If you’re contemplating starting to hunt, step one is to complete your state-approved hunter education. Summer is a great time to take the course so you’ll be ready for hunting season, which is coming right up!

Many states allow, or even require, you to take a portion of your hunter education online. Other courses include a classroom course and other require a “field day” to demonstrate hands-on safety skills. Check with your local Department of Natural Resources or Fish & Game to find out your state’s requirements – or your local sporting goods store will likely be able to point you in the right direction if you’re not sure who to call.

If you can (or are required) to take an online portion of hunter education, there are a lot of options to choose from. Here are a couple to check out:

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By Land Tawney

The sky was blue, sun was hot, and water was clear.  I could see the rainbow colored Rapala lure working to perfection five feet below the surface of the water and then it happen.  A big juicy trout gave chase and in an instant attacked with veracity.  The line went taught and the fight began, the mighty fish was played to perfection, reeled to the dock and deftly guided into the net.  Cidney had caught her first fish!  When I asked her if she wanted to “keep it or put it back,” she exclaimed beaming with pride, “eat it Dad!” 

Colin and Cidney with a big Montana fish

As a young kid, I remember yearly, week long sojourns to the Bighole River in southwest Montana, timed to perfection at the peak of the salmon fly hatch...

The following is a repost from Elk Tracks – and it’s adorable.

I have been a volunteer with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation for years and am currently co-chair of the Buffalo Chapter in Buffalo, Wyoming. We often pack up and travel around Wyoming to help volunteer at RMEF events and banquets across the state. Whenever possible, which is 90 percent of the time, I bring my daughters (Ahnya nicknamed Ahnie, 8, and Maye, 1) with me. They also tag along to committee meetings. I figure if kids grow up around the RMEF then one day they will step into our shoes as volunteers. Turns out I was right!

Since the late 1930s, hunters, target shooters and the firearms industry have been the nation’s largest contributors to conservation, paying for programs that benefit America’s wildlife and all who love the outdoors.

In fact, the U.S. Department of Interior just announced that firearms and ammunition manufacturers contributed a record $760.9 million in excise taxes in 2013 through the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Program.

NSSF has created a new infographic, “How Wildlife is Thriving Because of Guns and Hunting ,” to illustrate how we as an industry and as sportsmen are the greatest contributors to wildlife conservation in America, providing nearly $9 billion over the past 76 years.

Explore more visuals like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Vis...

Stuck in a rut or don’t know what to read?  Get ready for the next season with these great reads:

Call to the Mild by Lily Raff McCalou
A story of transformation from big city dweller to country gun-slinger.

Wild by Cheryl Strayed
One woman’s powerful story about finding herself while solo hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.

A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean
One family’s history is intertwined with fly fishing in Montana.

Beyond Fair Chase by Jim Pozewitz
A to the point read about the ethics of hunting from preparation to shooting to care after the shot.

The Total Outdoorsman Manual by T. Edward Nickens
A how-to manual for everything in the outdoors from tying a cleat hitch to flagging geese.

Girl Hunter by Georgia Pellegrini
A chef becomes a hunter and catalogs her adventures...