Hunting and Fishing News & Blog Articles

Urban deer populations are on the rise in many communities across the country. (USFWS/)

Thanks to everything from culling urban whitetail populations to elk herd management, and meat confiscation by conservation officers when lawbreakers poach animals, state agencies are ending up with wild game they can’t keep. So what do they do with it? Agencies will donate hundreds of thousands of pounds of venison, waterfowl, etc., to food banks and processors across the country each year, but the practice isn’t standardized. Where does that meat actually go? Does it feed the hungry? Does it ever go to waste? We tried to answer these questions by talking to state wildlife agencies and the groups that help distribute this “free” meat. It’s unclear if every state donates confiscated and culled meat. But after extensive research and interviews it looks as though most of this meat is making it into the freezers of the people who need it most, and very little is wasted as long as it is safe for human consumption.

The Idaho Elk Cull

Idaho uses several methods to keep elk from destroying agriculture. (USFWS/)

Last month, an animal-rights group posted images on Facebook of elk quarters stacked in piles, alleging that the Idaho Department of Fish and Game “slaughtered” the elk. In reality, IDFG partnered with the University of Idaho in a cull of more than 200 animals to address over-population issues.

UI was conducting a research study on how to better control elk depredation of agriculture. Shooting elk was only one of the practices used to stop the wapiti from eating crops. In other regions of Idaho, fences had been erected to keep elk at bay, and in another area, officials applied a foul-tasting repellent to crops, encouraging the elk to feed elsewhere.

“We have a number of places where elk come every year and damage standing and growing crops and we are liable as an agency for those damages,” IDFG wildlife manager Mike McDonald told EastIdahoNews.com.

Thousands of silver carp take to the air below Kentucky’s Lake Barkley Dam during a recent electroshocking survey by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. (courtesy of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources/)

In the aquatic world, there’s always another bad actor coming down the pike. Whether animal or vegetable, exotic species show up once in a while from who-knows-where and imperil fisheries to varying degrees. And when one aquatic threat appears to be under control or on the wane, a new hazard looms on the horizon. Such is the case with the 3,700 live mitten crabs seized by customs agents at the Cincinnati airport Jan. 23, 2020. These tourists were shipped in batches from locales in China and Hong Kong and the boxes they came in were marked as containing tools or clothing.

Mitten crabs, so-named because their claws have a fur-like growth that resemble mittens, are considered a delicacy in China. The shipment that got sidetracked at the Cincinnati airport was worth several thousand yuan, which is a lot of greenbacks. In China, a live mitten crab (about the size of one of our native adult blue crabs that’s on a diet) can be purchased in fish markets or from vending machines at the equivalent of $2 to $7 a pop. In the off-season, some folks pay up to $50 to satisfy their craving for a mitten crab. Presumably, the crabs that wound up at the Cincinnati airport were bound for cooking pots somewhere in the states. That being the case, probably none were going to have the chance to escape into the American wilds… but still.

U.S. Customs agents pose with almost 4,000 mitten crabs that were smuggled into the Cincinnati airport from China. Considered a delicacy in Asia, the mitten crab poses a threat to native species such as blue crabs. (courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP/)

It might have been cheaper for the intended recipient of the jet-set crabs to buy them here from the mitten crab black market, presuming there is one. They were first detected in the Great Lakes region in 1965. Since then they’ve spread to East Coast and West Coast rivers and estuaries, which is understandable because in China they’re partial to coastal areas. The crabs also have been found in the Mississippi River delta. The omnivorous mitten crabs eat pretty much anything, including crabs smaller than them, and tend to move on to the next buffet station when they overgraze a spot. They’re considered invasive because they typically get the best of any native species they share the water with. Still, as threats to the environment go, these slow-spreading critters aren’t exactly in the same league as Asian carp.

As noted, Asian carp, especially the silver and bighead varieties, are the latest headline grabbers and likely the biggest menace of all. They’ve got a pretty scary posse backing them up, however. From tiny mussels that collectively pack a wallop, to mudbugs that displace or devour native species, fishery managers around the country are being confronted by lurking catastrophes waiting to happen in the nation’s waterways. Usually, science or circumstances in a particular fishery remedy the problem—but not always.

The following are eight more examples of invasive nuisances that are in the crosshairs of fishery managers. Which is the most dangerous? It depends on what region of the country you call home, and how and where you fish.

