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On this week's episode, Cal covers some duck hunters who killed over 200 birds in one morning, why we now think ancient humans used knives before we previously thought, and why scientists just can’t stop giving drugs to fish.

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Steven Rinella talks with Mike Bodenchuk.

Topics discussed: Predator-prey dynamics; predator impact and wildlife management from a strategic removal perspective; predator snails; predation rates impacted by nearly a dozen factors; how coyote management is ineffective if not time-targeted after breeding pairs mate; controlling wolves by controlling pack size; how recreational hunting is absolutely insufficient at managing the wild hog population, but hunters shooting young sows can still be helpful; linear habitats; and more. 

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Wild hogs and deer don’t exactly mix. At least, that’s what any number of deer hunters or landowners in pig country will tell you. If you have experience hunting around wild hogs, then you probably have surmised as much. While anecdotal evidence might seem to support certain theories in the hunting world, it’s great to see science and data confirm what many hunters experience.

Dr. Melanie Boudreau, assistant research professor at Mississippi State University, recently conducted a collared experiment with both wild pigs and deer to better understand interactions between these two animals. While the study hasn’t been published yet, you can listen to her talk about her findings here. I spoke with her about their GPS findings and what these interactions might mean for CWD. Here’s what she had to say.

Dr. Boudreau and her team were able to collar 10 wild pigs and 10 deer on the same large property just north of Starkville, Mississippi. The GPS collars were set to a one-hour fix rate, and they also had proximity sensors, which would give a reading anytime the deer or pigs were within 50 meters of one another.

“We collected data from March to October,” Dr. Boudreau said. “However, by October all our pigs were dead. Landowners in Mississippi like to handle their pig problems.”

In addition to the GPS collars, Dr. Boudreau and her team also deployed several cameras over bait piles (corn feeders).

The timeframe of the study allowed Dr. Boudreau and the team to look at how deer social groups reacted outside of the breeding season. For instance, doe groups usually congregate this time of year or rear fawns, bucks bachelor up, and these groups don’t really mingle.

“Deer were doing deer things,” she said. “They were segregating into different social groups, and it was really the pigs moving across the landscape that connected these deer.”

Here’s what Dr. Boudreau means by “connecting” these deer groups. Wild pigs' preferred habitat sometimes overlaps with deer habitat (like hardwood bottomland). Whenever pigs would move through areas with deer, they push them into other areas already inhabited by other deer groups that they might not otherwise meet.

Remember those proximity sensors? They were key to Dr. Boudreau’s findings, especially when it came to deer and pig interactions.

“Deer and pigs don’t like being next to each other,” she said. “We never had a proximity signal between deer and pigs. Ever. That’s not surprising, but it’s cool to see it in the data and that it supports what landowners and others are saying.”

Even with the camera traps over bait piles, Dr. Boudreau said out of 13,000 pictures they never had a deer and a pig in the same frame.

“We have lots of beautiful sequences of deer running out of frame and then pigs showing up shortly after but never together at the same bait pile. So that helps show that deer really don’t want to be in the same space as those pigs.”

While I’m sure there are exceptions to Dr. Boudreau’s observations, the lack of pictures suggests just what many suspect–deer and pigs don’t mix. Unfortunately, feeders create and promote these interactions between deer and wild hogs.

Baiting whitetails is legal in Mississippi. While the feeders were useful for the purposes of Dr. Boudreau's research, they create interaction points between deer and hogs, like the deer fleeing from the photos. According to Dr. Boudreau, those interactions affect deer movement to the detriment of hunters.

“If a pig shows up then deer are less likely to return to that bait pile within a certain time frame,” she said. On average, there’s a two-day lag time before they’re back, but that varies by sex. For does, it could be 11 days. For bucks, it could be up to 25 days before that buck comes back.”

If you’re a landowner or lease a hunting property and you’re wondering if pig populations are affecting deer movement in your area, the short answer is yes. Depending on the size of your property, that buck might just move to the next available cover or vacate the entire area temporarily. If a buck happens to leave for 25 days, that’s an entire season in some places.

