I’ve been testing out the new Wenger Swiss Raid Commando watch, and I have to tell you, this is one cool timepiece. It’s big and bright, as you can see, but that’s not even the half of it. Among its features: a solid stainless casing treated with a film of ionized ceramic and metal that creates a slick, impervious surface; quartz movement with a 12-hour chronograph function; date display; tachometer (it can measure speed over a known distance) and really bright luminous hands and numerals. It’s also water-resistant down to 100 meters, according to the company, but I can vouch for that. What I can vouch for, after wearing this last deer season in woods from Saskatchewan to New York, is that the chronograph works, the date display works, the tachometer works, and the thing keeps time as only a Swiss watch can. It can also take a bit of a beating, as I’m not exactly easy on watches.

My only beef is that I found the instructions confusing. Maybe an IT guy could figure out the watch’s functions the first time reading the manual, but it took me awhile. Price is... [ Read Full Post ]

In an attempt to drum up excitement over the new season of "Man Vs. Wild," the Discovery Channel just threw a few teaser clips up on Youtube. In the one below, host Bear Grylls, who is stuck on a Pacific Island, eats the eyeballs out of a triggerfish. According to old Bear, the eyes are full of fluid that can thwart dehydration. That may be true, but I still don't think I could ever eat a fish eye. But what I have thought about is what lures I'd want to have on me if I ever got stranded in the woods or on an island.

Here's the scenario: You're stranded by a river, lake or on the ocean. You'll be stuck for at least a month. You get to carry one lure and one lure only. We'll pretend that you  managed to get stranded with a rod and reel to fish said lure.

The white bucktail jig seems like an obvious answer for saltwater. In fact, they are included in some survival kits. No doubt, a white buck will catch almost any fish that... [ Read Full Post ]

The bars most of us frequent don't have a theme aside from "cold beer here" and don't attempt fashion statement other than perhaps a "wipe boots before entering" sign. They're just bars. Places to hang out, grab a beer and shoot the bull. And if they've got dead animals hanging on the wall you can be sure we can appreciate or - at the very least - correctly identify what they are.

Not so in New York. For the hipsters who inhabit our cultural capital, dead animals on the bar wall are merely ironic statements of urban cool, and if no one actually knows what those animals are, just call it a moose. Everyone else does.

"Woman sues lower East Side restaurant after moosehead falls off wall and knocks her on head"

Beware of falling moose! A Manhattan woman has sued a lower East Side restaurant, claiming she was conked in the head by a moosehead that fell off a wall. Raina Kumra , 32, sued White Slab Palace, a Scandinavian-inspired hipster hangout on Delancey St., for an unspecified amount, charging the owners were "grossly careless" in mounting the taxidermy wildlife. [ Read Full Post ]

From the Detroit Free Press:

Three teens whose boat motor died while they were duck hunting Sunday afternoon on the Detroit River were rescued from frigid weather by Grosse Ile firefighters who floated to them on a 600-horsepower airboat.

The three . . . were hunting while standing on ice, using the boat to recover birds they shot, said [Dan] Conrado, whose sons Weston, 17, and Ethan, 14, were with an 18-year-old friend.
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The latest scientific evidence now seems to prove unequivocally what was proved unequivocally in first grade by putting a bean in a milk carton. Some people were not paying attention, however, or had to avert their eyes at one of Nature’s ugly struggles. For them, thank goodness for the New York Times:

[B]efore we cede the entire moral penthouse to “committed vegetarians” and “strong ethical vegans,” we might consider that plants no more aspire to being stir-fried in a wok than a hog aspires to being peppercorn-studded in my Christmas clay pot. . . .

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From the Tallahassee Democrat:

A search will resume Monday morning for a hunter who was reported missing Sunday afternoon on Lake Seminole, said Stan Kirkland, spokesman for the Florida Wildlife Commission.

Kirkland said John Mark Slappey, 34 of Albany, Ga., and his half brother Andrew Dismuke, 25, also of Albany, had been duck hunting most of the earlier part of the day.

