The two trade shows I attend each year – ATA (Archery Trade Association) and SHOT (Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade) are like being turned loose in a pair of giant candy stores. If you love hunting and shooting, here is no better place to roam. And each year you come across some pretty good ideas that can help deer hunters be more successful. In the first in a series of reports, here are a couple of new products from Nikon you should check out closely.

First, Nikon’s new ProStaff 4-12x40mm riflescope gives hunters and shooters proven Nikon optics, ruggedness and precision at a bargain basement price. This model joins four other ProStaff models -- 4x32, 2-7x32, 3-9X50 and 3-9x40 – giving whitetailers something for every environment in which they hunt. All are fully waterproof, fogproof, and shockproof, feature 1/4 MOA click adjustments and multicoated lenses.

The new 4-12x40 weighs just 14.3 ounces. Parallax is set for 100 yards and features a field of view of 23.6 feet at 100 yards set on 3X and 7.3 feet on 9X and provides an amazing 90 percent light transmission. But of great interest to all is the price. In matte finish it retails for just $189.95 with the Nikoplex reticle or $199.95 with BDC reticle, and it is protected by Nikon’s exclusive Lifetime Full Warranty.

A Nikon for under 200 bucks? Now that’s a great deal

Bowhunters, you all carry a laser rangefinder, right? The Archer’s Choice MAX features Nikon’s all-new Active Brightness Control Viewfinder, a revolutionary technology allowing fast reads against virtually any background during the toughest lighting conditions. This unique technology automatically selects either a grey LCD display for lighter conditions and backgrounds or a unique, bright orange LED display for darker conditions. Man, could I have used this puppy this year when I was hunting on a dark, cloudy, blizzardy week in Kansas!

Nikon’s advanced ID Technology compensates for various incline or decline shooting angles -- up to +/- 89-degrees of angle. You simply aim, push the button and plan your shot according to the displayed distance. There’s more to it, of course, but of special interest are Nikon’s legendary multicoated optics, waterproof/fogproof ruggedness and pocket-sized portability.  A silent technology neoprene case in Realtree APG camo for the ultimate in stealth bowhunting is also included. The suggested retail price is $329.95.

Nikon has always made great stuff. You can get more information about these two winners, as well as the company’s full line of laser rangefinders, binoculars, riflescopes and spotting scopes at your local dealer, or by visiting Nikon Hunting.

This dandy 10-pointer let Jeff Louderback walk within 20 steps of where we had seen him lie down yet never jumped up. Three hours later, when we came back by, there he was, in the same spot. This time he didn’t get away.

You often hear whitetail hunters talk about how sneaky mature bucks are. Usually that’s tough to prove, because the truly sneaky old bucks are never seen, so how do you know they actually slipped away from you when you knew you had them dead to rights? And so, when you don’t see it happen for a while, you begin to forget just how good they are, and thus, how good you have to be to have any chance at all at tying your tag around their antler bases.

Hunting in southwestern Kansas this past season with my friend, outfitter Jeff Louderback, I saw something that drove the point home. In spades.

It was near the end of the gun season, and all the clients, including myself, had tagged out, and Jeff was hunting for himself. We drove along the cottonwood-filled river bottom that runs through his property, heading for a look-out point where we could glass. It was a cold (zero degrees) mid-afternoon, the bucks were still rutting and moving, and as we drove along Jeff spotted a pair of does 300 yards off in the sagebrush. Right away my binos found a very nice set of 10-point antlers in the brush, the buck already bedded up. Pretty soon he stood, we looked him over, and knew he was a good one. As Jeff stepped from the truck the buck disappeared. Thinking he may have laid down and hid, Jeff walked over to where we’d last seen him, but the deer never jumped up, despite his hollering and kicking brush. “Must have slipped out on us,” he said as we moved on.

We hunted until near dark with no luck. On the drive back I joked, “Bet we see that buck stand up right where we were earlier,” never thinking anything of it. But guess what? As we came around the corner there he was, and this time Jeff got on him. When we walked over to pick him up we found that he had fallen – and had been bedded – not 20 steps from where Jeff’s boot prints from three hours earlier were. The buck had been there all along and let him walk right up to his bed without moving a muscle.

Lesson learned. Mature bucks are smart, and they are sneaky. Unless I have actually seen one blow out of a spot, I assume he’s still there. You should, too.

Bowhunting Coues whitetails in January in Arizona is a great challenge. With great weather, tons of public land, and over-the-counter nonresident hunting licenses and deer tags available, why not give it a try?

Freezing to death in the northern states? Had enough of the winter doldrums? Need to get out and do some hunting and want a new challenge? Here’s a great option, one I have been doing myself off and on for decades. Come bow hunt deer in Arizona.?

Arizona is known for some of the biggest mule deer found anywhere, and is also home to a strong population of Coues whitetails. During the entire month of January, almost the entire state is open to archery hunting. The best thing about it is, you can buy a nonresident hunting license and deer tag over the counter. This is an amazing thing in a state where each and every deer tag for both species is issued by draw for all fall hunts, with the tags extremely hard to draw even for residents. Licenses and tags are available from state game department regional offices and all license dealers, which includes sporting goods stores, gun shops, and big box stores like Walmart, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Cabela’s, and others. There is a ton of public land to hunt, access is relatively easy, and the weather is great, with near-freezing mornings and daytime temperatures that get up into the 60’s and 70’s in many areas.?