“Just looking at how deer move in relation to wild pigs' space use, they’re avoiding that space. From the lag return to bait, and deer avoiding primary pig use areas, all these items suggest that wild pigs are altering deer behavior.”

Unfortunately, pigs might be affecting more than just deer behavior. Dr. Boudreau and her team also wanted to understand what implications these deer and pig interactions might pose for CWD concerns. Dr. Boudreau mentioned a concern with deer congregating with other social groups they might not otherwise interact with on a regular basis, but there’s also new research that suggests wild pigs might indirectly contribute to the spread of CWD.

In fact, a study from Arkansas revealed that wild pigs can carry CWD prions even though they’re not affected by them like cervids. This study pointed out that because of pigs’ “routine rooting and wallowing behaviors” this could allow for transmission of CWD prions within the soil. Places like feeders are no exception. This dilemma raises more concerns about the risk of using corn feeders to attract deer, which inadvertently attract wild pigs.

“Clearly, feeders are attracting animals that could be moving CWD around, so hunters have to decide if the feeders are worth that risk,” Dr. Boudreau said. “We did an aerial survey just to count how many feeders might be across the state of Mississippi…we found one feeder per square kilometer, and that’s just the ones we could see from a plane. So, that’s 1 feeder for every 14 deer. That’s a lot of corn on the landscape.”

Brent’s taking a break from turkey tales this week to highlight a listener’s story. There’s a good lesson within the narrative that spoke to Brent and he’s hoping for you to feel the same. A simple story with a simple lesson that can impact generations. 

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A good turkey choke can turn any old shotgun into a certified gobbler getter. It might require some trial and error to figure out which turkey loads a choke patterns best, but that's part of the fun. Of course, it isn't feasible (definitely not affordable) to test every ammo and choke combination out there.

For the purposes of this review, I tested some of the best turkey chokes with some of the best and readily available turkey ammo. Aside from extensive range testing, I've also killed turkeys with several of these chokes. There are other turkey chokes that didn't make the review for logistic reasons, but that doesn't mean they aren't also great options. Here's what you can expect from some of the best turkey chokes available.

Jump to: The Products We Tested and Reviewed

Like the best turkey hunting shotguns, this review doesn't necessarily crown an overall champ. Instead, it should show you what you can expect from some of the best turkey chokes and how they pattern in different guns with different loads.

A gun's ability to pattern depends on multiple variables. Barrel length, ammo choice, choke tube, and choke constriction all determine how well or poorly a gun might pattern. Changing any of those variables in that formula can alter the outcome.

I tested these chokes by patterning various shotguns with them at 40 yards and taking the average pellet count within a 10-inch circle at that distance. Here's what I found.

I've been running this choke in my original turkey gun for a long time. It's consistently produced great patterns at 40 yards for almost twenty years with just about any ammo I've fed it. It produced the best pattern in the test with 407 pellet strikes in a 10-inch circle at 40 yards with Apex GT-3 TSS (3-in. no. 9). It also averaged over 200 pellet strikes with both Winchester Long Beard XR (3-in. no. 6) and Federal Heavyweight TSS (3-in no. 9).

My choke has the .660 constriction, but Primos offers a variety of constrictions for the 12-gauge option, depending on which one works best with your gun/ammo combo.

Best of all, the Primos Tight Wad is widely available at a budget-friendly price ($35). The affordability and excellent numbers make this one of the best turkey chokes available.

Finding the right choke and ammo combo could require a lot of time and money. Luckily, Carlson's Choke Tubes has already done that. If you prefer Winchester's Long Beard XR ammo, you should consider using this choke tube.

The Remington 870 and Mossberg 940 Pro both averaged over 200 pellets within a 10-inch circle at 40 yards with the Carlson's Long Beard XR choke tube and Long Beard XR ammo (3-in. no. 6). Even the 20 gauges in the test all averaged over 100 pellets in the 10-inch circle at 40 yards.

