Hunting and Fishing News & Blog Articles

Though they may appear that they’re somewhat oblivious to their surroundings, pre-season velvet bucks haven’t let down their guard. (Greg Miller/)

There is a wealth of good information available these days regarding the most effective strategies for taking trophy whitetails. The vast majority of this information deals with the early season, pre-rut, rut, and post-rut periods.

I won’t argue that hunters should hit the woods crammed with as much knowledge as possible regarding taking big bucks. However, I remain convinced that there’s yet another time frame that warrants just as much attention as any of the aforementioned periods. And that time is the pre-season.

My many years of experience with pre-season whitetails has taught me that there’s not a more critical time for serious hunters to step up their game, but it must be done with the utmost caution. It’s okay to be a long-range deer watcher. It’s necessary to put out trail cameras. It’s perfectly find to put some boots on the ground. But consider these rules first. I had to learn them the hard way.

1. Observe But Don't Be Obvious

Choose long-range observation posts—and high-power optics—wisely. (Greg Miller/)

Big bucks don’t like being watched—not even if it’s from a distance and not even if the season hasn’t yet opened. Plain and simple, deer are prey creatures, which means they possess the innate ability to sense when they’re being watched.

A trail through the Chippewa National Forest in Minnesota. (USDA/)

Congress finally seems ready to work on fixing the enormous maintenance backlog on our public lands. It is considering a long-overdue appropriations package that will create a dedicated revenue source to address a $12 billion maintenance backlog on 61 national parks across the country. But for now, U.S. Forest Land is being left out of these new funding efforts.

The House bill, The Restore Our Parks and Public Lands Act, also allocates money to other U.S. Department of Interior public lands — including 562 national wildlife refuges and 248.3 million Bureau of Land Management (BLM) acres — the Senate version, The Restore Our Parks Act, exclusively focuses on the National Park System (NPS).

And neither bill provides funding for U.S. Department of Agriculture public lands, including the 193 million acres in 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands managed by the U.S. Forest Service, which faces its own $5.49 billion maintenance backlog.

This grates hunters, not only because many rely on Forest Service lands for hunting access (hunting is not permitted in most national parks), but because unlike most recreational users, hunters and anglers pay the freight for public land management.

According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), hunters and anglers contribute $3.3 billion a year — more than the NPS’ annual budget — through the purchase of licenses, wildlife stamps, tags, permits and a dedicated excise tax on hunting and fishing equipment for habitat management.

A dehydrator preserves food without sacrificing any of its nutritional value. (Nesco/)

Food dehydrators are food-preserving powerhouses that should be in every kitchen. These stand-alone devices are simple to use, and take up little space on a countertop or in a pantry. Not only that, but they can turn healthy snacks into fun snacks to eat—why let kids chow down on a bag of potato chips when they can feast on banana or apple chips instead? Here are a few other reasons why you need a food dehydrator.

Dehydrated Foods Make Excellent Snacks

There’s no better way to hunt ducks than by snacking on bite-sized pieces of some birds you harvested earlier in the week. (Nesco/)

Keep yourself fed in the duck blind or tree stand with your own home-made snacks. Nothing says waterfowl season like a big bite of goose jerky, but you can add variety to your snacking routine by bringing along some dried apple or peach slices. Add some nuts to the dried blackberries you collected earlier in the fall and have the energy you need to chase that buck over the next hill.

Enjoy Your Harvest Year-Round

Preserve your fruits so you can enjoy them any month of the year. (Cosori/)

Instead of binging on fresh tomatoes or green beans until you are sick of them, you can throw them in the dehydrator and enjoy the fruits of your labor year-round. Dehydrating foods is a lot less time consuming than canning, and requires a lot less equipment. And dehydrated foods don't lose their nutritional value. Instead, they retain their vitamins and minerals.

A Midwestern bowhunter checks a foodplot for deer activity. (Design Pics Inc/Alamy/)

A new season. Piles of new bowhunting gear. Many bowhunters can end up questioning whether sorting through it all is really worth the time and effort. And especially, when it comes to big-ticket compound bows. After all, they couldn’t possibly improve enough to warrant those bloated price tags, could they? Well, hold on there. If you’ve got a hankering to upgrade your current rig, here are 10 solid reasons a trip to your local archery pro shop this week might be some seriously smart shopping.

