There is beauty in simplicity and the traditional soft-hackle wet fly is quite simply, beautiful. In its bareness, in the liveliness of its soft hackle fibers it suggests all that seems necessary to tempt fish. Because of its simplicity it’s also one of the easiest flies to tie—and often one of the deadliest.

Also called a Hackle Fly, North Country Fly, Stewart Spider, or Yorkshire Spider, these flies were first mentioned in Dame Juliana Berners’ 1496 Treatise of Fishing with an Angle. Likely their history extends even farther back than that. But it wasn’t until Sylvester Nemes’ 1975 The Soft-Hackled Fly that they began to receive the attention they deserve in the United States, and became known in general as “soft-hackle” flies. (Incidentally, The Soft Hackled Fly was updated in 2006 as The Soft-Hackled Fly and Tiny Soft Hackles; I highly recommend both the original book and the update for their history, fly patterns, and ideas.)

The most basic version of the soft-hackle fly consists of a hook shank wrapped with thread, floss, or peacock herl and a hackle (partridge, grouse, hen or some other soft-hackled bird) wound around the forward part of the shank. Here the hackle suggests the legs or emergent wings of various insects such as caddis or mayflies. Slightly more elaborate versions include a small thorax of dubbed fur just behind the hackle. Others —often more specifically imitative of a mayfly nymph—will sport a tail and perhaps a body of dubbed fur, in which case the fly is often referred to as a soft-hackle nymph or “flymph,” a type popularized by Leisenring and Hidy. However you tie it, the soft hackle wet fly deserves an honored place in your fly box.

I first began tying these flies as a teenager in the 1950s after reading an article by Ray Bergman in Outdoor Life magazine titled Basic Wet Flies for Trout Fishing. They weren’t called “soft-hackle wet flies” back then, just “hackle flies.” Among my favorites were the Gray Hackle and Peacock and the Orange Fish Hawk, both tied with soft grizzly hen hackle on a #12 or #14 hook. Both were well-suited to the small skills of a beginning tyer and fly fisherman. Another favorite—one not found in Bergman—was one I called a Gray Pigeon (or sometimes a Flipper Fly). This pattern was hackled with a soft iridescent gray-blue feather taken from the neck area of a common pigeon with a body of soft gray fur clipped from the stomach of my old cat Flipper (who also supplied me with the pigeon).

I caught a lot of trout on these patterns but somewhere along the way, as my fly-tying skills became more developed and my flyfishing more sophisticated, I became interested in flies that more exactly imitated the insects in the streams I fished, flies that demanded more skill in both tying and fishing. I began to fill my fly boxes with more complicated patterns, relegating simpler flies to boxes that I rarely looked into. Eventually they became forgotten flies, rusting away and eaten by moths

Then in the mid-70s my interests began to shift back to simpler, more impressionistic patterns; flies that suggested insects or baitfish in general, flies tied with soft fibers that would move in the current like a living insect or baitfish. It was at this time that I tied the first Sparrow and other flies utilizing the soft aftershaft feathers found on a pheasant; also the Soft Hackle Streamer which (when you look at it closely) is simply a traditional soft hackle wet fly tied with a much longer marabou hackle thus allowing it to suggest a baitfish. About this time that I became friends with Sylvester Nemes, whose book rekindled my interest in the traditional soft-hackle wet fly. Since then I always carry a selection of traditional (and some not-so-traditional) soft-hackle wet flies with me wherever I fish.

Following the tying instructions given below I’ve listed some of my favorite soft-hackle patterns. While most of them are tied with partridge feathers, you can tie a whole range of soft-hackle wet flies using grouse, pheasant, woodcock, snipe, starling, grackle, sparrow, common hen in various colors, and, yes, even pigeon. For exceptionally soft-hackled flies, especially in the smaller sizes (#16-20), you might also want to tie some using the aftershaft feathers attached to the main body feathers of most of these birds; these mostly dun-colored feathers are the softest of the soft hackles and should not be overlooked by the tyer. They are very effective, especially in slower-moving or still water, where they are most productive. The ultra-soft and heavily-barbuled feathers found around the anus of most roosters and hens are also quite useful, especially grizzly; I refer to this feather often as a CPF (chicken-poop) feather throughout my web site.

Hook Selection

The soft-hackle wet fly is usually tied on wet fly hooks (any shape, model, and size you like) because it is usually most effective fished just under the surface. You may, however, tie it on lighter-wire dry-fly hooks to fish it in the surface film, perhaps as a drowned nymph that didn’t quite make it. A general rule for determining which hook to use is this: If you want the fly to imitate a caddis, tie it on a regular or short-shank hook without a tail; if you want it to imitate a mayfly, tie it on a regular or long-shank hook and add a tail.

While it’s most often used for trout, soft-hackle wet fly is also a fine steelhead and salmon fly, especially in heavily-fished waters or when the water is low. For a deeper, faster-sinking fly, use a 2x heavy wire hook or weight the fly with a copper wire or lead-wrapped body. Some anglers even tie it with a bead-head. Its effectiveness is not limited to fresh water either — it’s a productive bonefish fly, especially in smaller sizes (#8-#10).

Fishing the Soft-Hackle Wet Fly

Probably the most common way to fish a soft-hackle wet fly is to cast it across and slightly downstream, letting it sink and then swing in the current, rising with the tightening line much as a natural rises to the surface before hatching. It’s on this rise that fish usually strike. Another productive method is to cast the fly upstream on a short cast and then let it dead-drift back to you just under the surface (or, if tied on a light-wire hook, in the surface film). On lakes and ponds a soft hackle fly cast in front of a cruising trout and then twitched slightly can be absolutely deadly. Many soft-hackle fly anglers, especially in Europe, favor fishing two or three of these flies (of different colors and sizes) at a time.

And now it’s time to tie.

Tying the The Partridge & Olive

Hook:

Daiichi 1150, 1550, Mustad 8100BR, Tiemco 3769, or any hook that you prefer, sizes 10-18

Thread:

6/0 Olive or size A flat nylon

Body:

Olive thread or size A flat nylon

Ribbing:

Gold wire, optional

Thorax:

Hare’s Ear or gray squirrel blend

Hackle:

Hungarian Partridge

Head:

Hare’s Ear or gray squirrel blend

Soft Hackle Wets

Here are some of my favorite soft-hackle wet flies that you might want to tie up and try next time you’re on the stream. All are tied in the manner described above.

The Partridge & Chartreuse

Hook:

Daiichi 1150, 1550, Mustad 8100BR, Tiemco 3769, or any hook that you prefer, #12-16

Thread:

6/0 fluorescent chartreuse or size A flat nylon

Body:

Fluorescent chartreuse thread or floss or size A flat nylon

Ribbing:

Gold wire, optional

Thorax:

Hare’s Ear or gray squirrel blend

Hackle:

Hungarian Partridge

Head:

Fluorescent chartreuse thread or dubbed hare’s ear or gray squirrel

The Partridge & Orange

Hook:

Daiichi 1150, 1550, Mustad 8100BR, Tiemco 3769, or any hook that you prefer, #12-16

Thread:

6/0 orange or size A flat nylon

Body:

Orange thread or floss or size A flat nylon

Ribbing:

Gold wire, optional

Thorax:

Hare’s Ear or gray squirrel blend

Hackle:

Hungarian Partridge

Head:

Orange thread or dubbed hare’s ear or gray squirrel

The Partridge & Yellow

Hook:

Daiichi 1150, 1550, Mustad 8100BR, Tiemco 3769, or any hook that you prefer, #12-16

Thread:

6/0 yellow or size A flat nylon

Body:

Yellow thread or floss or size A flat nylon

Ribbing:

Gold wire, optional

Thorax:

Hare’s Ear or gray squirrel blend

Hackle:

Hungarian Partridge

Head:

Yellow thread or dubbed hare’s ear or gray squirrel

The Pheasant & Black

Hook:

Daiichi 1150, 1550, Mustad 8100BR, Tiemco 3769, or any hook that you prefer, #14, #16

Thread:

6/0, black

Body:

Black thread

Ribbing:

Gold wire, optional

Thorax:

Black fur dubbing

Hackle:

Iridescent black ringneck pheasant feather taken from head or lower neck of pheasant

Head:

Black fur dubbing or thread

Brown Hackle, Peacock

Hook:

Daiichi 1150, 1550, Mustad 8100BR, Tiemco 3769, or any hook that you prefer, #14, #16

Thread:

6/0, black

Tag:

Gold wire, optional

Body:

Peacock herl

Ribbing:

Gold wire, optional

Thorax:

None

Hackle:

Brown mottled hen or grouse

Head:

Black

Aftershaft Soft Hackle Wet Fly

Hook:

Daiichi 1140, 1150, 1550,1640 Tiemco 2487, or any hook that you prefer, #14-20

Thread:

6/0, olive, orange, yellow, black, rust

Tag:

Gold wire, optional

Body:

Olive, orange, yellow, black, or rust thread

Ribbing:

Gold wire, optional

Thorax:

None

Hackle:

Aftershaft feather from partridge, pheasant (hen or cock), grouse

Head:

Olive, orange, yellow, black, or rust thread

Soft Hackle Nymphs

These flies differ from the above soft-hackle wet flies in that they’re most often tied on a 1xl or 2xl hook, with a tail and with a body and thorax of fur, to imitate an emerging mayfly nymph. To imitate a caddis, simply tie the same fly on a regular or a shorter-shanked hook and omit the tail. These patterns may be varied, of course, to match more closely the sizes and colors of insects found on your local waters.

Partridge & Hare’s Ear

Hook:

Daiichi 1710, 1280, 1640, Mustad 9671, TMC 3769, 5262 or any hook that you prefer, #14, #16

Thread:

6/0 olive

Body:

Olive thread

Ribbing:

Gold wire, optional

Thorax:

Hare’s Ear or gray squirrel blend

Hackle:

Hungarian Partridge

Head:

Olive thread or dubbed hare’s ear or gray squirrel

Partridge & Muskrat

Hook:

Daiichi 1710, 1280, 1640, Mustad 9671, TMC 3769, 5262 or any hook that you prefer, #12-16

Thread:

6/0 gray

Tail:

Partridge

Body:

Blue-dun gray muskrat body fur

Ribbing:

Gold wire, optional

Thorax:

Blue-dun gray muskrat body fur

Hackle:

Hungarian Partridge

Head:

Gray thread or blue-dun gray muskrat body fur

Partridge & Red Squirrel (Hendrickson Nymph)

Hook:

Daiichi 1710, 1280, 1640, Mustad 9671, TMC 3769, 5262 or any hook that you prefer, #12-16

Thread:

6/0 rust or brown

Tail:

Pheasant tail fibers or wood duck

Body:

Red squirrel fur (from the back of the squirrel, to include predominantly rust-red hairs)

Ribbing:

Gold wire, optional

Thorax:

Red squirrel fur

Hackle:

Hungarian Partridge

Head:

Rust or brown thread or dubbed red squirrel fur

Soft Hackle March Brown Nymph

Hook:

Daiichi 1710, 1280, 1640, Mustad 9671, TMC 3769, 5262 or any hook that you prefer, #12, 14

Thread:

6/0 rust or brown

Tail:

Pheasant tail fibers

Body:

Red squirrel fur mixed with amber fur dubbing

Ribbing:

Gold wire, optional

Thorax:

Red squirrel fur mixed with amber fur dubbing

Hackle:

Hungarian Partridge

Head:

Rust or brown thread or red squirrel fur mixed with amber fur dubbing

Soft Hackle Pheasant Tail Nymph

Hook:

Daiichi 1710, 1280, 1640, Mustad 9671, TMC 3769, 5262 or any hook that you prefer, #14, #16

Thread:

6/0 rust or brown

Tail:

Pheasant tail fibers (three or four)

Body:

Pheasant tail fibers wound over hook shank

Ribbing:

Gold wire, optional

Thorax:

Hare’s Ear or gray squirrel blend

Hackle:

Hungarian Partridge

Head:

Rust or brown thread or dubbed hare’s ear or gray squirrel

In this article, we will discuss the best freshwater fish to eat and why they are so good for you. We’ll also cover some of the health risks associated with eating certain types of fish, and provide tips on how to select fresh fish at the grocery store.

