Hunting and Fishing News & Blog Articles

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

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

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

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

9. How to treat Frostbite

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

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

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

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

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

Read Next: 9 Hard Truths About Hunting on Public Land

The Rules Hunters Live By

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

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

Choose Your Finish

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

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

Season

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Field Care

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

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

Get To Know Your Trees

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Two coyotes in the snow. (Ron Spomer/)

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

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

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

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

Get Off the Ground

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

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

Bring a Maul

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

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

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

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

Ice Rods 101

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

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

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

How To Pick The Right Rod and Line

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

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

You Don’t Need to Be a Super Athlete

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It’s never too early to begin planning for next season. If you’re looking for a do-it-yourself hunting opportunity in a place you’ve never been to before—or for a species you’ve never hunted before—we’ve come up with some prime DIY hunts to consider. Here are six of our top picks.

1. Colorado Elk

The Colorado elk herd is thriving and tags are available over the counter. (Jace Bauserman/)

Everyone needs to hunt elk at least once in their life and there may not be a better place for your first do-it-yourself trip than Colorado. The Centennial State boasts the world’s largest elk herd and offers over-the-counter licenses for both archery and rifle hunters. Bowhunters can purchase either-sex tags for elk in 137 of Colorado’s 184 game management units. That number is similar for the rifle crowd during the state’s second and third rifle seasons, but those will be bull-only tags.

In addition to its over-the-counter tags, Colorado gives the willing-to-wander elk hunter plenty of room to roam. The state harbors 11 National Forests comprised of 13 million acres of public land. In addition, unlike some western states, you don’t need to hire a guide to access any of Colorado’s 41 Wilderness Areas. Wilderness access is a great way to escape the masses.

“Over-the-counter units in Colorado get a bad rap,” says elk hunting veteran J.C. Navarro. “We run into lots of people every year, but we consistently kill elk. This past season, we killed two bulls in less than 36 hours. Each was killed less than a mile from the truck, and we had hunters all around us. Our key is to study maps hard and hit a lot of hellish country that is close to trailheads and jeep roads. We look for access that requires an immediate steep ascent or descent. Lots of guys and gals walk by incredible elk country just because it’s close to a trailhead or access road. We highlight lots of these locations on our maps prior to our hunts.”

The author with a Zebra he shot in South Africa. (Tyler Freel/)

The first time I heard about calamari was probably in 7th grade. I remember seeing the word and photo in a Spanish class textbook and upon learning it was squid, decided it wasn’t for me. I was a Hamburger Helper, meat and potatoes kid, and carried that mindset into adulthood.

Eventually, I tried calamari…and loved it, so much so, that to this day, I will not pass up the opportunity to indulge. We all can relate to a food we presumed wouldn’t appeal to us because of a preconceived bias or notion that it tasted awful. In the context of hunting, I thought of Africa in the same light.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to experience Africa (there are some hunters who think they have an aversion to going, getting wrapped up in their own hunting world or finding it difficult to see the draw—I hope this article changes those perceptions). Living in Alaska, I became spoiled with hunting opportunities, and going to Africa remained on the fringe. That changed abruptly after an invite to hunt plains game in South Africa with Norma’s new Bondstrike bullets.

I cut my teeth hunting Alaska, picking my way up rocky ridgelines to slip above an unsuspecting Dall ram, listening to the hermit thrushes echoing through the woods at night on a bear bait, and straining to get the first glimpse of a bull moose thrashing in the brush. We all have a picture of what hunting Africa looks like, positive or negative, but every experienced person I knew said I would love it. Still, I found it hard to get excited about hunting animals I had no experience or exposure to. I think this is very common amongst hunters. We enjoy our comfort zones, often pigeon-holing ourselves into a mindset of disdain for anyone who doesn’t do things the way we do. So, I decided to set all my pre-conceived notions and stereotypes aside, and do my best to learn and enjoy the experience.

