When migrating stripers collide with menhaden schools, prepare for fall carnage
SEND OUT a 12-inch live Atlantic menhaden with a 6-inch girth and it’s going to catch a big striped bass. That’s the first part of the magic. A little “rat” striper isn’t likely to take a swipe at a meal so massive. Even a 10-pound schoolie would be at risk of choking to death. When line starts peeling out after a pickup, you can usually bank on the diner weighing at least in the high teens. You could also be a five-count away from locking up on the next world record. The second part of the magic is the warning. The bait’s tail beat quickens. It moves in terrified bursts of speed. In a last-ditch effort to survive, it often comes to the surface. That’s when the striper makes its final approach, inhaling the bait in a thunderclap of whitewater that I’d use as a ringtone if only I could record it. It’s one of my favorite fall sounds, and without these oversize baitfish I might never get to hear it.
STRIKING OIL
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LIVING THE DREAM
After the author arrives in Maine’s fabled North Woods with a moose tag in his pocket, an adventure he’s been wanting to take his entire hunting life, reality sets in, and he learns a valuable lesson: Be careful what you wish for
Get the Drift
How to make an accurate windage call under pressure
First Sit
An icebreaker outing in a pristine spot produces the rut hunt of a lifetime
A Local Haunt
The author finds a sense of place in an overlooked creek, close to home
A Hop and a Pump
Jump-shooting rabbits with classic upland guns is about as good a time as you can have in the outdoors
Welcome TO camp
Is there any place better than a good hunting camp? It has everything: great food, games and pranks, and of course, hunting. Shoot, we don’t even mind going to camp for grueling work days in the summer. Here, our contributors share their favorite stories, traditions, and lessons learned from camps they’ve shared. So come on in and join us. The door’s open.
THE DEERSLAYERS
Before you even claim a bunk, you need to eyeball the hardware your buddies have brought. In the process, you’ll see that the guns at deer camp are changing. What was walnut and blued steel may now be Kevlar and carbon fiber. The 10 rifles featured here aren’t your father’s deer guns. They’re today’s new camp classics
THE JOURNEY TO PIKE'S PEAK
Last summer, the author and three friends ventured off the grid to a remote fish camp in Canada. They hoped for great fishing, but what they experienced was truly something else
Stage Directions
When early-season whitetails vanish from open feeding areas, follow this woods-edge ambush plan
Rookie Season
A pup’s first year, from preseason training to fall’s big show
