If I’d had a pipe and an Irish setter, we could have been in a Norman Rockwell painting. Puffy white clouds floated in a bluebird sky above vibrant green sage and the rolling red-dirt prairie. A man, at ease with the world and confident in his forthcoming conquest, strides forth, a shotgun cradled across, Read More
The big cat presses its belly to the frozen ground and crawls forward, inch by silent inch through the low sage. The midmorning sun rising at his back offers little warmth, but the cat has learned from hard won experience that low-angle light glinting off the glacier makes it difficult for his prey to, Read More
Pronghorn antelope get a bad rap as table fare. I have a theory as to why. Somewhere along the way, their abundance, combined with their preference for wide-open country, spawned a hunting culture that, in some corners, accepted long range shooting as the norm. This in turn resulted in too many wounded critters putting in, Read More
The new neighbors are a noisy bunch. They’ve been raising hell every morning for weeks now. I put the neighborhood watch on the case. “There’s um, Dada there’s three now. I know because’n I heard a quieter one from way over… um over there and it had a different pattern,” reports my four, Read More
This is supposed to be a story about an elk hunt – a chronicle of scouting, spying and scrapping all fall; a tale of braving the elements, rugged terrain and early morning dark for a chance at a chance. There should be tracks in the snow and fateful first glimpses, stalking, crawling, held breath, Read More
You’ve puzzled over the question since childhood. Why can’t the magic of Christmas last all year long? Well I can’t offer any elf magic, but I do know how to eke a few more days of house warming aromas from the holiday feast, and how to jar joy and satisfaction for later use: Elk, Read More
“Dada, Dada did you get a elk?” called my four year old from the front door as I slid from the pickup into the icy, floodlit driveway. I used to greet my Dad in much the same way, I realized, when he returned from a business trip, hoping he’d brought me a toy or, Read More
Traditionally a surrendering military officer hands over his sword or, in more recent times, sidearm. But when U-Boats were captured during World War II, victorious allied naval officers often demanded that German captains relinquish their binoculars instead. After long months of playing deadly games of cat and mouse, they recognized the German’s superior optics for, 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
“Dada, Dada look!” exclaimed my four year old. “The buck deer, um… with the pointy antlers… he’s smelling the girl deer’s BUTT! Ewwww… silly deer.” “Yeah, they’ll do that sometimes,” I said, hoping my indifference would stop the inevitable line of questioning in its tracks. “Why’s he do that?” he asked, undeterred. “Well… uh… you, Read More