Hunting and Fishing News Blog Articles

You’ll need a few greenheads to make this delicious meal. ( Joe Genzel/)

For a long time, I thought the only way to cook duck was with a jalapeno, some cream cheese and lots of bacon. The popper is an old duck camp standby that gets a bit overdone. There’s plenty of room for it of course, but also a world of waterfowl cuisine that goes far beyond hot cream cheese and undercooked bacon. Don’t get me wrong, we still do our own version of the popper with wood ducks and teal during early season, but when it comes to mallards, there’s such a variety of opportunity that exists to make greenheads into phenomenal tablefare, it’s almost criminal not to take advantage.

The thing is, there are so many recipes to create a darn good duck meal, and we’ll be bringing you more of them from hunters and chefs across the flyways. We’re starting with my younger brother, Chef Carl—you can find him on Instagram @microwavespecialist. He came up with that IG handle after I incessantly needled him for reheating real chef’s food. He’s actually a trained chef and can cook just about anything you want him to: from steak for 500 to beef Wellington (an all-time favorite) at Christmas. His palate has turned a little high-falutin’ but he still thrives in the place where he cut his teeth: mom’s kitchen.

Every fall we hit the road for at least one trip to get the hell out Illinois and hunt a state with drivable roads, affordable gas, and ducks. This year, we headed to Kansas to chase greenheads and honkers with my buddy Drew Palmer. We stayed with his parents, and every ingredient you’ll find here, Carl found already stocked in the kitchen cabinets—or on a quick trip to Walmart.

There were only a few duck hearts left by the time we got home from scouting. (Joe Genzel/)

The Appetizer: Duck Hearts and Toast

First, we start with duck hearts and toast, which I will say, I have always been a bit skeptical of, because I’m not usually a big organ eater. But they were so good our hunting buddies devoured all but three by the time we were done scouting. You might think a heart would be chewy or have a rubber-like texture, but it’s an absolute delicacy when cooked right. It’s like biting into the most succulent piece of meat you have tasted, just as long as the temperature is on point. I’ve eaten plenty of deer heart that has been overdone and that’s more like chewing on a spare tire. It’s all about the cook time. You want high heat and fast cooking. Keeping it rare is the key.

If you don’t know how to sharpen a knife, or simply don’t want to take the time to give a blade an edge, a replaceable-blade knife might be just what you need. (Outdoor Edge/)

Knowing how to sharpen a knife is an essential skill for any outdoorsman, chef, security professional, craftsman, or any activity where carrying a blade is part of the job. But it’s not always convenient to lug around sharpening stones or other devices, and that’s where replaceable-blade knives stand out. With surgically sharp spare blades that nest in the sheath, you can get as many as a dozen blade changes out of one handy package. They take seconds to swap out, ensuring that you always have a razorlike edge on hand when it counts.

Always Sharp

To get more life from a replaceable blade, run it over a ceramic rod or give it a light sharpen when you’re home. (Outdoor Edge/)

Thin, stainless-steel blades are easily changed in the field, eliminating the need to sharpen. However, to really get the most life out of a single blade, store it back in the sheath after removal and then re-sharpen once or twice on a ceramic rod or diamond stone at home before finally disposing of it.

Lightweight

A replaceable-blade knife handle is usually light and easy to grip. (Havalon/)

Replaceable-blade knife handles are usually made of thermoplastic rubber or some other synthetic material that is both lightweight and durable. They are so light that it’s easy to carry one as a back-up blade reserved only for critical slicing functions while packing a more robust knife or multi-tool for the more demanding tasks.

Portioning cuts of wild game meat is a lot of work, but it’s rewarding. (Mossy Oak/)

Of all the stages a hunter goes through, none is more important or rewarding than learning how to turn the labors of the field into healthy, organic meals. Processing your own game is a time-honored tradition that not only instills a greater respect for the animal, but also ensures that you know exactly what you are getting at mealtime and that the game was properly handled from field to table. To get started, here are a few tools that will make learning to process your own game easier and more professional.

