Hunting

A lone mallard kited above us during a late-season duck hunt. It made a hard turn to the right and then flew directly at our blind. I was a guest at a friend’s duck club, a place I had hunted many times before, and knew it was my job to dispatch the bird. The other hunters razzed me before I stood...

For as long as I've been around, would-be suppressor owners faced two barriers to entry: the process and the tax stamp. The process for legally purchasing a gun muffler was long and complicated, but the $200 tax stamp was, for many, the straw that broke the camel's back. It was bad enough to drop...

Javelina are one of the most underappreciated of all our big game species. Their unique history and physical features spark curiosity from hunters and other wildlife enthusiasts. What is not to like about a native pig-like critter that ekes out a living in dry, cactus-dominated Southwestern...

On paper, shotgun patterns are deceiving. The pattern board reveals only a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional shot string, suggesting that all the pellets from a payload arrive simultaneously. Nothing could be further from the truth. As soon as pellets exit the shotgun muzzle...

Guns aren’t always a great financial investment (though they can be), but this is one firearm purchase you can definitely feel good about. Lot 1 at the Rock Island Auction on December 5th is a one-of-a-kind set of five Purdey & Sons side-by-side shotguns. Valued at a whopping $800,000, the proceeds...

Selecting the right shotshell for ducks, geese, and pheasants can be a daunting task. Not only are there numerous options to choose from, but there’s also considerable misinformation or “marketing speak” that can mislead hunters. One of the best shotshell selection resources for waterfowl and upland...

Matt Jefko of Wisconsin says he can’t sacrifice the time and money to hunt Western states, so he turns his stay-at-home hunts into hard-earned adventures whenever possible. But after this public-schools teacher arrowed a buck in southwestern Wisconsin’s Yellowstone Lake State Park in early November...

I just kept trying to breathe. The big bull elk was trotting forward with his head down as he chased another bull down the side of the mountain. “He’ll stop,” I said to myself as I did my best to hold down the rising panic I felt fluttering in my chest. He was 350 yards away, and I tried not to look...

My introduction to shotgun suppressors was more than a decade ago, just after SilencerCo debuted the Salvo 12 by taking a group of gun writers on an Eastern Shore Canada goose hunt to test and promote its new cans. A colleague was on the hunt and told me about the suppressor. Soon after, I had the...

Hunting stories stay eternally ingrained in our minds. Photos help keep those memories alive past our lifetimes (and also make you stay a bit more honest about how big that buck really was). Whether it's from a trip long ago or a more recent hunt from this past season, it’s fun to look at an image...

If you take a peek inside the average hunter’s gun safe, you’ll find many of the same popular cartridges: .30-06 Springfield, .308 Win., .270 Win., .243 Win., .30-30 Win., .300 Win. Mag., and a few others. You don’t need me to sing the praises of those old-school cartridges. They’ve been hammering...

This fall, Nick Schmitz, of Grand Forks, North Dakota, killed an absolutely massive bighorn sheep that stands to set the new state record. The story of his hunt began when he drew one of the most coveted tags in North America: a North Dakota bighorn sheep tag, of which North Dakota Game and Fish...