1. Custom Strings & Cables

Custom strings and cables can help to “bombproof” your hunting bow. (VaporTrail/)

Talk to custom, after-market string makers and they will tell you there is a world of difference in the quality between most high-performance custom strings and the stock, factory strings found on most compounds (even from the best brands). That news might come as a shock for someone who just plunked down $1,000 (or more) for a new bow, but as someone who has had a fair amount of exposure to custom strings, I can attest that most all of the touted custom string advantages are very real indeed. They include far less (virtually no) string stretch and far greater longevity—several years versus just one or two for a hard-hunted factory string. A set of premium custom strings/cables, made using premium and typically more-expensive proprietary materials, will typically set you back about $100 to $150, but you are also less likely to experience string stretch that can cause your bow to go out of tune, which manifests itself as a few common maladies: Poor cam timing, bothersome peep rotation, and even things like inconsistent brace height and bow poundage. In the end, a lesser-quality string can end up forcing you to constantly re-tune and re-sight your bow, because what suffers is the consistent, in-the-field accuracy you worked so hard to obtain. If you want to "bombproof" your favorite compound, adding a quality custom string is a good start, and there are several smart options from proven companies that include Vapor Trail

2. Riser 'Cage' Construction

Riser cage construction on an Elite Ritual. (Mark Melotik/)

I vividly recall examining the first “riser-cage” construction, in the riser of the Elite Energy 32 compound back in 2013. To be honest I didn’t really know just how a little open-air “cage” in a riser could help a bow shoot better, but I did like the results. I soon found Elite had built another rock-steady, impressively silent and accurate, virtually vibration-free bow. Was some or all of that helped along by the unique new riser technology? For the answer, simply look at the newest bow models from several respected companies. Not so coincidentally, much the same (or at least very similar) technology has since snowballed. For 2019, not only can you can find it in the riser of the new Elite Ritual 30 (www.elitearchery.com) , but also in models from a handful of very long-standing, top-tier bow companies. All have found the little “cages” in the riser help promote stability and balance, while improving stiffness and vibration-dampening. And all that leads to better hunting accuracy. Yes, the cage is all the rage.

Surviving the heat can be a major challenge in a dry, shadeless environment. (Max Pixel/)

Summer heat can be brutal on outdoorsmen and women. But what happens when we have to deal with both the heat and the hard work of a survival situation? We typically worry about the dangers of hypothermia in outdoor emergencies, but heat-related problems can be killers too. Heat stroke is the most dangerous foe, but dehydration, hyponatremia, and sun burn can also take their toll on a beleaguered survivor. Thankfully, there are plenty of strategies you can use to beat the heat.

1. Monitor for Dehydration

The human body is full of different fluids, each with a different job to do. Water is at the base of all these useful liquids. In fact, roughly 60 percent of an adult’s weight is from water. When this water is depleted through sweating or any other water loss, we become dehydrated. When the lack of water is mild, we face the familiar symptoms that we’ve known our entire lives. We feel an increased thirst and our mouths become dry. We don’t have to pee very often, and when we do finally pee – the urine is more yellow and stronger smelling than normal. We may also get a headache, feel sleepy or dizzy.

When dehydration is severe, the symptoms are more severe too. We will have a rapid pulse and quicker breathing. We will not need to pee, or have a small volume of dark yellow pee. Headaches will be intense, and we may feel dizziness, lethargic, or confused. If the dehydration is bad enough, we may even faint. Before things get that bad, it’s best to monitor yourself and your group for signs of dehydration. The best gauge available is urine output and volume. These two things take into account all variables (like heat, humidity, health, age, weight, exertion, etc.). Don’t worry, we’re not asking you to pee into a graduated cylinder and keep a chart of the results. A general impression is good enough. If you’re not peeing every 2-3 hours, and it’s not the normal volume for you – then you are dehydrated. It’s just as simple as that. Drink more water until your pee schedule is back to normal, and make sure you don’t overhydrate with plain water (since that can lead to our next problem, hyponatremia).

2. Identify and fight hyponatremia

Getting the best performance from your hunting or hiking boot doesn’t necessarily end with the footwear itself. If you love your boots but can’t quite get the perfect fit, you may need a custom insole. Laying out the extra expense can also help relieve problems associated with runner’s knee, over-training, or injury, and breathe new life into tired footwear. If you are still tweaking your fit, here are a few things to consider when trying to get the most out of your boot, shoe, or trail runner.

