The Best Hunting Knife for You

Before you head out to hunt your deer or wild turkey or whatever is in season, you need to decide on a hunting knife. Which knife is best for you? That depends on if you want something lightweight such as a folding knife or something sturdy and robust like the fixed-blade knife. Being prepared is what hunting is all about and having the right hunting knife is part of being prepared.

Folding Knives

Folding knives are more compact and easier to carry with you as you go along through the woods. Fixed-blade knives are sturdier and larger which adds to the safety of the overall knife. You must figure in their weight when calculating your packing and hiking materials. Do you want to carry something that heavy?

If you decide on a folding hunting knife, there are two options here. You can have a dedicated folding hunting knife, which means you only use this knife for hunting. It's best for butchering and field dressing. If you butcher your own animal then you need a knife that easily allows you to remove the hide. If you are only concerned with dressing the animal and allowing someone else to butcher it, then you don't need such a big hunting knife.

Fixed Blades

If you've decided on a fixed-blade knife, the same two options apply. Are you going to get a dedicated fixed-blade knife and only use it for butchering and field dressing or are you going to get a multipurpose knife that you can use for other things while you are camping and fishing? Let's say you only do the field dressing and let someone else do the butchering. You would choose a hunting knife that is more of a general purpose hunting knife and can multi task instead of only being used on the animal.

Hunting Knife Uses

If you are going camping and fishing and a multitude of other things you will need to do with your hunting knife, then we recommend an all-purpose hunting knife. This will allow you to field dress you animal, cut the line on a tangled fishing wire, cut the rope of the tent if needed and a host of other things. Whereas if you were just going hunting and field dressing and butchering your animal, you would want to go with a straight hunting knife.

Choosing the Best Hunting Knife for You

Two important things to remember when choosing your hunting knife and that are the handle length and the blade length. When you grip the handle, you should have approximately one-quarter inch on each side of your hand. This space allows for maximum comfort, especially when using the knife for extended periods of time. The length of the blade is usually preferred to be no longer than 4 inches long.

Blade Material

You might want to consider the blade material when choosing your hunting knife. Many blades are made of stainless steel to help prevent rust. Others are made with carbon steel because it makes sharpening the blade easier. Then there is the titanium nitrate coated on the blade to make it harder and sharpening easier. However, this requires a lot more care on your part.

Handle materials are also important when choosing your hunting knife. Traditional wood handles provide grip and is pleasing to the eye, other manufacturers wrap their handles with a tape to give you a better grip. There is now the rubber handle with texture that adds to your grip and the folded hunting knives are usually plastic and have a molded grip that comes with texture for a more durable handle and gripping comfort.

Hunting knives can have straight edges, serrated or hooked edges. It depends on what you are hunting and what your taste in knives is before you can clearly choose which knife you want. There are many places to shop for hunting knifes, on-line, the big sports super store or the department stores. Take your time and make sure you get the hunting knife that you are comfortable with and are going to be able to use. You don't want to get out in the woods and be stuck with a knife you can't use.

Last, but not least, make sure to check the tang before purchasing hunting or any knife. The tang is where the blade of the knife goes all the way into the handles of the knife and goes to the bottom. This gives the knife more stability and helps prevent breaking of the knife when you are using it constantly and heavily for something.

Source: http://www.therealarticles.com/Article/The-Best-Hunting-Knife-for-You/148497

Rifle Shooting Tip: Sighting In Your Rifle

Zeroing your sight on your rifle should be something you do during regular maintenance of your rifle. You'd be surprised how it drifts from zero, especially if you are transporting your rifle or if it gets bumped around. Take the time to zero your sight whenever you go to the practice range or arrive at your hunting site.

If you are on an extended hunting trip, you may want to recheck your sight every few days, as trudging through the wilderness can also affect your sight. If you are on horseback, this is more important, and if your rifle is tossed among your gear in the back of a pickup, it is even more important to recheck your rifle occasionally. If you're out hunting and you miss a shot that you think you should have gotten, that is another clue that you may need to adjust your sight.

What is zeroing your sight? You are aligning the crosshairs in your sight so they point where your gun barrel points. If you notice that you've got your target lined up just right in the crosshairs and your shot still misses its mark, your sight is off. With practice you'll be able to zero out your sight easily.
Choose a practice target about 25 yards away. Fire two or three shots, then examine where they hit. Are they close together? If they are within two or three inches, you are ready to adjust your sight. Adjust your rear sight in the direction you want to shoot. So, if you are shooting high, lower it. If you are shooting to the right of the target, move the rear sight to the left.

If you have a scope, adjust your crosshairs in the direction the scope tells you. For example, if you are shooting high and to the right, turn the screws "down" and "left" the correct amount of clicks. Now aim and shoot another two or three shots. Continue to repeat this process until your sight is aligned properly with your shot. To fine tune your rifle sight, once you may want to try again at 100 yards. Once you get the hang of this, you'll be able to do a really fast check to see if you're zeroed out properly, and you'll be able to align it quickly and easily.

If you just want to make sure before you take your shot, it is worth the cartridge to check it out at some point along the trail. Knowing that your sight is accurate will give you more confidence when your target comes into view.

