Hunting and Fishing News & Blog Articles

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.

Leupold’s RX Fulldraw 4 features Archer’s Advantage software, which calculates arrow weight, arrow velocity and peep height for better accuracy. The Flightpath feature will determine if your arrow will clear obstructions, like hanging limbs, out to 150 yards, and the 6x magnification power should give you plenty of power to put an eye on big bucks. This unit is waterproof and fogproof, plus the OLED technology is adjustable to match display intensity for changing light conditions.

Kimber has long been known for its lightweight mountain rifles, and this particular model comes equipped with an improved carbon-fiber wrapped barrel. The Open Range Pro Carbon is a dual-purpose bolt gun that can be shot at longer ranges, but is also accurate in situations where you might do some continuous shooting. It weighs about six pounds and has a wider fore-end that you can mount a bi-pod on. For now, the Pro Carbon is offered in .308 and 6.5 Creedmoor, but I suspect it will come in a wider variety of calibers in the years to follow. The barrel is also threaded for a suppressor.

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Last year at SHOT Show, we noticed bolt-action hunting rifle market trending toward ultra-light mountain rigs. That shift continues this year with substantial interest and investment in ultra-light backcountry rifles, with some long-range options and modularity functionality in the mix. These are the new hunting rifles we sniffed out, many of which are innovative, interesting, and just plain cool. Here are a dozen new rifles that caught our eye, in no particular order.

1. Benelli Lupo

Benelli introduced its first bolt-action in 2020, a super-adjustable hunting rifle. (Benelli/)

With a bold move into the bolt-action rifle world, Benelli announced Tuesday their brand-new Lupo, a super-adjustable, futuristic hunting rifle. (Lupo is Italian for wolf.) Featuring a variety of cutting-edge features and modes of adjustment, you can configure the shims and spacers to exactly fit your physique and shooting style. Finger reach is adjustable, as is trigger-pull weight. The matte blued barrel is cryo-treated and free-floating, and sports a three-shot sub-MOA guarantee. Barrel length is 22 inches for standard calibers and 24 inches for magnum calibers. The black synthetic stock is adjustable for length of pull, cheek weld, drop, and cast. An alloy chassis supports the action and barrel in the stock. The 5-round detachable box-style magazine is double-stack and radically shaped, and smoothly forms the lower body section of the receiver area. The tang safety is tactile and crisp. Initial chamberings include .300 Win Mag, .30-06 Springfield, and .270 Winchester. The rifle weighs in right around seven pounds, and SRP is $1,699.

2. Sig Sauer Cross

SIG is calling their new Cross a precision bolt-action hunting rifle. (Sig Sauer/)

This new hunting rifle from SIG is radical in every good sense of the word. The company is calling it a precision bolt-action hunting rifle. As a super-light member of the modular, tactical-inspired rifle family, the Cross will initially be chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor, .308 Winchester, and a new cartridge from Sig called the .277 Fury. (The .277 Fury will sport a 140-grain projectile downrange at an unholy velocity from a 16-inch barrel. More on that later.) It’s available in a 16-inch (.308 and .277 Fury), and 18-inch (6.5 CM) barrel. Black and camo finishes are available. The rifle weighs in at 6.5 pounds, and folds down as short as 25 inches. That’s pretty awesome for the hunter who wants a modern rifle suitable for backcountry hunting. A two-stage match grade trigger rounds out the package. SIG has not yet announced a price for this. sigsauer.com

SIG Sauer unveiled a bolt gun (with AR ergonomics) at SHOT Show 2020 called the Cross. There is a lot to unpack with this new rifle, which has three interchangeable barrels: a 16-inch in .308, 18-inch in 6.5 Creedmoor, and 16-inch in SIG’s .277 Fury. The Cross has a one-piece receiver, and the stock is unique in that in folds forward at the press of a button, making it less cumbersome to pack in and out of wherever you chase wild game. The stock is also adjustable with a spring-loaded comb for better fit. You will notice the magazine release is somewhat hidden in the trigger guard so you don’t have to worry about it getting hung up on your pack or even losing a magazine. It weighs just 6.5 pounds, so it’s a great option for the backcountry.