[ Read Full Post ]

From the Pioneer Press:
For the second time this week, a cougar has reportedly been sighted in the northern Twin Cities metro area. . . .

On Saturday, a police squad car's dashboard camera caught a cougar on tape in Champlin, and the video was widely distributed. The animal, estimated at 200 pounds, was spotted as it crossed U.S. 169.

Be sure to check out the video. [ Read Full Post ]

I was put on to this by Hardbark McLoughlin, who is as crazed about good knives as I am. It’s the work of Owen B. Baker, Jr., who is a retired Air Force light colonel, and has been in the custom knife biz for eight years. His trademark is Bakr-Bilt Custom Knives and leather, and his work is immaculate. This utility-survival knife is called the Phantom. It’s a drop-point made of 154-CM steel tempered to Rc58. A Rockwell of 58 is a little on the soft side for 154-CM, but Mr. Baker anticipates that you will be unkind to his knife, and softer stands up better than harder. It also makes the knife extremely easy to sharpen.

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Here’s one from F&S Shotguns Editor, Phil Bourjaily, who notes:
It's like those Swedish subtitles from Monty Python and the Holy Grail ("A moose bit my sister once") but gone terribly wrong.

To which I would just add, “No realli! She was Karving her initials on the møøse 
with the sharpened end of an interspace tøøthbrush given 
her by Svenge - her brother-in-law - an Oslo dentist and
 star of many Norwegian møvies: "The Høt Hands of an Oslo
 Dentist", "Fillings of Passion", "The Huge Mølars of Horst 
Nordfink."

From AOL News:
Swedish police say they've cleared a man who was arrested for allegedly murdering his wife after deciding the culprit was most likely a moose.

Police spokesman Ulf Karlsson says "the improbable has become probable" in the puzzling death last year of 63-year old Agneta Westlund. She was found dead after an evening stroll in the forest. . . .

The tabloid Expressen says hairs and saliva from a moose — aka a European elk — were found on the victim's clothes.   [ Read Full Post ]

From an AP story via myCentralJersey.com:
Coast Guard boats, planes and helicopters searched the roiling ocean off Cape May on Thursday for three commercial fishermen whose boat sank, and colleagues of the missing men prayed for a miracle. . . .

The Coast Guard has recovered an empty life raft, but had not found any signs of survivors as of Thursday morning as weather conditions continued to worsen, due in part to the remnants of Tropical Storm Ida, which was churning the sea from North Carolina to Long Island, N.Y.. [ Read Full Post ]

From the Billings Gazette:
Lost in the Big Horn Mountains, presumed dead by family and friends and hallucinating because of too much wind and too little food, Travis McMahan, stumbling up a creek, found a dead fish.

“It looked all rotten,” he said. . . . “I cut its head off and skinned its back,” he said of the fish. “And there was good meat in there, so I ate it.”

Later that day, his father and 15 friends — making one last-ditch search effort before a snowstorm was forecast to hit — found him. His father, who had expected to find his son’s body, was the first person he saw. . . .

“He really didn’t say much,” Travis said of his father’s reaction to finding him. “He was just in tears.”

Be sure to check out the whole, harrowing story. [ Read Full Post ]

Looks like the U.S. military needs to expand its recruiting efforts...

From the story: Muslim Insurgents Mauled to Death by Bear After Hiding Out in Its Den
Two armed Muslim insurgents picked the wrong cave to hide out in after they were both killed by a bear. The men were carrying AK-47 assault rifles as they sought refuge in Indian administered Kashmir, but were taken by surprise by the giant carnivore. Two other militants were also injured by the Himalayan black bear, but managed to escape and make their way to a village near Srinagar.

Colonel Brar, Srinagar defence spokesman, said: 'Both bodies were mauled badly by some wild animal, and apparently by a bear, as the area is inhabited by Himalayan black bear. "The attack seems to have been so violent that both the militants got no chance to fire back at the wild animal." A joint team of police and soldiers recovered the two bodies, as well as Kalashnikov assault rifles and some ammunition. [ Read Full Post ]