If you have not looked through a Bushnell riflescope in the past couple of years, look again. On my recent hunting trip to Wyoming we used nothing but Bushnell products and I was pleasantly surprised. Let me start off by saying, yes, Bushnell was one of the sponsors or the event… but I am just enough of a cynic to tell the truth about my sponsors; even at risk of never getting invited back. But the truth is … Dang, this is not my dad’s cheap, old Bushnell. We used the new lines of Bushnell Elite Scopes and they were bright, clear and tough. (I know because I accidentally bounced one off the hard-packed earth on the first day… other than a dirt scuff on the bell, which I wiped off with spit and my sleeve, the scope was fine.)

And shoot? Good Lord those scopes did everything we asked them to do. At one point one of the shooters, John Antanies plunked a prairie dog at 574 yards… as judged with a laser range finder. After the shot we all had to go down range and find the dead critter just to prove it really happened.

Antanies was shooting a Winchester Model 70 “Coyote Light” rifle in .22-250 and topped with a Bushnell Elite 6500 series tactical scope, like the one in the picture.

The new Bushnell scopes live up to the hype.

Now this scope retails for about $900, but I’ve been around some scope snobs in my life and I can assure you this $900 scope will do everything those $2,000 scopes will do… and leave you $1100 for ammo and a hunting license.

So, when someone says, “Bright as Bushnell,” that’s a compliment these days. Bushnell scopes: Look into one. (I’m so witty)

Check them out at www.bushnell.com

Mountains of cold stone

Push winds down lonely valleys.

Who breaks this silence?

You know… words are my business.  I first got paid for my writing when I was 16 years old. Some people still try to pay me the same now as I got back then, but I digress. I applied for a job as a police officer a couple years back  (it’s a long story) and I walked out of the interview feeling like I had given the best answer anyone could give to one of the questions. The question was, “What do you see as the most important element of police work?”

My answer was, “Communication.” I followed that up with something to the effect of “…effective communication is the one element that holds everything else together. Whether it is a superior communcating with a subordinate or and officer on the street communicating with a citizen, it has to be clear and effective so everyone knows where you stand.”

I didn’t get the job. But in sitting through that interview process  I was able to remind myself that what I do for a living is supremely important and I’m blessed to be able to do it well. As outdoor enthusiasts, how we communicate with wildlife managers, game wardens and biologists is every bit as important as how they communicate with us. There is a deeper context within the way we communicate as well.

What does the sound of a flushing pheasant say to you? Has the wind on Lake Oahe made a statement that forced you to listen? What actions have the sounds of geese prompted in you as they filtered down from the clouds? Whether those sounds tell you to shoot, move the boat and hide in the blind or they tell you to plant a shelterbelt, get off the water or turn your eyes skyward  is not important to me… what is important to me is that you pass that message to some young people.

Teach them to listen to what the world has to say. They might just find a wonderful story to tell.

Song lyrics stuck in my head… lots of them. Come Monday, by Jimmy Buffett and something by the Proclaimers:  Sean, I spent some time on clouds to ask God if he’s livin’. I should have spent some time on knees in thanks for what he’s given.

Happiness is largely a matter of perspective. Can you look at what you have and be happy?

Kevin the tourist. At 6 a.m. there was not another sound in the mountains.

I spent the last week shooting guns and touring around one of the most beautiful corners of the world an outdoor enthusiast could ask for. And that should have made me happy. Yet, it honestly made me long for things I do not have. And that is a sign of immaturity and certainly will lead to unhappiness. How can I complain? I have a job lots of people would love to have, two great kids who brighten every minute of my day…whether I am with them or not, and I’m generally healthy and fit enough to get around and see all the things I want to see in all the places I want to go. I’m not facing foreclosure and I have no balance on my credit cards… my truck runs.

That, in a nutshell, describes how and where I am. Many people have it much worse. I could be far worse off. So I will stop longing for something I don’t have and make the best of what I do have.  And when I can, I will go places and do things. You should, too.

I spent most of this week looking through a Bushnell scope, watching some species of rodent flip into the air as I squeezed the trigger. But when I wasn’t looking through the scope I was looking all around at the rocks, trees and mountains of southern Wyoming. Every scene made me ask why I don’t spend more time in the Great American West.

Everything about this trip from wonderful, from the people I met to the old friends I only see a couple times each year. Spur Outfitters is a top-notch outfitter and, if you are looking for a great getaway, you should call  307-327-6505 and ask for Dave Sturm. If you want to hunt antelope, elk, deer or varmints, you will find what you are looking for.