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A new factory variation of the XPR released this year is the Stealth. The XPR has taken hold of its spot as a dependable, accurate, and affordable rifle from Winchester. The most significant feature of the Stealth variation is it’s 16.5-inch threaded barrel. This rifle is designed with a suppressor in mind, and if you hunt with a can, it lets you have a more conventional overall-length package while still using a suppressor. Now, you can expect to lose some velocity compared to full-length barrels, but for the average hunter, it’s probably not enough to make much difference in rifle performance. The XPR Stealth will be available in most standard shorter-action cartridges.

If you’re looking for a good survival gun and a fun plinker in one package, consider the CQB SUB-2000 from KelTec. It’s a quick take-down folding rifle chambered in 9mm. This model accepts Glock magazines, though there’s another that accepts magazines from SIG, CZ, and Beretta. The carbine has a forward-mounted rail for added sights, a contoured fore-end, and easy to manipulate controls. It was a hell of a lot of fun to shoot, and it digested a pile of ammo without a hitch when we shot it at the range. The integral suppressor, included in the $900 price tag, makes this a good value, too.

Federal’s Hammer Down line is targeted directly to lever-gun hunters. Federal worked directly with Henry Repeating Arms on this project to solve common loading, feeding, and cycling issues with standard ammunition by deburring and adding slight chambering at key spots on the cases. They also added a higher quality bullet, a controlled-expansion bonded bullet that will perform better than typical lever-gun offerings. You’ll get reliable cycling, as well as expansion without sacrificing penetration. If you’re a lever-gun hunter, especially in straight-wall states, you’ll want to check this out. It’s going to be hitting the shelves in standard lever-gun cartridges from .327 Federal magnum up to .45-70.

One ammunition offering from Federal Premium coming in a bit under the radar is the Solid Core handgun line. As simple as it is, this brings a new option to the fairly limited field of bear-defense ammunition. The bullets are hard-cast lead, but feature Federal’s Syntech coating. Typical hard cast loads often have to be lubricated with wax and in some handguns can cause excessive fouling. The Syntech coating, popular with Federal’s practice ammo, is a clean-shooting, and minimal-fouling addition to a deep-penetrating lead solid. Offerings should be available in common handgun cartridges, including 9mm, 10mm, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, .357 magnum, and .44 magnum.

Firearm trends may come and go, but one thing that’s always in fashion is the rimfire. We’re seeing even more rimfires in the last year or two than we’ve seen in the previous 5 to 10. Christensen Arms, who makes fabulous lightweight, big-game rifles is jumping into the rimfire market. They could have gone for a very high-end model, but instead they created a smart hybrid model that incorporates precision elements without a competition price tag.

This sweet little gun from Glock is a rimfire with the same exact frame size and profile as the Glock 19, which makes it a great training gun for any shooter who runs one. It’s a pure Glock: it uses a 10-plus-one configuration, it’s easy to load, and Glock spent a lot of time working on the G44′s functionality. At $430, the price is very competitive as an inexpensive trainer.

There is no hunting group more fanatical about gear than waterfowlers. We are always looking for new gadgets to trick ducks and geese into the decoys, a bigger mud motor to get to the blind faster...virtually anything that makes a morning in the marsh more efficient. The shotshell revolution continues with the advancement of tungsten and bismuth loads, some of which hit harder than lead. Choke tubes have grown alongside the ammo, delivering tremendous patterns so you can shoot birds at longer distances, though I can’t fathom why you would want to...unless it’s spring snow goose season. Decoys are more realistic than ever before, from paint schemes to keel designs that make fake ducks ride the water like real ones. So make a little more room in the trailer, or hell, buy a new one—you’re a duck hunter afterall; buying gear is what we do.

Mossy Oak Shadow Grass Habitat

Mossy Oak Habitat (Mossy Oak/)

Bottomland was one of the most innovative waterfowl patterns ever created—just walk into any duck camp or WMA east of the Mississippi River and you can see how popular it is. Shadow Grass Blades never quite had the fanfare of Bottomland, but Mossy Oak is hoping to change that with Habitat. It looks like a darker version of Blades, which is probably preferable to most hunters unless they primarily hunt flooded corn. But even then, as the season gets into late December and January most all plant life, including standing crops, turn a darker shade of brown, and this camo looks like it will blend in most any environment. —Joe Genzel

Savage Renegauge

Savage Renegauge ( Savage /)

Savage’s Renegauge is one of the biggest introductions this year for a few reasons: 1) it’s the company’s first-ever semi-automatic shotgun, 2) it’s full of unique features, like a fluted barrel and patented gas system, 3) it’s a real gamer in the marsh. I had the opportunity to hunt with a pre-production model of the Renegauge on a sea duck hunt in December last year and my initial takeaways were that the gun absorbed felt recoil exceptionally well, it functioned flawlessly, and it pointed spot on. This is not a lightweight gun for covering miles in the uplands—the 28-inch barrel version weighs 7.9 pounds—but it was well-suited for a duck blind.

