Gear & Optics

In this article, I cover the IRay ZOOM, which offers a unique feature to a thermal scanner.

I had just shot the biggest black bear of my life. Thirty minutes later, I shot an even bigger one.

The variety of camouflage possibilities in today’s waterfowl market is huge.  What to wear and what to choose are both based on what store carries what and what you can get sight unseen on the internet. For this article, I will focus on waterfowl camouflage used primarily from October to February in marsh and timber settings. As well as fabric in most of these patterns is available allowing one to make their own outer gear. 

I’ve been a fan of razor blade knives since the first time I used one. I was excited to see that Liberty Game Calls is making one they call the Switchback

After running the Pulsar Thermion 2 XP50 for around 6 months through many nights out in the field, I will share some of the features and my experiences with this optic. animals, thermal is king.

I dropped down onto the other side of the ranch gate and onto the saturated soil. I was hunting private property south of Longview, Texas, in early April 2021, and it had been raining much of the last 24 hours. It had been raining pretty steady for the last three days of my time here in East Texas, which made the fields and pastures even more inviting to the feral hogs that so love to root up the ground.

Clay, are you really gonna write a column about socks? Yes. Yes, I am. Socks are an underrated part of your combat chassis unless you happen to be an ex-Grunt. For a Grunt, socks are of the utmost importance. If boots are the equivalent of tires, then socks are the air in those tires. A good sock can make the difference between arriving at your destination ready to fight, and arriving with blisters and boo-boos.

I’m a bit of a backpack fanatic and I’ve tested piles of them over the years. One of the things I’ve learned is there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Each adventure — from the whitetail woods of the Midwest to the elk-rich Rockies — requires a particular pack.

If you are like me you tend to buy calls, use them, like them, hate them and move on to the next one.  Calls take a ton of abuse and often we pay little or no attention to taking care of them both for maintenance and for adjustments.  I sat down with a good friend and someone that calls as well as anyone I know, to discuss the call components and how anyone can disassemble, adjust, and rebuild just about any call with a few spare parts.