If the black bear population in Alberta, Canada, isn’t managed, the animals can destroy a farmer's fields in the spring with surprising speed. They can also do significant damage to the young spring progeny of ungulates in a given area if there are ...
Hunting & Fishing
Potential World-Record Lake Trout Caught in Colorado – First Look!
Scott Enloe caught what is likely the new all-tackle world-record lake trout in Colorado on May 5 — it’s almost certainly a state-record fish. The absurdly huge laker weighed in at 73.29 pounds and measured a stunning 47 inches long with a 37-inch ...
American Bear Foundation: Heroes for Bears
American Bear Foundation founder and president Joe Kondelis is just a regular average-Joe kind of guy, the kind of guy you could sit with, drink a beer, and shoot the shit. It’s a cliché, but in this case, it’s the truth. In fact, his day job has him ...
Watch Spearfishing Champ Justin Lee in ‘By Way of Black Sands’
Justin Lee knows precisely who he is: a spearfishing champion, bowhunter, conservationist, and dedicated family man. Studded with jaw-dropping images of Hawaii’s wild places and narrated by Lee himself, SITKA Films’ new feature By Way of Black Sands ...
A Rock-Solid Turkey Vest Carries More Than Calls and Shells
This post contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you buy through these links. I first hit the turkey woods in the mid-1980s, trudging along in too-big boots and mismatched camo, trying to keep pace with my dad as he moved through ...
The Turkey Shotgun: What You Want in a Dedicated Gobbler Getter
Shotguns have a well-deserved reputation for being jacks of all trades. They are probably the most versatile firearms on the planet. When paired with the right ammo, a single good scattergun can drop everything from tiny upland quail to big burly ...
Women’s Warrior Retreats: Pushing Female Bowhunters Further
March 8 is International Women’s Day, which gives Free Range American a rad excuse to celebrate one of the badass females who are totally killing it in the hunting and outdoors industry. Krys Cook, owner and founder of The Ranch in Julian, ...
Fee Hikes for Wyoming Nonresident Special Tags Explained
A bill passed in the Wyoming state legislature on Feb. 27, 2023, and signed by Gov. Mark Gordon on March 2 substantially increases the cost of the nonresident special draw fee but leaves regular nonresident draw fees unchanged. On the surface, it may ...
How to Handle Wolves in Colorado Remains Controversial
In November 2020, Colorado voters passed Proposition 114 as a ballot initiative; the measure requires Colorado Parks & Wildlife (CPW) to reintroduce wolves in northwestern Colorado before the end of 2023. As the deadline for reintroduction closes ...
Super Pigs: Huge Canadian Hybrid Hogs Poised to Invade U.S.
Massive, highly intelligent hybrid wild hogs — called “super pigs” — are running amok in the Canadian North, wreaking havoc and leaving massive destruction in their wake. Now, they’re threatening to invade the United States. Americans love a good ...
Senator Spends Night in Twitter Jail for Posting Hunting Photo
Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines of Montana landed in Twitter jail Monday evening after posting a photo on the social media platform. Twitter claimed he violated its “rules against graphic violence.” The offending image was of Daines and his wife, ...
Full Story: How Derek Wolfe Killed a Dog-Hunting Mountain Lion
Last week, former NFL defensive lineman and Super Bowl 50 champion Derek Wolfe killed his first-ever mountain lion with his bow and some help from a buddy’s hounds — and the cat is absolutely massive. The photo Wolfe posted to Instagram garnered ...
Why Theodore Roosevelt Was the Most Badass President Ever
Theodore Roosevelt faced life enthusiastically, and his go-get-em, never-back-down attitude took him from the New York legislature charging through the battlefields of the Spanish-American War and eventually into the White House. People may ...
Man Kills Kodiak Bear Inside Neighbor’s House with a 12-Gauge
For many serious big-game hunters, killing a Kodiak bear — the largest brown bear on Earth — is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Hunters often save for years and travel thousands of miles to check off this bucket-list experience. Retired ...
Jonathon Blank’s Epic Mountain Goat Hunt on Kodiak Island
Jonathon Blank slowly squeezed his rifle’s trigger. At more than 300 yards, his 7mm WSM bullet found its mark — a Kodiak Island mountain goat. It hit a touch behind the animal’s vitals. Within 3 seconds, Blank cycled the bolt and fired a follow-up ...