There are a few types of fish that remain at the top of the list among fish enthusiasts’ list of favorites. However, some of them might be hard to locate and obtain. But that’s no reason not to try them, as those fish species are truly some of the most highly recommended freshwater fish for eating.

Best Freshwater Fish for Eating

Here, we’d like to talk about a few of our absolute favorite tasty freshwater fish and provide some practical advice on why they are the best freshwater fish for eating.

Salmon

Salmon is a well-known fish among many fish lovers. Salmon may be cooked in many ways and is actually one of the fish types you can find easily no matter where you are.

There’s a good chance that your local fish market or grocery store offers many types of salmon from which you can choose easily. And you can make a variety of meals with salmon and serve them to your friends and family.

Salmon is an anadromous fish, meaning it moves from freshwater, to saltwater, and returns for reproduction purposes. In many areas of the world, there are landlocked salmon that live their entire lives in freshwater, so salmon is considered both a freshwater and saltwater fish.

There are many ways you can eat salmon. It can be baked, roasted, fried, or even grilled.

Salmon works well even now in an air fryer. This adds diversity to a straightforward fish. It has plenty of Omega-3-rich fatty acids as well which is really good for your health overall.

Salmon has a moderate flavor, so you will not get any significant fish-type flavor, which is why it is often enjoyed by those with little experience consuming fish.

Trout

The well-liked freshwater fish, trout, is easy to prepare and has a delicious flavor.

There are several types of trout that are often consumed:

Rainbow trout, brown trout, cutthroat trout, brook trout (not technically a trout, but widely included in this group), lake trout, and other species of trout.

Roasted trout is one of the best trout dishes there is. However, it also tastes great when fried or grilled. Just make sure that you cut the trout into tiny chunks if you decide to fry it.

We recommend some brown rice and maybe some steaming or vegetables on the side when you’re ready to serve the trout. If you are camping, it is easy to place trout in some foil over a fire and have an incredibly meal while camping.

Pike

Another really tasty freshwater fish to cross off your list is the pike. Due to their preference for chilly water, they are more prevalent in northern states and regions.

As opposed to the majority of the other fish we’ve discussed here, you should expect a slightly fishy flavor from this fish.

The majority of people, however, use flavorful seasonings and inventive recipes to mask the fishiness. The fishy flavor will appeal to seafood lovers. When it comes to cooking pike, you may relish its rich flavors and flaky meat, so it’s quite adaptable.

Baking is the most typical method of preparing pike. The results from broiling or grilling these fish are rather good. A word of caution with pike: it’s bony, which means you want to take a bit of extra care when cleaning and eating. This is a fish where some local fish and wildlife may suggest not eating them based on water conditions.

Bluegill

Bluegill can be an exquisite choice if it is obtained in the proper environment. Bluegills are known for being some of the best tasting warm water fish species, but they taste can differ based on environment quite a bit. Bluegill in cold water vs hot water, in a lake, vs a pond, vs a river can all have some different flavors. This can make for some fun variation and experimenting.

Bluegill is most often fried, or cooked whole. Bluegill are small fish almost always less than 12 inches long, with a mild taste, firm meat, and it does not have a fishy taste.

Bass

Since the bass typically has a mild flavor, you can cook it pretty much however you like and still have a delicious meal.

Similar to bluegill, bass can have a slight note of sweet flavor. Although they don’t taste particularly fishy, you will detect some can detect a fishy flavor to them. Bass is such a commonly targeted sport fish, that is generally overlooked as a fish to consume, but in some regions, you’ll find this as a very common fish to eat.

Crappie

People who just love spending time fishing in the nearby river or pond frequently catch this species of fish. They are considered one of the easiest fish species to catch, which makes them a great fish to target for beginners or family.

Crappie have a mild and sweet flavor. The texture of the meat is flaky but firm, which some people find to be similar to lobster or crab.

While you can fry crappie, many fishermen will say that baking or grilling provides the best flavor.

There are many different ways to enjoy freshwater fish. These are just a few of the most common and best-tasting options that you’ll find.

Freshwater Drum

This fish is a bit of an acquired taste for some because it can have a muddy flavor.

This flavor is not present in all freshwater drums, however. If you catch one from clean water, you will be pleasantly surprised by its delicate and mild taste. The texture of its meat is also quite firm.

If you have never had freshwater drum before, baking is probably the best way to prepare it and get a feel for its flavor. You could also fry it or grill it if you’re feeling adventurous.

Catfish

Catfish is an extremely common and delicious freshwater fish to eat.

When it comes to taste, a smaller to medium-sized catfish is preferable, especially if you are worried about fishy flavors. The smaller the fish, the milder the taste will be.

There are many different ways to cook catfish. One popular way is to fry it, but you could also bake it, or even grill it.

No matter how you choose to prepare it, be sure to remove the skin and any dark meat before cooking as this can make the taste quite strong.

Perch

Perch is a mild-tasting fish that is popular among fishermen and seafood-lovers alike. It has a delicate flavor with firm, white flesh.

One of the best things about perch is that it can be cooked in many different ways and still taste great.

Cusk

Cusk is a freshwater fish that is lesser known but definitely worth trying.

This type of fish is frequently compared to cod, haddock, or pollock because they have a very similar taste and appearance. They are whitefish with rather large flakes. They also have a moist texture and a delicate flavor which makes them perfect for people who are not fans of fishy tastes.

Cusk is a great option for people who want to try something new but don’t want to stray too far from what they’re used to. It is versatile and can be used in many different recipes.

If you want to try cusk, it is best to baked, grilled, or poached.

Final Thoughts

There are many different freshwater fish to choose from if you want to add fish to your diet. These are just some of the best options available. Not only are these fish best for eating, but you can also try different recipes and have an amazing lunch or dinner with your family and friends.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do Fish From Freshwater Have Parasites?

Fish in freshwater are parasitized by a variety of cestodes (tapeworms) as well as trematodes (flukes). However, one tapeworm is Ligula, which has various life stages that are parasitic on fish, crustaceans, and birds in order. In most cases, fully cooking fish prevents the passing of any parasites.

Can You Acquire Worms Via Fish Consumption?

When a person consumes fish that is infected with the worm Diphyllobothrium latum, such as undercooked or raw fish, they may become infected with fish tapeworms. They key is to fully cook your fish. Fish tapeworm is the most frequently used name for the worm. This particular species of tapeworm develops in raw fish-eating big animals and small aquatic organisms as victims. This generally can be fixed easily without long lasting effects.

What Types Of Freshwater Fish Are Unsafe To Eat?

Do some research on the best freshwater fish in your area to find out what’s available and what would be the best option for you and your family. Some local areas have populations of fish that may not be safe to consume, or contain contaminants that can be harmful to your health. A simple search on the local fish and wildlife organization will likely supply you with all the needed information.

When magnet fishing in Texas, you can find more than the occasional gun or knife. The state of Texas has over 7364 square miles of water area making. Needless to say, there are many different places where you can go magnet fishing. However, some spots are better than others, depending on your interests.

Is magnet fishing legal in Texas?

Yes, magnet fishing is legal in the state of Texas. There are no specific laws or regulations in place regarding the activity. However, as with any outdoor activity, there are some general rules that apply. For example, it is illegal to magnet fish on private property without the owner’s permission.

Of course, what is legal isn’t always ethical. It would not be the first time repeated, reckless or inconsiderate behavior resulted in federal regulation. Please have a look at our magnet fishing etiquette!

‍What are the best places to magnet fish in Texas?

There are many great locations for magnet fishing in Texas. Some of the best spots include lakes, rivers, and streams. In particular, areas with slow-moving water tend to be ideal, as objects are more likely to become caught on something underwater. Here are some of the most popular locations for magnet fishing:

Lake Houston

Located just outside of Houston, Lake Houston is a popular magnet fishing destination in Texas. With numerous lakeside parks and clean water, it is the perfect place for people to try out this fun activity.

Brazos River

Another great spot for magnet fishing in Texas is the Brazos River. This river flows through central Texas and offers many opportunities for magnet fishing enthusiasts to explore its waters.

Clear Creek

Clear Creek is another popular location for magnet fishing, especially among residents of Austin and the surrounding areas. This picturesque creek has long been a favorite of local anglers due to its clear waters and abundant wildlife. It is not the most bountiful magnet fishing location.

Lake Travis

Located near Austin, Lake Travis has become one of the most popular destinations for magnet fishing in recent years. Because it is a man-made lake that provides access to clean water and parks, it is the perfect place for people to try out this fun activity.

San Antonio River‍

If you want to try your hand at magnet fishing in San Antonio, then look no further than the San Antonio River. This river is a great place to find all sorts of lost items, including coins, jewelry, and even the occasional bicycle.

Sabine River

The Sabine River is one of the best places to go magnet fishing in Texas. This river is full of lost items that have been swept away by the current over the years. You never know what you might find when you go magnet fishing in this river.

The Houston Ship Channel

The Houston Ship Channel is known for being a great place to find old guns and knives.

Other places you could try:

• the canals near Lake Caroline
• Lake Texoma
• Red River
• any bridge over the Trinity River in Dallas
• Lake Worth
• Lake Ray Hubbard
• San Jacinto River
• Guadalupe River
• Neches River
• Old Sabine Bottom Bridge
• New Sabine Bottom Bridge
• Lake Conroe
• Cedar Creek Lake
• Richland Chambers Reservoir
• Lake Athens
• Falcon Lake

What can you find when magnet fishing in Texas?

You can find all sorts of lost items when you go magnet fishing in Texas. This includes coins, jewelry, and even the occasional bicycle.

Additional resources

• With the help of this guide, you’ll find the perfect magnet fishing spot near you!
• Here is a detailed map that conveniently shows all the different types of water bodies across the U.S.

