All Outdoor

For the outdoor explorer, a fitness band can be a unique way to track your lifestyle. Especially helpful for those training for athletic events, or those who want to get in better shape, a fitness band is a wearable device that collects data on your physical activity. This data is often synced with an app or a web service, and is intended to help people determine what they need to focus on, or what habits may be holding them back from progress.

Fitness bands are huge this year, as seen by dozens of new models showcased at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. Instead of providing a roundup of the growing list of options, it’s more helpful to determine what your preferences are and work backward from there. Here’s what to look for in a fitness band.

Each fitness band comes with its own set of features—some can track sleep, others function as pedometers, and some are more like smart watches because they can be used to check apps and email and receive regular web updates. Some bands can assist in meal and calorie tracking via the app. If you want to improve your all-around health, a band that can help track more than just exercise is probably a good fit for you. And if you’re a work-out junkie, or like to track the distances you hike or travel, a simpler option should offer just enoug

When I participated in my first deer hunt in Missouri in 1971, there was one female hunter in camp. That was another first for me. She was the wife of one of the other hunters in the group and she fit right in. It was a curiosity to me to watch her as a hunter and she knew her stuff. She took one of the first bucks on the hunt, and she was on the lead end when it came to dragging it out of a deep ravine gully. That was cool.

Since adding over another 30 years of deer hunting to my life ledger sheet, I have rarely run into many women in hunting camps that were actually hunting. I guess maybe I have just not been in the right hunting camps, because nationally, the fastest growing demographic among hunters are women and young girls. To that I say, “come on down”, we need ya.

Angelia Rustin of Laurel, Mississippi is one of those special people you meet maybe a couple times in your life. I first met her at one of the Wildlife Federation’s Extravaganzas several years ago. She was and is trying to break into the hunting industry as a pro team member for a manufacturer or hunting product, and was asking for contacts and help that I might have. Since then, we have talked many times and I have come to appreciate her as a hunter and as one who gives of herself for the cause of hunting.

Angelia’s busine

I was reminded today of the mania that many hunters have for camouflage. Our collective appetite for the stuff has made a number of people very rich – especially when folks run out to buy the latest new pattern every time one is released, or take pains to ensure that their hunting outfit has all-matching camo patterns.

But what really made me think about it was a press release for a new Remington shotgun (see the photo above). Actually, the shotgun itself isn’t new — the “news” is that you can now get a Versa Max scattergun with Mossy Oak Shadow Grass Blades camouflage.

Personally, I think camo guns are a gimmick. That said, I did go to the trouble of camouflaging one of my rifles — a stainless-steel Savage ML10-II muzzleloader. I felt that every time I moved the silver-barreled rifle while I was in a tree stand it looked like I was waving a bright baton or a fluorescent tube. The stock was already camo, so I just added some camo tape to the barrel to make it stand out less.

Other than that, I don’t see a need for camo guns, and I generally prefer non-camo finishes on my hunting poppers. I don’t really have anything against it, but I’m not really fond of it.

Maybe I’m ol

1-4X scopes have jumped in popularity as people realize they do not need a 20X scope. The challenge for the budget conscious is not spending $500+ on an optic. Enter the Bushnell Banner 1-4X scope.

In my case, adding a scope is an obvious choice for the Ruger 77/357 or other similar series rifles. The 77/357, like most 3-Gun rifles, are definitely tuned for shots under 150 yards. Likely, most shots will occur in the 50-75 yd. range where open sight would be more than adequate, however a low power scope can definitely increase precision at those ranges for small game and shot placement.

FIT, FINISH, & FEEL
Bushnell has always been a leader in providing fine optics, and although the Banner series finish is not that of Bushnell’s higher lines, it’s more than fine enough to dress up a working man’s rifle. I will be the first to tell you that you get what you pay for when it comes to optics. In this case, Bushnell has packed a lot of value in this scope with good quality fit, feel, and finish on this $75 s

See what happens when the wrong caliber bullet is fired. DemolitionRanch does the following tests in the video below.

• .380ACP fired out of a 9mm handgun
• 9mm fired out of a .40s&w handgun
• .223 round out of a Glock 23

I was surfing The Reptile House Blog and came across the above pic of a real Tier 1 operator’s gun, complete with plenty of wear and tear from hard use. This was posted on Larry Vickers’ Facebook page, and of course it precipitated plenty of H&K hate in the comments. (I actually can’t find the post now, and it looks like it has been deleted. If anyone knows why, please let us know the story there.)

