Petersen's Hunting March 2020

TECHNOLOGY has made us better hunters. Wait. Let me rephrase that. Technology has made hunters into better, more efficient killers. It’s hard to argue that modern rangefinders, better bullets, quality optics, and all that goes into a hunter’s kit today haven’t helped us take game more cleanly at longer distances. We also do it more comfortably, thanks to space-age insulations and next-generation fabrics. And, for the most part, I’m pretty happy to be wearing PrimaLoft and Gore-Tex when the weather really gets bad. But in all the fast-pace, whiz-bang, instant gratification that comes with modern-day life, there are a few things that seem to be missing. A respect for the game. An emphasis on skills. Woodsmanship. The rewards of living a life outdoors, something that’s so anachronistic to much of the…

BEHIND THE CURTAIN In his article “Magic or Misunderstood” (Dec.–Jan.), Craig Boddington states: “Ultimately, the Creedmoor is at its best with a bullet of around 140 grains.” So I’m assuming he feels likewise for the other “short” 6.5s with comparable velocities. Before the 6.5 Creedmoor was even thought of, I had a gunsmith put together for me a .260 Rem. sporter using all the “good stuff.” Shortly thereafter, I wrote Jim Carmichel and asked what his preferred big-game bullet might be for his brainchild. Now, at the time, no one would have even considered this an elk cartridge. His answer: either the 140-or 125-grain Nosler Partition. I chose the 125-grain bullet and have never looked back. Driven at nearly 3,000 fps and superbly accurate, it is pure poison on whitetails both…

In 1887 Theodore Roosevelt and some like-minded friends got together and formed the Boone and Crockett Club, electing young “T.R.” as the first president of America’s first conservation organization. At that time, American wildlife was in shambles. By today’s standards, most big-game species across the United States would have been considered threatened or endangered, with extinction predicted for bison, pronghorn, elk, and more. It was a long road back, requiring generations before real progress was seen. Against great odds, many of the most endangered North American species were saved—and today big-game animals are flourishing, some in unprecedented abundance. The primary reason North America’s wildlife recovered and thrived is our unique North American Model of conservation, which places wildlife as a “public trust resource,” jointly owned and enjoyed by all, with management primarily…

BULLET BASICS Engineered specifically for the .475 Turnbull, which is arguably the best big-bore lever-action cartridge anywhere, the .475-diameter, 400-grain Barnes TSX features a massive hollow nose, a grooved shank, and a flat base. It’s probably the single most versatile bullet available for the .475 Turnbull, offering outstanding accuracy, dramatic expansion, and excellent penetration. TESTING GROUND I watched Doug Turnbull—the world’s foremost Winchester and Colt firearms restoration expert—fire the bullet pictured into a Cape buffalo while we were hunting with my friend Jacques Strauss of Kowas Hunting Safaris in Namibia. FIELD PERFORMANCE Impacting the dagga boy broadside from 27 yards, the TSX drove through heavy shoulder muscle and ribs, centered the top of the heart and bottom of both lungs, and came to rest against the offside hide on the far shoulder. The bull lunged…

Former Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz is still smarting from the public smackdown he received after introducing House Resolution 621 back in 2017. Innocuously titled “Disposal of Excess Federal Lands Act of 2017,” it would have made good on a 1997 plan to sell certain federal lands (3.3 million acres’ worth) that agencies deemed low-value and use the money to buy other, higher-value lands, elsewhere. But critics smelled a conspiracy. It didn’t help that Chaffetz was from Utah, the Western state most keen to divest its federal land holdings and either give them to the state or sell them to private entities. Nor did it help that Chaffetz himself indicated that his bill was the leading edge of a wider effort to achieve a plank in the Republican Party’s platform to get…

KEN ELLIOT, the first editor and longtime publisher of Petersen’s HUNTING, lost his battle with cancer on November 8, 2019. More than anyone else, Ken played a historic, leading role in the 47-year history of Petersen’s HUNTINGmagazine. Until 1973 virtually every outdoor periodical covered multiple pursuits, primarily fishing and hunting. Robert E. “Pete” Petersen built a publishing empire based on his hobbies, first automobiles and then firearms. He was also an avid hunter, and he wanted a magazine devoted strictly and entirely to hunting. Pete Petersen deserves full credit for the concept of Petersen’s HUNTING, but it was Ken Elliott who created this magazine and breathed life into it, starting with the inaugural issue in November 1973. Pete believed in the “star system” for his magazines: Not just good writers, but the…