New Record Gerrard Rainbow Trout
Congratulations to Sophie E. on setting a new catch-and-release record Gerrard rainbow trout! The 8-year old angler wrangled up the 36.5 inch monster while trolling flies on Idaho's famous Lake Pend Oreille in early October 2019. Renowned fishing writer...
Once A Spike Always A Spike?
Q. Larry, last week you wrote “Genetics determines shape and size of antlers. Genetic antler potential can only be attained with good daily nutrition and achieving maturity. But realize too, a smaller antlered buck bred to the ‘right’ doe could produce offspring with...
Wisconsin Black Bear Science
Black Bear hunters in Wisconsin have long recognized the importance of the data they provide from harvested bears to the long-term health and sustainability of the state’s black bear population. Each year, successful hunters report the sex of their bear and the...
NJ Outdoorsmen And Women Advised To Take Precautions Against Eastern Equine Encephalitis
The Division of Fish and Wildlife is advising hunters, as well as anyone who spends time outdoors, to take precautions against mosquito bites as the first reported case of Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) in deer in New Jersey has recently been documented in Winslow...
Safe Hunting at High Altitudes
I had just finished graduate school and, as a gift to myself, I arranged to meet with friends in Colorado for my first western elk hunt. I flew from Detroit (elevation 646 feet) to Denver (elevation 5,373 feet) in a little under three hours. I then made the three-hour...
Morphy Blockbuster $10M Firearms Auction
Intense bidding drove many rare, historically important guns to prices well beyond pre-sale expectations on October 23rd where Morphy Auctions sold the widely acclaimed gun that fired the first shot at the 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill for $492,000. The company’s...
Georgia Program Offers Deer Management Assistance On Private Land
Georgia’s Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) is a new program dedicated to assisting hunt clubs and landowners manage deer on private lands. DMAPs are not a new concept in the Southeast. In fact, more southern states have them than not. This program gained...
Bears By Boat
On the largest Pacific island this side of New Zealand, the best way to hunt its huge beachcombing bears is by boat. The bear, rotund and grazing like an angus heifer, didn’t hear the purring of the 25-horse outboard, didn’t detect the splash of rubber boots hitting...
Mom, The Official “Tick-Checker”
Protect your family from ticks – and Dad! When you venture outdoors with your family, you will likely encounter ticks and other potentially harmful parasites. Ticks and the like tend to climb up your legs to the most vulnerable and intimate of places, secret places...
5 Deer Hunting Tips To Up Your Odds On Public Land
According to the Quality Deer Management Association’s 2019 Whitetail Report, approximately 60 percent of Arkansas deer hunters each year check at least one deer. This success rate is the fourth-highest for deer hunters in the nation. Considering more than 350,000...
Florida Deer Importation Requirements
If you hunt outside of Florida, please be aware of new requirements related to importing deer carcasses into Florida to reduce the risk of chronic wasting disease spreading into the state. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) issued Executive...
A Striking Pair Of Hill Country Rifles
Hill Country Rifles is a lot like the Psalmists in the Old Testament. They restoreth my soul.It isn’t that high-tech, synthetic stocked rifles aren’t tough, reliable, deadly accurate and good looking. It’s that they have no warmth, no soul. They’re like a runway...
Perfect Pairings At Wing & Barrel Ranch
Seldom do hunters pair superlative upland gunning – pheasants, chukar and quail – with Sonoma County or the Napa Valley. The region’s reputation seems reserved for wines, but around 1900, about 50 years after the first commercial vintners were established, ringnecks...
Buck-To-Doe Ratio And Antler Size
Q: Larry, my friends think I’m crazy, but I think the buck-to-doe ratio has an effect on antler development. My hypothesis is that with fewer does, the competition to breed is fiercer and thus only those deer that are stronger and that have larger antlers will win...
An Artist In Big Game Country: Hunting For Meat
This is an excerpt from an article that originally appeared in the August 1910 issue of Outing magazine. Rarely is the sportsman so situated that he absolutely depends upon game for food, though as one penetrates farther into the North, the sight of hungry Indians is...
Rigby Completes First .577 Rising Bite For More Than A Century
London gunmaker John Rigby & Co. has completed its first rising bite in .577 Nitro Express for more than 100 years. The double rifle was made for a valued client, who wished it to be a tribute to Satao, the famous Tsavo tusker. It includes an exquisite floorplate...
Honoring The 150th Birthday Of Carl Rungius
Carl Moritz Clemens Rungius is widely regarded as the greatest painter of North American big game animals. He witnessed firsthand the decline of large mammals on the continent when there was an unregulated open season that put some species on the brink of extinction....