Outfitter Lee Livingston (far left) guided the author to this Wyoming wilderness ram. (Andrew McKean/)

I wouldn’t have met Lee Livingston, or have gotten to count him as a lifelong friend, if I hadn’t hired him to guide me to a Wyoming bighorn sheep. On the other hand, I could have killed that ram without Lee, a registered outfitter based in Cody. Maybe it would have taken me longer. Maybe I would have settled for a smaller specimen. But as an accomplished big-game hunter, I could have found a way.

Only Wyoming wouldn’t let me.

As long as there’s been federally managed wilderness in Wyoming, the state has required nonresidents to hire a licensed guide or be accompanied by a resident in order to hunt big-game species in designated wilderness areas. It’s not a small amount of space. Wyoming boasts 14 wilderness areas totaling more than 3 million acres of federally managed public land.

I don’t need a guide to access that land in the summer with a fishing rod. I can hike and camp entirely guide-free with my family. But if I shoulder a rifle or a bow, I’m breaking the law if I enter that public land without a guide.

It’s a rule that Keiran O’Brien knows all too well. O’Brien, now 82 years old and still living in his hometown of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, was 47 and an elk-hunting machine when he and two brothers packed into the Teton Wilderness in 1984. A game warden ticketed them all for hunting without a licensed guide. O’Brien appealed, and the case went all the way to the Wyoming Supreme Court.

That’s an estimated 500-pound marlin connected to Adam Fisk, in his tiny fishing kayak, in Panama. (Courtesy Robert Field/)

Adam Fisk, Head of Operations for the Los Buzos Resort Panama, caught a record 450-pound marlin from his kayak last year. Now he’s done it again, hooking into an estimated 500-pound marlin that towed him 15 miles offshore. YouTube angler Robert Field was there to capture the entire thing on video.

I reached out to Adam Fisk on Facebook to ask him a few questions about the epic catch. His responses are below:

Outdoor Life: What’s it like fighting a 500-pound marlin in a kayak?

Adam Fisk: Fighting a marlin is unlike any other fish. The power of a monster like this is unbelievable especially when you are battling it from a kayak. I have pretty big gear that I target marlin with out here and even with it, sometimes I feel like the fish doesn’t even know I am pulling on it.

Going into my first marlin fight I thought I was prepared with much smaller gear and I was SO wrong! I have fought tons of sailfish back in Florida from the kayak and knew it would be drastically different but thought they had somewhat prepared me for this but it really was a whole other game. Much of the fight the marlin stayed deep just pulling me along.

The Archon Type B has an appealing Cyberpunk design aesthetic. (Bill Buckley/)

The company that makes this pistol takes its name from the rulers of ancient Greece—the chief magistrates of Athens and other city-states were known as Archons. That name strikes a romantic chord, though the effect is somewhat dulled by the pedestrian moniker Type B. Instead, this pistol should have been called the Phoenix. This would have been in keeping with both Greek history and mythology, as well as an apt description of this 9mm’s history.

The origins of the Type B go back to 2012, when Russian armed forces announced they were adopting a new pistol called the Strizh, which was being built by Arsenal Firearms. That pistol was also referred to as the Strike One back then, but it first appeared in the U.S. market at the 2016 SHOT Show, where it had been rebranded as the PMG Stryk.

It garnered a lot of initial interest but didn’t get off the ground, which was too bad because in a world awash with polymer-framed, striker-fired pistols, this one has some distinctive features that separate it from the crowd.

Thankfully, it’s reappeared, reborn from the ashes as it were, as the Type B you see here.

Notable Feature: Compared to most other striker-fired systems, the sear on the Type B lies flat within the slide, which is one of the ways the pistol achieves its low bore-axis height. (Bill Buckley/)

Excellent Control

Archery competitions will make you a better bowhunter.

I recently competed in the barebow division of the esteemed Lancaster Archery Classic ... and I got my ass kicked. My performance is forever-immortalized in the score cards posted on the internet that will haunt me till the end of time. In the days that followed, I asked myself “what the hell happened?” and the “how can I use the experience to become a better hunter?” My growth and continuing to improve as an archer and bowhunter can be found in the answers to those two questions.

