On April 8, 1796, the German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss proved the quadratic reciprocity law (the ability to determine the solvability of any quadratic equation in modular arithmetic.) — Today’s feature piece is a guest post that was too short to qualify as an entry for the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $984,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running the contest.  Round 124 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage…

You can’t overlook Wisconsin’s No. 1 ranking when scrolling through the Boone and Crockett Club’s 17,465 record-book entries for white-tailed deer in the Lower 48.According to B&C’s “Big Game Records Live” online listings, hunters have entered 2,132 Wisconsin bucks (typicals and nontypicals combined) in “the book” since its origins in 1888. That’s 12% of all B&C whitetails for the Lower 48. Wisconsin also produced the legendary “Jordan Buck,” the No. 2 typical B&C whitetail killed in 1914 by Jim Jordan with a .25-20 Winchester in Burnett County.Four Wisconsin counties rank among the nation’s top 12 counties. Buffalo County is No.…

00:00:01 Speaker 1: The famous geographic dictum space plus culture equals place is nowhere more vivid than on the high plains of the West, where a succession of human cultures have repeatedly inhabited a setting already changed by previous inhabitants. I’m dan Flor’s and this is the American West, thinking about big history in one Western place. On a blessery gray day in March twenty years ago, Stephen Ranella and I spent an afternoon giving ourselves a tour of a piece of the West that ought to be as famous as Jamestown or Plymouth Rock. Stephen was then working on…

00:00:01 Speaker 1: Welcome to the news show everyone. This week we’re covering how Randall does not understand sports after all. We’re gonna talk about yet another Forest Service management controversy. We’re gonna get into what tracking collars can tell us about bobcats, some things about lost arrow etiquette, more on the Catalina Island mule deer eradication program. And Alaska announces a mountain lion season. Of all things, all they need now are mountain lions. Well that’s not true, because they’ve maybe got a couple mountain lions. But they got a mountain lion season, plus a whole lot more. But…

So you are living in a societal collapse and something breaks. Let’s say that your generator dies. You’ve gotta fix it. The following describes what have I learned about fixing things: I used to go through the repair process in my mind a few hundred times. I would pull the cover by loosening two screws, then unbolt the coil with a socket wrench. Then pull the coil and inspect for a broken winding. But first of all, I must borrow my friend’s socket set. I have learned over the years that the most efficient route is often to just tear…

On April 7, 1902 the Texas Oil Company (Texaco) was formed. — On April 7, 1994, Rwandan Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, a moderate Hutu, was assassinated by Hutu soldiers—a day after the deaths of Juvénal Habyarimana, president of Rwanda, and Cyprien Ntaryamira, president of Burundi—as Rwanda entered a period of anarchy and genocidal killings. — April 7th is the birthday of Colonel Bob Denard (born 1929, died October 13, 2007). He had an amazing life as a mercenary, including four attempted coups in the Comoros.  The 2011 film Mister Bob is a slightly fictionalized account of his earliest mercenary adventures…

Most turkey hunters love to watch longbeards put on “the show.” There’s nothing quite like a tom gobbling his head off as he struts all the way to your gun barrel with iridescent feathers gleaming in the sun. Unfortunately, that’s not the case most of the time. Even though I’ll hunt four states and guide half a dozen hunters this year, I might get to see the show one or two times if I’m lucky.In fact, most of the time the show gets canceled. This happens often in the early season when the toms are henned-up and spend the entire…

Let’s start with the name: Harrier. Sure, the name can refer to dogs bred for hunting rabbits or to small birds of prey, but to the vast majority of us of a certain age, it refers to the super-cool British jump jet capable of vertical takeoff and landing. Despite having been designed in the late 1960s and seeing action in the Falklands in the ’80s, I’d argue the most iconic use of the Harrier jump jet would be in 1994’s “True Lies” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. For those of us who came of age in the glorious 1980s, seeing action-hero Arnie…

In March of 2025 Mississippi passed Senate Bill 2280, creating the state’s first required turkey stamp for turkey hunters. Funds from this new stamp are earmarked for wild turkey conservation, supporting habitat restoration, management, and research.The 2026 season marks the first year that hunters must purchase a stamp alongside a Mississippi hunting license. Non-exempt residents will pay just $10, and the tag will cost non-residents $100 and is required for both private and public lands.“Our state is a special place for turkey hunting,” Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks Executive Director Lynn Posey said. “The Wild Turkey Stamp ensures…

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