Other than the deep, guttural bugle of a bull elk, nothing rattles my bones and sends chills running up and down my spine like the gobble of Eastern turkeys. God gave these birds remarkable voice boxes, and they know how to use them. If you've been ...
Birds
Where The Light Shines In: A US Marine’s First Turkey Hunt in Montana
“Should we take the bird to the truck and start cleaning it; maybe get ready for the guys to return?” Andy asked me. “How about we just sit here and look at Montana,” I said. The thought of it being okay to be in the moment caused half a ...
Turkey Hunting Gear: New Stuff You Just Have to Have for the Spring
Turkey hunting is a gear-heavy habit, and I love it. Over the years, I’ve amassed more than enough turkey tackle to take on birds anywhere in North America. Each spring, however, I seem to find an item or three — new gear releases or old ones I ...
New SITKA Turkey Hunting Gear for 2022
SITKA Gear just released a long-awaited clothing system for turkey hunters: the brand new Equinox Turkey Collection. The new product line includes a minimalist vest for run-and-gun turkey hunters, plus a hoodie, pants, and gloves with built-in insect ...
Escarole and Beans With Smoked Wild Turkey Wings
Italian greens and beans is a dish that feels like home. This hearty Italian dish is a soup of bitter greens, aka escarole or endive (think swiss chard), and white beans, mopped up with a good piece of bread, is exactly what I want in the ...
Duck Boats You Should Totally Buy, From Functional to Fully Tricked Out
Duck hunting presents three big problems to overcome: getting to your duck spot, retrieving the ducks you shot, and hiding from the ducks still circling overhead. Duck boats typically solve the first two problems, but some badass boats solve all ...
Goose Hunting: Kill Late-Season Public Land Canada Geese
I cut my hunting teeth decoying Canada geese in the ag fields that surrounded my Coorado home. Not including the frostbite, and not having the right gear (which always sucks), I can't think of any better way to have spent my high school and college ...
Dozens of Duck Hunting Deaths and Near Misses Reported This Season
It’s been a rough season for duck hunters. During another year of changing migrations, extreme weather conditions have led to lots of close calls and even a few fatalities for duck hunters trying to tag out. It’s also led to some tight spots and ...
Ohio Turkey Hunters May See Major Cuts to 2022 Fall Season
Ohio turkey hunters could see a major cut to their 2022 fall season. At an Ohio Wildlife Council meeting on Jan. 12, wildlife biologists with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources recommended shortening the Buckeye State’s fall turkey ...
6 Simple Steps for Duck Hunting Creeks: Guns, Gear, and Tactics
Waterfowl hunting is some of the most fun that a guy or gal can have in the outdoors, and puddle ducks are some of the tastiest critters on the planet. Yet the barrier to entry to waterfowl hunting seems huge if you don’t have big water flowing ...
Underdogs: 4 Hunting Dogs That Beat Death and Got Back in the Field
Americans love their underdogs. The comeback story is an age-old reminder that you can’t count someone out till the final whistle, bell, buzzer, or fat lady dropping the mic. Of course, some of the best comeback stories aren’t about people. In ...
The 8 Greatest Hunting Dog Breeds of All Time
When it comes to flushing birds, retrieving waterfowl, treeing big cats, or tracking wild game, every hunter has a dog in the fight. Many hunting dog breeds are absolute killers when it comes to the chase that’s coursed through their veins for ...
Banded Birds: Why Leg Bands are More Than Mere Hunting Trophies
For serious waterfowlers, few things are more exhilarating than your retriever returning to the blind with a bird bearing bling on its landing gear. Taking banded birds is a rare thing; it’s the waterfowler’s equivalent of dropping a 150-class ...
Ducks and Coffee: Three Days in Oklahoma With FowlCo Outfitters
Watching the horizon turn from darkness to a mixture of piercing pinks and oranges reminds me of sunrises over the Carolinas’ intercoastal waterway. The way the nearly-neon colors push the night’s cloud coverage away to reveal a sky so brilliantly ...
Cold Weather Duck Hunting Gear That Will Keep You Warm and Shooting
After a long, cold boat ride, we broke ice in the hole. Then, my host dropped me, outfitted in waders, by an oak tree in waist-deep water. “Don’t fall in,” he said as I was halfway out of the boat. “It’s 45 minutes to the ramp. You’ll be dead ...
