Blocker Outdoors has released its Shield Silentec Jacket and Pant in the new Realtree AB1 pattern. The gear features S3® silver antimicrobial technology, 100% smooth polyester micro-fleece for silent movement, and hexagonal fleece liners for warmth without weight, priced at $119.99 each.
Heath Hampton, an Arkansas Game and Fish Commission game warden, received the 2026 Sgt. Monty Carmikle Game Warden of the Year award at the agency's Enforcement Awards banquet. Hampton, based in Sebastian County, was recognized for his exemplary work including 18 public events reaching 2,000 youth and a multi-state serial turkey poacher investigation.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department honored top partners and employees during its July Commission meeting in Sheridan. The Safari Club International Foundation and Wyoming Department of Transportation received the Excellence in Wildlife Conservation Award, while Black Hills Energy received the Industry Wildlife Stewardship Award. The Casper Region aquatic invasive species team prevented over 500,000 zebra mussels from entering Wyoming waters.
Nebraska Game and Parks is preparing Lake McConaughy State Recreation Area for lower water levels by improving boat ramp access at Spillway Bay, Diver's Bay, and Martin Bay. Park superintendent Patrick Schnell notes the state's largest reservoir remains open for boating, fishing, paddling, and swimming with expanded beaches available.
SIGHTRON Ambassador Adam Migel won first place at the 2026 Rocky Mountain Airgun Challenge Speed Challenge in Utah using the SIGHTRON S-TAC 1-6x24 AR1 Riflescope. The event, hosted by Utah Airguns at the Garth Killpack Shooting Range, featured competitive airgun shooters competing for a $100,000 prize purse.
Two-time Olympian Derrick Mein led the USA Sporting Clays Team to gold at the 48th World FITASC Championships in Lisbon, Portugal. Mein, Todd Hitch, Joseph Fanizzi, and Gebben Miles defeated France by nine targets, with Mein earning bronze in the Open Division.
Team Winchester and Team White Flyer shooters earned multiple podium finishes at the 2026 NSCA North Central Regional held at Northbrook Sports Club in Hainesville, Illinois. Kevin DeMichiel, Desi Edmunds, Connor Daniel, and Kayla Wilgus achieved top placements across various events including Main Event, FITASC, and 5 Stand competitions.
Governor Mike Braun and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources announced the acquisition of 15 acres of forested land for Austin Bottoms Conservation Area in Scott County. The Central Indiana Land Trust purchased the property and conveyed it to DNR, which used President Benjamin Harrison Conservation Trust funds from blue Environmental license plate sales to complete the acquisition.
Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) filed a federal lawsuit, Pool v. Hodges, challenging Louisiana's prohibition on handgun carry permits for adults under 21. The case follows the Fifth Circuit's Reese v. ATF decision recognizing 18-to-20-year-old adults as protected by the Second Amendment.
Camfour, Inc. announced its Exclusive Pre-Season Hunting Ammo Promotion offering dealers significant savings on Remington, Federal, CCI, and Speer ammunition with volume discounts up to 8% and special payment terms available through July 31, 2026.
The 2026 Deer Hunting Conference and Expo, hosted by Oklahoma Hunters and Anglers and the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, takes place August 15 at Metro Tech Springlake Campus in Oklahoma City. The all-day event features 35 breakout sessions, industry experts, and vendor tables, with early bird attendees receiving a HuntStand PRO subscription.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is implementing hoot-owl restrictions prohibiting fishing from 2 p.m. to midnight on seven rivers starting July 22 due to rising water temperatures. The restrictions protect fish during periods of high environmental stress and angling pressure.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department, led by deputy chief of fisheries Dave Zafft, urges anglers to adjust catch-and-release practices during hot summer months when water temperatures exceed 70 degrees, as trout cannot survive prolonged exposure to such conditions.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has implemented Stage 1 fire restrictions at multiple Richland County sites including Sidney Bridge Fishing Access Site, Diamond Willow FAS, Gartside Reservoir FAS, Elk Island FAS, Seven Sisters WMA, Snowden Bridge FAS, Culbertson Bridge FAS, and Fox Lake WMA due to extremely dry conditions. Campfires and smoking are prohibited except in specific circumstances.
