OutdoorHub
Making Deer Registration a Community Affair
If you want proof of deer hunting’s importance to Wisconsin---and why it’s foolish to schedule weddings or other events the first two days of deer season---drive east from Green Bay on opening day, turn south on Luxemburg’s Main Street, and look for Lee’s Sports.
Don’t worry. You can’t miss it. The gun shop is part of the Simonar family’s sprawling business complex on the road’s west side, sandwiched between Simonar Service and Simonar Sports. Chances are, you’ll hardly notice the buildings for all the headlights and red taillights. That section of road will be packed with...
5 of the Most Exotic and Dangerous Places to Ice Fish
Every year as winter arrives, dedicated men and women eye their favorite fishing hole for signs of ice cover. Most ice fishermen will tell you that fishing for perch, trout, or crappie during the winter months can be great fun and safe for the family, but they will always end with a caveat: no ice is 100 percent safe. State wildlife departments will advise you to practice good safety awareness and preparation before hitting the ice, as well as the age-old warning about thin ice. You need at least four inches of ice to walk on foot, five inches to use a snowmobile, and 12 inches or more for a...
Video: This Hunting Parody of “Do You Want to Build a Snowman” from ‘Frozen’ is Amazing
If you have kids, younger siblings, or have been in a public space in the past few months, odds are that you've already heard one of the catchiest songs from the Disney animated film Frozen, "Do You Want to Build a Snowman." The tune is a real ear worm, and these hunters are not about to let it go to waste. This video, performed by the staff of Mix 97.3 Sioux Falls, may lack Disney princesses, but it sure doesn't lack for heart.
Will you be singing this in your treestand? Let us know in the comments below. We won't judge.
http://youtu.be/vwpCsb5cbXs...
Study: Plants Adapt Defensive Mechanisms to Survive Deer “Predation”
Most outdoorsmen rarely think of deer in a predatory light, but scientists say that an unchecked deer population can rapidly eat its way through a healthy forest---a self-destructive act that can lead to mass starvation. However, plants are not just hapless victims, either, and a study recently published in the Journal of Ecology found that at least one plant found defensive mechanisms to combat the deadly molars of deer. According to the study, which...
New Jersey Bear Season Opens Amid Concerns about Aggressive Encounters
New Jersey's weeklong black bear hunting season began just before sunrise on Monday, and thousands of hunters eagerly descended on the six northern Jersey counties where the hunt takes place. This year's hunt, the fifth after New Jersey reopened bear hunting in 2010, carries with it some tension. It was only a few months ago that a 22-year-old college student, Darsh Patel, was chased and killed by a bear in the Apshawa Preserve in what wildlife officials believe may have been a predatory---as...
A Shotgunner’s Wish List for Santa Claus
If there’s one thing I’m not, it’s a difficult guy for whom to buy Christmas gifts. There are always new and interesting items related to my passions for shotgunning. Some are big some are small, but any of them under the tree or in the stocking marked “Billy” are welcome! Got your reading specs, Santa?
Real Avid Gun Tool
Okay, okay; I already own at least...
First Ride: Gravely Atlas JSV
There are a lot of UTVs available these days and more keep popping up all the time. As the overall number of vehicles on the market has increased, companies have begun to offer more specialized machines. Polaris has the lion’s share of the market with a lot of models, and their Ranger UTV is a dominant player in the utility/recreation arena. Polaris sought to bring their technology onto the worksite, while at the same time increasing their dealer network. Enter the Ariens Corporation.
Ariens has been a family-owned business based in Brillion,...
Colt Defense Warns It May Miss $10.9 Million Payment to Bondholders in 2015
Colt Defense indicated in a recent regulatory filing that the company may not have the funds to meet a $10.9 million interest payment for May of 2015. According to Forbes, this announcement came after the gun maker reported a net loss of $28.4 million in the first nine months of 2014 due to low market demand. Earlier last month, Colt managed to narrowly avoid...
Video: The Double Barrel Bolt-action Hunting Rifle
The first thing you may notice about this hunting rifle from German gun maker Christoph Funk is that the rifle has a second breech, a second trigger, a second bolt, and a second barrel. This rather unique gun's top barrel is chambered in 7x57mm Mauser and its bottom barrel is chambered in .22 LR. According to firearms historian Ian McCollum, who runs ForgottenWeapons.com, this kind of flexibility allows the user to take both medium-sized to large game and small game without having to swap firearms. If you're worried about the weight of an...
Study: Sturgeon Produce “Sonic Thunder” to Aid Reproduction
A study recently published in the Journal of Applied Ichthyology has turned up some interesting ideas on sturgeon, one of the oldest and largest fish fish species in North America. Anglers who have been around these prehistoric fish may have noticed that sturgeon are vocal creatures and will occasionally produce a faint drumming sound called "sturgeon thunder." Although researchers are still unsure exactly how the fish produce these low-frequency sounds, they are now being compared to similar behaviors by animals...
