Yesterday I trailed Phil Bourjaily around the SHOT Show floor with a video camera. Today it was Dave Petzal's turn. Some of the items you are about to see are new. Some are not. But they all fall under one category where release date is irrelevant. Simply put, here's a showcase of "Stuff Dave Likes." Mr. Petzal, please take the floor. -- Joe Cermele

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Generally speaking, it’s a shame we can’t--in the words of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson--take the past decade, pound it into a goddamn bottle, and set it adrift in the China current. But in the world of rifles, by and large, it’s been nothing but good news. Herewith, the most significant developments of 2000-2010, not in order of importance.

1. The transmogrification of the AR-15 into a bona-fide sporting rifle and an industry unto itself.

2. Hornady’s emergence as a major player and a major innovator in the ammunition biz.

3. Ten years ago, I thought that sporting optics had reached a state of perfection beyond which it could not go. Boy, was I wrong. [ Read Full Post ]

A friend of mine asked me to write something about Warren Page, Field & Stream’s shooting editor from 1947 to 1972. So be it.

Page, whose nickname was Lefty,  started at F&S at just the time that the great wildcatting epidemic began. Every gunmaker who could ream out a set of loading dies had a series of cartridges with his name on it. Page, being a technoid of the first magnitude, was heavily involved in all this, and as he put it, “I wore out the decimal key on the typewriter.”

Yet despite the deluge of wildcats, and the eventual cascade of new factory rounds that followed, Page was essentially a one-gun hunter. He used lots of different stuff, but the majority of his big-game trophies were killed with a single rifle—a 7mm Mashburn Super Magnum. Page got this rifle very early in his career—1949 or so. He called it “Old Betsy,” and used only one handload for everything, a 175-grain Nosler semi-spitzer bullet at 3,050 fps. Throughout her career, Old Betsy wore only one scope, a 4X Redfield with a medium crosshair, and with this combination, Page killed 475 head of big game of all shapes and sizes, at all ranges. He... [ Read Full Post ]

Beretta’s A400 semiautos  – which I saw in Italy earlier this fall -- are trickling into the country. I have one and have been putting it to good use. Thus far, I like almost everything about the A400. Through a flat of target loads and an assortment of hunting loads, it has worked almost perfectly. Its one failure to fire came on the second shot of skeet doubles. I was using 2 ¾ dram, 1 1/8 ounce target loads, and the second round chambered but the bolt didn’t close 100% of the way and the gun went “click.” I think the loads were a little light for this 3 ½ inch gun, although it may eventually cycle them with complete reliability after I shoot it more.

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From The New York Daily News:

"I wrote to him to protest about fox hunting and I figured he would be this stuffy, privileged a--hole," Pink told Q magazine. "But he's like a redneck from the South."

And the "So What" singer thinks Prince William, who attended the U.K.'s best schools, could use a better education.

"If you're brought up shooting and hunting animals, if you really think it's second nature and you're blasting away, then it's hard to see the other point of view," she told the magazine. "You need educating."

I think PETA-member Pink is saying hunters are. . . something bad. . . and that we all need. . . another thing we aparently lack. But I’m not sure. I was brought up shooting and hunting and with all that blasting away, it’s hard for me to see the other point of view. I’m sure her argument would be well-reasoned and lucid, but I can’t say, given the sorry state of my education.

Maybe one of you can explain, although I doubt it. Most of you were brought up shooting and hunting, too. [ Read Full Post ]

I know many of us were shocked in the summer of 2008 when the last surefire proof of Bigfoot turned out to be a gorilla suit in a freezer, and of course the year before when that juvenile Pennsylvania Bigfoot wound up being a bear with a bad case of mange (and, to be fair, when pretty much every other sighting was really just a guy in an ape suit). But this time there can be no doubt. Just read the article below and ask youself: What use does a salesperson have for stretching the truth?

Still, even if this one doesn’t pan out, I’m confident. I have a trail cam in the woods behind my house pointed at a 50-gallon drum filled with Jack Link’s Beef Jerky. I’m sure I’ll be reporting soon.

From the Star Tribune:

Tim Kedrowski admits he was "super skeptical" at first. But now the 55-year-old salesman from Rice, Minn., wonders if his motion-activated camera managed to do something no one else has -- capture Bigfoot in Minnesota's big woods, far from his alleged stomping grounds in the Pacific Northwest.

Kedrowski's two adult sons set up the camera on the family's hunting land near Remer, Minn., and Leech... [ Read Full Post ]

Recently on this website there's been a great deal of attention devoted to the flesh of murdered deer. Editors have even gone so far as to dub venison "America's Meat."
 
Not being privy to the brain trust that is this magazine's masthead, I had zero input on this decision, but if I had, rest assured venison wouldn't be "America's Meat." Why? Because I've seen the future of carnivorous dining, and it isn't Bambi. In fact, it isn't anything derived from the formerly living.  Finally, after years of research and testing, the dream, the hope has become reality. Shmeat, my friends, is here...

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Here's an interesting story via the blog of former Field & Stream editor and noted vampire expert Scott Bowen.
 
Researchers at the University of Rochester have discovered that exposure to nature can actually change how we view the world.
 
From the story:
"...a recent article by researchers at the University of Rochester shows that experiences with nature can affect more than our mood. In a series of studies, Netta Weinstein, Andrew Przybylski, and Richard Ryan, University of Rochester, show that ... [ Read Full Post ]

From a Southwick Associates Press Release:
In an October 2009 survey, Southwick Associates asked anglers and hunters which type of organization they trust the most for accurate information regarding fish and wildlife conservation. The results of the monthly AnglerSurvey.com and HunterSurvey.com poll show that state fish and wildlife agencies are considered the most trustworthy source of conservation information among hunters and anglers.

Of the 2,771 anglers surveyed, 54.4 percent reported state fish and wildlife agencies were their most trusted source. Of the 3,378 hunters surveyed, 50.7 percent agreed.  The second most trusted source, with 25.1 percent of anglers and 29.5 percent of hunters, was sport-fishing and hunting non-profit conservation groups.

Other options included federal agencies, outdoor television, and outdoor print media. Who do you trust most? [ Read Full Post ]

Trail cameras are, for hunters, becoming so ubiquitous that we often don't think about their potential for other uses. I certainly never did until my son said he wanted one for Christmas, not for hunting, but to record all the various wildlife that travels through our rural back yard.
 
I thought it was a great idea, and in the broader context I thought it had real potential to get kids interested in the outdoors. But as I was perusing the excellent Southern Rockies Nature Blog recently I discovered a link to a teacher who had already figured that out. [ Read Full Post ]