Volume and Profile

The "profile" of an insole is the amount of space it takes up inside your shoe or boot. (Physix Gear Sport/)

An insole's "volume" is the amount of space it takes up in the foot bed. Those with slim feet may need a high-volume insert to achieve the right fit. The amount of shape that you feel underfoot is referred to as the insole's "profile." Generally speaking, a high-profile insole has more arch support than a low-profile version.

Arch Support

When shopping for insoles, foot arch types generally fall into one of three categories—low, neutral, or high. (Superfeet/)

Everybody has their own unique foot shape, and the range of insole arch types reflects that diversity. Insole arch height can be important to everything from correcting flat-footedness and fallen arches to alleviating pain associated with plantar fasciitis and heels spurs. Arch types generally fall into one of three categories: low, neutral, or high.

Admittedly, a blow-up queen-size mattress hardly qualifies as camping gear, but the comfort and convenience it offers certainly has a place as an extra bunk at the family cabin, a spare bed in the living room, or your personal dog house in the basement. Whatever your need, here are a few things to look for in the ever-handy balloon bed.

Twin or Queen

If you have the space in your home and budget, spring for a queen-sized mattress. (King Koil/)

Inflatable mattress options are usually twin-sized or queen. For ease of use, portability, or even squeezing into the family tent, a twin is the way to go. But a queen-size mattress stored at your camp clubhouse or cabin will serve your guests or extended family in ultimate style.

Height

The higher off the ground you can get, the more comfortable you'll often be. (OlarHike/)

Some mattresses are a single layer and fine for throwing out anywhere you have the floor space. But the most comfortable ones are the equivalent of a box spring and mattress, about 18 to 20 inches high, and make both sleeping in the bed and rolling out of it in the morning more comfortable.

There are many reasons to kennel a dog, ranging from bedtime routines to behavioral needs, and from training to travel. However, the traditional plastic kennel doesn’t have to be your best friend’s only home away from home. They are great for the back of the truck on the way to camp or a hunt, but not the best for inside use. If you kennel your dog in the home at night, take a look at a few of these options before buying.

Collapsible Kennels

A collapsible kennel is light, easy to set up, and offers you and your dog a sense of security when you're away from home. (AmazonBasics/)

Available in a variety of sizes and wire gauges for any dog, the collapsible wire kennel offers a sense of security for your dog at night. It's light weight for easily moving around the house, and best of all, will fold flat for transport. The slide-out plastic pan in the bottom helps you keep quarters clean and works perfectly with your dog's favorite bedding or blanket.

Heavy Duty

A metal lightweight kennel can last a lifetime. (LUCKUP/)

If you want a little more security and durability, look for a metal cage with vertical bars (or anti-bite wire for anxious or aggressive dogs). Anti-rust coatings on heavy duty steel mean it will last a lifetime. A slide-out pan catches dropped food or accidents, and while it's not exactly portable, the sturdy casters make it easy to move from room to room.

A Midwest buck on the move under a full moon. (Neal Mishler/Alamy/)

Multiple scientific studies of whitetail deer have established historical rut activity charts that illustrate one important fact: In any given year, from North Carolina to Kansas to western Canada, 90 percent of all adult does will come into estrous and be bred from approximately November 5 to 20, regardless of moon phase, weather, or other environmental conditions.

It’s been that way for decades and will continue to be that way. So, if you take off work any time from Halloween through Thanksgiving, you’ll be hunting some phase of the rut.

I do believe, however, that some days and weeks are better to hunt than others each year and it’s largely dependent on the moon phases that occur in late October through November. I base this on two things. One, more than 30 years of hunting and observing bucks across North America each fall as they seek, chase, and breed does. Two, I read and analyze all the moon-related deer research I can get my hands on, and continually compare that data to my field notes.

One study of the moon and its effects on whitetail movement was conducted by researchers at North Carolina State University and published in 2010. Researchers tracked GPS-collared deer throughout the four lunar phases of late October and November, and analyzed text messages sent from those collars to determine when the animals moved most—and least.

For the past 8 years I have cross-referenced that study’s findings with my ongoing field notes and theories, and have found some interesting common ground.

