By David Draper

When you write about eating, drinking and cooking, friends and family members like to ask a lot of questions. Strangers even get in on the act when they find out what I do for a living—especially if they’re also sportsmen. The most common question is typically some variant of “How do you make _______ taste good?” with the blank most often being filled with the word “duck” or “goose” or sometimes “antelope.”

After the first few times this happened, I developed some rote answers, typically a simple cooking tip or quick recipe that would convince them to give duck or goose or antelope another chance at the table. Truthfully, the straight answer, which I should probably have printed on the back of my business cards, would read: “Don’t overcook it.” [ Read Full Post ]

By CJ Lotz

You don't often hear, "sweet catch!" while quail hunting, but it was the appropriate exclamation for what happened while the pastor of a church in Texas was on a hunt with NFL quarterback Colt McCoy.

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By David Draper

If you can believe everything you read on Facebook, it’s morel season. I wouldn’t know. As I write this, we’re covered up by yet another spring snowstorm. Thank God for the moisture, but it would be nice to get out and do some mushroom hunting (or some turkey hunting or some fishing). I bet the morels will start popping around here the minute we get another warm day. If you’ve had the chance to harvest some morels this season and happen to have some venison backstrap left from last fall, I strongly encourage you to try this recipe, which was featured in the last Food Fight Friday, from Wild Chef reader Neil Selbicky. If, like me, you haven’t picked any morels, substitute sliced crimini, Portobello, or other mushrooms from the store. [ Read Full Post ]

By Peter B. Mathiesen

Three years ago, outdoor writer, photographer, and consummate sportsman Peter Mathiesen left his hometown of St. Louis to start a new life in Alaska. Here’s why he made the move, what everyday life is like, and how it feels to have Denali right outside your window.

If you’re a second or third generation Alaskan, you most likely have a family cabin tucked away somewhere in the wilderness. Many are homesteads settled during the 60s through the early 80s, or the land was simply purchased and a family built a structure over time.

Cabins can be anywhere, on lakes, rivers, or just sitting on a hill with a view of the mountains. It’s romantic to think of a floatplane pulling up to a majestic log building with a view of glacier. And although they do exist, it’s more likely you'll access the 16 x 20 foot post building by snow machine (no Alaskan would call it a snow mobile) 10 miles from a main road.
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By Phil Bourjaily

You can argue—and many do—that pepper spray is a more effective bear stopper than any gun. We’ll leave that aside for now, because this blog is not called “The Spray Nut.” Instead, we’ll assume you have already debated guns vs. pepper spray and opted for a gun. (Or you may decide to carry both.)

Not surprisingly, I would tell you to take a shotgun over a handgun. Shotgun slugs have about three times the muzzle energy of a .44 magnum and make much bigger holes. Unless you are a practiced handgunner, a .44 magnum is a difficult gun to shoot straight—even at a very big target.

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By CJ Lotz

A study out of the University of California, Santa Cruz suggests that flexibility in diet might have given wolves and bears an edge that left saber-tooth cats and cave lions in the evolutionary dust. [ Read Full Post ]