Sexism and ill-suited clothing didn’t stop these four 19th-century women from achieving greatness in mountaineering. One climbed two dozen peaks that hadn’t yet been named, most of them while wearing a wool skirt. Another bicycled up mountains ...
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A Vegan Hunter and Her First Deer Kill
G is a vegan. Her kids and my kids became friends at Montessori. On our first few play dates, we talked a lot about meat, about hunting, about her experience training as a veterinarian in factory farms. We talked about killing, and sadness, and ...
When an Archery Pronghorn Hunt Goes Wrong
Sitting in the cab of Miles Fedinec’s pickup, beside a dirt road on a high sage flat in western Colorado, I can see through binoculars a pronghorn buck. He’s a half-mile away, standing in the 94-degree heat, and my arrow is pinned ...
2020 FRA Holiday Gift Guide: The Fishing Wish List
The holiday shopping season is in full swing, and for outdoors enthusiasts that means one thing: new gear. New gear to gift our buddies who fish and hunt. New gear to put in our own letters to Santa. This year, FRA decided to go big and asked three ...
How Shooting an MP5 Can Make You a Better Archer
Whenever learning a new discipline or teaching a first-timer how to do something, the most important thing is finding a way to relate to the individual. If someone can tie a new task to something they know well, it invariably “clicks” in a way that ...
The Art of Conservation: Yeti Presents ‘Wild Sheep’
“There is no half way. After his first exposure, a man is either a sheep hunter or he isn’t. He either falls under the spell of sheep hunting and sheep country or he won’t be caught dead on another sheep mountain.” — Jack O’Connor This book is for ...
The San Diego Bottom Scratchers: The Men Who Hunted Sharks Barehanded
All 19 members of the San Diego Bottom Scratchers are dead. At the bottom of the ocean, a few hundred yards northwest of Boomer Beach and the Point in La Jolla, is an underground cemetery of tombstones and rock cairns. Inscribed are the names of some ...
Best of the West: ‘Wyatt Earp’ vs. ‘Tombstone’
Back in the 1990s, a weird thing happened in Hollywood. Movies with incredibly similar plots were made and released at almost the same time — with one inevitably tanking and the other being a box office smash. We're talking about 'Wyatt Earp' and ...
How to Prepare a Wild Turkey Thanksgiving
I was patiently sitting, hands nipped with cold, listening to my own breath and the occasional squeak sqwuak eek eek from Chad Mendes as he made turkey calls in the Kansas morning frost. We sat for hours, listening to the echoes of gobbles from ...
How the Hunter Recruitment Project Recruits New (Adult) Hunters
Have you wanted to get into hunting but didn’t have anyone to take you growing up? Did you hunt a few times in your early years with friends and family but became overwhelmed by the unending number of questions, such as What camouflage do I buy? Do I ...
American Woman Free Climbs Yosemite’s El Capitan in One Day
While most Americans remained glued to the news, watching the presidential election results slowly roll in during the wee hours of Nov. 4, American climber Emily Harrington was hard at work adding her own personal mark to a historic week, becoming ...
Country Rocker Tim Montana Drops New EP, ‘Cars on Blocks’
Country rocker Tim Montana today dropped Cars on Blocks, his new four-song EP and label debut after recently signing to Music Knox Records/BBR Music Group. Chiefly considered a country rocker, Tim Montana is a Renaissance man, moonlighting as a TV ...
The 10 Best Holiday Adventure Movies We All Need to Learn From
There’s just something about holiday movies. They’re like holiday music. After about 10 minutes, you’ve had enough for the whole year already and you have a weird urge to shove that candy cane you’ve licked into a sharp point right into your ear. ...
Wildfires, Hunting, and Fishing: How the Fires Will Change Your Next Trip
I’m beyond angry. I’m pissed off, standing with two US Forest Service employees while my good friend and hunting partner Anthony Noriega, almost a mile away and 1,000 feet higher than us, inspects the ruins of a man-made fire high in the Idaho ...
How To Deal with Trespassers on Private Hunting Land
Realizing that someone has been trespassing on your hunting property is not a good feeling. This year after gaining permission to hunt a piece of land, I went to scout it in preparation for a friend coming to hunt. There were multiple trail cameras ...
