The Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission recently took significant steps to reverse the downward trending turkey population in the state. In a decision that seems in step with national conservation momentum, the 2023 Tennessee turkey season will ...
Latest Articles
From Factory To Fire: The Journey of Valley Forge Flags
Every step of this story is true. It was an early morning in Smoaks, South Carolina, and humidity hung in the air. A truck pulled into the Valley Forge Flag driveway, a facility whose sole purpose is flag production. Valley Forge has ...
Senators Reach Deal on Bipartisan Gun Control Legislation ‘Framework’
There was much talk in the media last week of secret Senate negotiations that could lead to bipartisan gun control legislation as the House passed an expansive and destined-to-fail package of firearm restrictions. On Sunday, June 12, a group of 20 ...
Sitka Unveils ‘Most Advanced’ Insulated Jacket and Hoodie Line
Every hunter can attest to just how miserable a day in the field can be if you don’t have the right layers. A shell that sheds water when it’s pouring, moisture-wicking base layers for frigid pre-dawn hikes, or an insulated jacket that’s easy on/easy ...
How to Pack for Wet Weather and Stay as Dry as Possible
“Water is the universal solvent. Give it enough time and it will cut through anything.” Remember your high school science teacher telling you this? It’s true, water will cut through everything if you give it long enough. It also doesn't take long ...
House Passes Expansive Gun Control Bill That Will Likely Die in Senate
In the wake of the tragic murders at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, the House voted Wednesday 223-204 to pass an expansive gun control bill dubbed the “Protecting Our Kids Act.” The measure includes a series of bills that would ...
Got a Few Million to Blow? Check Out These 7 Dream Hunting Properties
If you do any sort of hunting, the dream of owning a patch of wild game heaven has absolutely crossed your mind. Whether you’re a diehard whitetail hunter in the East or Midwest, if you chase elk and muleys in the West, or if you haunt cut corn and ...
3-Year-Old Boy Found After 2 Days Lost in Montana Wilderness
Spending a single night alone and lost in the Montana wilderness wearing just pajamas would be a harrowing experience for most adults. A 3-year-old surviving in those circumstances for two full days is simply unfathomable. That’s exactly the ...
16 Gauge: What The Cool Kids Are Shooting
After decades of decline and neglect, the 16-gauge is getting a lot of attention right now; it’s the in gauge. I recently told a friend who is a double-gun expert that I was trying to talk myself into a 16, but I couldn’t find a reason. Stuck in a ...
Fatherhood, Sammy Hagar, and Salmon Fishing in Alaska
My son, Cam, had a pretty short list of what he wanted out of our trip to Alaska. “I just want to see one bear,” he said. “If nothing else happens and I see a bear, I’ll be happy.” Running a jet boat back down the Naknek River toward camp ...
Don’t Screw Up Father’s Day: Get Dad Cool Stuff He’ll Actually Use
Shopping for Father’s Day is hard. It’s tempting to just get dad a gimmicky barbecue tool that will be used once before getting hung in the garage for the next decade. Or maybe a new pair of Crocs. But, this year, you don’t have to be that lame. ...
A Stick-To-Your-Ribs Wild Game Shepherd’s Pie Recipe
Difficulty: EasyPrep Time: 30 minutesCook Time: 45 minutesServes: 2 – 4 Shepherd's pie is one of those dishes that’s worth more than the sum of its parts. Sure, ground meat, mixed vegetables, and mashed potatoes are great on their own, but ...
How to Identify Wild Medicinal, Useful, and Edible Plants
In my opinion, one of the most impressive survival skills one can possess is knowledge of wild edible plants. I know I know, a picture of a leaf or bark on Instagram isn’t going to garner as many likes as a shiny new knife, a “one, reload, one” ...
Stonehenge Dig Reveals 400 Ancient Deer and Boar Hunting Pits
Stonehenge has long been known as the site of burial rites from the mysterious days of prehistory, but it turns out that this famed location on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, still has secrets to reveal about its deep past. About 5,000 years ...
Davy Crockett: The Man Who Showed Us The Way
I think almost every kid on the planet had a coonskin cap growing up. It may have been for a Halloween costume, a brief phase or, at least for me, a precursor to a life as an outdoorsman. The coonskin cap has become an iconic symbol of the ...