The Mossberg 940 JM Pro Competition Shotgun is turning heads at the 2020 SHOT show. (Stephen Maturen/)

There’s a whole mess of new products introduced every year at the Shooting Hunting Outdoor Trade show in Las Vegas. Some of these products will help you shoot more accurately, hunt more effectively, and have more fun in the field. But, do you really need any of these new products to actually go hunting or shooting? Nope.

But then again, the SHOT show isn't really about need. It's about surprise and innovation. At SHOT, manufacturers roll out products that they've spent months (sometimes years) developing. We get to comb the showroom floor and pick out the best among the bunch. Here's what we've found so far.

DAY 1

Benelli Lupo

The Benelli Lupo. (Benelli/)

The Italian shotgun maker has entered the bolt-action market with a sweet new hunting rifle called the Lupo. The best term I can find to describe the Lupo is, hybrid. It is clear that that the lines of this gun are influenced by its Italian lineage, but the flexibility, modularity, and adaptability of the fit and finish allow it to be specifically adapted to the individual shooter. Benelli promises sub-MOA precision with three-shot groups, but my prototype shot a bit better than that (I actually got to hunt with the rifle earlier this fall). Key features include:

The Python is back in action. The iconic double-action revolver is chambered in .357 Magnum and also accommodates .38 Special cartridges. It’s available in a 4.25- and 6-inch stainless steel barrel, and it’s currently available from Colt.

This ready-to-roll 3-Gun competition shotgun from Mossberg was designed with plenty of input from, and named for, pro-shooter Jerry Miculek. It sports oversized controls, an extended magazine tube with a 10-plus-one capacity, a high-vis front sight, and an enlarged loading port, among other features. Best of all might be the price, which will appeal to folks who are looking to get into competition. You’ll be able to find the 940 JM Pro for around $900.

The main takeaway from the shotgun world this SHOT Show? More gunmakers are going small with multiple sub-gauge offerings, from high-end doubles to more affordable pumps and auto-loaders. Sub-gauge guns are more popular than ever, mostly due to the advancement of tungsten and bismuth shotshells, which are more deadly than straight steel and even lead offerings. These shotshell options are finally getting affordable, and they’re widely available to the masses. That’s not to say 12 gauges are obsolete. Most gunmakers still start with a big bore when a new model is introduced and work their way down to 20s and 28s. You just don’t always need a 12 to kill birds effectively and ethically, and the industry has become more reflective of that with a wider variety of sub-gauge offerings. Here are the latest and greatest shotguns direct from the floor at SHOT Show 2020.

Savage Renegauge

Savage Renegauge (Savage/)

We’ll start this list off with a shotgun that’s not a sub gauge. Savage’s Renegauge is one of the biggest introductions this year for a few reasons: 1) it’s the company’s first-ever semi-automatic shotgun, 2) it’s full of unique features, like a fluted barrel and patented gas system, 3) it’s a real gamer in the field. I had the opportunity to hunt with a pre-production model of the Renegauge on a sea duck hunt in December last year and my initial takeaways were that the gun absorbed felt recoil exceptionally well, it functioned flawlessly, and it pointed well. This is not a lightweight gun for covering miles in the uplands—the 28-inch barrel version weighs 7.9 pounds—but it was well-suited for a duck blind.

The Renegauge sports Savage’s AccuFit system, which the company has been using on its bolt-action rifles for years. The gun also comes with shims, which when combined with the cheek and butt pads, allows for 20 different variations. Most bird hunters don’t actually use shim kits, but that’s what’s great about the AccuFit system: It’s super quick and easy to use. You can swap out cheek pads without unscrewing anything. Simply peel off the pad and pop in a different one. (This will be especially useful for turkey hunters who want to run a red dot or sight and need more comb height.)

