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By Chad Love

The Indiana legislature is embroiled in a controversy over the question of high-fence hunting operations.

From this story on thestatehousefile.com:
The House approved legislation Monday to legalize five fenced deer-hunting preserves that have been operating under a court injunction since 2005 when the state tried to shut them down. But the leader of the Indiana Senate has already said he intends to kill the provisions. [ Read Full Post ]

By Joe Cermele

Yeah, so this is kinda strange. Apparently, New York City-based Youtube personality Joey Boots stumbled upon Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson flyfishing in Central Park. The conversation that takes place during this encounter is part Jerky Boys, a touch of "The Big Lebowski," and a few healthy dashes of awkward. My favorite part is when Joey Boots asks Tucker if he catches his own flies. 

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By Phil Bourjaily

In the comments to the 28 gauge Mystique post, HogBlog asked me why it is I shoot non-toxic shot almost exclusively in the uplands. The goose in this picture is a big part of the reason. I was pheasant hunting on a place I often hunt geese and suspected one might fly over too low for its own good.  One did. Because I had my waterfowl stamp, and my gun was plugged and loaded with HeviShot and goose season was open, I was able to legally add the goose to the rooster I shot that day, and there is nothing I like better for dinner than goose. [ Read Full Post ]

By Chad Love

Authorities in Minnesota have busted what appears to be a massive gamefish poaching ring that allegedly used nets to haul thousands of pounds of walleye from some of Minnesota's most popular fishing lakes.

From this story on startribune.com: 
Last week, 10 people were indicted in federal court for their alleged roles in a major fish poaching scheme involving the buying and selling of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of walleyes netted from some of northern Minnesota’s most popular lakes. The ten men from northern Minnesota were accused of netting walleyes and other fish from lakes on the Red Lake and Leech Lake Indian reservations and selling them in violation of federal, state and tribal law. The illegal activity allegedly has occurred since 2009 and was widespread. Among the lakes where fish were netted and then sold were Leech, Cass, Winnibigoshish, Red and Six Mile, according to the indictments.

According to the story, in addition to the ten charged last week, 21 more indictments will be handed down today as a result of the three-year investigation of the poaching ring. [ Read Full Post ]

By Dave Wolak

A few weeks ago, reader Deanlikes2fish commented with a question asking what I thought was the best age for a kid to get started in tournament fishing. This is actually a pretty hot topic right now, as a story recently popped up in the Boston Globe about a Missouri man fighting to make bass fishing a high school sport. It’s definitely worth a read. As for my take, I'd love to give a one-shot answer, but it's just a little more complicated than that. One of the first things you have to consider is the difference between a fun-loving fishing competition and fishing for money. If your aim is just to have some laughs, and make a fishing trip a little competitive to simply spice it up, then I say have the kids start as soon as they can, just like you would playing T-ball or skiing the bunny slope. If we’re talking competition with money on the line, hold your horses, because greenbacks change everything.

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By Peter B. Mathiesen

Unless you own anti-fog goggles (and even those can fog up) it doesn't take much body warmth to put you into a fuzzy state of out-of-focus. The combination of heat rising up from your shirt or down from your helmet can create some seriously steamy vision. Add high humidity to the mix, and it can become a challenge just trying to wear one of the most fundamental pieces of safety gear. [ Read Full Post ]

By David E. Petzal

Two preliminary notes: First, I don’t like writing about gun control. I’d rather write about group sizes and feet per second. But these are extraordinary times, so a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.

Second, I was remiss in not thanking Frank Bruni for the best laugh I’ve had since the food-poisoning scene in Bridesmaids. His humor may have been unintentional, but it brought a smile to my careworn face.

And now to cases. On my post of April 9th, one reader commented that because a Congressperson supports extended background checks does not mean he/she favors the elimination of guns.

Yes and no. Most Congresspersons are indifferent to gun control. It’s an occasional annoyance that they wish would go away so they could get on with their real business of raising campaign money and lining up jobs as lobbyists when they are no longer sucking on the public teat. To them it doesn’t mean elimination of guns.

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By Joe Cermele

When you’re 10 years old, catching a breeder trout is the holy grail of angling achievement. At least that’s how I felt every opening day of the trout season as I was growing up in New Jersey. Many fishermen could catch a limit of average-size stockers on that day, but the ability to catch a breeder seemed to be reserved for the trout angling elite. 

These early-season trophies are large female trout, typically 2 to 5 years old, weighing 3 to 8 pounds, that hatcheries no longer use for egg production. They have served their time, if you will, so they are released into streams and rivers where they become trophies worthy of some serious parking-lot bragging rights. 

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By Chad Love

California will most likely be a totally lead-free hunting environment by 2016 if a bill recently introduced in the California Assembly is eventually passed, according to this story in the San Diego Union-Tribune: 
On Tuesday, the California Assembly Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife will hear AB 711, a bill introduced in February by Assemblymember Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood). If passed and signed by Gov. Brown, AB 711 will take AB 821, which banned the use of lead ammo in the state’s condor range, and extend the lead-free zone to the entire state. The ban on lead ammunition for hunters likely will happen, probably as soon as the 2016 hunting season following a two-year grace period to allow California hunters to use their remaining lead. All of us who hunt may as well get used to paying 40 to 50 percent more or higher for quality, non-lead ammunition. [ Read Full Post ]

By Chad Love

Twenty-seven years in the wilderness, alone. That's how long a reclusive and locally infamous Maine hermit managed to survive in the woods before he was captured last week while burglarizing a cabin.

From this story on usatoday.com:
A man who lived like a hermit for decades in a makeshift camp in the woods and may be responsible for more than 1,000 burglaries for food and other staples has been caught in a surveillance trap at a camp he treated as a "Walmart," authorities said Wednesday. [ Read Full Post ]

By Joe Cermele

Some anglers swear that felt-soled wading boots are the cat's pajamas in terms of their non-slip abilities. Other folks either worry about felt spreading invasive life forms from river to river and don't wear them, or believe that new-age Vibram rubber soles grip better anyway. Felt? Rubber? I don't particularly have a favorite, because I put far more faith in spikes than I do the soles. For all I care my soles can be made of some James Bond material that oozes rock-clinging gel with each step; I'm still screwing spikes into them. And those spikes will be Goat Head Sole Spikes (below).

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By Dave Hurteau

As I think I’ve mentioned, Bestul and I are writing a book called The Total Deer Hunter Manual (this is a preliminary image of the cover, as you can see). And as writers often do, we are working on the introduction last. Now, the intro itself we’ve got under control. But on the same page, we want to include a sidebar with a list called: “10 Ways to Know You Are Deer Crazy.”

For example, off the top of my head:
[1] A full-body deer target lives on your lawn so many months of the year that your neighbors think it’s yard art.
[2] You read the word “does” as doze even when it means duz.
[3] You can turn any topic into a discussion about deer: Talking to your wife’s lactation consultant you say: “Why a whole year? A whitetail fawn is done suckling after six months...”

You get the idea, right? So we figured, for this sidebar, why not ask the deer craziest among us—namely, you? Tell us one or two ways to know you are deer crazy, and if we pick yours to use in the book we’ll send you a free copy. Have at it.
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