Keith McCafferty

An Excerpt from THE ROYAL WULFF MURDERS by Keith McCafferty

Dave_Maccar — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:34:16 -0500

Warning: This excerpt contains adult language and themes. Reader discretion is advised.

by Keith McCafferty

PART ONE

Survival Quiz

Online Editors — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 11:16:09 -0400

The elk gave you the slip an hour ago, vanished into some distant dark timber. The sun, sinking fast, dropped behind a solid bank of cloud cover, and the temperature is plummeting. Sure you’re walking South, you stop, look around. Didn’t you pass that lightening-cleaved pine 20 minutes ago? You check you compass, again. It says North. But you’re thinking, “No way!”

Face it. You’re lost.

How to Hunt the Hot Buck

Online Editors — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:09:32 -0400

by Keith McCafferty

Hone A Knife Sharp Enough To Shave

Online Editors — Tue, 03 May 2011 05:28:17 -0400

By now just about everyone has heard of 127 Hours, the critically acclaimed movie inspired by Aron Ralston, the climber who was pinned by a boulder in Utah and spent an hour sawing his arm off with a dull knife blade. It's a dramatic film, but I don't think moviegoers would have had to close their eyes for as long if Ralston had carried a pocket hone in his pack, or even a piece of fine-grit sandpaper.

Survival: Stay Safe On The Ice

Online Editors — Sun, 01 May 2011 19:29:45 -0400

When I was a teenager, I cracked through the surface of an Ohio strip-mine pond during a December pheasant hunt and couldn't hoist myself back onto the ice. My friend Bill Morris extended his Stevens side-by-side to pull me out, to date the only time I've felt good about looking down the barrels of a shotgun.

Ice safety has been no small concern to me ever since, especially considering that I now live in Montana, where you don't have to go ice fishing to find your progress regularly interrupted by ice. Here's what you need to know about the hard water.

Survival: How To Make A Coal Bed

Online Editors — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 20:45:17 -0500

Have you ever seen Jeremiah Johnson?” David Cronenwett asks me between strokes of his saw.

The Robert Redford movie about the legendary mountain man is one of my favorites, but I nod uncomfortably as Cronenwett renders firewood from cottonwood logs for our camp. I have an idea where the question is going.

“You're going to ask if I remember the coal-bed scene, right?”

Build A Bad-Weather Fire

Online Editors — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 22:24:25 -0500

It's an axiom of survival that when you need a fire—really need it with the snow blowing and the evening drawing down like a burial shroud—you need it now. And you need it big.

Hunters And Heart Attack

Online Editors — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 19:06:55 -0500

WHEN YOU ARE HUNTING ELK, the hammering of your heart is most noticeable in the silence before dawn, when you stop for a breather on the mountain. It is a sound I have heard since I was a boy, but not until last season, when I strapped on a heart monitor, have I ever bothered to count the beats or take measure of their meaning.

The Field & Stream Timbercraft Quiz

Joe_Cermele — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 09:12:17 -0500

Taking down a tree, splitting logs, and building a shelter are no easy tasks. You have to know where to stand, which ax or saw to use, and how to angle your approach. Think you're a master of timbercraft? Here's your chance to find out.

Is Your Game Meat Safe to Eat?

Joe_Cermele — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 16:32:33 -0400

Despite all the news about chronic wasting disease, hunters are more likely to become ill from consuming meat that is infected with other diseases or carelessly prepared than from CWD. Here’s how to identify animals that are unfit to eat—and how to properly handle and cook game—so you can eat with confidence.

Common Senses