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A proposed ballot initiative that could have broad implications for Montana’s elk management and tribal relations will be the sole subject of a surprise state oversight committee Wednesday morning.

The legislature’s Environmental Quality Council, an interim super-committee of lawmakers and citizens, is scheduled to consider proposed Ballot Initiative 193 on Dec. 6. at 10 a.m. The meeting, which will be held via Zoom and not in person, caught even some council members by surprise.

“Even those of us on the committee will have zero notice, let alone the public,” says Missoula state representative Marilyn Marler, a member of the EQC.

The proposed initiative has in the past week received green lights from both Montana’s Attorney General and Secretary of State to appear on the 2024 general election ballot. The draft that the EQC will consider tomorrow expressly prevents the state’s wildlife commission from imposing restrictions on a landowner’s ability to hunt big game “except when wildlife populations are in severe decline due to environmental factors such as disease or drought.”

While the initiative drafter says his intent is to be able to hunt his own private land inside northwest Montana’s Flathead Indian Reservation, the vague language of the draft could upend decades of careful—and often controversial—elk and deer management in which landowners in trophy-management districts across central and northeast Montana must draw a special permit in order to hunt their own land.

The narrower question of whether non-tribal members can hunt their own land inside Indian reservation boundaries has been raised previously in Montana, in a request denied by the state’s Fish, Wildlife & Parks Commission in 2017 and more recently as a failed bill in the 2021 Legislature. Non-tribal landowners who live on the Flathead Indian Reservation backed House Bill 241 that would have given them authority to hunt deer, elk, and black bear on their private land. Landowners who are not enrolled members of the Salish and Kootenai Tribes are prohibited by tribal regulations from hunting big game on the Flathead Reservation, even on their own land. The Salish and Kootenai do have an agreement with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks that allows non-tribal members to fish and hunt upland birds with a special Flathead Reservation permit.

House Bill 241 died in committee after a torrent of opposition, mainly from representatives of Montana’s 12 Native American tribes, who argued the bill was an attack on hard-won tribal sovereignty.

Rick Shoening, author of Initiative 193 and the failed 2021 legislation, maintains that the state’s wildlife commission has failed to exercise its authority to allow hunting on deeded land inside Montana’s seven Indian reservations. Shoening cites decades-old state fishing and hunting regulations that show reservation land totaling some 3.3 million acres in Montana was previously open to non-tribal hunting, and notes that many of his neighbors have bought land on the Flathead Indian Reservation, only to find out later that they are prohibited from hunting big-game on their recent purchases.

“This is basically a landowner rights issue,” says Shoening, who worked as a state game warden for nearly 30 years before retiring. He was elected Lake County Justice of the Peace last year. “We’re just reopening lands that were closed before,” he says, citing Montana Fish and Game regulations dating back to the 1950s that include reservations in open hunting areas.

But the petition’s language seems to allow landowners who reside in the state’s special-permit districts for deer and elk to hunt on a general license, which isn’t distributed in a drawing.

“I-193 will allow increased hunting opportunities for landowners,” states the petition’s official purpose and implication. “ If passed, the initiative prohibits hunting regulations that would impose or effect a prohibition on a landowner hunting deer, elk, or black bear on the landowner’s private property during a statewide general hunting season.  Landowners would still need to be licensed and follow all hunting laws and regulations pertaining to means of take and bag limits.”

Many of these special elk units have been the subject of intense scrutiny, as non-resident landowners have purchased ranches in some of the best units, then petitioned the Montana wildlife commission to change the permit hunting rules. Shoening acknowledged that his petition might have the unintended outcome of allowing landowners to hunt trophy elk and deer without a permit, and that it might even allow outfitting on private land in limited-entry units.

“That’s not the intent, but yes, that’s a possibility,” says Shoening.

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A spokesperson for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation wasn’t available for comment, but Thomas Baumeister, vice chair of the Montana Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers called the initiative “another example of extremists trying to commercialize and privatize our wildlife, and its management in Montana.”

If the Environmental Quality Council approves the draft initiative, it would then be eligible to receive signatures to put it on Montana’s 2024 general election ballot.

Fans of 10mm pistols have nothing if not choices in today’s market, and manufacturers have introduced many new models over the past few years. Though many of these are high-capacity polymer pistols, the field of 10mm 1911’s is growing too. Well-known pistols like the Colt Delta Elite are the bedrock of this category, but the rise in popularity has also summoned a crop of budget-priced 1911’s to take up the slack. No 1911 pistol in 10mm is cheap, and the good ones typically cost more than a thousand bucks. Taylor’s & Company impressed us in our 2023 1911 test with their basic GI model in .45 ACP, and I was eager to see how their conservatively priced, full-size 1911 Tactical 10mm would perform. It’s a pistol that includes some of the upgrades typically found on high-end pistols, but would those contribute in a meaningful way?

