Filson’s Top Five Mobile Apps for Outdoorsmen

posted in:

August 20, 2012

Filson came up with the five best mobile apps for the outdoorsman. Check them out below.

1) Primos Hunting Calls

We have to agree with the ratings on the best-selling hunting app of all time. Primos Hunting Calls attracts prey with a variety of over twenty remarkably natural calls. Improve your ability to lure in turkey, elk, deer, duck, hogs, and more. Use tried-and-true favorites of the hunting professionals at Primos like “The Gobbler” and the “Heart Breaker.”

2) Ducks Unlimited Waterfowler’s Journal

DUwaterfowlJournal — Ducks Unlimited Waterfowler’s Journal App. Photo Courtesy of Filson Life.

The DU Waterfowler’s Journal is the only app designed exclusively for waterfowl hunters to keep a detailed log of each trip to the field. Both seasoned pros and beginners can build a detailed diary of the number and type of birds harvested, hunting blind locations, weather conditions, photos, and personal notes. In addition to creating your own journal, you can catch up on Duck Unlimited’s extensive glossary of waterfowl ID characteristics.

3) iSolunar Hunting & Fishing Times

iSonular Huntin and Fishing — iSolunar Hunting and Fishing Times App. Photo Courtesy of Filson Life.

Filson anglers and hunters can trust the up-to-date hunting and fishing information from iSolunar Hunting & Fishing Times. iSolunar provides the best time of day for hunting and fishing anywhere in the world. Using astronomical data from the US Naval observatory, you can find precise local information on feeding/activity times, day rating, current weather, moon phase, moon rise and moon set, and Sunrise and Sunset periods.

4) Ducks Unlimited Waterfowl Migration

Follow the ducks on your iPhone this season! The DU Migration App gives you access to more than 10,000 real-time migration and hunting reports across North America. View local reports of those from across the U.S. and Canada if you are planning a trip. Waterfowl hunters can submit their own report on current findings and access reports from trained Ducks Unlimited Field Editors and Avery Pro-Staff.

5) Hunting Light & Blood Tracker

This app enhances hunters’ visibility in all lighting conditions. Hunting Light & Blood Tracker is a handy flashlight that provides screen lights of various colors for specific uses in the field under variable light conditions. Green light enables night vision and blue light enhances green objects that would otherwise be camouflaged. The addition of a “blood tracking” light filter enhances the visibility of a blood trail left by wounded game so you are quickly on the move to recover.

Click Here to view the article on Filson.com.

3 Responses to “Filson’s Top Five Mobile Apps for Outdoorsmen”

David August 21, 2012

Phil Endecott’s Topo Map App should be on this list.

August 21, 2012 at 7:51 pm

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jon February 3, 2013

I use sportsmantracker to predict my hunts because it is FREE and I can use it on my phone without downloading anything.

February 3, 2013 at 4:46 am

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Sam August 2, 2013

Im a big fan of Primos hunting calls and also found a cool new prediction app called Hunt Predictor that i found at huntpredictor that Im going to use this hunting season.

August 2, 2013 at 2:46 am

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by: Bill Geer

posted in:

August 14, 2012

Sportsmen and Climate Change: A Long, Hard Look at Reality

As the United States writhes in one of the driest and hottest summers in history, with nearly two-thirds of the lower 48 states experiencing some form of drought, millions of Americans (including farmers and ranchers) are struggling from the resulting loss of income and higher prices for food and fuel. Other recent disturbing news illustrates the practical implications this weather event can have on fish and wildlife. Millions of fish – sturgeon, large- and smallmouth bass, channel catfish and other species – are dying in the Midwest as water temperatures skyrocket to as high as 100 degrees.

What is clear: both the human toll and the impacts to fish and wildlife caused by a changing climate and warmer temperatures have real consequences and cannot be ignored.

A new NASA report states that climate change is responsible for recent extreme weather events and that the probability of unusually warm summers has greatly increased. Now, Dr. Richard A. Muller, a physicist known for his staunch denial of global warming, has concluded that global warming is in fact real, with human production of carbon dioxide causing the world to slowly warm.

“I’m personally very worried,” says Dr. Muller. “I personally suspect that it will be bad.”

Of course, many continue to refute the science underlying climate change and indict the majority of scientists who accept its existence for promulgating a political agenda. In my opinion, as the TRCP’s climate change initiative manager, these individuals are simply resistant to accepting the reality of what science has made abundantly clear: climate change is real, and it already is affecting our natural resources, fish and wildlife and outdoor opportunities.

I recently wrote a guest article in The Seattle Times arguing that to develop an effective approach to addressing climate change, we cannot rely solely on public opinion polls. We must pay attention to those who are “voting with their feet” – the fish and wildlife that cannot debate habitability in the public square and must adapt to or migrate from changing habitat or die.

At the TRCP, we accept the growing evidence that climate change is real and that changes go well beyond disturbances driven by entirely natural forces. We regularly consult with fish and wildlife biologists in state and federal agencies throughout the United States on the habits, distribution and abundance of fish and wildlife.

The facts leave no doubt that climate change is undeniable. Here are a few examples:

Even before this year’s Midwestern fish kills from hot water, smallmouth bass have been migrating upstream nearly 40 miles in the warming Yellowstone River, displacing Yellowstone cutthroat that require colder water.
Warming winters and summers have led to an explosion in mountain pine beetle infestations over millions of acres in many Western pine forests, causing a dramatic conversion of forest cover to grass and shrub meadows in elk habitat. This leads to changes in elk populations and distribution during hunting seasons.
In a direct response to warmer springs and summers and elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, invasive cheatgrass has out-competed sagebrush and native grasses and shrubs throughout 100 million acres of the sagebrush steppe in the West, leading to decreased mule deer and greater sage-grouse habitat and populations, as well as diminished hunting opportunities.

