We sat in the pickup and squinted into the lifting darkness at daybreak. Vague shapes gradually emerged three miles distant — fifty elk grazing along a hillside. We spent the next two hours creeping toward them. Slipping into range we caught sight through the timber of dark legs gliding over snow. As I raised my, Read More
Snow stacks up on the windowsill and in the mountains. It’s good for fish, good for grass, good for ungulates. Those are fleeting thoughts in the back of my mind. Mostly I keep my eye on the snow report at the local ski area. I take a leisurely morning to clean the garage and, Read More
By Garrett Munson When your primary job each fall is to fill the freezer with wild game meat for your family to eat for the coming year, you know you live a good life – a life many fellow Montanans cherish. My young kids are not too interested in hunting stories – they want results – so the job pressure is, Read More
They called him Deadeye Dan, although that was before I came along. He was a great shot. Dropping whitetails on the run as they darted between cottonwoods, elk in the fog at three hundred yard. Always just one shot. By the time I was able to tag along on hunts those days were long, Read More
Wet snow chilled me to the bone. I held back shivers and tried to remain focused. A half hour earlier I had taken my rain gear off for the fist time in days, trying to be quiet. Laying horizontal, alongside a downed tree trunk, I peered toward the elk. A cow had me dead to, Read More
I started running. You would think I became a vegetarian by the looks on my friends faces when I told them the news. Exercise in the form of running, going to the gym, or other organized workouts has never been my cup of tea. Time in the mountains, on the water, and the occasional, Read More
Sweat was beading on my brow. I was gasping for breath. Running up hill, I needed my iPhone. Fifty yards away I had the spotting scope set up. Binos were around my neck, so was the camera. A few hundred yards below were 300-400 head of elk. Cows and calves were mewing, the herd, Read More
My son was giddy when I picked him up early from school. We’d been talking about this day for months, uncertain when it would finally come. It snuck up on us at last. Driving together in the pickup we had thirty minutes until we were all reunited. I’ll admit, I was giddy too. There are, Read More
Pulling rubbermaid tubs down from shelves in the garage, I begin to sort gear. Sleeping bags and pads, water jugs, cook gear, the list goes on. Consulting a google doc I slowly pull the group gear we are responsible for and the personal gear our family needs. In less than a week we will, Read More
Humans are decidedly visual hunters. Sure, we’ve got four additional senses, and when we’re performing at our highest levels they all contribute. But relative to most other terrestrial mammalian predators, we are disproportionately reliant on sight to find and follow game. That fact is so fundamental that we often fail to (ahem) see it., Read More