Smoking game has been around about as long as fire itself. The process can be time consuming, so it has fallen out of favor, largely because of the convenience of a propane grill. But just the delicious aroma of wood smoke on the breeze alone makes it worth the effort.

The Taste

Smokers infuse meats and other foods with flavor. (Traeger Grills/)

Cooking with propane is everyone's go-to, but it sucks out a lot of the flavor we come to expect from cuisine cooked outside. Smokers infuse every cut of meat, piece of fish, or whatever else you decide to throw in them with a taste that's sure to have you begging for seconds. And there's no substitute for the bark created by a hearty smoke.

Set It and Forget It

Electric smokers allow you to set the time and temperature you want to cook at, and then go about your business. (Cuisinart/)

Smoking used to be an arduous process, requiring you to precisely stoke the fire every hour or so. But many modern smokers use electricity for heat, which means you don't need to keep a weather eye on the temperature. Just throw in a handful of woodchips periodically and go about your business while a delicious meal cooks itself.

Vacuum sealers are more than just handy kitchen appliances, they’re investments. The money that you spend on a food saver soon will be paid back several times over, and in several ways:

You can save nearly every leftover from every meal for a much longer time than if you covered them with plastic wrap, because the lack of air in the sealed bag prevents spoilage. No more fuzzy meatballs in the back of the refrigerator!

You can cook meals in advance, seal them, store them in the freezer and pull one out whenever you need, eliminating a trip to the grocery store or a restaurant bill if you have nothing fresh on hand. You can create a week's worth of dinners in a weekend and eat them six months later.

You can buy food in bulk at a much lower cost, divide it into portions and freeze. When that whole tenderloin goes on sale, you can cut individual steaks and have them on hand for a year or more.

Vacuum sealers all operate via the same function—by sucking the air out of a plastic bag into which you put food (or anything else you want to protect, such as photos or documents) and then sealing it shut. Where vacuum sealers differ is in speed and convenience of various functions. How much and how often you want to use the sealer will determine which one you should get. Here’s a guide:

Most hunters don’t limit themselves to one species of game or a single geographic area, so why limit yourself to one pair of boots? The footwear requirements of an upland wingshooter are different from those of a Rocky Mountain elk hunter or a tree stand hunter pursuing eastern whitetails. These three styles will cover pretty much every scenario you can encounter.

Upland Boots

An upland boot is easy to break it, but stout enough to endure miles of rough terrain. (Irish Setter/)

A great upland boot is flexible and easy to break in, yet it offers enough support to cover the untold miles involved in following bird dogs across the prairie or through grouse and woodcock cover. The classic upland boot is lightweight to reduce fatigue, with a low heel suited to relatively level and grassy or brushy terrain. A flat heel is also preferable for mounted quail hunters who don't want a deep heel arch getting hung up in the stirrup.

Trail Boots

A hybrid work/hunting boot can pull double-duty when you need it to. (Danner/)

Standard trail boots offer beefed-up rigidity and support. They feature aggressive traction and often a pronounced heel for digging in when descending uneven terrain. Speed-lacing hooks are convenient for getting out of camp while the elk are still bugling, and some form of waterproof membrane, like Gore-Tex or the manufacturer's proprietary product, is essential. If you are looking for a boot to pull double duty on the job site, consider a pair marketed as a hybrid work/hunting boot. It will function fine in the field but usually have sturdier toe and heel protection than a dedicated hunting boot.

Whether you are looking for your first life preserver, picking up a reserve personal flotation device (PFD), or shopping for a family member, there are a lot of options to choose from. Here are some pros and cons of the basic styles.

Traditional

A traditional PFD is the best, and likely the most economical way to stay afloat. (Stearns/)

The traditional all-round life jacket is appropriate for everything from paddling to water skiing. It features a foam core in both front and back, open sides, and an adjustable 3-buckle closure to size the jacket to your torso. Although these are the bulkiest type of PFD, they are simple, highly buoyant, and affordable. Most importantly, a traditional PFD is comfortable enough that you won't mind wearing it except, perhaps, in the hottest weather.

Shorties

Mesh around the shoulders or backside of a PFD make it easier to wear in hot weather without sacrificing safety. (Onyx/)

For a lighter option, check out the more truncated models favored by kayakers, warm-weather boaters and anglers, or anyone for whom comfort and mobility are a premium. Shortie PFDs often feature a mesh panel for breathability, as well as zippered cargo pockets and attachment points for carabiners, knives, safety whistles, or multi-tools.

