant South American catfish was also over 6.5 feet (2 meters) long.

While Masullo de Aguiar’s Piraiba is the largest officially on record, in general, Piraiba can weigh over 450 pounds (204 kilograms). In fact, the Piraiba is the largest of the catfish species found in the Amazon.

Did You Know?

Piraiba are so large that monkeys, cats, dogs, birds, and other catfish have been found in their stomachs.

1. Mekong Giant Catfish

Source: NBC News

In 2005, a behemoth Mekong giant catfish, weighing in at a scale-tipping 646 pounds (293 kilograms) was caught in a remote village in Thailand near the Mekong River. Experts believe that this monster Mekong giant catfish is not only the largest catfish ever caught in the world, but the largest freshwater fish ever recorded.

In addition to weighing nearly 650 pounds, this Mekong giant catfish was 9 feet (2.7 meters) long. It took over an hour for the Thai fishermen to reel in the heavy catfish. Officials from Thailand’s Inland Fishery Department wanted to use the female Mekong giant catfish for a breeding program, but she ended up dying. The people from the nearby villagers didn’t let the fish go to waste and ended up eating it.

Did You Know?

The Mekong giant catfish is rare and endangered and the one caught in 2005 was the largest ever caught since Thailand began keeping records in 1981.

Question:When hunting big woods, what are the best terrain features to look for when trying to find deer signs? — Joe Barrett, Cheltenham, Pa.

Saddles

Why bucks use them: Saddles may not be my go-to terrain feature because they don’t occur everywhere, but they are easy to find and easy to hunt. Saddles offer the two things that bucks look for when traveling: the path of least resistance and a low profile. Mature bucks typically slink around like ghosts — just out of sight — they are around but not really visible. Saddles permit this behavior by reducing the amount of time the buck remains on the skyline.

Saddles accomplish the buck’s second goal by lowering the ridge line. When he is crossing from one slope to the other, the saddle makes the mission easier. Saddles funnel all manner of game. I have hunted some impressive trails through saddles up in the mountains when chasing elk, but here we will focus on whitetails.

How to find them: To find saddles you need a topographical map. Saddles will appear as a gap between the contour lines that make up the ridge top. It is easier to show you what a saddle looks like on a topo map than to try to describe it, so I have included a map image for that purpose.

The weakness of relying on topo maps to find saddles is the scale of most maps. Most depict a terrain variation of 20 feet between adjacent contour lines. That means that for a saddle to appear on the topo map, it has be 20 feet deep. I have hunted many saddles over the years that were only five to ten feet deep, yet they were very productive stand locations. There is only one way to find these shallow saddles and that is on foot. You have to walk the ridge tops. If the ridge dips you have a saddle. Start looking for stand locations.

How to hunt them: With a gun, saddles are a killing field. Set up along the top of the ridge, right where it drops off into the saddle. This gives you the best field of fire to cover anything using the saddle and by staying high, you remain in the consistent wind that stream over the ridge versus dropping down over the top where the wind is sure to swirl.

With a bow, most saddles are less exciting, but still worth hunting. Bucks don’t generally flow right through the bottom like water, so you have to pick a side. The wind, not the sign, dictates which side you should pick. If the wind is 90 degrees to the ridge, you can hunt either end of the saddle equally well. However, if it is quartering across the ridge, you must favor the downwind side of the saddle or you will spook too many traveling deer.

Saddles are best during the rut when bucks are actively cruising. They can also be very good on opening day of the firearms season when other hunters keep the bucks moving. Saddles are not as productive during the early bow season or during the late muzzleloader season unless they lie directly between feeding and bedding areas.

Bedding Ridges

Why bucks use them: I don’t hunt bedding areas early or late in the season because of the risk of spooking deer. However, during the rut, the reward is worth the risk. Things are more chaotic and the deer don’t notice my coming and going as readily. Bucks move through these bedding areas looking for does, creating activity that is very consistent. Many of my best bucks have come from this exact pattern and I look for it as my number one morning option everywhere I hunt.

