By David Draper

If you’re a regular Wild Chef reader but haven’t gotten in on the Food Fight phenomenon, I challenge you to do so. Several readers have answered the call, and we’ve been featuring them here each week. This Friday, we have another new competitor—dyobcire—who just won a Camp Chef cast-iron pan on Wednesday, so let’s see if can he keep up the streak against a strong competitor in SMcCardell.

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Everyone loves a story. But as outdoorsmen, we appreciate a good one more than most.

We'll let you get away with the yarn about the trout you took into the backing—even though the fish gains a pound with every retelling. We'll still act surprised that the buck you'd been chasing for ages suddenly appeared in the last minute of the last day—even though we already know the ending. We'll happily listen, and as soon you're finished, we'll tell one of our own.

A wonderful thing about hunting and fishing is how, if you spend enough time in the wild, stories will find you. We keep them, share them, and savor them when we can't be in the field. This month, between seasons, is one of those times. So we asked our best writers and wildlife photographers for the tales that they tell when they're sitting by the fire with other outdoorsmen. Most were inspired by a list of one word themes we provided them, because the best hunts and most memorable fish teach us something about who we are and how to live life. Other stories included show the small moments that capture the friendships, humor, and joy... [ Read Full Post ]

By Chad Love

Big news for bird hunters: The conservation group Quail Unlimited, which has struggled mightily in recent years with financial issues, management scandals, and declining chapters, announced last week that it is closing its doors permanently. In doing so, QU officials urged its former members and anyone else concerned with upland conservation to join Quail Forever, which has acquired Quail Unlimited's mailing list.

From this story in the Albany (Georgia) Herald: 
Quail Unlimited has folded, according to an e-mail sent out late Friday afternoon from Executive Director Bill Bowles, abruptly ending the national organization's existence. Our great staff and our great Board of Directors have stood the test and they have given their very best effort. However, the entire Board of Directors and I have made the difficult decision to cease Quail Unlimited operations and go out of business effective immediately," Bowles said in an email sent out Friday afternoon...."There are a few large challenges that we are about to be faced with," Bowles said in his first email. "Could we possibly overcome them? [ Read Full Post ]

By David Draper

Back in the December-January issue of Field & Stream, my esteemed colleague T. Edward Nickens wrote a brief missive on his love for the duck sandwich. Nickens take on it included a butterflied duck breast grilled medium rare and pinched between two halves of a ciabatta roll dressed with sun-dried tomato spread. All in all, it sounds utterly delicious.

However, I have duck sandwich favorite of my own, one that takes more of a countrified—or maybe that’s country-fried—turn. Mine starts with one half of a skinned and filleted duck breast off the bone—generally mallard, though a widgeon shows up from time to time. Place that on a cutting board and drape a square of plastic wrap over the top. Now it’s time to tenderize. Some folks have a specially designed mallet or one of those fancy Jaccard tools (see below), but not me. I use the spine of a heavy butcher knife, chopping away in a cross-hatch pattern to break down the proteins and create a thin—about 1/8-inch—filet.
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By Michael R. Shea

Erratic weather, a late bird migration, and Super Storm Sandy characterized the 2012-2013 East Coast waterfowl season. For hunters at the right latitude, it was a banner year; while those more south had to work against drought, warm temps and irregular flights.
 
The season opened with high hopes. Drought had plagued most of the country all summer, and while water levels were low along the Atlantic flyway, it didn’t compare to other regions where water was nonexistent. There seemed to be enough fresh water down most of the Atlantic flyway for migrators to stick around. If anything, the lack of water would help concentrate birds, it was thought. There was plenty of duck food incubating, too, as moist-soil vegetation took hold in dry creek beds and empty backwater beaver ponds. When early fall rains moved through, it was a veritable duck buffet most places north and south. [ Read Full Post ]

By Dusan Smetana

We were in South Dakota, hunting pheasants and Hun­garian partridge. The sky was overcast, and as the afternoon wore on we saw prairie lightning in the distance. Black clouds roiled toward us across darkening plains. Sheets of rain were slanting low and electricity hung in the air. “Time to get back,” one of my friends said. I gauged the movement of the clouds and sun, and the photographer-dictator in me came out. “No, not possible!” I shouted. “We’re staying!”

The rain swept toward us and so did the light, illuminating every drop. It created this towering double rainbow. We stood underneath it and were engulfed in repeats of thunder—and after each crack came this new disembodied, magical sound in response. At first none of us knew what this sound was or where it was coming from, but as we stood there we realized that hundreds of unseen rooster pheasants were answering the thunder. We were frozen; delighted in the moment, feeling that this might never come in our lives again.

Click here for more great untold stories from Field & Stream writers and photographers. [ Read Full Post ]