Any bass angler will likely tell you that topwater fishing provides some of the most exciting bass bites to behold. There is nothing like the visual action of an epic topwater blow up, after all it’s one of the only forms of bass fishing where you actually get to see a bass attack your lure.

Which is why most anglers can’t wait for early dawn or dusk hours, and the warm temperatures of spring and early summer, to break out topwater lures and start walking, popping, and buzzing to drive bass crazy. But the truth is, while topwater lures are traditionally best during late spring and early summer, they can be used in most seasons and varying water temperatures and still catch fish.

1. Rebel Pop-R
2. Whopper Plopper
3. Livetarget Hollow Body Frog

Top water lures come in all shapes and sizes, and in most cases float. The bulk of them are made of hard plastic and are equipped with treble hooks. Treble hooks help increase your chances of having a fish get and stay hooked when they strike, since bass can often miss a topwater lure, or barely hit it. This is especially true for the fast moving models.

They’re not all made from hard plastic however, some are made of solid robber, soft hollow plastic, metal, or a combination. A buzzbait for instance is made up of a metal wire, metal/plastic propellor, and a rubber skirt. It’s also one of the few topwater lures that do not float.

When selecting a topwater bait, you should start with fast moving lures and reduce the speed by methodically switching to slower moving ones if your not getting strikes. This is how you find out how aggressive the bass are that day. Sometimes they will chase almost anything, and other times will only go after a very easy target.

Here are five of the best topwater lures that you should be using:

1. Popper Lures

Poppers are floating lures with a cupped mouth, meaning the front of the lure has an indented bowl shape. In the mouth is where the line attaches, and where all the action the lure creates comes from. This is one of, if not the slowest moving topwater lures.

When fishing a topwater popper, you simply cast the lure out and let it float. You then jerk your rod pulling the lure and causing the mouth to plow through the surface of the water. As it’s being pulled it makes a “pop” as water bubbles up over it. Some are designed with bigger mouths for a slower but bigger “chugging” action, while others have smaller mouths and made for working a little faster with smaller pops.

For more info visit the Topwater Poppers page

2. Walk The Dog Lures

These floating topwaters are long and skinny, usually equipped with a pair of treble hooks. Most models are torpedo shaped. Because of their shape they are often categorized as stickbaits, but since their walking action is so unique they have their own category.

They are called “walk the dog” lures because you have to “walk” them across the surface. The walk-the-dog action is created by jerking the rod tip repetitively with your wrist, causing the lure to zigzag from side to side. The motion creates disturbance on the surface and mimics an injured baitfish. It’s one of the best topwater lures because you have a lot of control in the action you want to give off.

For more info visit the Walk The Dog Lures page

3. Frog Lures

Hollow body frogs might be the most weedless lure there is. They have a soft plastic body that is designed to collapse and expose the hook as bass bite down on them. The lure floats and the hooks face upright, leaving very little chances for getting hung up.

This is a great advantage in bass fishing because you can cast in areas you could never with other lures. Lily pads and other floating vegetation are the ideal places to fish topwater frogs. Bass hide out under these types of vegetation as they provide a great source of oxygenated water, shade, cover, and food. So dragging frogs across the tops of them entice the bass below.

For more info visit the Topwater Frogs page

4. Buzzbaits

Buzzbaits are the fastest moving topwater lure there is, so if your looking to cover a lot of water quickly they are your best bet. They come equipped with a propellor designed to make the bait travel across the waters surface while disrupting it and causing a ton of commotion. As the blades of the prop spin and hit the water surface, they create a splashing and rippling that really appeal to bass.

Buzzbaits are great for fishing around cover like along weeds and timber. They’re somewhat weedless since the hook faces upright as it travels through the water so you can cast in a lot of areas other topwaters can’t get to.

For more info visit the Buzzbaits page

5. Prop Baits

These torpedo shaped floaters do all the work for you as you reel them in. They come equipped with one or more propellors that spin as the lure is retrieved. As the propellor spins it disturbs the surface and creates a noise that bass can hear and feel.

They are far from weedless so working them around the edges of cover is best. Typically you would only use these on a calm day when the surface is still. The props are smaller than the ones on a buzzbait so if there’s a heavy ripple from wind on the surface then the action these lures give off is not going to be very noticeable.

For more info visit the Prop Baits page

Spring and early summer are big topwater seasons because water temperatures are just right. Water temps have a big effect on bass behavior and how they feed. In temps less than 55 degrees bass are very inactive, same is said for temps above 80 degrees. When the water is in between those temps bass are energetic and aggressive, the two main ingredients required for good topwater fishing.

The reason dusk and dawn are so well known for being the best times for topwater fishing is they are low light conditions. Bass spend most of their lives staying out of the sun, because unlike humans, their eyes do not adjust to brightness. That’s why they are often found under docks, trees, lily pads, or even in deeper water. Once the sun is down though, they travel to the open shallows in search of food.

The depth range of a body of water, and water clarity, play a big role in topwater fishing. They are also a factor in what is considered “shallow”, but typically one to four feet is the range, and the best depths for topwater bass fishing. Additionally, in clearer waters, bass holding at deeper depths can still see a topwater lure or struggling baitfish on the surface.

A struggling bait fish is most often what bass think they are seeing when a topwater lure is in action, sputtering and slashing on the surface. There are topwater lures that imitate all kinds of prey like frogs, mice, even small birds, but in most cases a struggling baitfish on the surface is what they are targeting.

So when is the best time for topwater bass fishing? In low light conditions like dusk, dawn or over cast days, when the water is warm (60 degrees plus), when the water is somewhat clear, and when baitfish are active. Bass also have to be pretty active to hit topwater. If it’s a slow bite like after a cold front, the topwater bite will likely be very slow.

Compound bows are becoming increasingly popular nowadays. With the advancement of modern technology, compound bows are becoming more robust, flexible, and accurate.

However, a large portion of bowhunters still uses traditional longbows for archery and hunting. Now the question is, why? What is the difference between these two? And how to distinguish which one is an ideal piercing weapon?

That’s what we’re going to discuss today in our “compound bow vs longbow” guide. We’ll explore the key difference between these 2 bow types, and help you choose the best one for you.

Compound bows use a pulley system to store potential energy, resulting in high-velocity (up to 370 ft/sec), and high-powered arrows whereas traditional longbows feature a traditional outlook, are low-maintenance and are easy to carry around. Which one you’ll end up choosing depend largely on your preference.

Let’s explore more in our in-depth “Compound Bow vs Longbow” comparison:

A Brief History

The traditional, good-old longbow comprises a bowstring that’s tied to a bowed implement. Usually, the tool is a single unit from top to bottom. To lurch your arrow far, you need to pull the bowstring back significantly.

This action requires a lot of energy and concentration. Therefore, you have to lug your entire weight backward. Besides, you need to stay upright for improved accuracy. If you have less weight, however, this action is awkward.

It’s even more difficult if your hands are unsteady. Therefore, a better contraption has replaced this mechanism in a modern-day compound bow.

Here, a pulley (cam) is introduced to recoil the strings. And to improve the versatility and reinforcement at the center, a thicker and more robust member is fitted.

Therefore, the entire length comprises a short truncated upper recurve segment, and a lower one coupled together with a much stronger middle unit.

The advantage of this new design is that it allowed for a more significant backward movement without the bow breaking apart.

What’s more? the archer now needs to spend less energy, and yet, the accuracy of the arrow has significantly improved.

Compound Bow vs Longbow: Key Differences

1. Origins

Bows have been in existence for millennia. A 17,000-year-old arrow discovered in South Africa proved that bow hunting existed even during the stone-age era.

It’s believed that the Egyptians are the ones who invented the bows and arrows. Many pieces of evidence indicate bows were in use around 2,300 BC.

During this period, the preferred construction materials were sticks from hardwood timber such as ash and oak. The string was made of sheep intestine.

Obviously, so many changes have taken place since then. From the rudimentary and inaccurate weapon, you now have an extremely lightweight and powerful tool.

Compound bow

A compound bow is an improvement upon the longbow. It’s fairly intricate. Holless Allen gets credit for the development of the compound bow.

He modified a longbow into the much stronger compound bow we see and love today. He did this by initiating several improvements to the longbow and showcasing it through a patent he applied for in 1966 and received in 1969.

The new compound made its debut in the US National Archery Competition in the 1970s.

Longbow

Bowhunting enthusiasts Baer, Hiyt, and Mathews refined the longbow using new and modern materials. They transformed the hitherto wood frame and sheep intestines elements previously used for these longbows.

But even before the new revolution in the manufacture of the longbow, a previous one had already occurred.

The most advanced modernization of medieval archery goes to the Welsh. It appears that they manufactured the longbow into a tactical offensive weapon.

Their archers managed to withhold a large regime of British soldiers in the Battle of Waterloo in 1066. But the first recorded use of a longbow was during the battle of AD 633 during the war between the Welsh and Mercians.

Since then, this particular longbow earned the name of the British longbow. It’s been used in numerous battles with the French both on land and in the sea.

2. Design

The design of a longbow varies from that of a compound bow. Let’s see what our “compound bow vs longbow” comparison guide points out about the design differences between these two types of bows:

Compound bow

The high-quality compound bows are sophisticated. They have two sewn recurve ends fitted with pulleys at the end (limb). Either or both cams feature one or more cables attached to the opposite limb.

These cams provide the pivot needed when you pull back the bowstring. This action (let off) enhances the accuracy of the arrow while giving a more natural aiming response.

The center of the compound bow (riser) pivots the limbs, bow sights, bow stabilizers, and quivers. This section required greater flexibility to transfer as much of the stored energy from the bow to the arrow as possible.

This segment curves out towards the target, making it exert more force, which is subsequently transferred to the arrow.

Newer models of compound bows have cables and cable slides as well as a higher brace height. This is the length between a grip throat and the bowstring.