My world is primarily hunting with a bow (in this case a traditional bow). I’ve shot in local and regional 3D events, and although I enjoy competition in just about any form, different types of shooting are a means to an end in becoming a more effective hunter with a recurve or long bow. Traditional or “trad” bowhunters are an interesting lot. The majority of us are some of the most fantastic people you’ll meet. But shooting trad bows accurately can be mentally taxing, and when frustration sets in, you should probably give us a bit of distance. Mechanics play a huge role in consistent accuracy, and there are better resources than ever to help us improve. But the mental side of shooting a trad bow (hell, any bow) is equal, or even more important, than perfect form. Many trad shooters poo-poo the idea of shooting spot targets on a line at 20 yards, but I think it can be an incredibly valuable tool for any bowhunter, especially to participate in competitive shoots.

A common theme you’ll see in forums and on social media trad groups when referencing this type of competition is something along the lines of “I shoot better on fur than paper.” With very few exceptions, I have to say no, you don’t. Shooting paper and keeping score, even just for practice, can be a huge eye-opener for someone who only shoots for minute-of-lung. Assigning value to each arrow, if you’re being honest, is usually a gut check. I think most of us tend to remember the highlights and “insta-groups” and subconsciously confuse those with being our “normal.” Now, this doesn’t mean you have to be an ultra-accurate shooter to be a successful hunter, but most of us want to maximize our shooting potential and be the most effective and ethical hunters we can. Keeping score helps track progress and keeps us accountable to the standards we want to reach.

Every bowhunter can benefit from participating in a competition, whether it’s a local event or the Lancaster Classic. As hunters, we can use every pressure-inducing situation we can experience to prepare ourselves for that one shot at a big deer or bear. I’ve seen people scoff when someone talks about the pressure at Lancaster. If that’s you, just remember when they call you up to the line with hundreds of other archers for your first end, your palms are pouring sweat, and all you can see is target faces flashing with every beat of your heart. It feels like an out-of-body experience. I felt like I forgot how to shoot a bow. As soon as you complete your draw, your brain is screaming “SHOOT!” You get through your first three arrows, then you do it again…19 more times.

I went to Lancaster shooting well enough (in practice) to be competitive, but folded under the pressure, big time. There are a laundry list of excuses, but I know that’s all they are. As far as what happened, I found that the palm sweating changed the feel of my grip, the adrenaline didn’t let me feel the muscle engagement I was used to, and I let the head rush keep me from running the shot I had run all day in practice. It was a very similar feeling to having an animal in front of me at 20 yards, but with a much smaller margin for error, and that continuous stress lasted for almost four hours of shooting. I slowly was able to get a respectable amount of control over my shot and finished strong, but the damage was done.

Opening day success on five birds that had been roosted the evening prior to the hunt. (Gerry Bethge/)

Nothing fires me up like the sound of hard gobbling in the spring turkey woods. It’s a drug like no other and quite honestly, when I hear it, I have the tendency to throw all the rules of turkey hunting out the window. That’s a big mistake and it’s certainly cost me birds. Now, before each season, I go through a mental checklist of do’s and don’ts that I force myself to follow even when under the duress of a hard-gobbling tom. You’ll note that some of these tenets contradict each other—and that’s the tricky part. Knowing which to choose in each situation is the coin flip we all face every time we hear that first response. So digest this information and use it to improve your game. If you can control yourself and remember it in the heat of battle, you might just be walking out of the woods 20 pounds heavier.

1. Know The Terrain

As with any kind of hunting and scouting, familiarizing yourself with the terrain you are hunting in is essential. When it comes to turkey hunting, though, you’ll need to kick it up a notch. Having a bird gobble in the distance is what we live for, but it does you no good if you can't get to him quietly or he can't come to you easily.

Mapping apps are great for a general lay of the land, but boots-on-the-ground knowledge is better. Look for logging roads, game trails, or creek beds for quick and silent access. If you’ve got a bird roosted the evening before a hunt, go the extra yard and try to find the exact tree you’d like to use for the next morning’s set up. Mark it as a waypoint on your GPS if necessary. If it’s at all feasible, clear all potential noisemaking brush and debris from your location for a smoother hunt the next morning.

It’s equally important to have a grasp on your bird’s potential approach route. Turkeys are infamous for hanging up behind geographic anomalies such as stone walls, fences, brooks and creeks, or even thick brush. Being aware of terrain factors can help you take them out of the equation.

The author in his element—the desert mountains of Southern California. (Peter Bohler/)

I am 29 years old and have built my life around hunting bighorn sheep. This journey started when I was 17. I had gone to a wilderness guide school in Montana and decided it was far too cold there. So I returned to Southern California and called someone I thought was the only outfitter in this part of the state. That person was Terry Anderson, a legendary sheep guide. I worked under him for seven years before striking out on my own.

