February 2008 Newsletter

Newsletter February 2008
Volume 2, Issue 2

In this issue:

• Varmits in February



• Marc Watts Releases Delta Royale



• Craig Boddinton's B.C. Goat Hunt



• Tips and Tactics



• Video Reviews

Tips and Tactics

Black Bears Over Bait
There aren't many spring hunts more exciting than a bear hunt. Black bears can be hunted for a reasonable cost and with a rifle or a bow.

A couple things to remember when hunting over bait. Keep the noise and movement down. Although the bears grow somewhat accustomed to the human odor, they will often hold up out of sight and wait. Any movement or noise will send them back into the timber.

Secondly, don't rush the shot. When you get a bear in close it's easy to take a poor shot. Give the bear time to get in a good position and make it count.

Rabbit Hunting

Now is a great time to get out and shoot a few rabbits. Whether it's cottontails or jackrabbits, both make for an exciting hunt.

My favorite is jackrabbits with a varmit gun. Get out and do some hiking and when you spot a jackrabbit, pull out the binoculars and wait until he stops. They make for some great target practice. If you want to make it even more exciting bring your bow and try some long range shooting.

Video Review

Lethal Flight by World Hunting Group

For you die hard bowhunters out there, Tim Wells has created a hunting video packed full of stick and string. Lethal Flight was made a few years back, but remains one of the best bowhunting videos on the market. If you haven’t seen it, your truly missing an amazing video.



The video begins with an antelope hunt, videoed from a blind. It's up close and you can almost hear the hunter's heart pumping. You then get a glimpse the skills your going to see in the video, when a group of hunters chase pheasants over pointing dogs with bow and arrows. Squirrels are the next critters to fall to the bowhunters quiver with some great shots on the little targets.

Lethal Flight continues with some fishing with arrows on a string, taking carp and numerous gar. The fishing highlight is an enormous gar that takes 45 minutes to drag into the boat. The size of this gar is truly amazing and is surely in the world record class. Tim then shoots coyotes, including a running shot that would have be difficult with a rifle.

The video continues with bears, bullfrogs, too many turkey to count, gators, antelope, elk, deer, grouse, moose and more. If you aren’t fired up and ready to head outside to shoot your bow by the end of the video, you may be better off putting it on E-bay.

Just to give you an idea of the quality of the footage and difficulty of the shots, the credits are played over Tim shooting trap with his bow and numerous pheasants falling from the sky, all with stick and string. The hunting highlight of the video might be a giant of a grizzly taken at less than 20 yards with an arrow right between the eyes. I say “might” because this is just one of many hard to believe shots. Check it out, you’ll be amazed.

Varmits in February

The weather has been great this winter in Arizona, with lots of rain and even some snow, which should mean an amazing year for wildlife. Antelope and elk tags have been submitted here in Arizona, and several other western states will have applications due in early April. Don't forget to apply.

Marc Watts Releases Delta Royale

Back in May of 2006, Marc Watts made the trip to Botswana to complete his quest for the Big 5. Marc hunted with PH's Johan Calitz and Garth Robinson and recently released the hunting video detailing the hunt. Marc did find a great elephant with tusks weighing 60 and 61 pounds, but that was not all. He also took another huge, full mained lion.

Marc relates, Yes another lion---in the Okavango Delta. When I first set out on this safari I told Johan that I would not shoot a Botswana lion unless he was equally comparable to my great Tanzanian lion. And while he couldn't make any guarantees Johan said, "Bwana Moja, I will do the best I can."

The challenging aspect about hunting lions in Botswana is that you cannot bait for them. Lions must be tracked and a male cannot be shot if it's with or near a lioness, out of respect the pair might be breeding. Johan`s trackers were fearless in pursuit of these swamp cats. The guys followed tracks through sand, dense bush, native grasses and across rivers. They showed me plenty lions the first five days, but none of them met that nearly impossible magical standard that I was hoping for.

Then in the afternoon of day six we caught up to a lion that would make any hunter proud. I gave him a thumbs-up and Johan gave me the green light to take him. But wait! We first had to make sure there wasn't a lioness with him. Luckily, Johan and the trackers confirmed that he was all alone. Once we spotted him, we walked behind him for at least twenty minutes. I could see him as he swaggered in between sage bushes. He walked directly away from us mostly, veering right and left ever so slightly, choosing not to run off or try to elude us. It was surprising nonchalant behavior of a totally wild Botswana lion.

By walking faster than the lion, we closed the gap to 70 yards and I climbed on top of an anthill waiting for him to turn and offer me a shoulder. Twenty yards later he turned to his left and stopped behind a sage bush and I let him have it. The first bullet from my Jarrett built .375 H & H flattened the lion from his stance. He growled and roared and we waited for him to expire, before moving in.

And as we got close to him the proclamation from my PH friend Peter Chipman was ringing in my ears. He said to me in November of 2004 when we walked up to my dead Tanzanian lion, "Bwana, you'll go many times to Africa. You'll never shoot a lion like this."

With all due respect to Bwana Chipman, I think I may have proven him wrong. I took fifteen animals in all on this safari, including two cape buffaloes, an eland, a red lechwe, kudu, gemsbok, two wildebeests, and two zebras, to name some of the others. We had a phenomenal bird shoot as well on this safari. It started out with Johan as a simple elephant hunt to finish my big five, but in the end it turned out to be my best safari, in which the lion kill overshadowed the completion of my big five!

Another great hunt, and all captured on over 3 hours of hunting videos excitement. Marc continues to set a new standard for hunting videos and Delta Royale - Botswana's Perfectly Shot Dangerous Game.

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