Longbow

The longbow, on the other hand, comprises a long weapon measuring about four feet long. Its stave was from a D-shaped section of a hardwood branch.

It has a singular and long limb. Typically, it’s made from a single material. There is no reinforcement or clamping along the entire stretch.

Even if the bowstring structure is the same as in a compound bow, the longbow still shoots slower and requires more force.

As a result, the arching process is also more strenuous than the former. This is due to the lack of a bow curve, the absence of cams as well as a more prolonged and weaker limb.

3. Material

The elements that make the longbow and compound bow affect how these two tools perform. Let’s look and the material composition of compound bow vs longbow.

Compound bow

Previously, compound bows comprised plastic-coated steel. However, due to lower tensile strength and flexibility – that decreased the arrow’s overall accuracy, – they now feature more suitable materials.

The more prominent material currently is the high-modulus polyethylene compound. It offers higher tensile strength as well as maximum energy transfer.

Longbow

The ancient longbows were constructed mostly from yew. However, hazel and elms were occasionally used. It was then coated with resin, wax, or excellent tallow to improve its tensile strength.

Currently, however, composite materials of laminated fiberglass and tampered wood are now used to make recreational longbows.

4. Uses and Benefits

Long ago, bows and arrows were used for hunting and conquering. But presently, they are used primarily in sports hunting and bow shooting competitions. Archery has grown as a favorite pastime as well as a game in all major tournaments.

Compound bow

A compound bow has a more significant benefit due to its design. The robust cams allow for a higher energy reserve. You only draw a portion of the energy and the rest remains at the front where it’s needed most when shooting.

The horizontal limbs also reduce the vibration and recoil intensity before shooting the compound bow, improving the accuracy of the shot as a result.

Further, modern compound bows have sighting devices to improve aim, as well as mechanical release to retain shot consistencies. Therefore, you are likely to shoot accurately using less effort.

Longbow

Longbow proved challenging to use since it required an inertia of over 65 lbs to deliver the necessary projectile power. This posture is also more strenuous since you’ll have to arch significantly back to convert sufficient energy needed by the arrow.

Different types of longbows were used for assorted arrows. There existed fight arrows, with chisel arrows. Other bows accommodated hunting arrows. Even within them, they also vary between animal and bird hunting types.

When you compare a longbow vs. a compound bow, you find that a longbow is lighter and quicker to shoot. Besides, it’s also quieter.

Additionally, the longbow is easy to make since it needs just one or two tree branches.

5. Draw Length

In archery, you need to be sure about a bow’s draw length. Typically, a draw length has a close correlation with your overall body size.

Take the distance from the tip of a nocked arrow to the tip of your draw-out hands. Divide this distance by 2.5, and you’ll get your draw length,

Compound bow

For a compound bow draw length, measuring the arrow tip should ideally be around two feet beyond the riser at full draw. When you hold this position and measure the arrow length, you get the draw length by adding one foot to the computed distance.

Longbow

The draw length of a longbow is usually more than five feet. Many of the early models had their measures reaching up to 12 feet. But they commonly averaged six-and-a-half feet long.

6. Limitations

Even the best-functioning longbows or compound bows have their drawbacks. Below are some of the shortfalls that are apparent in both the compound bow and the longbow.

Compound bow

By design, compound bows have many moving parts. This structure makes them susceptible to breakages and parts malfunctions. Further, having many elements make compound bow maintenance and handling a bit expensive.

Replacement is also intensive. It requires special tools to replace and repair damaged parts or strings of the compound bow.

Longbow

The longbow stretches more slowly and unsteadily. When you draw it backward, your arms move with the full energy you are exerting. You need more power to hold back your hands firmly.

At the same time, during the process of drawing your bow, less energy is available at the point where the bowstring meets the arrow.

This has the dual effects of releasing less punch directly to the arrow, as well as exacerbating your unstable hold. Hence when you release the arrow, it first, only moves a short distance and is less linear in its movement.

Further, it’s more likely to miss its target due to a weak trajectory caused by less force.

7. Care and Maintenance Requirements

Proper care for your bow is vital. You appreciate that owning a modern compound bow may cost you up to $1,000. Even with the composite material, they have many parts and accessories that need tender care.

Compound bow

Compound bows have sights, pulleys, limbs, cables, and cams. All these are made of different materials. Further, their assembly is delicate. Hence you ought to maintain each component individually:

• Cables: Waxing protects your cables when not in use. Do this once a month or after every exposure to the elements.
• Limbs: Laminated limbs are susceptible to cracking under various layers. Do a thorough inspection (by rubbing with cotton wool) to identify such defects.
• Frame: This component suffers from a lot of tension. Inspect it routinely for cracks and twists.
• Cams: Visually check on the cams before using your compound bow. To prevent corrosion and discoloration, wipe this part clean after every use.
• Accessories like bow-sights rest and quivers also require regular maintenance. Accurately mount them to avoid any damage through colliding with other surfaces.

Longbow

Longbows are made from composite frames or laminated timber. Run periodic inspections to identify damages to the fame and the bowstring.

Apply remedial measures similar to those on frames and limbs and accessories in the compound bows. Don’t store limbs in a hot compartment. Keep your longbow in a cool dry place. Better still, afford similar treatment to bolts and nuts.

Are Compound Bows Better Than Longbows: Which One to Get?

Compound bows and longbows have been used for centuries in hunting and archery. Now, you might be thinking Is a compound bow better than a longbow, or is it the other way around?

That’s a question that has been debated by hunters, archers, and outdoor enthusiasts for many years. Let’s find out which is the better option for you.

When a Compound Bow Is Better

Compound bows are becoming increasingly popular due to their superior accuracy and power compared to traditional longbows. While some people will always prefer the classic look of a longbow, it’s hard to deny the benefits of a compound bow.

Compound bows have several advantages over longbows. They are capable of higher draw weights than traditional longbows, allowing for greater accuracy, longer range, and more penetrating power.

The cams on a compound bow also make it easier to shoot with a consistent draw length, which can be very helpful for novice archers.

Additionally, compound bows are usually easier to maintain and tune than longbows. This can be a big plus for people who aren’t as experienced with bow maintenance and tuning.

When a Long Bow Is Better

Longbows have several advantages over their modern counterpart that make them attractive to traditionalists.

Their simpler design makes them lighter and easier to carry, making them a popular choice for hunters who must traverse long distances.

Longbows can also be more durable than compound bows since they are less complicated and require fewer parts. They don’t usually require as much maintenance or tuning either, which can be a plus for those with limited technical skills.

Finally, traditional longbows are often more aesthetically pleasing than compound bows, which can be a plus for those who prioritize looks.

Longbow vs Compound Bow: Which One You Should Get

The choice of whether to get a compound bow or a longbow is up to the individual archer or hunter. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, so it’s important to weigh all of the factors before making a decision.

Some archers may prefer the classic look and feel of a longbow, while others may be drawn to the power and accuracy of a compound bow.

Ultimately, the choice is yours, so do your research and find the option that best fits your needs. Good luck!

Conclusion

And with that, we’re at the endgame of our in-depth “compound bow vs longbow” comparison. Let’s do a quick recap.

You understand that compound bows offer better performance than longbows. However, you may still come across diehard fans of traditional bowing techniques.

To them, using both a compound bow and a longbow propel the arrow to the ordinary distance of 22 feet. But the inclusion of modern technology into bowing has made significant strides that you can’t ignore.

In fact, the new construction and materials have made bow hunting a more comfortable sport for everyone.

So, whether you aspire to hunt elks, deers, or any other small-medium game animal; or win a trophy at an archery completion, you have to start by learning how to use, differentiate and care for your bows and arrows.

Either way, you still need to practice consistently to perfect your pull, nock, aim, and shoot.

FAQs

Which Type of Bow Is More Accurate: Longbow or Compound?

Compound bows are generally considered to be more accurate than longbows as they feature a system of pulleys that help create consistent draw weight throughout the shot.

Is It Easier to Shoot a Longbow or Compound Bow?

In most cases, compound bows are easier to shoot than longbows since they feature a system of pulleys that help make the draw weight consistent throughout the shot. Compound bows also tend to be less affected by wind speeds, giving them an extra accuracy boost.

How Much Draw Weight Should I Use With Each Type of Bow?

Generally speaking, recurve bows require more draw weight than compound bows, with 40-50 lbs being the standard range for recurves and 25-45 lbs being the usual range for compounds.

For safety reasons, it is important to never exceed the maximum recommended draw weight for either type of bow.

With Remington’s recent rebirth, we’ve decided to explore one of the kings of American shotguns.

Remington and Mossberg ruled the roost of pump-action shotguns for the longest time now. Remington’s 870 has long been their flagship firearm, and today we are taking more than one for a run.

The Remington 870 Express .410 was my first actual firearm. It was given to me for my 8th birthday, and I remember that evening my dad took me hunting rabbits in the orange groves near our home.

I can still remember toting this lightweight little pump gun as the sunset. It was cold, and while we didn’t get any rabbits that night, it’s still one of my fondest memories.

I’ve clung to that Remington .410 ever since and recently gave it to my own son. I’m certainly a fan of the gun, and I own five different models of the 870, and it’s easily one of my favorite shotguns.

Remington 870 Review at a Glance

Pros

• Slick and smooth action
• Incredibly reliable
• Available in virtually any configuration you could want
• Available in multiple calibers
• Rugged steel receiver

Cons

• Dimpled tubes make mag extensions a pain
• Factory LOPs are often too long

The Bottom Line

The Remington 870 is an incredibly reliable and well-made shotgun designed to fill any role a shotgun can fill. It’s an awesome option for home defense, deer hunting, upland birds, ducks, small game, clay pigeons, etc. Clearly, the Remington 870 is a top-tier choice if you need a pump shotgun.

