A monster bull elk tentatively tallying 455 inches could be the largest to ever come from the Keystone State. When the elk, shot last October, is officially scored next July, it will likely rank sixth overall in the Boone and Crockett record books ...
Big Game
Speak Elk: The 3 Elk Calls You Need to Hunt and Kill Big Bulls
Elk are big, regal, and majestic. They taste incredible, their antlers are remarkable, and they live in storied country: dark timber patches, unsullied alpine meadows, aspen-sprinkled hillsides. They are magical, mythical animals to observe and to ...
Michigan’s “Do Not Eat” Deer Advisory Questions Safety of Venison
With deer season on the horizon, Michigan hunters need to heed a new advisory: Do not eat any deer killed within three miles of Clark’s Marsh in Iosco County. This area has been similarly restricted for several years, and while the advisory ...
Tule Elk Hemmed in by High Fence Are Languishing in California Drought
A string of nearly 100 volunteers hiked 350 gallons of water more than three miles on Saturday, Aug. 28, in an attempt to save a suffering herd of tule elk. The water was brought to a dying pond within California's Point Reyes National Seashore, an ...
5 Ways To Avoid a Grizzly Bear Attack and How To Survive One
The sun warms your shoulders as you adjust your pack and make your way down a path strewn with pine needles. It’s only a bit wider than a well-used game trail, perfect for a solitary hike through the backcountry. As you crest the ridge, ready to rest ...
Alaska Woman Shoots Record Caribou on Solo Hunt 4 Months After Bear Attack
It’s said that when you get thrown by a horse, the only way to get past the fear of being thrown again is to get back on that same damn horse. But what do you do to get over fear after a bear has attacked you on a hunt in the Alaskan ...
Unarmed Cali Mom Attacks Mountain Lion To Save Her 5-Year-Old Son
A 65-pound mountain lion thought it grabbed some easy prey last week when it blitzed a 5-year-old boy in his front yard near Calabasas, California — that is until it met the boy’s mother. The mother went completely adrenaline-filled apex predator ...
6 Fatal North American Bear Attacks in 2021: Is This the New Normal?
After months of pandemic-enforced confinement, thousands of Americans and Canadians have sought relief this year in the outdoors, resulting in overcrowding at national parks and an increase in human encounters with wildlife. Some people walk away ...
Bowhunting Elk: 7 Last-Minute Efforts That Can Improve Your Chances
The bugling was nearly constant as my guide made cow calls, and I cracked sticks to impersonate live elk. It took at least 10 minutes, but our ploy was more than the satellite bull could stand. With the wind blowing in our faces, the bull cruised ...
Pronghorn Hunting: The 5 Best States for Speed Goats
No animal embodies the spirit of the American West like the pronghorn. Though tawny in build, these fleet-footed plains dwellers are hearty critters, and thanks to sound management practices across the Western US, populations are thriving. Their ...
‘Rona Deer: USDA Study Finds COVID-19 in Whitetail Population
A disturbing number of whitetail deer are testing positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, according to a study done by the Department of Agriculture. So far, the CDC has not declared mask mandates for wildlife. Even though it ...
Elk Hunting on Public Land: How To Build a 3-Year Strategy for a New Area
Public-land elk hunting is hard. The average success rate is below 10%, yet more and more hunters head West to give it a shot every year. Some find success in year one, but most don’t. That's why I like to utilize a three-year strategy when ...
Wild Game Recipes: 5 Ways To Make Freezer Space for Hunting Season
As summer days dwindle, so does the cache of wild game meat in my freezer. By August, all the backstraps, inner loins, and other prime cuts are gone. Less desired cuts sit on a lonely shelf or two like sad emo kids at a high school dance: the shank ...
Add Core Training to Your Rucking Routine for Elk Hunting Prep
September is so close you can almost hear the bugling of a bull elk in the distance. If all goes to plan, you’ll be hiking that big boy out of the mountains in quarters. You’ve been rucking to prepare, but adding some simple core training will have ...
Elk Hunting Returns to Virginia for First Time Since the Mid-1800s
Local landowners, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF) volunteers, and the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources have worked for decades to bring elk back to the Old Dominion State. That work has paid off. For the first time in at least 166 ...
