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
You greet 5 a.m. with your boots on, headed up-hill. By dawn, you are miles from camp and have a band of twelve elk in your binocular. They’re grazing lazily away from you along the opposite slope, flirting with rifle range in the early morning quiet. And like you, they are standing on public, Read More
There can be no light without darkness, no life without death, no joy without despair. I can make peace with the inescapable truths. But, as the days grow longer, and chukar season grows shorter, how the hell do I explain these facts of life to my dog? Maybe it’s for the best that she, Read More
“We don’t eat the feathers, cause see that would be silly, right Dada?” “Right.” “Yeah, cause we only eat the meat, and feathers aren’t meat and… and… um… cause see the meat’s on the inside!” The duck we were plucking had only hung for a couple days. I’d planned on waiting longer to breast, Read More
A quarter inch of frost covers the truck.Temps are in the single digits. The cold penetrates my head causing my ears to sting and my brain to hurt. Shuttling gear from the garage, I hustle to finish loading. Kennels, cooler, shovel, chains, are all in the bed. A shotgun, 6 weight, and a boot dryer bookend my, Read More
There are tears in your eyes. Or maybe it’s sweat. In either case your vision is a salt-stung mess. The watery glimpses of black dog that you catch – cresting the ridge directly above you and birdier by the stride – quiver and bounce like a glass of water in Jurassic Park. There is, Read More
As we put the holidays in the rear view mirror many of us begin to wish we had a flight booked to the Bahamas. Snow and freezing temps get to the best of us. Before you know it days or weeks can slip by without getting out. It’s great to spend time behind the vice,, Read More
She must have heard me talking about a new puppy. Or maybe it was just her day. In any case, the old lady was in rare form, even by her high standards. Our hunt started conventionally enough, but by mid morning it was clear she meant business. Her nose led us from covey to covey. The gentle breeze and fresh snow, Read More
Seven or eight miles of heavy brush brought us to the last forty-five minutes of daylight, and a fork in the trail. A warm truck and cold beer waited down the right-hand path. Straight ahead lay more half-frozen river, drifted snow and one last crease of thorny cover. The reassuring bulk of roosters cradled against, Read More
To say he wanted to hunt badly would be an understatement. I wasn’t sure we were going to make it a reality. Until we did. Despite his enthusiasm he conked out in the backseat as we headed down progressively smaller roads, for an evening deer hunt. We pulled up to the ranch and began glassing. Ignoring, Read More