The new Ranger 1000 can handle plenty around camp and on the trail. (Polaris/)

The side-by-side world has evolved from modest farm-and-camp machines to souped-up trail running beasts. If you dive deep enough into the trail riding world, you can end up spending new-pickup-truck money on a high-end UTV.

But for most folks who just need a machine to get to their treestands, haul firewood, and handle work around deer camp, that level of trail performance is unnecessary.

That’s why I like the direction Polaris is going with the introduction of its Ranger 1000 line for 2020. The machine’s starting MSRP is $12,999 (which is very affordable in the world of modern UTVs), but it still packs in plenty of performance: 999cc SOHC ProStar engine, 61 Horsepower, 55 lb. ft. of low-end torque, and 2,500-pound towing capacity. I got to test drive the new Ranger (which is an evolution of the super-popular Ranger 900) a few weeks ago at the Polaris R&D; headquarters in Wyoming, Minnesota. A handful of other writers and I drove the Rangers through a test track that meandered through a hardwood, had long straight-aways through fields, and bounced over rock and log fields. (The Polaris guys asked us to not send the Rangers airborne off any of the ramps, and most of us complied.)

I got to ride along with a UTV racer who pushed the machine through the test track harder than any sane person would drive it at their hunting camp, and the Ranger took the abuse without fail. The point? This machine has more trail-riding capability than most of us will ever need. Those features include an updated full-body skid plate, 26 in. 6-Ply PXT 2 tires, and a beefy steel bumper with integrated plow and points.

If you want to drive around more buddies (and spend a more cash), Polaris is offering the Ranger Crew 1000. The company is also rolling out three factory packages for the Ranger 1000:

A rider on BLM land in Nevada. (Bureau of Land Management/)

While candidate Donald Trump promised to cherish America’s public hunting and fishing land, close observers say policies under his presidency are undermining those lands and even aiding those who would dispose of America’s public land altogether.

America has 640 million acres of public lands – national forests, wildlife refuges, national parks and Bureau of Land Management ground– that generations of Americans access for hunting, fishing, camping and other outdoor activities, generally for free or low charge.

“It may not be a conspiracy per se, but if I were setting out to undermine public lands, to transfer them to states or privatize them or whatever, I would be doing many of the things are being done right now,” said Dale Bosworth, who served as chief of the Forest Service under President George W. Bush. “The things that are happening right now make me really uncomfortable for the future of public land.”

There have always been some politicians who have hated the idea of public land. When President Theodore Roosevelt created the national forest system, for example, critics called him a Bolshevik. Today, Utah Sen. Mike Lee, for example, has vowed to transfer public land to states or sell them off.

In 2016, Candidate Trump said he supported public land. During an interview at the SHOT Show he said: "I want to keep the lands great, and you don't know what the state is going to do. I mean, are they going to sell if they get into a little bit of trouble? And I don't think it's something that should be sold. We have to be great stewards of this land. This is magnificent land. And we have to be great stewards of this land."

Hunting broadhead choices abound. Here are our favorites for this season. (Tony Hansen/)

It used to be that choosing a broadhead was a pretty simple affair. You either went with a two-blade model or one with bleeder blades. Things got a bit more complicated when replaceable blades hit the scene. But today? You’ll need to choose between fixed, mechanical, or hybrid with each category offering scads of options.

For this Outdoor Life broadhead test, we looked only at new-for-2019 models. The testing protocol was meant to replicate real-world hunting situations and traits bowhunters look for.

Accuracy: Each broadhead was shot from a paper-tuned Bowtech Realm SR6 (this year's winner of the Outdoor Life Bow Test) set at 70 pounds. The bow was dialed in to deliver touching three-shot groups at 25 and 35 yards. Broadheads were placed on the same arrows as the field points, and three three-shot groups were shot and measured.

Weight: A three-pack of each head was randomly selected and weighed with variations recorded.

Durability: Each model was shot into a steel-belted radial tire. This not only helped evaluate penetration potential, but the steel belts and heavy rubber will reveal just how durable blades, ferrules, and points are.

An angler casts into the surf. (Sablin/Alamy/)

Hundreds of different fishing line brands, types, sizes, diameters, properties and strengths (pound tests) can make selecting it about as difficult as choosing a perfect entre' from an inch-thick menu in a foreign restaurant.