RETAY USA launched the "Dog Days of Summer" Giveaway featuring a black lab puppy from Southern Pine Kennels, dog training gear from Avery Sporting Dog, a Lucky Duck kennel, MIGRA 20-gauge ammo, Sportsman's Pride dog food, and a RETAY ACE R 20 gauge shotgun for hunters preparing for fall season.
The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Board will hold two public hearings on proposed changes to bear hunting regulations, including consolidating seasons and requiring bear tags. Hearings are scheduled for August 24 in St. Johnsbury and August 27 in Bennington, with a hybrid option available for the first meeting.
NSSF praises the Trump administration's new rules transferring firearm suppressor export licensing from the State Department to the Commerce Department. Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President & General Counsel, stated the reforms will enable American suppressor manufacturers to compete more effectively in overseas markets without burdensome regulatory requirements.
RetailBI, powered by Gearfire, released its Q2 2026 Shooting Sports Retail Sales and Inventory Report showing firearm unit sales declined modestly while retail revenue increased as consumers shifted toward higher-priced products. The report reveals suppressors delivered the strongest growth, premium products outperformed entry-level offerings, and dealers reduced inventory across firearms, ammunition, optics, and suppressor markets.
Capstone Precision Group, manufacturer of Berger Bullets and Ammunition, has been selected to produce M1200 6.5 Creedmoor Special Ball Long-Range Ammunition for United States Special Operations Command. CPG will manufacture several million rounds at their Mesa, Arizona facility, with deliveries beginning in Spring 2027.
Primary Arms Optics released a limited commercial run of the PLx Compact 1-8x24 FFP RDB Rifle Scope featuring the ACSS Raptor 5.56/.308 Meter G2 reticle, designed for international teams using metric systems. The scope is available for $1,749.99 at primaryarms.com and select dealers while supplies last.
GRITR Sports, a Texas firearms retailer, is featuring LIEMKE thermal optics including clip-on devices, a monocular, and a riflescope with free shipping. The selection includes the LIEMKE MERLIN 50, Merlin-42, Sperber-1, Merlin-35, and Merlin-13 models designed for hunters and outdoor enthusiasts.
Atrius Development Group's "Together We Win" campaign in June raised over $17,000 for the Second Amendment Foundation's legal and educational efforts. The veteran-owned company, which specializes in AR-15 platform innovations, donated a portion of proceeds from each sale to support SAF's ongoing work defending constitutional rights.
Ammunition Depot and the National Rifle Association announced a partnership to support Second Amendment litigation, including the landmark Rhode v. Bonta case challenging California's ammunition restrictions. Ammunition Depot is launching a checkout donation option to help fund the NRA's ongoing legal efforts across the country.
The Guns & Ammo Buzz podcast, hosted by Guns & Ammo's editorial team and brought to you by Watchtower Defense and Poncho Outdoors, features legendary gunsmith Paul Liebenberg discussing the history of the Pachmayr Combat Special, red-dot pistols, and custom 1911 innovations on episode #43.
Dead Down Wind introduces Angler Wipes and Rinse Free Hand Soap designed for fishing enthusiasts. These products help anglers quickly clean their hands without slowing down their day on the water, available at retailers nationwide and deaddownwind.com.
Ape Canyon Outfitters and Kryptek Outdoor Group announced a collaboration to offer premium hunting saddles in Kryptek's Obskura Transitional and Obskura Skyfall camouflage patterns. The partnership combines Ape Canyon's USA-manufactured saddles with Kryptek's veteran-founded camouflage technology for the 2026 archery season.
Nosler, Inc. and Sportsman's Warehouse announced an exclusive partnership to introduce the Western Big Game ammunition line, featuring the legendary Nosler Partition bullet. Available exclusively through Sportsman's Warehouse stores and online, the lineup includes seven premium loads designed for big game hunters nationwide.