Carlson's offers the Long Beard XR choke tube in a host of constrictions and for just about any shotgun that's threaded for aftermarket chokes. While they're not as expensive as custom chokes, expect to pay $65-$70 for one.

The Rob Roberts Raptor turkey choke produced the most devastating patterns for a 20 gauge in the test. At 40 yards the Raptor placed 363 pellet strikes in a 10-inch circle with the Beretta A300 Ultima Turkey. For comparison, the next closest 20-gauge pattern was 283.

Rather than having multiple constriction options for every gun, Rob Roberts Custom Gun Works uses the most optimal constriction for each gun, so you know you're getting the best pattern possible. Like Carlson's, it eliminates that part of the guesswork for you. For instance, the Raptor for the Beretta A300 Ultima Turkey comes with a .562 constriction. This is important, because some shotguns might not pattern as well with larger/smaller constrictions.

While the Raptor produced the best patterns, it's also the most expensive choke tube in the test at $130. That's a lot for a choke tube, but if you're shooting a sub-gauge with TSS and plan to hunt open country where you might take 50-yard shots, the Raptor makes that feasible.

Like their Long Beard XR choke, Carlson's designed this one for a specific ammo (hence the name). It performed consistently across the board, which makes it an excellent option if you prefer Federal's Heavyweight TSS.

In the Remington 870 20 gauge and Benelli Super Black Eagle 3 20 gauge it averaged 283 and 234 pellet strikes (respectively) in a 10-inch circle at 40 yards. Excellent numbers for a 20 gauge and more than enough to kill a turkey at that distance.

At around $60, Carlson's Federal Heavyweight TSS choke represents a reasonably priced aftermarket choke for turkey hunters. At half the price of the Rob Roberts Raptor, it averaged more pellet strikes with Federal Heavyweight TSS, specifically.

I've heard a lot of good things about the Black Diamond Strike from buddies and other hunters, so I knew I wanted to include one in the test. It produced over 200 pellet strikes at 40 yards in a 10-inch circle with both Apex GT-20 (3-in. no. 9) and Federal Heavyweight TSS (3-in. no. 9) in a Remington 870 20 gauge. With the Apex GT-20 it averaged 259 pellet strikes at that same distance.

Those numbers are excellent for a 20 gauge at 40 yards. While I didn't have to stretch it that far in the field, I shot a gobbler at 20 yards with this setup and it was devastating. Yes, at that yardage the pattern is tight. I had maybe two pellets in the breast meat, and I didn't have to worry about rushing to my turkey while I waited for his buddy to calm down and walk off.

At $100, the Black Diamond Strike isn't cheap, but it's an excellent choke, and Indian Creek offers it in a variety of constrictions for .410, 28 gauge, 20 gauge, and 12 gauge.

Trulock chokes represent a reasonable value for their price and performance. For this test, I reviewed the Pinhoti line of turkey chokes for a Benelli Super Black Eagle 3 in 20 gauge. Its best pattern combo averaged 253 pellet strikes with Apex GT-20 (3-in. no. 9) at 40 yards in a 10-inch circle.

While it still produced good numbers with Federal Heavyweight TSS (155 pellet strikes) at that same distance, it's possible that it might have produced more consistent, and better, numbers across the board with the .560 constriction (I tested the .585).

At nearly half the price of the Indian Creek Black Diamond and Rob Roberts Raptor, the Trulock Pinhoti choke is a good value for an aftermarket turkey choke.

On Thursday, May 14, two conservation groups announced a lawsuit with significant interest to hunters and anglers in the Treasure State. Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) and Public Land & Water Access Association (PLWA) are suing Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) to “cement the legality of corner crossing in Montana, and ensure access for all Americans to approximately 871,000 acres of public lands in Montana.”

