At the end of a long season, I usually toss my gear into my garage, where it sits for a bit. It used to sit there until the next season, but a few years ago, life got busy, and I found myself scrambling the night before the opener. After that experience, I realized that this time of year is the perfect time to do a deep gear breakdown and maintenance.
The Mule Deer Foundation (MDF) strongly supports the newly introduced bipartisan legislation led by U.S. Senators John Curtis (R-UT) and Michael Bennet (D-CO), which seeks to enhance and expedite emergency watershed recovery efforts in the wake of natural disasters such as wildfires, floods, and other catastrophic events. These bills, the Making Access to Cleanup Happen (MATCH) Act and the Watershed Protection and Forestry Recovery Act, are vital to preserving the health of our western landscapes and ensuring the resilience of communities that depend on these natural resources.
The winter weather is looking incredible for big game outing this fall. According to our partners, foresters, and biologists in the field who have been watching the snow-pack everything is looking incredible for our 2025 hunting season.
The long hike made his pulse jump. He gasped for air like he was making hook shots at the basketball court, and his ego was still in a relatively positive place. Last night, he slept in his truck at a trailhead below; the tight space gave him a crick in his neck. He took a minute now to check the GPS on his phone; he still had a quarter mile further to go before cresting out. Back on his feet, he took a long pull from the rubber hose over his shoulder and got back to it, headlamp beam bouncing out ahead. Mentally, he was humming along to KC and the Sunshine Band, a song he didn’t want in his head but wouldn’t go away, and as the chorus played over and over, he crested the bowl at 9,300 feet.
Deep in the Black Hills National Forest the Mule Deer foundation is hard at work building strategic habitat for mule deer and a litany of other species.
The USDA Forest Service manages nearly 200 million acres of public land all over the country. That’s a lot of ground to cover, especially when you consider the agency’s mandate to make decisions on how best to utilize and maintain the land for “the greatest good of the greatest number in the long run.”
The Blacktail Deer Foundation field team kicked 2025 off right with a conservation project on Kodiak Island Alaska capturing, collaring, and tracking black-tailed deer.
It’s the little stuff like this that’s going to keep you in the field longer. Foot care is Paramount, especially if you’re heading into the foothills of the Rockies to chase after a Muley. You’ll need to put some miles on, and if your boots aren’t in tip-top shape, you’re setting yourself up for failure. So take the time now to clean your boots and do what maintenance is necessary. The reward? A comfortable, pain-free adventure when you head out to the mountain this fall.
The Mule Deer Foundation (MDF) benefitted 122 deer herds in 18 states through their mission delivery in 2024. These conservation actions improved over 700,000 acres and 151 miles of fence removed or modified to wildlife-friendly standards
When the Mule Deer Foundation asked me to write a Valentine’s Day recipe, I knew just the one. This is a Goñi Gonzalez family recipe—one my abuela often prepared for me, traditionally using corzo (roe deer), toro (bull), or beef. Over the years as I’ve started hunting the western United States, I’ve adapted it to include blacktail, elk, and of course, mule deer.
The Mule Deer Foundation is hosting a lottery drawing for the Treasure State’s most coveted big game tag. Contrary to the past where this exclusive tag has been all but unattainable behind a pay to play auction system; in 2025, we are hosting an open raffle with a price tag available to all who are interested.
The North American conservation model is the bedrock of all hunting and fishing tradtions in the United States. A critical part of this concept is that we, the people, own the land and the resources, which is managed through scientific management through the state wildlife agencies and legislation supported by scientific data from these agencies. Now, this is very much the best-case scenario: a state legislator sitting in the State Communittee that overseas fishing and game notices that the Turkey population has been decreasing. A member then uses that scientific data from the state agency, to propose a bill that would limit the season so they can in the long term help try to recover the population. It’s pretty cut and dry, but unfortunately, that’s not always what happens.