Outdoor commentary and legislative issues.
Knoxville based Tisas, a premium supplier of 1911-style pistols, has just upgraded their wildly popular G.I. style 1911 with checkered walnut grips.
Featuring a forged frame, forged slide and hammer-forged barrel, combined with the Tisas lifetime service plan makes the 1911A1 .45 one of the best values on the market. Read more
GENESEO, ILL. – Springfield Armory® is proud to announce the release of new XD® OSP™ (Optical Sight Pistol) Slide Kit and Assembly options for the original XD line of full-size pistols. The 4″ 9mm kit and assemblies provide original XD owners OSP capabilities as well as the ability to convert certain XD models to a full-size 4″ 9mm configuration. The slides, featuring included cover plates, are cut to accept XD-M® OSP optics mounting plates available for a wide range of popular optics.
First up is the XD OSP Slide Kit (part # XD4902), a package that provides users with a complete OSP-cut, full-size XD slide assembly packaged with a recoil spring assembly, barrel and an optics mounting plate in the Springfield Micro™ footprint. This plate accepts optics like the Shield SMSc and allows for co-witnessing with the iron sights. MSRP is $396. With this XD OSP Slide Kit, you can convert several XD variants to a full-size 4″ 9mm configuration featuring OSP capabilities. The kit converts the following:
· XD 5″ 9mm to XD 4″ OSP 9mm
· XD 4″.40 to XD 4″ OSP 9mm (with purchase of 9mm magazine)
· XD 5″.40 to XD 4″ OSP 9mm (with purchase of 9mm magazine) Read more
By Glen Wunderlich
Charter Member Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA)
Brad Reynolds is nuts about trout fishing. After purchasing a used, fiberglass drift boat for $6,000, he had second thoughts when it began to delaminate and it needed new gelcoat in a short two years of use. That’s when his thoughts turned to building his own boat from wood, which he states is warmer than fiberglass and quieter than aluminum. The astounding results not only turns heads, but the custom vessel was produced for approximately one third the cost of other options.
In his spare time, Brad is employed by Sparrow Hospital in Lansing as a cardiovascular technician and also enjoys anything related to fly fishing including fly tying, and custom, split-bamboo rod building. Yet, in his garage some 20 years ago, he found time to build his vision in one summer! Although information indicated that one can build such a boat in 40 man-hours, it took him about five times that amount.
Brad Reynolds’ Dory
Says Brad: “As someone who over-estimates the technicalities of such projects, I researched the time investment, materials, epoxies and tools. Everything I read said nothing of the fine carpentry skills and precise measurements required for boat building. In fact, the reading was quite to the contrary. As a boat constructed of a stitch-and-glue technique, most of the precise cuts are eliminated, because gaps are filled with epoxy, fillers and fiberglass cloth.”
The plans were from a professional boat builder, Jason Cajune, of Montana Boat Builders (www.Cajuneboats.com). Brad chose the river dory (a flat-bottom boat with no keel) for its ease in rowing against current. The oars are nine feet in length and are constructed of carbon fiber and counter-balanced with floating blades to keep the rowing comfortable. “These boats will maintain their position in a river with very little effort, while allowing the angler post up for multiple shots toward a rising fish or structure” according to Brad. 
The skin for his boat is made with 3/8-inch exterior-grade plywood; the bottom is ½-inch exterior ply with emphasis on waterproof glue. (Another more expensive option is to use marine plywood for additional strength and a rich mahogany finish.) Trim pieces were made of ash wood – a hardwood for wear and durability without the oils of oak, which can interfere with the epoxy and the bonding process. The floor is treated with exterior enamel paint, which can be touched up easily.
The boat was designed with an abundance of storage options for a grill, cooler and additional bags without cluttering the floor.
9-Foot Oars
The anchor rope travels in a race under the floor to keep the rope clear from predictable, unwanted results. The bottom’s exterior has a Teflon additive to the finish coat to help the boat slide off river obstructions.
Most dories are not motorized because they cannot get on plane and push too much water to be efficient. At the same time, the 400-pound boat requires no registration or license per Michigan boating laws, because it is16-feet in length and not motorized.
Brad estimates today’s cost depending on wood options and finishes would be between $1100 to $1350 plus the cost of a trailer and anchor – a far cry from the market price of a finished boat.
Brad estimates the vessel has logged over 1,000 hours on the waters of Michigan’s AuSable, Grand, Muskegon and Pere Marquette rivers and with its recent renovation is equipped to do it all again.
I’ll add this bit of personal experience to fishing in this type of boat: With a most experienced guide and operator years ago, I was free to cast dry flies onto the surface of Utah’s world-famous Green River. Guide, Lyle Waldron, knew the turns, rocks and holes and put me on them and it all added up to a fishing experience of a lifetime. The design allows people to fish standing up – good for spotting and a pre-requisite for unencumbered casts.
