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1 month ago | 
fieldandstream.com | Ryan Chelius
We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn moreUnless you have a Yeti cooler, you’re likely all too familiar with this common summer letdown: You open your cooler on a hot day to pluck a cold drink out of the ice, only to see nothing but cans and bottles floating in water, not a cube in sight. No matter how much ice you stuff into some coolers, they just don’t get the job done.
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1 month ago | 
fieldandstream.com | Ryan Chelius |Max Inchausti |Travis Smola |T. Logan Metesh
Best OverallShimano TwinPower SW Spinning ReelBest BaitcastShimano Bantam Baitcast ReelBest BudgetShimano Spheros SW A Spinning ReelWe may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn moreThis winter, I set out to test some of the best Shimano reels available, from spinning reels to baitcasters. The test logistics included many moving parts like target species, reel size, and application.
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1 month ago | 
fieldandstream.com | Max Inchausti |Ryan Chelius
We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn moreLast year, the Field & Stream team of editors decided to perform the most comprehensive and detailed fly rod test in the publication’s history. Naturally, we chose trout as the target species. That test went on to be one of the most successful and fun projects of the year. In fact, it was so much fun we wanted to do it again. But this time, we did a complete 180.
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2 months ago | 
fieldandstream.com | Ryan Chelius
We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn moreMy first pair of wading boots lasted me over five years. When I hung them up for good, the re-glued soles were falling off again. But I was a broke college grad who thought money could be better spent on more “practical” things like fly rods and fancy fishing apparel. I was wrong.
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2 months ago | 
fieldandstream.com | Ryan Chelius
Walking into South Fork Lodge, you wouldn't know that Oliver White owns the place. He's there to greet you, offer a drink, and talk fishing. White purchased the lodge in 2020 with a business partner and refurbished it into what it is today—an epic fishing camp. He's been managing lodges since his late 20s and has built a reputation as one of the most talented fly anglers in the world. Many fishermen would recognize White from a number of short films and videos on YouTube.
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2 months ago | 
fieldandstream.com | Ryan Chelius
Other than mallards, no North American waterfowl species have been banded more than Canada geese. If you hunt honkers often, shooting one sporting a piece of jewelry isn’t as rare as you might think. Over 3 million geese have been banded since the early 1900s, with just over 1 million encounters. Now, killing two banded geese in one day is much less common. But shooting two geese with consecutive band numbers is almost unheard of.
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2 months ago | 
fieldandstream.com | Ryan Chelius
I didn’t see the pair of mallards until they were on top of me. I was hidden in the shadows behind a small bush when the birds swung over my left shoulder. By the time I turned toward the creek, they were hovering over the decoys. I picked out the drake and folded it. When I reached down to grab the greenhead out of the cattails, something didn’t look right. My mind immediately went to a topic that I was in the middle of researching: Is this greenhead part farm-raised mallard?
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Jan 21, 2025 | 
fieldandstream.com | Phil Bourjaily |Ryan Chelius
For the majority of waterfowl hunters across the country, the American black duck is a once-in-a-lifetime bird. A close cousin to the Mallard, the black duck will be forever associated with the Atlantic flyway. They can be found in freshwater lakes, ponds, rivers, and wetlands, but these birds have a keen affinity for coastal salt marshes. While the black duck is an east-coast icon, it also ranges westward to the Mississippi flyway.
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Jan 14, 2025 | 
fieldandstream.com | Ryan Chelius
Unless you consistently hunt in the Atlantic Flyway, your odds of killing a banded black duck are nearly zero. Even for East Coast hunters who do target black ducks, shooting one with a band is very rare. But what are the chances of shooting a black duck with two bands? Last December, Rich Figlia of Lindenhurst, New York, doubled on a pair of black ducks. When he motored out to retrieve the second bird, he noticed that the duck had a band on each leg.
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Dec 30, 2024 | 
fieldandstream.com | Ryan Chelius
We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more ›Dedicated waterfowlers (myself included) usually have no problem splurging on shotguns, decoys, boats, and blinds. If a piece of gear will make a hunt a bit more efficient—we want it. But spending over $1,000 on a pair of Chêne waders will make even the most obsessed duck nuts think twice. That’s probably the reason you’re reading this review. Is a pair of thousand-dollar waders worth it?
