California wildlife officials have signed off on a plan to wipe out every mule deer on Catalina Island, using sharpshooters firing from helicopters and trucks to get it done. The move is being sold as habitat restoration, but it has split hunters, locals, and animal advocates over whether this is sound management or a line…
Across marshes, rice fields, and drainage ditches, states are still trying to get ahead of a stocky, orange‑toothed rodent that can weigh as much as 20 pounds and chew through a wetland in a season. Nutria are not new to the United States, but their recent spread and resurgence have turned them into one of…
Across North America, Native nations have treated mountains, caves, rivers, and hand‑built earthworks as living relatives rather than scenery. These places anchor creation stories, guide seasonal movements, and hold ceremonies that still shape daily life. When I walk into these landscapes with that in mind, the continent feels less like a map and more like…
Every campfire debate eventually drifts to cartridges, and most of the oxygen goes to the usual suspects like .308, .270, and 6.5 Creedmoor. But plenty of hunters quietly fill their tags each fall with rounds that rarely make the glossy lists. I have seen these “off-menu” choices shine in the field, and when you look…
Ask a room full of Americans what scares them most in the wild and you will hear the same creatures again and again. Polls on animal phobias, from snakes to sharks, line up neatly with what I have seen on trails, in duck blinds, and around campfires. Here are nine wildlife species that reliably raise…
Across Texas, coyotes and bobcats shadow each other through mesquite flats, pine plantations, and brushy creek bottoms, hunting many of the same animals and slipping through the same fence gaps. They are rivals, neighbors, and sometimes outright enemies, and the way they sort out that relationship shapes everything from quail numbers to how often you…
Gray wolves are quietly reclaiming ground in the Lower 48, slipping back into forests, ranch country, and high country where their tracks have been missing for generations. Their spread into new U.S. territories is reshaping how hunters, ranchers, and wildlife agencies think about predators on the landscape. I have watched that shift unfold as a…
Jaguarundis, the wiry little cats also known as Otter Cats, have a long history in the southern United States, even if most modern records are thin and hotly debated. I have pulled together the five states where these animals have actually been documented, whether by formal wildlife agencies or by carefully recorded field observations, so…
Across the United States, some of the richest wildlife habitat hides in places most travelers blow past on the highway. One of those places is a modest wetland that, on a map, barely registers next to the big-name parks and refuges, yet on the ground feels like a living encyclopedia of birds, reptiles, and quiet…
Modern hunters are spoiled for choice, yet a handful of capable cartridges sit in the shadows of trendier rounds. Many of these older or niche chamberings offer excellent field performance, manageable recoil, and real-world versatility that belies their modest popularity. I want to spotlight five such options that deserve far more time in the woods…