Thursday evening, the U.S. Senate passed a top priority for the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) known as the Duck Stamp Modernization Act of 2023 (S. 788). This bipartisan bill is led by the entire Senate Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus Leadership, Co-Chairs Sens. John Boozman and Joe Manchin and Vice-Chairs Sens. Angus King and Roger Marshall.

Prior to the vote, CSF worked with the bill sponsors and key offices to help navigate this bill through the political process and ultimately a successful floor vote. The Senate passage of this bill builds upon the House Natural Resources Committee passage of the House companion bill led by CSC Vice-Chair Rep. Garret Graves and CSC Member Rep. Mike Thompson.

The Duck Stamp Modernization Act will simplify the Federal Duck Stamp process by allowing hunters to have an electronic duck stamp on their smartphone for the entirety of the hunting season. Under current law, when a hunter purchases an electronic Federal Duck Stamp (e-stamp), the e-stamp is only valid for a period of 45 days to allow for the actual stamp to be mailed. Once the actual stamp is received by the e-stamp purchaser, the actual stamp must be signed by the respective hunter across the face of the stamp and be in the hunter’s possession while afield. However, this legislation will remove the 45-day validation period and make the electronic stamp valid for the entirety of the hunting season. To ensure the continuance and integrity of the Federal Duck Stamp art contest, a longstanding tradition for waterfowlers and other bird enthusiasts alike, S. 788 will ensure that purchasers of e-stamps still receive the actual stamp in the mail. Specifically, the legislation will provide that actual stamps will be mailed to purchasers from March 10 to June 30. Read more

The Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) once again will be offering additional hunting opportunities that will provide all hunters with a chance to draw an additional elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer, and Gould’s turkey permit-tag, while generating revenue to support wildlife conservation efforts across the state.

The draw will open at 8 a.m. (Arizona time) Wednesday, Aug. 2, and close at 5 p.m. (Arizona time) Tuesday, Aug. 8. Applicants who are drawn for a limited-entry permit-tag will be contacted by the department (during the week of Aug. 14), at which time payment will be required before the permit-tag can be mailed. It is the responsibility of each applicant to provide accurate contact information to avoid missing an opportunity to receive the permit-tag for which they were drawn.

These opportunities should not be confused with the annual draws that are conducted by the department in February, June and October. A limited-entry permit-tag application does not preclude a hunter from applying for any other hunts throughout the year or impact bonus points. Animals harvested during limited-entry permit-tag seasons are excluded from annual bag limits. Read more

New for 2023, Barnett® presents a full line of King Rat Slingshots sure to bring adventure to hunters of all ages. The King Rat series is rooted in David Barnett’s childhood and draw from over 60 years of hunting and adventure.

Barnett was founded in the early 1960’s by David Barnett’s Father in the industrial market town of Willenhall, West Midland, England. As a boy, David Barnett visited his father’s workplace, often after school, waiting to be taken home. For his seventh birthday in 1972, his father brought back from America a tubular band slingshot. The new contraption was so different from all the things he had seen from classmates and neighbors. Read more

July 25th, 2023 – Pope and Young, America’s leading bowhunting conservation organization, is excited to announce that Chuck Adams has set two new world records, both Sitka Blacktail in velvet categories. Pope and Young announced thirteen new world records at their 33rd Biennial Convention in April of this year.

Chuck Adams broke the record with his Typical Sitka Blacktail in the Velvet category with his giant 5×5 buck he shot in 2021 scoring an incredible 109 7/8”. The buck was shot on Kodiak Island, Alaska on August 12, 2021, and with the score being verified by a special panel of measurers, it is now recognized as the new world record.

“Amazingly, the very first deer I saw on my 2021 Alaskan bow hunt was a giant 5×5,” stated Chuck Adams. “I had been hiking for an hour and spotted big antlers above a ridge. I told myself it might be the largest Sitka rack I had ever seen. After a long crawl, I shot the buck from 36 yards. This is the best scoring typical blacktail I have ever taken during 18 trips to Kodiak, and a Pope and Young World Record!”

Chuck also topped the charts with the giant Non-Typical Sitka Blacktail that he shot in velvet on August 22nd, 2022, also on Kodiak Island. Adams shot this buck, scoring an incredible 117 7/8” after 26 long days on Kodiak Island. Adams’ non-typical Sitka Blacktail was confirmed at the February 2023 Pope and Young Panel Verification in Reno, Nevada. Read more

From – Paul Erhardt, Managing Editor, the Outdoor Wire Digital Network

One of the most valuable hunting tools available today is the GPS.

