By Scott Bestul

This is the first installment of a series Dave and I will run from time to time on deer gear we love. Similar to our “Good and Cheap” serial, an item featured in “The Good Stuff” needn’t be inexpensive, it just has to meet a simple criteria; it works so well that it’s gone from merely functional to holding a soft spot in our hearts.

Here’s my opener; a tree step that—to the best of my knowledge—isn’t even made any more. I started using Deer Me rope-on steps in the 1980’s, when there wasn’t a screw-in step made that could penetrate a tree without encouragement from a hammer and an act of God. My cousins put me on to Deer Me’s, and we fell in love with them because they were very sturdy, totally quiet, relatively cheap (about $20 for four, I think), and easy to install. Better yet, they were safe; the step was not only wide enough for a bulky boot, it had a little upturn so your foot wouldn’t slip off the end.

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By Colin Kearns

The cover star of our May 2011 Total Outdoorsman Issue is a DiamondBlade Goddard Traditional Hunter. The knife is stunning, sharp as hell, and very fine. At $454 it’s not cheap, but it’s a knife that'll last you the rest of your life—provided you take care of it. It’s a knife that was featured in David E. Petzal’s exclusive list of the "20 Best Knives Ever Made." Best of all, it’s a knife that could be all yours.

For our "Cover Model" contest, we’re bringing back the very popular Six-Word Story Contest—only this time, the story has to be about a knife. We don't care if you make your story serious or funny, personal or practical, factual or fiction. Just make it about a blade and make it 6 words—no more, no less. We'll judge the stories, then award the knife to the writer of the story we enjoyed most.

Once you’ve written your story, share here it on our Facebook page. Only entries written on Facebook will be eligible. (If you’re not on Facebook, well, consider this your excuse to join the... [ Read Full Post ]

By David E. Petzal

In my post of April 7, wherein I pissed and moaned about my groups breaking up at 300 yards, Amflyer asked a couple of very interesting questions: First, would a bullet that dropped 10 inches below point of aim at 300 yards really cause me to miss any animal that was big enough to justify shooting at it with a .338? And second, would not a range-compensating scope compensate for the fact that some bullets went way low?

To which I reply: there are two things every rifleman should fear:  shifting winds and anomalies of any sort. Since the first is not relevant to this post, we will deal with the second. In the wonderful world of rifles, consistency is king. Just as surely as Congress is comprised of petulant, half-bright children, any gun, or load, that does weird, quirky stuff is not to be trusted, no matter how often or seldom it occurs, because, when it counts most, that anomaly will jump up and bite you right in the ass. [ Read Full Post ]

By Chad Love

Spring is here, which means bloodsuckers and biters aren't far behind. But a new study conducted by the University of North Carolina suggests that pre-treated insect-repelling clothing is more effective at keeping bugs at bay than traditional bug sprays.

From this story (hat tip to T. Edward Nickens for the find) on Fibre2Fashion.com: 
A pilot study conducted by researchers at The University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health shows that a group of state water quality employees who wore clothing treated with a long-lasting insect repellent were bitten by ticks substantially less often than were their colleagues who used insect spray repellents and other preventive measures. The study, released March 11, in the peer-reviewed journal, Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, reported that the incidence of tick attachments was reduced by 93 percent among workers wearing Insect Shield Repellent Apparel, compared to workers in similar environments who used spray repellents or other tick bite prevention methods.
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By Chad Love

One of the best things to happen to upland bird hunting in the past few decades are state-implemented walk-in hunting (WIHA) programs. And one of the worst things to happen to upland bird hunting in the past few decades are the printed maps telling you where to find these hidden and widely-scattered temples of feathered Nirvana.

It's not that they're inaccurate; they're not...mostly. What they are, especially to those of us with, uh, maturing eyesight, is unreadable. I know it's difficult to cram a county's worth of section lines onto one page, but when you're out in the middle of nowhere and you're trying to count how many section lines you need to drive to get to another piece of nowhere, it certainly doesn't help the cause (the cause being, "where the hell are we?") when you discover you need jeweler's loupes for eyeballs to read the damn things.
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By David E. Petzal

I may have written about this before, but it’s worth bringing it up from time to time since much of what I cover on this blog is expensive. Perhaps a decade ago, Swarovski lent me a spotting scope and it was so wonderful I found I was unable to return it. Reeling with guilt I sent them a check. Now, a decade later—maybe more—I can’t tell you what I paid because I have no idea. What I can tell you is that when I took it to West Virginia last summer it showed me, with perfect clarity, .257 bullet holes in a target 500 yards away on a hazy evening.

In 1985, I bought a Perazzi MX-3 (not their top of the line gun at the time, and now long discontinued) from Griffin & Howe after going through trap guns at the rate of two or three a year. I’ve now used the MX-3 for 26 years, put who knows how many thousands of shells through it, and it has never failed me. (I have, however, failed it on occasion.) I have no idea what I paid for it any more.
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