In a comment on a later FB post, Vickers calls the Bin Laden gun his pick for the single most famous gun in the modern era. Of course, the above gun isn’t actually a shot of the exact gun that killed Bin Laden, but it is a real Seal Team Six gun, so it’s as close as we’re likely to get.

In fact, the gun appears to belong to Mark Owen, a former ST6 operator and author of No Easy Day, a first-hand account of the Bin Laden raid. Owen posted a partial shot of the gun on his Instagram Account, and the above shot shows the full gun.

Owen also posted a list of what went into this particular tricked-out build. So if you want to pimp out your HK 416 like a real operator, then here you go:

• 10-inch barrel

As I’ve published a number of upgrade articles, I’ve received many comments and emails from folks who want to upgrade their ARs with all the standard tactical accessories, but without having to break out specialty tools. A typical AR upgrade is to add a single point tactical sling mount to your six position adjustable stock. Generally this involves replacing the buffer tube locking ring, which in turn necessitates removing the butt-stock, removing the castle nut with a special castle nut wrench, and a lot of swearing if the castle nut is already staked. Then you have to remove the locking ring and replace and reassemble of all of the above with the new sling mount plate… this a lot of work if you just want to use a single point sling. Mission First Tactical (MFT) has a simple solution that only requires you to just slip off the buttstock.

Mission First Tactical is emerging as the main competitor to Magpul in the AR accessories market, and they’re going after the market leader aggressively head-to-head with new innovative products on store shelves and online retailers.

Mission First Tactical (MFT) is going after Magpul aggressively head-to-head with innovative new products, and the MFT AR-15 upgrades I’ve tested to date have certainly been highly innovative and feature rich.  The two products I recently tested were the Engage customizable pistol grip with interchangeable straps and the Evolv battle stock attachment.  Both products delivered big comfort improvements over standard furniture on my Spikes Tactical ST-15.

Mission First Tactical is a sibling company to Fobus holsters, so they know how to make great durable tactical polymers that stand up to abuse and provide great design and fit.  All their AR upgrades are available in your choice of black, flat dark earth, foliage, or grey.

Each Engage AR-15/M16 grip comes with three front and three rear interchangeable grip straps. The front strap can be swapped for a plain, single finger or multi-finger front grip, and the rear has a three increasing contours to personalize the fit for various hand sizes. The grip straps lock securely in pla

Rattling antlers cracked loudly, and the follow-up tinkling of tines sounded crisp and appealing as they resonated through dark-green, snow-blanketed timber that cold morning. Siegfried Gagnon of Montreal and I stood motionless, almost daring not to breathe, as we listened intently in the quiet, white-green Quebec woods – hoping for a deer response to the clattering of antlers I’d made.

We waited a few moments, then I slammed the antlers together once again, following with a grinding of tines to simulate a pair of hard-headed bucks battling over a love-minded doe. It was the peak of the rut on famed, deer-rich Anticosti Island, located in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in far northeastern Quebec. And on this, the second day of our already successful hunt, conditions were perfect for stalking and rattling the abundant bucks on the large, heavily-wooded north-country island.

Our guide Claude Isabellele and our other hunting companion D’Arcy Egan of Cleveland had dropped Siegfried and I off that morning on a snowy woods road. While Claude guided D’Arcy to another hunting spot, Siegfried and I were instructed to follow the woods road for a mile before we separated and hunted down different, well-marked snow-covered trails.

The wind was perfectly in our faces, and new snow made for silent stalking. For an hour we st

Montie Design, based out of Morrisville, North Carolina, is developing a reputation for its design capabilities and core competencies in mechanical engineering and industrial design.

Montie Design has already been well into production of a number of highly ingenuous hunting and shooting products, including their line of camping items, shooting rests, archery and hunting accessories, AR rifle cleaning rests, and AR racks. Everything they do is highly creative and precision machined.

The Montie Design Knife is a simple enough name for a product that appears anything but simple. At least, it seems that way to the casual observer like me. At first glance after unwrapping the knife, it quickly becomes obvious just how lightweight this knife really is. It’s a featherweight for sure, easy to grip, and easy to wield for a number of camping, kitchen, hunting, and fishing applications.

