Reuben “Lunar” Stugart We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn More › Most Durable ULA Circuit SEE IT Best for Sweaty Hikers Osprey Levity 45 SEE IT Best for Winter Hyperlite Mountain Gear Headwall SEE IT If you’ve gone backpacking anytime in the last decade you’ve probably noticed that ultralight backpacks are starting to get small—really small. The 70-liter external-frame packs of yore are quickly going by the wayside in favor of svelte 35-liter frameless (sometimes even hipbelt-less) designs. These packs a ..read more

Amazon We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn More › Best Overall Jora Composter 270 SEE IT Best Value VIVOSUN Compost Tumbler SEE IT Best Countertop All Seasons Indoor Composter Starter Kit SEE IT Well-aged compost does wonderful things for soil. It brings microbial life, helps soil retain moisture, and improves soil structure. But, compost that isn’t well-aged can rob nitrogen from your plants. Anaerobic compost, when not done properly, can smell terrible and house bad bacteria. An easy way to avoid anaero ..read more

Undergraduates show off their first harvest of blue-winged teal in Southwest Louisiana. Kevin Ringelman The future of hunting depends mainly on those in positions to decide it. While many advocates of hunting invest an enormous amount of time and resources trying to convince the leaders already in place of its value, one university in Louisiana pitches hunting’s value to conservation long before those leaders get hired or elected. Known as the First Hunt Program, pro-hunting professors at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge send graduates of their program into the workforce with more ..read more

The Mossberg SA-28 Tactical Turkey is an excellent example of the trend toward sub-gauge turkey hunting shotguns. Oliver Rogers We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn More › My Mossberg SA-28 Tactical Turkey didn’t make a great first impression. “What are you shooting,” asked Gray Dutton, “a 12 or a 20?” “A 28,” I answered. His head shake and groan were not exaggerated for effect. Dutton is the owner of Florida Outdoor Experience, a hunting and fishing outfit located an hour and a half north of Tampa Bay, tucked next to th ..read more

Joe Cermele IF YOU DIDN’T know better, you may have assumed the fish was dead. You could have easily walked by it, a passing glance convincing you it was just a rotten log. Its dull gray back is the same color as the mud. It camouflages beautifully with the detritus on the bottom of a shallow swamp in early spring before the lilies bloom and inject it with fresh greenery. Look closer, though, and the fish takes shape. It’s lying perfectly still save for the dorsal fin that runs nearly the length of its back. Like the lines on a heartbeat monitor, the fin ripples in undulating waves that s ..read more

Alex Robinson We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn More › Best Small-Size Echo DCS-2500T SEE IT Best Mid-Sized Stihl MSA 220 C-B SEE IT Best Large-Size Husqvarna Power Axe 350i SEE IT The most creative and inspired use of profanity that I’ve ever heard was articulated by a Canadian moose guide as he tried to start an old, neglected chainsaw. Every time he yanked the pull cord, the saw would sputter, but not start, and the guide would mutter a remarkable stream of cuss words (which I will not put down in wr ..read more

Trelino We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn More › Best Overall Nature’s Head Composting Toilet SEE IT Best for Home Use SunMar Excel Composting Toilet SEE IT Best Non-Electric Trelino Evo Composting Toilet SEE IT Approximately 2.5 billion people worldwide and 4 million people in the United States live without a flushing toilet. In Alaska, about 22 percent of the population—just over 160,000 people—live without running water. In fact, in my small community of 800 people, about half live without flush toil ..read more

These morel recipes are perfect for foragers and cooks of all skill levels. bendicks / Adobe Stock Morels aren’t the easiest mushrooms to find. Unlike the distinct blaze orange of chanterelles, the big-bodied clouds of chicken of the woods, or the white, shaggy plumes of Lion’s mane, morel mushrooms are small, low to the ground, and camouflage easily with dirt and leaf rot. But if you’ve ever tasted properly prepared morels, then you understand why everyone from spring turkey hunters to diehard foragers keep an eye out for them. But once you find a few, how do you cook morel mushrooms? Sure ..read more

Jeff Gustafson won the 2023 Bassmaster Classic with a Z-Man Jerk ShadZ and Bass Tactics Smeltinator Swimbait head. Bassmaster / James Overstreet We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn More › Canadian Jeff ‘Gussy’ Gustafson just won the 53rd Bassmaster Classic on Fort Loudon/Tellico in Knoxville, Tennessee, amassing 42 pounds, 7 ounces of smallmouth over three days of fishing. The fishing on Fort Loudon and Tellico Lakes was excruciatingly slow, but the grind made for an interesting Classic as shallow water specialists trie ..read more

Asolo We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn More › Hiking boot brands have been perfecting the alchemy of truly great footwear for decades. Some of it is about staying on top of the technical side: the right Vibram rubber with just-so lugs, a midsole that both cushions the foot and protects against the ground, a durable yet breathable upper. But the art of bootmaking — shaping a shoe to both support and protect a foot — is often more art than science, with companies spending decades on R&D and testing to create the pe ..read more