I hunt ridges nearly every morning during the rut because that is where I find the action. Bucks come through these areas looking for does all morning long. I once hunted a single ridge stand 14 mornings during a 16-day stretch. It never grew old and I eventually shot a great 10-pointer.

The buck parade typically starts shortly after the does arrive — roughly an hour after sunrise. They stay on their feet until late morning if the day is cool, offering several hours of possible action each day.

How to find them: Like all terrain features, ridges show up best on a topo map, but because of shadowing, ridges also show up pretty well on aerial photos. Finding a ridge is only the start, you then need to decide where along the ridge to hunt. I favor funnels in all my whitetail hunting, and surprisingly there is a common funnel on ridge tops.

The areas where a ridge narrows are natural locations for a tree stand. In most parts of whitetail country, a ridge narrows because a draw or ravine runs up from the valley below to end at this point along the ridge line. As deer travel the side of a ridge, they will detour up and around that ravine. So at the place where a ravine cuts into the side of the slope, the bucks will bottleneck closer to the top of the ridge. This is also a natural place for bucks to cross a ridge, another reason to select a stand right at the head of a ravine.

How to hunt them: Determine where the deer are likely feeding and then enter the ridge stand from the opposite direction. Don’t hunt the stand unless the wind is blowing from the feeding area toward the bedding area (into your face as you walk in). Once settled in the stand, the wind will carry your scent over the valley on your downwind side (assuming the ridge is at least 60 to 80 feet high), and ideally over the noses of any deer traveling the valley below.

I have hunted a few of these stands where the conditions were perfect. There was literally no way for the deer to smell me because the ground dropped away quickly on the downwind side and my scent didn’t hit the ground until it was hundreds of yards away and sufficiently diluted that it evoked no reaction from the deer. I love setups like that.

Ditch and Creek Crossings

How bucks use them: Now we are getting into what I think is the best natural stand location in rolling or rugged areas. Again, we are dealing primarily with bucks that are on the move during the rut. They are covering ground and looking for does. In the course of their travels, they will have to navigate through (and around) creeks and ditches. You can easily find and hunt the crossings they are likely to select. I bet ditches and creeks have played a role in at least a third of the bucks I have shot in my life.

How to find them: Ditch and creek crossings are the first thing I look for when hunting a new area. In fact, where these terrain features are common, you can build your entire season around them. Creeks scream at you from topo maps, are obvious on aerial photos and you literally stumble over them (or into them) when walking the property. Ditches are less obvious from the map study, but equally easy to find with your feet on the ground.

Creek crossings generally occur at the center of an S curve in the creek. The bends of the S are generally holes with high banks on the outside while the straight portion between bends is generally shallower with a lower bank. That is where the deer cross.

Some creeks don’t meander, making it much harder to find crossings without actually walking the banks of the creek, looking for cross trails.

Ditch crossings typically take three forms. Either the deer go around the ditch at the top or bottom (comprising the first two forms) or they cross the ditch itself at a place where the banks are gradual. The first two crossings are easy to find from a map study, but you have to walk the ground to find the third type.

How to hunt them: This is why I love ditches and creeks. They offer a no-brainer entry and exit route. At least half of my stands rely on creeks or ditches to permit undetected access. I get right down in them and sneak along. Even if I don’t hunt right on the edge of the ditch or creek, I use it to get in and out.

Go in before the season with a chainsaw and remove all the brush and fallen trees from the ditches so you can walk through easily and quietly, even in the dark. Now you have a corridor that permits you to stay out of sight, keep your noise to a minimum and lay down scent in a place where deer are unlikely to walk. This is the definition of the perfect entry and exit route.

Creeks are not as easy to navigate when they are carrying a lot of water, but when they are low they also represent the perfect access route. In fact, I like the undetected access afforded by creeks and ditches so much that I go out of my way to find stands along these corridors just so I can use them to slip in and out.

Field Crossings

How bucks use them: Many people call them swales. If you think bucks love to use saddles when they are located in the woods, you should see the way they use them in an open field. These swales are basically saddles across open fields, a way for the buck to stay out of sight as he traverses open land.