Mississippi Duck Hunting Victory: Public Land Buffer Zone Rejected
Public land hunters scored a victory last week when the Mississippi Wildlife Commission withdrew a proposal that would have eliminated 40 acres of prime waterfowl country. Partially located in the Malmaison Wildlife Management Area of ...
Blood & Feathers: Wildlife Conservation and Fashion’s Lust for Birds
The stench of death loomed. Bombs exploded. Shots echoed along the street. Last words were forced from blood-stained lips, “Sophie dear! Don’t die! Stay alive for our children!” War dawned on the horizon. Gavrilo Princip steered Europe into conflict. ...
A Thanksgiving Duck Hunt Miracle
The Thanksgiving hunt, a red-letter event for so many hunters who look forward to the field before a day of food and family bonding, is a touchy subject at my house. I don’t hunt on Thanksgiving, nor on the day or two before. My wife, raised in ...
Poutine Recipe Twist: Use Wild Turkey Wing Meat and an Air Fryer
While french fries and hot gravy have been an American staple since at least the 1950s, it was our neighbors to the north who perfected it. French-Canadians began embellishing simple deep fried potatoes by adding not only gravy but also cheese curds ...
Wild Turkey Recipe: Buffalo-Style Smoked Wing Dip
Most turkey hunters don’t take the time to clean and cook the wings from a bird. Honestly, it's hard to blame them. Of all the potentially edible meat that is sometimes left in the woods, the meat on wild turkey wings is among the most forgivable ...
The John Oliver Duck Stamps Segment is Good News for Hunters
Love him or hate him, John Oliver just did something amazing for wildlife conservation with a segment about duck stamps and a message that absolutely deserves to be shouted from the rooftops. Through his television show, Last Week Tonight with John ...
Are Regs To Blame for Plummeting Turkey Populations?
The Ohio DNR is ruffling some feathers with a recommended change to turkey hunting for 2022 due to dropping wild turkey populations. A proposal to decrease the spring gobbler bag limit from two toms to one is currently up for approval by the Ohio ...
Waterfowl Starter Kit: Everything You Need to Slay Ducks and Geese
If you’ve been meaning to try waterfowling and you’ve done your preliminary YouTube research on hunting ducks and geese, you can be forgiven for thinking the endeavor requires a trailer of gear, a hiding place for 12 or 13 of your closest friends, ...
Underdog Game Recipe: How to Make Amazing Sea Duck Mole Tacos
I’m a huge advocate for the underdogs of the wild game cooking scene. Organs, tough cuts, and other maligned meats are written off by many hunters who lack the ability and imagination to go beyond the familiar. But even my fancy ass can’t deny that ...
Upland Hunting Starter Kit: Gun, Boots, Vest, and Skills
Upland hunting requires learning two skills: walking and shooting. You should already know how to walk. Then you give yourself over to the nose of a dog. That’s all there is to it. Get the gun and boots right, add a blaze orange vest to carry ammo ...
Cheesy Good Classic Wild Dove Poppers
For years, I avoided wild-game poppers. I thought they were pretty unimaginative. Deep down, I knew they were delicious, but the cliche appetizer wasn’t the kind of thing I got excited about. But as the dove breasts in my freezer reached the verge of ...
Field to Table: Biscuits and Wild Turkey Gravy
Biscuits and wild turkey gravy opened my eyes to the possibilities of wild-game cooking. I shot a bird that morning, and I decided to cook it up for a staff meal at the restaurant where I worked. My not-so-outdoorsy co-workers hammered it, then ...
Off Script Q&A with Lee Kjos: Outdoor Photographer, Waterfowl Legend
“Way back when I was a 20-year-old snot-nosed kid, I could have photographed the Allman Brothers. But an early cold front sent a wad of mallards south from Saskatchewan the morning prior. “Had plans to shoot Willie Nelson at the Saint ...
DIY Public Land .410 Turkey Slam in the First 2 Weeks of Turkey Season
Seth Gebo wasn’t planning to pull off one of the hardest things in turkey hunting. He connected with an Osceola in Florida on a buddy hunt a few days into the season. Then the lightbulb went off. With some last-minute plane tickets and a few hundred ...
Discover the Life-Altering, Mind-Melting Power of a Wild Turkey Cheesesteak
A good cheesesteak will make you question your whole life and then scoop another dollop of Cheez Whiz. It's like driving too fast or smoking a cigarette — part of the appeal is flirting with the inevitable. It’s not a matter of if it will kill you, ...
