Field Journal

Cartoon of an excited hunter in an orange beanie loaded down with an overstuffed pack, rifle and gear beside a Deer Season calendar
Texas Rifle Season Opens Saturday: Are You Ready? Checklist, Regional Weather and What's New
The Texas general deer season opens Saturday, Nov. 7. Here's the opener checklist, Saturday's forecast region by region, what to leave at home, and the 2026-27 rule changes that hit... Read more...
Michigan's Nov. 15 Opener: The Quiet Period, a Three-Day December Season and the One-Buck Rule Coming in 2027
Michigan's Nov. 15 Opener: The Quiet Period, a Three-Day December Season and the One-Buck Rule Coming in 2027
Michigan's firearm deer season opens Nov. 15. What the DNR's own pages say about the Nov. 10-14 quiet period, the orange rule, the three-day December hunt and the 2027 one-buck... Read more...
Hunter glassing from an open grass ridge at first light
2026 Election Results: What Hunters and Anglers Need to Know
Colorado's right-to-hunt amendment trails the 55% it needs, Prop 137 is too close to call, and Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Arkansas approved conservation and water money. Here's what each result... Read more...
Pistol with a red dot sight and weapon light resting on a fireplace hearth
Trijicon RMR vs SRO: Which Red Dot Sight Is Right for You?
Updated October 30, 2026: Added a full spec table with the RMR HD, corrected the RMR and SRO window and weight figures to Trijicon's published specs, and answered the questions... Read more...
Ducks massed on a flooded Arkansas rice field, with the headline Private Fields. Public Duck Hunts. on the WRICE draw
Arkansas Rice-Field Duck Hunts: How the WRICE Draw Works and Why Demand Keeps Climbing
Arkansas is opening about 47 private rice-field and easement locations to public duck hunters through the WRICE weekend draw. How the program works, how many hunters want in, and the... Read more...
New York Deer Season: One Doe, Another Buck Tag? cover, with deer in the woods
New York's Earn-a-Second-Buck Rule: What Changes When the Southern Zone Opens Nov. 21
New York's Southern Zone regular season opens Nov. 21. New for 2026: shoot and report a doe and you earn a second buck tag, and 23 units now have unlimited... Read more...
Texas Duck Season 2026-27: A Mixed Outlook cover, with a Lab beside a row of harvested ducks
Texas Duck Season 2026-27: Dry Ground, Fewer Mallards, More Divers
All three zone dates, the full bag composition, and the one line in the 2026 survey nobody is reading: redheads and canvasbacks are well above average. Read more...
Pennsylvania Rifle Season: Three Sundays, More Doe Tags cover, with antlerless deer
Pennsylvania Rifle Season 2026: Three Sundays, 1.47 Million Antlerless Tags and a CWD Rule Change
Pennsylvania's rifle deer season opens Nov. 28 and runs through Dec. 13 with every Sunday open for the first time. Here's what changed, what didn't, and what the orange rule... Read more...
Wisconsin Deer Season: CWD Reaches Marinette County cover, with a whitetail buck in the snow
CWD Reaches Marinette County: The Baiting Ban and the Nov. 21 Gun Opener
Wisconsin confirmed its first wild-deer CWD case in Marinette County four weeks before the gun opener. Here is what the detection changes, what it does not, and how to handle... Read more...
Public Land, Lasting Decisions graphic with an elk by a mountain river
The Senate Permitting Bill and Your Public Land: What Hunters Should Know Before the November Vote
A bipartisan Senate permitting package is headed for a floor vote in November. Here is what it changes, why hunting groups are split on it, and the separate BLM program... Read more...
Cartoon of a warden escorting nonresident duck hunters off public land at 1 PM in Kansas
Kansas Tells Nonresident Duck Hunters to Be Off Public Land by 1 PM
New for fall 2026: nonresident waterfowlers on KDWP lands must quit before noon and be gone by 1 p.m. What the rule covers, what it exempts, and the argument on... Read more...
Box of Barnes Suppressor Series subsonic ammunition with two cartridges
Subsonic Deer Ammo in 2026: What Federal and Barnes Built for Suppressor Hunters
Federal launched a subsonic hunting line loaded to about 1,050 fps with bullets modified to expand at low speed, and Barnes added a Suppressor Series. What the math says about... Read more...