5 Tips for Surviving a Dog Attack From a Secret Service K-9 Handler
Marshall Mirarchi knows a thing or two about surviving a dog attack. He’s a former US Secret Service Special Operations Officer and the handler of Hurricane, a Distinguished Service Medal recipient. He recently told Free Range American that he’s ...
The Origins of Memorial Day, from Decoration Day to ‘Flags In’
In front of a grave marked with spring flowers and a small American flag, Gilbert Freer held his bugle at his side. He had just finished playing taps at Mount Hope Cemetery in Boston on May 30, 1868. Freer had stubbly facial hair, but his ...
Take The 72-Hour Power Outage Challenge, Home Edition
One of my favorite books is “One Second After” by William Forstchen. The short novel tells the tale of a small-town family dealing with the effects of the power grid going down, most likely from an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) blast over the ...
Mahi-Mahi: So Strong They Say It Twice
In Hawaiian, mahi-mahi means “very strong” — but through a linguistic process called reduplication, the Hawaiian people say the word twice to signify greater intensity. In other words, these fish will beat you up. Mahi-mahi, aka ...
Specialist Dogs Are Kicking The Hell Out of Rhino Poachers in Africa
Experts say rhinos are teetering on the brink of extinction, with 27,000 of the animals left on the entire planet. In Africa, the stakes are life and death for people defending their homeland by battling rhino poachers who would kill the few ...
7 Bear Attacks So Far in 2022: Two Attacks Since Fatal Army Base Mauling
When a freak bear attack claimed the life of a paratrooper stationed at Alaska’s Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) and injured another on May 10, it became the seventh bear attack reported in the US in 2022 so far, and the first to be ...
Army Chinooks, USAF PJs, Park Rangers Rescue Hikers on Mount Rainier
He was trapped in an ice crevasse knifed into the side of Mount Rainier, his arm and leg busted, his buddy nearly eight stories above him getting whipped by winds blasting the snowy ridge at 50 knots. But he had excellent cell phone service. And ...
The Molotov Cocktail: How They’re Made and Defending Against Them
Throwing a Molotov cocktail against a buttoned-up tank means that somebody might eventually repaint the tank. Throwing one against an unarmored civilian vehicle — if you don’t break a window — means the owner is going to be incredibly annoyed and the ...
The 5 Most Original and Futuristic Weapons Ever Created for Combat
China and Russia are designing new, futuristic weapons that can supposedly take down an entire aircraft carrier anywhere in the world or zoom past American radar and detection defenses. These innovations are just the latest in the long human history ...
The Fallacy of the ‘If You Had Only One Survival Tool’ Debate
I’ve been a professional survival instructor since 2007. Before that, I worked as a canoeing and kayaking outfitter from 1998 to 2006. I’ve seen the booming interest in survival television shows, the popularity of survival gear surge in retail ...
Bring Firearms Inside: Most Stolen Guns Taken From Unattended Vehicles
For a lot of gun owners, a thief stealing one of their firearms and then later finding out their gun was used in a crime is at the top of their potential worst-case scenarios list. While many people prepare for a gun theft from the home by dropping a ...
Inside Black Rifle Coffee’s Veteran Adaptive Athlete Archery Shoot
Standing on the backside of the bass pond at the Black Rifle Coffee Company Ranch near San Antonio, Texas, the 7-foot foam Sasquatch target was laser-ranged at 106 yards. We were halfway through the 15-target Veteran Adaptive Athlete Shoot, or VAAS, ...
‘Revision of a Man’: Army Vet Tackles Modern Manliness With Poetry
Editor's Note: Here at FRA, we are a small but aggressive team. We're like a race car that we’re building while it zips around the track. Extending that analogy, Matt Smythe is the wheels: He is the primary point of contact between our edit team and ...
New California Bill Takes Aim at Wild Pig Hunting, Again
On the heels of a recent resounding win for bear hunting in California, a less-than-stellar wild pig hunting bill is currently with the state's Senate Appropriations Committee. According to a letter to the Senate Natural Resources committee signed ...
Where Does the $9K Trijicon REAP IR 60mm Rank Among Rifle Optics?
The world of rifle optics is deep and wide. There is a piece of glass for pretty much anything that goes boom. Some high-end and some bargain-basement options with everything else in between. It can be difficult sometimes though to pick just which ...