Did you stumble upon other useful resources, locations, or maps for magnet fishing in Texas? Feel free to drop a comment down below!

Ramps, also known as wild garlic or wild leeks, (Allium triccocum, and Allium burdickii) where I live, are a delicious wild vegetable and one of Nature’s greatest gifts to foragers. Read on and I’ll break down everything you need to know about them.

The two I harvest are just a few of the many different types of wild alliums you could find though, and their cousins like Allium triquetrum (3-cornered leek) and Allium ursinum (bear garlic) and Allium victorialis (the victory onion) are enjoyed around the world.

Anyway you cut it, ramps and feral onions are one of your best friends in the kitchen, and people have been harvesting and enjoying these wild vegetables for millennia.

Harvesting

Ramps are ephemerals, meaning that they come up early in the spring, with their leaves maturing before the trees form their leaves, which will eventually shade them out restricting their sunlight and their means of harnessing energy.

After the tree leaves fill out, around late May where I live, the ramp leaves will wilt and fall back, and it will appear that they’re completely gone, but they’re not. In mid summer, ramps shoot up their flower stalks, which will give scapes, eventually ramp flowers, and finally, seeds.

Ramp Sustainability

If you dig up a wild ramp, you kill the plant, and it takes 6 to 7 years for ramps to grow and mature. In patches on private land, it isn’t really a big deal to dig a few ramp bulbs here and there, but in a place like public land, where it’s illegal to dig wild plants, they can easily be over-harvested since multiple people will be hitting the same patch.

“If you harvest only ramp leaves, there’s no digging, no hours of cleaning and trimming, and, you can feel good knowing that your patch will be there the next year, and years to come, so that you can share your delicious onions with your friends and family.”

Wild alliums have been harvested for a thousands of years, but most of the people doing that had a much deeper relationship with nature than we do today, and a much more comprehensive knowledge and understanding of how to encourage their wild onion patches to grow and flourish despite harvesting bulbs.

How much harvesting is sustainable?

I see a lot of speculation on this. Some people say one leaf per colony. Some say remove one plant, bulb and all from every three colonies, or some other random, arbitrary number they’ve come up with.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a conservationist, but the fact is people are going to harvest ramps, bulbs and all from public and private land whether we like it or not, and no one is going to walk around taking a single leaf here and there when they’re in a field of wild leeks as far as the eyes can see, and more importantly, when no one else is watching.

These plants can, and will take some harvesting of their bulbs. Some people, like my friend Sam Thayer are doing studies to figure out what the long-term impacts of harvesting are, exactly how many ramps a certain patch of land can sustainably produce, and what the proper way to go about doing it is from a scientific point of view is.

Until those studies are published though, here’s some sustainable harvesting tips:

Harvesting tips

• Know your local laws. Digging ramp bulbs on public land in the United States is Illegal in most places.
• Harvest from large stands where the plants seem to go on forever. Seeing a couple colonies here and there doesn’t mean it’s a “patch”.
• Leave whole colonies of ramps in tact as much as possible-consider taking 20% or less from each colony you disturb.
• Don’t concentrated your harvest in one area, spread out and give the plants some room to breathe, this will allow the ramps to spread and fill back in the spots naturally.
• If you find yourself in a public area where others have been harvesting, move to another untouched spot.
• If you harvest bulbs, come back during the late summer to gather seeds to spread in the patch. Help the plants that give you food.
• Plant ramps in your yard or garden to grow your own patch.

Ramp Leaves: The Most Sustainable Harvest

When I’m going out to pick ramps, most of the time I’m not bringing a shovel, I’m bringing a scissors. Why? Ramp colonies with their leaves cut will often still make flower stalks that make seeds and reproduce, those that get dug up, won’t. Secondly, it’s just easier. These plants don’t want to come out of the ground and digging them is hard work.

If you harvest only leaves, there’s no digging, no hours of cleaning and trimming, and, you can feel good knowing that your patch will be there the next year, and years to come, so that you can share your delicious onions with your friends and family.

That being said, I do harvest ramp bulbs when I please, but I’m harvesting them from private land, where I have permission. It is totally fine to dig ramp bulbs to your hearts content on your own property, or property where you have permission to dig.

How to Plant Ramps

As a perennial onion, Ramps can be planted into a shady area, and will come up year after year for you. They’re a wonderful addition to a native-lawn/food forest.

The only catch is that it takes time, a long time. Growing and tending your own patch will definitely give you an appreciation for how long it takes them to grow.

As a bonus, if you have a place to go and harvest them, the small baby leeks in your yard will be a good indicator for when you should go out and pick.

As far as how to plant your own patch you have a couple options. Here’s a quick breakdown.

Planting Ramp Seeds

Seeds will take the longest, but they’re also relatively easy to find, and plant.

Go to your patch in the late summer, after the flowers have formed, and find the seed heads.

Shake the little black seeds into a container, and bring them with you to plant the next year.

Make sure to toss some seeds around while you’re harvesting in the patch to thank the ramps, too.

Dry the seeds in a dehydrator on the lowest heat, or in front of a fan, and store in a cool-dry place until they’re ready to plant the next spring.

You can also smush seeds into the ground in the late summer or fall when they would fall naturally.

Transplanting ramps

The easiest method. Go to a coop, farmers market, or your favorite ramp patch, dig some up, leaving as many of the roots attached as possible, and plant them in a shady spot in your yard. That’s it.

Plant more than you think you will want, since you’re trying to establish a large colony if you want to harvest anything other than leaves.

Planting cut ramp roots

The rumors are true. With plants you dig or buy, you can take the cut roots and plant them directly in a shady spot and they can grow.

The operative word in this experiment though, is “can”. Ramps can grow from cut roots, but it doesn’t mean that you’ll have a great success rate. Used in combination with seeds and transplants though, you’ll have your own patch in no time.

Other Ramp Edible Parts: Seeds, Flowers, and Scapes

These incredible alliums have more than just bulbs and leaves. These additional parts are not mentioned by many other authors, and are sustainable things to harvest. They’re a good reason to check on your ramp patch for other things later in the season like the hen of the woods or maitake mushroom.

Scapes

Scapes will begin to come up after the leaves have died back, a good way to know when to look for them is when other alliums in your area like garlic have started to form their scapes. In Minnesota and Wisconsin where I live and hunt, this is in mid June.

Unripe Green Ramp Seeds

Unripe green seeds are something not a lot of people talk about, but they can be gathered easily without a shovel, and have the same strong rampy flavor you know and love.

Ramp Flowers

The flowers make a delicious addition to just about anything, and will keep in the fridge for a week or more. keep in mind if you remove the flowers that they won’t get pollinated, and from there, will not make seeds.

Cooking

Wild leeks are incredibly versatile in the kitchen and can be used to make everything from hot sauces, to pestos, and butters. I even use them to make vegan fish sauce.

How to Clean Ramps

First, fill a large sink with cold water-better yet, a bucket outside, since dirt can and will clog your sink.

Take your ramps and set them out on towels or something to cool, as they have probably been in your car in bags or something and might be a bit warm if you have just picked them from the wild. Using a paring knife, cut off just the root end of each ramp, leaving as much of the oniony bulb on them as possible.

Also inspect each of the leaves to make sure there are no yellowed or slimy parts, you want to trim those off. Now wash the ramps thoroughly in the cold water, then dry.

Next, trim the leaves off of each ramp where the green stem turns into oniony bulb and put the leaves into a paper bag or other container with a small moist towel or paper towel (this will keep them fresh) and store them in your fridge. Save the little bulbs for eating fresh, cooking, pickling, etc.

How to Preserve Ramps

If you have a lot of wild leeks, you need to know some ways to process, store, and preserve them. Drying and dehydrating is a good way to store the leaves, and pickling is probably my favorite way to store the bulbs.

There’s also different recipes like fermenting and shelf-stable sauces like my famous ramp leaf fermented sriracha . There’s a whole world of oniony goodness to explore.

How to Freeze Ramps

Ramps can be blanched in boiling salted water until wilted (60 seconds) drained, but not squeezed, and placed into a vacuum bag or zip loc and frozen. Keeping some of the juice in the greens helps prevent freezer burn, salt extends the shelf life and makes them taste good. They’re good added to soup or pureed.

If freezing in a vacuum bag, I like to place the bags in the freezer vertically, unsealed. When the nettles and their juice are frozen solid, I vacuum seal the bag. Preserving them in their own juice helps prevent freezer burn and extends the shelf life. You can also freeze them pecked into a deli container still wet with their juice, like a block of ice.

Wild Leek and Ramp Recipes

Here’s a selection of popular recipes. There’s many more in the archive.

Ramp Butter

A rich compound butter made from wild leek leaves is a forager’s favorite.

Ramp Leaf Pesto

Another classic way to preserve wild leeks leaves is pesto. It also freezes well. Mine uses sunflower seeds instead of pine nuts and you can be more generous with it than with regular pesto.

Basic Pickled Ramps

One of the most popular ways to preserve the bulbs. My recipe is guaranteed to keep their color and not turn blue. Use them to make my pickled wild leek aioli or tartar sauce.

Ramp and Morel Spaghetti

My old Chef’s recipe for two of the best wild spring ingredients is something you’ll want to make every year. It’s a simple morel pasta with wild leeks in a light wine sauce, with plenty of parmesan.

Grilled Ramps with Chokecherry Sauce

Nothing says spring like whole wild leeks on the grill. I serve them with a sweet and sour sauce you can make from different juicy berries and fruits.

Cover photo courtesy of grandviewoutdoors.com

If you hunt whitetails, it should be no secret to you that whitetails communicate through scent they leave behind. Whether detecting danger, bucks seeking a breeding doe or a doe locating a hiding fawn, whitetail deer use scent for much of their survival and social interaction. Scraping behavior of whitetails, is one of the CHIEF ways whitetail bucks leave scent behind throughout the year.

Bucks work scrape’s overhanging branches, called a licking branch, throughout the year, often times more than they work the scrape itself. But their most aggressive scraping of these areas occur from October to December when testosterone levels are highest. When a whitetail buck makes a scrape he does so where there is an attractive branch hanging along a roadway, at the edge of a field, on a well-worn trail, or in a random area he’s walking through. In most cases a buck begins the scraping process by rubbing his forehead, preorbital, and nasal glands on the branch and in some cases will actually lick and chew on the overhanging branch. Once done, most bucks will paw the leaves and other debris from the ground under the branch, then urinate into the pawed-out earth.

Photo Courtesy of americanhunter.org

The process usually takes less than two minutes. During this time, however, a buck will leave liberal amounts of scent behind. Scraping, like rubbing, allows a buck to make his presence known. It’s a calling card of sorts; a post on a whitetail bulletin board. Research suggests that scraping is primarily a buck activity. Does have been known to work a scrape from time to time but they most frequently work the licking branch above the scrape. Bucks almost always work both.

Scrapes can be broken down into 3 different categories, though the names or classification of these are often debated. The are Boundary, Secondary and Primary Scrapes.

