In honor of our nation’s freedom on this approaching Independence Day weekend, Man’s Best Friend is going to dig into a little history. (Rest assured, we’re back to hardcore training posts next week. We start place board training tomorrow.)  Yes, with the help of a new book, First Dogs: American Presidents and their Best Friends, we’re going to give you a little quiz. Anyone who fails must scoop the poop from the kennels for a week—with a rubber shovel. [ Read Full Post ]

From The Journal Times:

John J. Longo ate the deer he took from the side of the road in February 2008.

He asked a friend — a Caledonia police officer and taxidermist — to mount its head. [ Read Full Post ]

The scary looking slab of muscle in the picture is the Federal’s new spokesman for Fusion ammunition. If you’re a member of the all-important 18-34 year old demographic, you probably recognize Brock Lesnar, who says he’s the right spokesman for Fusion because it’s an “edgy, badass” product.  If you’re middle-aged or older, you may have to be told that Lesnar is the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter who currently holds the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight title.

MMA combines several fighting disciplines – you can punch, kick, grapple and apply submission holds. It is huge right now, especially among younger people. The line to get Lesnar’s autograph at the Federal/ATK booth at SHOT stretched far down the main aisle of the giant Orlando Convention and Visitor’s Center. Lesnar is one of a number of popular MMA fighters who are highly visible hunters and shooters (Matt Hughes and Tim Sylvia are two others). For the hunting industry, MMA is the new NASCAR.

I can see MMA’s appeal, but it’s not for me.  I would rather watch football and basketball. If I have a sports idol, it is the professorial Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who... [ Read Full Post ]

My wife recently brought home Marley and Me because she’s gone dog wild. (Wait till you hear about the local dog show.) I found the movie to be extremely average. But damn if the final scene didn’t reduce me to a blubbering mess. But then, again, most dog movies do. Which brings us to a fine Hump Day Discussion: What’s the best dog movie of all time?

I favor Where the Red Fern Grows, because I don’t think a better dog flick exists. (And also because I still remember my older brother reading the book aloud to me when I was just a child, prompting me to dream that our mutt, Flapper, had a touch of coonhound in him.) Hard to compete with two redbones, Little Ann and Big Dan, tromping through the Ozarks with a young, aspiring coon hunter in tow.

Call of the Wild and White Fang, two movies based on classic Jack London novels, can’t be left out of the discussion. Buck and White Fang do for Alaska and the Yukon what Little Ann and Big Dan did for the Ozarks.

I can hear you now, “What about... [ Read Full Post ]

A bill sponsored by Louisiana State Rep. James Armes that would have allowed lawmakers to review and potentially nix hunting season dates, bag limits, and restrictions set by the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission has failed.

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From The Spokesman-Review:

An eastern Idaho bear hunter was bitten by a grizzly Sunday when his hounds surrounded a female with cubs. [ Read Full Post ]

“Mechanical” or “expandable” heads are a relative new kid on the broadhead block, but it looks like they are here to stay. I have used them—with varying results—on turkeys, but I have never launched one at a deer. Last year I vowed to shoot a doe with one in order to get some gauge of their performance, but for a long list of reasons that aren’t important, it never happened.

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From the Green Bay Press-Gazette:

Advocates for protecting wolves have reached a court-ordered settlement with the federal government that restores protections for gray wolves in the Great Lakes area.

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A wolverine has made its way into Colorado for what researchers believe is the first time in 90 years.

From LiveScience:

Wolverines are the largest land-dwelling members of the weasel family. Adult wolverines average about 30 pounds. Resident adults occupy arctic habitats in Alaska and Canada, and range south into the lower 48 states only high in mountains where near-arctic conditions exist.

The Colorado wolverine, a young male labeled M56, was captured near Grand Teton National Park and traveled approximately 500 miles during April and May, successfully navigating ...

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I enjoy a good deer hunting joke, and a fellow whitetail geek sent this to me recently. I thought a weekend post would be a good chance to share some humor, and I encourage  you to reciprocate with a good deer joke of your own!

Anyway, a 10-point buck, an 8-point buck, and a nubbin were all hanging out on a field-edge one fall evening, nibbling grass and plucking acorns off a tree. [ Read Full Post ]

In 2006 12.5 million people who were at least 16 years old said they enjoyed hunting in America. They hunted a combined 220 million days that year and took 185 million trips, spending a whopping $22.9 billion.

For our amigos down south, it’s a completely different story. It’s tough to get a gun, let alone hunt. Only 7,000 to 8,000 weapons are sold legally in Mexico each year and that includes sales to private security firms. [ Read Full Post ]

It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s a pain in the blubber.

Whales off the coast of Argentina have been experiencing conflicts with seagulls lately over feeding. But it's not what you think. By pecking away at the blubber on whales, the birds have discovered a new way to get a free meal that's apparently easier than catching baitfish.

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