Hunting and Fishing News Blog Articles

Robinson puts Boss shotshells to the test in a Wisconsin goose field. (Stephen Maturen/)

I popped out of my layout blind shooting, dropping the lead goose and then moving back to the second bird in the flock, which was now quartering away hard with the wind at his back. I dropped that goose too, beyond the edge of our decoy spread—not winged, but stone-cold dead.

“Just what the heck are you shooting?” my hunting partner asked.

Nope, not a 10-gauge. Not 3.5-inch BB. I was hunting with the deadliest goose load available: tungsten No. 7s. There’s a new crew of custom shotshell-makers who are pushing the trend in using smaller pellets made of heavier metals. The best thing about these little guys is they offer the exact type of load you’re looking for—whether it’s for your 10-gauge or .410. I rounded up five of the top contenders and piled up ducks and geese with them all fall. When the gun smoke settled, here’s what I found.

1. Hevi-Shot Hevi-X

Technically, this isn’t a custom ammo-maker, since you can usually find it on box-store shelves, but it would be a mistake to exclude Hevi-Shot from this roundup because it’s one of the OGs in the better-than-steel game. This year, the company has upgraded its Hevi-X load, which is a tungsten blend, by increasing the amount of tungsten, and therefore increasing density. When I cut the shells open, I found the pellets were unevenly formed—some looked like candy Nerds, others were two pellets globbed together. This is likely why they scored on the lower end of the percentage of pellets on target during patterning.

Mark Kenyon’s book, That Wild Country, focuses on the history and creation of America’s public lands. (Mark Kenyon/)

America’s public-land heritage didn’t happen by accident. It’s the result of more than a century of exploitation and conservation, a story as rich and complex as the American landscape itself. Author Mark Kenyon explores both America’s public lands and the history of their creation in That Wild Country. The result is a mix of family adventure, personal reflection, political chicanery and historical context. We asked Mark about his love affair with public lands.

Outdoor Life: Your followers know you best as an upper-Midwest whitetail fanatic. What attracted you to writing about public lands?

Mark Kenyon: While whitetails are on my mind 12 months a year, I’ve also harbored a long-running love for hiking, camping, fishing and other outdoor pursuits. Over the last decade, my wife and I have been embarking on annual pilgrimages to the public lands of the West. These exploits have become the central star of our calendars.

In 2015, the “land transfer movement” was picking up steam and I came to see just how at risk these places were. … An understanding of these issues seemed more important than ever.

OL: You note that many Americans don’t understand— let alone appreciate—the value of our national forests and other public lands. Why is that?

There’s nothing that helps you become a better hunter than time spent afield. (Joe Genzel/)

We live in a truly incredible age. A man like myself only has occasion to wear a tie maybe once every five to seven years, and when that rare occasion arises, I can get on YouTube for a quick lesson. If I need to replace a throttle body on my wife’s car, or learn what a throttle body is, there’s more YouTube and the glorious internet to save me. I can learn to bake cookies, decorate cakes, play nearly any type of musical instrument, solve a Rubik’s cube, or wrap a gift.

The internet is full of actual, applicable hunting information as well, and part of what we try to do here at Outdoor Life is provide good, useful information that will help hunters out. That being said, it’s easy to get sucked into the digital vortex of information and miss some valuable lessons that can only really be learned first-hand. You can’t replicate decades of field experience with a video or article. In many cases, you just have to go and do this stuff. It will make you a better outdoorsman, and make the experience more meaningful.

Scope Check

Almost everyone will get nailed across the nose or brow with a riflescope once in their life, often resulting in profuse bleeding. I say once, because usually that’s all it takes to learn that lesson, any more is purely user error. It’s totally understandable, and usually in the heat of the moment on your first bull or buck, you forget to tighten your shoulder against the buttstock, or maybe you’re shooting slightly uphill. That star-spangled aftermath—the ringing in your ears from being struck between the eyes with a hammer—is something that is usually profound enough to be a life-long reminder not to let it happen again.

Survival Fire

As duck season gets deeper into January, you have to change the way you hunt mallards. (Joe Genzel/)

Years ago, I was in Arkansas spring snow goose hunting, and it was damn miserable, as snow goose hunting tends to be. After a sufficient amount of suffering, a friend with a private timber hole suggested that we take the morning off, and motor out to the flooded oaks to watch the remaining mallards flutter through the canopy of budding tree limbs.

Many of us had never been to such a heavenly place where wood ducks masterfully weaved in and out of the trees in the darkness, hitting high-pitched squeals that reverberated amongst the hardwoods. Then mallards lit all around us, so close you could hear each individual wingbeat. It was magnificent; made even more so, because we didn’t have shotguns in our hands as the season had long been out. I was hooked.

Every season since we’ve swapped hunts with our old Arkansas buddies. They always wanted to field hunt and I always want to get back into that magical timber.

Whether you’re in flooded timber or a frozen corn field, chasing late-season mallards requires a special set of tactics. And over the years, we’ve developed some rules to live by. They are not all hard and fast, but most will put a few birds on your strap as long as the refuge is full of greenheads.

Big Water

Black bear hunting opportunities—both over bait or spot-and-stalk—abound. (Tyler Freel/)

Hunting The Last Frontier can be the most phenomenal episode of your hunting lifetime and while a successful hunt is attainable, there are a few baseline things to understand that will make the difference between an amazing experience and heartbreaking disappointment. Alaska is huge, opportunities are extremely diverse, and logistics are the name of the game. Some species (Dall sheep, mountain goats, brown/grizzly bears) require hiring a registered guide, so in that case, this planning process is significantly abbreviated. Even for other species, using an outfitter isn’t a bad idea. They usually already have all the components in place to give you a fantastic hunt. But what about a DIY hunt?

While contracting the services of a professional hunt planner can be an excellent alternative, there are some who want the entire endeavor to be self-planned and executed. This information is for you.

1. Pick a Species

Although there are many regions of Alaska in which multiple big game species can be found, it’s best to focus on one—especially on a DIY hunt with limited logistics. If your heart is set on a chance at multiple species, it can muddy the waters by pigeon-holing you into a spot that might only be mediocre for each. Narrowing down to a primary target animal will also open up more territory options since regulations might not allow for the multiple species you’re looking for. If you have your heart set on taking two or even three different animals, it can be done, but you must select your area carefully. There are areas where you can realistically get a moose and a caribou, but there’s just as many where you’ll only see moose, or only see caribou.

2. Pick A Hunting Method

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

.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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 »]

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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.

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.