We found ourselves a few hours from home, needing to kill some time while my wife was in a meeting. The local fly shop beckoned. “What’s that?” I asked. “Uh…I don’t know…pheasant tail?” “Nice, that’s right.” “Can we buy this one?” “Ah, not sure we can catch a trout with that.” “But I love, Read More

Passing the frozen reservoir, on the way to our closest tailwater, my daughter asks if we can go ice fishing. My parents are from Minnesota, but despite midwestern roots I’m not much of an ice fisherman. Sure I went a few times as a kid, but since then it’s been all open water for, Read More

After years of talk we finally pulled the trigger and got a boat. We had debated the merits of a raft vs. drift boat, new vs. used, and mostly how the heck we could pay for either. In the end a used drift boat with a price we couldn’t resist fell into our lap., Read More

Separated by a thousand miles, we head to church with the rest of our family. While my mother peers into the casket, we drop the boat into the river on a sunny January day. Water drips off the oars after every stroke. Tears of sadness and joy stain the faces of those in attendance., Read More

I was about to step haphazardly into the run and throw a few half-hearted casts. Although it was as nice of water as you could imagine we had seen little sign of life. It was early in the season and the water was frigid. As I let the ice-cold liquid wrap around my ankles my, Read More

I’ll admit, I struggle to take my kids hunting with me as much as I would like. It’s logistically challenging and not all situations are well suited for children under the age of five. Winter is tough and so is anything that involves a lot of hiking or long days. In the absence of, Read More

“Dada… um… is that elk dead?” asked Everett, peering tentatively from the garage doorway, eyes pinned to the hanging animal. “It sure is.” I answered from my seat at the butchering table. “Want to come in and see it?” “That means it can’t move anymore” he said, either reminding himself or seeking confirmation before, Read More

Clean white snow covered the faint two track. Nobody had been into the basin since the last storm. The truck pitched forward and we cautiously made our decent. Without talking my dad and I both had the same feeling in the pit of our stomach; a level of excitement for elk we hoped to, Read More

Darkness slowly begins to give way to light. Slight hues of grey yield to orange while the world is still and quiet. The hour before sunrise has become somewhat of a sacred time. For years I rarely noticed it. I either just plain missed it or during my childhood, when I would get up, Read More

Someone once described my brother Ryan as a combination of Greg Brady and Davy Crockett. An odd pairing, yes, but in some ways it made a lot of sense. At age 12, Ryan was on the Pro Staff for Matthews bows and one of the best under-18 archers in the country. As a chubby-cheeked, Read More