Best of 2023: Storytelling, Inspiration, Destinations & Humor

These were our editors' favorite hunting and fishing feature stories from last year.

December 20, 2023 By Game & Fish Staff

While finding some of the best gear, how-to and species-oriented hunting and fishing content on the web, users on gafmag.com also found some great storytelling. Here are our some of our favorite features of the year—from an in-depth conversation with hunting legend Jim Shockey to the fictitious tale of a high-school football star who committed to a college bass-fishing program.

Country Star Toby Keith Turns Love of Fishing Into Business Venture

The new owner of Luck E Strike aims to restore brand to "previous glory." By Lynn Burkhead

Country music superstar Toby Keith loves fishing so much he bought a tackle company.

First off, it's not all that unusual for country singers to express their love of fishing and the outdoors. Brad Paisley liked bass fishing so much he wrote a song about having to choose between love and a bass. Luke Bryan loves it so much that he wrote a song about his hero Bill Dance.

But Keith, who recorded "I'll Probably Be Out Fishing" in 2018, one-upped his other music brothers and bought Luck E Strike this past spring, with "plans to restore the brand to its previous glory.” And that's what brought Keith to the ICAST 2023 fishing trade show in Orlando, his first show as a fishing-industry business owner.

"Hunting isn't what I do, it's who I am." Shockey discusses new book, the love of his life, and the field-to-table lifestyle. By Tony Martins

multiple photos of Jim Shockey — Jim Shockey interview. (Photos by Tony Martins)

Jim Shockey is a man who needs no introduction to many American hunters. Award-winning television host and producer, worldwide traveler, guide and outfitter in British Columbia and the Yukon, museum founder and curator, conservationist, hunter, and now author of "Call Me Hunter," a new novel released recently. In the midst of a cross-country book promotion tour, we sat down with Jim for an interview in Scottsdale, Ariz.

KVD's Last Dance as Bass Fishing's GOAT

A look at the amazing Kevin VanDam as his tournament career comes to an end. By Lynn Burkhead

In his 34-year career, Kevin VanDam has been there, done it all and then come back for more. After announcing his retirement from competitive bass fishing earlier this year, he prepared for his final event—in his home state—to end an amazing ride.

Turkeys, tents and tribulation in the Sandhills of Nebraska. By John Taranto

Tent at night — Canvas wall tents aren't just for big-game seasons. They make a fine camp for Nebraska turkey hunters. (Photo courtesy of Joe Arterburn)

There isn't much in or around the town of Elsmere, Neb. In fact, the nearest place where a turkey hunter might get a few stitches after taking a chunk out of a finger while cleaning a gobbler is Ainsworth (pop. 1,655), approximately 40 lonely miles to the northeast. I know this from experience, but we'll get to that part of the story in a bit.

Indeed, as far as I can tell, the only business currently in operation with an Elsmere address is Goose Creek Outfitters, run by Scott Fink and his wife LaCaylla. And it was on their land, which, remarkably, has been in Scott's family since his great grandfather homesteaded there in 1904, where a group of friends and I set up a wall tent turkey camp last May.

When the mud-spattered Toyota stopped at the end of the gravel road, I slid out and strode to the edge of a clearing that had most likely been a log landing in the recent past. The ground dropped off quickly beyond the crushed stone and scattered bark fragments, and below me stretched a vast forest of pine towering above thick, green undergrowth. A soft wind swayed the branches of the trees at the edge of the landing, and I caught my breath when the breeze delivered the faint yet unmistakable sound my ears had been straining to hear.

A bark, a bawl … somewhere down in there—way down in there—the hounds were still on the trail.

People called him an April’s Fool to give up super stardom to 'chase little green fish.’

high school quarterback throwing a football — In the spring of the year, instead of slinging pigskins and working out to get ready for next fall’s football season, a Florida Panhandle teen with almost mythological pigskin throwing skills, is making a fool-hardy switch from football to fishing. (Photo by Lynn Burkhead)

Last April, just before his final spring workouts were to begin, can’t-miss high-school quarterback Jimmy Dance made an announcement that would make Bear Bryant roll over in his grave. In a press conference in the school cafeteria with media from all across the country expecting to hear his college of choice, Dance performed a flea flicker to remember.