Field-dressing Kit

Having a selection of sharp blades nearby is critical for processing meat. (Mossy Oak/)

Field dressing big game really doesn’t require anything more than a sharp pocketknife. That said, the job is one heck of a lot easier when you have a specialized kit of blades engineered for specific tasks across a wide range of game species, from elk and deer, to squirrels and upland birds

Gambrel and Hoist

Using a gambrel to hoist meat while you process it makes the job cleaner and easier. (Hunter's Specialties/)

Sure, you can use a limb and a short rope to hoist big game for cleaning, but investing in a commercial gambrel will save a lot of time and effort. Look for a gambrel with an integrated block and tackle to give a mechanical advantage when lifting heavy game.

The magic of Africa. (Ron Spomer/)

Maybe your African safari is just a dream at this stage, but you can make it a reality. In fact, I recommend you do. The cost is much less than a guided North American mule deer or elk hunt. So why not edge closer to your dream safari by deciding which African cartridge/rifle you’ll shoot?

Perhaps the most famous African cartridge is the .375 H&H Magnum, but a couple of its offspring, the .416 Remington Magnum and .458 Winchester Magnum, offer more power and heavier bullets. Which would be best? Let’s examine each in depth and then you can pick your winner.

.243m, .30-06 and .375 H&H. (Ron Spomer/)

.375 Holland & Holland

This belted magnum of 1912 was not the first belted magnum cartridge, but it was and remains the first and most enduringly successful one. Created by the British gunmaking firm of Holland & Holland, it holds enough smokeless powder (about 78 grains or 20 grains more than a 30-06) to drive 300-grain bullets 2,500 fps (feet per second) from a 24-inch barrel. That’s fast enough to grind out about 4,200 ft-lbs (foot pounds) of kinetic energy, roughly 1,300 ft-lbs more than the .30-06 will churn out with a hot 180-grain bullet. Recoil of this .375 H&H load will be around 45 ft-lbs in a rifle/scope weighing 9 pounds. Thanks to all that powder, brass, and bullet, .375 H&H rounds sell for $1.60 to $2.60 each.

When released, the .375 was offered with 270-grain and 235-grain bullets, too. The lighter slugs were designed to shoot faster, flatter and farther for reaching smaller plains game species. All three proved to shoot so close to point of aim inside of sensible hunting distances that they could be fired interchangeably without re-sighting the rifle. Today 253-grain loads are rare, but many ammo brands offer 250-, 260, and 270-grain .375 H&H ammo. Trajectory with Federal’s 260-grain Nosler Accubond load is identical to the Federal 180-grain Nosler Accubond .30-06 load to 400 yards, making it a great option for smaller antelope.

The field version of the new Savage Renegauge during a hunt in Maine. (Alex Robinson/)

Seven years ago, Savage set out to build a semi-automatic shotgun that would handle well and function flawlessly with both light target loads and magnum loads. Also, the gun could be neither offensively heavy nor overpriced.

“I killed the project three times because the cost was too high and the gun was too heavy,” says Al Kasper, Savage’s president and CEO.

Eventually, engineer John Linscott—the lead engineer behind the A17—took over the project. He designed a patented dual-valve gas system (more on this later) and fluted the shotgun’s barrel, which reduced weight by 10 percent. So now, at 7.9 pounds (in the 28-inch barrel version) and with a MSRP of $1,449, Savage is bringing its Renegauge to market.

Savage rep Megan Harten hunting with a camo version of the Renegauge. (Alex Robinson/)

I got to field test a pre-production version of the gun on a December sea duck hunt in Maine before meeting with the engineers at Savage’s factory in Westfield, Massachusetts, where the gun is being made. The Renegauge pointed beautifully on eiders, longtail ducks, and divers, it ran Boss 2 ¾-inch No. 5 shells without fail, and it handled hard-recoiling 3-inch Remington Supersonic No. 2s without bruising our shoulders or cheeks. The synthetic stock and Melonite-coated barrel (inside and outside) sustained three days of abuse in the saltwater without showing any rust or wear. Here’s a closer look at this futuristic shotgun.

The Renegauge's D.R.I.V. system is designed for fast, consistent cycling. (Savage Arms/)

Dual-Valve Gas System

Hardwater anglers know the drill, so to speak, when it comes to picking a target species to chase through the ice. It’s probably going to be pike, walleyes, or panfish. It’s true, those species comprise the bulk of the fishing opportunities across the ice belt, and no matter where you live in the northland, it’s likely that you won’t have to drive too far to find a reasonable opportunity to set tip-ups for northerns, jig for walleyes along a weedline, or drop a crappie jig in pursuit of a midwinter fish fry.