Michigan Lawmakers Propose Banning Drones in Hunting
Following examples set by other states, Michigan lawmakers have drafted two bills that would ban the use of drones in hunting. Lightweight and equipped with video cameras, the small remote-controlled devices can offer a considerable advantage to individuals searching for game. Many hunters and sportsmen's associations consider this advantage an unethical one, and have been calling for the vehicles to be banned from the field. According to state Senator Phil Pavlov (R-St. Clair), it was hunters and conservationists who called for the bills to be sent before the House Natural Resources...
How to Have the Perfect Backcountry Shooting Trip
There are lots of ways to shoot. If you don't like the cold, there are indoor ranges. If you don't like the noise, there are outdoor ranges. If you want to chat guns and hang out, there's usually one local range where "the cool guys" shoot. And when you don't want to talk to anyone, breathe fresh air, and focus on the trigger pull, there's the backcountry.
A shooting trip off the beaten path can be more work than most range options, but it's also one of the most rewarding. With the right mindset and the right equipment, it doesn't have to be a circus show, either.
Backcountry shooting is...
Michigan Muzzleloader Season Can Be Magical
When Michigan’s regular firearm deer hunting season finally came, you ventured out into the vast woods with visions of a bruiser buck driving you along. Opening morning came and you found your spot. At the end of the day, you sat; slightly dejected that he didn’t show. All those shots you heard made you worry that someone else took your buck. There was always the next day. You kept telling yourself that all the way through the season. Then, as the last light of the last day of the season slowly retreated like a wave, washing away your dream of putting your tag on that buck, you saw him. He...
NRA Freestyle’s ‘NOIR’: Noir’s Last Chance
NOIR Episode 22 “NOIR’s Last Chance” wraps up the first season. Colion and LaSorte reveal who won the NOIR Challenge, the guest challenge, and explain why the show has opened up a new world for shooters.
http://youtu.be/VXgCPnzAr_c...
7 Bizarre Ways to Cook Deer That Do Not Involve Venison
Venison as a meat is incredibly versatile. You can slice it and cook in just about any number of different ways, from steaks to roasts, to jerky, fried, ground, or tossed with pasta. By now you have probably seen about a hundred different ways to cook deer meat, and when done right, most are leaner, healthier, and more delicious than any store-bought beef you can find. But what about those other parts of a deer? You know, the icky parts that go by names such as the "wobbly bits," or "umbles," and perhaps most disturbingly, simply as "offal."
That's right---what are you going to do with the...
Video: Texas Game Warden Frees Trapped Bucks
It is not too uncommon for two bucks to lock antlers and become incapable of freeing themselves. Sadly, hunters usually come across these cases when either one or both of the deer are already dead, but this Texas game warden managed to arrive in time to free two bucks from this fate. Strangely, though, the animals were stuck together not by their racks, but instead by a length of rope. As shown in this video, the warden manages to position his vehicle so he could safely climb aboard and free the deer with his knife.
http://youtu.be/0ci48MNf-fs...
Missouri Hunter Harvests Old, Nearly Toothless 10-point Albino Buck
At what point does bagging a deer become a mercy kill? For years, residents of Cape Girardeau County, Missouri say they had caught glimpses of a mature albino buck in the woods. One hunter especially has been keeping an eye on the old buck, and this year he decided to harvest the animal. According to KFVS12, bowhunter Jerry Kinnaman shot the buck on his property on Tuesday, and he said that it is probably the best way for the old deer to pass.
Laid out on the ground, the buck bore signs of past...
Go Deep for Crappie Now
One of the things I enjoy the most about spring is Friday night fish fries with friends and family. But hey, we don’t have to wait until spring. Plenty of good crappie are available to be caught right now and throughout the winter months.
“I primarily fish Lake Kincaid in southern Illinois just west of Carbondale,” Kyle Schoenherr of Oakdale, Illinois, explains. “This lake has a lot of deep ledges, it’s very clear, and it has numbers of rock bluffs. During the winter months, I've caught crappie as deep as 58 feet in this lake.
“To catch these crappie, I use a bottom bumping...
A Shotgun and a Promise: The Story of My Grandpa’s Ithaca
Grandpa was a funny man. He was a small man, tough and wiry with quizzical eyes. He never really said too much until his final days, and hell, even then his sentences were short, exact, and to the point. But I’ll never forget the light in Grandpa’s eyes when he talked about the days after the Korean War had ended, and how he came to own an Ithaca shotgun that has since become my own.
He’d been fighting somewhere around the 38th parallel. Like some soldiers who didn’t have anyone waiting back home, he stuck around for a bit, mainly drifting through the streets of Seoul and partaking...
Video: Would You Fish from this Futuristic Watercraft?
Hydrofoil technology has been around since the early 1900s, but it always looks like something out of a science fiction movie. The Quadrofoil, a lightweight and modular watercraft from the company of the same name, is no exception. This two-person watercraft contains an all-electric outboard motor and sits atop carbon-fiber C-foils. The vehicle itself has a top speed of 40 kilometers---about 25 miles---per hour and boasts a range of up to 100 kilometers on a single battery charge. Quadrofoil also prides itself on its silent motor and eco-friendly design, which thanks to the C-foils, means no...