Super Meat: Fortify Ground Beef with Game Liver
Nose-to-tail or holistic eating has gained momentum in culinary and hunting communities recently, but we humans have been eating organ meats since we first started walking upright. Organs are the most nutrient-dense part of the body, so it makes ...
FRA Holiday Gift Guide: Fitness
Get a start on your New Year’s resolution by stacking cutting-edge fitness gear under the Christmas tree, with some hints from this Free Range American holiday gift guide. More of us are training at home these days, so we’ve put together a ...
10 of the Best Western Movies Ever Made
Few genres have captivated the public more than the Western. Originating during the silent film era of the late 19th century, it quickly became America’s most beloved and popular film genre early in the 20th century. Westerns weren’t just the ...
The 2-Continent Photography Escapades of Martin and Osa Johnson
Martin and Osa Johnson relied on Boculy, the elephant tracker who joined them on many of their African safaris. They sometimes referred to him as the “Little Brother of the Elephant” because he knew the precise locations of the elephants no matter ...
Lift Dirty: How to Program for Results
This is part 3 in our Lift Dirty series. Part 1 is on what building materials and construction equipment make the best workout gear, and part 2 explains how to set up a dirty home gym. In gyms throughout the world, you will find hundreds of ...
Big Wave Surfing: An American Just Rode One of the Biggest in Surf History
Big wave surfing walls as tall as a seven-story building is a dangerous and complicated business. Mason Barnes is in that business. And business is good. In October off the coast of Portugal, Hurricane Epsilon combined with a low-pressure system ...
Adventure Dogs: Here’s How to Pick the Right One
Whether you’re hiking a new trail, sleeping under the stars, or casting a line for hidden fish, any outdoor adventure is always better with your best friend. While human friends may scoff at the idea of walking several miles in the rain, the right ...
Muskie Fishing: Fish of a Lifetime on Ontario’s Pipestone Lake
It was only a matter of time before someone hooked into a monster. That someone happened to be my uncle. While leisurely patrolling patches of weeds sprouting inside a shallow bay, he saw a fish — a BIG fish — swimming away from the boat. Without ...
Lift Dirty: How To Set Up a Construction Equipment Gym
This is part 2 in our Lift Dirty series, which focuses on setting up an exercise space. Part 1 discussed what building materials and construction equipment makes the best workout gear. Dirty gym equipment is heavy and awkward and usually makes a ...
Photo Essay: Elk Hunting Sucks, or The Life of an OTC Archery Hunter
For the last four years, I have been archery hunting Colorado’s over-the-counter, or OTC, units for bull elk — with mixed results. OTC means the elk tags are sold to the general public literally over the counter, anywhere you can buy a Colorado ...
Meet Morgan Mason, BHA’s New Armed Forces Initiative Coordinator
Morgan Mason has done a lot. The Kansas farmboy went overseas for the invasion of Iraq as an intelligence analyst with the US Army. After returning home, he bummed around the Rocky Mountains — and Baja, Mexico — hopping between various outdoor jobs. ...
Relax in the Shot: Tension Only Magnifies a Miss
It happens to every hunter and every target shooter: A particularly difficult target presents itself, and the stakes are high. Naturally, you make an effort to try harder, to bear down and concentrate — to not fuck it up. But those who know, know ...
The Trailblazer Who Pioneered Prospecting in the Canadian Wilderness
Conformity wasn’t an accepted word in the vocabulary of Kate Rice. The blond beauty had all the basics and intangibles to lead a safe and risk-averse life. She was born to wealthy parents, but her father, Henry Lincoln Rice, may be to blame for ...
Mountain Goat Backstrap Over an Open Fire
In September, Cole Kramer and I guided a mountain goat hunt on the savage landscape of Kodiak Island, Alaska. The best part — or one of the best parts — was backstrap over an open fire. After several long days and cold evenings spent trudging over ...
Lift Dirty for Strength: Use Construction Equipment for Serious to Gains
Everything you need to get big is sitting in your garage. Lift dirty for strength by repurposing these common building materials, even if you don’t have everything on the list. Most of this material can be purchased for relatively little money at any ...