Three Mule Deer Hunts That Taught Me the Hard Way

Every hunter remembers the bucks they tagged. But the hunts that teach the most are usually the ones that fall apart. Michael “Micky” Luby puts it plainly: the hunts he botched outright shaped him far more than the successful ones ever did. Steven Rinella made a similar point when he ...

By James Chen •

FFL License Lookup: How to Verify Any FFL Dealer

Every transfer, sale and shipment between licensees rests on one question: is that FFL real and current? Here is how the ATF lookup actually works, what it returns, what it cannot tell you, and how customers use it to judge your shop.

By Fred Thompson •

TFB Review: ATN ThOR 6 Elite LRF 640 3-24x Thermal Scope

Seeing an animal at night is half the job. Knowing how far away it is decides the shot. The  ATN ThOR 6 Elite LRF 640 3-24x  handles both from one eyepiece. It pairs a 640x512 thermal sensor and 50 mm lens with a laser rangefinder that reads out to 1,000 meters. ATN has also cut its min...

By TFB Staff •

18 Veteran Tricks for Fooling Big Bucks in October

October is the hinge of the whitetail season. It connects the steady, early-season patterns with the chaos of the rut, which means the bucks you want are neither fully nocturnal nor fully reckless. Mature deer in this window are summer-fat, heavy-coated, and reluctant to move in daylight, and hun...

By James Chen •

Bear Spray Buying Guide: 4 Top Picks Compared

When a bear closes the distance, the specifications on the label matter less than three things working together: enough volume to keep spraying, enough range to deploy before the animal reaches you, and a delivery system you can operate under stress. In the assessment of Meg Carney, a spray consi...

By James Chen •

Field-Tested Deer Hunting Wisdom from the MeatEater Crew

The best deer hunting advice tends to be specific, hard-won, and born of time in the woods rather than a product catalog. What follows pulls together practical tips gathered from experienced hunters, organized around the decisions you actually make in the field: when to go, where to set up, how t...

By James Chen •
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