The Thanksgiving hunt, a red-letter event for so many hunters who look forward to the field before a day of food and family bonding, is a touchy subject at my house. I don’t hunt on Thanksgiving, nor on the day or two before. My wife, raised in ...
Hunting & Fishing
7 Backcountry Hacks That Will Help You Survive Deep Off the Grid
I’ve been fortunate in my career to be surrounded by an eclectic group of professionals, from Green Berets and Army Rangers to some of the best backcountry hunters alive today. All these friends and peers have taught me a thing or two about living ...
Pennsylvania State Record Walleye was Almost a Filet-O-Fish
The new Pennsylvania state record for walleye almost went to hell in a bucket, literally. Richard "The Breeze" Nelson came home from a day of fishing with the giant fish in a 5-gallon bucket and was just getting ready to cut some big, fat fillets ...
Buck Turns to Prayer, Busts Into Church on Michigan Deer Season Opener
Millions of parishioners gather in fellowship on Sunday mornings, turning to prayer for their salvation. Fortunately, the Grace Sturgis non-denominational church was mostly empty the morning of the Michigan deer season opener. It seems that one ...
Grand Canyon Bison Hunt Update: Epic Fail, 5 Animals Killed
Update: On Sept. 20, 2021, a highly managed bison hunt began on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, the first-ever allowed in the national park. Twelve hunters from around the country were selected to participate in the hunt by the Arizona Game and ...
Prime Alaska Caribou Hunting Units Could be Closed
A tabled proposal to close two public Alaska hunting units for caribou and moose hunting to anyone not considered a subsistence hunter is once again moving forward. The Federal Subsistence Board deferred action on the closure of the Federal public ...
Infrastructure Bill Includes Big Wins for Hunters and Anglers
President Joe Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684) on Nov. 15, 2021, finally pushing the hotly contested bipartisan infrastructure bill over the finish line. But it’s not all about roads, bridges, and train lines. ...
COVID Deer Update: Wisconsin Tells Hunters to Mask Up
In true, mountain-out-of-a-mole-hill government fashion, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services recently released updated COVID-19 guidance, urging hunters to wear a mask when field dressing any whitetail they’ve killed. Wisconsin deer hunting ...
Virginia Elk Are Back! Whitetail Hunter Tags 700-Pound Home-State Bull
Richard Bryson always takes two weeks’ vacation during Virginia’s early muzzleloader season, which gives him so extra time to work on filling his deer tags every year. He never expected to use one of those tags to check a bull elk, but that’s exactly ...
Chronic Wasting Disease Outbreak: Wyoming Collects 1,000s of Samples
A year after approving a new chronic wasting disease (CWD) management plan, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) is on track to collect the most lymph node samples ever in a single year. Since identifying its first cases of CWD in captive ...
Where Are The Deer Hunters? Michigan Hunting Licenses Down by 250K
A quarter-million hunters is a lot for one state to lose, but that’s exactly the deer-hunting license deficit Michigan is currently facing, based on the latest statistics. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reported deer hunting ...
Makah Tribe Could Resume 2,700-Year-Old Whale Hunting Tradition
Whale hunting is a tradition sacred to the Makah Tribe, an indigenous people who live on the Pacific Northwest Coast. But due to dwindling whale populations and a lengthy legal battle, the Makah have only had one whale hunt in nearly a ...
DIY Alaska Caribou Hunt Checklist: How to Hunt the Dalton Highway
In May 2020, my friend Steve Opat of Alaskan Odysseys hit me with the news over the phone: “Change of plans. Alaska caribou hunt. We’re hunting the Haul Road.” We’d planned on going after moose that fall, but the ‘rona shut down access to the ...
Watch: Hunter-Gatherers and the Meaning of Life
Few experiences in this world are more authentic or pure as hunting for sustenance — heading to the field with the knowledge that if you’re not successful, you don’t eat. For the Hadza, a tribe of roughly 1,500 true hunter-gatherers living in a ...
Rogue Red Stag Looking for Love in Georgia
State wildlife officials identified a massive elk-like animal caught on remote game cameras in four Georgia counties as a European red deer, aka a red stag. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources began receiving game camera images of the ...
Coast Guard Rescue: Alaska Hunters Stranded for 8 Days Safely Extracted
Seven hunters were safely returned home after a Coast Guard rescue helicopter extracted them from a fishing camp near Emmonak, Alaska, on Thursday, Nov. 5. The group, all from Pilot Station, were socked in by bad weather on their way home ...
