All Outdoor

It’s Tuesday, which means this week’s episode of The Second Scoop is live!

With wild turkeys are becoming prolific — populations are growing rapidly, even in areas that never were a major base for the birds. Wherever you drive, it’s more usual than not to see turkeys right off the roadway, in fields or on roadsides – at times in flocks numbering 50 or more birds. So, you see these turkeys, and you think it’s going to be simple to get one during hunting season. You’re wrong.

Taking a tom with bow and arrow is one of the ultimate achievements a hunter can attain. But top equipment and hunting techniques have evolved to such a high degree in recent years, that more sportsmen are trying and succeeding at this this seemingly difficult task.

In this series, we’ll take a look at fly fishing techniques for trout. This first installment covers techniques for dry-fly fishing.

There’s an old saying that goes like this: the best two days of boat ownership are the day you buy one and the day you sell it. I know my dad had fits with fishing boats all of our growing up years. Either it was the motor won’t crank, dead battery, water in the gas tank, or something to keep us from fishing. It was a constant fight.

Fish for Bass During the Pre-Spawn – The holy grail of bass fishing is during the largemouth pre-spawn. The pre-spawn starts in spring around the time when the water temperature gets to be between 55 to 65 degrees. This is when both male and female bass move to the shallow areas, start aggressively feeding and looking for the best place to nest. Fisherman during this period can actually locate bass right from shore, that’s how close they get. This is the best time to get a trophy bass, but remember to catch and release female bass so they can complete their spawn and continue the cycle of life for bass.

In a recent review of a ASA side charge receiver build, I used a Samson Evolution Series AR forend and liked it so much I thought it deserved its own review. I am a fan of those near-barrel-length handguards, and the slimmer the better simply because I find them easier to handle and far more comfortable.

My PRI Gator Grip Quick Release scope mount has appeared in numerous articles on this site as well as being used continuously offline for accuracy testing on everything from AR-15s, to AR-308s, to custom 10/22 builds. In fact, I liked the high-ring version so much that I ordered a low ring version as well. In addition to just your basic scope swapping between rifles for this or that rifle, it is beyond handy to be able to zero a rifle, remove the scope, use the rifle as an iron sighted sporting rifle and then clip a high power optic back on, such as my Nikon Monarch Gold 8-32X scope, for those long range shots. The PRI Gator Grip mount does all this while still retaining zero.

Back a few months ago, Mrs Pandemic and I were qualifying for our state’s concealed carry licenses. During the range qualification, one of the police officers/instructors commented on the nice tight groups we were shooting and then asked if we had been having any slide bite issues with our Glocks. This was more of a rhetorical question as the top of my wife’s thumb knuckle had caught the slide about five minutes earlier and was now bleeding… although dripping blood, she was still shooting.

The number one complaint in the comments on my articles here on AllOutdoor is that the gear I am highlighting is too expensive. That’s probably true. Gear, on whole, is getting more expensive. And a lot of it is not accessible to people — it is a true rarity to find a functional modern flashlight in a store near you. But, ever the tireless gear geek, I did that–I looked around at my local chain stores and tried to assemble the best EDC kit I could.

I know I am a steel junkie.  Gimme the datasheet for some new crazy material (Beta Ti, anyone?) and I am happy.  Recently someone emailed me about evaluating blade steels and wanted me to distinguish more precisely between something like S30V steel (which is very good) or M390 (which is a truly superior steel).  I feel confident that M390 is better than S30V but I can’t say by how much.

7.62×39 rifles are generally known as reliable but not all that accurate. The reputation came primarily from the combination of AK47, Vz58 or SKS with iron sights and Combloc military surplus ball ammunition. 4-6MOA is typical for that kind of set-up and, in the original doctrine, entirely sufficient for creating beaten zones around enemy troops.

When I run across products which do not follow the same beaten path and solve ongoing problems in an elegant way, I start clicking away on the keyboard. What got me all excited was my picking up my new Mennie Machine Company (MMC) AR15 and finding a tight rock solid cam locking stock I had never heard of before.

Talk to the best hunters and guides and they will tell you that a great set of binoculars is the most essential tool in a hunters toolbox. Some would say without good glass, the gun is of little use.

The male-only gift giving season is almost upon us, and that means some obligatory “Dad and Grad” recommendations from around the web.

If you have never seen a blacksmith make something live, you really should. Theirs is a primal craft of beating metal into shapes using fire and hammers. Even amateurs make it look awesome. With each hammer blow the blacksmith sends a shower of sparks flying. Out a bar of steel the size of two candy bars, they create something lasting and authentic. And that’s what happens when newbs step up to the anvil. When you get to see a true master, someone like Nick Rossi, do his thing, its an entirely different experience, something akin to a complex physical routine like a gymnast’s performance at the Olympics, only with a superheated oven and giant hammers.

I use two Marlin 795 carbines, one it its Liberty Training Rifle incarnation (Appleseed Edition), the other in a Badger M22 bullpup stock. Both of them came with 10-round magazines, which is usually enough for the intended purpose. However, larger magazines are fun, so I tried a ProMag 25-rounder

In a lengthy and illogical decision, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday ruled 2-1 in favor of a ban on “assault weapons” and magazines capable of holding more than ten rounds.

We are all too familiar with the opposition to private firearms ownership, and public attacks made on it. Far too often, some police chief or sheriff will stand up in front of cameras and denounce gun ownership,  so-called assault weapons, standard-capacity magazines, or whatever the current hot-button gun control issue may be. This gives the impression that police are in favor of gun control and against private gun ownership.

Bullets that change their paths as they fly, acting like guided missiles. Sounds like science fiction – but it’s real.