Like anything else you are learning with your rifle, practice makes perfect. Spending the time to learn the ins and outs of using your rifle will make you a better hunter, and make your hunting trips more enjoyable, since you are more likely to return home with a good catch. Practice on your own and with other hunters. You can also learn tips from seasoned hunters that will help you be more efficient when it comes to adjustments and maintenance required on your rifle.

Source: http://www.therealarticles.com/Article/Rifle-Shooting-Tip--Sighting-In-Your-Rifle/139859

Rifle Shooting Tips: 3 Tricks to Better Marksmanship

You can sum up in a single word what you need to become a successful rifle hunter: practice. From learning to track an animal to making an accurate shot, practice is the key to everything.

If you're new to rifles and hunting, start with the basics. Learn how to clean your weapon and how to keep it in optimal condition. Practice this so your rifle is ready when you are. Learn how to use your rifle. Learn how to load the ammunition, aim, and prepare for the kill. Practice. Take instruction from a marksmanship instructor if possible. You will learn many tips this way to use your rifle, and the regular practice will make it second nature to you. Learn how to deal with the recoil and the noise of the rifle. Work with it enough that you won't flinch when it happens.

Practice your shooting. You want to be confident in your ability to handle the gun, and in your ability to hit what you're aiming at. Shooting ranges are perfect for this. Practice shooting until you are confident in your abilities.

Practice trigger control. You can set up your body and your rifle for the perfect shot, and it will all be for naught if you don't have trigger control. Jerking or anticipating at the last minute will ruin it every time. Practice until you have developed the right technique for your rifle, because every one is a little different. Go to a shooting range or set up a private range of your own if you have an empty field.

Practice your shooting positions. What will happen if the only way you can get that elk is by lying down on the ground and you've never done it before? Most likely, the elk will get to live another day and you'll go home disappointed. Practice, practice, practice. You can practice positioning yourself quickly anywhere... even your living room. Just make sure if you are practicing with your rifle to make sure it is unloaded. Accidents happen, and thinking you'll be safe just this once won't make it so.

Practice your breathing and relaxation when you set up for a shot. If you can't get to a shooting range, visualize every step you take to aim and get ready to shoot, and practice the breathing and relaxation needed for a steady shot.

Practice setting your scope and checking it for accuracy. If you rely on your scope and it has gotten out of whack, you won't hit your target. Practice this skill until you do it automatically.

Practice your kill shot. Don't wing an animal so it is injured but able to lose you in the forest. Know the best spots to aim for, and be able to set up the shot in moments. Your first shot should either be fatal, or close enough that your second shot is all that is needed to finish the job.

Practice shooting until you can call your shots. If it went off to the left, you should be able to tell. If it went too low, you should know that too. By practicing enough year round, you will ensure your success in hunting season.

Source: http://www.therealarticles.com/Article/Rifle-Shooting-Tips--3-Tricks-to-Better-Marksmanship/139662

Becoming An Efficient Wild Duck Caller

There is no such thing as a born wild duck caller because it takes lots of practice in order to become an efficient caller. Fortunately, anybody from any location can become a good wild duck caller with the proper training and patience. Calling wild duck is a very important aspect for wild duck hunting because if properly done, it can greatly improve the overall hunting efficiency of the hunter. Of course, in order to become a good wild duck caller, every hunter needs to follow some basic wild duck hunting tips:

• Purchasing a high quality call - it doesn't matter how well prepared is the hunter or how skillful he is regarding the procedure of calling wild ducks, without using a good call all the efforts are useless and the wild duck hunting experience won't be fruitful at all. As far as wild duck calls is concerned the expression : " you get what you pay for " is entirely true. A high quality wild duck call will allow the hunter to produce the entire range of sounds that a hen mallard produces. These calls will also allow the hunter to make these sounds time after time and also year after year that is why experienced hunter recommend future wild duck hunters not to get cheap when it comes down to purchasing a call.

• Imitating the wild duck sound ( duck call operation ) - the next order of business is about the ability of the hunter to sound just like the wild duck which means that the hunter needs to learn how exactly he can operate a wild duck call so that he will sound just like one. The key elements in this step are practice and patience because without these two parts, nothing noticeable will be accomplished. The very first thing to do is to start with the basics and get the hang of them before moving to more complex operations. Speaking of the basics, the first things to learn are the quack and the feeder chuckle and these two are considered the foundation for the rest of the calls done with the wild duck caller. A very important advice that is brought by experienced hunters and wild duck callers is to practice the entire year, not just before the wild duck hunting season starts.

• Observing the birds and adapting the calling style - the last important step to becoming an efficient wild duck caller is to learn how to read the birds. The hunter will be chasing these animals in many different conditions which means that the hunting style needs to adapt to the hunting environment. After learning all the basics, what the hunter needs to do is to master call cadences and tempos. This will help the hunter to sound more like a wild duck ( instead of sounding like a person that is using a wild duck call ). Due to the fact that not all wild ducks sound exactly the same and they also don't have the same tempo or volume, the goal is to sound like a lot of different wild ducks. This is possible only if the hunter masters cadence, volume variations and the tempo.

All things considered, learning how to be an efficient wild duck caller isn't a very hard thing to do but it requires a lot of practice, patience and a good call. Besides all these, searching for some wild duck hunting tips will surely increase the chances of becoming an efficient wild duck hunter/caller.

Source: http://www.therealarticles.com/Article/Becoming-An-Efficient-Wild-Duck-Caller/140039