“The Montie Gear Knife is ultra-lightweight with a very distinctive aluminum sheath, offering a one-handed release of the locking mechanism for very quick access, even with gloves on,” says Montie Roland, President of Montie Design/Montie Gear. Even his product descriptions are precise.“The knife itself is easily removed from its aluminum holster by pushing on the stainless steel relea

Most hunters spend time in the woods when it’s dark. Often, we’re out there before dawn and don’t head back out until well after sundown. We also use our hands quite a bit — for gathering gear, holding our gun or bow, climbing trees, digging through our packs, and that sort of thing. Having to use one hand to hold a light during those times can be aggravating, and is almost always counterproductive.

You can stick a light in your teeth, which I’ve done many times. Heck, some lights are even made with that in mind, like this one. But that’s usually uncomfortable, and tends to make one slobber. Un-cool.

There are also hands-free lights that strap onto your head, lights that clip onto your cap or hat brim, caps with built-in lights, and lights that strap onto your arm. These have been around for a while, but now someone has come up with another idea.

A “hands-free” hunting light that is attached to your, um, hand.

Huh?

Well, that’s what they’re calling it. The new Hunting Light Gloves from T&M Tactical feature a light attached to the back of one glove. The light goes on your

Lets face it: the stock Glock plastic sights are durable and will put you on target, but they leave a lot to be desired when the lights go out. I had a big investment already in my Salient Arms International (SAI) Glock 17, so just a bit more to make it perfect wasn’t a hard decision. My shopping adventure landed me on the AmeriGlo.net site, where I quickly separated $79 from my wallet for a set of AmeriGlo CAP Night Sights.

Installation was as simple as removing the old sights and re-installing the new AmeriGlo CAP sights. I recommend using a Sharpie or pencil to mark the center zero of the old rear sight before removal so that you can rezero the new sight on the bench. The mark will come right off with a little gun oil. I used a ¼” punch tipped with a .22LR case to prevent marring, and tapped out the old rear sight. I then tapped in the new AmerigGlo rear sight and aligned it to the old zero point.

Too often we get caught up in wanting to be just like an operator, but we forget that a single-point sling without training is little more than a recipe for getting whacked in the privates as you run or transition to your pistol. Good old fashioned slings that attach at the front of the handguard and and rear of the buttstock to carry a rifle over the shoulder still offer the best all-around utility in most tactical situations.

As I become more and fascinated by the whole Cooper Scout rifle concept, I realized that we often forget about Cooper’s specification for an appropriate sling on a scout rifle. In Cooper’s conception, the sling is more than just something for carrying a rifle — it’s an integral support mechanism for shots when support is not available.

Andy’s Leather slings are made by Andy, the founder right here in the US out of high-end bridal leather. In the sea of mass produced slings, Andy’s Leather is unique in the market as a product that is superior in both materials and design.

There is really not a lot to a sling — some strap material, swivels, and rivets of some type. On the Rhodesian sling the strap material is all high-end bridal leather, with a proprietary brass adjustment buckle a

I have a long history with Silky. In fact, at one time I owned a business which was one of the largest Silky retailers in the US. During that time when I was selling Silky products, I was constantly surprised by their unequaled quality and customer satisfaction. We always had a constant supply moving to arborist, forest preserves, national parks, and large commercial tree farms. The feedback from these professionals who were using and abusing these saws hard on a daily basis was always positive, with the notes that they previously purchased X brand and now only buy Silky.

Why am I espousing the legendary greatness of Silky tree trimming saws? Simple because if they can excel above all brands at hard use duties at a professional level, then they will certainly deliver everything you need as a backwoods survival saw when your life or hunt is on the line. Silky has a huge selection of various saws, curved or straight blades, and extra-fine to extra-coarse teeth models. I reached for the top and selected three differently sized saws from the steel-handled GOMBOY line, which is the pinnacle of the entire Silky folding saw family.

