It seems that filmmaker RA Beattie has taken to poaching one of "my" favorite carp holes on the Dirty South Platte here in Denver, or DSP as we affectionally call it around here.

Watch out RA, I know where you live...

Enjoy the short film,

TR [ Read Full Post ]

Deer Hunter Kills College Student, Injures Two Others
(I hate posting stories like this, folks, but the news in the news. This is a heartbreaking tragedy that could have been avoided—and it serves as a sober reminder to us all to make safety the number one priority.)

More Headlines:
Video Report: Hundreds Of Dead Deer Create Big Stink in PA
Schumer Proposes Tax Breaks For Deer Hunters
Four Deer Crash PA Office [ Read Full Post ]

Photo by Kirk Deeter

My favorite type of fly fishing is sight fishing. Doesn't matter if I'm chasing trout with dry flies (or nymphs), or stalking tailing fish on the flats, to me "top of the game" is always about spotting a fish, then making the cast, and (hopefully) hooking up.  As such, I honestly think the glasses I wear are as important as the rod, reel, line, and fly I use. After all, none of these things works best without the others. 

Lately I've taken a real shine to glass lenses.  It's hard to beat the optical clarity of glass.  Then again, polycarbon (plastic) lenses are safer protection against an errant fly whacking you in the head, and are often more affordable. Glass lasts better for me, and doesn't scratch as easily... there are pros and cons on both sides of the debate.

So what is your number one criteria for selecting fishing glasses?  Is it the lens material? Tint? Frame style... shape... ease of wear?  All the above? Is there a perfect pair of polarized shades?

I've found that I wear different lenses and different tints in different conditions. If I had... [ Read Full Post ]

If you caught my last post, you know that F&S Whitetail columnist Scott Bestul and I just returned from an 8-day bowhunt in southern Iowa. We were after a 150-inch buck. There are lots of them, comparatively speaking, in The Hawkeye state. But even here, the best place to find one is at the taxidermist’s, especially with 75-degree temperatures in early November and a sea of corn still standing. So between morning and evening hunts, we dropped in on Risher Taxidermy (641-647-2648) just outside of Centerville, IA, where we found owner Monica Risher working on a ... [ Read Full Post ]

Fresh, hot biscuits, anyone? It’s hard for me to imagine a meal in any fishing or hunting camp without some of these tender, flaky morsels soaking up melted butter or swabbing a plate clean of that last bit of gravy. There have been days--and this might be one--when I’d kill for a good biscuit.

Biscuits are easy to make, yet require a deft touch so they don’t get tough and lumpy. Lard or shortening must be cold as it is crumbled through the flour so things don’t get mushy. When milk is added, don’t beat the dough to death or you’ll toughen it. And the oven must be very hot when the biscuits go in or they won’t rise properly.

The kind of flour makes a difference, too. So-called “soft” flours common in the South such as White Lily or Martha  White have fewer gluten-forming proteins than Northern flours and thus rise better in the oven and become flakier. The distinction is so noticeable that I buy southern White Lily flour by mail order for our own use here at home. That company’s website also includes some excellent recipes in case... [ Read Full Post ]

From the Environmental News Service:
The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna, ICCAT, reduced the total allowable catch for 2010 to 13,500 metric tonnes down from 22,000 tonnes in 2009. . . .

Forty-eight countries from around the world are contracting parties to ICCAT. . . .

The United States entered the negotiations seeking a halt to bluefin overfishing and U.S. officials were disappointed in the outcome. Dr. Jane Lubchenco, under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator called the ICCAT agreement, "a marked improvement over the current rules," but she said "it is insufficient to guarantee the long-term viability of either the fish or the fishery." [ Read Full Post ]

There are wildlife photographers and then there are National Geographic wildlife photographers. Even in today's real-time, caught-on-tape video-dominated culture the photographers of NG just keep capturing still images and stories with the power to awe. Images and stories like this



Besides highlighting the exceptional clankers one needs to be a NG photographer, it shows - in dramatic fashion - how little we really know about animal behavior: how they process information, what they feel, how they think, what emotions they are or aren't capable of. [ Read Full Post ]

Recently, I wrote about buying my first e-collar. Afterward, many readers e-mailed to tell me that they were contemplating a similar purchase but were eager to hear how our first few weeks with the e-collar went. Here’s the report:

I purchased a Tritronics Sport Junior on the recommendation of a trainer. It’s a smaller unit (perfect for my dog), and is fairly idiot-proof (perfect for me). And after working with it for a few weeks I have to admit that often I wonder what took me so long to buy one. My first order of business (after testing the unit on myself) was to switch Pritch over from the Come command to Here.

Beyond the fact that Here carries better in the field and allows for a more forceful delivery, I had noticed Pritch beginning to ignore Come.

First, I determined the lowest level of stimulation, or nick, necessary to get Pritch’s attention. My unit has 7 levels, from ½ to 6. I started with ½, and Pritch was oblivious. Same result with level 1. At level 2 I noticed her lick her lips and give a slight shrug of... [ Read Full Post ]

From a Pennsylvania Game Commision press release:
Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Conservation Officers today announced that, on Oct. 29, [Andrew Moore, 46, of Tannersville] pled guilty to 30 counts of illegal possession of various species ranging from blue jays to raccoons, from chipping sparrows to gray squirrels, from groundhogs to purple finches. . . .

As part of the plea agreement, charges against Moore for cruelty to animals were withdrawn. District Judge Thomas E. Olsen, of Tannersville, ordered Moore to pay $2,250 in fines, and $750 in reimbursement to the Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation Center for expenses incurred treating the wildlife that survived.

Check out the full, strange story. [ Read Full Post ]

Trail cameras are, for hunters, becoming so ubiquitous that we often don't think about their potential for other uses. I certainly never did until my son said he wanted one for Christmas, not for hunting, but to record all the various wildlife that travels through our rural back yard.
 
I thought it was a great idea, and in the broader context I thought it had real potential to get kids interested in the outdoors. But as I was perusing the excellent Southern Rockies Nature Blog recently I discovered a link to a teacher who had already figured that out. [ Read Full Post ]

The machine pictured above is one more interesting things I saw at the Beretta factory: the shotgun break-in machine.

Every A400 Xplor action gets a turn on the machine. Two barreled receivers go in the rests at a time and metal arms clamp onto the bolt handles (the break-in machine operator is about to put a second barreled action in the machine. You can see the arm that will fit over the bolt). The other end of the arm is attached to a wheel which spins very fast, working the arm back and forth, slamming the actions open and shut. It loolks like an old-fashioned steam locomotive  when it gets going.


In two minutes on the machine the action cycles 500 times --  the equivalent of running twenty boxes of heavy ammunition through the gun.

A lot of people recommend ... [ Read Full Post ]

From the Minnesota AP News:
Gov. Tim Pawlenty shot a buck during the Governor's Deer Opener [on November 7], but he and his hunting companions were unable to find the wounded animal. . . .

"We gave her the old college try two days in a row," said Mark Johnson, executive director of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association and an organizer of Pawlenty's annual outing. . . .

[T]he governor was unable to keep up the search because he had to leave for Iowa . . . [to speak] at a Republican Party fundraiser. . . Saturday night.

Johnson said the rest of the hunting party — 10 people with close to 200 years of cumulative hunting experience among them — went looking for the governor's deer but determined that it wasn't all that seriously hurt.

This report broke while I was away bowhunting in Iowa—but like the governor’s buck, the story is still kicking, with the potential GOP presidential candidate taking heat from nonhunters and hunters alike. For example, from the Star Tribune: [ Read Full Post ]