Tyler Freel

SEE IT

Specs

• Caliber: 10mm Auto
• Magazine Capacity: 8+1
• Magazine Material: Blued steel
• Dimensions: 5.6 inches (H) x 8.75 inches (L) x 1.43 inches (W)
• Weight: 44 ounces (measured with empty magazine)
• Frame: Parkerized steel
• Slide: Parkerized steel
• Barrel: 5-inch, 6-groove, bull profile
• Sights: Novak-style, adjustable rear two-dot, orange fiber-optic front
• Optic ready: No
• Trigger: Single-action, 6 pounds 5 ounces (measured)
• Safety: Grip safety, ambidextrous thumb safety
• Price: $690

Price Calibration: How Much Does a Budget 1911 10mm Cost?

There’s nothing wrong with preferring the 1911 platform for a 10mm, but plan on shelling out as much or more than you’ll spend for a pistol like the Glock G20.

A Thorough Look At the Taylor’s & Company 1911 Tactical 10mm

Taylor’s & Company 1911 pistols are imported from the Philippines, and the first one we got to try was in our 1911 test at Gunsite Academy back in April. It was a basic A1 GI model in .45 ACP, but it impressed our test team with its reliability and price. When I saw their 1911 A1 Tactical model in 10mm auto, I knew I needed to get my hands on it. Priced at $690, it’s one of the most affordable 1911 10mm pistols I’ve seen. With bargain 1911s, a meager price can mean either a great value, or a colossal headache—either way, I aimed to sort it out.

Fit, Finish, and Feature Set

One thing that gave me a good initial impression of the Taylor’s & Company 1911 Tactical 10mm is its simple-but-smart feature set. Too many budget pistols make the mistake of trying to be something they’re not. They are packed with add-ons and parts usually seen on high-end pistols, but these budget-priced imposters often end up being poorly executed. The Taylor’s & Company pistol has a simple look, with some performance-enhancing features like a magwell, skeletonized hammer, heavy-duty guide rod, good sights, and beavertail grip safety. Rather than a fancy coating, the frame, slide, and barrel are given a Parkerized finish, which is affordable, durable, and quintessentially 1911.

Parkerizing is a decades-old finishing process that gives the parts a durable iron-phosphate coating. On this 1911 Tactical 10mm, it’s an even matte finish that fits the price range of the pistol. It’s more appealing than some of the cheap powder coatings you’ll see on other budget-priced 1911 pistols. The fit between slide and frame is excellent, with almost no slop. After testing, the Parkerization shows only slight, use-appropriate wear.

I’d like to see some basic front cocking serrations, but as-is, the slide is smooth to operate, with very little slop. Magazines are easy to load and it’s not hard to seat fully-loaded magazines under a closed slide. The pistol’s extractor shows solid purchase on case rims and cartridges eject robustly when the action is hand-cycled.

Slide and Barrel Assembly

Externally, the slide of the 1911 Tactical 10mm is simple. It’s got basic GI rear cocking serrations and nothing up front. The pistol has a Novak-style white-dot rear sight that’s fixed into a dovetail in the slide via two set screws. It’s adjustable for windage and elevation, and is a low-profile, seemingly durable design. The front sight contains an orange fiber optic.

The full-length slide houses the 5-inch bull-profile barrel. There’s no traditional barrel bushing, rather a full-length, heavy-duty guide rod that appears to be stainless steel. The guide rod assembly features a Parkerized spring plug that retains the round-coil recoil spring. The assembly field strips like some of the older Staccato and STI pistols. The shooter can use a bent paper clip or small Allen wrench to keep the spring compressed by the spring plug, holding the recoil assembly together. The barrel can be removed out the front of the slide.

Frame and Grip

Keeping with its modest price, the Taylor’s & Company 1911 Tactical 10mm has a simple full-size 1911 frame that does not include an accessory rail. It’s got a non-adjustable trigger with a curved shoe that breaks at 6 pounds, 5 ounces on my Lyman trigger pull gauge. The trigger is crisp, but by no means exceptional.

It’s got a nicely-ribbed front strap, checkered backstrap, and a well-fit beavertail grip safety. The simple steel magwell aids with speedy reloading, but requires magazines with extended baseplates. It will work with normal Kimber 10mm 1911 magazines, but they’re trickier to seat into the magwell. The pistol comes with two 8-round magazines that have an extended rubber base pad. The magazine catch button is oriented for right-handed shooters, but the gun has ambidextrous thumb safety levers. Even after testing, the thumb safety levers aren’t showing any signs of wiggling loose or poor fit. They operate smoothly and there’s no slop when they are disengaged and pressure is applied with a secure grip.

The frame is scaled on either side with imitation Wilson Combat Starburst-pattern grips. The pattern is basically reversed, but it does provide excellent traction and the grip scales look good on this pistol. After lots of shooting, the grips loosened a bit, and I had a hell of a time finding an Allen key, standard or metric, that would fit the screws—I couldn’t find one that fit properly. Common screw heads would be helpful in this case.

Shooting the Taylor’s & Company 1911 Tactical 10mm

The brass tacks of any pistol, especially a budget pistol, is the question of its practical performance. Does the damn thing work, or doesn’t it? Spoiler alert: not all do. To test this 1911 Tactical 10mm, I fired a total of 500 rounds through it. I used a variety of bullet styles and power levels, including FBI Lite and full-power 180-grain FMJ factory, 180-grain FMJ handloads, 180- and 200-grain defensive hollow points, as well as 115-, 140-, 180-, 200-, and 220-grain bear defense loads.

