In The Outdoors

Hold on to your hats, folks. Our western neighbor is about to step off the political and fiscal cliff, and no doubt there are some people who hope Nevada follows suit. If that happens, the state’s hunters and recreational shooters could end up paying much more for their hunting ammunition, but only if they can find enough to meet their needs, and if they can afford to buy it once they find it.

Even though she was hoping to find him, the hog still caught Heather Pratt off guard when it strolled past the ground blind where she had been pondering the beauty of nature.

The morning sun had yet to light up the red-orange sand that lines the shoreline when Roger and I motored away from the launch ramp at Southern Utah’s Sand Hollow Reservoir. We had found quick action for small but scrappy largemouth bass the previous afternoon and looked forward to picking up where we left off when the setting sun forced us off the water.

While mule deer, elk and bighorn sheep get most of the attention when it comes to big-game hunting in Nevada, the pursuit of pronghorn antelope can be challenging and rewarding.

If there was a common focus among the manufacturers’ exhibits at the 2013 edition of ICAST — the International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades — it was the umbrella rig, or products like it. From the Booyah Bait Co. to the rod builders at G. Loomis, nearly all the major players and many small companies introduced some product designed either to mimic the umbrella rig design or facilitate its use.

For many years, an angler could walk into any major outdoor retailer or discount mart with $29.95 in his pocket and walk out with one of the most widely recognized and durable fishing rods on the market. Now a pending price increase is going to push that price up to $39.95, but I think fans of Shakespeare’s Ugly Stik are going to like what they get for that extra 10-spot.

When it comes to selecting the right fly pattern to use, fly-fishermen generally follow the guideline to “match the hatch.” Simply, this means to present the fish you are after with a bait choice that resembles, as closely as possible, whatever they already are eating.

If you were one of the unsuccessful applicants in Nevada’s big game tag draw you may not have to sit this season out after all. Utah still has more than 3,300 buck mule deer permits available and they go on sale at 7 a.m. PDT Thursday, July 11 . (That’s 8 a.m. in Utah, which is in the Mountain time zone and observes daylight saving time.)

It’s Independence Day, so let me begin by expressing gratitude to our Founding Fathers for their sacrifice and willingness to risk, and in some cases lose, all they had to create a country where personal freedom is paramount and where we each have the opportunity to make something of ourselves. Let me also thank those who have risked and, in many cases, lost their lives to maintain those freedoms for the rest of us.