Specs & Features

Specs

• Caliber: 12 Gauge (.410 and 20 gauge also available)
• Length: 40″
• Barrel Length: 20″ (14 through 28″ also available)
• Weight: 7.5 lbs
• Capacity: 7 Rounds (4 to 6 also available)

Features

• Dual-action bars
• Raised bead sight
• Deep blued finish (Wingmaster models)

The 870’s Background

Remington’s king of pump shotguns came to life in 1950, and at the time, it was rather revolutionary.

You see, Remington had the idea to increase the action bars from one to two and patented the concept of dual-action bars on a pump shotgun. Dual-action bars help prevent binds, increase reliability, and result in a super-smooth action.

Remington designed the 870 to compete with the Winchester Model 12, which was considered the king of shotguns in 1950. The 870 proved to be more modern, reliable, and affordable.

The result was a pump-action, bottom loading, side ejecting, tubular magazine-fed shotgun.

There are hundreds of different configurations of this gun, and in 2009 Remington stated over 11 million 870s had been produced. The various configurations include different calibers, finishes, barrel lengths, furniture, and more.

The most basic models are the Express and Express Tactical. These feature a matte black bead-blasted finish with wood or synthetic furniture and are available in .410, 2- gauge, and 12-gauge.

The Wingmaster represents the company’s premier shotgun, and as the name implies, most Wingmasters are sporting guns. However, I own two tactical variants of the Wingmaster, so they’re not unheard of.

Wingmasters feature a beautiful blued finish and American walnut stocks and are premium-grade guns.

The Fieldmaster represents Remington’s latest line of shotguns and falls in between the Express and Wingmaster models.

The stock is matte black and reportedly more durable than the express finish. The gun also features improved action bars for a silky-smooth action.

Beyond these three designs, we also have the Special Purpose Marine model, the TAC-14 firearms, the SuperMag, the Police Magnum models, and likely a dozen other models between limited configurations, military models, and distributor exclusives.

Who Is It For?

The Remington 870 isn’t like the Glock 19. If I say Glock 19, you picture Gaston’s little polymer frame pistol. If I say Remington 870, you could picture many guns, from the military’s MCS to your grandfather’s bird gun.

There is an 870 for everyone who needs a shotgun. I tend to prefer the tactical models and all but my .410 Express model represents various tactical 870s. I have the ONG military model, a retired Police Wingmaster, and two TAC-14s.

That’s an excellent example of how versatile the 870 platforms can be. My two Wingmasters can be converted to hunting guns with the swap of a barrel, the removal of the magazine extensions, and the addition of a plug.

Shotguns can be swapped between various configurations with ease and put into various roles in half a heartbeat. Proper ammo selection goes a long way, and shotguns certainly give you many different ammo options.

The Remington 870 can be configured for any roll and for nearly everyone. From kids with .410s to breachers with short PGO 870s.

Fit & Feel

I’m a shotgun nerd, and I’ve experienced a variety of different actions — actions from Benelli, Mossberg, Winchester, and more. However, the 870 Wingmaster will always hold a space in my heart.

It has to be the smoothest and slickest action on any pump-action shotgun I’ve handled.

Even the standard Express models are super slick and smooth. You won’t find the grit and slop that shows up in other pump actions. Working a well-honed, well-worn action delivers a tactile experience that’s just plain enjoyable.

It’s so enjoyable that it feels like it should be fattening.

It’s hard to express a tactile feeling through text. It slides like it’s on well-worn and oiled ball bearings. The action is so smooth I can work it by rapidly moving the gun back and forth with just my firing hand.

Heck, maybe that’s why Sarah Connor chose the 870 to fight Terminators.

What I don’t like and never will is the American shotgun maker’s obsession with long lengths of pulls. The first thing you should do for tactical guns is drop the 14.5-inch stock and toss on a Hogue youth or Magpul SGA stock.

If I purchase a Wingmaster or Fieldmaster, I don’t want to remove my American Walnut stock for a polymer one. I’m 6-foot-5-inches, and a 14.5-inch LOP feels ungainly for me. So why is this the standard?

Other than that, I don’t have much to complain about.

Ergonomically the gun is fine. We get a cross-bolt safety that sits at the rear of the trigger, making it a little less intuitive than desirable.

The pump release sits in front of the trigger and is plenty easy to manipulate. Tossing on a pistol grip stock setup or an AR-like adjustable stock doesn’t create ergonomic issues.

How Does It Shoot?

No shotgun gets far without being a solid shooter. Shotgun aficionados have long enjoyed shooting the 870, and it’s easy to see why. I’ve already gushed over the smooth action, but there’s more to it than that.

First, let’s talk all about accuracy. Remington uses either a vent rib or a bead that sits on a platform. This raises the height of the bead and ensures accuracy and a proper point of aim/point of impact.

If the bead sits directly on the barrel, the shotgun will appear to hit high and be difficult to aim in a pinch. A raised bead corrects that issue and makes sure your buckshot hits where your bead sits.

(Rhyme unintentional, but I’ll take it.)

I’ve gotten tight groups with the bead sights with slugs, roughly 2.5 inches at 50 yards with a supported position. They were Federal Vital-Shok and represent what most will hunt with.

Remington offered the famed rifle sights on the barrel, outside of beads, which offer great slug capability. Ghost ring sights are rare on Remington 870s but not unheard of. Sadly, most Remington 870s don’t come optic ready.

Attaching a rail or optic isn’t easy and might require a trip to a gunsmith to properly install.

In regards to recoil, it’s like any other pump-action shotgun. The recoil can be fierce, largely on your load selection. Reduced recoil tactical buckshot won’t leave a bruise, but 1-ounce slugs at 1,600 feet per second might rattle some teeth.

A good push/pull recoil technique can do a fantastic job of mitigating recoil and making the 870 plenty easy to handle. That slick action is more than nice and does make it easy to ensure you can quickly and reliably work the action.

Short stroking shotgun actions happen, but the smoother the action, the less likely you will short stroke the gun.

Regarding total reliability, the 870 eats standard 2.75 and 3-inch shells. It’s not friendly to 1.75-inch mini shells but functions perfectly with 2.5 and 2-inch shells.

What Sets the 870 Apart

If a pump-action shotgun is on your wish list, you should feel good knowing that a quality, basic pump-action shotgun isn’t an expensive weapon.

For less than $450, you can get a good pump-action shotgun, but inside of that realm of affordable pump-action, the Remington reigns supreme.

Remington 870s give you the smoothest action, a steel receiver, a reliable design, a great bead sight, and plenty of modularity. It’s a tough-as-nails gun that can easily last you a lifetime.

By the Numbers

Reliability: 5/5

If you make a pump-action shotgun that can’t cycle, I’m unsure what to tell you. The 870 cycles, fires, ejects without complaint and will do so for decades of trouble-free use.

Ergonomics: 4/5

My main complaint on the 870 is Remington’s love of the 14.5-inch length of pull. It’s the first thing I’d change on my Remington guns. Other than that, the Remington 870 features a solid set of perfectly useable controls.

Accuracy: 5/5

The bead on the Remington 870 is properly set up to ensure the proper point of aim and point of impact. Within the range of a smoothbore shotgun, it’s as accurate as it gets.

Customization: 5/5

The Remington 870 is much like a AR 15 in terms of customization. Do whatever you want to it!

Value: 4/5

The Remington 870 isn’t the cheapest pump-action shotgun or even the cheapest American-made pump-action shotgun, but it still represents a good value.

Overall: 4.5/5

The Remington 870’s ruled the roost as one of the two kings of American pump-action shotguns and will continue to do so for many years to come. Heck, it’s outlasted Remington’s own attempts to release a newer pump-action shotgun.

Must-Have Remington 870 Upgrades

There are a ton of options for Remington 870 upgrades on the market. Here are just a few of my favorites:

Magpul SGA Stock

The Magpul SGA is the best shotgun stock on the planet. It’s adjustable for LOP, has sling points, has an optional riser for optics, and is made to last forever. It’s the stock for modern shotguns.

Streamlight TL Racker

Mounting a light and maintaining control of it can be tough with pump-action shotguns.

The Streamlight TL Racker replaces your pump with an integrated light. You get 1,000 lumens of bright white light for target identification with massive ambi controls and full control over the light and weapon.

Blue Force Gear VCAS Sling

A good sling can take you far, and the Vickers Combat Applications Sling is one of the best.

It comes with numerous attachment mechanisms making it easy to toss onto a shotgun like the 870. The VCAS is a quick-adjust two-point design that makes weapon retention a snap.

Mesa Tactical SureShell Carrier

Shotguns don’t have a lot of ammo in the gun, so keeping some extra ammo on the gun is always smart.

The Mesa Tactical SureShell side saddle is a very well-made design that allows you to keep four spare rounds tied to the gun. Mesa makes high-quality stuff, and they are well known as shotgun people.

Final Verdict

If you have a task requiring a shotgun, then the Remington 870 can get it done in style.

Now that Remington is back up and running, the 870 will likely rise to the top. It’s a stellar option for home defense, hunting, trap shooting, and whatever else you need a shotgun for.

What do you think of the Remington 870? Let us know in the comments below. Want to know whether the Mossberg 500 or Remington 870 is right for you? Check out our head-to-head between these two guns.

There should not be any land mammals living in the wild on any of the Hawaiian islands. There shouldn’t be many wild mammals, period; the only endemic mammal in Hawaii, besides marine mammals, is a single species of bat. But there are many mammals traversing the eight main islands in the archipelago today. There are wild sheep, goats, cattle, mongoose, wild boar, rabbits, rats, mice and a small but stable population of brush-tailed rock wallabies on Oahu. None of them should be there.

But the most important invasive species for a few islands, especially Maui and Molokai, is the axis deer. On Molokai, an island of only around 7,000 people, there are somewhere around 70,000 axis deer. On Maui, there are around 50,000.