But fishing line can be broken down logically according to its uses, or applications, to certain types of fishing. Each line type has specific properties that enable anglers to achieve varying goals in their sport.

Identifying the target species, fishing style, habitat, lures and baits, and the skill of the angler all have bearing in choosing the best line for the job.

From trolling spoons for oversized pike and steelhead; to deep jigging leadheads for walleyes and smallmouths; to working top-water frogs or spinner-baits for bass; there's a specific kind of line to help anglers get the best results.

Essentially, there are three major types of fishing line employed today by the nation's anglers: monofilament, braid, and fluorocarbon. There are pluses and minuses for each line type, and there are many fans of each. Anglers are passionate about their line choices, which is detailed here.

Keeping your firearms stashed away from those that shouldn’t have access to them is a no-brainer. That used to mean keeping them locked in a safe that was secured by a combination lock that could take a while to open. But thanks to a new breed of electronic and biometric locks, combination locks are a thing of the past.

Fingerprint Access

Verifi Smart.Safe. (Amazon/)

It's uncomfortable to think about, but when seconds count, the police are often minutes away. Minimize the time you spend fumbling in the dark when something goes bump in the night by having a safe that unlocks using only your fingerprint. Look for a model that can store multiple fingerprint profiles so others in your household can have rapid access.

Personalize the Combo

Vaultek Essential Series Quick Access Handgun Safe (Amazon/)

An gun safe with an electronic keypad can also provide rapid access, and has the added benefit of requiring no additional programming for new users—all you have to do is share the code with whomever you'd like. So if your friend is babysitting the kids while you enjoy a night on the town, you can have piece of mind knowing they can defend themselves if needed, while still keeping the little ones away from your firearms.

Z-Man has taken finesse fishing to the next level with its version of the Ned Rig. (Z-Man Fishing Products/)

For nearly two years I've been working as a full-time sales associate at a Bass Pro Shops in Utica, New York. I was hired in the fishing department after having fished 36 of the lower 48 states out of the back of a Jeep for Outdoor Life's Fish America online program and then pre-fishing tournament lakes for B.A.S.S. Through those years, I got to see some of the greatest anglers in the country fish the hottest lures in the world.

In the 700-plus days that I’ve been at Bass Pro, our crew has unloaded, stocked, and sold thousands of lures. Some, though, sell much faster than others. I’m not talking about lures with flashy packaging, great marketing, or cool names. I’m talking about lures that move off the shelves because they work and word of mouth about their effectiveness spreads quickly. Here are the baits that we can’t keep in stock.

UTICA, NEW YORK

1. Savage Gear 3D Real Eel

Savage Gear 3D Real Eel • $8 – $14 (Savage Gear/)

Steve Terzini, a sales associate at the Utica Bass Pro, has a story he likes to tell about the Savage Gear Eel. Terzini was unloading a truck one day, and was carrying 3D Real Eels (a bait that comes in lengths of 8, 12, or 16 inches) to their proper peg, when a customer stopped him mid-aisle.

The great thing about kids is they get to discover everything for the first time. Activities like catching a fish, traveling beyond the trailhead, and patiently waiting in a tree stand on a first hunt are just a few adventures that ignite the imagination and spirit of adventure in young minds. It’s no different when it comes to camping. But to make it a memorable overnight in the outdoors, you need to bring gear that makes kids feel comfortable, equipped, and most of all, safe. Here are a few tips and features you’ll want to consider the next time you’re gathering gear for a campout with kids.

Camping Cots

Regalo My Cot Portable Toddler Bed (Regalo/)

Catching some Zs on the ground is not a comfortable sleeping option, especially for kids. At the very least, try to put some sort of padding or cushion between the ground and sleeping bag. Better yet, use a portable cot. They're easy to set up, pack in a vehicle, and so comfortable, there's chance your kid might not want to crawl out of their sleeping bag in the morning.

A Cushion of Air

Sleepingo Camping Sleeping Pad (Sleepingo/)

If you don't have a cot, there are still a few things you can do to help a kid sleep better. An inflatable sleeping pad works great either on a cot or on the ground. Not only does it provide a soft, comfortable place to stretch out, it creates a barrier between a sleeping bag and heat-robbing hard ground. Some pads inflate on their own, but generally the ones you need to blow up are thicker.