Boundary scrapes: Boundary scrapes are made by traveling bucks moving through his territory. These scrapes will show up along field edges, fence rows and roads that aren’t too busy.

Secondary scrapes: Secondary scrapes are made my bucks as more of an impulse. These are far more random and a result of the buck “feeling the need” to make a scrape. Call it impulse, hormones or whatever you’d like but these scrapes are less frequent, spiritic and typically not a good target for hunting over.

Primary scrapes: These are the scrapes that hunters need to target. These scrapes are the epitome of whitetail scrapes, with some having the potential of becoming very attractive to whitetail bucks. These scrapes can be found in strategic locations—inside corners of agriculture fields, ridge lines, pinch points and especially along well-worn trails between bedding and feeding areas during the rut. Find these primary scrapes and hang a stand!

Bucks work licking branches 365 days to leave their scent, scraping behavior peaks during the 30 day window leading up to peak rut, especially during the last 10 days. Once breeding kicks in scraping behavior drops off drastically. Scraping will continue during the post rut but at a significantly lower rate than occurs leading up to that point.

The perfect coyote bait pile is a marvelous tool for coyote hunters. Set up correctly, a coyote bait pile will lure in and hold coyotes exactly where you want them, convince them to consume the bait, and give you all the time you need to take your shot.

Coyote bait pile essentials: Bait, location, and time.

Your success baiting coyotes will depend on using the right bait in the right location and patiently waiting for the magic to happen.

Want to know when coyotes are the most active and most likely to show up at your bait pile or respond to your calls? Check out my article.

Looking for a great book on how to call in a coyote? Check out Andrew Lewand’s book below. This book answers the most frequently asked question on the internet… What sounds are working right now? No matter which brand of call you use, the sequences in each chapter with boost your success rate!

The right bait.

Honestly, nothing beats a deer carcass. It’s what coyotes expect to find dead of natural causes (or gunshot wounds) in the woods and fields. Indeed, it’s often discovered split open and mangled alongside the roadway. They consume it regularly and are naturally drawn to the familiar odor of its decay.

There may be other baits, and they may work, but deer meat is the superior choice.

The perfect location.

Simply put, a coyote bait pile tucked just inside a woodline that provides the coyote with a sense of cover but is actually a shooting lane with you on the other end is the perfect location.

We’ll discuss how to set up this location later, but you can get a basic idea from this image.

That’s far enough away to help you beat a coyote’s amazing senses.

All the time it needs.

The last piece of your perfect coyote bait pile is time. Time for the pile to ripen. Time for the pile to be found.

During the days and weeks after you have placed your bait, you will be sorely tested. Doubt will creep in and disturb your resolve. “Did I use enough meat?” “Is the pile too well hidden?”

Make a solemn vow as you walk away from your perfectly baited and placed pile. A vow to never, for any reason, disturb it. It’s a test of faith in yourself and the quality of the work you have done.

Avoid the temptation to commit the only unforgivable sin of baiting coyotes: Spilling fresh human scent on it.

Getting deer for your coyote bait pile.

There are three ways to get deer for your coyote bait pile. Here they are arranged in order of easiest to hardest.

From deer hunters.

If you hunt deer, you know a lot of flesh doesn’t get packed into freezer bags. So this season, let your deer hunting friends know you’d love to take home their scraps.

You can make a suitable sized coyote bait pile from a single butchered deer using the Baitsicle Method discussed later.

Deer processors.

Deer cutters, especially those who butcher your deer, are often more than willing to let you take as much of their waste as you can carry.

Brings some buckets and heavy duty contractor bags with you.

Roadkill.

I hesitate even to mention this method of collecting bait. However, because it is legal in some states, I’ll take the time to layout the easiest way to secure enough carrion from roadkill, but check your local laws and be very damn careful. A bad night could end with you being roadkill.

First of all, you only need one deer to make a coyote bait pile. You do not need 300 pounds, no matter what someone tells you. 50-75 pounds is perfect and will last the whole season.

Secondly, a doe in the back of your truck brings a lot less attention than a buck with a big rack in the back of your vehicle—police attention, that is. The law may be on your side, but you still could get arrested by a suspicious officer and have to spend money defending yourself. A dead doe is a tragedy. A dead eight-pointer is a trophy. Consider yourself warned.

Roadkill tips.

Collecting roadkill is a significant job. You have to drive around sparsely traveled back roads (never attempt recovery on major routes), racking up quite a few miles before you’ll come across anything of value. Once you spot a possible candidate, I suggest you consider a few points before proceeding.

Is it in a safe location for collection after dark? At night, you’ll be able to collect when the traffic flow is at its lowest point. You will also be able to hear vehicles approaching and see their oncoming headlights. Night-time recoveries draw less attention from the general public, too. Think fewer 911 calls. After dark, you’ll have fewer flies to deal with, and you won’t have to drive off a murder of crows. However, a flashlight is required so you can be assured Mr. Bear isn’t already seated at the Roadside Cafe himself.

Is the carcass relatively intact? If the stomach is burst, the deer severely mangled or already badly rotted, take a hard pass on it. Lifting a dead deer into the back of a truck by yourself is a nightmare, to begin with. Don’t add to your impending misery by trying to handle anything dead for too long.

Bring rain gear. Never, ever recover roadkill in anything you’ll want to wear again. There’s just no way to do it without getting bloody and stinky. So bring a rain suit and gloves with you.

A bit of rope will ease (some) of your pain. Without a rope, your best bet is to grab the head, sit on your tailgate, and use your legs to push yourself backward as you lift the deer over the back of the truck. You’ll find another way to get deer for your bait pile next year.

If you have rope, you can tie up the head, stand on your tailgate, and lift and pull the head up and over the end of the truck. When you can grab the legs, you should be able to walk backward and pull the rest of the deer into the truck.

Types of coyote bait piles.

Baitsicles

The baitsicle is my favorite coyote bait pile for four reasons; easy to transport, requires the least amount of baiting material, draws repeated visits, and can be placed in nearly every type of location.

How to make a baitsicle.

You’ll need one five-gallon pail, 10 feet of rope, enough bloody deer scraps to fill 75% of the bucket, a hammer (to break the bucket if the bait sticks to it), and access to water.

Start by placing a few inches of meat on the bottom of the pail. Now, coil at least a foot-long section of rope on top of the flesh and cover the coil with more scraps. Next, slowly add water, making sure the meat holds the rope down. Once your bucket is about half full, you can add the rest of your bait, top off the water, and allow it to freeze.

Pro tip: Bloody is best. The pinker your water, the better. For an example of how bloody; check out these photos of how coyote trappers make their baitsicles.

Correctly done, you should have about 6 feet of leftover rope. You will use this to drag your baitsicle and anchor it in the field.

The baitsicle will weigh over 50 lbs, but frozen, it should be easy to pull over snow and rugged enough to survive being dragged over open terrain.

During each thaw and refreeze, more bait will be exposed for the coyotes to lick and gnaw on, providing each coyote with just enough to encourage repeated visits.

Pro tip: Drag your baitsicle around. You’ll leave a scent trail everywhere you go that leads predators directly to your bait.

Wait, do you live where the eastern coyote roams? Then you need to check out my article on Killing Giants.

Hay bales or compost piles in open fields.

A compost pile in an open area is an insect and rodent luxury apartment. Over time, it will attract more and more predators like foxes and coyotes.

You can use a hay bale to create a min-compost pile for less than $20. So, don’t worry if you don’t own a farm or have access to large amounts of compost.

To begin, I’ll assume you are both reading this before the summer has ended, and you want to make a one-of-a-kind coyote bait pile with live rodents that even squeaks for you.

Your first step is picking up one or more 50 lbs compressed blocks of hay from a local supply store. Make sure you get hay, not straw. Mice and voles (your real coyote bait) love to nest in and eat hay.

Once you have selected a place to set your hay coyote bait pile, chop a hole about half the size of the bale and 6-10 inches deep.

Note: The smell of freshly disturbed earth often draws the attention of foxes and predators, so be prepared to hunt this spot shortly.

Fill the hole with corn and flip the bale over on top of it. Over time, the corn will be found by rodents, who will consume it and use the hay bale for nesting in and also feast on. Their movements, scent, and occasional squeaks will act as a living coyote bait pile that also draws in plenty of foxes.

Compost piles for coyote baiting.

A compost pile that features pine shavings or other bedding materials taken from chicken coops and duck houses will often contain an ungathered egg and uneaten food pellets. This waste material will quickly draw insects and other scavengers. Fox and coyote are never far behind. This type of compost pile is a predator magnet, and therefore, a hazard if kept too close to livestock. I’ve seen predators visit my compost pile several times a week all year long.

Using cages for baiting coyotes.

Dead chickens, squirrels, and other small mammals placed in cages and secured to the site create mini coyote bait piles. Leave them uncovered, and you’ll be surprised how many critters stop by to check out the bait.

Pro tip: Hay bale, compost, and cage coyote bait piles work best in open, mowed fields that make good habitat for rodents.

Want to know what calls coyotes and foxes respond to the most? Is there a magic sequence other hunters use to bag coyotes? Read my article on calls here to find out the best calls.

The best location for a coyote bait pile.

The absolute best place for a coyote bait pile is just inside a woodline.

Set the pile 5-10 yards inside the woods and about 100 yards from your shooting location. You want your bait far enough in to calm the coyotes and give them a sense of cover. However, don’t go too far, as you’ll double or triple the amount of site preparation you’ll need to create a clear shooting lane.

Looking at the bait pile from your shooting stand, you should have just wide enough of a window to see any coyotes when they are within 25 feet from either side of the pile—this is also the perfect range for night shooting using the best thermal scope for new predator hunters.

Set the bait inside the middle of your shooting window and secure it to prevent movement by the coyotes. You can use a sapling but avoid wide tree trunks that could obstruct your view of the target or interfere with the path of your shot.

And don’t worry about ropes, tie-down stakes, or other exposed equipment used to secure the bait—it will lose any scent and be ignored by curious coyotes.

If you can’t secure your bait to an object, consider using an earth anchor.

Pro tip: Deerskins serve multiple purposes, so save them and wrap your pile in them. The skins help convince the coyotes, and the frozen flesh helps protect the bait pile.

Add a camera to your coyote bait pile.

A cellular game camera will let you know when your pile is being visited and, more importantly, by whom. While it can be used as a real-time burglar alarm or help you pattern the visits being made, it does have a few easily fixable drawbacks.

1. It can spook coyotes. Even the faintest glow of the shutter’s IR light or softest click can make a coyote bolt. Most won’t go more than a few yards away before returning, but if it happens every time they near the pile, it could drive them off permanently. The fix here? Set the timer to allow no more than one photo every 5 minutes.
2. The cold can sap cheap batteries. It cant be said too often; set your pile and never go back to it except to pick up a dead coyote. Use high-quality lithium batteries where appropriate.
3. Squirrels, birds, and even mice will set off the camera too. You usually get a package deal with cellular cameras. These deals can give you 100 to 200 free photos a month. If you are not careful, they will all be daytime photos of crows and nighttime images of mice racing around your set. To avoid this, reduce the camera’s sensitivity. Going from high sensitivity to medium setting should help, but even at the lowest setting will pick up coyotes and foxes.
4. Your camera will need as clear and unobstructed shot. Set it at the right height and make sure any branches, brush, or twigs are cleared out of the way. Also, make sure to remove anything the wind may move around—a single twig can send many false alarms to your phone.

