Feral hogs are one of the country’s great ecological disasters. Few pests are more difficult to control, or more immediately detrimental to native ecosystems. In fact, some biologists consider hogs to be the most destructive invasive species on the planet. Though their spread across the United States has been slowed...
When I moved on from squirrels to hunting deer with my dad in the 1970s, there were about 200,000 whitetails in Virginia. Today, we’ve got five times that many. In the 1980s and ’90s, we went from “if it’s brown it’s down” to the “big buck” era. Whitetail management was...
The familiar gravity of the open road is strong as black coffee, as familiar as the playlist you sing to, beating time on the steering wheel. Landscapes slip by like a movie on fast forward. Gas stop to gas stop, you wheel through the dark to the season’s first daybreak...
Is there really such a thing as a “tough” game animal? After all, a bullet or arrow through the vitals will do the job on anything, from squirrels to elephants, right? That’s true. But equally true is that some critters, due to the size of their vitals, thickness of hide,...
Jake and hen decoys? Strutter and breeder? Full flock? Even with hyper-realistic fakes in your arsenal, you still need to adjust your tactics to the time of the season and how turkeys are behaving. The truth is, sometimes decoys work. Sometimes not. Why do realistic decoys fail? Often, it’s a...
The average turkey hunter would probably be shocked at how few mature gobblers their land produces each year. World-renowned turkey researcher Michael Chamberlain explains it like this: “Let’s say you have 100 hens in your population. “80 of them attempt a nest — not all do. “Around 20% hatch at...
A talking head on outdoor TV puffs his chest and declares, “Man, the full moon is the worst time to hunt!” Sounds pretty good, and you buy it. Your daddy told you never to overhunt a spot, and you never doubt Pops. Stands to reason that if another hunter tromps...
An unexpected wind swirl whipped the flames of what had been a slow backfire and sent them suddenly quartering uphill and across the field, full of dormant broom sage and plume grass. My buddy Danny and I were standing on top of the hill, next to a box blind, leaning...
I’ve turkey hunted in snow so heavy that I couldn’t see the decoy just 15 yards in front of me. I’ve also hunted in 90-degree heat while wading through thick, green vegetation that limited my visibility almost as much as the snow. Both of those happened in my home state...
If you’re in the market for a new bow, 2021 is looking to be a good year to buy. The heavy hitters of the compound bow world continue to innovate, with new materials and features to push the envelope on performance, handling, and value. Here’s a quick look at 11...
It’s a good thing my living wages didn’t depend upon my early trapping efforts . I’d have been one pitiful fur trader. When I started trapping a few years ago I caught some raccoons and opossums early on, but it took the better part of two seasons before I caught...
Mention planting for deer, and most hunters automatically assume you are talking about food plots. There is no doubt that a nice food plot will attract and hold deer in an area. But planting trees and shrubs can also be an excellent way to improve the hunting on your property,...