But that still doesn’t answer why I don’t spend more time in the places that constantly pull at my heartstrings. Maybe I will never answer those questions… I just need to go places and do things. You’ve heard me say that before. I need to live that dream.

This is the Browning Summer Blast Gun... find one, get it... it's great

Well, right now I’m in Wyoming, near the town of Encampment. I, along with some other writers, am staying with Spur Outfitters at the Hanging Bull Lodge. Today (tuesday) I spent the day trying to clean the ground squirrels out of an alfalfa field. I failed. Despite knocking off a couple hundred ground squirrels, there seemed to be no end to the rodents. But there was a bright side.

In the end, I found a really cool new rifle. The Browning T-Bolt in .22 long rifle. The gun I was using is a prototype of the Summer Blast gun that will be available soon from Browning. Sales reps will be selling this gun for only 30 days, then Browning will only make as many as are ordered, not a single one more. So, you will, in effect, be buying a limited edition rifle. The T-Bolt Summer Blast gun comes with a cool thumb-hole stock a 22-inch barrel and will be available in .22 LR, .17 HMR and .22WMR. Retail price will be between $629 and $729 depending on the caliber and style of barrel, etc.  Look for this gun at your local dealer. Ask about it. You will love it.

Springtime brings out the best...

I’m hitting the road tomorrow for a week-long trip to Wyoming… testing guns, bullets and scopes… It is a tough job and I’m glad I have it.

Today, we went crazy… the pear tree is blooming and the all the other garden spots are full… so of course we planted cucumbers around the base of the pear tree…and soon we will have a pickle/pear tree, or something like that.

It was crazy windy today… too windy to try fishing, so we found the kites and put them into the sky. Before I knew it, Adam was racing across the field chasing a kite because his string broke and Ethan was learning what it’s like to fight a northing pike with a hand line. His kite is so big and the wind was so strong I figured he’d soon be dragged across grass.  We had a blast, even if we didn’t get to fish.

Ethan on the end of a really strong kite string.

The weekend is coming and the water might just be warm enough to get some game fish to hit on the surface. That’s my favorite form of fishing. Popping a surface plug provides the ultimate in excitement. It is also a great way to teach kids about bass and pike fishing; working around cover and even casting accuracy. And two of my favorites are old favorites: The Hula Popper and the Jitterbug.

Two classic lures for surface action

These are lures every kid should have in their tackle box and every grown up, too. They are easy to work and really catch fish.

Later this summer I’ll have a column in the newspaper about teaching Adam and Ethan to chase bass with great baits. But for now, we ar all in the research portion of this story.

Stay tuned and make sure you get at least a couple Hula Poppers and Jitterbugs for the little anglers in your life.

Do not fear the dark.

Listen to what lives at night.

Can you hear your heart?

Maybe I’ve been oddly focused on this fear of the dark theme lately. Still it has been a couple weeks since I last mentioned it. Hasn’t it? Anyway. I’m sitting in the middle of a very nice thunderstorm right now. It rolled in just as the sun was going down and seems to have stalled over the top of my house. Omen or portent? Either way their should be some night crawlers on the road tonight, I should go look.

Monday, I head to Wyoming for some long-range shooting. I’ll try to give you a full report, but I may not be able to hook up to wireless (as if I know how anyway) but I’ll do my best to make my reports. If I miss one it will be Wednesday’s and I promise to make it up to you.

Literally. You can see why many areas have special seasons for resident Canada goose populations.  Pretty soon, you won’t be able to walk barefoot through any of the waterside parks in the area. This is where I draw the line… I’m all for the ethical hunting of wild, migrant waterfowl, but these birds are not part of what one would call a naturally occuring population.  There are too many of them in too small of a space and they need to be thinned.

Count'em: Three nesting pairs in the span of 100 yards. That's almost 30 goslings.

I say we create an urban or suburban goose reduction program that requires all golf courses, municipal parks and bodies of water inside the boundaries of a municipality to be open for Canada goose hunting from Sept 1 to Sept. 30… ground-swatting encouraged to make sure stray pellets don’t break any picture windows. We could have the shooting hours set from sunrise to 8 a.m. and require all hunters to be out of the area after 8:30 a.m.  After that, the non-consumptive users of the park can come back in and enjoy their day.

But even such a hunt wouldn’t reduce the number of urban geese… you’ve got to get the young ones. I say we should be able to hunt them while they are still in their “fluffy” stage before they are fully fledged. That way we have no fear they will migrate and return to nest again next year.

Sure this plan has some bugs to be worked out, but it’s a good place to start. Who else has a plan for urban goose hunting… Let’s hear it.