Anyone who is even thinking about big game hunting this season must know that being prepared is absolutely essential. Optimize your chances of success with some big game gear suggestions from the Strung Magazine crew. You may have noticed some of these items in photos contained within the pages of the current issue. You see, we actually use the very gear we recommend.  Check out our latest picks to help you on your hunts for the 2020/2021 Winter season.     Canis Pamir Insulation Jacket – $299 (canisathlete.com) We tested this jacket from chasing elk in the Rocky Mountains to c ..read more

No Glory for the Timid Bowhunting Bugling Elk is an Unrivaled Experience by Andy Mill For 68 years now, my life has been defined by experiences that make my heart jump out of my chest. I have had more than 20 surgeries as a result of great ideas gone bad. Maybe I should’ve stayed in the sandbox rather than climbing over the monkey bars. But the truth is that I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Once while hiking down into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in search of trout, I was skirting along a narrow edge when my backpack bumped against the rock wall behind me, kicking me forward and lau ..read more

Gear Roundup from the 2021 Big Game Issue   Henry Big Boy All-Weather Side Gate Rifle – $1,141 (henryusa.com) The theme of this year’s Big Game Gear Guide is versatility, and this rifle from classic American firearms manufacturer Henry certainly fits the bill. We tested it in .44 Mag and found it useful in a wide variety of situations. The all-weather version (chrome plated steel and industrial-grade coated hardwood stock) means you don’t have to baby it in the rain or snow. It sports a 10+1 tube magazine capacity and shorter lever throws thanks to the shorter cases of “revolver” calibers ..read more

by Michael L. Neiduski My breath wasn’t slowing down any time soon. Not after the 230-yard fast-walk/slow-run I’d just woven around the pecan trees that bordered the field edge, and certainly not with ears and eyes and antlers staring back at me as I steadied myself and my rifle against the hard bark of the tree. But I knew my sequence, I knew the rifle, and I knew that the .260 round would hit where I held the crosshairs. The Remington Model 7 that sat tucked into the crook of my shoulder and welded to my cheek that morning came a long way to be on that Texas pecan farm; considering I hated t ..read more

No Such Thing as Easy. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, but was quickly replaced by a sense of grip—that familiar feeling that years of rock climbing had prepared me for, an impression of the consequence and exposure that go hand in hand when traveling in no-fall zones. We were descending from a mountaintop perch into a bowl where my hunting partner Peter and I expected to find a Dall ram waiting in the rocks below. Rather than take the long, reasonable way down, I convinced Peter that the direct route down a steep chute was possible. The chilly August weather was slowly melting a large pa ..read more

The view from hog country, through the lenses of thermal scopes and the dismal science   A good shoot-‘em-up hog hunt is the death of a lot of things, including Adam Smith’s enduring notions of market equity, fair distribution of resources, and restrained behavior. Had Smith, the father of free-market economics, encountered “pasture roaches,” as feral hogs are called by the West Texas swine-eradication squads, he might have modified his famous conclusion that the “invisible hand” of capitalism guides market behavior. Political economy, it must be noted at the get-go, is the farthest thing ..read more

  The Four Deaths of Macho Mababi In rural Sonora, whitetail deer hunting is more than meets the eye by Andrew McKean                                                                                      Strung Magazine Volume 4, Issue 2 Spring 2022   The first time he died, the Mexican buck emerged from the shade of a manzanita bush just long enough for me to confirm five ..read more

I live for the second week of September in Montana. Why Montana? Its mountains are tailor made for bowhunting elk—gorgeous sprawling terrain with numerous open, grassy meadows for glassing, but still enough broken country to put a stalk on a bull. Unlike many other bowhunters, I don’t call elk. In the area I hunt, I’ve found I only call in small, satellite bulls, not the herd bulls I’m after, and calling gives away my position. Instead of calling, I focus on getting the wind right and determining where the elk are headed. I move according to what the elk do. In this style of hunting you have ..read more