In Africa, hunting sustains animal populations. (Tyler Freel/)

Hunting Drives Protection and Management

10. Deer Hide

The hide and hair of a deer are there to offer the animal protection, but can offer us even more. (TIM MACWELCH/)

A thick deer hide provides warmth, and the raw material to make many different kinds of leather goods. From a “hair-on” hide that can be used for insulation to scraped rawhide that can be used for cordage and containers, hides are versatile. For general processing, stretch out the fresh hide by nailing it out flat to a barn or shed wall (flesh side outward), or piercing holes around the edge of the hide and tying it into a wooden frame with thin rope. Using a round bladed scraper or being careful with a knife, scrape off all meat, fat and connective tissue, leaving the flesh side of the hide whitish and clean. You’ll likely need to wet it with water several times to make it easier to scrape. Then allow the hide to dry and you’ve created “hair-on” rawhide. This can be used as a shelter door, rug, mattress pad or anything else that fits the qualities. You could also scrape the dried rawhide and simmer the shavings in water to create glue.

9. Hooves

The world’s oldest surviving bow is around 10,000 years old and hoof glue was used in its construction. This age-old formula is simple. Chop the hooves into small chunks and simmer them in water until they have virtually melted. The resulting liquid can be thickened by reducing the liquid further or adding extra ingredients. This water soluble glue can be used fresh, or dried for storage and reactivated with hot water. It has been used for carpentry, fabrics, and even as a pottery finish.

8. Bones

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“Man, that deer is going to make some great candles!” Said no one ever.

After a successful hunt, the backstraps, tenderloins, and juicy venison steaks all get careful consideration. The fat? Not so much. But utilizing as much of the animal as possible is a respectable goal for all hunters, and that includes the fat.

The practice of rendering deer fat into tallow candles has been around for hundreds of years. My dad taught me how to make them when I was a kid. He grew up fairly poor and he showed me knock out these coffee-mug candles without spending a dime (he was making them out of necessity, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with it). They are an easy DIY gift idea that use items you probably already have at home.

You’ll Need:

The author with a large wolf pelt. (Tyler Freel/)

I’m a firm believer that every outdoors person should at least try their hand at trapping. Many write trapping off as an obscure pastime, but even in areas lacking in high-dollar fur, there is a great deal you can learn about the woods and the animals in them by running a trapline. Although I haven’t been as active on the line for a couple years—and at best, I was a recreational trapper—it has greatly impacted my understanding of the outdoors.

In fact, every one of the most knowledgeable outdoorsmen I know trap, or have been trappers at one point. If you’re just starting out, you’ll likely find it much more difficult than you anticipated, with many lessons to learn. Here are 10 things I have picked up over the years that will help just about any budding trapper.

1. Get the Right Traps

The right gear for the job is critical. Pictured is an Alaskan #9 wolf trap. (Tyler Freel/)

If you don’t already know it, running a trapline is a ton of work. And it can be fruitless work if you choose the wrong gear. You want traps or snares that are the appropriate size, and will work for the conditions on your trapline, so the traps you need to pick depend on your target species as well as the environment you’ll be trapping in.

For example, for foxes, a proper foothold trap is something with a #1 ½ to #2 size coilspring. They are easy to hide, strong enough to hold a fox, and cause minimal damage to the skin. If a trap is too small for the target animal, you will have more misses and toe catches. A larger, #3 or #4 trap—that works great for coyotes—will catch and hold a fox, but there’s a greater chance of causing skin or bone damage.

If you’re looking for the perfect stocking stuffer, all you need to remember is one word with two syllables—LifeStraw. (LifeStraw/)

I’m a hermit during the holiday shopping season. The crowded stores, the street traffic, the amazing ability to search for gifts that are always out of stock... Who needs it? I’d rather be chasing deer or dropping geese from the sky. If that sounds like you, you’ve probably pushed off your holiday shopping duties longer than you feel good about. But if you want to avoid sitting in the penalty box with me (seriously—my wife puts me in time out so I can think about my actions), then you’d better get moving.

To help, here is a short list of the most popular outdoor-related products from Black Friday and Cyber Monday, as well as a sprinkling of the most popular hunting, fishing, and camping gear of 2019. Take a look, remember to request two-day shipping, and you’ll have plenty of time leftover to get back outside before the big man slides down the chimney.

Coleman Dome Tent with Screen Room

Coleman Dome Tent with Screen Room; Price: $120 (Coleman/)

In recent years, it’s become more difficult to sneak away with my boys on a quick, two-night camping trip. School, sporting events, and other obligations seem to be soaking up the vast majority of their Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Thankfully, we’ve been able to adapt by overnighting in the backyard—and it’s a blast! I don’t have to haul gear all over Hell’s half acre, the “outhouse” conditions are five-star, and if the weather turns rotten, we don’t have to suffer through it. We’ve also discovered a big tent, like Coleman’s Dome Tent, makes a big difference. It’s easy to erect and take down, there’s enough room inside for us to move around our cots, and the cost didn’t burn through my gear budget. If there’s someone in your family looking for a solid car-camping shelter, or a kid just begging for more time under the stars, the Coleman Dome is a terrific option.

