Shuffle… shuffle… drag. Mr. Teavendale, my sixth grade science teacher, taught me that movement is one defining characteristic of life. Shuffle… shuffle… drag. Inching through the bowels of an airport qualifies, I suppose. Shuffle… shuffle…drag.  But it’s not my ideal form. Step… step…  glass. Slinking through broken timber is movement too. Step…step… glass.  The, Read More

When I was a boy, I spent much of each fall and winter in the backseat, driving hither and yon with my parents to assorted sporting events. I went to hundreds of games, all over the country, and each meant the world to me at the time, but today I can’t remember squat about, 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 knew dawn, when it finally broke, would be anemic and gray – little help in driving the cold from the house. Too bad, I thought. I needed all the help I could get. The sun hadn’t cleared the mountain yet, but already I was behind: behind on the errands, the house chores, the, 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

It’s Black Friday, the national holiday of acquisition and consumption. I bet attendees of the original Thanksgiving set about finding and collecting assorted provisions after their feast too. It was called hunting back then. Team STS may find time for some old-school shopping this afternoon, but first we need to finish counting our blessings., Read More

Turns out I’ve only owned one pair of binoculars and I lost those in a horse wreck in Wyoming’s Red Desert circa 2003. As a kid I borrowed a compact pair of Nikons from my dad. Since the horse wreck, I’ve had some 20 year old 8×32 Pentax’s, on semi-permanent loan from my brother., Read More