By Dave Hurteau

So, the responses to my last post reveal first and most importantly that I was right and that only about 25 percent of you do the hang-and-hunt thing. So with this second video, which runs through the gear you need, I invite you to give the method a try*; it’s a handy thing to have in your bag of tricks even if you don’t need to pull it out very often.

What’s more, being able to hang a stand and get yourself ready to hunt in just a few minutes with only one trip up the tree is a good skill to possess, whether you plan to break down the stand afterward or not. To that point, you may notice that one of the last items I mention in this clip is a safety line, which may have you wondering, "Why put up a whole line (instead of a simple tether) for a one-stop hunt?"  
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By Scott Bestul

After three decades of hunting from elevated stands, I’m learning to come down from the trees. I’ve been using ground blinds for deer — with varying degrees of success — in the last few seasons, mainly when taking my kids with me to the deer woods.

While I love the portability and easy setup of most pop-up blinds, they have their drawbacks. In my experience, the blind has to be out there for a while so deer can get used to its presence. Otherwise, they can get pretty jumpy. Or the setup has to be near perfect: Plenty of brushing in and other prep to camouflage the game-spooking silhouette of most blinds.

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By Sarah Smith Barnum

The entire world seems to have Hunger Games fever, from bad parody’s like funnyordie.com’s “The Hungover Games” to viral music video remixes, and of course the film based on the popular book series, which premiered last night at midnight.

Everyone is abuzz with the excitement of having a young female archer represented (even if fictional) on such a broad scale, but while Katniss Everdeen looses her arrows on the big screen, Iza Privezenceva’s arrows fly on a much smaller scale, with much more skill. Watch this young woman let ‘em rip with some serious speed in the video below. 

And be sure to pay attention to the reverse grip she uses on the draw, as if she were on horseback.

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By Dave Hurteau

Cabela’s Bow and Rifle Pack won an F&S Best of the Best Award last fall. I have one, like it very much, and figured you might like one, too. So I called the folks over there, asked if they’d supply one for a prize and they said, “Do we still owe you for the Best of the Best thing? Was this part of the deal?”

“Yes it was,” I lied. And now you can win the pack, in the camo pattern of your choice (depending on availability), a prize worth $150, just by writing the best caption (as determined by Scott and I) for the photo below.

You know the drill. Now have at it.

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By David E. Petzal

Pro Tool, which makes the Woodman’s Pal combination tool, and master outdoorsman and writer J. Wayne Fears have designed three new knives that bear his name (top to bottom): the Ultimate Survival Knife, the Ultimate Outdoor Cook Knife, and the Ultimate Deer Hunter’s Knife. J. Wayne knows about everything there is to know about hunting and staying alive in the wilderness, and the knives show the input of someone who knows what the hell he is doing.

All three are made of 1095 cutlery steel, tempered to Rc 54-56. This steel makes a blade that sharpens easily and takes an edge like a razor, but usually requires a fair amount of resharpening. However, these hold their edges like Grim Death itself. Out of curiosity, I cut the top out of a steel acetone can with the Survival Knife. Its edge needed a little retouching, but otherwise it didn’t seem to mind.

Because tool steel rusts, the Deer Hunter’s Knife and the Survival Knife have their blades and tangs epoxy-powder coated. The Cook Knife does not, and if you leave it in your kitchen knife drawer you must stress to all who may use it that if they put it in the washing machine, they will be stabbed with it. Repeatedly.

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By Dave Hurteau

First, we have a new high-speed video to show you, which is cool on its own merits. It illustrates, like you’ve probably never seen before, the most common complaint about a Whisker Biscuit arrow rest: “Too much fletching contact.” Check it out.

It’s plain to see that there is indeed a mountain of such contact. No one could argue otherwise. So much so that, as I say, it’s just crazy that a Whisker Biscuit can be so accurate.

Yet it is.
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