New Animal Tracking Software: Hunting, Conservation Game Changer?
An animal tracking software program that can predict the movements of large game animals without the use of expensive, individual-animal-based tracking hardware like GPS collars has been developed by researchers with the German Centre for Integrative ...
5 Keys to Pulling Off an All-Day Sit During the Whitetail Rut
Hunting the whitetail rut is a fucking grind. It's the time of year all hunters look forward to, full of lows with a few highs sprinkled in. During the rut, anything can happen at literally any time. You can go from having a season full of ...
Father Shot, Killed While Elk Hunting With Son: Importance of Gun Safety
Every year we hear about the injuries or tragic deaths of hunters across the country due to unsafe actions in the field. Unharnessed falls from treestands, negligent firearm discharges, misidentified targets, failed fence crossings, and drownings are ...
Broken Arrow: How a Marine Pilot Found New Life After a Crash Took His Legs
The hospital room at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center was cold, dark, and quiet as Maj. Eric Burkett lay in his bed. He stared at his legs — what was left of them, anyway — pinned together like an Erector Set and suspended from the ...
Three Late-Season OTC Western Hunts You Can Do Right Now
Didn’t draw a tag this year? Perhaps you just couldn't plan a 2021 Western hunt in time, or maybe you just weren’t sure you could get away from work or family. You must be feeling some major FOMO right now as you scroll through the socials, liking ...
Russian Bear Attack: Boxer Shoots, Stabs Brown Bear to Death in Siberia
A Russian bear attack that killed one man has left champion boxer Ilya Medvedev in a coma after a fishing trip gone wrong. The wild story sounds like something out of a mountain man's repertoire of tall tales. The 23-year-old champion ...
Joe Rogan Hunts Triceratops: Does the Man Have No Shame?!
Animal lovers and vegetarians unite! Mark Dice is going to hold Joe Rogan accountable for killing a triceratops for sport. Possibly Ted Nugent, too. You read that right: Joe Rogan hunts triceratops. Dice, a popular YouTube personality, started a ...
Don’t Risk Hunting Falls: How To Not Die In Your Treestand Safety Harness
Since states began mandating hunter safety courses, the number of hunting accidents, especially those involving firearms, has decreased dramatically. But every year, we read about a few tragic cases in which deer hunters die after falling out of a ...
Record Grass Carp Caught by Idaho Angler Fishing for Smallmouth
Idaho is known as a world-class hunting and fishing mecca. Anglers make annual pilgrimages to the state’s pristine waters to fish for wild brown, rainbow, and cutthroat trout. Rocky Mountain sheep, elk, mule deer, and pronghorn are big game animals ...
Colorado Elk Hunting: Herds Are Thriving on the Plains Once Again
In the early 1980s, hunting areas along the state of Colorado’s eastern plains provided equal opportunity for upland, waterfowl, mule deer, and pronghorn. Whitetails were a bit of a rarity. Rifle and bowhunters would bump into a heavy-horned brute if ...
Barren Ground Film: Backcountry Caribou Hunt in Alaska
Frank Peralta’s rifle shot covered the 400 yards across the wide-open Alaskan tundra in a heartbeat. It dropped the big bull caribou where it stood. The gunshot was still an echo when his friend, Bill Vanderheyden, yelled, “Bear!” “Bear!” he ...
How to Hunt Public Land Whitetail: A 3-Year Strategy
Hunting public land whitetails can be frustrating, to say the least. Going into a new area and figuring it out can make a deer hunter go crazy with second guesses. It’s extremely difficult to make all of the right decisions on an unfamiliar piece of ...
LOL: Oregon Poaching Ring Done-In By Text Messages
Willy Hollings is a “stone-cold killer,” according to his hunting buddy Eric Hamilton. The Oregon State Police Wildlife Division couldn’t agree more — and now they have nearly 30 big game animals poached by Hollings, Hamilton, and a third accomplice, ...
Elk Rescue: Colorado Elk Freed From Tire After Two Years
A bull elk in Pine, Colorado, found himself in a tight spot when he somehow got his head stuck in a car tire, leading wildlife officers on a two-year chase that ended with an unusual elk rescue. Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers first observed ...