If variety is indeed the spice of life, then changing up your ice fishing game to include some of the more overlooked wintertime species can help end the tedium that comes with catching the same old thing each day. But variety doesn’t necessarily have to mean targeting perch instead of crappies, or sauger instead of walleyes. Indeed, a number of unique ice fishing opportunities scattered across the ice belt can breathe excitement back into predictability. Here are five compelling ways to spice up your ice season.

1. Channel Catfish

Schools of winter catfish are highly mobile – keep drilling until you find them. (Dr. Jason Halfen/)

It’s hard to imagine a fish that evokes the dog days of summer more than the catfish. Generations of anglers have wiled away a lazy afternoon on the banks of a slow-moving river with a long rod and a pail full of nightcrawlers, a stringer of feisty channel cats at their feet. Yet, in some lakes and reservoirs in the northland, catfishing doesn’t end when the leaves fall from the trees. Indeed, catching channel cats through the ice can be just as much fun as fishing them in the summer, with one big added benefit: no mosquitoes!

Where to find them: Winter channel cat locations are often associated with deep holes and adjacent flats, frequently in depths of 25 to 40 feet. However, hardwater cats – at least the active, catchable ones – are rarely bottom-oriented in this deep water. Rather, channel cats form large, mobile schools that will suspend within the water column, often as high as just a few feet beneath the ice. In fact, once you locate a school, it’s not uncommon to have dozens of fish on your ice fishing sonar’s display at a single time. Because the schools are so mobile, it’s important to remain on the move when searching for cats; drill and check lots of holes, and don’t settle into any particular spot until you see consistent sonar activity from suspended fish below.

The twenty-teens have come to a close. Before we speed forward to all of the new gun introductions of 2020, let’s take a look back, because it has been a hell of a decade for hunters and shooters. Here’s a list of 23 firearms that made a lasting impact over the last 10 years.

Ruger American

Ruger American (Outdoor Life/)

The trend in dirt-cheap rifles that shoot lights-out started with Savage under the leadership of Ron Coburn. Other companies took notice, but none ran with the concept like Ruger, which set a new threshold for the category with the Ruger American. Ruger took a hard look at how to combine accuracy-enhancing elements with efficient manufacturing techniques and created the American, a three-lug bolt action with an innovative bedding system that creates an extra-solid lock-up between the receiver and stock. Combined with a quality factory barrel, a good trigger, and a smooth-running action, you get a rifle that performs better than any other deer rifle at this price point. —JBS

Barrett Fieldcraft

Barrett Fieldcraft (Outdoor Life/)

The Fieldcraft has established itself as one of the finest production rifles for big-game hunting, but when it first came out it created some confusion. After all, Barrett was better known for making humongous .50-caliber rifles that only a muscle-bound jarhead would consider portable—and not svelte bolt-guns that would be ideal on a mountain sheep hunt.

In Game of Snipers, Hunter focuses heavily on today’s hyper-accurate long guns. (Penguin Random House/)

No one describes firearms, and gunfighting, with the same level of passion and technical accuracy as author Stephen Hunter. On the pages of his novels, the guns he writes about come alive. It doesn’t matter whether he’s discussing the slick, oily action of a well-used 1911, the recoil of a Tommy gun in the hands of a skilled gangster, or the stupefying effect of touching off a big-bore revolver in a small, dark room.

In good news for fans, Hunter recently published another installment in his saga of the Swagger family. This one, Game of Snipers, summons Bob Lee Swagger away from his Idaho ranch to help track down and confront a sniper who’s as skilled as he is. Swagger’s foe is a battle-hardened mercenary who has snuck into the U.S. to take out a high-profile political target.

In Game of Snipers, Hunter focuses heavily on today’s hyper-accurate long guns. And brace yourself: Even Swagger has fallen under the sway of the 6.5 Creedmoor. The star of the show, however, is an Accuracy International chambered in .338 Lapua that is being tweaked to make one hell of a long shot. There’s plenty of other good stuff in this novel, too, though true riflemen will no doubt shed a tear when a reloading room full of H-1000 powder and boxes of match bullets from Sierra, Berger and Swift goes up in flames.