Hunting Backpacks That Don’t Suck: Gear Guide
You can whack the hell out of a screw with a hammer, but you’d be a lot better off using a screwdriver. Apply that same logic to hunting backpacks. Hunting backpacks are tools, and you want the right one for the job. You could, in theory, pack out an ...
New Jersey Hunting Season for Black Bears Is Back On!
UPDATE Dec. 7, 2022: The New Jersey hunting season for black bears is back after a brief delay. On Tuesday, Dec. 6 (a day after the season was originally scheduled to begin), the New Jersey Appellate Court dissolved a temporary stay on the ...
Can Deer See Orange? – Know Your Game
A wave of blaze orange sweeps the country every hunting season as some 11.4 million deer hunters hit the woods. Hunters invest tons of time, energy, money, and more than a few prayers into the sport, hoping to fill their tags. Many worry their ...
How To Choose the Best Fish Cleaning Table
Beyond essentials like a filet knife and a scaling tool, a dedicated fish cleaning table should be in every angler's arsenal. Catching fish is a lot more fun than cleaning fish, and at the end of the day, when you grab your stringer or pull up to the ...
Veteran Hunting and Fishing Organizations Making a Difference
Veteran mental health statistics in the U.S. are sobering. The rate of major depression is five times higher than it is among civilians, and the suicide rate is 57% greater. Many face more difficult battles than the ones they fought when they ...
Hunting Accident Roundup: Hunter Falls, Left Hanging by Boot
On Halloween night, a Texas bowhunter survived one of the most terrifying things that can happen to a hunter — he fell almost 20 feet from a treestand and wound up hanging upside down by his boot. It was a hunting accident that could easily have been ...
2 Racks, 1 Buck: Hunter Kills Whitetail With Deer Skull Hooked in Antlers
On Oct. 30, Mike Lewis, 52, shot a once-in-a-lifetime buck. It was a head-turner, not necessarily for his own rack, but because the buck was toting around some seriously hardcore headgear: Another buck’s antlers, with a decaying hunk of deer skull ...
Whitetail Institute: The Staying Power of the Food Plot King
Think back to when you were a young, full-of-piss-and-vinegar whitetail hunter. Now, think of all you've learned about this fascinating game animal over the years and how you've adapted your hunting techniques to help you be more ...
States Warn Hunters: Venison May Contain Forever Chemicals
Wildlife agencies across the country have issued warnings saying they’ve found dangerously high levels of PFAS, aka forever chemicals, in deer, fish, and other wildlife. As a result, several states, including Wisconsin, Michigan, and Maine, have ...
California Hog Hunting Regs Loosened as Pig Plague Continues
Feral pig populations across the country are going hog wild as both swine numbers and range continue to swell, and California hog hunting is expanding to meet the growing nuisance there. The state joins several others that have loosened hunting ...
ASA Archery: Everything You Need to Know to Start Shooting
Have you ever attended a 3D archery shoot? Many are held annually at both indoor and outdoor venues at local, regional, state, and national levels. While attending one or two a year is great, you might consider plugging into a circuit that holds many ...
Maine Moose Hunting Tradition Dying Due to Warmer Bull Seasons
As hunting season temps heat up, many are abandoning a somewhat quirky Maine moose hunting tradition for the sake of meat preservation. Hunters in much of the US typically quarter and pack out big game animals larger than deer; but most ...
Are Hunters Seeing Shortage of Ammo as Seasons Get Underway?
The ammo shortage that began with the global pandemic in 2020 left many hunters with empty rifles and shotguns last hunting season — or, at least, with a less-than-optimal load that likely cost three times what it did in the before-times. During ...
Essential Gear for Perfect Backcountry Coffee
It’s National Coffee Day, and with a “Buy One Get One 50% Sale” going on at BRCC, there’s never been a better time to stock up on the gear you need to make a perfect cup of backcountry coffee. There are 1,001 ways to make coffee on the mountain, but ...
Birth Control for Wild Horses: Drama in the American West
The drama of wild horses and burros in the American West is playing out like a Shakespeare tragedy. As drought continues to plague the region, the animals, whose populations are growing, must roam farther and farther in search of water while ...
