Upon tasting my first persimmon, I had a vision for preserving this sweet, creamy fruit. I imagined a thick, apricot colored jam, filled with exotic spices and smeared on warm sourdough bread. It took two years to attempt this vision, a vision that was met with a reality check.
Read MoreDespite the cold October morning, I felt quite warm and comfortable as I fired-up the vehicle in the morning darkness. Much to my delight, my girlfriend Ellen, chose to join me and my two friends, Dan and Ben, for a morning duck hunt on a tributary that flowed into the Allegheny River. It was still dark when Ellen and I pulled to the shoulder of the road, right behind Dan’s parked pickup.
Read MoreAs outdoor enthusiasts, we often find ourselves taking the path less trodden. We enjoy exploring back-roads, old forest roads, 4x4 trails, or exploring where there isn’t a trail at all. We use our vehicles in order to get to that remote fishing location or to find that secret campsite. But sometimes, exploring those remote locations can come at a price. Getting your vehicle stuck isn’t a matter of “if”, it’s a matter of “when”. In this video, I outline some basic vehicle recovery equipment that you should have in order to get yourself, or others, unstuck.
Read MoreThe joys of successful trapping are accompanied with the trials of finding time for processing the animal. The pelt of the furbearer you harvested will be dried and either shipped off to a fur auction, sold to a buyer, or tanned for display. However, the joys of everyday life won’t provide the average person with adequate time for the skinning and fleshing process...
Read MoreI was 16 years old when I started trapping in Minnesota. I knew there was something unique about it that hunting and fishing didn’t have. Unfortunately, no one in my family trapped, but I was lucky enough to have my friend’s father, Andy, teach me how to trap. I always enjoyed exploring the woods, fields, creeks, and marshes for animal sign, and trying to find the perfect place to set a trap with the correct bait and lure. Andy first taught me how to trap in the numerous lakes, streams, and rivers that Minnesota provides.
Read MoreOver the last four consecutive winters, my friend, Ashley, and I have taken turns either moving to or from Alaska. Every year whoever was moving somehow convinced the other to drop everything and accompany the 4,000+ mile road/ferry trip to/from the frozen north in the coldest, darkest depths of winter.
Read MoreBuying the right tires for your truck is the most important purchase you can make. With all the different makes, sizes, and styles on the market, picking the right tires can be challenging.
Read MoreI see you’re not from ‘round here,
But I’ll grant you fair discourse,
If you’ll lend, to me an ear,
For a story standing coarse
There are several of us at RGT that have trail-cameras. We use these devices for a variety of reasons. They help us decide where and when to hunt a certain area, they are used as an aid in wildlife research, and sometimes we just enjoy seeing what critters are roaming the wilds when we aren't able to be there physically.
Read MoreI was delighted when my sister, Madi, called me to say that she and her boyfriend, Ross, were coming down to visit us in Texas. They were coming in from Fairbanks, Alaska. It was the second week in December when they arrived, and the weather was wet and cold by Texas standards.
Read MoreDeciding to turn a stock vehicle into the ultimate adventure truck is no easy (or cheap) task. With a litany of parts available for almost any 4x4 on the market, its important to have a plan in place based on a specific application.
Read MoreI have a treestand location that’s basically just outside my backdoor that I call “Wi-Fi”. This stand got its name because it is close enough to my house that I still get a wi-fi connection from the router. Don’t let the fact that the stand skirts the tree line in my backyard fool you. This stand gets a lot of use, and many game animals have been seen and harvested from it. The close location of this stand to my house is extremely convenient, especially when time constraints from everyday life only allow for a short hunt after work. Because of this, “Wi-Fi” is my go-to hunting spot on the weekdays
Read MoreDuring our summer trip to the Ozarks, Van and I decided to dedicate a full day to running 4x4 trails in the eastern portion of the forest. We pondered over our Ozark National Forest map and eventually decided to explore the northern portion of the Illinois Bayou valley.
Read MoreMy friend, JK Young, filmed this short video a couple of years ago. We had a discussion about eating beaver meat and Jeff thought it would make for an entertaining short film. Beaver season was still in full swing, but all the other trapping seasons had come to a close in Pennsylvania. I had hung most of my traps up for the season, but we decided to make 4 sets along a local stream.
Read MoreI think Van would agree with me, Big Piney Creek is one of those rivers that you could float over and over again without getting sick of it. Granted, I think we hit the river when the conditions were just right. If the water had been lower, we would have had to carry the raft for 7 miles. If the river had been higher, this novice oarsman would have been a little sketched-out.
Read MoreToday I'd like to talk to you about the Indel B TV-41 12-volt fridge. Before I go into the specifics, I'd like to talk about some of the advantages and disadvantages of running a 12-volt fridge and why I decided to go this route instead of a standard cooler. I think probably the biggest reason for me was that I had too many soggy sandwiches over too many camping trips while using a regular cooler and having to deal with the whole ice situation. Here is a short video on some of the ins-and-outs of running my 12-volt fridge, the Indel B TV-41.
Read MoreBack in 2015 I was fed up with running a fairly homogenous serious of tubs and bags in the back of my truck when going on adventures. I had grown quite weary of having to unpack my truck bed every time in order to find one piece of gear. I never could re-pack the bed the same way twice. After some research, I had decided that a drawer system might be something for me.
Read MorePittsburgh Steve lay under the RT 366 bridge where it spanned the San Gabriel River. His back was flat on the cool earth and he gazed up at the underbelly of the bridge. The night air was alive with sounds. the rushing water of the San Gabriel and the sounds of insects soothed him. Pittsburgh Steve had a small fire crackling beside him. A catfish was simmering in a pot on the fire...
Read MoreWhile thumbing through an issue of Southwest Fly Fishing, I saw an article about a small creek east of Houston called Village Creek. At the office, the following day, I gave the article to my friend Alex, who read it eagerly. We both decided that this little creek, in the eastern Pineywoods of Texas, absolutely needed its local fish population terrorized by two guys and a dog. Alex and I loaded up the inflatable Flycraft drift boat Friday morning and before the sun rose over I-10, we were heading down the highway eastward.
Read MoreIn the predawn darkness, the headlights of the Tacoma revealed a substantially washed-out section of dirt road. I switched the truck over to 4-wheel drive, and began driving forward over the unconsolidated sand and washed-out road. I continued on, carefully navigating around large logs and debris that had been deposited onto the road from the periodic flooding. In the past year, the Neches River had flooded much of the low-lying ground around Davy Crockett National Forest. The road abruptly came to a dead end and the headlights from the truck illuminated the moist green leaves of the forest.
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