I fired one- and two-handed, strong hand and weak hand, at a variety of distances and paces. For accuracy, I fired five-shot groups for accuracy at 15 yards from a supported position, shot at rotating targets for time, and even ran some Bill drills.  During testing, I kept the barrel, slide rails, and disconnector lubricated, but I didn’t clean it during those 500 rounds. I never experienced a single malfunction with this pistol, which surprised me—especially considering how finicky some 1911s can be. I once had a Kimber Camp Guard 10 that was a great pistol, but would regularly give me feed ramp stoppages when it got dirty. Color me impressed.

Accuracy

The Taylor’s & Company 1911 Tactical 10mm showed good accuracy, averaging 1.9-inch 5-shot groups from 9 groups with 3 different types of ammo. In our 2023 Gun test, the Ruger SR 1911 10mm averaged 3.3-inch groups, and the Gen 5 G20 averaged 2.6 inches. The most accurate ammo I tested was Black Hills 115-grain Honey Badger, which fires a monolithic copper bullet at nearly 1,600 feet per second and averaged 1.4-inch groups.

Overall, this is a relatively pleasant 10mm pistol to shoot. At 44 ounces, it’s 50 percent heavier than a Glock G20 when empty, and that mass helps tame the recoil. With a firm grip, the gun feels snappier than a 1911 in .45 ACP, but falls right back on target. Like other 1911 pistols, it just feels good to shoot.

What the Taylor’s & Company 1911 Tactical 10mm Does Well

The 1911 Tactical 10mm is a good value and a genuinely good pistol. It incorporates some well-executed upgrades without breaking the bank and cycled every type of ammo I could throw at it.

Where the Taylor’s & company 1911 Tactical 10mm Could Be Better

For a modern 1911 and a potential self-defense or bear-defense pistol, it would be nice to include an accessory rail on the frame and some front cocking serrations.

Read Next: 10mm vs 45 ACP: Which Auto is Best?

Final Thoughts on the Taylor’s & Company 1911 Tactical 10mm

I think that the Taylor’s & Company 1911 Tactical is one of the most well-executed budget-priced 1911 10mm pistols I’ve seen. It’s simple, but effective, has a modest-but-durable finish, and incorporates smart features to aid performance without gaudy attempts to be something it’s not. It’s not even dressed with excessive logos or nomenclature. This is a simple, affordable, and—so far—utterly reliable 1911.

The bipartisan bill, titled the Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act, is a response to an interpretation of the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that could deprive public schools of federal funds if they hosted state-sanctioned hunter education courses or included programs like National Archery in the Schools into their physical education curricula.

Concerned with the prospect of losing federal funding, which represents a large share of revenue for many public schools, boards and administrators turned away outdoor-skills programs that could be interpreted as violating federal law that withholds funds for schools engaged in “the provision to any person of a dangerous weapon… or training in the use of a dangerous weapon.”

Related: How the “Biden Administration Defunds Hunter Education” Non-Story Became a Massive Story

That interpretation meant that classes that teach the responsible use of guns, knives, and archery equipment could be used to deprive schools of critical federal funds, which wasn’t the intention of the original bill, says Alex Baer, executive director of the International Hunter Education Association.

“It sure seems far-fetched to me to think that an act written around education, health, and safety in its title is designed to remove safety programs,” says Baer. “I frankly doubt that was the intent, but this bill confirms the original intent.”

Montana Senator Jon Tester originated the bill that Biden signed today. The bill, which had bipartisan sponsors and support, requires the federal Department of Education to restore school districts’ ability to use federal resources for school archery, gun safety, and hunter education programs.

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The Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act had wide support from the conservation community, with most national organizations coming to its defense and urging its passage and Biden’s signature.

“Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation supports the Defending Hunters Education Act. As an organization that has invested nearly $2 million in school archery and hunters education programs, we recognize the role these programs play in developing the next generation of safe and effective conservationists,” said the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. “Schools that deliver these programs should not be penalized by the Department of Education because of a misinterpretation of Congressional intent. We support Senator Tester’s legislation to correct this and keep school archery and hunting programs strong.”

In early September, Kentucky bowhunter Jonathon Stuart caught up to a magnificent 6 ½-year-old whitetail buck. It wasn’t the first time Stuart had seen this deer. He had three years of history with it and plenty of trail camera photos, too. He’s hunted the property for about seven years and knows it well.

“Deer hunting is not just a passion but a way of life,” Stuart tells Outdoor Life. “I love keeping track of certain deer and harvesting them when they hit peak maturity.”

Kentucky’s archery season opened on Sept. 2 this year, and Stuart put in the time. On Sept. 8, his fifth straight day of hunting, things finally came together. It was sunny and 85 degrees with a northwest wind. Stuart checked the wind direction and headed in for the afternoon sit. He returned to an observation stand he’d hung a few days prior.

