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--Chad Love

Sorry, Virginia hunters. It looks like the "peace and quiet" crowd has come out on top in your state's Sunday hunting debate.

From this story on gazettevirginian.com:

Rural Virginia will enjoy peace and quiet with respite from hunters for at least another year, after a House Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources subcommittee voted to table three bills that would have repealed or rolled back the state’s current ban on Sunday hunting. A member of that subcommittee, 60th District House representative James Edmunds, said Thursday there was a “tremendous amount of opposition” to Sunday hunting.
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By Colin Kearns & Michael R. Shea

We’re hungry, so let’s just get right to the fight. What’ll it be: Mike’s lasagna, or Colin’s fried fish and frogs?

No-Fuss Venison Lasagna

We’ve been cooking a lot of venison hamburger lately at the Shea-Nunez house. Earlier this week my girlfriend, Rocio, made this super-easy venison lasagna. And it was delicious. Here’s how she did it:
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by Tim Romano

We're going to start this week with--what should in time become regular updates for Tie Talk--a hand picked selection from my friend and flyrecipes.com founder Joe Mathis.

This week, Joe picked a fly that in my opinion, all trout fisherman should have in their box at all times: The Stimulator. This specific submission to flyrecipes.com was submitted by Juan Ramirez, a guide and tying instructor here in Colorado.

Juan's keen insights and notes on the "Stimi" are below. Click here to see the step-by-step instructions and tying steps with photos.

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by Bob Marshall

Readers of this blog are familiar with my claim that there's no inconsistency with being pro-gun, pro-life, pro-freedom and pro environment--and, in fact, most sportsmen are conservative and pro-environment. Now there's proof...

A poll released Monday by the Colorado College found "western voters across the political spectrum--from Tea Party supporters to those who identify with the Occupy Wall Street movement and voters in between--view parks and public lands as essential to their state’s economy, and support upholding and strengthening protections for clean air, clean water, natural areas and wildlife."

The 2012 Conservation in the West Poll, part of the college's State of the Rockies Project, questioned voters of all political spectrums in Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. It found "two-thirds of Western voters say America’s energy policy should prioritize expanding use of clean renewable energy and reducing our need for more coal, oil and gas. Even in states like Wyoming and Montana, which are more often associated with fossil fuels, voters view renewable energy as a local job creator."
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--Chad Love

Trout aren't the only things that grow huge in New Zealand. Researchers probing the depths off the coast of New Zealand have discovered a giant "super prawn" that tapes out at almost a foot long.

From this story in the (UK) Mirror:

An expedition to one of the deepest parts of the ocean has discovered a "supergiant" species. The huge crustacean was discovered more than four miles deep in waters north of New Zealand by scientists from the University of Aberdeen. The creature is a type of amphipod, commonly found in the deep sea, which are usually 2cm-3cm long. The new specimen measured 28cm.
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--Chad Love

There are any number of things that can go wrong, sometimes horribly, when we take our dogs into the field. They can run through a fence and get torn up, run through a cattle guard or hole and break a leg, run into a porcupine or skunk, inhale dangerous seeds, get bitten by a snake, trampled by a cow, run over by a car, get overheated, dehydrated or completely lost, the list is pretty much endless in terms of potential dangers.

All you can do is take it on faith that those things won't happen while hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. That's why most of us do things like carry first-aid kits on all our hunting trips and plugging the phone numbers of local vets into our cell phones.

But here's one more thing that every one of us should familiarize ourselves with: what to do if one of our dogs gets caught in a body-gripping trap. Here's an absolutely heartbreaking story from last week's Minneapolis Star-Tribune about a rash of dogs dying in traps.


From the story:

Doug Snyder won't forget the day he loaded a .22 rifle and shot his dog at point-blank range. He and his two teenage sons were walking along a forest road near their cabin east of Hinckley in late December when Polka Dot, their 9-year-old setter-Lab mix, suddenly howled in distress. Bolting headlong into the woods, Snyder found his dog 60 yards away with its head and neck caught in a deadly body-gripping trap. "She was standing there, bleeding from the snout," he said. Frantically, Snyder and his 16-year-old son struggled to free their pet before it suffocated. But two powerful springs held the trap's jaws tightly closed. "We fought like hell to get it off, and we couldn't," he said. "She was melting away."
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by Dave Hurteau

First, we have a new high-speed video to show you, which is cool on its own merits. It illustrates, like you’ve probably never seen before, the most common complaint about a Whisker Biscuit arrow rest: “Too much fletching contact.” Check it out.

