CA Hog Wild
Just returned from a few days of pig hunting in Redding, CA. Who says there's no good big game hunting in the Pac. NW in June? While it's common knowledge the whitetail deer is the most hunted big game animal in North America, did you know the second most hunted animal in the U.S. is the wild pig? California is home to a huge and ever-growing pig population, and nonresidents can hunt them year-round. License and tags can be bought over-the-counter. Because the best pig hunting is found on private land, getting access or hiring the services of a guide are the best choices. On this trip we hunted with good friend and guide Parrey Cremeans (www.justforhunting.com), a man we've hunted with in the past. There's a reason we keep coming back. Zach Waterman, PR Director for Nosler, joined us on this trip. Zach was testing out Nosler's new M48 .325, a gun we'll both be using on upcoming bear hunts. I was shooting Nosler's Custom M48 in a .260 caliber. Both guns were topped with Trijicon scopes, making for the perfect setup in the potentially low-light situation which often comes with pig hunting this time of year. Finding pigs wasn't [...]
Eugene Daily News Article Part 1
Living The Family Business Beckie Jones, EDN November 10, 2011 Braxton, Tiffany, Kazden & Scott Haugen If you would’ve told Tiffany and Scott Haugen back in the first grade that one day they’d be married and jet-setting around the world, they would have probably laughed at you, then went looking for cootie spray. But that’s exactly the path their lives took, with a few minor detours. Yes hunters, fishermen and outdoorsmen, this is THAT Scott and Tiffany Haugen. To catch the rest of us up, Scott has been featured in dozens of shows in more than 30 countries in the past 10 years, tracking almost every type of game imaginable. Scott’s books on hunting and fishing are specialized by region and type of game, domestic to exotic. Scott also hosts a show on the Outdoor Channel called Game Chasers and his family is often featured hunting alongside him or stirring a pot with the latest catch. Often Tiffany completes episodes of The Game Chasers with unique recipes and cooking segments on some of her husband’s catches. Birds, deer, elk, bear and salmon are all covered in Tiffany’s books as she takes the meat from field to table, including cleaning, cutting and cooking. [...]
Idaho Whitetail
After taking a nice elk with Boulder Creek Outfitters, high atop the breathtaking Joseph Plains of central ID, we changed the focus to whitetails. After two days of no luck in this area, we dropped to lower elevations near the town of White Bird. It wasn’t easy leaving the Plains, as there had been a whopper 170”-class buck spotted in the area–we just couldn’t find him. But when we arrived at the White Bird camp, our spirits were lifted. The camp was filled with mule deer and elk hunters, and everyone of them told us of the monster whitetail buck they’d been seeing not far from camp (no one had a whitetail tag). After two days of hunting we finally caught a quick glimpse of the brute, what was dubbed the “box buck.” He was easily 24” wide and his massive 5x5 frame towered above his head. He was pushing 170”. But the next day we had to head to WY for an antelope hunt. After our party took five antelope in a day, we drove 13 hours back to ID with hopes of finding the box buck. Spot and stalk hunting our way through the canyon where we last saw [...]
International Hunters Pursue WY Speedgoats
A whirlwind drive found us back in Wyoming for a day of antelope hunting with Jon Ball, our friend and outfitter we’d just taken a muley and antelope with a week prior. This time I wasn’t pulling trigger, rather hosting some of Trijicon’s top dealers and sales agents from Sweden and the UK. For all five international hunters, it was their first pronghorn hunt, and they were in awe of all the deer and antelope being seen. Each hunter spot-and-stalked their way to good bucks. Seeing hundreds of antelope and having multiple stalking opportunities was something new to them, and they very much appreciated how well these animals have been managed. This allowed them to experience how enjoyable big game hunting can be in the American West. After each hunter filled their tags, it was time to break out a half-dozen AR rifles and do some prairie dog shooting. Running through a range of Trijicon’s Acog scopes, everyone was not only impressed with the optic’s performance, but also had a great time helping local ranchers keep booming varmint numbers in-check. In camp we feasted on fresh venison, and our guests loved it. This hunt was the perfect reminder not to [...]
Idaho’s Bugling Bulls
Just came off the best day of October elk hunting in my life. From daylight to dark we had bull’s bugling. Using cow calls and challenging bugle talk, we brought in eight bulls and had nearly a dozen others talking. The best times were early morning and in the middle of the day, from 1:00-4:30 p.m. The cows and calves were also very vocal, which is typical this time of year. A very wet spring, mild summer and hot fall seemed to combine to delay the elk rut throughout much of the West, and this day (Oct. 18) seemed to prove it. Using a Point Blank triple-reed diaphragm call from their Knockdown series and their Rock Hard bugle tube, I tossed out bugles that lit-up every canyon we poked our heads into. There was one bull that bugled & chuckled at every sound we threw at him, but he never came out of his thick, timbered hiding hole. Finally, with only minutes of shooting light remaining, the bull we nicknamed “Chuckles,” came out of the woods. One look at his heavy, wide rack and I knew he was a bull I wanted. We hustled to cut the distance across the canyon [...]
Wyoming Double
Coming off a great week of hunting in Wyoming...again! This time we were out of Buffalo, WY, going after deer and pronghorn. I was joined on this hunt by Chris Brooks, marketing specialist for Kershaw knives–it was his first antelope hunt. After looking over several good bucks on the first day, we finally spotted one that Chris really liked. A tedious stalk from above the little herd put us in perfect position...from there we had to be patient. Eventually the buck gave Chris the broadside shot he wanted and he made a perfect shot. That afternoon and the next morning it was my turn, focusing on deer. We covered lots of ground and in the closing minutes of the second evening, spotted a good muley slithering through a boulder-strewn draw, below. Just as I got my scope on the buck he turned behind some rocks and disappeared. Hustling to gain elevation, we found the buck as he broke over a ridge top. A quick dash found us on top of the ridge we’d last seen the buck on, and eventually he popped out of the draw. The 98 yard shot on the 4x5 buck was solid, dropping him on the spot. [...]