"I'm gonna be the next KVD,” Jimmy said, referring to bass-fishing legend Kevin VanDam. "I've decided I really don't want to play football for a living, so I'm retiring from football and going to go bass fishing. I'm much better at that, especially in my Gheenoe."

Six gobblers! April Fools' Day was not a good day to be a turkey in the Peach State. By Craig Boddington

turkey hunter in the woods — A wonderful stroll through the Georgia pines. (Photo by Craig Boddington)

The opening morning of turkey hunting in south Georgia was slightly cool and calm. We were in a little cove of a clearcut, with birds gobbling up on a ridge to our left. My friend Dow Kirkpatrick was on the call. That was a good thing because he's a vastly better turkey caller than I will ever be.

It was April Fool Day, 2023. It didn't matter how good Dow sounded, all the tomfoolery was on us. The birds shut up just after daylight. We saw nothing and never heard another putt. At midmorning, we picked up the decoys and regrouped, this time setting up at the Long Field, a known gobbler haunt. A breeze had come up—hard to hear, probably for the birds as well. Dow and I were tucked under a tree, me on the left, decoys out in the field. Nary a sound, as noon come and went. Truth is, I was falling asleep. I glanced past Dow, and this black thing was coming along the treeline. Big black thing with a bright red head.

You Know When Bill Dance is in the House

The beloved icon continues to bring knowledge and smiles to the bass-fishing world. By Lynn Burkhead

Bill Dance and Jimmy Houston — Bill Dance and his pal Jimmy Houston have been fishing competitively, telling stories, filming TV shows, and making people smile and laugh since the 1960s and 1970s. And whenever they get together like they did at the ICAST show a couple of summers ago, you know good times are ahead. (Photo by Lynn Burkhead)

With free food and drink usually being enough to draw a crowd at gatherings like ICAST’s New Product Showcase reception, a murmur suddenly moved through the crowd. And just like that, the attention at the annual International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades turned to a man wearing blue jeans, a powder blue shirt and a white mesh baseball hat emblazoned with a familiar big orange T.

Bill Dance was in the house. Ladies and gentlemen, the "Elvis of ICAST" had just walked onto the floor. He blushed when he heard that moniker, insisting he’s just a regular guy. But like Elvis was to music, Tom Brady was to football and Michael Jordan was to basketball, Bill Dance is that to bass fishing.

The sprawling marshes around the Mississippi River Delta in Louisiana's Plaquemines Parish offer fantastic early season teal hunting and plenty of adventure. By Drew Warden

teal hunters in boat — The coastal marshes found throughout Plaquemines Parish draw thousands of migrating blue-winged teal in September, and hunters flock to the region to hunt them. (Photo by Drew Warden)

The entire area surrounding the Mississippi River Delta in southern Louisiana is incredibly ecologically diverse. Almost 40 percent of the coastal marshes in the continental U.S. are found here, and the array of interconnected habitats, including freshwater, brackish and saltwater marshes, play home to millions of birds, fish and other wildlife.

Of particular interest to us, however, were the migratory birds. And more specifically, the thousands upon thousands of blue-winged teal descending on the swamp in September as part of their annual migration.

The author and his friends all took bucks (13 for 13) in Kansas. They did some things right, but how much was luck? By Craig Boddington

Lee Newton kicked things off by taking a heavy-racked 8-pointer on the third day of the season. (Photo by Craig Boddington)

I’ve had a Kansas farm for more than 15 years. For the past decade, neighbor Chuck Herbel and I have pooled our properties and operated “Timber Trails” whitetail hunts. We have a lot of deer and a high buck-to-doe ratio. I’m convinced the population has increased over time, and I think our buck numbers have gone up.

The state’s 2021 rifle season spanned the traditional 12 days, and in two rotations of six, our 12 hunters took 12 bucks. I took an “ugly” cull buck to make it 13 for 13. A few seasons ago, I would have said such results were impossible.

It may never happen again, but our 2021 season was so exceptional—without ideal weather—that it’s worth examining. Whitetail rut movement being so random, was it blind luck or did we do some things right?