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From tag to table — official season dates for all 50 states, plus safe doneness temps for your harvest.
| Species | Archery | Firearm |
|---|---|---|
| Deer | Sep–Oct | Nov |
| Elk | Sep | Oct–Nov |
| Turkey | — | Apr–May |
All 50 state wildlife agencies, plus how seasons, tags and licenses work.
Find your state → Network| Doneness | Target |
|---|---|
| Rare | 125–130°F |
| Medium-rare | 130–135°F |
| Well-done | 160°F+ |
Safe pull temps for venison and steak, from Popular BBQ.
View full chart →Reader Favorites
Editor’s note: Today’s column comes to us courtesy of Chris Dorsey, biologist, award-winning television and film producer, regular contributor to Forbes, past editor of Ducks Unlimited and Sports Afield magazines, and the author of 12 books on hunting and natural history subjects. American sportsmen have justifiably celebrated the success of the so-called North American model…
Dream Big, Dream Wild, Dream Yourself a Winner! September 2024 marks the beginning of another hunting season (and not a moment too soon)! It also marks the day when our Hunter’s Dream $3K Gun & Gear Giveaway drops! Featuring some of our favorites for outdoorsmen, this giveaway stars a Kahr Arms P9-2 courtesy of our…
Ready your shotgun, decoys, and camo duds…the season’s opening salvo is but weeks away. When Mother Nature kicks the natural air-conditioning on sometime mid-August, it’s always a much welcome reprieve from sweltering summer weather. The change beckons hunters with their first real sense of what is coming only a few weeks away. They know, tiny…
It’s like having Daniel Boone, a lawyer, and a soothsayer in your pocket! As an older hunter, I’ll always tout the importance of knowing how to use a compass and topo map to navigate, because I can’t quite trust my cellphone to have a signal wherever I am. That said, the new hunting tools you…
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…
As outdoorsmen, we’re getting some mixed messages from D.C. here … Just a couple of months ago, we learned that the Bureau of Land Management had–perhaps somewhat prematurely–announced that it intends to end recreational shooting at the Sonoran Desert National Monument. What was particularly strange about this event was that there really wasn’t any justification…
Editor’s Note: Today’s guest column comes to us from Maria Davidson, SCI Foundation Large Carnivore Program Manager. Many states throughout the continental U.S. are seeing a rise in black bear populations. Population growth pushes bears into human-dominated areas that are unsuitable for wildlife, precipitating a comparable increase in dangerous conflicts with humans, pets, and livestock….
Very few things make me angrier than poaching. One of them is poaching endangered species. Many hunters (including myself) are willing to give a bit of grace to “mistaken identity” poaching, when the hunter had no intentions of poaching but misidentified their game–say, mistaking a hen turkey (not legal) for a jake (legal). Many of…
Addicted to “Missing 411”? This story holds the keys to many of those mysteries. People go missing in the backwoods all the time. David Paulides’ riveting book and documentary series have described some of the most bizarre and difficult to explain. Thing is, there’s always an explanation, even if that explanation doesn’t follow common sense…
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…
Most hunters will never see an animal like this in the wild … but if you want to pretend you did, now’s your chance! The International Wildlife Museum of the Safari Club International Foundation permanently closed on December 31, 2023. The museum housed nearly 2,000 taxidermy mounts and skulls. In the wake of this closure,…
Editor’s Note: Today’s guest column comes to us courtesy of Paul Erhardt, Managing Editor, the Outdoor Wire Digital Network. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NRA’s Renewed Focus on Hunting Jun 25, 2024 In the wake of months and month of turmoil surrounding the cabal of insider dealings at the National Rifle Association, nobody could really fault you for losing…
