Hunting Tips, Videos, and Other Media

Q: As you I’m a lefty, I’m thinking of purchasing a dangerous game rifle.I shoot a model 70 375 H&H well, but you know what it takes to do the reach over and jack the bolt. So I was thinking of a lever action, specifically, a bighorn armory 500 S&W, a 45-70, or a 475 turnbull any other...Read more

I grew up in what we used to call the magnum craze, the late 1950s and on through the 60s when every new cartridge wore a belt and was called a “magnum.” Some were flops, but this era produced some of our most popular cartridges, including the 7mm Remington Magnum and .300 Winchester Magnum. Starting in about 1998 I think we went into a second magnum craze. In a brief period we have seen: Four long Remington Ultra Mags and two short Remington Short Action Ultra Mags; four Winchester Short Magnums and three Winchester Super Short Magnums; and now two Ruger Compact Magnums. All of these are fat-cased unbelted cartridges. Weatherby brought out the huge-cased .30-.378 and .338-.378 Weatherby Magnum, both belted cartridges.Read more

Many years ago I invited my then boss to join me in one of my secret public land hotspots for wild hogs. I’ll never forget how he looked down his nose at me and sneered, “No thanks. I’m not much of pig hunter,” as if that was the lowest life form on Earth. This fellow was a widely experienced hunter who I admired greatly…at least until that moment. You see, by his own description he was a sheep hunter, which is either the greatest snobbery, or the greatest addiction, in our hunting world. Perhaps both.Read more

Among American hunters open sights are almost obsolete. As I’ve written before, I genuinely believe they have their purposes—but they are very limited. It’s axiomatic that you can’t hit something if you can’t see it, and telescopic sights, rifle scopes, enable you to see better. Telescopic rifle sights have been in common use since the 1950s, and almost universal during my entire hunting career (which started in the 1960s).Read more