Field Journal

School of red snapper swimming over a reef
Red Snapper Season 2026: Florida's Bonus October Days
Florida's Atlantic red snapper season 2026 runs 39 days, including October 2-4, 9-11 and 16-18. The 2025 federal Atlantic season was two days. What changed. Read more...
2026-27 Federal Duck Stamp art showing three buffleheads in flight
Duck Season 2026: Mallards Down 11%, Ponds Up 14%
The 2026 USFWS survey puts total ducks at 33.4 million and mallards down 11%. May ponds rose 14% — but that water is in Canada, not on the U.S. prairie. Read more...
Pile of harvested silver carp, the invasive species threatening Lake Michigan
Can Silver Carp Actually Survive in Lake Michigan?
A reader argued Lake Michigan is too barren for silver carp. He's half right — and the half he's right about is the half most coverage gets wrong. Read more...
Silver carp leaping out of the water on an invaded river
Invasive Carp Found 80 Miles From Lake Michigan
Crews pulled hundreds of 4-to-6-inch silver carp from the Illinois River 80 miles from Lake Michigan, weeks after work on the Brandon Road barrier stopped. Read more...
Whitetail bucks and does together in a field during the rut
Buck-to-Doe Ratio and the Rut: What the Research Says
A reader said buck-to-doe ratio drives rut timing and creates a 3-week 'trickle rut.' We checked the research. He's half right — here's which half. Read more...
Dirt road winding through a pine forest in a national forest roadless area
Roadless Rule Repeal: What It Means for Your Hunt
USDA has proposed rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule across 44 million acres. Idaho and Colorado are exempt. Comments close Sept 21, 2026 — what's at stake, both cases, and how... Read more...
Illustrated U.S. map titled Hunting Dates Rundown, showing 2026-27 seasons by state
2026-27 Hunting Season Dates, State by State
Archery opens Aug 1 in Florida's Zone A and firearms openers cluster on Nov 14 and Nov 21. Pennsylvania's 2026-27 seasons now include Sundays. Read more...
Bow Hunting in Texas graphic with a buck and an archer inside a Texas map
Texas Archery Opener Is October 3 — Here's the Read on the Herd, the Zones, and How to Be Ready
Texas still runs the biggest whitetail herd in the country, and the bow season opens Saturday, October 3. Here's your early read on the season ahead, the dates that matter,... Read more...
Mule deer buck on a snowy hillside
They Convicted a Poacher on DNA Alone. Inside the Case That's Changing How Wildlife Crime Gets Caught.
Nine mule deer were killed inside the city limits of Cody, Wyoming. No eyewitness, no confession that mattered — just tissue on a broadhead and a five-night stakeout. The conviction... Read more...
Whitetail buck standing in tall grass during deer season
The Rulebook Changed While You Were Scouting: 2026's Deer-Reg Shakeups and How to Not Get a Ticket
Two states just rewrote big chunks of their deer rulebooks for 2026 — new licensing tech, mandatory CWD testing, weapon and season changes. Even if you don't hunt Minnesota or... Read more...
White-tailed buck with antlers in a field
The Wildest Hunting & Fishing Stories We've Seen This Year
The outdoors serves up the strange, the lucky, and the downright unbelievable. A roundup of the wild ones — and an open call for yours. Read more...
Hunter in camo checking a cellular trail camera strapped to a tree
The Last State Standing: Idaho Reins In Cell Cams and Thermal — and Why the Fair-Chase Fight Is Coming for the Rest of Us
Idaho just banned cellular trail cameras, thermal, and drones for big-game scouting on public land — the last state that still allowed thermal for deer and elk. It's easy to... Read more...