The area is mostly flat ground with ag fields. Stuart was hunting on the edge of a small block of timber with a large soybean field in front. An overgrown fencerow with a cornfield was off to the left.

“I hung a setup on the edge of the beans on opening day to locate him,” he says. “I figured out he was using the tree line between the corn and beans during daylight hours, bedding on different ends using the wind to his advantage.”

The afternoon hunt started slow. While he waited, Stuart thought about the encounter he’d already had with the buck.

As the afternoon sun burned lower on the horizon, deer started moving. They eased into the soybean fields and started feeding. Squirrels barked and blue jays chirped in the distance. A doe walked in behind Stuart while several bucks fed out in front. Then the giant whitetail he’d been searching for appeared out of the overgrown fencerow about 150 yards away.

“I could instantly tell that he was the largest deer I had ever encountered in my life,” Stuart said. “It took nearly three hours for him to close the distance. He fed and bedded multiple times, worrying me if he would make it to me before dark.”

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At one point, with only 30 minutes of shooting light remaining, the deer bedded down in a sprayer track just 70 yards away. But then two smaller bucks approached the buck and pushed him to his feet. The buck walked straight toward Stuart and stopped only eight yards away.

Stuart drew back, anchored, and took the slightly quartering-to shot. It connected and the deer went down. After the hunt, he got some help from his wife, son, and close friends to get the deer out of the field. Back at home, Stuart green scored the buck at 192 inches.

“They couldn’t believe how big he was,” he says. “We had predicted him to be around the 170-inch range. We were way off. This is the biggest deer of my life, so I am honored that I got to put a tag on him. Some people hunt their entire life and never experience a deer of this caliber.”

Dalton Covell felt confident as he walked to his tree stand at 6 a.m. on Oct. 7. He’d hunted the stand before, and it was in the same area where his dad had killed a giant 30 years prior. The weather was hot the previous week when Ohio’s bow season opened. But that morning, with temps dropping into the 40s, Covell thought he just might take the biggest buck of his life.

“I got in my stand an hour before daylight because I didn’t want to … run the buck out that I’d been getting trail camera photos of since early September when he was still in velvet,” Covell tells Outdoor Life.

Legal shooting light was just after 7 a.m. The 24-year-old saw his first deer soon after.

“I was sitting quiet and still in my stand, and three big does stepped into an opening from a big woodlot at first light,” Covell says. “They met up with another big doe, which was great because I figured the buck might be with them.”

Covell watched the does make a wide circle all the way around his tree stand. But they were never alerted to his presence, which meant his scent wasn’t spooking them.

Covell touched the trigger on his scoped crossbow. The bolt, tipped with an expandable broadhead, passed through the buck so fast he never saw it.

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“The buck ran back into the woods, but the does just stayed around my stand,” Covell says. “I don’t think they knew what happened.”

Covell stayed in the tree for an hour, then headed home to eat. He called his dad Max and told him what had happened, and the two returned to the tree stand around 9 a.m.

“We found my arrow, and we didn’t like the looks of it,” Dalton recalls. “There was a watery maroon color on the shaft, not much red blood. We thought it might have been a gut shot. I was sick about that, so we decided to back out and wait before trying to track the buck.”

The Covells went home and watched the first half of the Ohio State football game, then returned to where they’d located the arrow at 2 p.m. They didn’t see much until Dalton found hair from the buck along with a drop of blood nearby.

“The blood trail wasn’t heavy,” said Dalton. “There wasn’t much to track, but we found the buck dead just 30 yards away. He’d been dead for a long time, so the arrow hit was much better than we first believed.”

After using an ATV to get the buck out of the woods, they skinned and caped the buck and took its head to Toby Hughes, a certified Buckmasters scorer. He measured the non-typical rack with three main beams at 189 inches.

“Very unique, very interesting deer,” Hughes says in a video he shared to Facebook. “Kind of a difficult deer to score. I had to back up and scratch my head for about 30 seconds.”

The buck wasn’t weighed, but it was likely well over 200 pounds. It’s a giant by any measure, and the spot where it was killed makes it all the more meaningful.

“My dad took a giant with a similar rack in the same general area 30 years ago,” Covell says. “He kept telling me that spot was a good one, and he sure was right.”

When John Dudley was a kid, still learning how to hunt in Illinois, he had an encounter with a big buck that changed the trajectory of his bowhunting life. Dudley was hunting with a compound bow that was set too heavy—though he was able to draw the bow fine during practice.

When a stud buck casually walked into range, Dudley pulled with all of his might but he couldn’t get the bowstring back.

“He literally walks like 10 feet underneath my treestand … and I freakin’ pulled and tugged on that bow while my knees were clacking together,” Dudley says. “I had that thing pointed straight up in the air trying to pull it back. My heartbeat was hitting so hard I honestly thought I was going to need some stents or something by the time it was done.”

At first Dudley thought there was some sort of malfunction with his bow. As the buck walked off he examined the cams and the string. Then, with the deer (and the nerves) long gone, he simply grabbed the bow and drew it back without issue.

