Wild Life

“Average” and “normal” are the words Matt Knox is using to describe the kind of deer season hunters can anticipate this fall and winter.

The mid-July die-off of large striped bass in Claytor Lake isn’t anything new, although that fact hardly pacifies anglers who are concerned that their fishery has been damaged.

Last year was a “quiet” one in Virginia for hemorrhagic disease (HD), a fatal ailment of deer that shows up to some degree most every late summer and early fall in eastern counties.

Bill Wilson, of Covington, a quail hunter for 65 years, and former member of the Virginia General Assembly, believes the state’s quail recovery effort needs help beyond what the Department of Game ...

Does it pay to carry bear repellent spray when hiking the Appalachian Trial and other pathways in the mountains of Virginia?

The 225-hp Mercury outboard was idling smoothly when we arrived at the launching ramp where our friend Jack Brady was warming her up for a day of fishing. I commented on how nicely she purred.

The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, succinctly called the Game Commission by many old timers, is celebrating its 100th year this month.

Flounder fishing along the Virginia coast “is going to be slow again this year.”

Harry Murray, who is revered by many as “Mr. Fly Fisherman” in Virginia, considers June a wonderful month to cast to mountain trout streams.

Col. Ron Henry, the top law enforcement officer of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, announced that he is retiring June 1, one year shy of 30 years of service with the agency. I...

Virginia’s deer herd escaped a major outbreak of deadly hemorrhagic disease last fall, after taking a heavy hit the previous year, according to Matt Knox, Department of Game and Inland Fisheries de...

John Crews piled up a hefty boat-gas bill while fishing the Bassmaster Elite tournament on Wheeler Lake in Alabama, but not to worry. He had plenty of cash to pay it off.

Think boat docks.

Forget what you have heard about muskie being moody and sullen, their lone-wolf traits making them nearly impossible to catch. A fishermen can cast to the New River nowadays with the realistic expe...

Steven Coleman figured his opportunity to win the FLW Bass Fishing League Tournament (Shenandoah Division) on Smith Mountain Lake Saturday was over when early on he lost a bass estimated to weigh 5...

The 2016 Virginia General Assembly ended with little harm or benefit to outdoor sportsmen.

Most of us never had fished a really big lake, so we didn’t know what to expect, 50 years ago this week, when 20,000-acres of water flooded red-dirt farms and pine patches along the Roanoke and Bla...

Robert “Buddy” Faison wonders if he has a problem with Zip, his 10-month-old squirrel hunting dog and house pet.

The Western Region Big Game Show won’t be returning to Salem this fall; rather, it will be held Sept. 23-25 at the Augusta Expo in Fisherville. That also will be the site of state competition.

You realize it is a light year for hunting, fishing and boating topics in the Virginia General Assembly when the outdoor bills getting much of the attention have to do with things like turkey toena...

The temperature in Southwest Virginia was 16 degrees the January day Clyde Hurst hooked and landed a rainbow trout of a lifetime on a hand-tied No. 16 Pheasant Tail Nymph. Yes, you can catch trout ...

David Howard has been an avid fisherman most of his life, but for a long time never pursued his passion beyond the borders of his native Virginia.

This wild rainbow trout was caught and released on Jan. 18, 2016, in a Mount Rogers Recreation Area stream by Clyde Hurst IV of Draper. Clyde, who reported the fish as a 10-pounder, was using a 3wt...

Jeff Phillips, host of Star City Whitetails, a website for deer hunters, asked me to be one of five judges in his deer contest. The assignment was to take a careful look at 19 pictures of trophy bu...