Woodpeckers use their bills to excavate nesting cavities, to forage for insects and grubs found in wood or tree bark, and “drum” their beaks on wood to announce their territory. When we watch a woodpecker hitting its fairly pointed beak into a branch or tree trunk, it’s easy to wonder how the brain of a woodpecker withstands the seemingly unhealthy impact each time its beak hits the wood. This is especially true when we consider that during territorial “drumming,” some woodpeckers hit their beaks up to 25 times per second against trees.
Biologists have long described a woodpecker’s brain is protected from the impacts, perhaps by cushioning skull, a beak that absorbs some of the force, or a tongue that wraps around the brain to provide a level of protection from concussion or injury. However, results from a new study reveal the opposite: The birds actually minimize the need for shock absorption. How? Their head and beak essentially act like a stiff hammer, striking and stopping in unison upon impact.
“When we see these birds in action, hitting their beak against a tree quite violently, as humans we start wondering how does this bird avoid getting headaches or brain damage,” said Sam Van Wassenbergh, a researcher at the University of Antwerp in Belgium. Van Wassenberg wasn’t convinced by the common explanations found in ornithology books and other publications, so he organized a team of researchers who recorded high-speed videos of woodpeckers while they were “pecking,” which revealed some remarkable slow-motion details.
For example, “They close their eyes at the moment they impact the wood to protect their eyes from splinters,” Van Wassenbergh revealed. The videos also showed that woodpeckers’ beaks often get stuck in wood, but they break free almost instantly, thanks to an adaptive beak design that provides independent motion of the upper and lower mandibles.
However, the videos did not show any sign that the woodpecker’s brain is somehow cushioned. “The way we see the head behaving is very rigid, like you would use a hammer hitting wood,” Van Wassenbergh explained. That means a woodpecker’s brain repeatedly experiences deceleration that would cause a concussion in a human brain. Yet the woodpecker brain appears to be unaffected, even after thousands of impacts during a single day. Read more
— Craig Springer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service—Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration
Colorado’s Swan River heads in the craggy and conifer-studded Rocky Mountains near a tourist mecca of Breckenridge. This was gold country. Dating to the 1890s, dredge barges plowing through the supine streamside meadows and the river proper inverted the river bottom and flood plain. Dredges sifted and separated the yellow metal from sands and gravels. Gone is the gold. Left behind was a most unusual spoil of sand, cobbles and rubble that once constituted trout habitat. The long, meandering pile of spoils looked from a distance like massive gray welts where there was once been a silver river bending through a verdant valley at 9,600 feet above sea level.
The Swan River certainly continued to flow—percolating beneath the long welts—hidden for decades from life-giving sunlight and depriving caddis and midge and mayflies, and the Colorado River cutthroat trout and brook trout that eat them, of their habitats. The nearly 2.5 miles of hidden river were not accessible to anglers, either.
But that has changed. A partnership involving Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and a litany of other organizations such as Summit County and White River National Forest are well into restoring trout habitat to the formerly hidden reach of river, reconnecting tributary streams to the main stem Swan as well.
After much planning and preparation, restoration started in earnest in 2016. Something this massive is taken on in smaller pieces. Approximately a mile’s worth of the massive pile of stones have been removed and put to good use, and the natural stream channel revealed. Stones comprising the former valley bottoms are used to shape and steer the river channel, to bend and curl stream flow across the valley floor as flowing water desires to do. The excess spoils have been extracted and reduced to base material for county roads and state highways.
Another 3,100-foot-long river section is presently under restoration with streamside and upland vegetation planting to secure the soils in place and provide eventual cooling shade over the water. Woody debris and boulders set in place direct and slow stream flows and make lairs for trout to hold and feed—and await an angler’s properly drifted elk-hair caddis.
The trout have returned. Fish population surveys by Colorado Parks and Wildlife biologists revealed that brook trout have taken to the newly renovated stream sections. In 2016, a fishery survey documented only a few hundred brook trout larger than six inches per mile of stream. Three years later the renovated Swan River sections contained more than 1,800 brook trout per mile of stream, six inches and bigger. Moreover, fish biologists discovered that the numbers of mottled sculpin, a curious looking finger-sized fish with broad fanning pectoral fins that hold it in place on the river bottom in fast waters, have proliferated. The sculpin’s presence in impressive numbers is indicative of quality fish habitat.
The Swan River restoration in not complete. There is more stone to remove and re-purpose instream and elsewhere. More streamside plantings to come. In the end, expect more habitat for anglers where there had been none for more than a century.
To learn more, visit Partner with a Payer.
This week the Gamekeepers have accomplished waterfowler, Jim Ronquest, sitting between the turkeys and talking ducks, green tree reservoirs, red oaks and how he spots duck bands. We also talk to Amanda Everaert, of the Jack Miner Bird Sanctuary, about the history of the Jack Miner bands, and how he got started with his flying missionaries. It’s an amazing story that not enough people have heard. You will enjoy this one! In fact, we bet you’ll end up googling Jack Miner. Listen, Learn and Enjoy!
