Western Outdoor Times - Times Spent Outdoors: Priceless!

I've known Rob Vanderkooi for decades and he's one of the best bass fishermen I know. He's also a heck of a good hunter. Rob guides for The Arizona Fishing Guides now, so if you want to learn some gre...

Arizona Is Ablaze With Color - As a native Arizonan, I tend to believe that Arizona is the most beautiful and amazing place on the planet – and autumn in Arizona confirms that belief. John and I and...

One of the things I like most is simply to drive around off the highway and explore. My dad and I used to do that a lot when I was younger – we'd scout for deer and we'd take every road we found....

Summer is the perfect time to visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon because the higher elevation of the North Rim means forest and cool summer days. The North Rim is usually a lot less crowded than...

Hopefully we will get some rain soon - and during the summer months - and the forests will re-open, but if not, there are still places you can go to enjoy the outdoors. Arizona's State Parks are super...

I grew up in a world without personal computers or cell phones, and since I also grew up hunting, I know how to use and read a paper map. In fact, with a topo-quadrant map and a compass, I can...

Every year on the way to the SHOT Show in Vegas, we pass through Kingman, Ariz., and see the sign for the Hualapai Mountain Park turnoff. For years we've been saying that we would love to go there, an...

We recently lost our old French Brittany, Rosie. She was an amazing hunter, a tireless hiker, a lover of children, and a fishing fool. She had almost reached the ripe old age of 17 – she would have...

We decided to take the granddaughters to Monument Valley for spring break this year. Excellent decision! John and the girls had never been there, and I hadn't been there since I was a kid, so we were...

The road to the top of the Harquahala Mountains takes you to the historic Solar Observatory. We had read several accounts of the road, and many of them said that it was very rough, even dangerous....

The Hassayampa River begins somewhere south of Prescott and flows through Wickenburg before joining the Gila River near Hassayampa, Ariz. It is around 113 miles long, but most of the time the...

When I met John (decades ago!), I had never really fished much at all. My dad took my brother and me hunting and camping all the time, and we always did a lot of target shooting, but we never really...

John and I went Coues hunting this year. We have a great 4-wheel-drive pickup, but while scouting and hunting we discovered that we needed more. Our little whitetails are spooky, and once the season...

We have a family tradition of going on a fun hike on New Year's Day each year. Since we live in the desert, this is the best time of year to hike close to home. If you are also a desert rat, now is a...

The show has officially opened and from what I understand, if you wanted to visit every booth you'd have just 22 seconds per booth. So we are trying to cherry pick, and concentrating on outdoor...

Well, yesterday we put over 9 miles on our shoes at the SHOT Show, and today just a little less than that – because we had a couple of meetings and a press conference to go to. But it's so much fun...

SHOT Show officially starts tomorrow, but if you're lucky enough to get an invitation, the day before the show starts is Industry Day at the Range. This is the day when the manufacturers set up at the...

Day 3 is in the books and the energy hasn't abated at SHOT Show. The aisles are teeming with people eager to see everything, talk to everyone, and learn something new. At times you can barely squeeze...

Safety is huge at the SHOT Show, and there are always lots of companies with gun safety products to show. This year was no exception. The Allen Company has a new holster called the Swipe MQR...

We just got back from a seven-day hunting/camping trip and I discovered quite a few things that make life a lot easier for a camper. We camp rough - no trailer, no cots, no RV. We just throw a couple...

Before you know it, the holidays will be upon us and we'll all be scrambling to find the perfect gift for the people we love. If someone you love also loves the outdoors, here are some ideas that are...

Last month, when I was writing about Grandparents' Day, I mentioned that we take our granddaughters on a big road trip/hiking trip every year. In between, we take a day now and then and just go to a s...

Sunday, Sept. 10 is Grandparents' Day, and this year, we salute Marge and John Anderson who have shared the wonders of outdoors with their granddaughters for over two decades (and loved every minute...

In Arizona, people tend to think of heading north to cool off in the summer, but there are many places in the southern and eastern areas of our beautiful state that also offer higher altitudes, cool...

Trapp Technology pro Kevin Finley just came home from the California Open where he took 13th out of 87 pros. If he looks familiar to you, it's probably because he fishes tournaments all over the West,...