While you can hunt the entire state, the best hunting generally occurs in the state’s southern tier, roughly from a bit north of Tucson south to the Mexican border, stretching east to the New Mexico state line. The various mountain ranges hold good numbers of Coues deer, while lower elevation areas down to the desert floor are where the mule deer live. Some archers locate water tanks and set up blinds, but most hunting is a spot & stalk affair. It’s highly challenging but very rewarding once you put it together.?

As a bonus, there are quail season open in most areas, too, and they run into early February.?

You can get more information from the Arizona Game & Fish Department website.

The first thing I do is pad my entire rangefinder with stick-on moleskin, then wrap the whole thing yet again with the same tape hockey players use to wrap their sticks. This both helps to protect the unit and helps muffle any inadvertent clunks or clanks should you accidentally bump it with or on something.

If you’re a serious whitetail hunter you already own a laser rangefinder. Right? If you do not, you need to put one on the top of your Xmas wish list. Doesn’t matter if you hunt with bows, rifles, or muzzleloaders, a laser rangefinder will make you a better deer hunter above and beyond telling you how far away the target is. Here are some quick tips on how to get the most out of your unit.

·        The first thing I do is pad my entire rangefinder with stick-on moleskin, then wrap the whole thing yet again with the same tape hockey players use to wrap their sticks. Hockey tape is sort of like duct tape, yet it remains flexible when temperatures go below freezing. This both helps to protect the unit and helps muffle any inadvertent clunks or clanks should you accidentally bump it with or on something.

·        When bowhunting I’ve taken to wearing my rangefinder on a long cord looped over my neck and under my right armpit. It hangs about belt level, which means I can tuck it into a coat pocket. This makes it easy for me to quickly grab without looking at it, shoot the target, then just let it drop out of the way while I then hook up my release and turn an arrow loose. It’s quick, easy, foolproof, and silent.

·        I always have a spare battery in my daypack. Always!

·        Here’s a good one. One time I was changing my battery in a tree stand when, Oops! I dropped the battery compartment cover to the ground. It was gone forever. To keep my unit functioning, I placed a small wad of aluminum foil on top of the battery and held it in place with duct tape. Voila! Back in the game.

·        If you’ve ever spot & stalk hunted whitetails with a rifle out West, sometimes you spot a deer a long ways off and wonder, How far do I have to go to get a good shot? First take a reading off the buck. Say that’s 600 yards. Then take a reading off a rock, or bush, or the lip of a gully between you and the deer. Say that’s 400 yards. You now know if you can make it to that gully you’ll have a 200 yard shot.

Laser rangefinder? Never leave home without one!

Hunters are no longer allowed to check antlers as baggage or carry them on when flying United Airlines anywhere they fly. Why would we still use them?

As if flying for hunting is not a big enough nightmare -- what with all those extra fees for checking baggage, the missed connections and delayed flights, lost or delayed baggage, crappy service, and more -- here’s the icing on the cake. United Airlines recently announced it will no longer accept antlers as checked or carry-on baggage. Flying with antlers remains possible with virtually every other major airline operating in the United States.

Given the fact that UAL and its partner airline, Air Canada, are major carriers in and out of several major Canadian cities, this leaves sportsmen traveling to hunt whitetails and other popular antlered Canadian game like caribou and moose in a big pickle. Currently Safari Club International is working with FedEx to help United and FedEx create some sort of partnership that will provide door-to-door delivery service of acceptably-packaged antlers for those flying with United in the lower 48 states, but that certainly doesn’t help those hunting in Canada and Alaska.

I vividly remember my first hunt to Alaska in 1986. Living in Los Angeles, I flew Delta to Anchorage. When I returned to LAX out popped sets of moose and caribou antlers right onto the baggage carousel along with my duffel and gun case. Later Delta would not check antlers this way, instead forcing you to use their air cargo service. It costs an arm and a leg but at least the antlers are arrived at your destination airport at some point.

On December 16 I sent UAL Customer Service the following e-mail: “Recently saw UAL will no longer accept antlers as checked or carry-on baggage. Can you please explain why? I am an outdoor writer and UAL frequent flyer and my readers will want to know why they should continue flying United and its partners when on hunting trips both here and in Canada. Thank you, Bob Robb.”

This was their response: “Dear Mr. Robb: Thank you for writing. As of October 14, 2009 United Airlines stopped accepting antlers as checked or carry-on luggage onboard any of our aircrafts. The reasons for this are; antlers were damaging luggage inside the cargo hold, they were injuring United employees while being loaded, and they were being damaged because of improper packaging, we also came to this decision because of improper cleaning of the antlers and this becomes a health risk. We understand this may inconvenience to some of our passengers, but hope that our decision is understood. Regards, Patrice S. Alexander, United Airlines Customer Relations.”

OK, UAL has made a business decision. They have said no to hunters and their special needs while continuing to pile on travelers with all the extra charges for stuff we used to get with the purchase of a ticket. My answer to that is simple – I’ll fly someone else. How about you?

You can let UAL know what you think by e-mailing them at CustomerSolutions@united.com.