This year marked my 100th successful bighorn hunt. Here’s some of what I’ve experienced and learned along the way.

No. 100: The Hunt That Almost Killed Me

This was it, my 100th ram. It was the night before the opener and, with expectations of triumph and glory, I felt confident. I had two hunters in camp at 13,000 feet in the White Mountains of California. Our pre-hunt preparations had gone exceptionally well, and we had spotted two fantastic desert bighorn rams. Now it was just a waiting game.

That night, I was tending the stock and went to gather Warren, a big dun mule that was feeding contentedly in a small, secluded alpine meadow. My plan was to picket him for the night to keep him from wandering off, but when I got close to him, he fired out with both back legs, connecting viciously to the center of my chest. I felt bones crack, and all the air left my lungs in an instant.

Florida’s Osceola season is one of the first spring hunts of the year. The 2020 forecast indicates a stable population of birds statewide. (Gerry Bethge/)

Pity the poor turkey hunter. Even the most avid vagabond gobbler geek can only chase his spring passion for about 13 weeks (assuming an early start in Florida and a June finish in Maine).

To the uninitiated, that might seem like a ridiculously long season. But then you begin to realize the broad range of turkey hunting opportunities across the country: cagey Southern longbeards on crisp March mornings, hard-gobbling late-April Easterns in the Midwest, loud-mouthed Merriam’s on open early-May landscapes and last-minute longbeards in the Heartland and New England. Suddenly, 13 weeks doesn’t seem like enough.

Make the most of your limited time. Sleep can wait. Don’t tell your boss, but work can take a back seat, too. Turkey season will be here and gone before you know it. Here’s a quick guide to start planning your Spring 2020 hunts.

Scroll through, or use the links below to jump to your state:

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming

Along with hustle, bustle, and inevitable illness, SHOT Show brings us some very cool and useful products each year. For a backcountry hunter or traveler, there is always a rich selection of products that can make us safer, more comfortable, and enhance our experience when we venture off the beaten path. Here are 10 things I found at SHOT 2020 that have great potential and practical applications.

1. CRKT Jenny Wren Compact

CRKT Jenny Wren Compact (Tyler Freel/)

What’s a backcountry/survival gear list without a tomahawk, right? Well, this compact 10-inch long model is designed to bring the benefits of a good camp axe into a very small, versatile package. It weighs just over a pound, and although you may not be chopping down big trees with it, it’s a great crossover between axe and bushcraft knife. It has sharpened edges on the front, bottom, and top, giving you a bit more cutting utility, and could be used for tasks like field dressing or skinning game, if necessary. There’s not a lot of frills, but this sleek, tough, and pack-friendly tomahawk would be very useful in a number of backcountry situations. MSRP: $123

2. Exotac Tinder Zip

Exotac Tinder Zip (Exotac/)

Another basic staple of backcountry gear is a multi-use fire starter. A couple years back, someone thought to build a flammable wick into the middle of parachute cord, and this is another useful iteration of that. You get a set of zipper pull cords to install on backpacks, jackets, PFDs (whatever you want), that come with a flammable, waxy wick built into them. The advantage they bring is if you put them on your outdoor gear, you always have them, it’s not stowed away in some kit in the bottom of your backpack. Cut, pull the wick out, fray it with a knife, and hit it with a spark and you’ll have a stable flame to get your fire going when you really need it. MSRP: $12

The three amigos. (L to R) The 6.5 Creedmoor, .260 Remington, 6.5x55 Swedish. All are nearly the perfect size to deliver perfect performance for hunting whitetails, mule deer, and similar game. (Ron Spomer/)

The 6.5 Creedmoor is currently one of the top selling centerfire cartridges in the US. The .260 Remington and 6.5x55 Swede are… Well, many hunters and shooters don’t know what they are. Or have even heard of them. Yet both shoot .264-inch diameter bullets, the same as the Creedmoor. And both have larger case capacity than the Creedmoor, so they can be loaded to shoot faster and hit harder. But…

The Creedmoor is still more popular. What gives?

Marketing. Rifle design. Rifling twist rates. Different chamber pressure standards. Factory ammunition limitations. And human psychology.

