Most of Carl Akeley’s story has been told enough times to sound like legend but it came from him and it holds up. In 1896, on his first African assignment, he was out on an ostrich hunt when a leopard came out of nowhere and closed the distance before he could recover.

With no shots left, the leopard hit Akeley high and went for his throat, catching his arm instead. They went to the ground leaving him with nothing but his hands to fend off the attack. Akeley drove his arm deeper into the animal’s mouth to keep its teeth off his neck. Somewhere in that scramble he found leverage. He stayed with it until the fight went out of the animal. He walked away torn up but alive. The leopard didn’t.

That moment is what most people remember, but it wasn’t the whole story. Akeley went on to help change how wildlife was understood and preserved, building lifelike habitat displays at the American Museum of Natural History that treated animals as part of a living system, not just trophies. As a member of the Boone and Crockett Club, he was also part of the early push for fair chase and wildlife protection, helping lay the groundwork for conservation efforts that still shape how we manage wild places today. ...

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In a fire that destroyed a home, the shop, and nearly everything inside, one thing held for Larry O’Neal.

The heat was intense enough to melt the metal frame of the garage and collapse the structure onto the safe inside. When the family returned to the wreckage, it took nearly an hour of cutting and prying through the crushed steel just to get a look inside. What they saw stopped them cold.

The wood stocks of the rifles were still intact. One by one, they began pulling them out. Twenty-four heirloom firearms had been stored inside. Twenty-three made it out with only minor cosmetic damage. The only loss came from heat causing the stored ammunition to ignite.

The safe was a Field & Stream x Browning 49 Long Gun Electronic Safe, purchased just days earlier from @tractorsupply 👀

Events like this leave a family with a long road ahead, and everyone involved knows how difficult that can be. Teams from Browning and Tractor Supply Company have stepped in to help replace the safe and support the owner as he begins rebuilding. 🔗 More information about this specific safe is available in our story.

To Larry & his family who shared this with us—thank you for trusting us with your story. What was protected inside that safe represents far more than gear. It’s family history and memories. ...

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Turkey season again. The same old alarm clock before daylight. The same stretch of woods where somebody once whispered, “He’s coming.”

Every spring it starts over. A box call in your vest pocket that sounds a little better every year. Granddad telling the same story about the one that hung up at 40 yards.

Turkey season isn’t just hunting.
It’s a tradition that refuses to die.

A gobble that rattles through the hardwoods. And the quiet understanding that some of the best days of your life start exactly like this.

What’s your favorite story from the woods? Share it.
Archival Project // @fieldandstream & @yuenglingbeer
#OldSchool ...

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Worth the wait.
Some people mark spring by the calendar.
The rest of us mark it by the first gobble. 🦃

Tag us in your season opener photos & stories! ...

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Congrats are in order for 28-year-old guide Silas Turner who landed a record-setting gar while bass fishing. Earlier this month, Turner, of Perry, Georgia, landed the biggest longnose gar ever recorded in the Peach State.

A professional crappie guide and lifelong angler, Turner caught the massive gar on a half-ounce jig while targeting a group of largemouth bass that were schooling beneath bait balls on Lake Blackshear. Turner’s gar dethroned the previous record: a 31-pound, 2-ounce longnose caught by Rachel Harrison on the Coosa River in March 2022.

Swipe through 👉 to read the full story by @travishallmedia featuring @silasturner ...

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Stuff my grandpa told me: Scout hard, wait ‘em out.

📹 Wild Turkey Project // out now on our YT.
👊 @chenegear @weatherbyinc @fiocchiusa ...

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For decades, the Dalton has been one of the last true DIY wilderness hunts in America but, that could change fast.

Stripping protections from the Dalton Highway also paves the way for the highly controversial Ambler Road. This industrial mining road would branch west off the Dalton, just south of the Middle Fork of the Koyukuk River. Its 211-mile course would allow Canadian and Australian-owned mining companies to access mineral deposits on public land at the southern end of the Brooks Range.

If constructed, the Ambler Road would bisect ancient caribou migrations patterns and disrupt prime wilderness fishing opportunities, according Hunters & Anglers for the Brooks Range, a group that includes scores of hunting and fishing brands along with big-name conservation groups like BHA, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, and Trout Unlimited—all of which oppose the long-sought Ambler Road project.

Read the full story by @travishallmedia // 🔗 in story.
Alaskan photography by @schumanryan ...

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