“You know when you have that nightmare that you can’t scream, well this was a living nightmare of John Dudley not being able to pull his bow back because he had buck fever that bad,” he says.

Fast forward a couple decades and Dudley is now an accomplished pro archer, a veteran whitetail hunter, and perhaps the most popular archery instructor in the country. Since that fateful Illinois bowhunt Dudley has learned a lot about shooting well under pressure during hunts and competitions. His hard-earned knowledge (which you can hear all about in the podcast episode below) will help you shoot your best when that big buck steps into your setup this fall.

Visualize a Perfect Shot

When Dudley is sitting in his treestand he visualizes all the good scenarios that he hopes will happen. But this is far more than daydreaming about a giant buck turning broadside. Just like an athlete preparing for all the motions of a game, he visualizes each specific movement he’ll make under each possible scenario.

“I visualize myself getting a couple good ranges on him [as the buck comes in],” Dudley says. “I visualize making sure I grab my release the right way. I’m pivoting my feet the right way. And [the buck] is doing his thing as I’m able to slowly draw. And then I think about my shot process.”

With all the waiting we do in a treestand, there’s plenty of time to visualize and plan for a variety of shot scenarios.

“Sometimes I’m in a stand for two weeks before I have an opportunity and I’m constructing these things in my mind,” Dudley says. “You literally end up creating a vision. And when that happens, your conscious mind is already thinking about all the processes [you need to execute].”

In other words, when that giant buck finally does show, you won’t feel shocked, because you’ve already visualized it hundreds or thousands of times.

Follow Your Shot Process

It’s almost a guarantee that every professional shooter in any shooting discipline has a shot process. As Dudley describes it, this is simply a series of words he says in his mind that coincide with actions he executes in order to make a perfect shot. Dudley’s shot process is this: 1) Stance; 2) Grip; 3) Shoulder; 4) Anchor; 5) Peep; 6) Pull and Finish.

Dudley learned the importance of having a process from Olympic medalist Lanny Bassham who wrote the book “With Winning in Mind” (which Dudley recommends for any shooter). The key is that saying the words and executing the movements is the work of the conscious mind. Activating the conscious mind helps prevent a shooter from “going on autopilot,” rushing the shot, punching the trigger, or simply blacking out.

You can and should adapt a shot process for your own needs. For example, OL gear editor and competitive archer Scott Einsmann’s process is: 1) Anchor; 2) Get it there (his cue to just get the aiming portion done with); 3) Feel alignment; 4) Okay, my shot can break anytime.

If you have a bad habit of getting excited and drawing back wildly, you might want to add a word like “smooth” to your shot process. If you have a tendency to get anxious about your pin floating around the target then you might want to add the word “float” to your process—reassuring yourself that it’s ok to let that pin float. The key is to have a shot process that works for you and to follow it on every single shot. Especially that shot on a giant buck.

Choose a Mantra

Reciting a mantra is similarly useful. Just like running through a shot process, a mantra gives control to your conscious mind. You must choose to say your mantra.

For competitions, Dudley’s mantra is: “I shoot Xs because they make me feel good.”

When an animal comes in during a hunting scenario Dudley says the word “checkmate” to himself.

“When the animal presents that shot … I’m thinking ‘checkmate’, you know, game over,” he says. “Because that’s a positive affirmation that really reinforces your conscious thought process rather than sitting there thinking ‘Oh man this is the biggest buck I’ve ever seen.’”

Get Used to Shooting Under Pressure

But these tactics don’t eliminate the excitement and subsequent pressure you’ll likely feel when you see a shooter buck. The real key is training yourself to get comfortable while shooting under pressure.

“Think of buck fever like a hot bathtub,” Dudley says. “It might be scalding hot when you first put your toe into it. But if you just breathe and ease into it, eventually you’re going to acclimate and that water is going to feel OK.”

This is why Dudley recommends shooting in archery tournaments so you can “put yourself in a situation where you feel like you’ve been in the boiling pot before.”

If you have a high deer population where you hunt, or you just need to fill the freezer, shooting a few does with your bow is also a great way to get used to shooting under pressure. Your potential case of buck fever will likely be less extreme if you’ve cleanly killed a few does earlier in the season.

On the flipside don’t crank up the pressure on yourself during a hunt. In the treestand you want to feel positive, confident, and mellow.

“Don’t apply self-induced pressure,” Dudley says. “That’s the only pressure you really have control over. Most of the time buck fever or target anticipation is from pressure that you’re applying to yourself. It’s not like the animal is shooting [pressure] up at you. The best thing you can do is just positive self affirmation.”

Practice How You Hunt

In the days leading up to a big deer hunt Dudley makes sure to get in some practice sessions from a seated position and from an elevated position. This is because most whitetail shots will be from a ground blind or a treestand.

It’s important to know that shooting downhill or shooting from a seated position will induce more pin movement while you’re holding on target. But that’s OK if you’re used to it.

“It’s about mentally getting over that [pin movement],” Dudley says.

But there’s also value in practicing at long range even if you won’t be shooting at long range during a hunt. This is because flaws in your shooting will be more apparent at longer distances, and recognizing those flaws will help you correct them.

