Sign up for the Outdoor Life Newsletter Get the hottest outdoor news—plus a free month of onX Hunt Elite. Experts studying chronic wasting disease in free-ranging and captive deer populations have historically pointed to animal-to-animal contact as the primary transmission of the disease. They’ve seen how the prions causing CWD can jump from one animal to the next through saliva, blood, feces, and urine, and how those infectious prions can persist in the environment for years. But new research has revealed an even scarier and more insidious place for CWD transmission: the womb.  The study, published in Scientific Reports this…

“We cannot have free government without elections,” President Abraham Lincoln reflected outside the White House on Nov. 10, 1864. “And if the rebellion could force us to forego or postpone a national election it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us.”By the fall of 1864, the United States had been engulfed in a civil war for nearly 44 months, with “the bones of thousands of Northern boys [lying] in Southern graves or decayed unburied in the thickets and swamps of Dixie,” writes historian Gerald Swick.For Lincoln — and for the Union — the outcome of the 1864…

My AR experience started in the Marine Corps. My first rifle was an M16A2 and eventually an M16A4. I had an M4 for about the blink of an eye, and I remember my first impression of the carbine as that it was much rougher shooting. I’ve since learned an in-depth difference between AR gas systems. As a fan of rifle-length gas systems and short barrels, the Dissipator idea seemed so cool. The idea of Dissipator dates back to Colt and Vietnam. Troops wanted a shorter rifle for jungle combat. Colt took an M-16 and cut the barrel at the gas…

The Pentagon announced a new military decoration that will recognize service members stationed at the U.S.-Mexico border as part of the Trump administration’s effort to bolster border security.A U.S. defense official confirmed to Military Times the veracity of a memorandum regarding the medal that began circulating online several days ago.“Effective immediately, the Mexican Border Defense Medal (MBDM), is hereby established to recognize Service members deployed to the U.S. international border with Mexico for DoD support to United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP),” a memo uploaded to the Navy subreddit reads.Previously, service members collaborating with CBP were awarded the Armed…

Sign up for the Outdoor Life Newsletter Get the hottest outdoor news—plus a free month of onX Hunt Elite. There’s a special kind of misery that comes from using the wrong pack for the job. But if you have a hunting backpack that fits you and matches the task, you’ll hardly notice it’s on your back. The Outdoor Life editors have been on both sides of that and we’ve used packs for hunting elk, sheep, moose, grizzlies, mule deer, whitetails, and mountain goats in the past year. With all that hunting we’ve been able to test a wide range of…

Federal and Texas officials are taking serious steps to stop a potential invasion of the screwworm parasite and protect the country’s livestock. The ruling class has officially confirmed it will create a $750 million plant that will produce sterile flies in order to combat the screwworm invasion. The facility will be located in Edinburg, which is about 20 miles north of the Texas border with Mexico, and will be able to produce 300 million sterile male flies per week, said United States Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins in a meeting with Governor Greg Abbott in Austin. These sterile flies will…

COLUMBUS, Ohio — U.S. veterans of the war in Afghanistan are telling a commission reviewing decisions on the 20-year conflict that their experience was not only hell, but also confounding, demoralizing and at times humiliating.The bipartisan Afghanistan War Commission aims to reflect such veterans’ experiences in a report due to Congress next year, which will analyze key strategic, diplomatic, military and operational decisions made between June 2001 and the chaotic withdrawal in August 2021.The group released its second interim report on Tuesday, drawing no conclusions yet but identifying themes emerging from thousands of pages of government documents; some 160 interviews…

Sign up for the Outdoor Life Newsletter Get the hottest outdoor news—plus a free month of onX Hunt Elite. Alligator hunters often use harpoons to land gators that are already hooked and near the boat, but this viral video from a hunt in Florida shows a quicker and much bolder approach. The man in the clip, Andrew Wooten, is seen running after a huge alligator on a sandbar with a harpoon in his hand. Wooten catches up with the 13-plus-foot gator as it speeds across the bar, throws his spear into its back, and then grabs ahold of the attached…

GunCon 2025 was an extremely productive show for me this year. I’ve discovered a number of new or new-to-me products that I’m continuing to explore over the summer. One of those is the Align Tactical Thumb Rest Trigger Pin. The Thumb Rest Trigger Pin If you don’t know what a Thumb Rest Trigger Pin is, that’s okay. I didn’t either. You may know it better by the term gas pedal though. The thumb rest, or gas pedal, is basically an angled shelf that protrudes from the side of your pistol frame. It gives you a spot to place your thumb…

