The author used a suppressed rifle to take this nice whitetail buck. Blane Everett We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more › Last year I was on safari in Africa with my friends Bill and Ray Mazelin from Wyoming. We frequently safari together, and I’d brought my first suppressor for hunting in Africa. Those boys never hunt unsuppressed, and for two weeks they bombarded me with all the reasons you should always hunt with a suppressed rifle. I’ll admit that after that safari and a full year of hunting suppressed, I’m beginn ..read more

A male gambel's quail perched on a branch. Gale Boyer/Adobe Stock A covey of gambel’s quail scurrying through the desert with their topknots bobbing is a common sight in parts of the southwest. Adapted to live in arid climates, the gambel’s is especially associated with Arizona. This small gamebird sports an identical topknot to that of the California quail and plumage so similar it can be hard to tell the two species apart at times. Besides similar appearances, the two birds live practically next door to one another and occasionally interbreed to produce hybrids. The gambel’s quail, however ..read more

A males Dusky grouse next to a male Sooty grouse. In 2006, the American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU) took a closer look at the western bird known as the “blue grouse” and reclassified it into two separate species: the sooty grouse and the dusky grouse. Both are birds of the northwestern conifer forest. The dusky grouse inhabits the Rockies, while the sooty grouse lives closer to the coast, with a range that extends from California to Alaska. Among the largest of North America’s native grouse, the sooty and dusky grouse are birds of the far and mountain west. They were first identified during t ..read more

Dave Hurteau In 2023, a hunter bid $725,000 on a mule deer tag at the Western Hunt Expo in Utah. The bid shattered a record set the night before when a hunter bid $500,000 on an Antelope Island mule deer tag at the same event. Depending on where you hunt and what you hunt, a hunting license can get pretty expensive. But in general, they are surprisingly cheap. Affordable hunting licenses and public land on which to use them are some of the best things about living in the U.S. You just need to know the rules of the game and figure out how much you want to spend. How Much Is a Hunting License ..read more

There are approximately 152,000 caribou in the Western Arctic herd, according to the Alaska Department of Fish & Game. Jim Dau. Late last month, the Alaska Board of Game voted to substantially reduce harvest numbers for the Western Arctic Caribou Herd. The move will limit non-resident bull caribou tags, previously available over the counter, to a limited entry draw. The new non-resident draw system—which allots up to 300 Western Arctic bull tags per year—won’t be implemented until 2025. In order to hunt the upcoming season, non-residents will need to apply for permits between Novembe ..read more

Twelve-gauges and 20-gauges each have their pros and cons. zorandim75/Adobe Stock We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more › One of the first choices you have to make when choosing a shotgun is the gun’s gauge. Shotguns come in 10, 12, 16, 20, and 28 gauges, and in .410 bore. For most people and most purposes, the practical choice often becomes a battle of 12- gauge vs 20-gauge. Twelve and 20 are the two most popular shotgun gauges and offer the widest selection of guns and ammunition. You can find 12-gauge shells anywher ..read more

Saeedatun / Adobe Stock Ruffed grouse hunting grew up in 19th century New England, so naturally it can be a bit of a prude. So genteel in certain circles, so neatly wrapped in tradition and style, it must seem to some hunters—especially new and/or young ones—the domain of fuddy-duddies and dandies. Don’t believe it. (I, for one, am too ill-bred to be a fuddy-duddy and way too badly dressed to be a dandy.) The truth is, getting into grouse is easy and anything but exclusive. All you really need is a reliable shotgun and a pair of reliable legs. You don’t need tweeds, or an English-made double ..read more

When I tell people that my favorite Field & Stream story is “The Road to Tinkhamtown,” they’re often surprised that a 25-year-old is so into a 60-year-year old story. I say it just goes to prove the timelessness of great storytelling. Best known for his F&S column, “The Lower Forty,” Corey Ford was a staple in the magazine from the early 50s to the late 60s. Ford lived in Freedom, New Hampshire, where he hunted and fished with friends to gain inspiration for his stories. But the one he will be most remembered for is “Tinkhamtown,” published in October 1969, three months after he die ..read more

Field & Stream Archives We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more › For more than 100 years Field & Stream has been the wellspring of hunting and fishing knowledge. Since our wisdom is boundless, and can take a while to absorb at full length, we’ve distilled it into encyclopedia form. It’s a quick read, and at the end of it, you’ll be not only better informed, but a better person as well. A AND I DO NOT WALK ALONE Beginning in 1972, Field & Stream began a generational shift of its field editors. Many of them we ..read more

The author and his then 13-year-old GSP, Jed, go for an afternoon stroll in February. Dan Brouillette Jed froze on point, keeping his tail down the old-fashioned way, the same way he had for 14 seasons. Crouched, with his nose almost touching the ground, he was showing me that the bird was right there. I stepped forward, and the pheasant busted out of the grass and into the trees on the creekbottom. Roosters in the woods are my pheasant-shooting Achilles’ heel, and I only made my chances worse by thinking, I shouldn’t miss Jed’s last bird. So I missed it twice. To my surprise, I didn’t care ..read more