Yesterday was snowy, wet and thoroughly miserable. Looks like the marmot was right. A perfect day to stay inside. So I loaded up the dogs and went quail hunting. As I was driving to my hunting spot I passed the intersection in the photo below. Just a lonely, little-traveled county road junction way out in the back of beyond. No stoplight, no traffic, and definitely no random porta-potty abandoned in the middle of the intersection.



But on my way back, there it was, smack in the middle of the road. Did someone lose it? Did they get tired of hauling it around and decided that this junction was as good a place as any? Was it, you know, used? (I didn’t find out). Was it a protest statement about the condition of my state's public roads? Maybe an anonymous philanthropic gesture toward us Johnless late-season public-land quail hunters? [ Read Full Post ]

It is now 47 years since Patsy Cline’s short, sad life ended in a plane crash, and no country singer has come along to equal her. Ted Williams batted .406 in 1941, and not even the past decade’s crop of steroid-bloated imbeciles has come close to matching that record. Joe Louis hung up his gloves in 1949, having held the heavyweight title for 12 years, setting a mark that will never fall. And since 1966, when Robert Ruark’s liver disintegrated in a London hospital, no one has written half as well about Africa.

And this is why we should welcome Safari Press’ release of Robert Ruark’s Africa, which was compiled and annotated by Michael McIntosh, and originally published by Countrysport Press, in 1991. The book’s 20 chapters are collected from magazine pieces Ruark did (all sorts of magazines; not just Field & Stream), and I doubt you’ve seen any of them before. McIntosh, who is a fine writer himself, provides a little gem of an introduction to Ruark, his life and times, and comments on the chapters, which are organized into three parts: first hunts, Mau Mau years, and final years.

This book... [ Read Full Post ]

After a slight delay as we tallied all the votes, the editors of Field & Stream are ready to announce the winner of the gun dog photo contest. So here we go…

Fellow gun doggers, the people have spoken. After one month of intensive voting, the winner of the Gun Dog Photo Contest has been decided. Of the 778 entries you have chosen the winner of the Remington Model 1100 Premier Sporting 28-Gauge with nickel receiver and gold inlays (valued at $1,400). And that winner is… [ Read Full Post ]

From the Idaho Statesman:
Rick Hobson, a Boise wolf advocate, used a public records request to get the names of hunters who reported wolf kills to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. Hobson posted 122 names and bought a classified ad in the Idaho Statesman that directed people to a Web site.

He said harassment was not his intent. . . .

But Robert Millage, Idaho's first successful wolf hunter, said he's been dealing with harassment since he killed a wolf on the opening day of the season in September. . . .
Millage countered with a Web site of his own to show some of the thousands of angry e-mails he's gotten. Some describe him as an "inbred hillbilly," a "sick killer" and "pure evil. . . ."

"I have some concerns over the safety of the individuals listed," said hunter John Hendley, who didn't harvest a wolf last year and isn't on the list. "What (Hobson) is doing is legal on one hand, but immoral on the other."

Millage is better known to all of you on this site as “idahooutdoors,” and he shares his story in depth in our upcoming March 2010 issue. Be sure to check it out.

Meanwhile,... [ Read Full Post ]

As the guy in this video points out, suppressors are legal, widely available even, in several European countries.

F&S contributor Tom McIntyre once told me about a trip to Scotland. After stalking all day, he went out with the gamekeeper at night “lamping” (what we call jacklighting) rabbits. As Tom described it, they crept around the edge of town in a Land Rover, shooting rabbits out of people’s front yards with a suppressed rifle. Rabbits are considered vermin in the U.K.

Having never seen anything like this back home, Tom finally asked the keeper: “Is this, you know, legal?”

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This is a little scary. I used a Talon Hunter extensively last fall. I also put a fellow F&S editor in one. It’s a truly innovative stand that allows you to attach a bracket/strap to the tree first, then simply set the stand on the bracket (then secure a quick-cinching backup strap). It makes the chore of stand-hanging much easier, faster, and quieter. All of which, of course, is not worth a hoot if there’s the chance the product will fail and leave you seriously injured. Summit, however, is rectifying the problem with replacement brackets/straps.