The U.S. military stymied a suspected drug smuggling operation Aug. 11 when it chased and disabled a vessel hauling contraband in the Eastern Pacific, according to a Navy release.A U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment, embarked aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer Sampson, seized 1,296 pounds of cocaine while conducting the maritime interdiction operation.“Sampson, operating in a known drug trafficking corridor, identified a suspicious vessel exhibiting telltale indicators of smuggling, including excessive fuel barrels and packaged cargo visible on deck,” the release said.The Sampson sprang into action and sent a U.S. Navy MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter from Helicopter Maritime…

After blaming the measles outbreak in Texas on the unvaccinated, the state has officially declared that it has ended. The outbreak is said to have sickened 762 people and killed two others. The outbreak began in January, but has ended as health officials in the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) say it has been more than 42 days since a new case was reported in counties where there was ongoing transmission, accoridng to a report by UPI.  “DSHS will continue to monitor for new cases,” it said. The total number of people infected amid the outbreak was 762,…

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A second airman in a month at a U.S. Air Force base in Wyoming stands accused of involuntary manslaughter for a shooting death.F.E. Warren Air Force Base Airman First Class Jadan Orr, 20, remained jailed on Monday after he allegedly shot a man in a Cheyenne apartment early Saturday, according to police and sheriff’s officials.Orr and several friends had been drinking at the apartment for most of the night when Orr and two others went into another room and Orr began handling an AK-47 rifle, according to a Cheyenne Police Department statement.Orr allegedly fired the weapon through…

Sign up for the Outdoor Life Newsletter Get the hottest outdoor news—plus a free month of onX Hunt Elite. This story, “In Case of Death,” appeared in the April 1962 issue of Outdoor Life. IF THERE IS any country wilder, more isolated, or harder to fly into than the Wrangell Mountains of Alaska, I have yet to see it—and I’m not sure I want to. Never again, I had sworn, would I make the nerve-racking flight east from Anchorage over and through the Chugach Range, across the sprawling Copper River Valley, on south to the junction of the Copper and…

The second Oval Office meeting in six months between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went off smoothly Monday, in sharp contrast to their disastrous encounter in February.European leaders joined the discussions in a show of transatlantic unity, and both they and Zelenskyy repeatedly thanked Trump for his efforts to end Russia’s three-year war on Ukraine.“I don’t want to hide the fact that I wasn’t sure it would go this way,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in Washington. “But my expectations were not just met, they were exceeded.”Zelenskyy said Tuesday: “We have taken an important step towards…

Four U.S. soldiers were eating at a rest area in Poland on Thursday when they saw a civilian man collapse outside of a KFC.The soldiers — 2nd Lt. Indiana Rhodes, Sgt. 1st Class Alicia Haggins, Staff Sgt. Jacob Roberts and Sgt. Justin Fagan — rushed to the fallen man. Haggins communicated with the man’s family about his medical condition by using her phone to translate. Meanwhile, Fagan checked the man’s vital signs and began CPR.“His pulse was really faint,” Fagan said in an Army release. “He didn’t respond to a sternum rub so I started chest compressions.” Fagan, Rhodes and…

Sign up for the Quick Strike Newsletter The hottest fishing news, tips, and tactics Catfish, walleyes, and striped bass are just a few fish with known reputations for nighttime feeding. In fact, at certain times of year, your best chance at hooking into a trophy-caliber specimen is after sundown. But they’re not the only popular gamefish that stalk prey in the dark. There’s a strong possibility that one of your favorite fish is eager to take a swing at night, but you’re too busy sleeping to give it the pitch.  Not only can action be hot and heavy during the…

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When North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein vetoed a Constitutional Carry measure passed by both the state House and state Senate, gun owners were hopeful that the legislature might override the governor’s veto and make the Tar Heel State the 30th in the nation to deregulate the right to keep and bear arms. Under SB 50, lawful North Carolinians would no longer have to jump through government permitting hoops and pay a fee to carry a firearm for self-defense, which the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled is protected by the Second Amendment. In late July, the state Senate voted to override…

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This article was originally published by Michael Snyder at The End of the American Dream under the title: Nature In Chaos: A Massive Invasion Of Rats In California, Hordes Of Diseased Mosquitoes In Las Vegas, And “Zombie Squirrels” With Ghastly Growths That Burst Open Why does just about everything seem to be going haywire in 2025?  In particular, the natural world has been thrown into a state of complete and utter chaos.  We are experiencing “the year of the fire” and “the year of the flood” simultaneously, and we are constantly being hammered by large earthquakes and major volcanic eruptions.…

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