Spring evenings are supposed to make turkey hunting easy. A tom flies to the roost, rattles the woods with a few last gobbles, and gives you everything but an onX pin on where to start in the morning. But it doesn’t always work that way. Sometimes the sun sets, and the woods go quiet, leaving you with nothing but a fresh collection of mosquito bites and the uneasy feeling of “what do I do now?”When that happens, a 4:00 a.m. wake-up call is less appealing. But don’t give up just yet. My friend and hunting guide Walker Davidson of Alabama…

Rifle hunting, specifically for whitetails, tends to get side-eyed compared to bowhunting. There’s an obvious level of skill, dedication, and a learning curve when it comes to bowhunting. The level of detail and minutiae required to locate, hunt, and fling an arrow often takes a bit of the surprise out of hunting. This is especially true if you cast a wide net of cameras to target specific deer.Hear me out, I’m not saying it’s not exciting to arrow a big buck (obviously it is) or that you can’t be surprised during bow season. I spend most of my deer season…

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Storage A big challenge when living in small homes is storage space. In a climate with dramatic temperature swings like ours, we have, for example, different mittens, boots, parkas and hats for +30, 0, and -30 degrees. All of these are bulky. We also have special clothing for hunting, fishing, and rain, and various accoutrements for outdoor activities. So, we built lots of storage shelves in various outbuildings to hold labeled totes of out-of-season clothes. In our cabin, I store things under, over, behind, and beside furniture. For example, my husband built…

00:00:01 Speaker 1: Welcome to Backwoods University, a place where we focus on wildlife, wild places and the people who dedicate their lives to conserving both. Big shout out to onex Hunt for their support of this podcast. 00:00:14 Speaker 2: I’m your host, Lake Pickle, and. 00:00:16 Speaker 1: On today’s episode, Man, the stars line up just right as y’all have heard me say before. I love Man, I love spring turkey hunting. Everything about it, the bird, the habitat. It’s magical top to bottom. And on this episode we’re going to dive into one of the newest,…

I’ve completed the upcoming issue of the SurvivaBlog Old School (SOS) newsletter.  The March, 2026 will be mailed starting today, over the next several days. This issue’s emphasis is on suppressor construction with detailed specifications, tips, and tricks. This is our third issue, and it is six pages long. SOS is a traditional hardcopy mailed newsletter intended as a backup to Internet delivery, in the event of any sort of disruption — whether natural or man-made. Normally, you’ll receive just one issue each year, with some practical information that is not published in the online edition of SurvivalBlog. But if…

March 16, 1802: The first US Military Academy at West Point was established through a Congressional act. It opened July 4, 1802. — Today’s feature article is the third and last installment of a guest post by our friend Mrs. Alaska. We highly recommend her blog and books. — We need entries for Round 123 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $981,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 123 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles…

After a multi-month restocking hiatus, we are again taking orders at Elk Creek Company. Here are our updated inventory counts: Pre-1899 Antique Rifles:  24 (We have deeply restocked 7×57 and 6.5×55 Mauser rifles.) Pre-1899 Antique Shotguns: 9 (Most are 12 gauge and most of them have fluid steel barrels!) Pre-1899 Antique Pistols and Revolvers: 21  (Mostly S&W top break revolvers.) Blackpowder Revolvers: 23 (Most are .44 caliber, with modern cartridge conversion cylinders available. We have deeply restocked the much-in-demand Ruger Old Army revolvers.) Blackpowder Rifles: 7 (Most of them are .50 Caliber deer/elk hunting rifles.) Knives and Bayonets:  24 (Edged…

Seekins Precision is known for modern sporting rifles and precision platforms, and the company’s latest product is in the latter category. Designed for a U.S. Special Operations Command contract, the Seekins Interchangeable Caliber (SIC) rifle is a modular, bolt-action precision design that allows for easy customization by the owner. The SIC is a brand-new design from Seekins Precision with a one-piece receiver that serves as the chassis for the rifle. The heart of the SIC is a one-piece, machined-steel receiver to which all other components attach. As the receiver does not sit in a separate stock or chassis, there are…

Most people who want to own a lever-action rifle are traditionalists. A lever action appeals to them because it is “the rifle that won the West” or the type of gun that grandpa carried to his deer stand. Part of that tradition is the tubular magazine underneath the barrel of that lever-action rifle. Though it might seem heretical, box magazines have been used on lever actions since the 1890s. As of late, the push to produce “tactical” lever-actions and rifles for the modern hunter has resulted in a resurgence of the the box-magazine-fed lever-action. One of the most recent examples…

We bought undeveloped land in rural Alaska, in a region with no municipal infrastructure within a 20-minute flight to the nearest community. So, we built everything from scratch, after we hauled all the requisite supplies in by snowmobile trailer or by float plane. We made many mistakes in our design and construction, as well as a few good decisions. I actually think that people who buy a property that has an old-timer’s cabin, layout, and tools, may have an advantage in making future adjustments. The following are my suggestions for considering how to build and design property in a remote…