Zanders, a national distributor based in Sparta, Illinois, has added We The People Holsters to its product lineup. The partnership expands concealed carry options for dealers, offering precision-molded Kydex holsters and everyday carry accessories trusted by law enforcement and shooting enthusiasts.
Remington Ammunition has added the 7mm Backcountry hunting cartridge to its Core-Lokt Tipped product line for 2026. The new 175-grain load uses Peak Alloy case technology to deliver high velocities from shorter barrels, ideal for suppressed rifles, and is now shipping to dealers nationwide.
Paul G. Markel's new book "Super Lab: Application of the Scientific Method to Firearms Training" explores how to improve martial firearms training by applying scientific methodology. Drawing from four decades of experience, Markel examines foundational principles for martial training and eliminates outdated training modalities. Available in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook formats.
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission invites private, club-style, and for-profit rifle shooting ranges to participate in hunter sight-in days this fall. Participating ranges will be listed on OutdoorNebraska.gov with details on times, fees, and restrictions. Contact Kyle Gaston at 402-471-6134 for more information.
Traditions® Performance Firearms will exhibit at the 2026 Chattanooga Shooting Supplies Dealer Show on July 27–28 at the Chattanooga Convention Center. The company will showcase innovative products including the NitroBolt® and NitroFire® platforms, along with rifles, revolvers, and shooting accessories at Booth #507.
Blue Ridge Knives, a wholesale distributor of knives and outdoor gear, will continue its partnership with Whitetails Unlimited as a national sponsor. The online wholesaler offers over 800 brands and maintains a 2,000-page catalog of outdoor, survival, and tactical products.
Texas Trophy Hunters Association welcomes Texas Ranch Sales as a sponsor of the 50th Anniversary Hunters Extravaganzas for 2026. Texas Ranch Sales will exhibit at events in Houston, Fort Worth, and San Antonio, continuing its partnership supporting Texas hunting heritage and the outdoor community.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks will host open bear aware office hours at the Missoula FWP office on set days from July through September. Attendees can receive bear safety tips and practice with inert bear spray while learning about bear biology and encounter prevention from FWP staff.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Region 5 Citizen Advisory Collective will meet July 29 at the Billings FWP office. The meeting will cover fisheries projects, proposed regulations, wildlife surveys, and the new CAC structure.
Outdoor Action TV highlights its expansive library of premium outdoor programming available on VOD platforms, the OATV App, and FAST Channel. Standout series include Hard Truths of Conservation with Dan Cabela, World of Saltwater Fishing, Uncharted Waters with Peter Miller, and Sportsman's Adventures with Captain Rick Murphy, all available free to viewers.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department, in consultation with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, captured and relocated an adult female grizzly bear on July 17 after cattle depredation in Sublette County. The bear was moved to Five Mile Creek drainage near Yellowstone National Park's east entrance.
We’ve all heard conversations regarding the imminent threat of robotic hunting, the use of technology to hunt without any concept of fair chase.
Robotic hunting is already here. It’s routinely practiced in 48 states and all over Canada, in conjunction with drones, hidden wildlife cameras night vision, and IR technology.
And I’m wholeheartedly in favor of It. Because this hunting isn’t concerned with fair chase because it’s concerned with some hunters’ lack of ethics.
This robotic hunting isn’t chasing trophy animals, it’s chasing hunters. The particular variety who routinely shoot game out of season, use spotlights at night, hunt from vehicles along highways or even from boats. Those kinds of hunters are poachers.
The robots used to hunt them are hyper-realistic robots, foam-covered frames with the skins of actual animals, animated to give them just enough realistic movement to cause one of these “hunters” to take a shot at them.
At that point, real, live game officers swoop in to make arrests.
They’re not like the man-hunting robots of science fiction or modern warfare. They’re more closely akin to the Ruperts - burlap and straw paradummies - Allied forces dropped as part of Operation Titanic, the diversion that drew German troops and artillery away from the actual invasion beaches and paratroop landing zones of D-Day.
