The Indiana Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers (BHA), the voice for our public lands in the Hoosier state, is excited to announce a new volunteer partnership with the U.S. Forest Service in the Hoosier National Forest. Located in southern Indiana’s hill country, the Hoosier National Forest consists of 204,000 acres of hardwood forests, streams, and backcountry trails. Known to outdoor enthusiasts as simply “the Hoosier,” this forest is Indiana’s largest public-land holding, ...

Expanding Public Land Hunting Access in the Hoosier State By Rob Seilheimer Photo by Adam Perrry   The Department of the Interior looks to keep its promise to expand hunting and fishing access on our public lands. According to a Department of the Interior press release, “U.S. Secretary of the Interior David L. Bernhardt announced … a historic proposal for new and expanded hunting and fishing opportunities across more than 2.3 million acres at 97 national wildlife refuges and 9 national fish ...

Have you ever heard a ruffed grouse drumming? It's primeval: as it calls for a mate, it beats a slow rhythmic thrumming that spins up, the drumming too fast to count. You feel it in your own chest as much as you hear it. Nowadays, if someone from Indiana wants to hear a grouse drumming, their best bet is to hop in the car and head to Michigan or Wisconsin. That wasn’t always the case, though. In the early 1980s, ruffed grouse were present in 41 of Indiana’s 92 counties. Now, it is estimated ...

My buddy Gerald in the Tennessee BHA chapter calls the Boundary Waters “his Eden.” It’s a metaphor that works on a couple levels. Eden was a space of pure nature. It was also the place we became conscious, became aware of pairs of opposites. Knowledge of this and that. Light and dark. The first wardrobe malfunction when man and woman, noticing they were different, grabbed some fig leaves to cover up. Our group was in the Boundary Waters last week, and opposites were everywhere. Technology ...