00:00:01 Speaker 1: Like Apollo thirteen, Thomas Jefferson’s Red River expedition into the West was a failure. This is how their story should have gone. I’m Dan Flores, and this is the American West, the river that flowed from nowhere part one years ago, with dogwoods and red buds firing the first boats of color through the drab late winter woods of Virginia. I stood looking westward across the Blue Ridge Mountains on Thomas Jefferson’s of Veranda, atop the small mountain where he built his experimental home, Monticello. I just spent an hour touring the home and domestic world of…

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“As the twilight drew on, [the dog’s] eager yearning for the fire mastered it, and with a great lifting and shifting of forefeet, it whined softly, then flattened its ears down in anticipation of being chidden by the man. But the man remained silent. . . . [The dog] caught the scent of death.” (Jack London, “To Build a Fire”). Fire is important. It is so important that I recommend carrying at least three different tools for starting a fire while in the field. I recommend that one of these tools be a ferrocerium (ferro) rod. The Fire-Fast Trekker Fire…

00:00:01 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast, your guide to the fundamentals of better deer hunting, presented by first Light, creating proven versatile hunting apparel for the stand, saddle or blind. First Light Go Farther, Stay Longer, and now your host Tony Peterson. 00:00:20 Speaker 2: Hey everyone, welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundation’s podcast, which is brought to you by first Light. I’m your host, Tony Peterson. In today’s episode is all about how our deer populations change and what that really means for us from season to season. The old ebb and flow…

Most people live in a state of perpetual psychological comfort known as Normalcy Bias. This is the deeply ingrained, warm, fuzzy assumption that the systems keeping us alive today will function indefinitely tomorrow. We unconsciously believe that the grocery store will always hold a fresh supply of organic kale, the kitchen tap will never run dry, and the wall outlet will indefinitely pump electricity on demand. Spoiler alert: It won’t. When we analyze why individuals, organizations, or entire societies collapse during a crisis, the root cause is rarely a complete lack of preparation. Instead, failure occurs because someone mistook a…

This Week in History July 21, 1403: The Battle of Shrewsbury. An army led by the Lancastrian King of England, Henry IV defeated a rebel army led by Henry “Harry Hotspur” Percy of Northumberland thus ending the Percy challenge to the throne. This was also the first battle English archers fought each other on English soil. — 1669: John Locke‘s constitution for the English Province of Carolina was adopted. — July 23, 1764: James Otis published “The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved,” in which he argued against taxation without representation. — And on July 24, 1847,  Brigham…

I’m about to show you something that might seem a little ridiculous, but hear me out. I use a good old-fashioned micrometer in my shop all the time. Sure, there are fancy electronic measuring tools these days, but a quality mechanical micrometer is reliable, accurate and never seems to let me down. The problem isn’t using it — it’s protecting it. A micrometer tossed into a pocket with keys, a pocketknife and who-knows-what-else is just asking for trouble. They’re precision instruments, and they deserve better. So I called my friend Doc Barranti of Barranti Leather Co. with an unusual request:…

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Released by onX earlier this month, the “Roadless Rule: By the Numbers” report highlights key impacts of the rule, which places limits on road development and logging on relatively undeveloped national forest land. To put together the report, the satellite mapping company cross-referenced USFS boundary files with its own outdoor recreation data, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service habitat data, and 50 years of National Interagency Fire Center records.Some of the key takeaways are eye-opening. For instance, though the roadless rule encompasses just 27.7% of all USFS land, only 3.17% of wildfires start in those areas, while 90% of all fires…

The name “Zeiss” is associated with high-quality lenses that are used on everything from cameras to medical equipment. When it comes to the shooting sports market, Zeiss optics come at a price point that is out of reach for most hunters and shooters…until now. With the introduction of its V3 series, Zeiss is offering a budget-friendly, yet high-quality “gateway” to its line of optics.  The Zeiss V3 line of riflescopes offers six purpose-built scopes at a budget-friendly price point. V3 scopes are built around Zeiss’ Bright Technology fully multi-coated lenses that deliver at least 90 percent light transmission. Lenses have…