General Q&A about the great outdoors and outdoor pursuits.
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Some hunting rifles come with a 20 MOA rail on top for mounting the scope or you can purchase the rails separately. What is the point of a 20 MOA rail?
There are two types of rifle scopes when it comes to which focal plane the reticle is etched on and they are called first or second focal plane scopes. What is the difference between the two types...
I was doing some target 22 target practice and had three different brands of ammo, supersonic Thunderbolt 35 grain, Aguila 40 grain subsonic and Aguila 60 grain subsonic. The Thunderbolt was the l...
Once a hummingbird feeder is set up and the hummingbirds know about it they will come back over and over again on a regular basis. They even seem to remember after the winter and will come to check...
Many many years ago me and my brothers used to go rabbit hunting with air-rifles. I was pretty young TBH and the details are not sharp in my mind. It occurred to me that the .22 calibre air-rifle t...
I'm looking to buy a new jacket for hiking/traveling during winter in Australia for temps between 8c to 15c and possibly in windy and rainy conditions. I noticed that snow jackets tend to be cheap...
Each year pronghorn shed the outer covering of their horns, and while they don't last as long as deer sheds you can still find them. All of the ones I have found have been by accident, if one was ...
This question is inspired by the question of @Sue on the peripheral vision of squirrels. It is a much less appealing question, but I figure if we can ask about animal behavior at feeding stations,...
I have a Mountain Hardwear Trango 3.1 (a four-season tent) that lost the hooks on its rain fly. They simply became unglued from the inside of the fly a little while back. For those not familiar wit...
This past weekend, there was a fatal attack on the Appalachian Trail My girlfriend and I are planning a section hike of the AT through the White Mountains of NH and partly through the Maine secti...
I've been learning about snow forecasting in the UK. I've learned an important feature is the atmosphere thickness, specifically the 528 line: Pressure decreases with altitude, and thickness me...
Many mountain hikers recommend drinking hot fluids, because they provide a lot of energy. According to the discussion "Does eating snow help dehydration?", the actual calorie gain is minimal, howev...
Quite simply: What is this animal? I have searched through various wildlife identification guides (particularly ducks and geese) and have so far not found anything close.
Our suburban yard in Massachusetts has a small woodsy area. We use a section for feeders for birds, chipmunks, squirrels, raccoons, opossums, rabbits, and the occasional bear or fox. In an area o...
Back in the old days, it was recommended that for a snake bite you cut an X and suck the venom out. That is no longer recommended, however, they still sell suction devices such as the Sawyer Extrac...
I am considering climbing Mt. Triglav in late September and am torn between the Via Ferrata routes or the less strenuous hiking trails. Can anyone provide advice on the following - Accomodation...
We went to Gargantua this weekend, I've been going at least once a year for the past few years, and it's not uncommon to see rocky mountain goats up at that elevation, but this time around we ran...
After finding out that Rocky Mountain Goats have killed one person and have been known to harass hikers, how would you protect yourself from an aggressive goat? In most cases I would guess that sim...
According to the Audubon book on bird houses, they should not be constructed under a branch or other support that a squirrel could use to jump down to them. However, in that case, how do I make a ...
Is a coyote or pack of coyotes likely to attack my small dog if she is with me on a trail on a leash? I heard of someone's dog being eaten while the woman was walking her pet on a leash. She was a...
I was riding my bike today and I saw a number of these brown caterpillars with white strips and black spots near the head crossing the sidewalk. (Penny for scale) Does anyone know what kind of c...
This is a topic often discussed online, but all I could find so far was people sharing their opinions (including numbers) on what tie-in knot is the best. Here's what I've found out from different ...
We have a question here about how common assaults/crime happen to people hiking the Appalachian Trail which I have answered with basically all of the statistics I could find. However it doesn't se...
I don't think of myself as being a paranoid individual, but I am cautious about people I meet when hiking. For example, if I am eating lunch at a site less than a mile from an infrequently used tra...