It’s plain to see that there is indeed a mountain of such contact. No one could argue otherwise. So much so that, as I say, it’s just crazy that a Whisker Biscuit can be so accurate.

Yet it is.
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by Joe Cermele

You may recall a few months ago I ran a post about how much I just adore articulated streamers. They're pretty much all I use for trout these days. Well, after the Somerset Fly Show, I now also adore Fish Skull's Articulated Shanks. Check out the video. Fly tyers...this one's for you.

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by Kirk Deeter

John Merwin's blog post the other day referenced a book by Pat Dorsey (Tying and Fishing Tailwater Flies). So I thought I'd follow up with an "On The Spot" interview I did with Pat at the recent International Sportsmen's Expo in Denver.

Pat and I are old friends. In fact, back when we were in our early thirties, I was co-authoring a book on fishing guides, and Pat was one of our first "volunteer" subjects. He showed me Cheesman Canyon, the Williams Fork, and Dream Stream section of the South Platte in South Park. And he did it for gas money, despite the fact that we didn't have a publisher committed or anything (it was an excuse to go fishing). The book turned out to be Castwork, which boosted my outdoor writing career. It's out of print now, but you can read excepts at MidCurrent.
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by David Draper

There are a lot of great ways to get wild on Super Bowl Sunday. You could paint yourself in team colors, go streaking, and post the resulting video (and arrest) on YouTube. Or you could just dip into the larder and cook up a fish or wild-game inspired dish to share with your friends during the game. I’m not going to encourage you to do the former, but I will help you along with the latter by throwing a Super Bowl Snack Contest.

Post your favorite fish or game dish below in the comments section below, along with a few sentences on why it’s the perfect food for this year’s Super Bowl party. The most creative idea will win a box of assorted cooking/food-related goodies from Camp Chef, Hi-Mountain Seasonings, Cabela’s, and other generous folks. To be eligible to win, post your entry by Saturday, February 4 at 6:00 p.m. MST. I’ll announce the winner next week.
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Belly up to a bar in West Yellowstone or Ennis and you might find yourself talking to a creatively profane fishing guide, a down-on-his-luck artist who can't afford rent, the millionaire owner of a streamside log-cabin mansion who uses it only two weeks a year, or a pretty woman with a box of trout flies and a cryptic background.

That’s the kind of people you meet in Montana’s trout fishing country. And that’s why The Royal Wulff Murders ($27; us.penguingroup.com), field editor Keith McCafferty’s new novel, features such an eclectic bunch.

Why would McCafferty--a talented elk hunter, survival expert, and unabashed steelhead bum who has written nearly 500 articles for Field & Stream--enter the fiction business?

“I decided to write a book the night I slept on the ground on a mountain for a Field & Stream assignment,” says McCafferty, a 30-year Bozeman resident. “It was so cold in the middle of the night that rather than get up, I peed myself. [Editor’s note: Sorry, Keith!] That did it.”

The following is an exclusive online-only excerpt from McCafferty's novel. It is the fourth of five parts. Look for Part Five next week. --Mike Toth
WARNING: The following excerpt contains adult language. Reader discretion is advised.

In Sean Stranahan's philosophy of life, any man who had a fly rod, a quarter tank of gas and four decent tires was never too far from home. So while it may have been true that he wasn’t sure which way to turn when he left the Bridger Mountain Cultural Center, the fact remained that no matter which point of the compass he headed for, he’d be home in time for an evening caddis hatch. 

Click here to read the rest of this excerpt from THE ROYAL WULFF MURDERS by Keith McCafferty.

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by Joe Cermele

While cruising the aisles at the Somerset Fly Fishing Show in New Jersey this past weekend, I stumbled upon the booth of artist Jeff Currier. Jeff's awesome work has appeared on many a Simms T-shirt, but he also sells custom-painted fly boxes and coffee mugs featuring his many fish designs on his website. What caught my eye on his table, however, was this pair of canvas slip-ons all markered up with a nice hook-jaw brown trout. I will admit that in my younger days, I rocked a pair of Vans checkered slip-ons now and again. While I like them, I don't think I have it in me to wear slip-ons anymore, but how about you? Can you see a couple brown trout on your feet, or is this just too hipster for your taste?

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