How to find them: These crossings are generally evident by two brushy ravines on an aerial photo. The ravines extend into the open ridge from the opposite slopes of the ridge, pointing at each other like huge, brushy fingers. This is the narrowest crossing point on the ridge — again reducing the buck’s exposure while traveling.

How to hunt them: The opposing brushy fingers are both good stand choices, deciding which to hunt comes down to the direction of the wind and the availability of good trees. This would be a good stand for all phases of the rut and the place that bucks will use to enter the field to feed during the early and late season — an all-purpose stand. These are fun spots to hunt too, because you can see well in all directions.

Bluff Edges

How bucks use them: Any buck cruising along a side hill will funnel up the slope to bypass the steepest section by walking the bluff edge. Very rarely will they traverse the near vertical slope unless someone is pushing them. One of my best stands of all time was located at the top of an abandoned rock quarry.

Talk about a steep bluff! I hunted it when the wind was blowing out over the quarry so no deer ever smelled me on stand. I accessed the stand by walking up the slope, right on the edge of the quarry, so I got in and out without detection. I messed up on one of the biggest 8-pointers I have ever seen in my life from that stand, but that is another story.

How to find them: You can sometimes see bluffs when studying an aerial photo, but they are much easier to see on a topo map. Where terrain is the steepest, contour lines are very close together signifying a fast change in elevation. When you see contour lines that are close together, you are looking at a bluff.

How to hunt them: As mentioned, bluff stands are among my favorites because they offer incredible advantages and a very straightforward hunting plan. Place your stand near the edge of the bluff and then hunt it with the wind blowing out over the valley below. There is no way that a deer will be able to smell you. If you can climb the bluff from below, you have the ultimate stand setup, one where the deer never detect your entry or exit and they never smell you while on stand. It doesn’t get any better than that.

About Frogs

Bullfrogs and green frogs look similar but are easy to tell apart from other frogs in Missouri, due to their relatively large size at maturity. They prefer aquatic edge habitats that offer still, shallow water with aquatic and/or terrestrial vegetation. This provides both cover and food, such as insects and nearly any other small animal that will fit in their mouths. Ponds, lakes and river banks, wetlands, and other vegetated waterways are all great places to find frogs.

Frog Hunting

Methods

Frogs can be hunted in Missouri using many different methods.

With a fishing permit, frogs may be taken by gig, trotline, throw line, limb line, bank line, jug line, snagging, snaring, grabbing, or pole and line.

With a hunting permit, frogs may be taken by crossbow, pellet gun, or .22 or smaller caliber rim-fire rifle or pistol.

With either permit frogs may be taken by hand, hand net, bow, or atlatl.

When to Hunt Frogs

• Frogs may be pursued during the day or at night with an artificial light.
• During a full moon frogs are typically more skittish because they feel more exposed, and are thus more difficult to approach.
• During a new moon it is usually easier to get closer to them.

Because frogs are amphibious and must keep their skin moist, they spend more time in the water and weeds during the day and are generally less visible around the banks than at night. Whether they’re hiding or not, their location is often given away by their assertive croaks.

Getting Started

Frog-Hunting Gear

• Rubber knee boots or hip waders
• Flashlight
• Gig or net
• Something to keep your harvested frogs in

Choosing a Location

Public and private landowners typically do not manage for frogs. Instead, frog populations are often the result of management for another species such as waterfowl or fish. Frogs are also common in aquatic edge habitats not subject to management or maintenance of any kind.

Waters with few to no predators will yield the best frog populations, which is why newer ponds or very old ponds are generally plentiful with frogs. Bullfrogs and green frogs can be found along nearly all waterways on MDC conservation areas but especially on wetland areas and along rivers and lakes.

Bullfrogs are ambush-style predators that will eat any live prey they can fit in their mouths, including insects, fish, mice, birds, and snakes! Focus on shallow water areas and mud flats along the margins of ponds, lakes and wetlands where cattails, willows, grasses, and other aquatic vegetation is present.

