New Benelli MRl Is Varmint-Hunting Ready

ALTERNATIVES
Living the alternative lifestyle can open up
new predator-hunting ground near you.
THE DAWN BROKE still and crisp, with little wind and the
promise of a warm late summer day. My friend Jim Velasquez
and I had pulled into the parking lot of the golf course
pro shop just as it was getting light enough to see.
We opened up the trunk of the car and retrieved our gear. No, not
sets of golf clubs. Ihis morning we graWx-d our comjxxmd Ixwvs and
quivers full of arrows tipped not with a broadhead, but instead a judo
point. For those of you who are not Ixnvhuntcrs, judos have a flat
metal tip and four thin wire fingers extending outward, each equidistant
from the other. They're absolutely deadly on small game.
This was almost 20 years ago, and at the time Jim was working for
Browning Archery, based near Salt lake City, Utah. He'd obtained
permission from the golf course superintendent to access the course
for an hour right after dawn, before any golfers arrived, and help
the course control the "|x>t guts," as we called the fat-bellied ground
squirrels that were devastating the course with their borrowing.
To make a long story short, that morning Jimmy and I shot a lot of
arrows and killed a lot of pot guts — just like we did on several other
occasions. I've done similar things in other parts of the country, too.
Most serious predator hunters are also serious riflemen. 11 ere I am
not talking about guys who drive ranch roads during the normal
course of business with an old gun chambered in some .22lts of how airguns work,
|Q4 •!•:::•-•" K'NttOT
which calibers are Ix-st for what, and
how to get the most out of them, as
well as the latest technological innovations,
he flat knows his stuff.
His lxx)k, "The Practical
Guide to Airgun Hunting" (Jaeger
l>ress, 2009), is one I recommend
all mir readers check out.
Crossbow hunting is currently one
of the hottest topics in the North
American big game hunting industry.
More and more states have opened up
their deer and other big game hunting
seasons to crossbow hunters, many
of them now allowing them to be
used during archery-only seasons. The
modern hunting crossbow is an incredible
tool, sending a broadhead-tipped
hunting weight arrow (or bolt, as it is
sometimes called) off at well over 300
feet per second. Are they accurate? Let's
just say that when topped with a lowpower
scope designed for crossbow use,
it is quite common to place dang near
every shot into a softball-sized circle at
60 yards or more. In the not-so-distant
future Predator Xtrerne will Ix- bringing
you an article or two on crossbows, and
bow the urban predator and varmint
hunter can get the most out of them.
Then there is modem archery tackle,
which includes compound bows as
well as recurves and longbows. I am a
big bowhunter and have done quite
a bit of bowhunting for small stuff
like ground squirrels, prairie dogs, and
the like, though I have killed a slug
of black tears, three brown/grizzly
bears, and more wild hogs than I can
remember as well as coyotes, the odd
red fox and, yes, even a wolf with a
compound bow. We won't Ix? covering
bowhunting much in these pages,
but recognize that, just as is the case
with airguns and crossbows, the use of
a more traditional bow and arrow can
open up some new hunting grounds.
Which brings me back to rifles. I'm
never giving mine up. But I am also
always on the lookout for urban and
semi-urban areas where I can get some
varmint and predator hunting in close
to town if I use an alternative weapon.
Why don't you join me?
BANG senses your shot, automatically switches call sound!
Savvy hunters know that if they switch call sounds immediately after a shot, additional coyotes can still he called
into range. Until now, that meant reaching down and manually making the change. With the FOXPRO' Firestorm's
revolutionary FOXBANG Technology, the sound of the gunshot makes the change for you!
1. Coyotes come to a call
("rabbit distress," for example)
from your FOXPRO Firestorm...
K T >5-/
2. You shoot, the coyote drops,
FOXBANG senses the "bang" and
automatically switches to preset #1
("pup distress" or ki-yi, for example)
3. Following coyotes hear the
immediate call change, see no
hunter movement (because there
isn't any) and come into range!
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14 Fox Hollow Drive. Lewistown, PA 17044
(717)248-2507 • Fax (717) 247-3594