Let’s start this investigation where it matters most. The bullet. Newly minted fans of the 6.5mm are enraptured by those 26-caliber bullets, believing them inherently superior to any narrower or wider. But this is a misapprehension. There is nothing magical about the .264s. They do not necessarily fly flatter, drop less, deflect less in crosswinds, or hit harder than .277 bullets, .284 bullets or even .257 bullets of similar materials, construction, and B.C. It’s just that more of them are designed and built to maximize aerodynamic shape and high B.C. And most 26-caliber barrels are rifled with twist rates quick enough to stabilize them.

Ballistic coefficient (B.C.) is simply a numerical rating, a measure of a bullet’s ability to resist drag. The narrower, heavier, and more sleekly shaped the projectile, the higher its B.C. number and the more efficiently it will zip through the atmosphere. Obviously, if a bullet doesn’t waste energy pushing air out of its way, it maintains more velocity. That means it flies farther, deflects less in crosswinds, arrives sooner, and carries more energy when it gets there. B.C. is a B.D. (Big Deal.)

While guns, ammo, and optics may hog the spotlight at SHOT Show, it’s also one of the best places to see the latest and greatest production knives and tools. We bobbed and weaved our way through the crowds to check out a few of the new models coming for 2020.

Benchmade 533 Mini Bugout

Benchmade Mini Bugout (Matt Foster/)

While the moniker may denote “SHTF knife” the design and color definitely says, “EDC hunting knife!” Why? Well, a safety orange handle for one. Because looking for a black or tan knife on the ground can be as much fun as a case of scurvy. The S30V blade is a shallow drop point that works for a lot of different tasks and should hold an edge well. Ambidextrous pocket clip? Yes indeed. Axis lock? Oh yeah. It’d be really great if the blade were about a quarter- to half-inch longer, but that seems like a first world problem. The 533 is crazy light at only 1.5 ounces and crazy thin at only .412 inches thick making it easy to carry any place at any time. It even fits in an Altoids tin if that’s your thing. MSRP is $140.

Specs: Blade Length 2.82 in. Blade Thickness 0.090 in. Open Length 6.49 in. Closed Length 3.704 in. Weight 1.5oz. Handle Thickness 0.412 in.

SOG Aegis AT

A whitetail buck foraging for acorns. (EEI_Tony via Deposit Photos/)

It was dead calm and pitch black at midnight when I stepped outside my deer camp to cool off a bit from the blasting heat of the overstuffed wood stove. Warm is good, hot is not. Sleep never comes easily for me during deer season anyway, but when the stove’s blower cranks ceaselessly it doesn’t come at all. While staring up at the mid-November, star-filled sky, I heard it. From across the desolate country road amid a dense thicket of alders came the telltale sounds of a buck fight. This was not, however, of the knockdown drag-out social-media variety. The light tinkling of antler-tine tips continued for several minutes and I envisioned a pair of young bucks carefully testing each other’s virility quotient after huffing a snoot full of estrous scent emanating from a hot doe standing somewhere nearby. Had I not heard it before, I would have missed a critical clue that clearly pointed to the existence of the two bucks. Though neither might have been the mature whitetail I sought, the likely presence of an estrous doe made me hopeful that there might be one nearby.

The sound of those two bucks sparring was indeed a clue—one of the many simple ones that I would have easily overlooked in my formative years of deer hunting but have nowadays come to regard as the most important ones of all. Here’s a cheat sheet to help you get ahead of the learning curve of whitetail hunting.

1. You’re Not Listening For Deer Noises

Like the sound of those ticking antlers, I’ve come to realize that there are many deer-specific sounds that I completely disregarded through the years. Vocalizations top my list. I was reminded of that last November while in my bow stand.

It was peak chase phase during the rut and while I had witnessed several bucks hot-trailing does, my heart was set on a mature 8-pointer that I had on trail camera. At 7 one morning, I suddenly heard a soft staccato urp-urp-urp. A doe hurried past my stand quickly followed by the mature 8-point. He never passed within bow range and as I replayed the episode in my head, I couldn’t help but think that something seemed very odd. What struck me was the softness of the buck’s grunts, which seemed completely dissimilar to the loud, guttural sounds of a mouth-blown grunt tube. When I thought back on other buck-grunting experiences, I concluded that I’ve probably heard more soft grunts than full-bodied grunts through the years. The sound of deer footfalls in crunchy leaf litter is no different.

CWD is popping up in the Jackson elk herd near Yellowstone National Park. (USFWS/)

For more than 100 years, wildlife authorities have tried to shore up the elk population close to Yellowstone National Park with supplemental feeding at the National Elk Refuge near Jackson, Wyoming.

