by David E. Petzal

In 1959, Jack O’Connor bought a Winchester Model 70 .270 Featherweight in a hardware store in Lewiston, Idaho. He had bought his first Winchester .270, a Model 54, in 1925, and in the ensuing years had made the cartridge synonymous with his name. He already had several .270s, but as we all understand, one or two of anything is never enough.

The new gun—O’Connor called this the No. 2 rifle--turned out to be very accurate (MOA or just under, which in 1959 was sensational), and so O’Connor took it to his favorite custom gunsmith, Al Biesen, of Spokane, to give it a level of elegance befitting its performance. Biesen completed the work in 1960. Biesen was not only a first-rate craftsman, but had a very good feel for ergonomics. All his stocks had a very slim pistol grip that belled toward the bottom, and they have a very distinctive feel. You can mount a Biesen rifle blindfolded and pick it out of a bunch of rifles.

by Colin Kearns

Every day this week the Wild Chef will feature recipes and tips from the brand new cookbook, The Lodge Cast Iron Cookbook. We'll also be giving away some great prizes, including copies of the book, a Lodge cast-iron skillet, and Lodge cast-iron Dutch oven.

How’s this for a day: The other turkey hunters and I crawled out of our tents around 4 a.m. The stars in western Nebraska hung so low, you were tempted to reach for one. My hunting partner, Jim, and I teamed up with Phillip Vanderpoole to hunt from a blind on the edge of an alfalfa field. I killed a tom at 7 a.m. A few hours later, Jim shot a gobbler of his own. We were back at camp by 11 a.m., where the kitchen crew had prepared a champion’s breakfast of eggs, pancakes, and sausage.

--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after a House Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources subcommittee voted to table three bills that would have repealed or rolled back the state’s current ban on Sunday hunting.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.

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.