My mind is still anchored in summer. The eighth inch of ice on the windshield should have tipped me off that the seasons have changed. I scrape ice and cradle a mug of coffee as I wait for the truck to warm up. Toes tingle from the cold as I step into waders. Carefully, Read More

I didn’t waste time surveying the scene on the way in. Twilight was darkening to evening, the wind was picking up and the temperature was falling fast on the high divide. That the Miner’s Delight Inn offered shelter was all I needed to know before hurrying inside. But with damp layers hung by the, Read More

  It’s been a good year. The cold damp soaking my thighs and the tang of wet sage are evidence. Water is life wherever you go, but the connection is hard to miss on the high desert prairie. The whole palette brightens and shifts toward green. In July, much of Wyoming looked like Ireland., Read More

Bad luck, lack of skill, karma, it’s hard to say. What seems certain is that I’ve far exceeded my quota of broken rods for the year. Maybe it’s because I went several years without breaking one. But five, and it is still September, that seems excessive. Other than the end result there doesn’t seem, Read More

First we want to catch a fish. Next we want a lot of fish. Then we want to land the fish.

First we want to catch a fish. Next we want a lot of fish. Then we want to land the fish.

Extended backcountry trips are part of the fabric of my DNA. My wife is no different. When we had kids there were no intentions of throwing that part of our lives away. Admittedly, we were rocked as much as anyone with the birth of our daughter and it wasn’t until she was two that we decided to head, Read More

At night the desert is home to the trickster. Tonight we invade his territory.

The tenderloins were the first to go. The backstraps weren’t far behind. You then spent the rest of the year whittling your way through the sirloins, round steaks, roasts, and burger meat, keeping one eye on the calendar and the other on the inventory. This year you were going to pace it just right. But, Read More

The epic. You know it’s out there. Hell-bent graupel riding vindictive gusts beneath a leaden sky; wet feet and chapped faces, cold to the quick with everything on and nowhere to go; nylon flapping and slapping and dripping all night; short tempers and long days – roll the dice often enough and you’ll find, Read More

Cords of wood that still need collecting: 4 Log structures that need refinished: 2 Square feet of home-office that needs finishing: 500 Minutes of sunlight lost everyday: 3 Elk tags: 2 Deer tags: 2 Antelope tags:1 Hunt areas to scout: 5 Rifles that need sighting-in: 1 Days until antelope rifle season: 23 Days until dove season: 5, Read More