Habitat

Thievery has its tools of the trade. Muggers wield handguns; burglars, glass-cutters; and cattle rustlers, wire-cutters. And timber thieves? Chainsaws, of course. Big-time timber thieves—those who rustle lodgepole pines, or oak or maple saw-logs—also require a serious truck to haul their bounty. It...

Brandon Butler drove three and a half hours on Jan. 4 to see what remained of his hunting cabin. He then watched the still-flickering flames for five minutes before leaving the fire to its task and retracing his drive home. He had seen enough. He knew a short, memorable chapter in his life was over...

Some conspiracy theorist-hunters would have you believe that insurance companies have been colluding with state agencies for decades to promote the spread of chronic wasting disease. Their supposed goal is to lower deer populations in an effort to create fewer deer-vehicle collision insurance claims...

The shadow of a solitary man holding a wooden bow casts across a panel of sunlight. All is silent—except for soft footsteps on a pine needle floor. The hunter pursues his quarry with no advantage but the weapon in hand and a lifetime of woodsmanship. This is the romanticized image that many modern...

When I first heard that the Edwards Dam on Maine’s Kennebec River was coming down, I couldn’t believe my ears. The 917-foot-long dam, built in 1837 from an early mix of concrete and timber, existed in some form or fashion for 162 years until it was demolished in 1999. Edwards Dam, along with 14,15...

Most hunters and anglers old enough to fantasize about retiring can’t wait for that never-ending vacation so they can spend every possible hour outdoors. Some retirees live out those recreational dreams, smugly heading for the boat ramp or tree stand each morning while younger folks mope off to work...

An idea once considered radical—removing dams on rivers to restore fisheries—is becoming mainstream as scores of conservation efforts are paying off with restored river habitats and rejuvenated fisheries across North America. In 1981, when the environmental group Earth First! wanted a publicity...

For some, wild horses and burros are an iconic symbol of the West, representing the freedom and ruggedness that define the frontier. For a growing number of conservationists, hunters and others concerned about native wildlife and habitats, feral horses are a scourge on the landscape. They trample...

An enormous Burmese python was captured last week at Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida. The snake measured 17 feet long, weighed 140 pounds and contained 73 developing eggs. It’s the heaviest python ever documented in The Sunshine State, outweighing the previous record by about 40 pounds. The...

“Beyond aggravating,” is how wildlife biologist Kevin Monteith describes elk hunting in forests where bark beetles have killed most trees and you have to scramble over dead logs at every turn. “There’s no way you’re going to navigate through it quietly if elk were in there, so you get torqued off...

You may never swing a shotgun after a sage grouse, the largest North American grouse, but you still have skin in the game in the fight for their future. That is because sage grouse represent something much larger than the upland birds themselves: the public lands and sagebrush steppe habitat...

It’s a regular sight for early risers at a tropical resort.  While tourists sleep, staff rake up any rubbish that may have washed onto shore through the night.  By the time mimosas are served, the beaches are back to glistening and the trash bins are tucked away from paying eyes.   Today, water...