The axis deer are a fascinating and multi-dimensional inhabitant. They are simultaneously invasive and part of traditional culture; they destroy food supplies and are an extremely important source of food themselves; they are protected by law and despised by some parts of law enforcement; they are wildly destructive to Hawaii and also, during the worst of COVID-19, were a beacon of hope.

***

Axis deer, which are sometimes known as chital, are native to Sri Lanka, parts of India and Nepal. They’re sometimes known as the spotted deer, because they have white spots on their tawny coats, and sometimes as the barking deer, because they are extremely vocal. They first showed up in Hawaii in 1867, given as a gift to King Kamehameha V: three bucks, four does and one male faun, for a total of eight deer. The gift-givers were from Hong Kong, then a colony of Britain. The deer were initially released on Molokai, and they multiplied quickly; some were later moved to Oahu, Lanai and, eventually, in 1959, to Maui.

“Introducing grazing animals here was considered a good thing,” says Jeff Bagshaw of the communications and outreach team for Hawaii’s Department of Forestry; he focuses on deer in Maui. Hawaii was a base to explore the Pacific and a halfway point to Asia, but some of the early sailors found it tough to restock their ships without land mammals to hunt. A few different peculiarities of the Hawaiian islands made it a great home for the axis deer. As grazers, they prefer to eat grass, but they will browse for just about anything. And Hawaiian plants, without any native mammals that might eat their leaves or shoots, never bothered to evolve thorns, spines or toxins to discourage herbivores. There’s even a variety of native Hawaiian raspberry, called the akala, that doesn’t have any thorns.

The deer found no predators in Hawaii, either; none of the wolves, big cats, terrestrial snakes or alligators that prey on them in Asia. But because they had so many predators in Asia, the deer evolved to give birth much more often than other deer species, in the hopes of outpacing the rate at which they get eaten. In Hawaii, they have no predators, but they still give birth year-round.

The dream of those early sailors was realized, but far too well: Soon, Hawaii had an absurd number of land mammals to hunt. The deer, on a few of the islands, became an environmental and sometimes a public health disaster. “They have a huge impact on all our native species,” says Bagshaw. One example: The ōhia tree, which grows in high elevation forests, is both sacred to Hawaiians and vital for the state’s water supply (when clouds come into contact with the tree, condensation forms and drips onto the ground, eventually flowing down the mountain into rivers and reservoirs). Starting in 2010, two new-to-science types of fungus were found on the tree that are harmful to it. Trees do have the ability to heal scars in their bark, which would eventually block the fungal infection, but ōhia trees heal slowly and much more slowly now because the deer nibble and rub on the bark, keeping those wounds open and the infection much more deadly.

There are more common environmental problems, too. The deer trample the land, damaging the nests of ground-nesting endemic bird species. They’ll eat a wide variety of plants, including endangered ones, which has cascading effects on insects and birds. They’ll eat just about anything, really, including crops: Farmers have reported big losses in fruit crops and vegetables, as well as damage to sugarcane. They’re a public health issue, too: They provide food for (also non-native) mosquitoes and, when they die, they can poison delicate water ecosystems. This became a much larger problem recently, when drought led to Molokai deer dying of starvation by the hundreds—although not in large enough numbers to put their population in any jeopardy. And they’re extremely dangerous to drivers; axis is just one of many deer species that seems magnetically attracted to moving vehicles.

Given all of this, it’s not unreasonable to wonder whether the deer should simply be completely eradicated from Hawaii. And, in truth, Hawaii has taken some measures to keep the deer population from spreading: It is now illegal to move deer from one island to another, and when they were illegally brought to the Big Island in 2009, it took only a few years for the government to remove them all. Even in Maui, the Department of Forestry will remove deer from particularly delicate ecosystems, especially watersheds or places where there are endangered species, provided those places are on state land. “We’re the most isolated landmass on the planet,” says Jake Muise, one of the owners of Maui Nui, a commercial venison operation in Maui. (Muise also handled removing the deer from the Big Island, a few years back.) “If our watersheds aren’t functioning properly…water is the most valuable thing we have.”

Hawaii’s governor, David Ige, has committed to what’s referred to as the “30 by ’30” plan: to fence in 30 percent of the state’s priority watersheds by 2030, largely to protect them from the deer. That may not sound like all that ambitious of a plan—only 30 percent?—but the difficulty of constructing this fencing is truly staggering. Bagshaw says that a minimum height of seven feet is necessary for hog fencing to keep out the deer, and Muise says that even that isn’t guaranteed; the deer are clever and persistent. They’d love to construct 12-foot fences instead, with proper skirting on top and bottom, but the expense is daunting. All the steel must be imported from the mainland, and constructing long expanses of fencing on extremely rugged state lands, over rivers and creeks and mountains, is a major undertaking. That same cost of installing fencing can eat into farmers’ profits too much for it to be worth it.

But for whatever efforts the Department of Forestry has taken, the process for actually eradicating these deer from Hawaii would be insanely expensive and maybe impossible; while the Department can remove deer from state land, that land is often remote and rugged and not really the preferred habitat for the deer. Getting permission from every private landowner with deer on their property, and figuring out the liability situation for having government agents with guns there, all in the service of somehow killing and removing more than a hundred thousand deer? It’s just not going to happen.

Another reason it’s not going to happen, beyond the practicalities, is that, according to Bagshaw, the deer are legally protected. The state constitution, dating back to at least 1950, has included a clause meant to protect the traditional subsistence practices of Hawaiians. But therein lies the question: What exactly is “traditional”? Hawaiian courts have set the precedent that any practice that existed in Hawaii before November 25, 1892 counts as “traditional.” That date was chosen for its importance to Hawaiian law; it was the last reorganization of the Kingdom of Hawaii’s judiciary system prior to American annexation. And the axis deer, of course, had arrived a couple of decades prior to that date. So the law that protects traditional subsistence practices applies, just barely, to a wildly destructive invasive species.

Not only is the Department of Forestry not allowed to completely eradicate axis deer from Hawaii, it is theoretically required to ensure that the population is stable and secure. Of course, that’s not a problem it’s really worrying about; the deer is so overpopulated that the idea of saving the deer is laughable. But it would have to, if it came to that.

***

Despite the fact that the axis deer doesn’t belong in Hawaii, that bit about it being protected as a subsistence practice isn’t actually that crazy. Deer hunting, although only 150 years old, has legitimately become a tradition on the islands of Molokai, Maui and Lanai. Deer, especially but not exclusively in the more rural parts of those islands, is a major part of the culture. Many families have extra chest freezers to store axis deer, and you can find it on the grill at backyard barbecues. (Most often, it’s sliced thin and marinated in teriyaki sauce, according to Muise.)

The deer also serves a pretty vital role as a source of protein. While Hawaii was perfectly capable of feeding its own population prior to European contact, the late 19th and early 20th centuries destroyed Hawaiian agriculture. Instead of planting crops that could feed the Hawaiian people, such as taro, breadfruit and coconut, Europeans (and soon, Americans) tore all that out to plant the crops that could feed foreign imperialists, such as sugarcane and pineapple. By 1936, Hawaii was, according to a University of Hawaii study, in desperate straits: Only 37 percent of its food was grown locally. The rest was, and remains today, imported, at great expense and significant risk, mostly from the mainland United States.

On Lanai, for example, the 3,100 or so residents rely in large part on the barges that deliver their food. If there’s a disruption in that service, from, say, a devastating global pandemic, store shelves are empty. Those on Lanai and Molokai, and to a lesser extent Maui, have to figure out some other way to feed themselves, and the incredibly abundant axis deer are a major part of that equation.

Of course, the deer aren’t exclusively a help. Fresh produce imported from the mainland is quite expensive in Hawaii, and backyard gardening is more than just a hobby for many Hawaiians. But as anyone who lives near a deer population knows, there are few things deer like more than absolutely destroying a carefully planted garden. They are damnably difficult to keep out, requiring at least an eight-foot fence, which is not affordable for most people. So the deer provide subsistence, but they also might take some away.

The Department of Forestry is engaged in an awkward dance regarding the deer. It can’t eradicate the deer, even if that makes ecological sense. But it’s also the agency that hands out hunting permits, and boy, is it ever handing them out. “On Maui and Molokai, there is no bag limit and there is no season,” says Bagshaw. “You can hunt ’em like a videogame from sunrise to sunset, if you want.” The permits cost $20 for the year and require no more than a gun license and an easy online application. Frankly, the Department of Forestry would love it if hunting was even more common than it is.

But the state’s resources for actually dealing with the deer problem are extremely limited. With most of the deer on private land, the ability to actually hunt on prime land tends to come down to one-on-one relationships between landowner and hunter, which isn’t much good for efficiency.

Commercial operations have been slow to take hold. Muise, a Canadian who came to Hawaii on a volleyball scholarship more than 20 years ago and never left, started Maui Nui with his wife, Ku’ulani. Muise grew up in an extremely rural part of far northern Alberta, and the self-reliant subsistence he learned there carried over to a place that’s about as different, ecologically, as any place on the planet. Maui Nui is one of the only companies selling axis deer commercially at scale, and the reason for that is, well, it’s insanely difficult to do so.

“The process of harvesting a wild animal has crazy amounts of overhead that go into it,” says Muise. It is legal to give hunted meat to anyone you want, in the United States, but to sell it, it has to be inspected. Unlike some states, Hawaii has no state meat inspection service, so Maui Nui has to go straight to the USDA. On every single hunt, a USDA inspector must accompany Maui Nui’s hunters and examine every single wild axis deer for health before giving a thumbs up to the hunter to take a shot. And that hunter can only take that one shot; the USDA regulations for humane commercial hunting strictly require that the animal be rendered unconscious immediately, with a single shot to the skull. This process is slow and liable to spook the deer, so it has to be done at night, when the deer are more calm, which requires all kinds of equipment. Maui Nui’s hunters use military-grade infrared binoculars and, as of recently, a drone, to locate deer in the dark.