Tips and Tricks

• If you are hunting with a partner, have them blind the frog using a light so that you can stalk the frog from behind. Frogs can feel the vibrations of you approaching on foot, sometimes causing them to flee before you locate them.
• Consider using a canoe to stealthily locate and get close enough to grab, net, or gig.

Try Hunting During the Day

Most frogs are caught with the use of a gig or by bare hands at night. For a little different experience, try fishing during the day. Simply use a long fishing pole, like a cane poll or crappie rod, with a short piece of fishing line and a small treble hook tied to the end. Attach a small piece of red cloth to the hook and dangle in front of the frog. Often temptation will get the best of the frog and it will strike at the cloth. The only thing left to do is set the hook.

Five years ago I ditched the couch potato lifestyle and started running. It sucked, but as I got into the process I realized that I didn’t hate it as much as I expected — at least most of the time. The runs that were chock-full of misery were those where I didn’t get much sleep the night before or where my feet were beat up.

As far as sleep, that’s fodder for a different article. When it comes to foot-care, I found a few things to be helpful that have migrated from my life as a runner to my life as a hunter. And while it may not seem like a big deal, especially to the whitetail hunter, good footwear is a game-changer.

Here’s why:

From Deer To Elk & Back Again

As a traveling bowhunter, I use to think about western hunting much differently than my midwest whitetail adventures. That’s not the case anymore, and my hunting tactics have converged to mirror both pursuits more closely than I ever thought possible — and so has my choice of boot.

While I do like knee-highs for some whitetail hunting, particularly if I need to wade through a creek or a swamp to get to my spots, I’m mostly reliant on quality leather boots — the kind that are a necessity in the elk mountains.

The first thing worth looking for, whether you’re a deer hunter, an elk hunter — or both — is comfort. This is a no-brainer but it’s amazing how a little extra weight or some stiffness in the wrong spot can turn miserable after a few miles. Comfort starts with fit, of course, so if you’re not wearing the right size of boots you’re already in trouble. You might think you can make up for the difference with your sock choice, but you can’t. One hike up a mountain or into the woods to check trail cameras and you’ll be deep into regret and blistered up.

Wear the right-sized boots, and pay attention to how tall they are. Light hikers that fit like running shoes are comfortable, but they belong on trails and not in the timber. For hunting and scouting you need some support, and for most of my pursuits I’m looking for boots that are at least eight inches tall.

This is important in the whitetail woods, but a game-changer in steep terrain. Naturally, it’s easy to think about the uphill aspect of elk hunting and the support your feet will need, but it’s the side-hilling and downhill treks that will get you.

Side-hilling, with 40 pounds in your pack, is a great way to figure out how much support your boots offer. Add in an elk quarter and a lot of extra weight, and you’ll really understand what you’re dealing with when it comes to potential ankle sprains or worse.

For the downhill treks — which tend to be more dangerous than uphill because you’ve got loose rocks and gravity conspiring against you with each step — you’ll need support on the top and the bottom of your boots. Quality tread, the kind designed to grip where grip isn’t easy to find, can keep you upright and in one piece. That’s something hard to understand when you’re breaking your boots in at home in Michigan or Pennsylvania and not faced with the reality of elevation and the up-and-down places elk and mule deer call home.

Whitetail Considerations

Maybe you won’t hunt elk — that’s okay. If you stick to the whitetail woods you may wonder why you need a good pair of boots. Well, you can roll your ankles in deciduous forests, too. While falling down a river bluff isn’t as dangerous as falling down a mountain, it’s not that much fun either. And it’s really not fun in the dark when you’re slipping in to a rut stand you’ve been saving for just the right conditions.

The kind of tread that will help you in the mountains will also help you at home on the whities, and in other situations, might save your hide as well. Last fall, while bowhunting some public land in Oklahoma, I was blessed with a buzzer-beater buck. I watched him tip over as the light faded on my last night down there and to put it mildly, was pretty jacked up about filling my tag.

