Whitewater Fishing and Fish Monkey have partnered to launch a co-branded line of high-performance fishing gloves available mid-summer 2026. The collaboration combines Whitewater's expertise in fishing-specific outerwear with Fish Monkey's renowned glove technology, featuring three models with UPF 50+ sun protection and specialized grip technology for freshwater and saltwater anglers.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission authorized over $5.5 million in boating and fishing access improvements using Marine Fuel Tax funds during outgoing Chairman Anne Marie Doramus's final meeting. Projects include road resurfacing, pier construction, and facility renovations across multiple counties. Rob Finley was elected as the new chairman.

Kahl Harmon and Mitch Fitzpatrick won the Team Division at the 2026 Nightforce ELR Steel Challenge in Glenrock, WY, outscoring over 40 teams with a score of 245.93. Fitzpatrick credited Berger bullets, Vihtavuori powder, and Lapua brass for their success across 20 stages at distances up to 2,100 yards.

Walther athlete Braden Peiser qualified 5th and finished 6th in the Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions final at the 2026 ISSF World Cup in Munich, marking his first senior World Cup final appearance. The University of Kentucky competitor and 2026 NCAA individual smallbore champion recently joined the Walther World Team.

Team Lapua's Brandon Green secured second place at the 2026 NRA National High Power Mid-Range Prone Championships in Oklahoma, posting an aggregate score of 2397-183X. Green also won the High Military Veteran and Any Rifle Iron Sight categories while helping his team, including Kimberly Rowe, Larry Sollars, and Jonathan O'Neal, claim the team title.

Sixty-eight Michigan local governments earned recognition in the Michigan Green Communities Challenge for sustainability efforts, including fifty cities, eight townships, eight counties, and two villages. Certifications ranged from Bronze to Platinum, with achievements in energy efficiency, climate resilience, recycling, mobility, and environmental stewardship.

The Indiana Conservation Partnership announced that Hoosier farmers planted 1.58 million acres of overwinter living covers, preventing an estimated 1.79 million tons of sediment from entering Indiana's waterways. The conservation transect survey, conducted by the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Indiana's Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Purdue Extension, and Earth Team volunteers, found that 70% of row crop acres were not tilled over winter.

Indiana Conservation Officers arrested Woodrow Snyder after citizen tips led to an investigation revealing he and accomplices illegally killed over 30 white-tailed deer during the 2025 fall and winter seasons. Snyder faces multiple felony and misdemeanor charges including obstruction of justice, illegal sale of wildlife, and jacklighting.

The MidwayUSA Foundation is hosting its National Youth Shooting Sports Conference August 20-22 in Columbia, Missouri, featuring hands-on coaching from instructors like Don Currie and Olympian James Hall. The event includes range days sponsored by Walther Arms, Federal Ammunition, and Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation, with equipment demonstrations from multiple firearms and outdoor brands.

TUO digital marketing specialist Trey Douglas provides comprehensive guidance on hunting American pronghorn, covering regional tactics, gear preferences including Mathews bows and Vortex optics, and state-by-state public land access across the pronghorn's range from Wyoming to Texas.

Bass Pro Shops announced plans for a 200,000-square-foot Outdoor World location in Sayreville, New Jersey, expected to open fall 2026. The largest single-level Bass Pro Shops in the U.S. will feature a 65,000-gallon Shipwreck Aquarium, boat brands including TRACKER and RANGER, and immersive conservation education experiences designed by founder Johnny Morris.

Davidson's will broadcast a Dealer Education Seminar on June 25, 2026, featuring guests Wally Nelson and Chris Renzulli discussing public nuisance laws affecting FFL retailers, particularly Virginia's new law effective July 1, 2026. The free seminar is available to Davidson's FFL customers via invitation.

Wildlife Forever, partnering with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Ottawa National Forest, installed 14 solar-powered watercraft cleaning stations at Michigan boat launches to prevent aquatic invasive species spread. The user-operated CD3 stations feature high-pressure air, vacuums, and brushes to help boaters Clean, Drain, and Dry their watercraft, funded by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

The Blacktail Deer Foundation, a branch of the Mule Deer Foundation, seeks an Alaska Regional Director to organize fundraising chapters and conservation projects for Columbia & Sitka Blacktail Deer. The full-time position offers $75,000 plus benefits, with an anticipated start date of August 2026 and application deadline of June 30, 2026.

The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms praised the U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous decision in United States v. Hemani, which struck down a federal prohibition on firearms ownership for marijuana users. CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb stated the ruling correctly rejected a categorical approach to law enforcement, noting the government cannot broadly designate groups as dangerous without individual assessment.

Winchester Air Rifles has launched a new CO2-powered Single Action Western Revolver featuring an all-metal construction, functioning hammer and loading gate, and the ability to shoot both BBs and pellets at up to 450 feet per second with an MSRP of $129.90.

GRITR Sports, a Texas firearms retailer, features an extensive lineup of Ruger firearms including hunting rifles, defensive pistols, revolvers, and rimfire options for sport shooting and training.

Buckmasters and Head Hunters TV announce a collaboration featuring Randy Birdsong and Nate Hosie across Buckmasters TV, social media, and magazine platforms. Buckmasters celebrates 40 years as a pioneer in hunting television, while Head Hunters TV brings fresh storytelling to the hunting audience through multiple media channels.

Outdoor Sportsman Group Networks (Outdoor Channel, Sportsman Channel, World Fishing Network, and MyOutdoorTV) announces new Q3 programming beginning June 29, featuring original premieres and returning series hosted by personalities like Chef Mike Robinson, Jess Pryles, and Carter Andrews across hunting, fishing, and shooting content.

