FUR-FISH-GAME Magazine - August 2023

In this issue

Becoming A WINGSHOOTING Pro; Bounce the Flats For WALLEYE; Tiny Tricos for Big TROUT; Youth RIFLE Success; KAYAK Fishing Fun; Saddle Gun ELK; Do-It-Yourself TRAP BAIT; And Much MUCH More.

Don't Overlook the Flats for Walleyes

It was mid-August, 10:30 a.m., and the ambient air temperature was already reading 72 degrees. We were fishing, running bottom-bouncers over an area about 200 yards long and 100 yards wide.

5 mins

Trapping With My Girls

The sun was a still well below the horizon, but we – my three daughters, Helen, Maura and Rachel, and I – were all wide awake, ready to run our trap line and put out a few more sets on a cold winter morning. I’d started the truck, so the thick layer of frost on its windows began melting.

5 mins

Pathway to Wingshooting Success

The first time a ruffed grouse exploded from nearby cover and left me with my heart pounding hard enough to crack a rib, I knew I wanted to hit them out of the air with a shotgun.

9 mins

Tiny Tricos Catch BIG Trout

I saw the coyote pack before I even noticed the cloud of Tricos. The canines were edging along the shoreline of the Bighorn River, and I felt fortunate to be on the other side of the wide flow, below the famous Three Mile Access. But as I watched the fabled tricksters dink and dunk along the bank, three of them presumably working for mice and grasshoppers, I noticed an equally active cloud of these tiniest mayflies riding a light downstream breeze.

8 mins

Big Bore Air Rifles:Your New Deer Gun

I’m guessing, like many of you reading this, that you might have grown up with a BB gun or pellet rifle. These types of firearms were part of the learning process as we advanced through the levels of firearm safety education. For example, when my father thought I was ready to advance to the next stage, the firearm changed. I went to a .410 shotgun, then to a 20 gauge, then into rifles.

5 mins

Stay On Top for River Smallmouth

It was the middle of August, finally black outside, and I was knee-deep in one of my favorite river pools. Leaning slightly backwards, I fired a cast out into the black abyss, as far as I could. The loon-colored Whopper Plopper bait splatted when it hit the water, and I slowly reeled it back in.

6 mins

In Between Doves: Finding Dove Hotspots

As summer’s heat holds its grip, a new season brings the opportunity to take to the field with scattergun in hand. Each year, in 40 of the lower 48 states, 750,000 dove hunters harvest about 12 million doves, the most abundant and widely distributed game birds in the country, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

6 mins

Take a Bluegill Break from Summer Bass

By 10 a.m., I was ready to go home. My dad and I had been bass fishing for several hours, and I only had a few missed strikes on a spinnerbait to show for it. It’s easy for a 9-year-old to get bored and frustrated with such slow fishing.

4 mins

Elk With a Saddle Gun

My heartbeat quickened as I peered through my binoculars at the burn on the mountainside above me. Elk.

9 mins

Florida ADC: Iguanas

Coming face-to-face with a 6-foot green iguana can be a bit unnerving. The scaly lizard’s face and spiked back make it look prehistoric. Most intimidating is the boldness of the critter and its willingness to stand its ground when confronted.

2 mins

Reviving an Old Friend

This story goes back to the spring of 1964, when I was 13-years old, and the spring muskrat and mink season had just closed. My muskrats and one mink were dry and ready to come off the stretchers.

4 mins

True Happiness

Many people search for true happiness all their lives. They’re lucky to find it, even on someone else’s face. It’s so rare — a true apparition.

5 mins

Read all stories from FUR-FISH-GAME

FUR-FISH-GAME Magazine Description:

America's #1 magazine for Practical Outdoorsmen since 1925. Our articles are written to instruct and entertain, by real life, everyday outdoorsmen who hunt, fish and trap year-round. Fact is we cover a greater variety of outdoor pursuits than any other magazine. We hunt rabbits and squirrels as well as turkey and deer. Pick mushrooms and other wild edibles for the dinner table. Yes, we love to catch lunker bass and trout. But we also run trot lines for catfish in the summer and harvest ginseng in the fall. We give you all the best how-to advice for your self-guided hunts. We cover it all and we keep it real. No exotic safaris or peacock bass fishing in Brazil. Our stories are always close to home, geared towards true practical everyday outdoorsmen.