I’m a bit of a backpack fanatic and I’ve tested piles of them over the years. One of the things I’ve learned is there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Each adventure — from the whitetail woods of the Midwest to the elk-rich Rockies — requires a particular pack.
The guys at Lee Armory know AKs. They run a manufacturing operation and have all the jigs, fittings and parts for building AK rifles. They… Read More »Do-It-Yourself AK Rifle: Lee Armory’s Build Class in Phoenix, AZ
Deer season started this weekend in Texas, and I’m not in a tree stand. Why? Aside from the crushing weight of deadlines and the kids’ hectic schedules, I have another problem: I live in the suburbs. As a recent transplant to Waco, I haven’t built a list of friendly landowners willing to let me wander their property in search of Whitetail. And I know I’m not alone when I say that a multi-thousand-dollar lease isn’t in the cards right now, even if I split the bill among my hunting buddies.
Fortunately, help may be on its way.
I have had some people ask me about my preferred setup for terminating whistle pigs, so today I am going to discuss just that.
I still remember the moment. A package arrived at my remote home amidst the rough, high-elevation mule deer and elk habitat of my youth, dropped casually on the porch by the United Parcel Service driver. We lifted it, my brother and I, to a place of honor on the kitchen table, and carefully removed the contents from the packaging. Dashing to the back porch we pointed the new marvel at a distant hillside and exclaimed with glee at the result. It was the first laser rangefinder we owned, and it changed our hunting and shooting lives.
By now, most hunters have their own “secret recipe” for venison chili. Sometimes, though, I think those secret recipes can be confused with boring – especially if it’s the same way you’ve been fixing chili for years.
Instead, look to trying one of these three unique dishes, which are probably unlike anything else in your cookbook. They’re sure to bring a different flavor, and maybe inspire you to change up that old secret formula.
Turkey hunting gear can make or break a hunt. With gobblers having some of the best vision in the animal kingdom, and ears that can pick up details that humans can’t fathom, it’s imperative that hunters have the right equipment to get the job done.
Here is some of my favorite gear for 2018, which helped me harvest five turkeys just last season.
As Vortex’s entry level rangefinder, the Impact 850 outperforms its price point. As someone who does a variety of hunting, I look for diversity in my gear. I want equipment that’s going to function whether it’s spring or fall, archery season or gun season, and good conditions or poor. When it comes to a rangefinder, I’ll be looking for optics that can function for bowhunting deer, shotgun hunting turkey, and rifle hunting elk.
Talk to a hunter about eating antelope and you’ll get a wide range of responses, from complaining that it’s foul and tastes of sage to praising it with the highest of compliments. It’s one of the few cuts of wild game that inspires such debate.
Personally, I love antelope, and have a hard time understanding the complaints from those who don’t.
It’s incredibly lean, with fewer calories than a wild turkey and less fat than a whitetail. This is a common criticism from hunters, but it should be noted that other ungulates like elk and moose are even leaner than a speed goat. Sure, it’s no slab of grass-fed beef, but it’s no vegetable, either.
Eberlestock has long been known amongst civilians for hunting packs, establishing a reputation for hell and back reliability. Arguably, no pack company has done more… Read More »Eberlestock Packs: Ideal for Hunting & the Military — SHOT Show 2018
When you’re planning a hunting trip there are few very important considerations — what gun are you going to take? What does the weather look like? How much will the tags cost? Equally as important as what firearm you’re going to take is what binos will you take? For a mid-range 8X binos, the Vortex Viper HD 8×42 are hard to beat.
Learn how to mount a scope. If your equipment fails you on the shot of a lifetime, don’t let it be the fault of an over-glorified Walmart greeter.
On the minds of hunters all year long, the rut is a magical time to be in the woods. And although every day spent afield is a good one, mark these dates on the calendar as some of the best for 2017.
There’s a lot of science behind creating the perfect venison cheese steak, from thinly sliced meat to slowly cooked onions. Venison sandwiches can be a thing of beauty, but they can also be a nightmare. There’s a fine line between the two when it comes to deer, and it’s usually crossed when the lean meat goes from tender to leather.
For deer hunters that have grown restless in their home state, finding a new area to hunt can be maddening. Instead of dropping your money on an expensive lease, though, look to one of these seven states as a potential public land whitetail destination.
Times change, and technology changes along with it. We hunters have an irrefutable connection with the past; we discuss our favorite cartridges — often with opinions based upon the experiences of our forefathers — and we long for the opportunity to recreate those hunts made famous in the hunting literature we adore so much. However, I feel that if our hunting heroes of yesteryear could’ve had the opportunity to use those tools that we now have available, they’d embrace them immediately. And among all the improvements we’ve seen in the last half century, I rate modern bullet development at the top of the list.
Like many North American hunters, I’ve never practiced shooting at moving game. My local range isn’t outfitted with moving targets, and my experience hunting deer has only given me two or three chances to harvest a walking or running animal.
I decided to make a Kydex cheek riser and install it on my rifle. I could have ordered one, but making it myself allowed me to customize it to my rifle. Plus, it’s way more fun.
In the video above, Clay walks you through how to go full gangster with your plain Jane 10/22. As you’ll see, it’s really simple to do.
Hunting a new kind of game for the first time can be intimidating. No matter how much you read and research, the most valuable knowledge can only be gained in the field. Waterfowl hunting always seemed like a big mystery to me; that is, until a few weeks ago.
The new SWR Radius from SilencerCo is a highly capable rail-mounted rangefinder that gives lightning-fast distance ranging information out to a mile.
While most of the nation is beginning to dream about hunting whitetails in the fall, in sunny Florida where the leaves don’t turn and whitetail season already started, everyone is talking about GATORS! Dwayne Powell, our resident guide at Kissimee River Hunt & Fish, took us out for a learning expedition this week for the season opener, and even took this eight foot monster on a private tag to show us how it’s done. Alligator hunting in Florida is a lot of fun, but the devil is in the details, and even if you manage to pull a tag in the public lottery, the chances of actually bringing home a gator are slim, unless you know how to prepare. On private land the rules are different, and easier, but you will need to pay a guide to burn a private tag for you. If you have never bagged a gator, one way or the other, there is no game animal that compares to these mighty giant lizards. Get yourself a tag and get out gator hunting!
Life isn’t always fair. It’s possible to spend an entire lifetime of hard hunting and never get a chance at a truly fantastic, world-class trophy. It’s also possible to take a Boone and Crockett whitetail on the very first outing. The strange nature of hunting is that, while both effort and technique certainly count, ultimately there is a major element of random chance that places a great animal and a hunter in proximity at the same time.