The “Ruperts” of World War II (top) served the same general purpose as the animated game decoys (bottom) used by game wardens to lure poachers.
Today, companies like Custom Robotic Wildlife produce these lifelike decoys for law enforcement or retailers looking for specialty market displays. They’ve been in the business of combining taxidermy skills with animation for more than 30 years.
Their work is designed to protect wildlife from irresponsible hunting practices by giving law enforcement officers better tools to catch poachers only concerned with taking game
That’s a far cry from the kind of hunting that’s more akin to drone warfare, wildlife robotic hunting.
In wildlife robotic hunting, hunters aren’t in the woods, they’re online, hunting via computer, using a camera, motorized mount and firearm remotely via the internet.
The idea emerged - briefly- in the early 2005 when Live-Shot.com, a Texas company offered the opportunity to use their remote hunting setups in a high fence operation.
Live-Shot users would pay a fee, log in to the website and use their web browser to aim a camera-mounted gun, then they could click their mouse to fire. Live-Shot owner John Lockwood said his high-fence operation offered people with severe physical disabilities “an outdoor experience.”
Neither hunters nor game agencies bought the argument.
Following protests from from outdoor writers to state game agencies, hunter’s organizations; and the Humane Society (HSUS), Live-Shot.com was shut down.
In response, 42 states passed either specific laws or administrative regulations prohibiting remote-controlled or computer-assisted hunting. Federal officials introduced the Computer-Assisted Remote Hunting Act to prohibit the idea nationwide.
That doesn’t mean computer-assisted equipment for hunting (and fishing) isn’t already in “wide use”.
Virtually anything from maps to hunting education can be accessed online. Fish and game agencies use web portals for checking game harvest, synching digital tags and sales of licenses. Remote game cams regularly send images and videos to hunters to help with their scouting. Hunters increasingly use gun and hunting-blind mounted cameras to record - and share- their harvests with other hunters. And computer-assisted scopes and binoculars calculate ballistics to enable hunters to take -and make- shots on game at increasingly further distances.
Despite all that technology, the idea of triggering the shot that harvests animals -remotely- is still a bridge too far for legislators, hunters and the general public.
The same public that shares, likes and readily consumes videos showing remote military equipment being deployed to eliminate humans.
From MQ-9 Reapers to CROWS and PROTECTOR remote warrior systems, advanced fire-control systems allow pilots and gunners to engage targets from the relative safety of an armored vehicle or remote command center. Remote weapon systems is already a $13.65 billion business worldwide. It’s projected to grow as much as $3.9 billion in 2026.
It seems reasonable the same returning veterans who operated those systems will see the civilian applications of those technologies as not only reasonable, but prudent.
In competition fishing, longtime competitors often complain they’re losing tournaments -and big money- to tech-savvy young anglers they complain are “playing video games, not fishing.” In response, some competitions forbid the use of advanced fish finding technologies.
What does that portend for hunting? Probably nothing for the next decade or two. But the immediate implications for personal security may be more immediate.
A Miami resident in 1986, I remember when Prentice Rasheed, a shopkeeper in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood got tired of being robbed. After all, it had been robbed eight times (including four times in a two-week span). He gained international notoriety when he took steps to protect his business.
Rasheed rigged a booby trap in his store’s ceiling by installing a metal grille and plugging it into a wall socket. Rasheed’s Miami welcome mat electrocuted “habitual burglar” Odell Hicks. Rasheed was subsequently charged with manslaughter. But a Dade County grand jury refused to indict him on the charges, despite reminding citizens that Florida law expressly prohibited use of deadly force or lethal booby traps solely to protect unoccupied property.
Hunting animals remotely is, as it should be, illegal.
But the idea of a Ring doorbell that can do more than alert you to unwanted intruders isn’t nearly so unpalatable. As an old warning sign on posted property used to warn:
“No trespassing. Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.”
