On Thursday, the Trump Administration announced new regulations that would remove penalties for construction, oil, gas, and other industries that incidentally kill birds listed under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. If approved, the new set of rules would only punish companies that deliberately kill birds, making many in the conservation community wonder what purpose the century-old conservation law now serves.
The Deepwater Horizon oil...

Introducing Ask the Eagle, where I’ll be answering your questions about everything from hunting to butchering to marriage. This week, someone wants to know my thoughts on 2019’s trapping ban in California.
Have a question of your own? You can write to me asktheeagle@themeateater.com.

In our new series, Ask a Warden, we’ll be interviewing officers from across the country to learn about their role in protecting our game, fish, and other resources. In this edition, we asked officers from Minnesota, Arizona, and West Virginia about why reg books are so complicated.
This fall, I’ll be gun hunting deer in Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska. In my research, I’ve learned that all three states have very different laws on...

Alaska is one of the few outdoor venues I know that consistently exceeds its own high expectations. That view may be difficult to sustain when you’re facing your third straight week of horizontal rain on a wilderness float trip or packing out a moose your friend shot a mile too far from the nearest floatplane lake. Nonetheless, the Great Land bewitched me when I first moved there 40 years ago, and it still does whenever I return.
But like float...

The term “weekend warrior” is  sometimes used disparagingly, but the truth is most hunters have little choice in the matter when it comes to time in the woods. Weekdays are consumed by the responsibilities of work, school and family, and hunting happens on Saturdays and Sundays. For most hunters, it is hardly the perfect scenario, but it works well enough.
Now just imagine if you lived in a state where “blue laws” restrict or outlaw Sunday...

More people are buying hunting licenses than they have in a generation, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s data. But other data from the same agency has consistently reported a downward trend in hunter numbers since the 1980s, creating palpable fear in state budgeting offices ever since. As states lost license sale and excise tax dollars, some looked to federal funds to fill their coffers. They chose to access those federal tax dollars...