I got a chance to catch up with Hunter to talk about Bob Lee’s future, why Hollywood doesn’t (totally) suck, and what fires up his imagination.

Outdoor Life: Bob Lee is getting on in years. How many more adventures does he have in him? Will there be a next generation of characters for you?

Winter ice should never be taken lightly. (USFWS/)

Falling through thin ice is a wintertime hazard that claims many lives each year. Before you head out for ice fishing, trapping or any other activity on frozen bodies of water, make sure you plan ahead for this kind of winter crisis and make sure you know exactly what to do if it happens to you or someone near you. Sometimes the wrong decision or delayed action can cost lives.

7. Understanding Frozen Water

Most of the liquids on earth have a very logical behavior. The colder they get, the more they shrink and condense. This is not the case with water. Water crystalizes as it freezes, expanding approximately 9 percent. This means that its solid form is less dense than its liquid form, allowing frozen water to float on the top of liquid water. While no patch of ice should ever be considered 100 percent safe, we can assess the ice and make a guess about its safety. Take a drill with a long paddle bit and a tape measure out to the waterway (and a snow shovel to get down to the ice, if needed). Check the ice thickness at the edge of the waterway, before setting foot on it. If thick enough, then go out further onto the ice. Drill several test holes and use your tape to measure the ice thickness. When the ice is two inches (or less) in thickness, don’t leave the shore. Three inches is your bare minimum for ice thickness. Four inches (or more) is recommended for walking, skating and ice fishing on foot. Five inches (and thicker) is generally safe for ATVs and snowmobiles. When the ice is eight to 12 inches thick (or better), small cars or light pickups might dare to cross. Keep in mind, however, that any ice sheet can have thinner areas. Likely causes of thin spots are underwater springs and geothermal activity. If in doubt, stay on the shore.

6. Always Carry Some Ice Rescue Tools

Ice rescue tools are one of the most important things to carry. (Tim MacWelch /)

The biggest problem with hauling yourself out of the water is grip. Once the slick ice around an ice hole gets wet, there’s not much to grab onto (unless you plan ahead for this unfortunate accident). By purchasing or making a set of ice rescue spikes, a victim can self-rescue by using these moveable handheld spikes to crawl away from the ice hole and back to solid ice. One easy way to make a set is to purchase two ice picks with buoyant wooden handles and about six feet of strong cord. You’ll also need a hacksaw and a drill. Use the hacksaw to cut off half of the metal on each pick. Make your cut on an angle, so the resulting spike has a sturdy beveled point. Use the drill to make a hole in each handle. Fasten each end of the rope to each of your ice picks. Test the set for its ability to float, before you trust your life to them. You don’t need your trusted tool set to slip into the dark water and be lost. You could also make the spikes from scratch, drilling out dowels and fitting them with sturdy metal spikes. For transporting the set, it’s also nice to use a little chunk of wine bottle cork as a “cap” for each spike, so you don’t stab yourself or your clothing by carrying these spikes in your pocket. Keep these lifesaving tools in an outer coat pocket or somewhere they could be quickly grabbed, if needed. Make sure you carry these tools for every trip onto the ice.

Don’t trash the way another person hunts just because they don’t live up to your standard of fair chase. (Tyler Freel /)

It was 2:30 a.m. when I heard the unmistakable sound of a stick snapping under the heavy foot of a grizzly bear. Even the thrushes had quieted down at that hour, and that single snap reverberated through the boreal timber like a gunshot. Silence, then another snap...closer. “It had to be now,” I thought, at the darkest part of the mid-May night in Interior Alaska.

The sky was still glowing, trickling just enough light down through the timber to see. I readied myself in the tree, breathing slowly to calm my heart that pounded proportionally harder as the bear got closer. As his head emerged from the alders I thought, “holy shit, he is big!” The boar relaxed a little as he emerged from the brush. His nose hit the ground at eight yards, and he turned broadside as he smelled where my rubber boots had walked to check my camera.

