Memorial Day 2026 Public-Land Prep: 9 Checks Before You Pull Out of the Driveway
Memorial Day 2026 falls May 25. Here are the 9 public-land checks — fire bans, road status, water, permits — that decide whether your weekend works.
National Parks Getaways
September Is That Weirdly Perfect In-Between Month
September is the quiet stretch between summer heat and leaf season: warm days, cold nights, empty trails and parks that clear out after Labor Day. I feel like a lot...
Read the articleNational Parks Getaways
National parks, refuges and public land. Season timing, access rules, shooting and recreation policy, and the checks to run before a trip.
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Does the “Big Beautiful Bill” Have a Public-Lands Wart?
There is a time, a place, and a method for the selling of public lands, but the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation says this ain’t it. On Thursday the 12th of June, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee released their provision of the budget reconciliation bill, the large and comprehensive bill that has been consuming most…
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BLM Kicks Recreational Shooters Out of Bears Ears National Monument
Ever got so mad that Donald Trump exists that you deleted a million acres? Me neither! But the Biden/Harris administration did. And no, I’m really not exaggerating about the reasoning behind this latest development; there were no studies done to justify closing down 1.36 million acres to recreational shooting. We learned this back in June,…
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It’s Not Easy Seeing Green: The Colorblind Outdoorsman
If any of those look the same to you, I have bad news for you, my friend … Did you know that there’s such a thing as International Color Blindness Awareness Month? Did you know that colorblindness is about as common as left-handedness (among men) and nearly as rare as being an identical twin (among…
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Outdoorsman After Dark: Michigan State Parks
Watch the stars throw down their spears this month … From spine-tingling campfire tales at Muskallonge Lake State Park to a Bat Hike at Maybury State Park, and even Yooperlight rock hunting at Harrisville State Park, there’s a nighttime adventure for everyone this month! Across the state, the Perseid meteor shower will also be visible on clear nights at…
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Public-Land Adventures: Iowa’s Sand Creek Wildlife Area
Tucked in to the rolling hills of southern Iowa’s Decatur County is Sand Creek Wildlife Area, a 3,700-acre destination for deer hunters and bird watchers. Here, cell service disappears and nature’s sounds take over – this isn’t a white noise machine – it’s the real thing. “It’s one of our most popular areas because of…
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Let’s Gooooo! House Passes EXPLORE Act
This land is your land, this land is my land … The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences (EXPLORE) Act on a voice vote, demonstrating the bipartisan nature of outdoor recreation and the importance of public land access to all Americans. The bill addresses several pressing issues for federal…
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The Corona We Wanted: Total Eclipse Tips for April 8, 2024
Finally, the spring Corona announcement we’re happy about! On April 8, 2024, America will experience something unique and special–a solar eclipse! The zone of totality will stripe right across the U.S., with partial eclipses visible in a much wider area. As such, April 8 is going to be one of the most popular days…
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Florida Man Has Good Idea for Once: WildQuest Scavenger Hunts
You know Florida Man, right? (He’s best friends with Some Dude.) Ah, the Florida Man! He needs you to hold his beer while he does something cool, he gets arrested while bare-chested, and they wrote a new law just for him. Truth is that “Florida Man” sometimes has good ideas, too, and the Florida Men…
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Appalachian Trail: Manifest Destiny We Can Get Behind
Alabama or Bust! Did you know legendary conservationist Benton MacKaye’s original vision for the Appalachian Trail (AT) called for it to run the entire length of the Appalachian Mountains by linking Maine and Alabama? Conservationists in Alabama and Georgia have been working for the last few decades to turn this dream into a reality by adding approximately…
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Man Pans & Mines DIY Engagement Ring
Back in the eighth grade, Christian Liden hadn’t so much as met his future bride, but he had a plan: He would design and mine the engagement ring he’d put on her hand. How does an outdoorsman go about that? Well, Liden started by panning for gold around his home state, Washington. But when it…
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The Fourth Idiot You’ll Meet in the Backwoods This Spring
Just about a year ago, as it became clearer that the initial “two weeks to flatten the curve” COVID-19 lockdown was going to transform into “indefinite lockdown until there’s a vaccine,” we ran an article about the three idiots you Popular Outdoorsmen readers were going to encounter in the wilderness. I stand by those words,…