But the steady creep of Chronic Wasting Disease has forced the refuge managers to reconsider this tradition. That’s troubling for those who fear major losses to the herd. Others say changes are needed to dodge even greater disease issues.

First, some history. Yellowstone was one of the few places where elk survived overhunting in the 1800s. However, Yellowstone is a high plateau where elk cannot survive through snowy winters.

Historically, elk migrated to valleys, like Jackson Hole. However, as settlers brought in cattle, hungry elk clashed with ranchers’ pastures and hay supplies. Development of Jackson Hole as a resort town ate up more habitat. In 1912, the federal government set up the 24,700-acre National Elk Refuge (six miles long and 10 miles wide). Yellowstone elk provided much of the seed stock that successfully restored elk around the western United States over the 20th century.

Now, thousands of elk descend on the National Elk Refuge each winter, treated with feed once they arrive. Exactly how many arrive, and how long they stay, depends on the snowpack and the condition of surrounding forage. Humans also enjoy viewing the elk and winter sleigh rides there are an established attraction.

An Ohio coyote slides through standing soybeans. (Tom Uhlman/ALAMY/)

From his home in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, Geoff Nemnich can drive west to Wyoming’s wide-open prairies and badlands in pursuit of coyotes. Or he can turn east and hunt his way down the irrigated farmland of the Platte River. The tactics he deploys in the tighter cover of the Midwest are more nuanced than those he uses on western landscapes, with softer calls, sneakier approaches, and closer attention to wind. But Nemnich, who spends six months a year hunting coyotes and reporting on his experiences on his website, coyotecraze.com, says securing access is where all Midwest predator hunting should start.

Q: How much property is required to hunt coyotes in America’s Corn Belt?

A: It depends on the specific topography and cover, but in general, if you think of a typical deer-hunting spot, that’s nowhere near enough for coyotes. In a lot of places, 50 acres can produce decent deer hunting. For coyotes, you need maybe ten 50-acre lots to have room to work. It is different from deer hunting, when you hope to draw deer to your location through their natural movements or with some attractant. With coyotes, you’re using the entire acreage because you don’t know where the coyotes will come from or where you’ll have to set up for the wind. I can call an entire 50-acre property in about 20 minutes, so you want to have multiple properties to hit in the course of a day, and enough so that you don’t return to them too soon and educate any coyotes you don’t kill.

Q: What cover do you look for?

A: I want to hunt a place with some sort of drainage running through it, whether that’s a little creek or just a low brushy spot between fields. That cover is where coyotes will be in the daytime, when you’re out calling to them. In farm country, where there might be a road on every section line, coyotes have learned to hold tight, especially after crops are harvested. They’ll be bedded up in brush or creekbottoms, or even a brushy fence-line corner or a tree row. Big patches of timber are hard to hunt. You know there are coyotes in there, but there’s no way to predict just where they are.

Hunters and a dog on on the New England coastline. (Bill Buckley/)

Weather happens fast on New England’s coast in winter. What starts as a subtle shift in wind direction, a gathering chop on the vast Atlantic Ocean, can soon build into a raging nor’easter. It can happen in a matter of hours. Running the surf in these conditions is out of the question, and even hopping across protected bays, can get dangerous.

Sea duck hunters live in a world of wind, waves, and rocks, and they know they’re at the mercy of the ocean. That’s why they obsessively check tide tables, sea height, wind direction, and wind speed. They design their hunts to make sure they can safely boat to the spot where they glassed birds the night before, and return home when the hunt is over.

Here, the ocean dictates where you can hunt—and even whether you can hunt at all. If you don’t have a Plan B, C, and D, you might find yourself sitting at the boat ramp at first light, watching roiling waves through a rain-smattered windshield, searching your phone for the nearest breakfast joint.

Hank Garvey’s original plan for the Massachusetts sea duck opener was to hunt out of layout boats around offshore shoals that hold eiders, scoters, and long-tailed ducks. But he quickly abandoned that idea when faced with 35 mph winds and raging seas bearing down on the coast. Even with Garvey’s stout 17-foot Pacific boat, we had to stay within only the most sheltered bays. For the first two days, the hunting was hit and miss, scratching down a few birds in second-tier locations where it was calm enough to safely set out decoys and hunt from shore.