“I actually practice more at 80 than any distance I shoot at,” Dudley says.

Dudley believes in Chuck Adam’s theory that your effective range as a bowhunter is half the distance of your effective range in the backyard. In other words, if you’re able to shoot 8-inch groups at 80 yards in the backyard, you’ll be able to shoot 8-inch groups at 40 yards under a hunting scenario.

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Plus, practicing at long range will boost your confidence when you move in for those realistic 20- and 30-yard shots. And really, at this point in the season, all practice is about building confidence for that moment of truth.

“Always practice at distances where you have confidence,” Dudley says. “Especially when you’re trying to instill confidence.”

Yesterday, Missouri bowhunting personality Chris Propst took to Facebook to share some details behind the monster whitetail he killed on Oct. 9. The world-class buck sported a 7×7 main frame rack with six extra stickers. It was a deer that Propst had already passed on five times as he and his dad watched it reach its peak.

Propst filmed the hunt with help from his friend and videographer Joe Orf. His dad, Jeff, was also there to help recover the buck.

“So proud of our son Chris,” Jeff wrote in a separate Facebook post. “This buck has been on our minds since the summer of 2022 … we both passed him last year because we knew the potential he had. Truly a buck of a lifetime!”

Propst explained that their history with the buck started in 2021, when Orf took his son Brantley hunting on the Missouri farm where Propst had access.

“All I asked was, ‘If you see a good up and comer, please pass it,’” Propst wrote on Facebook. “Little did I know that little [7]-year-old boy would have to pass about every buck in the country that morning. I honestly felt terrible. One of those bucks was a clean 10 point with forked [G1s].”

By the following year, that clean 10-point had grown into a 12 and put on around 50 to 60 inches of antler. He and his dad figured the buck was already pushing 170, but they decided to let him grow. They ended up passing on the buck five times that season.

“This year there was no doubt who our target buck was going to be,” Propst wrote. “Almost every day I got his picture on one of the cameras … and after his patterns had seemed to change, I had a hunch that he had moved to a different part of the farm. I went in and pulled a card, and sure enough, I was right.”

The weather was also in Propst’s favor when he started hunting the new area earlier this month. A cold front and a good wind lined up with his time off from work.

“On the fourth sit, I had just told Joe, ‘One day bud, one day we’re gonna look up, and he’s going to be walking right at us.’ Little did I know that in about 10 minutes, that was going to happen.”

It’s unclear what exactly happened next. Neither Propst nor the others involved have responded to requests for comment, but Orf’s photos give an idea of how thrilled they were to walk up on the buck. For those who want to see more, a short video of the hunt is now available on the Drury Outdoors Deer Cast app.

“I can’t tell you how amazing it was to not only kill a buck of a lifetime but have your brother [Joe Orf] right there beside you when it all went down,” Propst wrote in conclusion. “Pretty special day walking up on a buck of a lifetime with your father and your best friend.”

A national survey of fishing, hunting, and outdoor-related recreation seems to confirm what you’ve probably noticed: there are more people than ever in your favorite hunting and fishing spots.

The survey, published (roughly) every five years by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Survey, is a national snapshot of participation in outdoor recreation, as well as an accounting of the money we spend on fishing tackle, hunting gear, and all the other outdoor-related expenditures we try to hide from our spouse.

You can read the survey, which was conducted in 2022 (instead of 2021, due to the pandemic) and includes the input from over 105,000 respondents, as discouraging evidence of increased competition many established hunters and anglers have been reporting since the Covid-19 pandemic. But you can also read the results as good news, because they seem to suggest that our recruitment and retention efforts are resulting in more participation, which should lead to more advocates for hunting, fishing, and traditional wildlife management in ballot initiatives and elections.

The upshot of the 2022 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation is that we probably have more hunters and anglers now than at any time in the past 30 years. This year’s survey pegged the total number of American hunters at 14.4 million, the highest it’s been since at least 1991. Angling participation is estimated at 39.9 million Americans, which is also the highest participation rate since at least 1991.

But the eye-opening statistic reported in the survey, which was published in the National Register yesterday, is a doubling in the number of wildlife watchers to 148.3 million people, or nearly half the American population. It should be noted that because of significant changes to survey methodology, it’s hard to make comparisons from this survey to those previous iterations. This year, for instance, surveyors added recreational shooters as well as youth between the ages of 5 and 16 to the results, which inflated many categories. In fact, USFWS goes to pains to note that “as a result of major changes to the questions and methodology, the results from the 2022 Survey should not be directly compared to results from any previous Surveys.”

Possibly owing to the changes in methodology, some of the data reported in the 2022 survey deviate widely from previous reports.

Consider the economic impact of hunting, fishing, and wildlife-related recreation. The record amount of money anglers and hunters spent on gear, nearly $400 billion in 2022 alone, is more than twice the previous estimation of $157 billion in 2016. To put that in comparison, receipts from U.S. corn and soybean production totaled $151 billion in 2022. Sales of firearms, ammunition, archery equipment, and fishing equipment have an amplified economic value, since taxes from those products are routed into accounts that are used for habitat and access improvements, shooting-range development, and fisheries and wildlife management.