We went away for five days and came home to find a robin building a nest in the crook of the downspout of our gutter. I live in Massachusetts, in Northeast United States, so she's probably an Ameri...
Driving into work this am, the woods were full of wild garlic, you could actually smell it in the car. I've always presumed that it is edible but I'm not 100% sure. Can you eat wild garlic? W...
The bowline knot (picture below, source) has a great reputation as a very safe knot. Is it really completely safe in all situations and loads, or are there use cases where it may fail?
I'm going to be doing some backpacking in a desert environment state park. In the event that someone in my party is stung by a scorpion, what is the proper first aid? Note that we may be in a remo...
I found this abandoned building with what looked like some sort of radio gear while hiking near Mono Lake California. The shed on skids Close up of inside Does anyone know what this was or...
In an answer on a question about bowlines the following statement is made by @MarkG: All 'Bowlines' have the advantage of being Post Eye Tiable (PET) and totally jam resistant. https://outdoo...
I'm looking at buying regulators for scuba-diving this weekend and we came across the options to have a DIN or a yoke valve for our first stage. What are the pros and cons of both a DIN and a yoke ...
I've been walking my dog recently in the Templeton woods in Dundee, Scotland. When I walked past the Gallow Hill water tower I came across these concrete (?) posts. There were about 20-30 of them a...
According to the most comprehensive reference ever written on bowlines, the EBSB bowline (which is a variation of another variation, called the EBDB bowline, together with a sort of Yosemite finish...
I've been learning about collecting dead wood from trees which are easy enough to identify in summer (lack of leaves) but is there a way of identifying dead wood that also works in winter?
When researching surf conditions, what weather cycles indicate good overall conditions for a North American Atlantic Ocean-based break?
My wife and I have been watching these magpie Jays for a while and I was just wondering what if all would be the purpose of the plume on their heads. It's strange in it's a single strand with a few...
Some time ago I bought Vango F10 Xenon UL 2 tent. Had no chance to use it yet as I had to cancel the trip I was planning on using it on. Now I'm planning something new, but as it's going to be in s...
One thing I need to do to prepare for deer season is to sight in my rifle. I'm new to the Boise area and don't know where I should go. I'd prefer to go somewhere free, but if the only options avail...
When a rifle has a scope where the relief is too short for comfortable shooting, are there any options other than replacing the scope? The scope has a adjustable relief, but even with that I have t...
As I look for a new hunting rifle, I see that some have fluted barrels, such as the Mossberg Patriot for example and some do not. What would the advantage of a fluted barrel be?
This question asks about bog-crossing grades of difficulty, and special equipment like bog shoes. What are bog shoes?
When fishing in catch and release areas, one needs to be able to unhook the fish and return them to the water unharmed. What tool(s) would be useful for this?
I'm looking into buying my first snowboard, and there's all kinds of types: All mountain Freestyle Freeride Splitboards Powder What's the difference between these types?
Lately I've recognized the huge amount of fisherman's hats on a 3D archery tournament. Also, I see them a lot while hiking. I can't really figure out what makes them superior above a common hat ...
I saw a bird (the mother) swallow the birdring of another bird it was eating on live camera (while feeding its chicks) link (the site is in Polish) and I am wondering whether: Can it actually cau...
Pack stoves come in a variety of flavors, consuming white gas, denatured alcohol, propane, wood, gels, unleaded, kerosene... etc. Given the assumption that I will be carrying all the fuel I need (...
Seen today (5/5/19) in an area north of Boston.
This is one of those things, that seems like it has just always been in my knowledge. A recent comment about rifles on a question about shotguns got me thinking, it really is not all that simple. ...
For winter camping it is recommended to use a sleeping pad with an R value greater than 5. Can you alternatively use two closed cell 2.5R pads one on top of each other? If using an inflatable ...
My husband found this very large turtle (or tortoise) crossing a road from an industrial park towards a wooded area. It was in June, in Massachusetts, USA, at 8:00 in the evening. He didn't touch i...