Return Radio Collars From Harvested Deer
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is encouraging anyone who finds or harvests an animal with a radio collar or transmitter to return that collar as soon as possible to any Game and Fish office or employee. “Many animals from deer to moose are fitted with collars...
8 Points About Deer Antlers
1. They’re antlers, not horns. The major difference between horns and antlers is that horns don’t shed and are almost always a permanent part of the animal. Antlers are made of bone and have a velvet phase, in which blood is supplied to the antler to help it grow....
Legends Of The Hunt: Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt’s resolve, his utterly fearless nature and unmatched determination were never more apparent than on this mountain lion hunt in Colorado. In January 1901, the year Theodore Roosevelt became president, he embarked on a five-week hunt for cougar with...
Catching the Sockeye Train
My reel was hissing as line ran off it. My ten-weight fly rod was bent and shaking. My heart was beating rapidly as I felt the strong sockeye salmon fighting at the end of the line. That fish had hit my red wet fly eight feet in front of me in just over a foot of...
Great Lakes Ruffed Grouse West Nile Virus Study
First-year results from a multi-state West Nile virus study show that while the virus is present in some ruffed grouse in the Great Lakes region, some birds exposed to the virus survive. More than 700 hunter-provided samples from Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin were...
Photography Tips From New York Department of Environmental Conservation
During and after a memorable hunt, most hunters want that perfect picture to remember it. With the increased quality of cell phone cameras and the use of social media, it is easier than ever to capture and share that special moment! However, it is important to...
Assist In Wildlife Research
Hunters can help the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s wildlife management efforts through the AGFC’s free Deer Hunting Observation Survey available through the AGFC app on their smartphone. The app is available through both the iTunes app store and the Google Play...
Horses I Have Known: The Scraper/Impaler
This horse seems to take every opportunity to relieve itself of an annoying rider (you) by sliding under low-hanging limbs, trying to impale you on broken branches or scraping you off against trees, rocks or other horses. I once made the mistake of wearing an...
NY Deer Management Permits Available Nov. 1
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) today announced that remaining deer management permits (DMPs) in several wildlife management units (WMUs) will be available to hunters beginning Nov. 1. DMPs, which allow hunters to harvest antlerless...
New 6,638 Acres Of Forest Open To Hunters
This summer, Weyerhaeuser Company enrolled 6,638 acres in the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (WDFW) Private Lands Access program. WDFW opened this section of forest as Feel Free to Hunt access this year. “We are excited that Weyerhaeuser Company has...
Participation Needed for New York Black Bear Hunter Survey
New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is partnering with the Center for Conservation Social Sciences (CCSS) at Cornell University on a survey of roughly 1,800 randomly-selected black bear hunters to learn more about their activities, interests and...
Minnesota DNR Certifies New Catch-And-Release State Record Muskie
An angler on Lake Vermilion caught and released Minnesota’s new state record muskellunge, a 57 ¼-inch fish that he called a “true giant.” The DNR certified the state catch-and-release record fish on Oct. 11. The 57 1/4-inch fish had a 25 1/2-inch girth with an...
2019-20 Arizona Quail Hunt Forecast Looks Good
Arizona’s quail hunters are also weather wonks — always checking the forecasts, particularly during the winter months, their fingers crossed that the wet stuff is on the way. After all, good doses of timely precipitation that time of year are what give the state’s...
Grouse In The Heather
Gordon, my loader, was a strong-looking older man of upright bearing, with full, florid cheeks and a friendly smile. He was responsible for me, my safety, my shotgun and shells. Gordon guided me to and from the butts and, although carrying my gun and shells, still had...
Colorado Expands Public Trust Lands
Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) recently announced locations of newly available properties enrolled in the Public Access Program. The Public Access Program provides seasonal hunting and fishing opportunities on Colorado trust land across the state. Blue Lake -...
Field Aging Whitetail Deer
Q: Larry, it’s important to me to shoot only mature animals, so I’d like to be able to judge the age of whitetail deer before I shoot. I understand that the size of a buck’s antlers is not a good way to judge because after a certain age antler growth tends to...
Tennessee Mentored Youth Deer Hunts
Tennessee youth have the opportunity to participate in mentored deer hunts. These Tennessee Wildlife Federation Hunting and Fishing Academy events link youth and their accompanying parent or guardian with trained, lifelong hunters and anglers who serve as mentors for...