Here are the details from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission:

Name of Product: Talon Hunting Hang-on Tree Stands and Brackets/Straps. . . .

Hazard: The tree stand can unexpectedly detach from the tree when the brackets fail, posing a fall hazard to consumers.

[ Read Full Post ]

Well, it's Groundhog Day, and the world's only meteorologist with incisors that never stop growing apparently saw saw his shadow.
 
Thanks, tunnel rat. Now I've got six more weeks to wait around for fishing season to start. Hey Cabela's. Hey Bass Pro. The spring fishing catalogs would help pass the time. Get a move on.
 
Anyway, it seems PETA is concerned for Punxsutawney Phil's welfare. Surprise, surprise. In fact, they're so concerned for the obese little marmot's welfare that they want to replace him with a robot groundhog. No, I'm not making this up. [ Read Full Post ]

Designed to end outfitter-sponsored nonresident big game licenses, Montana’s Citizen’s Initiative 161 could have far-reaching implication. The proposal reflects the public’s frustration with outfitters tying up all the best hunting land—a feeling that’s plainly shared by many hunters beyond Montana’s borders.

From the Great Falls Tribune:
The struggle for access to public wildlife on private land in Montana may go to the ballot box in the form of a citizen's initiative that would abolish outfitter-sponsored nonresident big game licenses.

Citizen's Initiative 161, sponsored by Montana Public Wildlife, was certified by the Montana Secretary of State's Office and is out for signature gathering. If enough people sign the petition, it will be on the ballot in November.

"This is a natural progression of people being upset over a long period of time," said Kurt Kephart of Billings, who heads MPW. . . .

Kephart is upset that outfitters lease private land and lock out the general public. He blames the outfitter-sponsored nonresident big game licenses, created by the Legislature in 1995, adding that no other industry in the state is guaranteed a client base.

Be sure to check out this important story and tell us your reaction. [ Read Full Post ]

Believe it or not, this is the second time in the past few years that I’ve posted a story about a dog that shot his owner by stepping on his shotgun.

Anyway, here’s the lastet, from the San Francisco Chronicle:

One California hunting dog apparently takes the term a bit too literally. . . .

The Merced County Sheriff's Department says [a] man and a partner had been hunting near Highway 152 in the Los Banos area Saturday. The man set down his shotgun to retrieve some duck decoys and his female Labrador retriever stepped on it, causing the safety to disengage and the gun to fire, sending a shot into the hunter's upper back. [ Read Full Post ]

Believe it or not, some of the buzz from the North American International Auto Show is about new vehicles designed for toting around dogs. The one making the most noise is the Honda Element EX Dog Friendly, which includes a soft-sided crate in the rear of a vehicle, a rear fan for keeping your pup cool, a ramp (so that little yappers can access the crate from the ground), a spill resistant water bowl, and a floor that can literally be hosed off.

In possibly the only humorous line uttered by an auto executive since Lee Iacocca left the biz, John Mendel of Honda said, “In an interesting turn of events, cars are now chasing dogs.” Well, maybe dogs but not necessarily hunting dogs. I’m sticking to my very utilitarian 4x4 Jeep with the dog crate in the back. I have one dog so anything else is overkill, but if I had a few more (Dear Wife, that is a HINT!) I would certainly consider a large SUV with a modified kennel area in the back.

In the piney woods on the outskirts of my town of Charleston, S.C., there’s a very popular dog vehicle I yearn for.... [ Read Full Post ]

One of the many reasons to visit the SCI convention is the taxidermy, which ranges from marvelous to astounding. (As Wayne van Zwoll says, it’s worth the price of a plane ticket all by itself.) You just don’t see work of such scope, imagination, and artistry anywhere else.

This is a mount of a critter that you can’t hunt because it went extinct about 10,000 years ago. Popularly known as the sabretooth tiger, Smilodon evolved into several subspecies, the largest of which grew to 880 pounds, which is some big kitty.

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