I came to full draw hoping to send a stone-point arrowhead through his lungs, but I couldn’t get my longbow that far behind me without hitting the tree. I had to let down. The bear (still unaware to my presence) turned and walked off into the timber never to appear again that season. Thoughts have crept into my head that the outcome would have been different had I been using a rifle or even my shorter recurve bow with modern arrows. But in that context, hunting with a longbow was more important to me than killing that bear.

Read Next: 9 Hard Truths About Hunting on Public Land

The Rules Hunters Live By

We’ve been fighting against the cold since the dawn of humanity, and had plenty of time to devise strategies that allow us to survive in frigid weather. We’ve also had ample time to create falsehoods and gather misinformation about surviving the winter. Before you have to separate fact from fiction the hard way—getting stranded in a winter storm or buried by an avalanche—here are 10 ways to survive a perilous situation.

10. Without The Right Outdoor Clothing, You’re Doomed To Hypothermia

Clothing is our first line of shelter from the elements, but what happens when we get caught without the right garb? (Tim MacWelch/)

The right clothes can make a big difference in the outdoors, not only for comfort but for survival. When the weather takes an unpredicted turn for the worse, and your clothing isn’t good enough, fall back on one of the oldest tricks of survival. Take a page from our Stone Age ancestors and stuff your garments with natural plant insulation. By scratching up any green materials and filling your clothing with them, you’ll create dead air space and feel warmer. Live or dead plants, such as grasses, moss, ferns, leaves and pine needles can be stuffed down pant legs and into shirts. Don’t worry about the materials being uncomfortable or containing bugs, they will. This isn’t done for comfort. You’ll feel and look silly, but be warmer. If that staves off hypothermia, it’s a fair trade.

9. How to treat Frostbite

It’s only natural to rub your hands together when they are cold, but this isn’t a wise thing to do when your tissues are suffering from frostbite. Rubbing frozen skin will not generate any useful amount of heat. Worse still, rubbing skin that contains ice crystals will only cause more tissue damage. As these sharp ice spikes move, they harpoon additional tissues and lead to worse damage than you’d receive by leaving the skin alone. The right treatment for this malady is gentle rewarming (if you can prevent additional freezing damage). Start by identifying the problem. Patches of mild frostbite will have a dull waxy appearance. Deeper frostbite will be pale and solid. Begin your rewarming by pre-treating with pain medication (frostbite is very painful once thawed). Ibuprofen is a good choice for the pain, and it should be taken before it gets too bad. Place the frostbitten tissues against warm skin or in warm water. The final steps are to protect the thawed tissue from refreezing and monitor the victim for hypothermia and shock.

Cast iron cooking isn’t difficult as long as you prepare things accordingly. (Lodge/)

Cast iron cookware has been around for centuries, but for good reason. The versatile kitchenware can do everything from baking to frying, and its revered for its ability to evenly retain heat and avoid burnt spots that can come from improper flame control, so it’s as at home on an open fire or in the finest kitchen. Whether you need to fry bacon for breakfast, simmer stew for dinner, or bake biscuits for dessert, you can do it with cast iron. You can even swap skillets and Dutch ovens from the stovetop to the oven, allowing you to brown the outside of your favorite cut to perfection but finish the center to your preferred shade of pink. Here’s a few tips to get started cooking with this age-old material.

Choose Your Finish

If you plan to use cast iron in the kitchen and not on the campfire, consider enameled cookware. (Lodge/)

There’s something about the raw, rugged finish of natural cast iron. But if your cooking plans involve a lot of foods that contain acids (think dishes cooked with a lot of wine or tomatoes), consider enameled cookware. As the name implies, these pots and pans have an enameled finish over the interior and exterior. This means you won’t have to worry about your beef bourguignon taking the finish off your Dutch oven. Cleanup is also easier, but you can’t put these over on open fire or on your grill.

Season

Season cast-iron cookware before using it to prevent food from sticking to it. (Lodge/)

Unlike non-stick pots and pans, cast iron needs to be seasoned before use. To keep food from getting stuck, a thin layer of fat or oil must be added to fill in the metal’s pores. To do that, spread a thin layer of shortening or vegetable oil over your pan, crank your oven or barbecue up to 375 degrees, and let the pot sit inside for an hour. Or, if you don’t want to go through the hassle, you can buy a pre-seasoned pan and skip this process.

