In May 2020, my friend Steve Opat of Alaskan Odysseys hit me with the news over the phone: “Change of plans. Alaska caribou hunt. We’re hunting the Haul Road.” We’d planned on going after moose that fall, but the ‘rona shut down access to the ...
Big Game
Classic Venison Osso Buco Is Stupid Simple and Guaranteed to Impress
Osso buco is one of those cliche wild game dishes that’s actually worthy of the hype. Traditionally made with veal shank, this Italian classic has found a devoted following among hunters using deer, elk, and other wild game — venison osso buco comes ...
Most Important Piece of Hunting Kit: Stay Warm in a Treestand
When I first started whitetail hunting, being cold was the No. 1 thing that’d get me out of a stand early. It didn’t matter how heavy or warm my clothing was; I still froze during November and December hunts. Every Hunter’s Ed test has the same ...
Rogue Red Stag Looking for Love in Georgia
State wildlife officials identified a massive elk-like animal caught on remote game cameras in four Georgia counties as a European red deer, aka a red stag. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources began receiving game camera images of the ...
5 Keys to Pulling Off an All-Day Sit During the Whitetail Rut
Hunting the whitetail rut is a fucking grind. It's the time of year all hunters look forward to, full of lows with a few highs sprinkled in. During the rut, anything can happen at literally any time. You can go from having a season full of ...
Father Shot, Killed While Elk Hunting With Son: Importance of Gun Safety
Every year we hear about the injuries or tragic deaths of hunters across the country due to unsafe actions in the field. Unharnessed falls from treestands, negligent firearm discharges, misidentified targets, failed fence crossings, and drownings are ...
Birria-Style Venison Tacos: A Delicious Way to Prepare Tough Cuts
If you spend any time on social media, you've probably salivated over at least one video of Birria-style tacos. Birria tacos are like the Mexican equivalent of a French Dip Sandwich, and it turns out, it's an outstanding way to make venison ...
Three Late-Season OTC Western Hunts You Can Do Right Now
Didn’t draw a tag this year? Perhaps you just couldn't plan a 2021 Western hunt in time, or maybe you just weren’t sure you could get away from work or family. You must be feeling some major FOMO right now as you scroll through the socials, liking ...
Russian Bear Attack: Boxer Shoots, Stabs Brown Bear to Death in Siberia
A Russian bear attack that killed one man has left champion boxer Ilya Medvedev in a coma after a fishing trip gone wrong. The wild story sounds like something out of a mountain man's repertoire of tall tales. The 23-year-old champion ...
Backcountry Hunting Self Care: Stretches to Keep You Healthy
Backcountry hunting beats the hell out of your body. Long hours are spent hiking with heavy loads, followed by long hours spent glassing. After that, the backcountry hunter catches some Z's on uneven ground, doing their best to avoid the rocks, ...
Joe Rogan Hunts Triceratops: Does the Man Have No Shame?!
Animal lovers and vegetarians unite! Mark Dice is going to hold Joe Rogan accountable for killing a triceratops for sport. Possibly Ted Nugent, too. You read that right: Joe Rogan hunts triceratops. Dice, a popular YouTube personality, started a ...
How To Not Die In Your Treestand Safety Harness
Since states began mandating hunter safety courses, the number of hunting accidents, especially those involving firearms, has decreased dramatically. But every year, we read about a few tragic cases in which deer hunters die after falling out of a ...
Deer Ribs: A Foolproof Bone-In Recipe That Never Fails
Deer ribs are a highly underrated and often disrespected piece of wild game. At best, most deer ribs end up deboned and ground into burgers and sausages. At worst, they are discarded with the gut pile. While they may not be as thick and juicy as pork ...
Colorado Elk Hunting: Herds Are Thriving on the Plains Once Again
In the early 1980s, hunting areas along the state of Colorado’s eastern plains provided equal opportunity for upland, waterfowl, mule deer, and pronghorn. Whitetails were a bit of a rarity. Rifle and bowhunters would bump into a heavy-horned brute if ...
Barren Ground Film: Backcountry Caribou Hunt in Alaska
Frank Peralta’s rifle shot covered the 400 yards across the wide-open Alaskan tundra in a heartbeat. It dropped the big bull caribou where it stood. The gunshot was still an echo when his friend, Bill Vanderheyden, yelled, “Bear!” “Bear!” he ...