Own A Legend: Steyr Scout Rifle Package
SPONSORED CONTENT It’s Col. Jeff Cooper’s dream come to life…yours for less than you think. Twenty-one years ago, legendary Gunsite Academy founder Colonel Jeff Cooper chose Steyr to bring his dream rifle to life—the Steyr Scout. Cooper’s vision was a rifle suitable...
Million Dollar Decoys?
Crowell decoys topped Copley’s record-setting $3 million sale. Copley Fine Art Auctions, LLC, the nation’s premier decoy and sporting art auction house, realized more than $3 million at its Sporting Sale 2019 on July 25 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The auction, which...
Arkansans Harvest 84 Alligators In 2019
Lasting heat of summer and stable conditions paid off for Arkansas hunters lucky enough to draw a tag in the 2019 alligator season. Of 147 tags available, 84 hunters managed to successfully take an alligator during the two-weekend season. The harvest is on par with...
Socrates, Stung & Skunked
I was planting fenceposts. Back then, we coated post bottoms with creosote to preserve the wood from rot. Wise to my dog, Soc’s, ways of drinking things he shouldn’t, I guarded the creosote bucket like Cerberus before hell’s gates and stopped him mid-sally on his way...
Florida’s New Online Option For Reporting Harvested Deer
Hunters in Florida now have an online option to comply with new deer harvest reporting requirements. You can log (Step 1) your harvest using a paper deer harvest log and report (Step 2) with the new FWC Deer Harvest Reporting Online Tool. Hunters still have the option...
Colorado Waterfowl Forecast
Colorado Parks & Wildlife is forecasting that hunters can expect good waterfowl opportunities during the 2019-2020 seasons. Despite drier conditions across most of the state as we head into the fall, Colorado hunters should be able to find good waterfowl hunting...
Announcing Our November/December 2019 Issue
Features: A Very Fishy Story When it comes to tall tales, most every fisherman can lie with the best of them. By Jerome K. Jerome The British Invasion English cockers have won the hearts of countless hunters. By Tom Keer The Homecoming A hunter returns to his favorite...
Utah Quail And Pheasant Forecast
Biologists estimate that Utah’s wild ring-necked pheasant populations have slightly increased from last year, due to a wet spring that resulted in good brood-rearing conditions. The largest wild populations are located in the wetland areas around the Great Salt Lake,...
Ruark On Safari: Gin
An excerpt from Ruark Remembered by Alan Ritchie who served as Ruark’s personal secretary for 12 years. During the next few weeks we’ve changed locations many times with a series of fIy camps, sometimes setting up without anything except mosquito nets. The whole...
Horses I have Known: The Back Biter
The back biter is orneriness incarnate. Given half an opportunity, this horse will gladly latch onto an arm or leg and stare impassively at you as you try to wrest your limb from its teeth. My first piece of advice regarding this animal is that horses never smile. If...
Artwork And Wine Benefit Oregon’s Fish And Wildlife
ODFW’s annual fish and wildlife art show is Saturday, Nov. 2, 1 - 4 p.m. at Duck Pond Cellars, 23145 Hwy 99W, Dundee, where the winery will release its new Conservation Cuvee pinot noir. This free, family-friendly event showcases artwork submitted for ODFW’s 2020...
2019 Minnesota Deer Forecast
Wet habitat and access conditions make scouting even more important this Minnesota deer season. Nearly half a million Minnesota firearms deer hunters are preparing for the season that opens Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019 and offers opportunity to spend time with friends and...
Hawaii Announces 2020 Lana’i Axis Deer Season
Deer hunting enthusiasts must apply by 4:00 PM on Friday November 1, 2019 to hunt for the new season. The DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) announces that application forms for the 2020 Lana’i axis deer hunting season, together with instruction sheets,...
Utah Mule Deer Forecast
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources biologists estimate that there are just over 370,000 mule deer in Utah, which is about 100,000 additional deer than were in the state in 2011. “Over the last three years, we’ve had the highest deer numbers in Utah in 25 years,” DWR...
Montana Cautions Bird Hunters: Be Bear Aware
Bird hunters around Montana, particularly those in the western half of the state, should be "bear aware" and prepared for an encounter with a grizzly bear. In recent years, grizzly bear populations have expanded into areas where they haven’t been for decades,...
What’s A Good Pronghorn Cartridge?
Q: Larry, I need a good pronghorn cartridge. I’m from the Midwest and have hunted big game only with slugs. I was recently invited to hunt antelope with friends in Wyoming, so I’m looking for a good rifle and cartridge to use. At home, I can hunt with only slugs...