Stay connected with GameKeepers:
Instagram: @mossyoakgamekeepers
Facebook: @GameKeepers
Twitter: @MOGameKeepers
YouTube: MossyOakGameKeepers
Website: Mossy Oak GameKeeper
Listen Links:
Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/episode/4Wpq7yTO7ufkIXYG47m8HI
During the pandemic, people across the country ventured outdoors in record numbers, to destinations including Michigan state parks, trails and waterways. In fact, visitation to state parks went up 30% over the past two years, with annual visitation jumping from approximately 28 million to 35 million people.
While the outdoors is an important component of many people’s leisure activities and healthy lifestyles, it’s just as critical that we each do our part to take care of these outdoor spaces so they are protected and here for future generations to enjoy and use.
“We’ve seen record numbers of both established and new visitors over the last couple years,” said Jason Fleming, chief of the DNR Parks and Recreation Division’s Resources Section. “Many visitors have grown up coming to state parks and others are new to outdoor recreation. We’re always excited to provide these opportunities to create new memories, but we also need everyone’s help to work together to maintain these natural and historical spaces.” Read more
“For 85 years, the Pittman-Robertson Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act has served as the foundation for our American system of conservation funding, which provides dedicated revenue for state wildlife agencies to successfully restore wildlife populations and grow opportunities for hunting and recreational shooting,” commented Tony A. Schoonen, chief executive officer for the Boone and Crockett Club. “Our Club members played a key role in getting the Pittman-Robertson Act signed into law in 1937 and have continued to advocate for dedicated funding for wildlife conservation efforts ever since. Repealing this law would significantly undermine our nation’s successful wildlife conservation legacy.”
Since it was enacted, the Pittman-Robertson Act has generated over $15 billion to conserve wildlife, improve recreational shooting and hunting access, and fund hunter education programs. In 2021 more than $1.5 billion was raised and distributed to state fish and wildlife agencies to build target shooting ranges, purchase wildlife management areas to increase public hunting opportunities, conserve game species, and recruit America’s next generation of hunter-conservationists.
“We are working with our partners in the conservation community to educate our members of Congress about how conservation is funded in this country and how sportsmen and women have willingly provided the bulk of wildlife funding through this user pay, public benefit system,” Schoonen concluded. “The RETURN Act is misguided. We hope members of Congress who sponsored this legislation will withdraw their support.” Read more
Rotomolded pedal kayaks R Models upgrade popular fishing and recreational pedal kayaks
OCEANSIDE, Calif. – Hobie, the leading manufacturer of premium kayaks and watersport products, launched the newest additions to their 2022 product line today with the unveiling of the Mirage Passport 12.0 R and the Mirage Passport 10.5 R. The first look of these new rotomolded kayaks were made at the on the water demo day at ICAST, the world’s largest sportfishing trade show.
Powered by MirageDrive® with Glide Technology and Kick-Up Fins, the new R Series models will be able to avoid obstacles with ease and navigate rocky or shallow waters thanks to the automatic retraction of Kick-Up Fins on impact and subsequent re-deployment once clear of the obstacle. With the rotomolded hull construction, available in Seagrass Green and Slate Blue, the new R models fuse a new sleek aesthetic with excellent performance and stability without sacrificing speed.
“Since 1950, Hobie has always strived to create fun, accessible experiences on the water,”
said Kelley Woolsey, Hobie Vice President of Global Sales, Service, and Marketing. “Today’s launch of the new Mirage Passport R Series kayaks echo Hobie’s values and mission of always striving to improve and update our product offering to deliver the best experience available. Hobie will always ensure that the highest quality products are available for kayakers of all experience to enjoy.”
The 2022 Mirage Passport 10.5 R and the Mirage Passport12.0 R will be available at authorized Hobie dealers starting later this month at an introductory MSRP of $1,649 and $1,869 respectively. To find a Hobie dealer, please visit: hobie.com/dealers. Read more
Commonly Owned: NSSF Announces Over 24 Million MSRs in Circulation
NEWTOWN, Conn. — NSSF®, the firearm industry trade association, updated the industry estimate of Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs) in circulation in the United States to 24,446,000 since 1990. That is an increase of over 4.5 million rifles since the last estimate was released in 2020.
The estimate is derived from NSSF research, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Annual Firearms Manufacturing and Exportation Report (AFMER) and U.S. International Trade Commission (U.S. ITC) data, in cooperation with manufacturers, importers and exporters of MSRs, or AR-15 and AK-style rifles. This most recent estimate includes production figures current through 2020, when the industry estimates over 2,798,000 of these rifles were produced or imported. This estimate does not include MSRs that were produced and exported or imported and later exported.
The MSR remains the most-popular selling centerfire semiautomatic rifle in the United States today. There are more MSRs in circulation today than there are Ford F-Series trucks on the road.
“This is a truly significant figure that demonstrates – again – the popularity of this commonly-owned style of rifle,” said NSSF President and CEO Joe Bartozzi. “The firearm industry responds to market demand and this shows that during the elevated period of firearm sales that began in 2020, this particular style of rifle is the top choice for law-abiding citizens for hunting, recreational shooting and self-defense.”
The MSR’s popularity for lawful ownership is attributable to several factors, including accuracy, reliability, modularity and low recoil.