When I climbed down to go look at him, my knee-high boot slipped off of my climbing stick and caused a puckering, find-religion-now moment even though I was attached to a lifeline. The upshot here is that well-designed tread is good for more than the mountains…

Danner Pronghorn — Fifth Generation

The boots that are winning me over this year — and that I’ve scouted deer in, hung stands while wearing, and are traveling with me 19 hours west to hunt elk in Colorado — are the Danner Pronghorns. I’ve covered more ground while bowhunting in the Pronghorns over the years than any other boot, and their latest version is the fifth generation, which represents a new-age return to the old classic 851 design.

This means that the fit and comfort level of these new Pronghorns is off the charts, but now those attributes are combined with the TERRA FORCE® NEXT™ platform, which is designed to promote all-terrain arch support, stability and torsion control. They are also built with Vibram® Pronghorn Outsoles so that there will be no complaints when it comes to traction no matter what type of terrain you hunt.

Pronghorns are also waterproof thanks to a GORE-TEX membrane, and can be ideal for mid- to late-season hunts if you opt for the insulated versions (400g or 800g PrimaLoft®). Unlike similarly priced offerings that claim to be waterproof, these Pronghorns are also incredibly breathable. That’s one of those things that is hard to appreciate until you’re putting on the miles in the early season.

The real kicker, at least for yours truly, is that for half of the price of competitor’s boots, you can get the Pronghorns and know that they’ll last. The most disappointing boot experience of my life was finally getting my hands on a pair of $500 leathers, only to toss them two seasons later because they had fallen completely apart. My last pair of Pronghorns lasted me three times as long, and that’s through a lot of use. This is one of the many reasons that for almost two decades, Pronghorns have been the go-to choice for western hunters and whitetail junkies alike, which is something not destined to change any time soon thanks to the newest version.

Conclusion

No matter what you hunt, or how you scout, quality footwear is key. Find yourself a pair of boots that will allow you to do the things you need to do to be successful and remember that the right boot can take you across the flattest whitetail territory as well as up the steepest mountain basin, so choose wisely.

You know, it doesn’t matter what kind of bait you use if you don’t have a hook in it. That sounds simple, but when it comes to choosing the right hook, I consider that decision very carefully.

Hooks are obviously extremely important because that’s how you’re able to land a fish. However, you have to use the right style of hook for the right application. Otherwise, you decrease your chance of catching fish.

When I’m determining the type of hook I’ll use, a lot of factors come into consideration. The type of bait I’m using is certainly a big element, but so are line size, the habitat I’m fishing and the size of fish I expect to catch.

For instance, you wouldn’t use a thin wire hook with 20-pound fluorocarbon in heavy cover. Conversely, you wouldn’t use a heavy flipping hook in open water with light line. Every hook has its purpose and learning to select the right one for the job will increase your success as an angler.

Here are a few of my favorite hooks and a few details on how I use them:

HOOK 1: Gamakatsu Straight Shank Heavy Cover Flipping Hook

How I Use It: This hook is great for fishing around any shallow cover such as grass or wood. The strength allows you to set the hook and drag that fish out of cover. In this scenario, if you try to use a hook that’s too light, one of two things will happen: Either your hook will bend, if the fish will wiggle loose.

When you hook a fish in that heavy cover, those fish have so much leverage. By comparison, out in open water, the fish is pulling against you, which means they’re pulling against your line and your rod. There’s not much pressure on the hook and on the fish.

But when that fish is in the target area and he’s pinned against something, they have so much leverage that they can turn their head really hard really hard the other direction and it will bend the hook. So you need a heavier hook for that situation.

This is my choice for flipping/pitching with 22-pound Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon. I’ll rig this hook with the Yamamoto Flappin Hog and use a 4/0 for the larger size bait and a 3/0 for the smaller one.

Hook Pointer: When I feel the bite in heavy cover, I drop the rod tip, reel up any slack and set the hook pretty hard.

HOOK 2: Gamakatsu Super Line Extra Wide Gap (EWG) Hook

How I Use It: This is my choice for all 5-inch Senko applications around shallow cover, where I cast and flip the bait on 16- to 20-pound fluorocarbon. That hook holds the Senko, I believe, straighter than any other hook. It allows the bait to line up perfectly straight on the hook.

