Deer of the Year
Baton Rouge huntress arrows 15-pointer — possible No. 3 female bowkill
Sara Furman killed a trophy 15-point buck that could be the 3rd largest bow kill by a woman in Louisiana Pope & Young records. […]
Articles by Gordon Hutchinson
Features
Tuning up for turkeys
We have a love/hate relationship with our turkey shotguns — if they knock over a big gobbler on an improbable shot, we love them and take the credit. But if the gobbler runs off after what should have been an easy kill, it’s always the gun’s fault. […]
Deer Hunting
The deer woods
Hunting
The running shot
The small herd of does burst out of the woods and cut across the soybean field, the howling of the hounds behind them in the swamp.
General
Making things go boom
In all its infinite wisdom, the U.S. Army determined after basic training at Ft. Polk, La., that I needed to be bussed to Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo. — a multi-use base about 50 miles from St. Louis — where I would receive advanced individual training (AIT) in my Army skill.
General
Lethal Lace
Buying a good quality handgun to carry for self-defense is only part of the equation. You simply have to buy and practice with a suitable holster that will comfortably and securely carry your handgun so you can get at it easily and quickly.
Hunting
Chemical foams — gun cleaning magic
I don’t remember where I picked up the can of Wipe-Out Brushless Bore Cleaner — but it had been sitting on my workbench shelf for quite a while.
Hunting
The Daisy BB gun
I have no idea what happened to it, but the first honest-to-gosh gun I ever handled was a Daisy BB gun given to me by my dad on my sixth birthday.
General
The ProChrono Digital chronograph
I’ve written about the “wildcatting” era in the early 1950s when the U.S. economy was booming in the years coming out of World War II and then the Korean War.
Hunting
Tales from the camp
Fervent Rainwater shifted his cud as I walked up to the camp porch, and spit a long stream of Skoal between the paws of Ol’ Blue, the redbone hound lying at his feet.
General
NRA’s Whittington Center
The NRA Whittington Center is a 33,000 acre Mecca for shooters that was opened to the public in 1973 and just celebrated its 40th anniversary. Over that time, it has grown to be one of the premier shooting facilities in the world.
General
Ruger’s SR22 — Small, accurate, fun
I’m going to let you in on the next big thing in handguns. You get the opportunity to get in on this before the rush, like what happened with the Ruger LCP and the Smith & Wesson Shield.
The Shootist
Turkey patterns and cleaning tips
In turkey hunting, preparation is everything.
So thinking about you guys (and gals) who get all heated up over feathers in the spring, I thought I would write about patterning — and cleaning your guns.
I have a 12 gauge, 2 ¾-inch-chambered barrel I had cut off years ago to about 25 inches and had the gunsmith install screw-in choke tubes.
General
Manchac swamp stranding shows importance of survival gear
If you’ve ever traveled Interstate 55 south to New Orleans, you have passed over that exotic, and almost mystical area between two of Louisiana’s major lakes — Lake Maurepas, and Lake Pontchartrain.
The mixed cypress and hardwood swamps bordered by brackish and freshwater marshes are connected by Pass Manchac, the winding waterway that connects Lake Maurepas with its much larger brother, Lake Ponchartrain.
Little has changed this area since Iberville passed through in 1699, en route to the French fleet anchored at the Chandeleur Islands. He and his brother Bienville split their forces at Bayou Manchac, just south of the site of present-day Baton Rouge. They were returning from their exploration of the Mississippi River as far north as the Red River’s junction with the “Father of Waters.”
Hunting
A real matchstriker, finally
One of the greatest shots I ever made was with a bolt-action .22 Magnum.
General
Ruger’s 1911
It has been noted that what you get today for a reasonable price in a 1911 pistol would have cost you a lot extra just a few years ago.