Where is the absolute best place to shoot a coyote? Don’t know? Then read this article on where to place your round to put a coyote down.

Scatter free meals to add confidence when coyote baiting.

No matter which coyote bait pile method you use, scattering some morsels around the pile will help make the coyote feel more confident when reaching the actual pile.

Deer scraps are fine, but confidence strips that include “fishy” treats, like shrimp, add a tempting scent that has often set my bait piles on fire, luring predators in much faster than deer-only sets. If you are afraid that coyotes won’t come to your bait pile because they’ve been shot at them before, read my, The Truth About Educated Coyotes article.

If your coyote bait will sitting in an area with heavy snow, I recommend using a coyote lure you can smear on tree limbs and other items that won’t get buried under the snow and ice.

Dunlap’s Hellfire Long Call Smear is skunk in a bottle. It works every season for me, even though I’ve never even seen a skunk where I hunt. Great stuff!

Now, stay away from you coyote bait pile.

Once your bait and camera are set, don’t go near it again, except to recover a downed animal. Let it quietly sit for as long as it takes to start attracting coyotes. Look, it may be two weeks before you see activity, but worrying you haven’t set the pile upright and trying to rework it or add bait to it will only splash new doses of your scent all over the place. Just be patient. If there are coyotes around, they will find your pile.

There is only one other reason to get anywhere near your coyote bait pile, heavy snow. While the stench always finds a way to work itself up and out of even the heaviest snowfalls, you can reduce the time it takes for coyotes to find it.

It’s time for a short snowmobile ride! From the road closest to your pile, start near one end of the field and use your snowmobile to create a nice curvy path. Then, hug the edge of the woodline and cut back to the road at the opposite end of the field. Plowed roads get heavy predator travel in rural areas. But, if they find an easy way to scout inside a field quickly, they will take it.

If you don’t have a sled, snowshoes will work just as well, especially after the deer have helped break the trail even more for you.

Interested in a quick course on how to track a wounded coyote? Read this article on how to track a wounded predator.

Who is visiting your coyote bail pile?

There are two types of coyotes you’ll catch visiting your bait pile; residents and transients.

Residents consider the location your placed your bait pile in to be their territory. They’ll visit it more than once. They will make their approach less cautiously. Their visits will last longer, they’ll eat more, and they will stay closer to the pile while resting.

Transients are coyotes in search of their territory. Transients get treated and act like trespassers. They will be very cautious during each approach. Their heads will be on swivels, and they will be quick to grab a bite and retreat a pace before consuming what they caught. The single click of a game camera can drive them away, perhaps for good.

If you set the pile up to remove unwanted local coyotes, there’s no need to worry you will attract coyotes from other more distant areas.

https://www.mossyoak.com/our-obsession/blogs/deer/deer-carcass-disposal-how-why-and-why-not

Calling near a coyote bait pile can increase your success.

Calling near your coyote bait pile is a great idea. Even if your stand is empty, there’s a good chance you’ll catch a late-arriving coyote. Coyotes that finally show up to investigate the source of your calls will poke around and possibly discover your bait pile.

If you are targeting hungry coyotes, check out https://thepredatorhunter.com/how-to-master-the-best-closed-reed-coyote-call/.

You can also call near bait that has already been found and partially consumed. A simple coyote vocalization may bring a resident coyote back to defend its food source in these situations.

A bit of effort, but nothing beats a perfect coyote bait pile.

A perfect coyote bait pile takes some scouting, planning, and waiting-but it yields unbelievable results. So start your planning today, and reap your harvest during the next coyote hunting season.

Most of us that read waterfowl articles in magazines dream of the wild hunts on massive grain fields teeming with thousands of geese and ducks. But what about the guy or gal that does not have a trailer full of high-end decoys, access to thousand-acre fields, and cannot afford expensive calls? There are plenty of hunters out there itching to call in their own birds, and see wobbling gray and black bombers with feet down, and hear the grunt of the honkers as they cruise within range with cupped wings. All of us want to yell, “Take em!” as we bust out of our layouts, dropping geese.

The good news is that any of us can live that dream with some planning and effort, even without access to big feeds and hundreds of decoys. In fact, fields less than 100 acres that are located in a daily flight pattern near water are killer locations, particularly later in the season. Throw in two-dozen decoys, a flag and a few layouts and you are in business.

Lighting the Flame

A few seasons ago my daughter and I were trying to do a little duck hunting on a tributary of our local river in Virginia. A farmer granted us access to a makeshift boat ramp at the end of the fields. Our duck hunting was a bust due to lack of birds, but we noticed a few small flocks of geese regularly passing over the scattered 50-acre grain fields that we dragged our boat through each morning going to and from the water.

When we stopped to pay the boat ramp access fee to the farmer, I left a “thank you” note commenting about how we noticed Canada geese flying over the fields, and how none of those birds came near our blind or the part of the creek we hunted.

A week later when we were leaving the same property the farmer stopped us and asked if we wanted to try to put a dent in the flock of geese to help save the crops. We could hardly contain our excitement, and promised to not tear up the fields—and insisted on continuing to pay the access fee.

Location Is Paramount

Since we lucked into that field to hunt, we have since started gaining access to other small, but similar fields. When looking for productive fields, we start scouting in the fall when geese filter in from the north. We use an online topo/satellite map and our online GIS maps for our local counties to locate farm fields near water sources around the Chesapeake Bay watersheds. These can be large swamps, ponds, large creeks, rivers or small bays. Smart hunters know Canada geese will roost on the water and then feed after the sun gets up.

Once we locate potential properties near where we live, we try to scout them before approaching the farmer. Binoculars are helpful. We watch for flight patterns to determine which properties the birds tend to fly over on a regular basis when going to feed and roost. Again, we focus on small fields under 100 acres that geese have flown over on a regular basis. They don’t necessarily have to feed in the small fields, but there should be some beans or grain of some sort for them to eat if they did land in the field.

While other hunters are hitting the large fields and putting in a lot of effort and time with dozens, or even hundreds of decoys, we are going light with two-dozen or less decoys and pulling down our limits right along with the big shots with all their equipment.

Hiding Is Everything

Since we are on a budget, we carefully select two-dozen field decoys of various poses, a few layout blinds from a box store retailer and a flag for motion. While it would be nice to get the top-of-the-line gear, we make do with what we can afford and make a point to take care of it to make it last. One of the things we do with our layouts is gather up stubble from the fields we are hunting a few days before and very thoroughly brush our layouts. We also take a few trashbags and rake up stubble from the ends of the fields and use it the day of our hunt to “feather out” the profile of our blinds and our dog blind too. It is critical to blend the blinds in as much as possible.

Steve Purks, a friend and self-taught goose hunter, explained how critical this was to us.

Geese that arrive in Virginia or Maryland after Thanksgiving when our season opens are wary and have been called to and shot at.

When we place our decoys in the field, we face a majority of them into the wind while leaving a hole for the birds to land in our kill zone; another trick we learned from Purks. We watch how the birds react to our set up and make changes as necessary. Sometimes we need to open the hole if the birds seem hesitant or sometimes we change the direction the decoys are facing if the wind shifts. Purks is always checking conditions and analyzing his spreads when we hunt with him and I keep a close eye on what he is doing and ask a lot of questions to learn as much as I can.

Next, we use the terrain to our advantage. A few rows of corn were left standing in one of the fields we hunted last season. We backed our blinds up to that hard edge and made them all but disappear. While the geese did not want to land right on our blinds, they did come in close enough for us to get our shots. We have also placed our blinds in spots that were slightly lower than the rest of the field. Doing so helps the layouts disappear and we have our decoys all around the layouts to blend in. Fencerows or hedgerows are great for this if the wind is correct for the setup of decoys. Birds won’t land if the wind is blowing towards the hedgerow; it leaves too little time for the birds to get down in the decoys. Hunters need the wind blowing away from the hedgerow for a good setup.

Last, we use inexpensive calls, but they work. We use them sparingly, mostly for getting the attention of the geese from a distance and a little grunting as they pass over. We flag the birds when they are coming off the water and heading to the bigger fields nearby. By being in the flight path, we get their first looks and then work hard to peel off birds and get them curious before they even make it to the larger fields. All it takes is a few to commit and come on down for us to get our shots and watch the dog work!

One last tip is to be in place early whether it is a morning or afternoon hunt. When the birds go to feed you want to be in place when they start flying or they will see birds landing a half-mile away and keep following them. Be at the front of the flock when they come over and work those birds.

Small Investment, Big Rewards

Hunting small fields on a shoestring works for several reasons. First, the geese sometimes get wary of the larger fields and large spreads of decoys and they begin to look for something different, something a bit more secure. Sometimes the group of birds will peel off the big flock looking for food. Being in the flight path, carefully positioning our decoys and layouts by using and considering the terrain in the field, and calling sparingly but using a flag to attract their attention, really makes a difference for us. We don’t need to purchase a trailer load of high-end decoys or spend hundreds of dollars on a lease and expensive calls to get our limits. It works, and we spend far less money and time setting up to have our fun.

Where Warm Waters Halt

By Del Shannon

(The following is written in a manner of ‘in my humble opinion’)

Where warm waters halt…

This is the now iconic first clue written by eccentric millionaire Forrest Fenn. He’s earned the “eccentric” title in spades because of a single act: About 7 years ago – nobody is exactly sure except Fenn himself – he stole into the mountains north of Santa Fe, New Mexico and hid a treasure chest filled with $2 million of gold, gems and other valuables. And in an act that can only be called defiant, he wrote a book and a poem that describes the route to get to the treasure and dared anyone to try and unlock the riddle and claim his cache.

Since publication of Fenn’s The Thrill of the Chase in 2010, thousands of theories have been offered up as the location of this first clue. The location of the starting point of the hunt for Fenn’s treasure puts into context every other clue. Fenn has said you’re wasting your time if you’re searching without knowing where to start.

So where do warm waters halt? Not far from Questa, New Mexico.

I first heard about Forrest Fenn and his treasure chest while sitting in the breakfast area of the Taos Hampton Inn eating a self-made waffle and sipping coffee. I was there working on the reconstruction of the Cabresto Dam, just east of Questa. The Today show was on in the background and this is when I first saw Fenn, his piercing eyes revealing more intelligence than his carefully selected words. He was explaining that all you had to do was follow the nine clues spelled out in a simple poem and you were rich. Just like that, my curiosity was piqued.