Silky saws are manufactured in Ono Japan, which is the epicenter of the finest cutlery steel production in the world. Silky uses these very high grade,

MMMMmmm, tarps.  Yeah I know what you’re thinking, but these handy little tools are likely to save your butt more than that sexy $2000 AR will any day of the week.  A good tarp can keep you dry, block the wind and sun, help collect water, be used as an improvised sail, provide camouflage, and act as a barrier for insects and moisture. Tarps also allow for an array of improvised carry methods for supplies, food, and wounded buddies, and they protect you and your equipment from the elements.  In all, a tarp is an indspensible necessity if you don’t want to miserable when the weather turns. It is another duct tape/leatherman level of utility that you should never be without.  Even in my 24 hour “get home” bag, I have a small tarp.

My well-used tarps were in need of replacement, so I picked up several sizes of tarps from Foremost Tarp company. You can go tiny or giagantic, but the sizes I purchased were tarps in 8’x10’ and 12’x16’ camouflage, and a 5’x7 green/brown reversible tarp.

Foremost Tarp has been in business for over thirty years

Albino deer are rare in most areas… I certainly haven’t seen one in person. But they do exist, as the photo above shows. There is often disagreement among hunters as to whether or not albino deer should be taken if the opportunity arises.

First of all, check the regulations of the area in which you hunt to find out whether it’s legal to take albino (all white hair) or piebald (partially white hair, often with a spotted appearance) deer.

Some say that such animals shouldn’t be killed, because they are unusual and therefore beautiful. Others claim that those animals are genetically inferior and should be killed to strengthen the herd and to prevent the animal from dying a miserable death due to disease, to which albino animals are more susceptible than “normal” deer.

Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with taking an albino or piebald deer, which would make a very unique “trophy” to remind the hunter of the day when that unique animal was taken (which is what a trophy is for).

I don’t buy the premise that “It’s beautiful/unique, so it shouldn’t be killed.” If we lived by that rule, no hunter would ever take a deer. All deer are beautiful and unique.

If I got the chance to take an albino or piebald deer, I&#8

This is something that I’ve been seeing quite a bit lately, and which looks pretty simple and easy to do.

The question is, do they catch fish?

Just take a beer bottle cap – any steel crown-style bottle cap will do – and punch a couple holes in it. Add a couple split rings, put a few BBs in the cap, and squeeze the cap to make it into a sort of cylinder. Add a treble hook, and you’re done.

The BBs will rattle to (hopefully) attract fish.

Some folks love them, while others have reported very poor results with them. I guess that means the jury is still out.

Check out this video to learn how to build one… then comment below to let us know what you think of bottle cap fishing lures.

I wrote the following post about two days after we broke the news of Colt’s purchase of LWRC, but I shelved it because I thought maybe it was a little too speculative. Then earlier today I ran across this piece by Michael Bane that’s pretty close to what I was thinking, down to the Washington Po link. So it appears I’m not the only one thinking along these lines.

Our sister site TFB has confirmed that Colt is indeed in the process of buying LWRC, and for a price of $60 million. Now we’re left with the question of what, if anything, this could mean for both companies.

The Washington Times just came out with a massive, two-part investigation into the Army’s alleged troubles with the M4 carbine platform. Part 1 and part 2 are both worth reading, although none of the

You can help raise awareness on some really important gear topics. Would you take a moment and write about gear that you would or wouldn’t recommend for other AllOutdoor visitors?

My gear supply box is overloaded with two things, well maybe three. One is an outlandish selection of socks–wool, cotton, synthetic, you name it. Another one is an overly broad choice of gloves–leather, cotton, nylon, insulated, not insulated, etc. I am just a sucker for socks and gloves.

The third item for which I am overstocked and nearly driven into bankruptcy is flashlights. I have virtually every conceivable brand, type, size, power, battery type, tube material, configuration, and color. Some of these are (were) quite expensive, and a good many of them don’t perform as advertised or broke down in short order.

And yes, I am prepared to expose which brands I own that have not been a good value in terms of performance, cost, reliability and long term function. Some of these brands are like sacred cows in the flashlight industry, but if they don’t work, they don’t work… for long.

Personally I have had exactly zero luck with Mag-Lite. I own four of them from the little two AA cell types to the bigger 3 D-cell size. Currently none of them work. They simply quit working for no apparent reason. I replace the batteries, and buy new bulbs, but nothing. I guess the bigger one could be used as a CQB club but not much else. Sorry, Mag-Lite.

Another brand I have cast aside i