Until very recently, there were no USDA-approved butchers for deer in Maui, so Maui Nui had to, at truly ridiculous expense, send whole deer carcasses via barge to processors on the mainland, and then have the broken-down deer shipped back. It now has its own butcher, but all of this—the equipment, the hunting training, the hourly fee for the USDA inspections, the butchering facility—requires an insane level of investment. The idea of, say, selling axis deer in Whole Foods? It’s not nearly as easy as going hunting.

Other states have programs to make use of overpopulated game animals. In Pennsylvania, a public-private partnership called Hunters Sharing the Harvest operates a network of deer processors throughout the state. Hunters can bring in a kill to any of these facilities, it’ll be broken down and venison—highly valuable protein!—will be put into the food bank system. Hawaii has no version of this, owing to the lack of state resources to inspect and approve processors. And that’s especially galling, because, unlike the white-tailed deer of Pennsylvania, the axis deer in Hawaii is apparently delicious. As a subtropical species, the axis deer has much less intramuscular fat, which carries that gamey flavor that many find unpleasant in other deer species. “When we talk about people eating venison, there’s a general apprehension because it’s most associated with something gamey they’ve had in the past,” says Muise. But he describes axis deer as an extremely clean, non-gamey meat, somewhere between beef and lamb in flavor.

To Muise, there’s a balancing act involved and some point at which the damage caused by the deer and the value of the animal to Hawaiian society can meet in the middle. But his operation by itself isn’t nearly large enough to slow down the population growth of the deer, let alone reduce the population to a sensible number. Neither the public nor the private sector has the ability to get the axis deer under control. And given their damage to public health, the delicate ecosystem of these islands and agriculture, the time might have come for a better plan.

This post reviews the bipods the best precision rifle shooters are using. This data is based on a survey of the top 50 shooters in the 2014 Precision Rifle Series (PRS). The PRS tracks how top competitors place in major rifle matches across the country. These are the major leagues of sniper-style competitions, with targets typically in the 300-1000 yard range. For more info on the Precision Rifle Series and who these guys are, or to view the data for other pieces of gear scroll to the bottom of this article.

Bipod

Although we’ve been surveying the top shooters in the PRS for a couple years, this is the first year we asked them what bipod they use. Here’s what they said:

Harris Bipod

Over 75% of the shooters were using a Harris Bipod, with the overwhelming majority of those being the Harris S-BRM 6-9” Notched Bipod (HBRMS). The official product name according to Harris is HBRMS. While that may seem cryptic, the diargram below breaks down what the letters mean and lets you see the features on the Harris S-BRM bipod compared to the standard Harris HBR model.

The Harris HBRMS is their shortest bipod with legs that extend 6 to 9 inches, and Harris refers to it as their “benchrest” model. PRS matches are clearly not shot from a bench, but many shots are taken from prone positions and the height range of this bipod is ideal for most prone scenarios.

The M in the model name indicates the bipod has notched legs. The notches provide a few preset height reference points to make it easier to adjust both legs to the same height. Virtually all of the top 50 shooters were using a bipod with these notched legs.

The S in the model name indicates the bipod can swivel, which allows you to tilt the rifle from side to side. This makes it easy to get the rifle perfectly level on uneven terrain without fiddling with the leg heights. Even a small amount of rifle cant can result in a miss at long-range, and this feature can help a shooter effectively manage that.

While most guys were running the 6-9 inch HBRMS model, there were a couple guys running the medium height Harris HBLMS model, which Harris advertises to have legs that extend 9 to 13 inches. In my measurements, it looks like the Harris HBLMS measures closer to 8 to 12 inches.

There was also one shooter in the top 50, Matt Gervais, who ran a custom Harris bipod he modified to extend from 7 to 12 inches. I have to admit, I was intrigued by the idea because it sounds like the ideal range. So I followed up with Matt and he graciously provided more detail with permission to share with fellow shooters. He found that when he used the 6-9” bipod, he never used the lowest setting, and when he used the 9-13” bipod, he never used the highest setting. Sounds familiar! As an auto mechanic by trade and tinkerer by heart, Matt’s curiosity drove him to sit down one day and take apart both bipods to compare them. After a little time, machining, and troubleshooting … viola! The ideal 7-12” Harris bipod was born. It was primarily derived from a modified 9-13” model, but there were a few donor parts taken from a Harris 6-9” bipod. Here’s a comparison of the custom Harris 7-12” bipod with a standard Harris 6-9” bipod. Note: Springs were removed from the 6-9″ bipod, and used on the 7-12″.

Virtually all of the shooters had added an after-market swivel lock to their Harris bipod (only applicable to the S series). These allow you to quickly adjust the amount of tension it takes to tilt the bipod side-to-side. The stock Harris swivel models have a fixed amount of tension that isn’t adjustable in the field, but these aftermarket levers and knobs allow you to reach up and torque down the swivel with one hand from behind the rifle. There are a few products out there that do this, such as the KMW Pod-Loc Kit, Alpha-Bravo Bipod Lock, and recently Harris introduced their own Harris lever. (Why not offer a model with the lever preinstalled?!) These handles are easy to install (watch video), and make it easier to operate the bipod swivel and ensure your rifle is cant-free before sending a round down range.

LaRue also makes an improved version of the Harris bipod. They integrated their popular, low-profile, quick-detach, picatinny mount. LaRue explains: “We have replaced the Harris OEM stud attachment base with a custom chassis … ruling-out the risk of the stud screw and grabber becoming loose. By doing so, we were able to lower the profile by roughly .25″. A large knob on the rear provides easy leverage when adjusting swivel tension.”

Note: The LaRue bipod in the photo has spikes installed. That is not part of the LaRue improved package. Those are JEC JPEGs Harris Bipod Spikes made by JEC Customs that I installed myself later. They help ensure you’re dug in and able to consistently load your bipod on any surface (sand, mud, stone, concrete, gravel, dining room table, car hood, etc.).

Atlas Bipod

The second most popular bipod was the Accu-Shot Atlas Bipod. 11 of shooters who placed in the top 50 were running an Atlas bipod.

While most are familiar with a standard bipod like the Harris, the Atlas bipod is very different. The popular standard height PSR Atlas Bipod includes a lot of unique features that aren’t available on other bipods. Here’s a few of the notable features:

• Bipod can be loaded with legs straight down (90°) or 45° forward. This provides a height adjustment from 4.75-9”, which is huge compared to similar bipods.
• Provides 15° of pan and 15° of tilt
• Legs can be stowed forwards or backwards
• Can be mounted directly to a picatinny rail
• Notched legs (similar to Harris)

Since the Atlas bipod only introduced in 2010, you might not expect it to have the accessories that the community has developed around the well-established Harris bipod … like the LaRue quick detach mount, or the variety of aftermarket feet and spikes. But, B&T Industries, makers of the Atlas, seems to have thought this through as well, and they offer a wide selection. It includes adapters to connect the Atlas bipod to just about any rifle, and accessories to adapt it to any terrain or scenario. Here’s just a few of the accessories offered for the Atlas:

The quick-change feet and leg extensions can be “easily installed with the press of a stainless steel plunger,” according to the manufacturer. Having personally installed spikes on a Harris bipod … I can say almost anything would be easier. Having the ability to easily extend the legs by 3 inches seems to allow you to use one bipod for many scenarios, especially with the huge range of height adjustability the Atlas bipod already offers.

One of the attractive features of the Atlas bipod is the option for multiple leg positions (45 and 90 degrees), but could be a downside to that flexibility. The added adjustability can potentially make the bipod slower to deploy and get in position. At least during competitions, seconds count, and it’d be near impossible to top the quick and simple Harris deployment.

There are certainly other bipods out there, like the Versa-Pod bipod, the Long-Range Accuracy bipod, and the new Accu-Tac bipod … but none of those were represented among these top precision riflemen. It was a short list, with just two brands … but some of the most solid gear you can find.

Meet The Pros

You know NASCAR? Yes, I’m talking about the racing-cars-in-a-circle NASCAR. Before NASCAR, there were just a bunch of unaffiliated, regional car races. NASCAR brought structure by unifying those races, and created the idea of a season … and an overall champion. NASCAR identified the top races across the country (that were similar in nature), then combined results and ranked competitors. The Precision Rifle Series (PRS) is like NASCAR, but for rifle matches.

The PRS is a championship style point series race based on the best precision rifle matches nationwide. PRS matches are recognized as the major league of sniper-style rifle matches. At the end of each year, the scores from around 15 different national matches are evaluated and the top shooters are invited to compete head to head in the PRS Season Championship Match. We surveyed the shooters who qualified for the finale, asking all kinds of questions about the equipment they ran that season. This is a great set of data, because 50+ shooters is a significant sample size, and this particular group are also considered experts among experts. It includes guys like George Gardner (President/Senior Rifle Builder of GA Precision), Francis Kuehl, Wade Stuteville, the GAP Team, the Surgeon Rifles Team, shooters from the US Army Marksmenship Unit, and many other world-class shooters. Thanks to Rich Emmons for allowing me to share this info. To find out more about the PRS, check out What Is The Precision Rifle Series?

Other “What The Pros Use” Articles

This post was one of a series of posts that look at the equipment the top PRS shooters use. Check out these other posts:

• Calibers & Cartridges
• Tactical Scopes
• Scope Mount
• Gunsmiths
• Rifle Actions
• Rifle Barrels
• Custom Rifle Stocks
• Reloading Components (Bullets, Powders & Brass)
• Muzzle Brake & Suppressor
• Shooting Bags
• Bipod
• Rifle Sling

It seems as though there aren’t many new methods for taking a buck these days. It almost seems as though every tactic for killing big bucks has already been brought to the table. That is what I thought until I spoke with Iowans Todd Pringnitz and Ted Miller from White Knuckle Productions. What they taught me was that there is an exciting new method out there for drawing in bucks. It is the horizontal rub post. That’s right. Horizontal.