Good news. Bad news. Important news. Outdoor Life has brought it all to hunters and anglers since 1898. These are the articles both readers and editors deemed most significant this past year.

10. Walmart and Kroger Are Changing Their Gun and Ammo Policies. Here’s What You Need to Know

"Walmart and Kroger Are Changing Their Gun and Ammo Policies. Here’s What You Need to Know" by T. Logan Metesh

In the wake of recent high-profile shootings in Texas and Ohio, retail giants Walmart, Sam’s Club, and Kroger have changed their policies regarding ammunition and gun sales as well as open carry in their stores. [Read More »]

9. The 18 Best New Hunting and Precision Rifles, Tested

"The 18 Best New Hunting and Precision Rifles, Tested" by John B. Snow (Bill Buckley/)

Okay I get it. In times of uncertainty and change, it is tempting to seek comfort in the traditional and spurn the new. If it helps put anyone’s mind at ease, let me say this No, there is nothing wrong with your old Savage .30/06. It will still kill deer and no one is suggesting otherwise. But as you’ll see here, with a few exceptions, the newest crop of rifles doesn’t look much like what you’d find in the gun rack at your daddy’s whitetail camp. [Read More »]

.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }

Wild duck often gets a bad rap as table fare. Some of this comes from folks over-cooking it. A well-done duck breast will be dry, tough, and a little livery. But some of that “duck-tastes-bad” rhetoric also comes from hunters not treating their birds properly between the blind and the kitchen. If you let your birds sit in a muddy pile for half a day before butchering them, they’re bound to pick up some gamey flavor.

However, if you care for your birds properly, and butcher your birds carefully, wild duck can be some of the best game meat you’ll ever pull off the grill. The method in this video works especially well for late-season puddle ducks, which have a fatty layer of skin around the breasts and thighs (when fried to crisp, that skin is delicious) but it also works for divers and geese.

Field Care

You drop the first bird of the morning and your Lab runs out to retrieve him. By the time he gets back to the blind, more birds are setting in, so you throw the duck into the bottom of the boat and get back to shooting. More soggy ducks get added to the pile as the morning shoot continues. Then it’s time to pick up the decoys. Then lunch. Then you’ve got to unpack the truck. And oh yeah, maybe we should clean those ducks?

Cold air always reduces bullet trajectory to some degree. (Ron Spomer/)

Cold weather is a good news/bad news situation for hunters. Depending on what, where, when, and how you shoot, you might need to worry about cold — or forget about it. Let’s tackle the bad news first.

Bottom line: cold slows down your bullets. It increases bullet drop. It increases wind deflection. It reduces energy delivered on target. Heck, cold temperatures can even prevent guns from firing.

Consider this scenario: you are dressed head-to-toe in your best snow camo. You have your .22-250 Rem. coyote rifle taped white and stuffed to the gills with the hot 55-grain poly-tipped boattail spire point handloads you concocted last summer. Your carefully chronographed measurements showed average muzzle velocity (MV) as 3,700 fps. You’ve got your drop and drift chart memorized and know just which sub-reticle to hold for 300, 350, 400, and 450 yards.

Two coyotes in the snow. (Ron Spomer/)

So let the hunt begin. You sit against a fence post in a miserable, 10 mph left-right crosswind at 0-degrees F, thankful that you’ve worn four layers of hydrophobic fleece, Merino wool, and the finest goose down plus a wind blocking layer of Gore-Tex. You blow your open reed call eagerly for 30 seconds, wait three minutes and repeat. After 15 minutes, your first customer appears. Instead of charging in, the big dog stops facing you at a laser ranged 400 yards. OK. That’s a pretty narrow target. But you have a steady bipod rest and you know your drop and drift numbers. You’re a precision shooter. You steady your 400-yard reticle and kiss the 2# Timney trigger. Click. Failure to launch. Stay calm. Bolt in another round and worry about the mis-fire later. Shot number two ignites and the 55-grain projectile is away. In less than a half second it lands. Just right of the coyote and slightly low!