That bait falls the best without any hook in it – without anything to hinder it. By design, the bait wiggles when it falls. With any hook, if the bait is tweaked a little bit and not perfectly straight, I don’t think it falls as naturally as it’s designed to fall because you’re limiting the amount of action it has.

Depending on depth, I’ll fish the Senko on a weighted Texas rig with a 4/0 hook or a weightless Texas rig with a 3/0. With the weightless rig, the 3/0 size is better because there’s less hook and I don’t overpower the Senko and mar the action. With a standard Texas rig, weight is less of an issue.

Hook Pointer: Not only does that hook keep it perfectly straight; it allows you to Tex-pose that hook point. So you don’t have to pierce the Senko completely like you would with a standard Texas-rigged setup where the barb and the point are buried inside the bait.

Well, a Senko is a big-body bait with a lot of salt and a lot of bulk. Anytime you have to pierce that bait, your odds of catching that fish decrease.

With that EWG hook, the bend that it has allows me to run the hook point completely through the bait and then the hook point lays flat on top of that bait. Then all I do is just barely pierce the skin with the point to make it completely weedless. When I set the hook, all I’m doing is tearing through one little piece of plastic.

So this hook helps the bait sit flat without any weird bend to it and it helps with the actual hook-up ratio when you set the hook.

HOOK 3: Gamakatsu Weedless Split Shot/Drop Shot hook

How I Use It: This is my choice for wacky rigging 5-inch Senkos. Wacky rigging maximizes that classic Senko action because there’s only one point of entry, as opposed to the two points of entry that you have with a Texas-rigged bait.

The reason a Senko is so effective at tempting fish is that it has a crawly, wiggly action on the fall. Fishing it on a wacky rig allows the bait to fall as it’s made to.

I like a 1/0-2/0 hook for wacky rigging and I’ll fish this rig in shallow to mid-depths on spinning tackle. I typically use 8-pound fluorocarbon, but these hooks are heavy enough that I can get away with 16-pound line if I’m around heavier cover.

Hook Pointer: Because I’m using spinning tackle and lighter hooks, I have to take it easy on the hook set. If I drop the rod tip and set the hook like I would with a flipping presentation, I might bend the hook. With spinning gear, I’ll reel down and pull into the hook set, instead of the drop-snap method.

Here are a few more points to consider with your hooks:

Knot Choice: For all of the hooks I’ve mentioned, I attach my line with a version of a uni-knot. Essentially, you make a loop through the eye; similar to the Palomar, but then you tie a uni-knot over the main line and the tag end with the loop.

In the past, I’ve had trouble with broke lines with Palomar, but since I’ve been using this knot, I’ve had almost no trouble with knot-related break-offs. A Palomar is a great knot for reaction baits, but for any hook setting baits with lot of shock, I use this modified uni-knot.

Matching Line to Hooks: The one trick is to look at the diameter of the hook as it relates to your line. The lighter the line, the lighter the hook should be. Basically, a light line doesn’t have enough power for a heavy hook; but a heavy line has too much power for a light hook. If you go the wrong way; things will go south in a hurry.

Hook Organization: How you store your hooks can play a key role in your efficiency, particularly your ability to quickly respond to an opportunity on the water.

I keep my hooks in a Plano Utility box with slots for the different sizes. This box also carries my other terminal tackle items. I have back-up items in their original packaging in my truck, but I’ll keep a complete assortment of terminal tackle in this one box in my boat.

Doing it this way, keeps everything I need right in front of me. I don’t have to open up a box for hooks, another box for weights and another box for bobber stops. It’s faster and easier to have something right there.

Sharpening Hooks: There’s nothing wrong with touching up the tip of a hook now and then. I do it if I see the point just has a little bend or tweak in it.

However, if I think a hook’s point has worn down to the point of needing more than a casual touch-up, I’ll replace it. It takes only a few seconds to retie and I’d rather know that I have a hook that won’t let me down.