Buying Fenn’s book and starting my search around Questa and Taos was obvious and easy. The land seemingly disappears into oblivion at the Rio Grande Gorge and thrusts to the heavens just steps away at the Sangre De Cristo Mountains, creating billions of hiding spots. Working in the area revealed that the landscape and its population are one and the same. The people of Questa and Taos stand out as easily as the canyons and peaks that surround them, none is even remotely like another.

Very little in the The Thrill of the Chase pointed me to anything that resembled the area around Questa and Taos. Fenn waxes Quixotic about his youth spent doing anything but focusing on school, holding a special place in his heart for Yellowstone.

One story in particular gnawed at me like an obsessive-compulsive beaver. In an early chapter titled “First Grade,” Fenn recounts being bullied by a boy named John Charles Whatever who often threatens to beat up Fenn, while at other times waves around a jar of olives in his face. The more I read and reread this passage the more it began to look like a ham at Chanukah – bizarrely out of place.

All I had to go on was the name “John Charles” and his olives, so I started there. After internet searches with dozens of permutations, I finally got lucky. After reading a history of Questa, once known as Rio Colorado, I learned that the great explorer, John Charles Fremont, once spent a few months during the winter of 1849 in Questa.

Fremont had tried to cross the southern Rocky Mountains in Colorado during the winter of 1848-49 and convinced 32 gullible men into joining his folly. Fremont was from an era where braggadocio was a suitable proxy for intelligence and thrived in an environment of delusional arrogance. By December 1848 eleven of his party had frozen to death and most others had started eating their belts. The party finally gave up and began limping their way south to New Mexico.

The surviving members stumbled into Questa in January 1849, but Fremont, sensing his men would be in an extended sour mood once they could again feel their feet and hands, headed for Taos. He was off to California a few weeks later

A tragic story, but this new knowledge didn’t appear to put me any closer to the Fenn’s treasure. John Charles Whatever’s olives did.

Besides being a lover of history, Fenn is a fly fisherman. The Red River fights its way out of the mountains near Questa, its last gauntlet is a maze of basalt boulders below a fish hatchery. Fed by springs, the water stays a consistent 48 degrees in the winter. In this same stretch of water there is a mid-winter (January through March) hatch of blue winged olive flies, which, along with the warmer water, coax brown trout out of the colder waters of the Rio Grande…along with the fishermen.

Fremont and his olives were pointing to Questa.

Still, more detail was needed, which came from another of Fenn’s stories. One evening, while re-reading the In Love With Yellowstone chapter I stopped after Forrest described his dismay after his father sold the families ’36 Chevy for a ’41 Plymouth. Why on earth was this such an important part of his life? And why didn’t he use the numbers ‘19’ in front of these dates. Every other reference to a year in The Thrill of the Chase uses all four digits – 1926 for example, the year his parents were married.

Forrest’s attempt at alarm over this car sale seemed insincere. After chewing on ’36 and ’41, which were details that seemed misplaced, and while using Google Earth to snoop around the Questa area, I noticed the latitude in the lower right hand corner. If I hovered the little electronic hand directly over the center of the village and it read 36 degrees, 42 minutes north. Hmmm… Then I moved it to the fish hatchery and it read – exactly – 36 degrees, 41 minutes, 0 seconds north. Holy crap!

Two hints at the starting place are compelling. If I could find a third it would concrete the location of “where warm water halt.” A local fly fisherman supplied my requested last hint.

Van Beacham is well known in Taos as the owner of the Solidary Angler, a local fly fishing shop and guide business. He’s also the author of A Flyfisher’s Guide to New Mexico, and this is how Van describes the Red River from the fish hatchery to its confluence with the Rio Grande in his book. “The lifeblood of the Rio Grande Gorge, the spring-fed section of the Red River extending from the hatchery downstream about 4 miles to the confluence with the Rio Grande is the main spawning tributary for browns and cutbows in the bigger river. It also provides major holding water for big cutbows and browns since the water stays about 48 degrees all winter long. Due to the warmer water temperatures, the Red River is the premier natural winter fishery in northern New Mexico.”

The Red River provides “holding water” for cutbow and brown trout because of its “warm water.”

It takes very little effort to connect the words “halt” and “hold.” In fact, they essentially mean the same thing. The word “hold” takes its origin, its etymology, from the Germanic word “halten,” which means “to hold.”

Bingo.

Warm waters halt in the Red River between the fish hatchery and its confluence with the Rio Grande. This is where anyone seriously searching for Fenn’s treasure must start.

Where to from there? Down river. Rio arriba.

In Fenn’s opening chapter titled “Important Literature” one of the books he talks about is For Whom the Bell Tolls. As with John Charles Whatever and his olives, if you look only at the surface you immediately reach a dead end, but when you dig a bit you realize there’s more to learn. Before Hemingway used the title for one of his books, For Whom the Bell Tolls was a line in a poem written by John Donne, a 16th century metaphysical poet. Donne begins with the famous first line of his poem, “No man is an island…” and ends with “…and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.”

Follow the Rio Grande downstream from its confluence with the Red River and you eventually reach the John Dunn Bridge, named for the famous Taos gambler and entrepreneur Long John Dunn, an escaped convict from Texas who built the first bridge and toll road across the Rio Grande at this location. The splinters of Dunn’s original timber bridge are somewhere near El Paso, carried there by numerous spring floods, and in its place stands a steel truss bridge built by Taos County. Connecting John Donne and John Dunn was easy and obvious, especially after learning that both Dunn and Donne are different spellings of the Gaelic word for “brown.” And because Dunn and Donne are proper nouns, capitalize the ‘B’ and you have Brown. Voila.

But John Dunn’s home wasn’t at the bridge, it was in Taos just north of the plaza in the area now occupied by the John Dunn House Shops. How could the home of Brown be at the Dunn bridge if Dunn never lived there?

This problem was resolved by the author Max Evans and his book Long John Dunn of Taos. This homage to Dunn describes, among other things, his early 1900’s transportation company – really just several horses and a stagecoach – and how he met Taos visitors and artists at the nearest train depot in Servilleta, then the only way in or out of Taos. He piled them into his stage, headed east in a cloud of dust across the Taos plateau, and then snaked them into the Rio Grande Gorge via a harrowing and ridiculously steep switchback road.

Dunn built a stone hotel at the bottom of the gorge and on the edge of the Rio Grande where travelers were forced to spend the night, most of whom were grateful for the stop and for surviving the tormenting trip into the gorge, before delivering them to Taos the next morning. Dunn’s hotel was run by his mother, Susan Jane Dunn, who also lived at the site. A short rock wall on the east side of the river is all that’s left of Mrs. Dunn’s home, the home of Brown.

All of that is pretty convenient, but I still wanted more on Dunn. It turns out The Thrill of the Chase is almost overflowing with references to John Dunn. In the chapter “Looking for Lewis and Clark” Fenn talks about taking Babe Ruth candy bars with him when he and Donnie went into the mountains outside of Yellowstone for several days. The problem is the candy is actually called “Baby” Ruth bars. If you look into Babe Ruth you learn that a man named John Dunn (everyone called him Jack) signed Ruth to his first major league baseball contact. Hmm…

Or look at Fenn’s odd reference to Robert Redford in the “Important Literature” chapter. One of Redford’s most famous movie characters was The Sundance Kid (aka Harry Alonzo Longabaugh). In 1897, Longabaugh was arrested by Carbon County Montana Sheriff John Dunn after he and others from his gang robbed a bank in Red Lodge, MT. Wow!

Three separate John Dunn references in The Thrill of the Chase aren’t a coincidence.

The second clue – Put in below the home of Brown – points to the John Dunn Bridge. It’s too far to walk from where warm waters halt at the confluence of the Rio Grande and Red River; about 14 miles if you drive or eight-ish miles if you fight your way on foot down the Rio Grande. All these hints point to these locations as the first two clues.

But be wary from here. ‘Putting in’ could mean crossing the river or heading either up or down the canyon. And if you cross the river, which direction do you cross from? Do you head west or do you head east? You could go in three directions from the Dunn Bridge. I have my own ideas of where to head next, but not the chest, so they remain only ideas.

An obvious question remains: Why am I sharing this? It’s not as if I haven’t tried to find Fenn’s treasure on my own. I’ve made many trips to areas I felt certain that, when I walked out, I would be struggling to carry over 40 pounds of gold, jewelry and artifacts back to my car. But I’ve learned that the search isn’t as simple as my romantic visions make it out to be. It took a couple of years to unlock these first two clues and it may take much longer to unlock the rest.

And if I’m completely honest with myself, I’ll admit that I’d like the treasure found, in direct contrast to Fenn’s wishes that it be discovered 1,000 years from now. I’m a sucker for a good challenge wrapped in a mystery. So far I’ve done this alone, but I could be persuaded to work with someone else or as part of a larger group in the right circumstance. It’s always more fun to work with a team.

For the record, I didn’t contact Fenn for this story. What would he have said to me anyway? At best he would have complemented my sleuthing. More likely he would have just silently shrugged, smiled at me with his quick eyes, and walked away. I figure he’s done what he wanted to do and, whether or not he enjoys the attention he’s created, I’d make my own choice and leave him alone.

A final thought. To me, Fenn’s poem is a love letter to an area he unquestionably adores and which also helped him heal from his time in Vietnam. When you dig into the history of the Vietnam war, you learn that there is a Red River there too and pilots who flew into this maelstrom found some of the most dangerous air over this river.

I like to think that what Fenn found in New Mexico’s Red River was the thorough opposite of Vietnam’s. The paradox was not lost on him. In my mind I can see him casting for brown’s while marveling that one Red River could be filled to overflowing with death while the other held out its hand and reminded him there were still places where he could gently ease the visions of war from his head, replacing them with the rediscovered memories of the trout he chased in his youth as they led him, once again, to peace.

~by Del Shannon

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If you would like to share your story or thoughts on MW, please send your submission to [email protected]!

Always Treasure the Adventure!

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So, you’ve decided to hunt squirrels with a 22 rimfire rifle, and are now searching for the best scope for 22lr squirrel hunting? Listed below you will find my top 8 scope suggestions for a .22 caliber squirrel rifle.

However, like most anything these days, there is a wide range of opinions online about which rifle scopes are ideal or the best for squirrel hunting. I bet if you asked ten different squirrel hunters to name their favorite rifle scope for squirrel hunting, you’d hear ten different answers.

I’m no different than anyone else in terms of having an opinion, except that I’m an avid squirrel hunter myself. While I enjoy all types of hunting, squirrel hunting with a rimfire rifle is still one of my absolute favorite types of hunting, and I try to go as much as my schedule allows.

Because of my love of squirrel hunting, some of the scope suggestions that I make may not be the same as what you may see online as I’m basing those suggestions on real-life experience.

While the 22LR is still my favorite squirrel hunting round, I also occasionally hunt squirrels with other calibers, including a 17 HMR and a 17 Mach II. As I prefer to hunt with a suppressed rifle, most of my squirrel hunting is done with a suppressed .22LR. While I have suppressed 17 HMR rifles and suppressed 17 Mach 2 rifles, the old fashion .22 is still the quietest to shoot.