What happened? Cold. Your misfire was likely due to a gummed up firing pin slowed by the clod. Keeping your rifle clean and clear of gummy oils should fix that issue.

The idea of cutting down a tree, bringing it indoors and festooning it with decorations may seem pretty random when you stop to think about it. There’s a lot of meaning behind the practice, though, and we have some 16th century Germans to thank for bringing the Christmas tree to America. They took an ancient heathen tradition and made it their own, decorating cut trees to symbolize religious teachings. Widely regarded as a symbol of life, evergreens can mean many things to many people – they can also mean life to someone stranded in the winter wilderness. Here are eight ways to use evergreen trees in a survival situation.

Get To Know Your Trees

Just because a tree has green needles in the winter, doesn’t mean it’s safe for use. Take the time to learn how to positively identify your local species. (Tim MacWelch/)

Numerous evergreen species can provide us with useful supplies. The trees mentioned here are all conifers, meaning that they bear cones for reproduction. If the tree you are trying to identify has berries of any color, it is not a conifer and it may be toxic. These three genera are commonly used as Christmas trees, and they can also provide food, fuel, glue, and other helpful materials in the wild.

Pine: These conifer trees have needles that are typically longer than spruce or fir. Pines generally have needles in bunches numbering 2, 3, or 5, though they can number anywhere from 1 to 7 needles in a cluster, depending the species.

Spruce: An easy way to remember these conifer species is “sharp, square spruce”. These trees have solitary needles with square shafts and a sharp point on the tip.

There’s no better way to warm up during the coldest months of the year than next to a blazing wood stove. (Pexels/)

They say firewood warms you twice: once when you cut it, and again when you burn it. When it comes to splitting wood, the old adage of work smarter, not harder definitely applies. Using the right tools and proper techniques can make keeping your wood stove going much less arduous. Here are some tips to make this chore easier on you, and your back.

Get Off the Ground

The key to gathering firewood isn’t to work harder, it’s to work smarter, and that’s only possible with the right tools. (LogOX/)

Cutting wood on the ground is a good way to dull axes, ruin chainsaws, and guarantee a trip to the chiropractor. Once you’ve felled a tree, or found worthy deadfall, use a timber jack to lift it off the forest floor. Cutting will be easier on you and your tools. As a bonus, the added leverage the jack provides helps move the heaviest logs.

Bring a Maul

Axes look cool, but splitting mauls are more efficient at dividing logs. (Fiskars/)

When it comes time to split, forget the fancy boutique axes and pick up the heaviest maul you can swing. Because of the wedge-shaped head, mauls split wood much more efficiently than axes—especially when dealing with tough species like oak or hickory. The hammer face on the opposite side is perfect for driving splitting wedges, which can be necessary with some knotty pieces.

The best way to get ready for a hunt in the mountains is to hike yourself into shape. (Tyler Freel/)

Backcountry, backpack hunting has seen a huge surge in popularity in recent years. More and more people are taking to the hills in pursuit of a more challenging and hopefully fulfilling adventure. It’s become so popular, in fact, that an entire side industry has popped up just for preparing to go hunting. Whether it’s supplements, special workout programs, or hunting fitness competitions, aspiring mountain hunters are bombarded with options and advice about how to get prepared. Much of this messaging is well-intended, but it can turn an already daunting hunt into a seemingly impossible trip.

You Don’t Need to Be a Super Athlete

At the core of it, everyone wants to be prepared for their hunt and have an enjoyable experience, and fitness is an important part of that. However, this subculture of hunting emphasizes the physical fitness side of a backcountry hunt so much that it can leave you thinking you need to be a super athlete to survive a 10-day hunt in the mountains, let alone kill a big ram or bull. There is plenty of marketing and many personalities that are presenting a somewhat exaggerated picture of what it will take to be successful and have fun on a backpack hunt. So how fit do you actually need to be?

Naturally, with mountain hunting being an activity that usually involves very high levels of exertion and discomfort, often for long periods of time, it’s important for a person to be physically prepared. At minimum, you need to be fit enough to not get yourself injured. If you have weak ankles, or an old injury, you need to prepare them. If you can’t walk a mile with a backpack without feeling like you’re going to die, then you’re not ready.