The shotgun will come with three choke tubes and uses the Beretta/Benelli Mobil choke if you want to throw in an after-market tube. It also has a switchable/ambidextrous safety for you left-handers. The black finish runs $1,449, while the camo and turkey models both go for $1,549. —Alex Robinson

Ice fishing is a great way to spend time outdoors with friends, especially if you’re warm and comfortable inside a shelter. (Eskimo/)

While a traditional ice hut built from scratch is certainly a luxury, it’s not necessary in order to enjoy some deep-winter angling adventure. Modern pop-up shelters offer all the room and comfort you need to drop a line, store gear, break for meals, and stay out of the elements while chasing cold-weather pike, perch, and trout. If you are just getting into ice fishing, before heading to the hardware store and breaking out the tools to build your own custom ice palace, consider the advantages of a well-designed portable icehouse.

Convenience and Stability

A good portable ice tent can protect you from the elements without interfering with the fishing. (Eskimo/)

Like geodesic tents and collapsible camp chairs, a pop-up ice tent makes it super easy to erect a comfortable shelter in minutes. They can be warmed with a portable heater just like any structure, while ice anchors and guy lines increase stability under high winds and snow loads.

Fishable Space

Don’t get a tent that’s larger than you need because it will take longer to warm the inside. (Eskimo/)

There’s no need for an icehouse to be overly spacious. More room is just more air to get cold in. Look for a portable ice shelter with roughly 10 to 15 square feet of fishable space per angler. That will give you enough elbow room to work and still keep the packable load to a minimum size and weight.

Ruger has come out with an offering that hits the new rimfire trend at a really attractive price point. The American Rimfire Long-Range Target is a pretty full-featured gun that’s out-of-the-box ready for long-range rimfire competitions. It’s got a heavy barrel, an adjustable stock, and a nice trigger, and it feeds on the reliable 10/22 magazine system. Overall, this is a smart, full-featured addition to Ruger’s line at a reasonable price.

The way national conservation groups are raising money is changing. (Quality Deer Management Association/)

Editor’s Note: This is the fourth of a four-part series on Hunting Editor Andrew McKean’s efforts to ditch the national conservation organization banquets and start a more effective local group in his hometown of Glasgow, Montana. | Read part one here. | Part two here | Part three here.

America’s hunters and anglers are a self-congratulatory bunch. At the cast of a fly or the pull of a trigger, we remind anyone who will listen that, through a system of voluntary sacrifice and self-taxation, we brought back the wild turkey, the whitetail deer, the rainbow trout, and the mallard.

We have every reason to pat ourselves—and anyone who buys a hunting or fishing license—on the back. In fact, America’s wildlife restoration movement deserves to be cited as an example of one of the most effective examples of collective action in the history of the world.

It isn’t just license dollars, excise taxes on some sporting goods, and the system of professional wildlife management they fund that gets the credit for bringing back our nation’s critters. An alphabet soup of non-governmental organizations took on the specific task of conserving either imperiled species or the intact habitats they require. These are the national “critter groups” we’ve described elsewhere in this series.

A history of American citizen conservation should devote an entire chapter to these groups, citing not only the yeoman’s work that they’ve done across huge landscapes, but also their ability to create a sense of purpose and connection among their members. These wildlife societies might bring together, over a shared love of ducks and duck hunting, a corporate lawyer from Memphis with a web-foot Cajun from Louisiana. Or a backcountry hunter from Colorado with a plumber from Ohio, both of whom savor their last elk hunts, and dream about their next.

The new Benelli Lupo is currently offered in .30/06, but the company plans to chamber the rifle in most popular cartridges. (Mark Copenhaver/)

Benelli is plowing new ground in 2020. Though known for its high-end shotguns, the Italian gun maker has entered the bolt-action market with a hunting rifle called the Lupo.

I got an early look at the Lupo, which is Italian for wolf, and hunted whitetails with it last fall in Nebraska. It’s an interesting new design, one that incorporates a lot of features to enhance the rifle’s ergonomics and performance.

I received the rifle a couple weeks before the hunt and was excited to see how it would perform. Prior to going to the range I disassembled the rifle, taking it completely apart. I wanted to take that opportunity to closely inspect the Lupo and see what made it tick. Even without the benefit of a manual I had the rifle broken down in less than 10 minutes.

I immediately noticed that the trigger and safety were unlike any I had seen previously. The trigger mechanism is manufactured from a combination of traditional steel parts as well as a synthetic polymer. Benelli engineer, George Thompson reported that the trigger assembly is completely new but takes its foundational cues from the R1 rifle.

Thompson said that the safety mechanism is similar to the tang safety of a shotgun and includes a mechanical block actuated by a transverse cam mounted on the side of the assembly.