When it comes to small game hunting, few species are as popular as the squirrel. Squirrels are plentiful, not as complicated to hunt as some big game species, and make for a challenging quarry due to their size and erratic movements.

Some people would argue that squirrels don’t pose much of a hunting challenge, but I’m not talking about the semi-tame squirrels that inhabit the local city parks. I’m talking about hunting wild squirrels that are wary of any predator. Squirrels have above-average eyesight (for a game species), outstanding hearing, and will flee or hide at the slightest hint of danger.

The venerable 22LR rifle is still the go-to rimfire caliber for squirrel hunting based on the following factors:

• The overall popularity of the 22LR caliber
• The availability of decent 22LR ammunition
• The accuracy potential of the caliber
• The availability of rifles chambered in the 22 LR caliber

Each scope that I’ve suggested as a possible 22 caliber squirrel hunting scope has both pros and cons. Let’s get into why I think each of the rifle scope models below is a good option for a squirrel hunting 22LR rifle, and then I’ll go over what to look for in a 22LR squirrel rifle scope in the buyer’s guide down below.

Leupold FX-3 6X

No list of top recommended squirrel hunting scopes would be complete without mentioning a fixed power scope model, and this Leupold FX-3 scope in 6X power fits the bill.

The big selling point with fixed power scopes is simplicity. There are no power dials to turn, no parallax to adjust, no setting to change. You look through the scope viewfinder, put the crosshairs on the squirrel, and pull the trigger.

Sure, there are less expensive fixed power scopes on the market, but this Leupold scope features something those other models don’t have, and that’s outstanding glass. The optical quality of this scope is exceptional for a fixed power model, which is a significant selling point.

Also, like most fixed power scopes, the FX-3 is lightweight at 13.6 ounces, and compact with a length of 13.2 inches.

Most fixed power scopes also offer a wide Field of View (FOV) compared to their adjustable power counterparts, and the FX-3 is no different, offering a staggering 17.3 feet of viewing area at 100 yards.

But like any scope, the FX-3 has the following pros and cons:

Pros Cons Excellent optical clarity and brightness

Is backed by Leupold’s fantastic warranty program

The glass quality makes it excellent for low light shooting at dusk and dawn

Pricey for a fixed power scope (but worth the cost in my book)

This scope features a non-adjustable focus that is factory set at 150 yards.

The FX-3 series is only available with one reticle option, which is a duplex. Other reticle options would be helpful.

Here are the best sales and deals I could find on the Leupold FX-3 scope:

Vortex Crossfire II 2-7×32 Rimfire

If you’re searching for a lightweight and compact variable powered scope for squirrel hunting, then the Vortex Crossfire II 2-7×32 Rimfire scope might be worth a look. The 2-7 power range offers sufficient magnification to comfortably take shots at squirrels at distances up to 50 yards.

Built on a 1-inch tube and weighing in at 14.3 ounces with a length of 10.7 inches, the Crossfire II Rimfire model is specifically marketed as a compact scope built for the .22LR.

This scope is only available in Vortex’s V-Plex reticle and features a fixed 50-yard parallax setting. While I prefer a parallax or focus that will adjust down below the 50-yard mark, I can make do with a fixed 50-yard parallax in this power range.

I like the V-Plex reticle but would also prefer that Vortex offered this scope in a version with the Deadhold BDC reticle as that would potentially provide the shooter the ability to push shots out past the 50-yard mark using the BDC function.

Here are a few pros and cons for the Crossfire II 2-7×32 Rimfire scope:

Pros Cons Lightweight but very durable

Covered under Vortex’s excellent warranty program

The 2-7 magnification range offers enough magnification for the typical shooting distances seen in squirrel hunting.

A very budget-friendly scope option

Fixed 50-yard parallax (I’d prefer an adjustable parallax that would focus down to 25 yards)

Limited to 1 reticle option, and I’d love to see this scope with the DeadHold BDC reticle.

Here are the best deals I could find on the Vortex Crossfire II 2-7 scopes:

BSA Sweet 22 3-9×40

If you’re in the market for a 22LR scope that offers integrated BDC (Bullet Drop Compensator) functionality, then the BSA Sweet 22 in a 3-9×40 configuration might be worth checking out. All the BSA Sweet 22 scope models feature integrated BDC functionality for the 22LR based on the bullet weight.

This scope comes with a multi-grain turret that works with the more popular 22LR bullet weights. Once you sight the scope in using the turret settings that match your bullet weight, you can use the BDC function to shoot out to a maximum distance of 200 yards. Now, I’m not advocating that you try a shot at that distance on a squirrel, but this scope can undoubtedly get you shooting at squirrels accurately out past 75 yards or so.

BSA is typically known as offering entry-level or budget-friendly scopes, so this Sweet 22 model won’t hammer your wallet. Built with multicoated optics, the optical quality is about what you would expect of a rifle scope in this price range.

One of the features that I like about this scope is the side focus that will focus down to 8 yards, which is a beneficial feature in the squirrel woods.

However, the BSA Sweet 22 scope isn’t perfect so here are the things I like and don’t like:

Pros Cons Built-in BDC for the most popular 22LR bullet weights

Side focus that focuses down to 8 yards

An affordable option for the squirrel woods

The optical quality is average at best

Comes with a minimal warranty

Listed below are the best deals and specials I could find on this BSA scope:

Leupold VX-Freedom Rimfire 3-9×40

If the Leupold FX-3 fixed power scope I mentioned above is too pricey for your wallet, but you still are interested in buying a Leupold, then have a look at the Leupold VX-Freedom Rimfire model. This scope is a 3-9×40 scope that is made specifically for a 22LR rimfire rifle.

The VX-Freedom series of scopes feature bright and clear glass, along with the durability that is expected of a Leupold.

With a weight of 12.5 ounces and a length of 12.3 inches, the VX-Freedom Rimfire scope is an ideal option for squirrel hunting with a 22 rifle. This scope is equipped with a 60-yard fixed parallax, coupled with Leupold’s Rimfire MOA reticle.

I’m also a fan of the Leupold VX Freedom EFR 3-9×40 scope for squirrel hunting, but it costs twice as much as the Rimfire version. The EFR model features an adjustable focus that will go down to 10 yards, but I’m not sure that feature is worth a 2X price tag.

Here are a few pros and cons with the VX Freedom 3-9×40 Rimfire scope:

Pros Cons Excellent optical quality for a scope in this price range

Dedicated Rimfire reticle with built-in holdover points

Well-built and covered by the Leupold warranty

Fixed 60-yard parallax (I’d prefer an adjustable parallax that will at least focus under 50 yards).

Features an eye relief that is under the 3″ mark, making it a dedicated rimfire scope only.

While the Rimfire MOA reticle features holdover marks, the shooter has to invest the time to learn the holdover points on his or her own.

Listed below are the best prices and deals I could find on the Leupold VX-Freedom Rimfire 3-9×40 scope:

Bushnell Banner Rimfire 4-12×40 Riflescope

The Banner series of rifle scopes from Bushnell was is explicitly built for rimfire shooters and offers excellent value in terms of price and performance. The 4-12×40 Banner Rimfire model features fully coated lenses for clarity and brightness, blended into a compact optic.

Built on a 1-inch tube, the Banner Rimfire also features an adjustable objective that that will adjust down to 10 yards. The adjustable objective, paired with Bushnell’s Multi-X crosshair reticle, makes this scope ideal for hunting bushy tails.

Like most Bushnell scopes, the Banner Rimfire model offers an excellent Field of View of 29 feet at 4X power and 11.5 feet on 12X power.

Here are a few pros and cons associated with this scope model:

Pros Cons The adjustable objective will focus down to 10 yards, which is very handy when a squirrel pops up on the tree beside you.

This scope offers an excellent performance to cost ratio as its budget-friendly

The optical quality is about what you would expect for a scope in this price range.

While the AO parallax is a plus, I wish Bushnell would offer this model with side focus.

This scope is more of a dedicated rimfire scope as it’s not really built to withstand the long-term recoil of a centerfire rifle.

Here are a few locations I found some good prices on this Bushell Banner Rimfire scope:

Sightron SIH 4-12X40

I’ve always considered the Sightron line of rifle scopes to be a sleeper brand in the scope industry as they don’t do a ton of marketing and are not usually sold in big box outdoor brands (think Cabela’s, Bass Pro, etc.). As such, I’m betting that you won’t see Sightron mentioned very much in any other lists of recommended squirrel hunting scopes.

The Sightron S1H Field and Target line of scopes is a lower-tiered series within the Sightron line that is made for target and hunting uses. The S1H 4-12×40 scope is built on a 1-inch tube and features an adjustable objective that will focus down to 8 yards.

The scope offers fully multicoated lenses, is shockproof and waterproof. Sightron purges this model with Nitrogen to eliminate any internal fogging or condensation.

My two favorite S1H 4-12×40 models are the duplex reticle version and the mil-dot reticle version. While most squirrel hunters opt for the duplex reticle, I prefer the mil-dot reticle because I can use it as a duplex or use the mil-dots as holder over points for longer range shots.

Pros Cons This series is available in 4 different reticles, which means there is a reticle for almost every squirrel hunter.

This model holds zero exceptionally well even with heavy use.

The 4-12 power range is ideal for squirrel hunting in early or late season conditions.

Weighing in at nearly 18 ounces, this scope is a bit heavy for a 4-12.

It comes with the cheapest flip-up lens covers I’ve ever seen.

Here’s a list of the best deals and specials I found for the Sightron S1H 4-12×40 scope models:

Vortex Crossfire II 4-12×40

The Crossfire II series of scopes is one of Vortex’s workhorse series that is built for performance on an entry-level budget. The Crossfire II scopes come in a variety of configurations, but the 4-12×40 is one of my favorites for a 22LR squirrel rifle.

Like all the Crossfire II scope models, the 4-12×40 is equipped with multicoated lenses to enhance the light transmission and fast-focus eyepiece.

This scope is built on a 1-inch tube and features an adjustable objective that will focus down to 10 yards. In addition to the 40mm version of this scope, Vortex also offers a 4-12×50 model as well.

The 4-12×40 model is available in two reticle configurations: the popular DeadHold BDC reticle, and the V-Plex reticle. Both work just fine for squirrel hunting, although I’m partial to the Deadhold BDC reticle as I like its versatility. The Deadhold BDC can be configured to work with most any .22LR round and can potentially extend your shooting distances on squirrels.

No scope is perfect so here are some pros and cons of the Crossfire II 4-12×40:

Pros Cons This scope is built like a tank for durability

The AO will focus down to 10 yards

The BDC reticle can be configured to work with a .22LR.

Weighing nearly 20 ounces, this scope is a bit on the heavy side for a 4-12.

The V-Plex reticle option can be hard to find.

If you’re shipping for a Vortex Crossfire II 4-12×40, then here are a few decent deals I located:

Bushnell Engage 3-12×42

The Engage series is a mid-range line of scopes made by Bushnell. While the Engage is offered in a variety of different power magnifications, the 3-12×42 model is an ideal choice for squirrel hunting with a rimfire.