The move comes just over a year after the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that corner crossing—walking from the corner of one parcel to the corner of another without setting foot on private property—on federal land does not violate federal law. The ruling results from an attempt to prosecute a group of Wyoming hunters who corner-crossed to reach hunting grounds. It was a major win for outdoorsmen in the West, where some 8.3 million acres of public land is “corner locked," according to an OnX report. However, because of the limits of legal jurisdiction, the ruling only legalized corner crossing in six states: Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming.

Shortly following the ruling, public land access advocates pushed nearby Montana to follow suit. However, the state’s officials resisted, and Lieutenant Governor Kristen Juras has repeatedly said that corner crossing is not lawful. Just this past week, she gave a presentation arguing that “the law is clear that it’s a trespass,” according to state statutes.

While there has been a lot of movement on the issue in recent years, the saga over the legality of corner crossing is not new. “For decades, FWP wardens have been explicitly instructed not to issue citations for individuals who access public lands in this manner,” explains BHA in a press release provided to MeatEater. “Despite this long-standing precedent, FWP recently issued unilateral administrative guidance declaring corner crossing unlawful, and in a major reversal from previous guidance, has instructed its wardens to issue citations for criminal trespass or hunting without landowner permission to anyone who accesses public land this way. BHA and PLWA contend that is an overreach of administrative authority, and the lawsuit challenges it directly.”

“It doesn’t matter what side of the barbed wire, or political aisle you stand on, we are all public landowners with a vested interest in our public lands," said Ryan Callaghan, BHA President and CEO. “Corner crossing while respecting private property is a practical ‘middle ground’ that the vast majority of Montanans support. Shutting the public out of 871,000 acres of public lands is not.”

The lawsuit was filed in Lewis and Clark County District Court and seeks to “secure a durable resolution” on the issue. “There is a commonsense path that respects private property while ensuring public lands aren’t effectively blocked,” said PLWA Executive Director Alex Leone. “We’ve worked in good faith to find that solution and remain ready to do so.”

MeatEater has long supported efforts to ensure the legality of corner crossing, formerly raising over $66,000 for the Wyoming BHA Corner Crossing Defense Fund. “As a sitting member of the North American Board of Directors for Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, I’ve gotten to see firsthand the due diligence and extreme effort put in by the BHA staff to solve for the corner-crossing challenge across the West and here in Montana,” said MeatEater Director of Conservation Mark Keynon. “This new effort represents just the latest example of BHA being willing to go out on a limb and do the hard work necessary to ensure a better future for public lands and access to them for hunters and anglers. I’m eager to see the fruits of the labor.”

Note: The feature image does not depict a corner crossing. In order to legally corner cross, hunters need to find a physical monument at the corner and only cross at that point.

Tommy Ballard refused to let his daughter’s disappearance fade away. After Crystal Rogers vanished in 2015, Ballard became the face of the search. He organized volunteers, worked with investigators, and publicly called out the man he believed was responsible. A year later, while hunting with his grandson, Ballard was shot and killed. The attack was precise. Intentional. And, to many, not a coincidence. As investigators worked to unravel both cases, one question loomed over everything: was Tommy Ballard murdered because he got too close to the truth?

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Jake Ehlinger has spent over 50 years hunting whitetails in Michigan and nearly 45 years managing the same farm. In this episode, he and Jake Hofer dive deep into the lessons he’s learned through decades of trial and error, habitat work, hunting pressure, food plot design, and deer behavior.

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This week on In Pursuit, Rich Froning and the crew head to Texas chasing free range axis deer with Perennial Outfitters. What starts with a perfect shot turns into a long track, pouring rain, and a reminder that hunting rarely goes according to plan.

The guys talk through the highs, lows, missed opportunities, good laughs, and what keeps them coming back anyway. They get into spot and stalk hunting in Texas, learning from guides, preparing for the mountains, and why time in the field matters.

There is plenty of chaos, cactus, bad luck, redemption, and the kind of stories that only happen when you are hunting with your buddies.

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