Big Game

As we covered a few weeks ago, the first howl of a baby wolf can bring anyone joy. The distressed bleats of a drowning moose calf? That does the opposite. Luckily, off-duty Calgary firefighter Scott Linton and professional paddler Benny Clark were there to take action when the startled calf fell...

If you are bear hunting from late May into June, your hunt will be influenced by the bear rut. Knowing all you can about it will make you a better hunter. A 1980 study by Kim Barber and Frederick Lindzey conducted on Long Island, Washington, found that female bears are in estrus ranging from six to...

Laney Malavolta was found dead north of Durango, Colorado, on April 30 in a wooded area near U.S. Highway 550. Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the La Plata County Coroner’s Office confirmed Tuesday that Malavolta’s death was the result of a black bear attack. According to a press release by CPW, 3...

After all the work to get within shooting distance of a big bear, you need confidence in your ability to make a great shot. Bears are big, tough animals that are unforgiving when hit badly. Many new bear hunters use shot placement and strategy derived from experience in deer hunting, but bear...

Timing is everything with hunting. The best destinations in the world can be highly productive for a certain species at a given time, but at other times can be only average. Oftentimes spring bear hunting is lumped into one broad category covering the months of May and June. When booking hunts in...

No other big game animal embodies the wide open spaces of our country’s Western prairies and high desert steppe better than the pronghorn. Contrary to popular belief, pronghorn aren’t actually an antelope like the species found in Asia and Africa. You’ll hear some hunters refer to them as “speed...

You probably saw the reports from earlier this year heralding a hunting renaissance driven by COVID lockdowns, government stimulus checks, and fears of food chain disruption. It’s a great theory, but many news reports ran before wildlife agencies had finalized their stats for 2020. Now that those...

Matt Keller, founder of Old Hat Outdoors, mostly posts videos of ice fishing and fly fishing this time of year. Last week was an exception. “My intent was to film a sweet brown trout video,” Keller said. “That didn’t happen. In fact, the fishing sucked.” Rather than a big brown, Keller found a giant...

“Welcome to the mountains, boys,” said Philip Talbot, of Satsuma, AL, as he watched a black bear tighten its grip on a feral hog’s neck. The scene took place in Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Gatlinburg, TN. Talbot spent five hours looking for wildlife in the park on Tuesday, but the...

The following opinion piece is written by my brother, Matt Rinella. He’s a research ecologist who has devoted his life equally to hunting and conservation. You’ve maybe seen him on old episodes of MeatEater or listened to him on more recent episodes of the podcast. For years now, we’ve been debating...

According to the most recent survey conducted by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, there are approximately 11.5 million licensed hunters nationwide. Of these 11.5 million, 3.6 million are bowhunters. Statistically speaking, that means about 68% of the hunting population only hunt with firearms. I...