But on the third morning, when the storm and sea swells finally died down, the action picked up. The ducks came in low and fast and unwavering. As Garvey’s veteran hunting buddy observed, “One good hunt out of three days? That sounds about right.”

Waves of a nor’easter pound a jetty along the Massachussetts coastline. Like all true wilderness, the north Atlantic commands respect and caution. Conditions like this—with 35 mph winds and 10-foot seas—are too dangerous to hunt in. The sea ducks that thrive in this rugged environment command respect, too. These hardy birds migrate on ocean winds from northern Maine and the Canadian Atlantic coast to winter in Massachusetts south to the Chesapeake Bay. (Bill Buckley/)
A juvenile drake eider hovers over a wooden decoy sled. These are cheap to make, easy to stack, and stand out well on the water. They’re an integral part of the hunting tradition. (Bill Buckley/)
Garvey and his son Hank (or “Little Hank”) head out at daybreak. Most duck hunters like to be on the water well before sunrise, but in this case, a late start was necessary to judge swells and avoid hazards along the coast. (Bill Buckley/)
Little Hank—the nickname belies his 6 foot 3 inch frame—carries his dog Brizo to shore so she can stay dry until her first retrieve. The Lab is more appropriately named. Brizo is an ancient Greek goddess who was the protector of mariners and fishermen (and, presumably, sea duck hunters). (Bill Buckley/)
Brizo retrieves her first-ever sea duck, a drake eider. What the 40-pound Lab lacks in size, she more than makes up for in heart. (Bill Buckley/)
Little Hank bears down as a flock of eiders swings over the decoys. Sea ducks are typically low fliers and often approach the decoy spread just a few feet above the surf. (Bill Buckley/)
Gray seals and harbor seals (like this one) hang out on rock piles along the Massachusetts coast. Garvey doesn’t send his Lab for retrieves when seals are nearby because they could get aggressive. (Bill Buckley/)
These two drakes and one hen are part of a four-eider limit. Periwinkles, attached to the barnacled rock, are a staple of the eider’s diet. These elegant birds are considered lifetime trophies for most duck hunters. (Bill Buckley/)
Lighthouses still line much of the New England coast. They serve as navigational beacons and mark the most dangerous waters. They’re also a reminder that the might of the sea is not to be taken lightly. (Bill Buckley/)
Mussels are among eiders’ favorite meals. These ducks swallow their food whole and rely on their powerful gizzards to crush the shells. Eiders have been known to dive down 60 feet to feed. (Bill Buckley/)
A little cold sea water doesn’t discourage Brizo from plunging in after another eider. The neoprene vest wards off hypothermia and helps keep her per (Bill Buckley/)
Traditional duck hunters to the core, the Garveys carved and painted their entire sea duck spread, a skill that’s still respected among New England hunters. But the result is far from high art: This deke shows all the scuffs and pellet holes of a hardworking piece of gear. (Bill Buckley/)

The question on everyone’s mind this time of year is what’s new from SHOT Show 2020? The Outdoor Life staff was on location and attended multiple pre-show range days and, of course, the show itself. After walking countless miles up and down exhibitor-packed aisles, we narrowed down a list of new, notable handguns we think will be of interest to you.

Be warned, just as we predicted, the red-dot revolution is in full-swing with most of the big names, and almost all the small, outfitting their semiauto service and concealed-carry pistols with electro-optic sights. If you’re a revolver guy or gal, we have you covered as well. Enjoy!

Luago Alien Pistol

Luago Alien (Chris Mudgett/)

Staying true to its name, the Luago Alien, has an uncanny resemblance to, well, an alien. But don’t let that stop you from drooling – this handgun is a glimpse into the future and oozes countless desirable features the rest of the handgun industry hasn’t even thought of yet. The barrel is fixed, operation is via gas piston, and the slide only reciprocates on the sides, which means the red dot sight doesn’t move, allowing easier tracking and unmatched durability. The Alien boasts the lowest center of gravity and lowest bore axis of any semiautomatic on the market – by a significant margin – and has virtually no muzzle flip and an uncanny level of precision. If you want to know what the future looks like, look no further than the Alien. MSRP: $5,000. luagoarms.com

SCCY DVG-1RD

The author with a heavy lake trout from Lake Granby in Colorado. (Tim Romano/)

When I looked down the hole, I was shocked. There was the gravelly bottom of Lake Granby barely 3 feet below the bottom edge of the ice. As if I wasn’t skeptical enough about targeting lake trout in such shallow water, veteran Colorado guide Bernie Keefe didn’t make me feel any more confident when he tied on a 10-inch Hogy soft-plastic finesse bait. It was a popular lure for bluefin tuna on the East Coast, where I live, and something I never thought I’d see in the Rockies. But in less than five minutes of jigging, I was kneeling at the hole watching line drain off the spool. Keefe had said we weren’t going to catch numbers that day but that we’d catch big fish­—and he’d made good on his promise. If you adopt a little of Keefe’s outside-­the-box thinking on the hard water, you’ll notice that your average lake trout gains weight fast.