The ability to identify exactly where you are out in the wild, where your best hunting spots are, where your game cameras are, and where your hunting buddies are, is critical both for a successful hunt, but also from a safety standpoint.

Long gone are the days of carrying a compass and having to master land navigation – though that’s a helluva skill to have, so don’t dismiss the old school approach.

Today’s hunters have gone high-tech. And with the nearly universal acceptance and use of smartphones, with their built-in GPS capability, the phone is replacing the handheld GPS in locales where cell service is available.

Why carry a specific piece of additional gear whose tech is already replicated on your phone? Especially if it’s on your phone in the form of an app that is designed for hunting.

For hunters of all skill and experience levels the onX Hunt app is an ideal solution for searching and mapping your hunts. And because it sits right on your phone it adds exactly zero extra pounds, or even ounces, to your hunting load out.

I have the onX app, and I use it. I am far from a super-user because my needs are fairly limited in scope. As a dove hunter I need to confirm my distance from the nearest structures and roads. I also need to mark my hunting spots, though none are what I would call a ‘prime spot.’

And since I live in Arizona, and I need to be out there and ready to hunt 30 minutes before sunrise, it’s kind of important I have my route mapped out. I am not hunting in a sunflower field – or any kind of field for that matter – but in the desert. A rocky terrain pockmarked with areas of uneven footing due to monsoon season erosion.

I prepped specifically for dove season the first year I used the onX app by walking the best, least restricted route to my spot and marking key points along the way so I’d know I was on the right path and not about to stumble down a four-foot drop in the dark to take a face full of rocks, or worse, cactus.

Knowing exactly where I was going in the early morning darkness is arguably a trivial thing, but after several seasons of high school basketball I have become a big fan of no spraining my ankle…particularly if it happens to be on Opening Day.

onX has two tiers for their Hunt app. The Premium level is what I used in the past and is limited to a single state for a $29.99 annual fee. This gave me access to Arizona’s land ownership maps, 3D, satellite, topo, and hybrid basemaps.

It also allowed for offline maps, customizable waypoints with optimal wind and is accessible on iOS and Android phones, as well as a desktop.

However, for this upcoming dove season I will be using the Elite membership version of the app which has several more features starting with access to nationwide land ownership maps, and Canada hunting maps…not that I plan on hunting in Canada, but one never knows.

The Elite membership has other advanced tools such as their Terrain X 3D Viewer, recent imagery, and Route Builder.

The Elite membership is $99.99 annually, and while it is far more than I need it does give me some cool features to test. The route builder is top of my list of features to try since with the Premium version I just dropped waypoints, which certainly worked but this will be better.

onX has recently announced a host of new features available in the app, and while they may be a bit of overkill for my purposes, they will be a welcome addition for hunters who are far more serious about hunting season than I am.

Hunters interested in signing up for elk permits left over from the permit drawing can do so between today, July 21, and Aug. 4. This new process for the sale of surplus licenses began in 2020 in response to issues in years past. The old process was vulnerable to long lag times, confusion, and a perception of inequity for those unable to use the first-come, first-served online option starting at 5 a.m.

There is no prerequisite required to sign up for these permits, but if you are selected to purchase one you MUST hold a general elk license. Read more

WEST POINT, MS – Mossy Oak, the industry-leading camouflage brand, is pleased to announce its collaboration with makers of the Heat Hog brand of innovative heating solutions. This partnership aims to introduce a new line of portable propane heaters decorated in the iconic Mossy Oak Original Bottomland camouflage pattern. The camouflage heaters will be available in two three models, with BTU outputs of4,000 9,000, and 18,000, catering to outdoor enthusiasts and individuals seeking easy-to-use, reliable heating options for their outdoor activities such as in the hunting blind, camping or ice fishing

The ONLY tiltable portable heater, Heat Hog is a new breed that helps you command the cold and runs on the 1-pound propane cylinder or a 20-pound tank, is indoor and outdoor safe, and doesn’t require any electricity. It includes a warming dock in the back allowing you to get more fuel use out of each tank, a curved heating plaque which provides 33% a wider heating area than other heaters, and its patent-pending tilting design, so you can control where the radiant heat goes.

Jon Thelen, with a 25-year fishing industry career, expressed his enthusiasm about the product by stating “Whether talking portable fishing or in my deer stand, I want and need a heater I can rely on to keep me warm and stand up to the elements. Heat Hog uses every ounce of propane in the can meaning I have no waste and on top of that it has proven durable enough to ride in my sled at 40mph up the trail to the hotspots and fire right up! Read more