Outdoor Life — The Source for Hunting and Fishing Adventure

“Since it’s often possible to see doves coming for a considerable distance, there’s a temptation to track them with the barrel long before you shoot--but it is unnecessary to kill a dove more than once, and the longer you point at him the more ways you figure to miss him.”

-Charley Waterman
“Complete Dove Coverage”
Field Days, 1995 [ Read Full Post ]

Last year I posted about this incredible 234” monster freak that Jack Keihn killed with a 20-gauge in Indiana in Nov. 2005.

20 gauge? I grew up in a rifle/muzzleloader state and, curiously, had never killed a buck with a slug until last fall. I had always figured: Why would anybody use a 20 gauge when he could hunt with a big, heavy, ass-kicking 12 that spews forth the heaviest chunk of lead?

I never realized how many hard-core sluggers we have at the ZONE. That post continues to be one of the most viewed all-time on the blog (tens of thousands). Almost 100 people have chipped in so far with comments about shotguns, slugs and deer-dropping ballistics, and that many more have sent me emails. Examples:

JC wrote: “Clearly the 12 gauge is better. While the #'s will vary slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer, in virtually all cases the 12 will trump the 20 in trajectory, energy, and wind drift.”

Long-time ZONER Jstreet asserted: "If you can handle a 12 gauge you will get better downrange energy, but recoil will... [ Read Full Post ]

From the No-Duh Department comes this scientific revelation: Men Want Hot Women, Study Confirms. It appears that after observing 26 men and 20 women in a Munich, Germany, speed dating situation, researchers determined that while guys will cite a number of criteria for choosing a respective mate, the one common in their final selection is they would like the girl to be hot looking.

Somebody paid for this study?!? They needed a scientific study to come to that conclusion? Walk into any bar in America and a drunk can figure that one out, unless it's close to last call.

After all, isn't that why Baywatch was one of the most watched shows in its day despite David Hasselhoff and why more dudes will check out Maxim's Home Town Hotties this week than Hanback's Big Buck Zone even as deer season begins to crank up!!!!!

Man if somebody wants to throw money around to pay for studies like that, lets at least spend it on something we need to figure out, like why people... [ Read Full Post ]

“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.”
-Luciano Pavarotti


I need your help. Today with the sad news of the great tenor Luciano Pavarotti’s death I was jolted back to the delightful times my wife and I built pasta from scratch—with a hand-operated machine—accompanied by some big-flavored red wine, with Pavarotti and his cronies booming in the background. The pasta always ended up much better than the dry stuff you normally buy. And somewhere along the way we invented our own seafood (though sometimes it was freshwater fish) –stuffed sauce (both red and white versions). There were a few odd spices in it, and some herbs and a couple tricks in the making. During one of our moves we lost the recipe. I tell you all this because I aim to make an evening soon honoring Pavarotti by building a feast and playing his music and drinking some wine.

Being in the midst of setting up dozens of pieces of fishing tackle for... [ Read Full Post ]

So, what’s a sure sign that big game animals are approaching their breeding season? A deer scrape? Bugling elk? How about a bull elk getting tangled up while sparring with a backyard swing set, and a bull moose wearing a volleyball net?

Yep, now there’s a true indication of a soaring male ungulate libido, folks.

Wildlife authorities in Estes Park, Colorado had to tranquilize a 5x5 elk yesterday after the animal tried to do battle with a heavy wooden recreation set. In the process, its rack became inextricably entangled in a swing chain.

After a two-hour struggle in which the bull toppled the 400-pound structure and dragged it at least 25 feet, a Colorado Department of Wildlife agent and a veterinarian were able to subdue the beast and free it to pursue other adversaries—hopefully those of the antlered variety.

Also this week, Wyoming game wardens were called to a campground in the Big Horn Mountains, where a bull moose had become entangled in a volleyball net, effectively blinding the 800-pound animal.

Warden Tim Thomas and partner Alan Osterland said the moose was apparently attempting to leave a love calling... [ Read Full Post ]

Perhaps the greatest advantage to posting blogs here on a daily basis is the ability to bring Outdoor Life readers important news about hunting, angling and shooting issues the moment it occurs. Last week’s story about the significant epizootic hemorrhagic disease outbreak in the mid-South covered here and over at Mike Hanback’s blog is a perfect example.

Back in the old days (before the Internet), it’s entirely likely that the news of the EHD outbreak and its potentially devastating effect on regional whitetail herds would not even be reported in the pages of Outdoor Life and other outdoor magazines. Why? Because by the time the story saw print, the news would be old and irrelevant.

In short, it wouldn’t be news any more.

Wildlife agencies in the EHD-affected states of Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia are stressing that the deer fatalities are expected to be far from catastrophic. But hunters should remember that agencies focus on the big picture, and their main concern the total deer herd in a county or region of the state.

Individual hunters, on the other hand, have reason to be justifiably... [ Read Full Post ]

Critter baits, those fat-bodied, multi-appendaged hunks of plastic that look like nothing real but suggest a variety of things that our bass (and other fish) can eat, are extremely popular of late—especially when used for probing heavy cover with a cone sinker.

Recent word from Japan is that bass anglers over there are hooking their critters—specifically the Yamamoto Flappin' Hog—backwards…and weightless. You can see how it’s done in the photo.

Here’s the advantage: Hooked with the fat tail section forward, the bait tends to drop down and forward. If you allow controlled (not totally loose, not too tight) slack in your line, the rig will go down and beneath edges of overhead cover like weeds, trees, docks and such—even between reed stalks. It takes a tad of practice but the technique is quickly learned. And it surely is effective.

For busting through the really thick weed mats, however, you’re still going to need a weight. You can continue to rig with the fat end forward, though. Some anglers then use a trick called “bombing.” With a heavy weight, they flip the rig vertically... [ Read Full Post ]