The Goods

It wasn’t until years after my trip with Keefe that I learned the truth: I was his guinea pig. Until that day in 2011, he’d never sent a 10-inch Hogy down a hole on Lake Granby, where for years tubes had been considered the top trophy-laker lure. Keefe might not have been certain that fish would eat that monster soft-plastic as quickly as the 44-incher I ended up landing did, but he knew they would eat it. It was a perfect match for the rainbow trout that also live in Granby, and the lure’s effectiveness was a testament to a theory that many anglers disregard come ice season.

It’s common to see lures and baits scaled down in the winter months. The idea makes sense because with slower metabolisms and a generally more sluggish attitude in cold water, even a trophy walleye, bass, lake trout, or pike will be likely to snap at a smaller, more manageable target. That day on Granby, had we preferred to catch a pile of lakers in the 15- to 20-inch range, Keefe could have made it happen by tying on smaller jigs and hunting down suspended fish. But we were looking for the “right” fish, and even in the dead of winter, the big players won’t hesitate to eat a big meal if you know exactly where to serve it.

The Gamble

Some say the perfect survival knife is the one you’re carrying. This may be true, but it’s also true that we do our best work when we have the right tools. In the unpredictable realm of survival, how can we know which knife we will need when our future remains uncertain? As we rundown the 10 most popular groups of survival knives, decide which is best for you. It may turn out you need multiples, and that’s OK, because you can never be too prepared.

1. Survival Knives

These are the knives you’ll want to be carrying when you’re alone and facing the elements in the wild. (Tim MacWelch/)

Survival knives are the embodiment of self-preservation and self-reliance. Whether they were designed for military applications or civilian use, these robust blades generally offer more features than just a cutting edge. Saw-back spines are a common feature, as are serrated sections on the blades. Sheaths may have a pocket, pouches or integrated sharpening tools and other survival equipment (like spark rods). You’ll still even see the old style of hollow handled knives (for storing your survival gear). While this looks cool and sounds like a good idea (thanks, Rambo), keep in mind that this creates a poor mechanical connection between the handle and the blade. You might want to skip this hollow-handle feature in favor of a full tang knife and a separate pouch for the survival gear.

2. EDC Folders

Knives don’t have to be big in order to be useful. Something petite and inconspicuous may help you survive a tough situation. (Tim MacWelch/)

In general, fixed-blade knives are stronger than folders, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore this valuable group of blades. These “pocketknives” may be a life-saving backup weapon during a brutal attack, or they may simply slice through restrains, obstructions or your peanut butter sandwich at lunch. An every day carry knife is often on the smaller side, discrete and off-the-radar of the people that surround you. Pick one that feels good in your hand, has reputable edge retention, and sturdy construction. Your life may depend on it.

Ice fishing is an addicting activity, providing you have the clothes and gear to help you spend long windows of time on a frozen lake. (Simon Matzinger/)

Even in the warmth of a heated hut, ice fishing can still be an uncomfortable pursuit. Temperatures cold enough to lay down ten inches of boilerplate on a lake surface will quickly take their toll. But once you have the shelter and basic gear taken care of, it’s time to think about investing in a few of the creature comforts that make ice fishing both safer and more enjoyable. Here are a few accessories to consider.

Ice Cleats

Turn any pair of boots into ice-gripping machines with a pair of cleats. (Yaktrax/)

When a cold front with high wind scours the snow off the ice pack, footing can be treacherous. Increase your traction with a pair of slip-on ice cleats. Some brands are adjustable for a universal fit, while others require sizing to your specific footwear.

Heated Socks

If you want to keep your feet especially warm, you can’t go wrong with electric socks. (GLOBAL VASION/)

A pair of battery-operated socks will make you a more productive angler by extending your time on the ice. Look for stocking-length socks with a rechargeable battery system so that you always have a pair ready to go when the walleye or pike bite heats up.