However, a six-pack and gym selfies are not required to do well on a mountain hunt. In my experience, the biggest factor in how well you do and how much you enjoy a hunt sits between your ears. Young men in prime physical condition call it quits while old men march on past them every single season. Mental toughness and an unwillingness to quit are your best assets on the mountain. No matter the shape you are in, it’s going to be hard, and you will suffer. The successful hunters are those who stick it out and keep pushing, regardless of how bad it sucks at times.

Just like open water fishing, success on hard water requires using the right tools for the job. (Dr. Jason Halfen/)

No different than in open water, each trip on the ice is unique: we fish at different depths, with different lures, for different species, each time we venture on the ice. As a result, every angler should own a basic arsenal of ice rods and reels that will cover the typical contingencies they may face during the hardwater months. Let’s begin by dissecting the issues surrounding rod, reel, and line selection for ice fishing.

Ice Rods 101

Picking the right ice rod, reel, and line requires you to think carefully about your target species, water depth, and lure weight. (Dr. Jason Halfen/)

Just as when fishing open water, the variables we need to consider when picking an ice rod are length, power, and action. Of these, length may be the most significant difference between soft- and hardwater rods; while a long rod for bass fishing might extend into the eight- to nine-foot range, the longest rod you’re likely to ever string up for ice fishing is 48 inches long, and most will be significantly shorter. To a certain extent, rod length correlates with your target species: most panfish rods fall into the 20- to 30-inch range, walleye rods are frequently 32- to 36-inches long, and apex predators, like pike and lake trout, are often best pursued with rods that are 40- to 48-inches long. A secondary consideration is whether you plan to fish in a shelter or outside, exposed to the elements. Most shelter-bound anglers will select rods on the shorter end of the typical species range, simply because of the limited real estate available within the confines of a flip-over or hub. In contrast, high-mobility fishing outside of a shelter poses no rod length restrictions.

Power and action are often used incorrectly as synonyms, because in reality, these terms describe two fundamentally different rod characteristics. The power rating of a rod - such as light, medium, or heavy – describes the typical weight that will cause a rod to flex. Thus, a rod with an ultra-light power rating, which an angler might select for presenting tiny tungsten jigs to shallow panfish, will be flexed by far less weight than would cause a medium or heavy power rod to bend. The typical lure weights listed on the blank are a good indication of that rod’s power. The action of a rod describes the position along the blank where the primary bend or flex will occur. Think about action in terms of the rod’s “backbone” – a fast-action rod will have its primary flex point close to the tip, and as a result, possesses a long, stiff backbone for powerful hooksets. In contrast, a rod with moderate action will have its flex point farther down the blank, closer to the handle, where a less substantial backbone can act as an effective shock-absorber to deal with unpredictable surges from larger predators.

How To Pick The Right Rod and Line

A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist looks for dead mussles in the Clinch River. (USFWS/)

The Clinch River, which stretches through 300 miles of Appalachia, has a mussel problem. In Kyles Ford, Tennessee, scientists are trying to determine the cause of a massive die-off of freshwater pheasantshell mussels.

Mussels are critical to any river, filtering the water of metals, algae and silt, making it more hospitable for all inhabitants, including fish and aquatic plants. People who secure their drinking water from rivers (that’s a lot of folks) also benefit from the filtration.

According to a story in USA Today, U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist, Jordan Richard, said that since 2016, 80,000 pheasantshells died on a 219-yard stretch of the Clinch (estimated mussel populations on the river dropped by 50 percent). The Nature Conservancy has labeled the Clinch River basin the No. 1 hotspot for imperiled aquatic species, including 19 varieties of fish. Similar die-offs have taken place in other rivers across the country. In Europe, 26 countries have reported up to 90 percent declines in mussel populations, according to a story in National Geographic.

No one has been able to determine the root cause on the Clinch, though there have been instances on other rivers in which mussels are believed to have died due to habitat loss, pollution, and climate change. The scientists studying the Clinch suspect an infectious disease.

“It can affect the ecosystem on a lot of fronts because mussels are important filters for maintaining clean water,” said Dr. Helen Neville of Trout Unlimited. “(Die-offs) cause murkiness in the water a lot of fish can’t live with, and the shells provide shelter for some fish as well.”