Read the latest articles from Outdoor Life (Page 2)

A black and white photo of Jack O'Connor packing out a ram on horseback
Opinion

The Invention of the Grand Slam Killed Sheep Hunting for the Everyman

The man who helped popularize sheep hunting laments its corruption by status-seekers and greedy opportunists

Hunters on a mountain top
Opinion

When People Ask Me Why I Hunt, This Is What I Try to Tell Them

Explaining how can we love and admire a wild animal one minute and look forward to taking its life the next is a tall order

The Humminbird Helix 7
Fishing Gear

We Tested the Best $1,000 Fish Finder

The Helix 7 is loaded with features, is easy to learn, and costs under $1,000

An urchin style bass bait
Bass Fishing

This Weird Bass Bait Is Fetching Absurd Prices. Here’s Why

The bass fishing world has found itself in yet another new bait craze. This time it’s over a wildly expensive urchin bait

A bull elk crosses an alpine meadow.
Wildlife Management

New Mexico Hunting Guides Charged in Scheme to Sell Elk Tags to Out-of-Staters

Federal prosecutors say the men rigged the system by creating fake hunter accounts and submitting forged medical documents that allowed them to transfer the tags for a profit

A fisherman fights a hammerhead
Shark Fishing

A Hammerhead Busted My Kayak, Then Towed Me for Miles. Rescue Looked Grim

The shark pulled me out to open ocean on my fly rod. But for reasons I can't explain, I refused to cut the line

An original color painting of a firetower lookout watching the flames of a wildfire
Natural Disaster Survival

A Wildfire Broke Out Just Miles from My Lookout Tower. I Had to Choose: Stay or Evacuate?

The B.C. Forest Service paid me to watch for wildfires from my lookout tower high atop a timbered mountain. Then a blaze started a little too close to home

A landowner along a river holding a gun; heavy machinery working in the river.
Public Lands & Waters

‘I’m Gonna Start Target Practicing.’ New Mexico Landowner Arrested on Felony Charges for Threatening Fishermen at Gunpoint

Multiple complaints, videos, and photos show the landowner threatening anglers, stringing barbed wire, and using heavy machinery to obstruct a public river

Maven RS4.2 Riflescope

Maven RS4.2 Riflescope: Bright, Tight, and Compact

An update to Maven’s premier precision scope, the new first focal plane direct-to-consumer optic shoots as smartly as it looks.

Muskie fishing.
Baits, Lures, & Flies

The Best Musky Lures: 6 Classic Baits for Catching the Fish of 10,000 Casts

These six lures will catch big muskies anywhere they swim

A composite image of a big bass caught from a little lake in a vintage color film photo
Largemouth Bass

To Catch the Biggest Bass of Your Life, Try Fishing Smaller Lakes

If you search out smaller waters, you'll find overlooked largemouths ready for a fight

fisherman throwing a cast net
Fishing Gear

We Tested the Best Cast Nets for Everything from Menhaden to Glass Minnows

Once you find the right cast net, you'll never buy bait again

A blue illustration of two men in a canoe on the river.
Paddling

We Canoed 200 Miles into the Bush for the Best Walleye and Pike Fishing of Our Lives

We fought 200 watery miles (most of it upstream), portaged 32 times, and swamped the boat. It was all worth it

A grizzly walks in the snow
Animal Attacks

I Was Charged by a Grizzly with Three Cubs. All I Had Was My .38 Special

"I swung the gun up just as the bear's big brown head broke out of the brush four steps from me"

Babe Ruth poses with two other hunters and various dead game animals.
Black Bear Hunting

I Deer Hunted with Babe Ruth. He Tagged a Nice Buck and Wrestled a Cow

"The same eye that could follow the fastest ball to the plate and knock it out of the park is deadly over the sights of his .401 Winchester"

Two color photographs of men bass fishing with dragonfly flies.
Largemouth Bass

Old-School Advice for Catching Giant Bass on Dragonflies

If you're not catching bass on dragonflies, it's because you're fishing them wrong. Here's how to fish it right

Police tape in the woods
Hunting

What Happens After Shed Hunters Find Human Remains

Every year shed and mushroom hunters stumble across the remains of a person in the woods. Those discoveries are just the beginning

Leatherman Alpha and ARC
Knives

Leatherman ARC vs Wave Alpha: I Carried Both for Six Months and There’s a Clear Winner

These are Leatherman's top two EDC multi-tools, and one is clearly better

A man on a rocky beach holding a large striped bass
Baits, Lures, & Flies

The Best Lures and Live Baits for Striped Bass

You'll catch stripers on these baits and lures from North Carolina to Maine

An illustration of a man touching a bear attack victim while his horse stands nearby from outdoor life
Animal Attacks

A Sheep-Killing Grizzly Mauled My Ranch Hand, Who Managed to Crawl a Mile for Help

My sheep herder was working overtime trying to protect our flock from a marauding grizzly when tragedy struck