Author: Braxton Taylor

Dirk asked his Instagram followers to send questions regarding elk hunting. No surprise there were some smartypants questions, and some really good serious ones as well. He covers: why the Maverick diaphragm is so much better than the Pink Phelps, early season calling tactics, this year’s broad head of choice, sleep talking, best calls NOT to make, optimizing your elk chuckles, stick with cow calls or switch to bugles when you get a bull to respond, calling to bulls that hang up and or run away, and more. Read the full article here

As his plane exploded in a ball of flames, Leon Crane surveyed his surroundings.Everywhere he looked, Crane, a first lieutenant in the Army Air Forces during World War II, saw snow. What began as a routine maintenance test flight for his B-24 Liberator out of Ladd Field (now Fort Wainwright) in Fairbanks, Alaska, turned tragically wrong after an engine malfunctioned. Reaching speeds exceeding 300 mph, the heavy bomber piloted by Crane and Second Lt. Harold Hoskin spiraled out of control and crashed into a mountaintop on Dec. 21, 1943, according to the National Park Service (NPS).Crane and Master Sgt. Richard…

An Air Force command is temporarily barring the use of issued Sig Sauer sidearms amid an investigation into the death of an airman at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming over the weekend.The active-duty Security Forces airman, assigned to the base’s 90th Security Forces Squadron, “died on base while on duty” in the early morning hours Sunday, a news release from the base said. While the identity of the service member has not yet been made public, nor has the circumstances of their death, Air Force Global Strike Command, or AFGSC, issued an immediate order pausing the use of…

New research has linked exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, and Type 2 diabetes — a finding that could have implications for military personnel and families who work around or live on installations contaminated by the chemicals.A small study of patients at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City found that individuals with higher levels of PFAS in their bloodstreams were more at risk for developing Type 2 diabetes. According to the research, published Monday in the eBioMedicine journal, increases in a range of PFAS exposure was associated with a 31% increased risk of developing the disease.Often referred…

A bill aimed at giving veterans easier access to private doctors using Department of Veterans Affairs funding has advanced out of a key House panel after stark partisan debate.Cost issues scuttled a couple of controversial provisions from the GOP-led bill advanced Wednesday compared to the version of the bill that was introduced earlier this year. But the legislation still stoked strong opposition from Democrats accusing Republicans of trying to privatize the VA as Republicans insisted they are trying to give veterans more options in their care.”Veterans don’t need their hands held,” said House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill.,…

The United States will seek to “achieve global dominance” in artificial intelligence under a plan released Wednesday by the White House, which aims to accelerate military adoption, fast-track permits for data centers, support open-source models, and take other steps.The plan was met with approval by some military and technical experts, but others voiced concern about its threats to withhold federal funds from states that restrict AI development or deployment—even limits tied to civil liberties, such as facial-recognition systems.On the military front, the plan declares the United States “must aggressively adopt AI within its Armed Forces if it is to maintain…

The Marine Corps is developing new footwear after it found that a significant percentage of boots Marines were buying had quality issues, resulting in Marine Corps Exchange stores having to return nearly one-quarter of its boot stocks to the manufacturer in at least one case.The Optional Boot Program, which was publicized in a service news release last week, is meant to quickly get high-quality boots to Marines through inspections, fleet feedback, real-world testing and industry competition after COVID-era supply chain issues began rattling quality and inflating prices starting years ago.Over the summer, Marines will test boots that feature lighter materials,…

Carlson, who calls himself a “true fishoholic,” was specifically targeting catfish, which are legal to bowfish for in The Mitten State, though there are stricter regulations for catfish compared to other bowfishing quarry such as carp and gar. That said, Carlson wasn’t expecting to run into such a big mud cat.”I thought I was about to shoot a channel catfish for dinner,” Carlson said. “Turns out, I guess we do have flathead catfish in these waters.”And big ones, at that. Carlson’s fish weighed in at 64.46 pounds and was 45 inches long. Michigan DNR fisheries biologist John Buszkiewicz verified that…

The Trump administration has awarded a $1.26 billion contract to build and operate a virtually unprecedented 5,000-bed immigration detention facility at Fort Bliss, an Army base near El Paso, Texas, a defense official confirmed to Military.com.The contract was issued to Acquisition Logistics Company, a relatively small Virginia-based firm with seemingly no notable experience managing large-scale federal projects. According to government contracting records, the company’s previous work has largely focused on just a handful of modest administrative support services with contracts all under $2 million, which is relatively tiny within the defense industry.The massive Fort Bliss project reflects the Trump administration’s…

The Department of Homeland Security was affected by a broad intrusion into “on-premises” versions of Microsoft SharePoint, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency notified more than a dozen federal entities of the possible compromise, one person said. Another pegged the total to at least five agencies.The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because the matter is sensitive. Politico reported an estimate of four to five agencies on Tuesday.DHS has multiple component agencies, including CISA, the Transportation Security Administration, Customs and Border Protection and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.Microsoft has already attributed some of the hacking activity to Chinese state-aligned groups,…