“Wildlife recreationists’ avidity is reflected in the $394.8 billion they spent in 2022 on their activities,” the survey reports. “Of the total amount spent, $91.0 billion was trip-related, $179.0 billion was spent on equipment, and $124.9 billion was spent on other items such as licenses and land leasing and ownership.”

Further breaking down the receipts, anglers spent $99.4 billion on fishing, and hunters spent $45.2 billion on hunting. Wildlife watchers spent $250.2 billion on their wildlife-watching activities around the home and on trips away from home.

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Americans spent $144.8 billion on fishing and hunting in 2022. Of that, $48.9 billion—34 percent—was for trip-related expenditures, including food, lodging, and transportation, while equipment expenditures amounted to $60.3 billion, 42 percent of the total. Other expenditures—magazines, membership dues, contributions, land leasing and ownership, and licenses, stamps, tags, and permits—accounted for $35.4 billion, or 24 percent of all expenditures.

Wildlife watching, which is defined as “closely observing, feeding, or photographing wildlife,” was enjoyed by 148.3 million people 16 years old and older in 2022. Of this group, 73.3 million people took trips away from home for the purpose of enjoying wildlife, while 146.5 million stayed within a mile of home to participate in wildlife-watching activities.

In 2022, wildlife watchers spent $250.2 billion. Trip-related expenses, including food, lodging, and transportation, totaled $42.1 billion, 17 percent of all expenditures. A total of $118.6 billion was spent on equipment, 47 percent of all wildlife-watching expenses. The remaining $89.5 billion—36 percent of the total—was spent on magazines, membership dues and contributions made to conservation or wildlife-related organizations, land leasing and owning, and plantings.

Hunting Participation in 2022

If the 2022 numbers are correct, then we have a record number of hunters in the field. The estimated 14.4 million hunters is a 25 percent increase over the 11.5 million reported in 2016, and nearly every segment of hunting saw an increase. The survey asks respondents to report their participation in four different categories of hunting: big game (which includes deer, turkey, bear, and elk), small game (squirrels, rabbits, and upland birds), migratory birds (geese, ducks, and doves), and other animals, which includes a menagerie of other legal species.

Specifically, 11.5 million Americans participated in big-game hunting in 2022, up from 9.2 million in 2016 and nearly on par with the 11.6 million big-game hunters in 2011. At 5.3 million, small-game hunting participation was close to the 11.6 million reported in 2011.

The 2.8 million migratory bird hunters in 2022 is the highest participation since 2001, when 3 million Americans hunted geese, ducks, and doves. And the catch-all category of “Other Animals” reported 2.3 million participants, the highest rate reported in the past 30 years.

Hunters reported spending an average of $837 on annual expenditures, and when in the field, spending $51 per day on average while hunting.

The five-year survey asks respondents to quantify the amount of time they spend in pursuit of their favorite quarry, and it seems the observed trend of hunters and anglers spending more time in the field is substantiated by the survey. In all, hunters and anglers collectively devoted one billion days to the fields and waters of America in 2022. That’s way up from the previous record of 836 million days in 2011. Americans spent 785 million days fishing and 241 million days hunting in 2022. Both are the highest intensity rates reported over the past 30 years, but again: It’s important to note that comparisons between previous surveys should be considered with skepticism.

Changes in Survey Methodology

So, why is the 2022 survey so aberrant? It’s largely because the latest iteration includes new categories of participants, including motorized boaters who don’t fish and recreational shooters who don’t hunt. It also includes younger participants in some categories, a demographic that wasn’t factored in previous reports.

“The Survey screen provides information about individuals ages 6–15 years old in 2021: 1.8 million hunted and 9.5 million fished. The number of 6-15-year-old wildlife watchers cannot be estimated due to a change in survey screening questions.”

If you remove those 1.8 million young hunters, then the 14.4 million hunters reported in the 2022 survey becomes 12.6 million, more in line with previous surveys. That’s still an overall increase in hunting participation since 2016.

The latest survey also quantified motorized boaters who don’t identify themselves as anglers. And surveyors added recreational shooters to the wildlife-watcher category, inflating that participation rate compared to previous surveys.

“The 2022 Survey is the first to include numbers of motorized boaters,” notes the surveyors in the report’s summary. “The number of target shooters who used a firearm and recreational archers were also estimated. The screening questionnaire asked of a household respondent for a year’s worth of activity, which means there is an unknown amount of overestimation in responses due to recall bias. With that caveat, an estimated total of 46.2 million people 6 years old and older went target shooting with firearms in 2021. Ten percent of them, 4.8 million, were children 6–15 years old, and the remaining 41.3 million were 16 years old and older. That means 16 percent of adult Americans went target shooting, either at a range or more informally in the field. As for archery, 18.8 million Americans 6 years old and older engaged in archery in 2021. Twenty-two percent of them, 4.2 million, were 6–15 years old. Seventy-eight percent, 14.7 million, were adults 16 years old and older, and their participation rate was 6 percent.”