A Conversation With Big-Game Hunter Britt Longoria
Some people are born with an untamable wanderlust and thirst for adventure, such that no conventional office job or traditional nine-to-five will ever satisfy them. Britt Longoria embodies this mentality. Raised on the southern coast of Maine, she ...
Get Dialed In on OTC Tags While Waiting for That Dream Draw Tag
The bugling just didn’t stop. I’m not exactly sure how many bulls there were altogether, but there were a bunch, all competing for volume. Throughout the morning I saw two bulls and almost had as many shot opportunities. I chased bugles until noon ...
Grizzly Bear Lured by Improper Food Storage, Camper Fined $6,000
Close encounters between campers and grizzly bears rarely end well, especially when food and garbage are involved. On July 20, an Idaho woman, Belinda J. Arvidson, was fined almost $6,000 after it was determined she “failed to properly store food and ...
750-Pound Bull Moose Removed From Colorado Parking Garage
What happens when a moose decides a parking garage is its new hangout? Well, for this 750-pound bull, it meant getting a free ride to a new location about 130 miles away. Why? The young animal — estimated to be between 2 and 3 years old — was ...
How To Make Bear Brats
We sat under an old blue tarp trying to stay dry in a stout rain while glassing a narrow drainage in the Bitterroots. I had just killed a good bear in Idaho a few days before and pressed on into Montana hoping to tag No. 2. “What are you going to do ...
New Jersey Effectively Shuts Down Bear Hunting for 2021
Anti-hunting activists have won their long battle to ban bear hunting in New Jersey, at least for this coming 2021 season. New Jersey, known more for turnpikes and urban sprawl, has the densest black bear population in the country, according ...
WATCH: Grizzly Bear Versus Wolves
As far as who-would-win fights go, a scrap between a big-ass grizzly bear and a pack of wolves rates right up there at the top. Except we know the answer to this one. Bears and wolves generally don’t mess with each other unless food forces their ...
6% of Incorrect Americans Say They Could Beat a Grizzly Hand-to-Hand
I'll admit, after a beer or two, my perception of my own strength and toughness can get a bit inflated. But I can recall no time in my life when I’ve ever considered myself more than a would-be morsel to a 600-pound fur-covered battering ram with ...
1st Female Grizzly in 40 Years Collared in Washington
When it comes to playing hard to get, female grizzlies in Washington state are pros. In 40 years of tracking grizzly bears as part of recovery efforts in the Evergreen State, US Fish and Wildlife Service officials have captured and collared four ...
Montana Grizzly That Pulled Woman From Tent and Killed Her is Dead
A 65-year-old California woman was pulled from her tent in the middle of the night and mauled to death by a grizzly in Ovando, Montana. Officials reported Friday morning that they have located and killed the bear. According to The Associated ...
Search Continues for Suspect Who Decapitated Yellowstone Grizzly Bear
If you stumbled upon a dead grizzly, would you chop off its head and paws? Someone did just that, and state and federal authorities are trying to determine who. In June, a 25-year-old male Yellowstone grizzly bear dubbed No. 394 was found dead ...
Alaska Seeks Volunteers for Moose Roadkill Program
Starting Thursday, you could help clean roadkill moose off Alaskan highways and fill your freezer at the same time. Since the Alaska Moose Federation closed in November 2020, Kenai Peninsula charities and other organizations have been tasked with ...
Confessions of a First-Time Mountain Hunter
I thought I’d trained and prepared enough for this hunt. I was very wrong. Like many outdoorsmen, I’ve long entertained aspirations of hunting big game—elk, bear, sheep—in the mountainous backcountry. I envisioned loading up my pack with a week’s ...
The Bear: Hunting Ursa Major in the Idaho Wilderness
We saw him the first night. Kurtis sat with his bow. The bear stood motionless in the alders. Quarters like tree stumps anchored him to this steep side of the mountain. His rough coat cut a saw-blade silhouette in the dying light. He had no neck and ...
Wild Goats: Four Feral Hunts for the People
Ibex in Spain. Markhor in Pakistan. Tur in Azerbaijan. Hunts for Capra are some of the wildest, rarest, most expensive, and most sought-after mountain adventures on Planet Earth. Tags are limited. Logistics are complicated. Costs can rival the price ...
