Scouting

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide, feast and famine, take your pick which analogy you like the best to describe the conditions across the west. It may take more than April showers to bring May flowers in parts of the west. According to a Natural Resources Conservation Service report there are …

Each year about this time, we always get the question, “How do we come up with our color grade ratings for trophy units?” Basically, what makes a “Blue Chip” unit? This is one of those things where the question is much simpler than the answer. First off, I want to …

Anytime the winter range in western Wyoming gets the 30/30 as I call it (thirty inches of snow and -30°F temperatures) bad things usually happen. For those who don’t live in the area, it might be news to you that we’ve already had one 30/30 event this year. Last week, …

I think anyone who hunted in Eastern Montana this fall can agree that deer numbers were down significantly again this year. Some locals have told me that where there were once 600 deer they were lucky to see 60 this season. The trend has been in a substantial downward spiral over …

EHD is spread among deer, primarily whitetails and often antelope, as well as mule deer and occasionally elk. The disease is contracted by biting midges also known as sand gnats or “no-see-ums.” EHD is one of several hemorrhagic disease/viruses found in wild and domestic ruminants. A related disease, bluetongue virus, …

No. 2 P&Y Wyoming Bison? Harvesting bison in the state of Wyoming with archery gear was legalized within the last three years, so there’s lots of room to get your name in the books. Thus far, there are only four entries from Teton County, Wyoming with the largest taken by …

The name Zeiss is synonymous with worldwide quality optics. Zeiss continues to lead the outdoors optics industry with their proven line of HT optics that boast 95% light transmission – a first in outdoors optics. With this kind of quality, it isn’t a surprise to see the premium investment that …

With the fall hunting season well underway, here at Eastmans’ we were looking at some of the trophy shots from this year’s hunts thus far.  One of the common themes we’ve noticed from recent hunts is the consistency in performance of the Savage Lightweight Hunter rifle. It seems like lightweight …

I think more than any other big game animal an antelope’s horn growth is more weather-dependent than all others. When the West encounters a bad winter or a tough drought the antelope horn growth reflects this more than any other species. No other animal on the Western landscape grows a …

Each year, we receive hundreds of story submissions from our nearly 100,000 readers. Of those, we publish about 150 as features. Here’s how to improve your chances of having a feature story published. Evaluation Eastmans’ assigns ratings for 1) Photo Quality – respectful hi-resolution, field photos of your trophy and the hunt, …