We are all familiar with rubs. They are as commonplace in the deer woods as the deer themselves, but rarely does hunting rubs alone bring in a buck. Horizontal rub posts do. They were the creation of Ted Miller, and he actually discovered them by mere happenstance.

While filming elk in Yellowstone National Forest nearly ten years ago, Miller got repeated footage of bulls that were attracted to certain areas with blown down trees. They would rub their antlers on those trees or on branches shooting out horizontally. He wasn’t looking for this behavior at all. He was just observant enough to pick up on what the elk were doing, and it got him thinking, “I wonder if I can try this at home on whitetails.”

When he returned home he started putting his idea to work. What he found was pretty interesting. “I didn’t have any experience making these posts, so for my very first one, I went to one of my food plots and drove two posts into the ground and wired a limb to the posts about knee high or a little higher,” he recalls. “That was back when trail cameras were really just catching on. I didn’t have a trail camera at the time, so I just went back two or three days later and checked on it.” The limb had been worked.

So, he set up a ground blind at that spot, and on his first night sitting in the blind with his son, a large buck came and worked the post right in front of them. They got some good video footage of the deer working the rub but when it came time to shoot, the deer spooked. Regardless, the experience was one Miller will never forget, and is likely the very first time a hunter has ever used a horizontal rub post. It set the stage for many more such encounters for Miller. “That was the very first one I ever did and over the years I have figured out what the deer like and want out of them. I have been able to improve them along the way.”

The Limb Matters

The main thing that Miller found was that the type of limb can make all the difference. “Most hunters in Iowa were using cedar trees in their posts. The adage is that bucks prefer to rub on cedars, but they weren’t having a lot of success with them. I have found that Scotch pine limbs work the best.” The reasons are brilliant when you think about it.

First, when using scotch pines, there is no need to cut down the whole tree as you would with a cedar. Mature scotch pines are bigger, allowing you to simply cut off a limb rather than take the whole tree. Plus, they are not native to the area. They are more of a Christmas tree and are planted and easy to find if you look around. Miller has several planted in his yard, making finding them a cinch!

He also notes that the limbs should be about the size of your wrist or slightly larger in diameter so they won’t break when a buck gets aggressive with it.

Another thing that he has learned over the years – and probably the most important thing – is that once you find the limb you are going to use, cut it longer than the gap between your posts. “I like to run my limb about two feet or so past one end of my posts so it sticks out from the end on the side I want the bucks to work. I found that they prefer working the end that is sticking out past the posts much more than they do the part of the limb that lies between the posts. I think it is just more convenient for them.”

Another trick that he has discovered is to attach the limb loosely to the posts so it has some play in it. “Different bucks have different personalities. Some like to get aggressive and fight with it a little bit, so when I wire my limb up, I do so that it will move up and down about six inches to a foot or so. This gives it some give and allows the limb to rock up and down when a buck wants to fight with it and such.”

The last couple of years Miller has been adding a licking branch to his horizontal rub posts. “I just run another limb above it to act as a sign post. I’m just trying to give a buck everything that he wants in order to hold his attention.” He usually just attaches the licking branch above the end of the limb that sticks out past the post, but he says that if your posts are tall enough you can attach it to one of them and have it hang down. Or, you can also position your set-up underneath a tree that has a limb hanging down above your horizontal limb. Any situation will work.

An Added Benefit

A really great thing about using these rub posts is that they actually hold a deer in a certain spot for a while. A great plus for Miller who enjoys getting video footage of deer. “It’s really hard to get a buck to stop long enough to get any decent footage of him, but with these rubs, they tend to stay there and work it for a little bit. This really helps me out when I am filming. It also allows you to learn a lot about buck behavior.”

What Bucks Use It?

Miller has seen everything from spikes to Boone and Crockett bucks use his horizontal rubs, so no matter what type of buck you are after, it will work. He does note, however, that some bucks, especially smaller ones, will come in cautiously as they might be intimidated at first. But nonetheless, it attracts bucks of all calibers.

Scent?

Nope. Miller doesn’t use any on his limbs, noting that the Scotch pine itself is a sticky, sappy type of tree anyway and will absorb and hold the scent of the deer that use it. That is all that is required to help draw more deer in.

Where and When to Use It

Obviously they are most effective towards the rut, but they are effective earlier than that as well. Miller notes that bucks will begin hitting them as soon as they shed their velvet, although the most active times are from mid-October until the rut is completed, so be sure to set yours up around the first of October or so.

As for where to place your horizontal rubs, Miller doesn’t feel that a buck is going to get up and walk a half-mile just to hit it, so he says to set them up anywhere you feel that bucks want to be or in areas where you plan to hunt and see high buck activity. Food plots and staging areas are prime examples.

The Bottom Line

Miller found his horizontal rub post system by accident, and he has perfected it over the years. In my opinion, this may be one of the most under-utilized tactics for drawing in bucks, and perhaps, one you should be trying this fall.

To learn more about Miller’s horizontal rub posts, check out www.whiteknuckleproductions.com.

Before his untimely death, Gregg Meyer was a cagey multispecies angler who often used spinnerbaits to catch walleyes. “Once the spawn is over, walleyes are all about feeding,” he noted. “They move shallow into warm water where the food chain is in high gear. Banks and shallow flats are loaded with minnows, small panfish — all sorts of prey. Anglers usually use crankbaits and jigs tipped with bait or artificials to work that zone, but at times a spinnerbait can be more effective.

“Since spinnerbaits are snag-resistant, they work better than just about anything else around standing timber, flooded bushes, and brush,” he said. “Walleyes use that cover when feeding on panfish, shad, and minnows. Rocky shores can be good, too, especially when a modest wind is blowing in. I also fish the tops of shallow flats and along drop-offs where the flats breaks into deeper water. Preyfish must be present to get walleyes hunting shallow. In spring and early summer, some days they’re shallow and some days they’re not. You need to experiment, have faith, and not give up on this technique. Like anything else, it doesn’t work all the time.”

Rigging

Meyer uses his bass tackle for spinnerbaiting — a medium-heavy baitcasting outfit 6 ½ feet long and a reel spooled with 10- or 12-pound mono or braid of similar diameter. “If you don’t have baitcasters, your kid’s spincast reel will do,” he says. “You’re fishing shallow, but you still need to be aware of structural elements, so you need sonar, unless you’re familiar with the lake’s layout. The unit also helps pinpoint baitfish when you’re deeper than 5 feet or so.”

Meyer uses spinnerbaits from 1/8- to 3/8-ounce. He wants a true-running bait with good components and uses various models from Stanley Jigs of Huntington, Texas. A tapered-wire shaft enhances vibration that may be a key component of the spinnerbait’s attraction. The Stanley Salty Boss is hard to beat.

“Some days, blade color matters,” he reported. “I switch among silver, gold, white, chartreuse, and key-lime-green blades. For the skirt, baitfish colors work fine in clearer water — silvers, golds, smoke-sparkle, and so on. In murkier water, chartreuse and white do well.”

Meyer says that top-quality polarized sunglasses are vital, as you often are sight-fishing. He favors those that block out light from the sides, such as the Wiley X models with a foam insert that seals the glasses around your face “Look carefully and you can spot walleyes in water as shallow as 6 inches,” he says. “Keep your distance, approach cautiously, and you can catch those fish.

Presentation

Meyer uses a variety of retrieves to trigger walleyes. “When they’re holding shallow and tight to the bank, cast right onto the edge of the shore. It’s common to have fish bite in the first five feet of the retrieve. In deeper water, make the retrieve smooth and slow, so the spinnerbait moves along near bottom. If you’re fishing a sloping area, slow down as the water deepens, to keep the spinnerbait down — what the bass guys call ‘slow-rolling.'”

Meyer uses the lure’s snag resistance to saturate shallow cover, easing it among boulders, weed clumps, brush, and stumps. Make it bump the cover on occasion, as that momentary change in direction can trigger bites from less active fish. He’s also found that a spinnerbait works well when retrieved parallel to a rocky bluff or the riprap face of a dam or causeway. Once you figure the prime depth, you repeat the presentation.

At times it pays to experiment with more erratic action. “Pause the bait and let it flutter,” he recommended. “The blade on a good spinnerbait lets it helicopter down, and that can be deadly on walleyes.”

Tips for Success

A spinnerbait is essentially a simple lure and at times there’s no wrong way to work it. Like other lures, it doesn’t always work, but when it’s on, it can load the boat with big walleyes. Meyer has a few more tips to help get you started.

Bait: “At times, it pays to tip the spinnerbait with a nightcrawler or minnow. There’s something about the look, smell, and taste of real food. Make sure the lure continues to run perfectly straight when bait is attached. Critters often turn on the hook and ruin the presentation. So I don’t use bait unless it seems necessary.”

Short strikes: “If you get bumped and don’t hook up, try a trailer or stinger hook to nail short strikers. Some days, the stinger gets most of the fish. But it can be a pain around brush and grass, so I don’t use one until I start missing fish.”

Other species: “It’s common to catch both bass and walleyes as you move along a bank — pike as well. But if you start catching nothing but bass, it’s time to move, unless you’re just fishing for fun. I love bass, too, and it’s hard to abandon a fast bite on anything.”

Tackle care: “You’re working through cover, and the line takes a beating, even heavy mono or braid. Moreover, walleyes really slam these things. Check the line and retie to keep from eventually breaking off a lunker. After catching some fish, the lure may get out of balance. Bend the overheard wire back into shape so it runs true. Sharpen the hook, too, and replace skirts when they get threadbare.”

