Mountain lions once padded across nearly every corner of the Lower 48, from the Atlantic forests to the Pacific coast. Today their strongholds are scattered, and only a handful of states still hold established, breeding populations. I want to walk through those last bastions, and the fringe states where cougars are slipping back in, to…
The last breeding population of Florida panthers left on Earth pads through a surprisingly narrow slice of one U.S. state. Once spread across the Gulf Coast and deep into the Southeast, this big cat now survives in the wild only in Florida, mostly in the swamps, ranchlands, and pine flatwoods of the state’s southwest corner….
A good fire should give you heat, light, and maybe a place to cook a steak, not a lungful of poison. Some wood products kick out toxic smoke, corrosive gases, and heavy metals when they burn. Here are 10 types of wood I will never throw in a stove, fireplace, or campfire. 1. Pressure-Treated Wood…
Roger Ewing, the quietly charismatic performer who stepped into Dodge City as a young deputy on one of television’s most enduring westerns, has died at the age of 83. Best known to generations of viewers as Thad Greenwood on “Gunsmoke,” he leaves behind a modest but memorable body of work in film and television and…
Wild animals look harmless when they are young, but getting close is a good way to hurt them or yourself. Spring is when people stumble on fawns, kits, and ducklings and feel tempted to “help.” I have spent enough time in the woods to know that the smartest move is usually to back off and…
Across the Lower 48, trout, steelhead, and salmon give you three very different puzzles to solve, often in the same watershed. If you understand where these fish live, when they move, and how they feed, you can plan a season that runs from high-country trout to winter chrome without leaving the contiguous states. I have…
Lawmakers are weighing a proposal that would turn the chaotic moments after a violent encounter into a legal minefield, threatening penalties if people who act in lawful self-defense do not report what happened fast enough. The idea is framed as a way to ensure transparency and accountability, but it risks criminalizing the very survivors it…
Every angler eventually learns the hard way that not all tackle is created equal. Some gear fails quietly in the garage, but the worst offenders wait until a big fish is on, the current is ripping, and you finally need everything to work. When rods shatter, lures roll over, snaps bend out, or waders flood,…
Some guns look perfect on the rack, with pretty wood, sharp engraving, or slick camo, then let you down when birds are flying and your hands are sweaty. I have spent enough time in fields and blinds to know that good looks do not always translate to clean kills. Here are 10 guns and gun-adjacent…
Homestead defense gets talked about like a video game loadout, but real rural problems are messier. You are balancing feral hogs, predators, and the risk of shooting through your own walls. Here are 15 popular calibers that sound great on forums yet fall short once you look at actual test data and what happens inside…