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.

Martha Ettinger groped for the phone.

“Ettinger.”

“Sheriff, it’s Doc Hanson. Sorry to call so early, but something’s been nagging me about the autopsy.”

“What is it, Bob? He drowned, right?” She glanced at the bed stand clock radio. 5 a.m.

“Yea, he drowned. But, well, there’s a couple a things . . . I could explain, but it’d be easier if you came down to the morgue.”

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

Here at Field & Stream we love a good time-lapse video. We thought it would be nice, seeing how it's Friday and all, to share one of these calming videos for an end-of-the-week treat!

This video in particular--which features breathtaking sunrises, sunsets, and even meteor showers--was a collaboration between Sheldon Neill and Colin Delehanty, in their ongoing Project Yosemite.

--Chad Love

A new 20-year moratorium on mining near the Grand Canyon is getting high praise from sportsmen-based conservation groups.

From this press release from the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership:

Sportsmen throughout the nation are applauding a 20-year moratorium on new mining claims on 1 million-plus acres of public lands fish and wildlife habitat surrounding the Grand Canyon, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership announced today.

The federal decision withdraws public lands north and south of the Grand Canyon from filings of new mining claims and additional in-situ production of uranium. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the moratorium, which follows a temporary ban, this afternoon in Washington, D.C. The withdrawal does not affect mining claims with valid existing rights.

--Chad Love

In an age of reduced funding sources, declining hunter participation, and increases in the average age of hunters, can cash-strapped state wildlife agencies afford to continue offering exemptions to hunting and fishing licenses? That's the issue facing Kansas as its wildlife department prepares to ask the state legislature to eliminate the state's senior citizen exemption for hunting and fishing licenses.

From this story in the Wichita Eagle:
Kansas senior citizens could be required to buy hunting and fishing licenses after this year. For decades, residents 65 and over have been exempt from the annual permits that currently sell for about $18 each. Chris Tymeson of the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism Commission said Thursday that the agency will ask the Legislature to remove the exemption.