How to Hunt Public Land Whitetail: A 3-Year Strategy
Hunting public land whitetails can be frustrating, to say the least. Going into a new area and figuring it out can make a deer hunter go crazy with second guesses. It’s extremely difficult to make all of the right decisions on an unfamiliar piece of ...
Elk Rescue: Colorado Elk Freed From Tire After Two Years
A bull elk in Pine, Colorado, found himself in a tight spot when he somehow got his head stuck in a car tire, leading wildlife officers on a two-year chase that ended with an unusual elk rescue. Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers first observed ...
Elk vs. Moose: Know Your Bulls
Some hunters have a problem with animal identification. We’re not talking about understanding the subtle taxonomic differences between a yellow pine chipmunk, cliff chipmunk, and uitnta chipmunk. No, hunters are having a hard time identifying elk vs. ...
Public Land Whitetail Hunting Tips: The 5 Things to Keep in Mind
Every year, I find myself with a mixture of new and old hunting areas in my hunting plans. Hunting the places you’ve always hunted provides you with years of insightful knowledge of the landscape and animal movement. Hunting new areas provide you ...
World Record Bulls: The Top 5 Typical Archery Elk
There are big bull elk. Then there are really big, world-record-class bull elk. The Pope and Young Club awards North America’s finest archery-killed wapiti by size in two categories: typical or symmetrical antlers and non-typical or unsymmetrical ...
Trophy Elk: The Top 5 Non Typical Archery Bulls of All Time
An archery stalk on any elk is no easy task, but getting bow-and-arrow close to the biggest bull elk in the world is another thing altogether. Elk are uber wary, have highly evolved senses, and tend to vanish if they even think something isn’t right. ...
World Record Whitetail: The Top 5 Non-Typical Archery Bucks
No big game animal causes more American hunters to burn vacation days and abandon all adult responsibilities than whitetail deer. From New England to Florida, New Jersey to Montana, and in all the bread-basket, rust-belt, and Great Plains states in ...
World Record Whitetail: The Top 5 Typical Archery Bucks
There are non-typical whitetail deer with racks that are mind-blowingly massive, almost alien sculptures of bone. Typical whitetails are not that. Typicals are the clean, symmetrical, even “ideal” headgear that most hunters imagine when they think of ...
So You Want to Shoot an Archery World Record?
Potential world record big game animals exist no matter your home range. (There’s a freak in every crowd.) But some regions are just downright better than others when producing archery world-record animals. What makes these places so unique? No one ...
How to Score a Bull Elk
You just sent an arrow through the bull of a lifetime. The adrenaline has finally subsided. Your hands stop shaking. You realize when your buddy said, “He’s big,” it was a goddamn understatement. You grab an immense G4. It’s nearly as thick as a soda ...
How to Score Whitetail and Mule Deer Trophies
After you’ve taken down a giant whitetail or mule deer there’s a moment when the adrenaline subsides, your hands stop shaking, and you’re able to start forming complete sentences again. As you take hold of the rack with both hands, the siren song of ...
Hunter Shoots Possible Lightning-Struck Elk in Montana
Minnesota native Brandon Dahring shot the first elk of his archery hunting career late last month in Montana. Of all the shot scenarios that played out in his head before the trip, he never imagined his 300 feet-per-second arrow finishing the job ...
What a Hunting Plan for Out-of-State DIY Whitetail Quests Should Include
Traveling to hunt whitetails is an incredible way to experience new places, chase bigger deer, have a great time with friends, and grow as a whitetail hunter. I started traveling to hunt in 2014 when I first went to Ohio with my Dad and friends, and ...
5 Sleeper Public Land Whitetail States You Don’t Want to Miss in October
When it comes to chasing whitetail with a bow, October is where it’s at. Many states open archery season on Oct. 1, and the early states with openers in September see a marked decline in hunters afield when Gametober rolls around. So pack the truck, ...
The Current Status of Gray Wolves and Hunting in the US
Just 10 months after delisting gray wolves under the Endangered Species Act and then upholding that decision less than a month ago, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has caved to petitions from animal-rights activists. The agency has kicked off a ...