What is the TRCP doing now? We are actively working to inform, educate and mobilize sportsmen by reporting timely data from state fish and wildlife agencies and federal land management agencies. Our state-specific presentations highlight the implications of a changing environment on fish and wildlife and the consequences for sustainable hunting and fishing. We’ve developed presentations for Montana, Washington and Colorado – with Oregon and New Mexico in the works.

Rather than debating specific points of air temperature or carbon dioxide data, the TRCP focuses on the cascading effects of a changing climate in the biological world, including impacts to species of fish and game most important to sportsmen. We highlight on-the-ground projects that help fish and wildlife adapt to a changing environment.

We are taking these state-specific presentations directly to sportsmen-based clubs throughout the West with the goal of providing factual evidence on climate change. Take five minutes to watch the video below and draw your own conclusions.

by: Nick Payne

posted in:

August 6, 2012

A Colorado Sportsman’s Perspective on the State’s New Roadless Rule

Native Trout — The Colorado roadless rule keeps some of the state’s last remaining intact public lands accessible to sportsmen and other citizens. Photo by Nick Payne.

Following numerous revisions and several years of debate, a management plan for Colorado’s 4.2 million acres of roadless national forest backcountry has been published in the federal register, cementing it as the law of the land until another politician or judge sweeps through with enough momentum or gusto for reform.

Considered in the context of the 10^th Circuit Court’s recent decision to uphold the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, the finalization of the Colorado rule – and the importance of maintaining a high standard for backcountry lands in the state – is undeniably clear.

The Colorado roadless rule maintains that standard by including roughly 30 percent, or 1.2 million acres of backcountry, under a higher level of safeguards (i.e., “upper tier” areas) from unneeded development. While the rule keeps these areas intact, it also allows some backcountry lands to be developed for coal mining and ski area expansion. It also allows tree-cutting and some road building in backcountry lands located within 1.5 miles of communities recognized as at risk for wildfires. Colorado’s remaining backcountry areas are managed in a similar fashion to the 2001 rule.

Sportsmen were a consistent, engaged and reasonable presence throughout the multi-year rule-making process. Recommendations from members of our community helped result in the final Colorado rule being a common-sense management tool able to assure conservation of some of the state’s best hunting and fishing grounds and most valuable fish and wildlife habitat. The state of Colorado and the U.S. Forest Service likewise deserve recognition for their efforts to refine and improve the plan for the benefit of Colorado’s backcountry traditions.

As someone who enjoys backcountry hunting and fishing throughout the state and who is well-acquainted with both the Colorado and national rules, I can celebrate the fact that much of Colorado’s most important national forest lands will remain intact and accessible for hunters and anglers into the foreseeable future.

Data from the Colorado Department of Parks and Wildlife demonstrates that more than 900,000 acres of lands designated as “upper tier” under the new rule provide extremely important habitat for much of Colorado’s bedrock fish and wildlife, including cutthroat and other wild trout species, elk, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, grouse and bighorn sheep.

Backcountry roadless areas are lands already largely devoid of roads and other development. Daily, they are becoming rarer and rarer. The Colorado roadless rule does not close any existing roads or trails. Instead, it keeps some of the state’s last remaining intact public lands intact and accessible to sportsmen and other citizens. That equals thousands of acres that I know I can depend on for a true backcountry experience, and that’s huge in my world.

by: Christen Duxbury

posted in:

August 1, 2012

Worried About the State of Fishing?

The Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation, creators of the award-winning “Take Me Fishing” campaign, works to increase boating and fishing participation in the United States. Watch RBFF’s video about the positive state of the fishing and boating industry as well as some of the newest RBFF tools.

by: Whit Fosburgh

posted in:

July 31, 2012

The Silence of the Lambs

If you’ve ever doubted the fragility of our nation’s wildlife resources, a recent incident in western Montana will erase those doubts. A single truck accident wiped out one-third of the bighorn lambs in the lower Rock Creek drainage, the Missoulian reported.

This accident is particularly devastating given that the wild sheep in Rock Creek and across the West already was hammered by an outbreak of pneumonia, which is transmitted to bighorns by domestic sheep and goats. In addition to the wild sheep deaths directly attributable to pneumonia, the lingering effects of the disease are predicted to reduce bighorn numbers even further. Several years of poor lamb recruitment will follow a pneumonic outbreak, making the loss of those lambs in Rock Creek particularly tragic.

Physical separation of domestic sheep and goats from wild sheep is essential to prevent the transmission of the respiratory disease. Earlier this year the TRCP, working in concert with the Wild Sheep Foundation and others, successfully removed a damaging amendment to the House appropriations bill for interior, environment and related agencies. The rider would have prevented the implementation of a management plan designed to provide that critical separation between bighorn sheep and domestic sheep grazing on public lands in the Payette National Forest in Idaho. When you consider the fragile state of bighorns throughout the West, the importance of this initiative to help protect them is clear.

Stories like this drive home the importance of proactive wildlife management and highlight the critical work of TRCP and our partners, organizations that are working to ensure healthy fish and wildlife populations through science-based management and policy. Resource management based in current science remains crucially important to strong natural resources policy – not only to wildlife like bighorn sheep, but also to sportsmen.

The tragedy in Rock Creek reminds us that we can never take our fish and wildlife for granted and we must not falter in our efforts to ensure these precious natural resources remain for generations to come.

Watch an episode of “TRCP’s Conservation Field Notes” concerning wild sheep management.