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May 24, 2013
by How much do you really know about the doves you bag? Besides the creeping realization that they’re maddeningly hard to hit and taste great hot off the grill, probably not much.
But an annual report issued by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is full of data that provides a fairly comprehensive portrait of America’s mourning dove population. I got a copy of the report without even asking. It’s a perk of participating in the USFWS’s annual Dove Wing Collection Survey. For the past two years I’ve snipped off the right wing of every dove I’ve bagged, and shipped them to biologists who use the appendages as one measure of the age and abundance of our dove population.
Last week we surveyors got to see the results of our collective work. Here are some highlights:
[ Read Full Post ]May 22, 2013
by Here’s your chance to ask anything you want of high-level African hunting officials. Outdoor Life Editor Andrew McKean has arranged an interview with Namibia’s Secretary of State, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah next month in Namibia.
Nandi-Ndaitwah was previously the country’s Minister of Environment and Tourism and during her term in that office she promoted the concept of selective and ethical hunting as the primary wildlife management tool in the southwestern Africa nation.
[ Read Full Post ]May 16, 2013
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This amazing footage was shot by Boone and Crockett Chief of Staff Tony Schoonen in Yellowstone National Park. Here's the story behind the clip...
[ Read Full Post ] May 14, 2013
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Each spring, hundreds of hunters converge in Jackson, Wyoming, at the end of April. Unlike on the opening days of most seasons, though, these hunters are not concerned with shot placement or scent control. Their eyesight and ability to run are perhaps their greatest assets. In a best-case scenario, their prey is an old carcass. These hunters are in search of elk antlers, and a lucky few will find intact skulls bearing not just antlers, but also ivory canine teeth. It’s like Christmas combined with the Daytona 500.
[ Read Full Post ]May 9, 2013
by  This year Botswana officials announced that sport hunting would end in the country after the 2013 season. The decision was an emotional (not scientifically-based) one made by President Ian Khama, who stated: "The shooting of wild game purely for sport and trophies is no longer compatible with our commitment to preserve local fauna as a national treasure, which should be treated as such."
This decision was met with much criticism as the country has no formal wildlife protection plan. Some experts say the move will hurt wildlife (with some estimating that certain species will decline by 75%) thanks to the ever growing threat of ivory poaching and poaching for meat. Both types of poaching are currently being curtailed by hunter dollars. Wanting to see what the closure of sport hunting would mean first-hand, I stayed in Botswana for three weeks last month and was fortunate enough to tag along on elephant hunts for two of those weeks with Ivan Carter of Johan Calitz Safaris.
[ Read Full Post ]May 1, 2013
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Beef has taken a beating lately. Biblical droughts in the Heartland last year have prices on the rise, new research suggests that bacteria in the human digestive system could make red-meat eaters more prone to heart disease, and health-conscious consumers from Seattle to Brooklyn are demanding "grass fed" and "free range" fare.
And the flaws in beef only seem to highlight the qualities of venison. With the latest (and strongest) trend in dining being all about eating organically and locally, there should be no meat trendier than deer right now. Not to mention that the whitetail deer population, approximately 15 million in the U.S., has never been larger than it is today.
As hunters, we like to brag about the qualities of wild venison: "Most people can't even tell the difference between a beef steak and a venison steak;" "It's way healthier than beef is;" "I haven't bought beef from a grocery store in years;" and on we go.
But is eating wild venison truly better than eating beef? Or is that just something we say when we feel the need to justify killing deer? I conducted an objective (and partially subjective) investigation to find out.
[ Read Full Post ]April 12, 2013
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As more states legalize the use of crossbows during regular archery seasons, the popularity of horizontal bows just continues to grow. And it's expensive to be popular. With all the bells and whistles, a high-end crossbow can run you more than $2,000.
But, you can still get a new crossbow and put your kid through college. Wanting to provide technology-driven crossbows that are high performers but don’t break the bank, many manufacturers are offering quality crossbows under the $600 mark. So let’s take a peek at some of the best budget crossbows on the market today.
[ Read Full Post ]April 1, 2013
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I experienced a college flashback this past week and not just because I was sitting in a bar. It was late Thursday afternoon and after greeting a couple of buddies shortly after walking through the door, IPhones began making their anticipated appearances. However, instead of predictable photos of strutting gobblers, the accompanying photo popped up.
“Yep, this thing was shot in Chester, Mass.—just a little north of here,” someone said. “Must have been one of those wolf/dog hybrid things because I heard that it was declawed.” And then I had my flashback.
[ Read Full Post ]March 26, 2013
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First we had delayed-ripening tomatoes, then nutritionally enhanced canola oil, then Roundup-Ready soybeans and non-allergenic milk.
It’s hard to eat in America without swallowing a genetically modified bite, and with each new test-tube food comes the question: Are these products safe to eat? Researchers and regulators are spending time and money trying to answer that question, but one food group is going virtually unstudied: America’s free-ranging wildlife, specifically whitetail deer.
There may be no other wild animal in the nation that eats so much genetically modified food (also known as genetically modified organisms, or GMOs) as our whitetails.
According to Dr. Peter Raven, professor emeritus at the Missouri Botanical Garden, about 85 percent of all corn and soybeans in America are genetically modified in some manner. These crops make up a significant portion of the diet of most farmland deer, but Raven maintains that if genetically modified crops affected wildlife, then the resulting changes would be evident by now.
[ Read Full Post ]March 20, 2013
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A few years ago, I broke the glass on my iPhone. I replaced it myself, only to drop it again in three inches of slush while out duck hunting. Last fall was especially hard on my phone. I dropped it out of a 25-foot treestand. Twice. The glass didn’t break, but the call quality was never the same.
I’d had this new iPhone 5 exactly two weeks before I bounced it off the sidewalk in New York. It was time, I figured, to get a cell phone case. I decided on LifeProof, because if it can survive an evening of beer drinking with Tyler Freel it’ll probably survive my hunting season.
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