Of all the waterfowling misconceptions perpetuated by social media and barstool banter, confusion about possession limits might be the most perplexing. Online questions about how many ducks or geese you can keep in your fridge or freezer often prompt wildly varying responses, such as: “Three times the daily limit plus...
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...
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,...
Let me start with a caveat. I hate killing snakes — even the venomous species. I can’t count the times I’ve shared a western Kentucky fishing hole with a cottonmouth, or a woodlot of squirrels with a copperhead. As long as I see them first, it’s all good. Still, venomous...
There are plenty of places to shop for a new firearm, but the best gun stores in the country are local businesses. Many of them started out as small mom-and-pop shops before becoming the booming retailers that they are today. Here’s a look at 10 of our favorite shops from...
If you want to watch a fight, mention jump-shooting to a group of die-hard snow goose hunters , and then grab a cold drink, sit back and listen to the fireworks. Depending on whom you ask, jump-shooting spring light geese is an efficient, ethical way to kill a bunch of...
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...
Keith Burgess had been practicing with his new muzzleloader. The co-host of Small Town Hunting planned to take the gun, a .45-caliber CVA Paramount, to Iowa and hopefully tag a big buck during the late season. “I shot the muzzleloader out to 380 yards just to get comfortable with it...
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...
Unless they have excess vacation time, several trailers packed with decoys and an unlimited fuel budget, most spring snow goose hunters book with a guide to (hopefully) assure a quality experience. But laying down your cash is the easy part. Before that occurs, you should thoroughly investigate outfitter options and...
Google “.30-30 for deer hunting” and up pops a million links that you can click on for information. Click the first one and you’ll read something like: “The .30-30 rifle has arguably killed more whitetail deer than any other single cartridge … with the round’s popularity still quite high, it's...
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...