Black Diamond Storm Headlamp - Price: $50

Kayak fishing is more popular than ever. Even bass fishing pros like Mike Iaconelli are fishing from kayaks. Some like the way a fishing kayak makes you fish a spot more thoroughly, while others like how they’re able to sneak closer to fish. But just about everyone that fishes from a kayak just likes the gear and gadgets.

If you’re wondering what you can gift the kayak angler in your life, here’s a short list of the latest kayak fishing gear, new kayaks, safety equipment, and accessories to get them ready for next season.

Old Town Topwater 120 PDL

Old Town Topwater 120 PDL Angler Fishing Kayak • Price: $2,150 (Old Town Canoes & Kayaks/)

I test drove the new Topwater 120 PDL this past season, and Old Town has created a dependable kayak that does the job every time. The pedal-drive system is as easy as riding a bicycle and pushes the kayak in either direction, forwards or backwards, to keep you in the sweet spot.

It can cruise against a strong tide and is well balanced, even while standing up and rocking in the wake of a passing powerboat. It has just enough storage space that’s easy to access, like the rear tankwell, front hatch, and inside the pedal drive, but Old Town didn’t go crazy and create hatches everywhere it could. Anytime a friend without a kayak joined me on the water, this is the boat I loan out because I knew it would surprise them. When they wanted to go kayak fishing again, they always made a point to request the Topwater 120 PDL.

Bass anglers are notorious gear junkies, always convinced they’re just one special lure or one better-performing rod away from records, fame and glory. The truth is that while there’s no magic bullet, each year the industry produces new products that make a day of chasing little green or brown fish more productive and enjoyable. Here are 10 that will enhance any bass angler’s game from coast to coast.

Shimano Curado DC Baitcasting Reel

Shimano Curado DC Baitcasting Reel • $250 (Shimano/)

Backlashes and “professional overruns” have been the bugaboo of bass anglers since baitcasting reels were first introduced. Whether you’re a rank beginner or seasoned pro, the idea of using one to throw a light lure into the wind can be daunting. Shimano’s Curado 150 DC casting reel adds a digitally-controlled braking system to a time-tested frame, making it substantially harder (but not impossible) to backlash. It comes in three different retrieve speeds and both left- and right-handed models.

Abu Garcia REVO MGX Spinning Reel

Abu Garcia REVO MGX Spinning Reel • $300 (Abu Garcia/)

With increasing reliance among all levels of bass anglers on finely-tuned finesse presentations, spinning reels are experiencing a resurgence even among the Bubba set. Abu Garcia’s REVO MGX is ultra-lightweight, features a total of 12 bearings, and a butter smooth drag to subdue a cartwheeling largemouth or a bulldogging bronzeback. Both 20- and 30-sized reels weigh less than 7 ounces, so you can fish all day without fatigue.

Warm ups after a quick, hard freeze are ideal times to hunt reverse migration mallards. (Ryan Askren/)

A north wind, skeins of greenheads riding it south, breaking from on high at the cut of your call, and falling into the decoys. Buddies jump up with shotguns pointed at fluttering mallards…those are mornings every duck hunter lives for—Migration Day.

Now reverse that. Mallards headed north on a south wind, racing back to the breeding grounds (so they think), but first they have to make stops along the way to feed, water, and rest. They are incredibly susceptible to being killed during this small window. Hungry and anxious to get home, tough late-season mallards turn into fresh birds.

When to Expect the Reverse Migration

How can you get on a hunt like this? Reverse migrations of mallards and geese can occur just about anywhere you get a hard freeze followed by a quick warm up. If you live in a state where that kind of weather occurs regularly during the season, then you are likely going to see greenheads and geese funnel back from the south. I’ve seen it happen from October in South Dakota to January in Kansas. Hell, one of the best Canada goose flights I’ve ever witnessed took place during a sunny morning on Long Island, New York, two days after the temperature dipped below freezing and a foot of snow fell.

Be ready for the birds trickling back north, because the window to hunt them is going to be short. (Ryan Askren/)

How to Prepare Your Hunt