The Engage scopes come with multicoated lenses for optimum light transmission and clarity, coupled with Bushnell’s patented EXO Barrier lens coating for advanced protection.

This model features side focus with the ability to focus down to 10 yards. Unlike most of the other scopes on this list, the Engage is built on a larger 30mm tube so that it will require 30mm scope rings.

This scope is only available with Bushnell’s Deploy MOA reticle, which works fine for squirrels, but might be a bit confusing at first if you are accustomed to a standard duplex reticle.

Here are a few other pros and cons of this Engage scope:

Pros Cons Side focus down to 10 yards

Good quality glass for the money

While I like 30mm scopes, they add weight as this model weighs in at nearly 20 ounces.

This scope is limited to only one reticle choice. I wish Bushnell would add a few more reticle options to the Engage scope line.

Here’s a list of the best deals and offers I could find for the Bushnell Engage 3-12×42 scope:

Honorable Mentions

Nikon Prostaff EFR Target Rimfire 3-9×40

The Nikon Prostaff EFR Target Rimfire was designed for rimfire rifles, so it was an ideal option for a squirrel rifle.

The EFR acronym stood for Extended Focus Range and was Nikon’s designation for any scope that would focus down below the standard 50-yard mark. While most Nikon scopes have a default parallax setting of 50 yards, the EFR model featured an adjustable objective that would focus all the down to 10 yards.

The EFR Target Rimfire became a very popular scope for squirrel hunters thanks to its adjustable parallax, excellent optics, and NikoPlex reticle.

This scope is listed as an honorable mention as Nikon is out of the rifle business, and the EFR Target Rimfire scope was discontinued.

This model is tough to find these days with one showing up here and there online.

Here are the only Nikon EFR 3-9X40 models I was able to locate:

Bushnell Legend Ultra HD Rifle Scope 4.5-14x 44mm

This scope was part of the Legend Ultra HD series from Bushnell and was an absolute sleeper of a scope. While it was available in a few different configurations, my favorite was the 4-14×44 with either a duplex reticle or mil-dots (which is my personal favorite).

This scope featured Bushnell’s ED Prime lenses, which were amazingly clear and bright for a scope in this price range. This scope also featured a side focus that would focus down to 10 yards and top-notch adjustments that could withstand a beating.

I liked this scope so much that I ended up buying more than one, and still have a few on different squirrel rifle set-ups.

Unfortunately, Bushnell opted to discontinue the entire Legend Ultra HD line, which is why this model is listed as an honorable mention.

This scope is very tough to find these days as they became even more popular after they were phased out.

Here are the only ones I was currently able to locate for sale:

Buyer’s Guide for 22LR Squirrel Hunting Scopes

Here is a guide that offers some advice about what to look for when choosing a scope for a 22LR squirrel hunting rifle. Keep in mind that these are just suggestions, and your best bet is to tailor these recommendations to your own needs.

The Best Scope Magnification for Squirrel Hunting

When you start researching the best scope power range for squirrel hunting, or the ideal scope magnification for squirrel hunting, you’re going to see a wide variety of suggestions and recommendations. Those suggestions will most likely include some fixed power scopes, some 2-7 scopes, quite a few 3-9 scopes, and some power ranges that are in the 4-12 to 4-16 power range.

The best answer is this one: The ideal scope magnification for squirrel hunting is the one that best suits the type of squirrel hunting that you do, and the scope power range that is most effective for you. The truth is, there is no one-size-fits scope magnification range that works equally well for every squirrel hunter out there.

The most common power range suggested for squirrel hunting is most definitely a 3-9 power for two reasons:

• The 3-9 power range is the most common and most popular power range that is currently on the market.
• For many squirrel hunters, the 3-9 power range of magnification offers sufficient magnification to meet “most” squirrel hunting needs

Does that mean that a 3-9 scope is the best bet for you? That’s hard to answer without knowing more details about the type of squirrel hunting you do, what type of shots you usually take, etc.

Let’s take me, for example. I prefer to still hunt for squirrels by picking a location and sitting for long periods. With that approach, I don’t tend to move all that much and am comfortable taking shots at distances over 50 yards. I also have terrible vision, with my dominant eye being much weaker than my non-shooting eye. So, when I close my right eye to shoot through a scope, my vision goes from a corrected 20/20, down to about 20/80 in my shooting eye.

Couple the lousy vision with my desire to try for only headshots to preserve the meat, and you’ve got the ideal recipe for a whole bunch of misses on my part. For those two reasons, I’ve always gravitated towards higher-powered scopes for my squirrel rifles. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve moved away from all 3-9 rifle scopes because they just don’t enough power for my not-so-great vision.

I’m perfectly comfortably shooting a 4-14 or higher power scope on a 22LR squirrel rifle as I’m shooting for a head at distances out to about 75 yards.

Obviously, my situation is unique, but that story illustrates my point that you should use whatever power scope meets your needs, your budget, and is most effective for you.

Parallax or Side Focus for a Squirrel Hunting Scope

To me, scope parallax is one of the most misunderstood and misused terms in the rifle scope industry. The simplest way to define scope parallax is when the target and the reticle are on different planes within the scope. This situation results in the scope reticle appearing to move around the target.

Parallax also plays a role in focusing the target within the scope based on the distance to the target.

Most rifle scopes have one of two parallax or focusing configurations:

• A fixed parallax that is non-adjustable and factory set for a specific distance. With most fixed parallax scopes, the factory preset distance is 100 yards.
• An adjustable parallax scope where the parallax can be adjusted using either the objective (which is commonly called an adjustable objective) or via a side focus configuration.

With adjustable parallax scopes, the parallax settings have a minimum distance in yards, and then most also have a maximum parallax distance of infinity. So, when you see a scope with an adjustable objective that goes from 25 yards to infinity, this means the parallax on that scope will only focus down to a maximum of 25 yards but will focus up to infinity.

So, what does all this talk of parallax or side focus have to do with a squirrel hunting scope?

Good question, and here’s why this is relevant to squirrel hunting:

Compared to big game hunting, most shots taken at squirrels are relatively short range, with the average distance being 25 yards to 45 yards. If you are using a scope with a parallax that bottoms out at 50 yards, and you’re trying to shoot a squirrel at 25 yards, the image of the squirrel in the scope won’t be crisp and clear. It will most likely be a little bit blurry and out of focus. And the higher the magnification on the scope, the blurrier that the target will become.

That’s why I prefer to use a scope with a focus/parallax that will adjust down to at least 25 yards or so. That way, the target squirrel in the scope is clear and identifiable.

Now, does that mean that you shouldn’t buy a scope for squirrel hunting that won’t parallax down past 50 yards?

Not necessarily as the parallax focus distance is only really a problem at higher magnification. So, if you had a 2-7 power scope with a fixed 50-yard parallax, you would barely notice the slightly out-of-focus squirrel in the crosshairs as the distortion would be minimal. However, if you’re trying to shoot that same 25-yard squirrel with a 4-14 powered scope with a fixed 50-yard parallax powered up to 14X, then you’ll notice the image distortion.

Sighting in a .22 for Squirrel Hunting

The process for sighting in a 22 for squirrel hunting is about the same as sighting in any rifle or shotgun. The only real difference is the sight-in distance, and opinions vary on the “ideal” distance to sight in a .22 for squirrel hunting. Some say 35 yards is the best distance, while others suggest 40 yards, and some say 50 yards is the perfect sight-in distance for a .22LR.

I prefer to use 50 yards as my sight-in distance on a .22 rifle for squirrel hunting. I like that sight-in distance as I know that I’m dead on at 50, about ½ an inch low between 49 and 35 yards, and 1 inch or so low at 34 to 20 yards. For anything under 20 yards, I need to hold about an inch high. Again, I’m not saying that’s the best sight-in distance for you; it is just what I find works best for me.

If you find that the bulk of your shots at squirrels occurs at a shorter distance, like 25 yards, then maybe it makes sense to sight your 22 rifle in for maybe 35 yards versus 50 yards.

What’s the Best rimfire scope for squirrel hunting?

I am asked this question at my day job reasonably often, but it’s a hard question to answer because, while most people use the word “rimfire” to mean a .22, the rimfire category includes several other calibers besides the .22.

Technically, a rimfire cartridge includes the following calibers:

• .22 LR
• 17 HMR
• 17 HM2
• 17 PMC
• 22 TCM
• 5mm
• 17 WSM

Some of those calibers, like the 17 HMR and 17 WSM, offer entirely different ballistics compared to the .22 LR and will shoot much farther and flatter. Due to the improved ballistic performance of those calibers, they are better served with a higher magnification scope versus what is suggested above for the .22.

While I also hunt squirrels with a 17 HMR and 17 HM2, those rifles are scoped with a minimum power magnification of 4-20 or up.

So, it’s tough to suggest a single best scope model for a rimfire caliber as those calibers feature a wide range of ballistic performance.

FAQS

Here are some frequently asked questions that I see and hear ay my day job regarding the best scope for squirrel hunting:

What’s the best Leupold scope for squirrel hunting?

I like many different Leupold scopes for squirrel hunting, but, for a .22LR, take a look at the Leupold scopes I suggested above.

The one suggestion that I’ll make about Leupold scopes when it comes to squirrel hunting is looking for a Leupold model with either a fixed focus around the 50-yard mark or one of their EFR models that will focus down to 25 yards or so.

Do I need an illuminated scope for squirrel hunting?

An illuminated scope is not mandatory for squirrel hunting, but it can be helpful in low light hunting situations. And, if you think about when squirrels are most active, it’s first light and near dusk, which are both low light scenarios.

I have both illuminated and non-illuminated scopes on squirrel rifles and regularly hunt with both. While I like the illuminated reticle option, most of the rifle scopes on my squirrel hunting rifles are non-illuminated.

What about a scope vs red dot for squirrel hunting?

For starters, if you’re thinking about using a red dot on your 22 rifle for squirrel hunting, I’d strongly suggest that you check your state and local hunting rules and regulations as not every state will allow the use a red dot for hunting purposes.

I tried hunting squirrels with a red dot scope mounted on a 22 rifle once and just did not care for it. The red dot did not offer enough magnification for my needs and made precise shots nearly impossible at any distance over 25 yards.

If you’re choosing between a red dot or a scope for squirrel hunting, I would recommend a rifle scope as a much better option.

What about a fixed power scope for squirrel hunting?

When I first started squirrel hunting as a teenager, I used a fixed power scope, and have fond memories of those squirrel hunting experiences.

Fixed power scopes make excellent scope options for squirrel hunting, as they are easy to operate, easy to understand, and very effective.

If you prefer a fixed power scope over an adjustable scope for your squirrel rifle, I encourage you to take that path. There are several well-made fixed four power or fixed six power scopes on the market that are excellent options for a 22LR squirrel hunting rifle. One of my favorites is the six power Leupold scope that I mentioned above.

As I come across other questions that are related to squirrel hunting rifle scopes, I’ll try to keep this page updated.