The High Road with Keith Warren releases a new episode featuring outdoor television legend Keith Warren and TV personality Bruce Mitchell on a family deer hunt. Keith and his wife Mary join Bruce, his wife Janet, and their families for a whitetail hunting adventure filled with laughs, wild game cooking, and outdoor camaraderie.

By now, Colorado sportsmen, ranchers, outfitters, cattle producers, and anyone who's ever dragged an elk quarter out of a snow-covered canyon have become familiar with Gov. Jared Polis's approach to wildlife management. It's a peculiar blend of science, politics, animal-rights activism, and whatever happens when a Boulder coffee shop discussion accidentally becomes state policy.

Which brings us to the latest fight over the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission. After two previous Polis nominees were rejected amid concerns that they would tilt the commission further toward activist wildlife policies, the governor has returned with a fresh round of appointments and a familiar message: everything is balanced, representative, and perfectly reasonable.

Trust him.

The problem is that trust is exactly what many hunters, anglers, ranchers, and agricultural producers no longer have. And after six years of watching wildlife policy emerge from the Governor's Mansion, it's difficult to blame them.

This is, after all, the same governor who declared "Meat-Out Day" in a state where cattle production isn't merely an industry—it's a way of life. Nothing says "I understand rural Colorado" quite like encouraging the fourth-largest beef-producing state in America to skip the beef. The proclamation was received with all the enthusiasm of a “Ski-Out Day” in Aspen. Counties responded by organizing "Meat-In Day" celebrations, proving once again that if Jared Polis tells ranchers not to eat beef, the only thing he'll accomplish is selling more beef.

Then there's the wolf debacle.

Supporters call it restoration. Opponents call it social engineering with fangs. Either way, Colorado became ground zero for one of the most divisive wildlife battles in American history. Ranchers warned about livestock losses. Hunters warned about impacts on elk herds. Polis allies dismissed concerns. Wolves arrived. Livestock depredations followed. And suddenly all those people accused of fearmongering looked a lot less crazy. And the wolves suffered as well.

Remarkably, the governor still seems baffled by the skepticism.

Hovering over much of this debate has been Colorado's First Gentleman, Marlon Reis, one of the state's most prominent animal-rights advocates. Everyone is entitled to their beliefs, but when the governor's closest confidant has spent years championing animal-rights causes, and the administration repeatedly advances policies viewed with suspicion by hunters, ranchers, and sportsmen, people are naturally going to connect the dots. Not because they're conspiracy theorists, but because they possess functioning pattern-recognition skills.

Which brings us back to the commission appointments.

The Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee didn't reject previous nominees because they were insufficiently progressive. They rejected them because lawmakers questioned whether they were actually qualified for the seats they were supposed to represent. One nominee for a sportsmen's seat received criticism for lacking meaningful big-game hunting experience. Another carried a long record of wildlife activism that legislators believed made him poorly suited for an at-large position.

That should have been a clue.

Instead, the administration appeared genuinely surprised that sportsmen wanted sportsmen seats filled by actual sportsmen. Apparently that's a controversial concept now. Next thing you know, ranchers will insist agricultural seats be occupied by people who have actually worked cattle.

What radicals.

The deeper problem isn't one nominee or another. It's the growing perception that the commission appointment process has become less about representation and more about ideological choreography. Colorado law intentionally requires sportsmen, agricultural producers, outfitters, recreationists, and members of the public because wildlife management was never intended to be controlled by any single constituency. It is supposed to be a balancing act.

What it is not supposed to be is a graduate seminar on the emotional needs of apex predators.

Hunters and anglers provide a major part of the funding that keeps Colorado Parks and Wildlife operating. Rural communities depend on hunting, fishing, agriculture, and outdoor recreation. Yet many of those stakeholders increasingly feel as though they're viewed less as partners in conservation than as inconvenient reminders that wildlife management occasionally involves actual wildlife management.

That perception exists for a reason. And every appointment fight reinforces it.

At some point, Colorado ought probably ask whether concentrating so much appointment power in the governor's office still makes sense. If every nomination becomes a proxy war over wildlife ideology, perhaps sportsmen should nominate sportsmen representatives. Perhaps farming organizations should nominate agricultural representatives. Perhaps legislative leaders should share appointment authority. Almost any system would inspire more confidence than the current arrangement, in which every vacancy triggers another battle over whether the commission represents Colorado or merely the governor's latest social experiment.

And then there are those rumored presidential ambitions.

One can only imagine the campaign platform. Meat-Out Day goes national. The Department of Agriculture becomes the Department of Dietary Reflection. Wolves receive a White House liaison. Elk hunters are required to complete sensitivity training before entering the field. Ranchers must submit coexistence plans to predators before turning cattle onto summer pasture.

The possibilities are endless.

Or perhaps Colorado is simply serving as the pilot program. A place where activist symbolism routinely outranks practical realities, and where the people who actually live with wildlife are increasingly expected to defer to the people who mostly post about wildlife.

Either way, the governor shouldn't be surprised that sportsmen, ranchers, and rural Coloradans are skeptical. They are worried about the wolves. They're worried about the livestock losses. They're worried about the future of hunting and wildlife management.

But more than anything, they're worried about the process that brought all of it here. Because wolves don't appoint commissioners.

Governors do.

– Chris Dorsey

Chris Dorsey is a 30-year media veteran and conservation thought leader who is the founding partner of Dorsey Pictures, a Global 100 Production Studio, and Mission Partners Entertainment Group, a leading IMAX/giant screen natural history producer.