Deep Tactics

Spinnerbaits are at their finest around shallow cover and on shallow banks in spring and early summer, but they can also be used deep. Again, the presence of cover often is the key. Across much of the West, when reservoirs rise they flood deeper trees and walleyes often suspend in the tops of those trees. Slow-trolling one-ounce spinnerbaits on a long line through the tops of the trees can be deadly. Anglers also use leadcore line to get spinnerbaits down.

Meyer has also had success with a teaser ahead of a trolled spinnerbait. “Before you tie on, string on a couple beads — -my favorite color, key lime — then a clevis with a tiny Colorado blade, then four more beads. It looks like multiple baitfish being chased by a smaller predatory fish,” he says.

Spinnerbaits use flash and vibration to sell the image of vulnerable prey to a predator. Meyer: “As a spinner turns, it produces a steady flash, since both sides are gold or silver or whatever. But when you watch a school of baitfish, they don’t produce a regular flash; it’s far more random. At times an intermittent flash or flicker is a better trigger than a constant flash. To produce intermittent flash, use a magic marker to blacken the concave side of the blade.”

Some anglers in the West have been using spinnerbaits for many years, but it generally hasn’t caught on elsewhere. Don’t let tradition stand in the way of success. In the right situations, walleyes eat spinnerbaits just as well as they do crankbaits and jigs.

*The late Gregg Meyer, Wilsonville, Nebraska, had a career in law enforcement, in addition to being an avid and innovative angler. This was his last of several contributions to In-Fisherman.

Levi Morgan won his first professional archery tournament in 2007, when he also went on to win the Archery Shooters Association Shooter of the Year and World Champion titles that year. Since then, he has won the Shooter of the Year title 11 years in a row. Levi is the host of Bow Life, airing on Sportsman Channel.

The following topics are from the column, “Changing the Game” in Petersen’s Bowhunting.

by Levi Morgan

In the following article, I will address:

• How to Overcome Target Panic: The Aiming Drill
• Achieving Perfect Bow Balance
• How to Grip a Bow
• Shooting a Bow: Pushing and Pulling
• Anchoring a Bow: Three Steps to Success
• Write It Down
• Serving a Bow String
• How to Stand When Shooting a Bow
• Paper Tuning a Bow
• Preparing Your Mind for Success: Mastering the Mental Game of Archery

How to Overcome Target Panic: The Aiming Drill

If you’ve shot a bow long enough, you’ve probably heard about – or experienced for yourself – the demon we call “target panic.” The main form of target panic is best described as the inability to hold your pin on the target and squeeze the release slowly enough to cause surprise when it fires. Essentially, you punch the release prematurely. While there are many forms of target panic and just as many ways to cure it, there are a few things you can do to prevent or beat this horrible condition. Surprisingly, the one solution I’m most fond of doesn’t even require you to fire an arrow.

The main form of target panic derives from what I call “anxious aiming.” This occurs when the pin settles in where you want it to and you feel like you have to fire that release immediately. The problem with firing a release on command (the way 90 percent of people trigger their release) is that from the time your mind tells you to fire that shot to the act of your finger actually doing it is enough time to move off the spot. Generally, this is the main cause of inconsistent groups. You may say you don’t have target panic, but if you can’t aim in the middle and slowly fire that shot, then I’ve got some bad news: you have target panic. Luckily there is a cure for this.

You are probably wondering how I can suggest solving this problem without even shooting an arrow, but the fact is, the problem lies between your ears, not in the act of shooting. What you need to do is commit two weeks to the cure; every day or every chance you get, go out in the yard with an arrow nocked, just like you would normally practice. You will simply draw the bow and address the target, aiming with your finger on the trigger – but don’t pull that release; you want to focus only on aiming. Keep that pin where you want to the arrow to hit until your aiming starts to break down. Then let down and reset, never firing the arrow. Treat this just as you would any practice session, except never actually shoot your bow.

This will do two things that benefit you greatly as an archer. First, it will teach your mind that it is OK for that pin to settle on the bulls-eye without firing that arrow. Second, it will increase the length of time during which you can effectively aim before your shot breaks down. Over time, you will be able to add shooting back into your routine, but if you ever feel those anxious or rushed feelings, take a few days and just commit to this simple drill.

Target panic is a horrible thing, and if you don’t know how to cure it, it can really mess with your confidence, taking the fun out of shooting your bow. Even if you aren’t struggling with target panic, this aiming drill can and will make you a better archer, regardless of whether you are a novice or a top-level competitor.

Achieving Perfect Bow Balance

Maybe you are new to archery and trying to learn everything you can. Maybe, however, you have been a successful archer for years and are simply reading this because you are addicted and can’t get enough. Either way, we all want to be better shots, and if you say you don’t, I’d say you’re not a passionate archer/hunter.

There are many things that make up a great archer, but no one thing is more important than having a perfectly balanced bow. The overall goal of finding perfect balance is to be able to draw the bow with your eyes closed, settle in and open your eyes to a perfectly level bubble. This takes away human influence or torque that is necessary to level your bow otherwise. Proper balance will better your aim in all areas. Better aiming then leads to improvements in every aspect of your shot and can even cure most forms of target panic.

To achieve perfect balance, you will need a front stabilizer bar (I’d recommend at least 10 inches), a V-bar bracket that will allow you to adjust side to side and up and down, and a rear stabilizer bar that’s at least 8 inches. In addition, you will want a few weights to play around with.

First, you will need to put the stabilizers on and level the bow from side to side. I would recommend trying 4-5 ounces of weight on the front bar and 10-15 ounces on the back bar. You can fine-tune the weights from here, but this is a good ratio to start with.

Next, draw the bow with your eyes closed, anchor with a relaxed grip and open your eyes. If the bubble on your sight is not level, then adjust the rear stabilizer accordingly until you can repeat this process and your bow is perfectly level from side to side.

Leveling your bow front to back is a little different because you will adjust by adding or removing weights rather than adjusting the bars from side to side. To level your bow front to back, come to full draw aiming at a horizontal line. If your pin wants to dip or bounce below the line then add weight to the back bar or take the weight off the front. If your pin bounces above the line, do the opposite. After this step is complete, your bow should be very close to balanced. While you probably won’t be aiming perfectly still, your aiming pattern should be centered on that horizontal line, not bobbing up or down.

Obviously, we all want to be the best archer we can be. Balancing your bow properly will help you tremendously. Some people say balancing your bow makes it too heavy, but I’d rather carry a few more ounces and hit where I aim.

How to Grip a Bow

The grip is the only part of your bow you actually touch during the shot process, meaning the way you handle it is critical. Despite that, I believe grip remains one of the most overlooked aspects of good shooting form.

Over the years, I’ve seen many variations of how people grip their bows, and guess what? None of them are necessarily wrong. Just like any other aspect of archery, the proper grip is simply one that can be repeated consistently shot after shot. However, there are several things that can make that task much easier. One is to keep the entire grip on the thumb side of your lifeline. Then you want to point your thumb at about 2 o’clock (10 o’clock for left-handed shooters), making sure it isn’t riding up against the shelf of the riser. Lastly, you want to have a loose hand, not squeezing the grip and not with your fingers stuck straight out; just let your hand relax.

There are two main muscles in your hand, one on each side of your lifeline. If your grip crosses over onto both, then it’s a lot easier for you to torque the bow just by tensing your hand slightly. It’s very important to keep the bow on the thumb side of that lifeline only, making it almost impossible to torque with the muscles in your palm.

The best way to do this is to make a thumbs up sign, turn your thumb to 2 o’clock (or 10 o’clock for lefties), open your hand and place it on the grip. This will help prevent your thumb from pressing too hard against the shelf, which can create sideways torque and cause inconsistencies in your balance while aiming.

Now, your bow isn’t going anywhere. So, stop holding onto it for dear life at full draw. Just relax your bow hand. Now, squeeze the grip again and see what it does to the bow and level. That’s called torque, and it’s bad. You want a completely relaxed hand. Just allow your fingers to lie softly on the back of the grip. Don’t stick your fingers way out trying to avoid torque, because when you do that you can’t help but tense up those muscles, which defeats the entire purpose. It’s OK if your fingers are touching the riser, as long as they aren’t influencing it.

Again, there is no right or wrong way to grip the bow if you can do it the same every time, and the method I just described will help you achieve consistency. Keep the grip on one side of the lifeline in your hand, keep your thumb from pressing too hard up into the shelf and relax your entire hand. A consistent grip is absolutely crucial to accurate shooting.

Shooting a Bow: Pushing and Pulling

We all realize that to shoot a bow, some form of pushing and pulling has to take place – but probably not as much as you’ve been told. My entire life, I was preached to on how I needed to push my bow arm at the target and pull on my release arm firing the shot using my back muscles. I quickly realized that doing that the same way each time was next to impossible. Archery, as I’ve always said, is a game of repetition, and trying to rip the bow in half just wasn’t something I could repeat. One day I’d do great, the next I’d be pulling harder and hit to the right or pushing shots out to the left. The inconsistency was really frustrating.

Now, many of my struggles were from the equipment I was using combined with this push/pull method. But mainly, it was

because this entire method is flawed, in my opinion. Back when this “back tension” method was introduced, bows had hardly any let-off and spongy back walls. Pushing and pulling really hard probably was the most consistent way to shoot that setup. These days, however, bows are built with solid back walls and high let-off, and when you start pushing and pulling on something that doesn’t give, it just doesn’t work. Think about it; you’re shooting a bow with a solid wall, and when you pull, something has to give. In this case, that would be your bow arm. And when you push and the bow can’t give, then the movement is transferred to your release arm. I truly believe this is the reason so many people struggle with this technique. It’s not that they’re doing it wrong. It’s that the entire process is no longer necessary.