It’s right to read the 2022 survey as a stand-alone snapshot of participation, and to resist the impulse to make comparisons to previous surveys. But there’s plenty of value to the latest report as a portrait of a community of hunters, anglers, and wildlife enthusiasts. The 2022 survey, for instance, includes granular data on the demographics of hunters, anglers, and wildlife watchers, including gender, age, race, regional distribution, and household income. You can read the full survey here.

After two decades of hunting the same alligator from the same bayou near Anahuac, Texas, a group of four hunters finally hooked into the behemoth reptile on Sept. 28, just two days before the end of Texas’ 20-day alligator season.

Robert Hennis, Joel Hennis, Rev. John Bernandini Jr., and Tommy Strawn worked together to take the 680-pound alligator, which measured 13 feet ½ inch long, on Turtle Bayou behind Robert’s house. Robert and Joel, Robert’s son, see alligators on the property all the time. They have watched this particularly big male for a long time, but the gator always managed to elude them.

“We have been trying to get this gator for 20 years,” Joel tells Bluebonnet News. “Every year, a week before the season, we will see him, and then we won’t see him again until after the season is over. This time he bit the wrong hook.”

At first they tried chicken baited on the big hook (a legal method for hunting alligators in Texas), without effect. So they switched to mullet they had caught from the same bayou. This, at last, grabbed the gator’s attention, and he bit.

The thrashing gator broke two pieces of 800-pound paracord, and it took four more lines of paracord to get the gator to the surface of the swamp. After dispatching the gator, the group brought the gator to Porter’s Processing in Anahuac. Most of the meat will be donated to Bernandini’s church. Robert and Joel also kept a few pounds of meat from the gator’s jowls, which Joel considers the best cuts for cooking alligator. The father-son duo will get a full-body mount done to commemorate what will likely be the biggest gator either of them ever harvests.

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Anahuac, the county seat of Chambers County, is considered the Alligator Capital of Texas. Chambers County is immediately east of Houston and sits on the shore of Trinity Bay and the eastern shore of Galveston Bay. The combined alligator population of Chambers County and neighboring Orange and Jefferson counties is close to 300,000 alligators.

Autumn Pierwsza knew a giant of a buck was living on a farm just north of Pittsburg. When the buck stepped into an open alfalfa field with does and smaller bucks the evening of Oct. 9, the high-school junior was ready.

“We had trail camera photos of the buck for a couple years, and my daughter Autumn saw him last year while hunting,” says Erik Pierwsza, 45, who works on the farm where the buck was taken. “She was climbing up to a treestand when the buck showed up in 2022. She froze on the ladder looking at the deer, but he slipped away.”

The Pierwszas didn’t see the buck again in 2022; they thought another hunter might have killed him.

“Three weeks ago I was walking the farm and spotted the big buck and a couple smaller bucks,” Erik tells Outdoor Life, because Autumn was in school and unavailable. “We checked camera photos that night, and knew it was him.”

The 12-pointer with split browtines was hard to mistake. The Pierwszas patterned the buck using trail camera photos and Erik started checking the weather. The wind on Oct. 9 looked ideal. When Autumn got home from school that day, Erik decided, they’d go to the farm.

Within 30 minutes, several does and young bucks were feeding in the field about 100 yards from Autumn. Finally, the big 12 stepped into the field.

Autumn is an experienced hunter, having taken eight other bucks over the years with a crossbow. So she was more than prepared that evening when she settled the crosshairs behind the deer’s shoulder, steadying herself behind a tripod.

Her arrow struck the buck; he turned and ran back into the woods. Autumn phoned her dad immediately and explained what happened. She was sure she’d made a good shot.

Erik and Allysa, 12, soon rejoined Autumn, and the three went home as darkness settled. They waited about two hours before going back to the field to recover the buck.

They returned to locate Autumn’s arrow in the alfalfa. There was minimal blood, and Erik wasn’t so sure the buck had been hit as well as Autumn thought.

“I was ready to back out and give the deer more time,” Erik says. “But Autumn was adamant that she’d made a good shot and heard the deer crash.”

Pressed on by Autumn, the trio reached the woods and found Autumn’s buck lying just inside the timber. The deer only run about 100 yards before falling. Friends later encouraged Erik to score Autumn’s buck and contacted Will Leonard, an official scorer with Buckmaster’s. (Buckmaster’s has a different scoring system than the one used by Boone and Crockett; in part, it doesn’t make deductions.)

Leonard scored the buck, a main-frame 10-point with symmetrical tines and double split browtines, at 184 7/8 inches.

It will rank as Pennsylvania’s No. 1 buck by a woman with a crossbow, according to Leonard, and number three for crossbow in the state. Autumn’s buck will be mounted, and Erik is delighted that she and her two sisters are dedicated hunters.

“They’ve all shot deer, and they are competitive about doing well,” he says of their friendly sibling rivalry. “Autumn’s twin sister, Samantha, is an accomplished deer hunter, too, and Allysa shot her first deer last year with a crossbow when she was just age 11 … I’m so proud of them all.”