I understand that to keep the bow at full draw, some form of “back tension,” or pushing and pulling, has to take place. I also believe that’s about all you need, just enough to keep the bow at full draw. You have to look at your cam system, holding weight, bow weight and type of draw stop to come up with a consistent push/pull method that suits you. However, if you’re shooting a bow made in the last decade, more pushing and pulling probably isn’t the answer to making you a better shot.

If you are struggling with aiming or consistent groups and you have been taught to push and pull on the bow, let’s try a different approach. Try to relax a little more in your shot. Pull just hard enough to keep the string against the stop and let the bow do the rest. After a while, you should find a really comfortable, less stressful way to fire the shot. This will be way more repeatable for you, and you will be engaging fewer muscles than before. Yes, the fewer muscles during the shot the better. When you’re nervous, that’s what causes tension and shaking, and that’s what gets us tired. So, the fewer muscles used the better. The days of ripping the bow apart are over. It’s time to relax and let these bows shoot themselves.

Anchoring a Bow: Three Steps to Success

If you know archery, you know how important a consistent anchor is. Most people just think of anchor as a being only one thing. But the truth is, having a repeatable anchor position involves three major components. Everyone’s anchor involves – or at least should involve – the following: release-to-hand contact, hand-to-face contact, and string-to-face contact. If you have these three components down, you will have a solid anchor position.

Release-to-hand contact is very crucial in all parts of your shot, but none more so than your anchor. If you are shooting a handheld release, that importance doubles. You can literally change your draw length and entire form just by positioning the release differently in your hand from one shot to the next. It is critically important to find a comfortable spot in your hand where the release just seems to fit. It’s not a bad idea to even mark that on your hand with a marker or tape while you practice. Make a conscious effort each shot to place that release in your hand exactly the same. Soon, that will be the only place you can comfortably place the release, and any slight change will be noticed immediately. At this point, the marking and/or tape is no longer needed.

A consistent hand-to-face contact point can be a little trickier. I’ve seen guys and girls mash their hands into their faces, and I’ve seen them completely avoid any contact with their face at all (both are disasters). You want to find a comfortable pressure point somewhere along your jawbone. I like to slide my jawbone between my first knuckle and middle knuckle. I don’t mash my hand to my face. I just very lightly touch my hand to that spot on my jaw so I can execute my release properly. I’ve found that the more pressure I put on my face, the harder it is to execute the shot. On the other hand, no contact or a floating anchor even worse, in my opinion. How can you ever know when you are anchored if you can’t feel any contact with your hand?

The final piece of the anchor is the contact between your face and the string. While you need this contact, you absolutely can’t press on the string with your face, as this will cause nightmares with shooting consistency. The absolute best and most repeatable string-to-face contact point I’ve found is to very lightly touch the string to the tip of your nose. If you use your cheek or the side of your nose, it’s hard to put the string in the exact same spot every time. The tip of your nose is always in the same place.

Just like every other aspect of archery, there is no right or wrong anchor – if you can repeat it from shot to shot. Having the correct draw length is very crucial in comfortably anchoring with the method I’ve just described. Assuming your equipment fits you perfectly, this three-part anchor method is, in my opinion, the best way to go about fine-tuning your archery game. Always remember your release-to-hand, hand-to-face, and string-to-face contact points. Stay consistent with all three and your anchor position will never fail.

Write It Down

Everyone has had that one setup that was money – that one bow they always shot better than any other. The problem is once you replace the strings, cables or limbs, it’s never the same. You can go to the same model, poundage and draw length, but it still doesn’t feel right. If only you had taken notes on everything. There are some key things you always should write down once you have that dream setup you are in love with. First, write down all the measurements on the bow. Then take notes on how your arrows are built. Lastly, take notes on other things in your shot more along the lines of feel and execution.

When we have the best set up of our lives, we need to realize that bows change with use, and before it’s too late, we need to write down everything about the setup. Some of these things are draw length measured from the throat of the grip, d-loop length, peep height from the loop, nock height from axles, draw weight, holding weight, axle to axle, brace height and let-off. Then, move on to things like stabilizer lengths and weights, sight choice, fiber size, lens magnification, peep aperture size, rest location from burger hole and, if you shoot a blade rest, what size launcher. Nothing is too small or unimportant to write down about this setup.

Next up are your arrows. Nothing is more critical to a forgiving and accurate setup than your arrows. You need to log all of this info as well. How long are your arrows carbon to carbon? What model arrow are you shooting, including spine? Vane selection and the helical or offset on those vanes are very important. Write down what nock, what grain point and then overall arrow weight. Arrows come in so many sizes and spines these days that if you can’t remember what arrow you had, all the other info isn’t nearly as important.

Lastly, you need to log every part of how you are executing your shot. Are you relaxed at full draw or are you pulling hard on the wall? What is your bow arm positioning? Straight arm or slightly bent? Same goes for release arm and even how you hold your release. Write down how you are anchoring in and what release you’re shooting. Bow grip is another crucial piece, but it’s very hard to write down specific details about

“Exploring the World of Air Rifles: Unveiling the Projectiles These Mighty Firearms Shoot!”

what do air rifles shoot

Air rifles are firearms that use compressed air or gas to propel projectiles. These rifles can shoot a variety of ammunition types, including pellets, BBs, and darts. The type of ammunition used depends on the specific design and purpose of the air rifle.

Pellets are the most common type of ammunition for air rifles. They are small cylindrical or round projectiles made of lead or alloy. Pellets come in different calibers, ranging from.177 to.50 caliber, and they can be either diabolo-shaped (with a larger head and narrow waist) or round-nosed. Pellets offer accuracy and consistency in shooting and are suitable for various applications such as target shooting, pest control, and small game hunting.

BBs are another type of ammunition used in air rifles. They are small spherical projectiles typically made of steel or copper-plated steel. BBs are mainly used for recreational purposes like plinking (shooting at targets for fun) and casual target practice. Compared to pellets, BBs generally have lower accuracy due to their shape but can still be effective within shorter ranges.

In conclusion, air rifles shoot projectiles called pellets or BBs. These small metal or plastic objects are propelled by compressed air, making air rifles a popular choice for recreational shooting and pest control. With various types and sizes available, it’s important to use the appropriate ammunition for safety and effectiveness.

Spring is my second favorite season. The winter weather is finally loosening its grip. The rivers are breaking up, the grass is starting to poke through the snow patches on south-facing slopes, and bears are crawling out of their dens. Yet my favorite part of spring is shed antler hunting.

Deer, elk, and moose go through the annual ritual of losing last year’s antlers in late winter and begin to grow new bone through spring and summer. This cycle starts after the breeding period when the bucks and bulls drop testosterone, signaling the beginning of the shedding of their antlers. The pedicel, or point where the antler meets the skull, degrades and eventually the antler drops off, usually one at a time.

Shed hunting or antler hunting or horn hunting (even though antlers aren’t horns) is the spring search for these castoffs after the snowmelt. Shed hunting has boomed in popularity in recent years as more people have realized the benefit of outdoor spring exercise — and the thrill of finding a castoff antler. Here are some tips for getting started.

Know the Range

Deer and elk have historic areas they use for different aspects of their life: breeding grounds, summer feed, winter feed, etc. Paying attention to where you see the male animals in winter will give insight into where to start your search in spring. It’s important to note that animals are stressed during the winter more than at any other time of year. They’re weakened from the long, cold several months of just trying to get by in many areas. For this reason, several states have made it illegal to go into winter ranges before a certain date. Check state law before you make off for the mountains.

Find the Feed

If you’ve done your homework and seen some deer or elk wintering, that’s a great place to start looking. Animals try to winter where getting to feed is easiest for them, and they need to spend more time searching for food due to the stressors of winter. By becoming familiar with an animal’s food sources and at what time of year they’re using each source, a person can find spots to look for dropped antlers based on what’s on the menu.

Break Into the Bedroom

After feeding, animals spend the most significant portion of their day in their beds, resting and digesting their food. Looking for bedding areas that are close to feeding spots will pay off for the patient antler hunter. Most animals bed in fairly thick cover, so bedding areas can require more patience to work through but provide just as much opportunity at an antler as a food source.

Run Fences

Another place to check frequently are fence lines. As antlers loosen on the skull, a sudden jolt, such as jumping a fence, can jar them from their owner, leaving the patient and observant walker a chance at finding them. My son found his first matched set of deer antlers this way. After picking one up in a field, he started to walk the adjacent fence lines until he found the first antler’s mate tucked in the grass by a barbed wire fence.

Bring the Binos

Investment in a good pair of binoculars can pay dividends as well, depending on the country a shed antler hunter frequents. Instead of walking all over that big field or mountainside, get above or across from it and use your glass to pick it apart. In the early to mid-spring, the new grass hasn’t grown up enough to obscure most freshly shed antlers, allowing a detail-conscious person to find them from afar.

Know Your Colors

It’s important to note that the length of time the antler has been lying on the ground and its location can determine the color. An antler shed on a south-facing slope, exposed to the sun, will turn white within a year, making it easier to see — whereas one lying in the shade on a north-facing slope with limited sun may stay mostly brown up to a year or more. This can be a clue to determine how long ago an antler was shed.

Freshly dropped antlers have pink or bloody pedicels, due to the recent separation, and can carry a unique aroma of the vegetation the deer or elk was rubbing on before they shed. Year-old antlers have begun to turn or are totally white due to sun bleaching but are smooth and haven’t begun to develop exterior faults. After more than a year in the sun, antlers naturally begin to break down, soften, and crack. Once they get to this stage, they’re sometimes referred to as “chalk” due to their propensity to leave white pieces in one’s hand after handling.

Antlers are all unique in their own way, like the many reasons people have for picking them up. Some like the exercise, some the challenge of finding bigger ones than last year, while others may depend on the collection and selling of antlers as part of their yearly income. Whatever your reason, get out and incorporate some of these tips with your own ideas and enjoy searching for some brown gold.

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