You’d damn near talked yourself into it too. You almost got yourself to believe that an unvarnished skunking, wasn’t so bad, that it wouldn’t rankle until your next time out, that it wasn’t like finding coal in your Christmas stocking.
The thing is, we’re really not that complicated. Each of us, you see, has these buttons. Push them and things happen. The trouble didn’t turn up until we handed the buttons over to the robots.
It’s true what they say. The gap between more and enough never closes.
It was the year’s first post-work outing. With the equinox behind us and daylight savings time tacking an extra hour onto the evenings, there was finally enough afternoon sunlight to give it a go… and not a day too soon.
“Did you know those things are like… way old?” the shop kid said of the soft hackled flies I’d asked for. “I hear they still work though.” “Yeah, I’ve heard that too,” I said. Had I not already felt so unfashionable in the hip, resort-town fly shop I might have mentioned the old Guy, Read More
The world keeps a ledger Coach Mack said . Where you stand in life is nothing but a simple accounting of your decisions to that point. You gotta think about that bottom line before you make up your mind…
By Kirk Billings I finished up bird season last year with a bad knee, a mile and a half march across obscenely muddy flats, and a single chukar in my vest. I’d had to scrounge shells for my 20 gauge to eke out the day and a broken strap on my gaiters flailed along, Read More
Sleeping bag tucked under my arm and Sorel boots in my opposite hand, I boarded the bus with my head down. I was the only kid carrying those items. As a freshman in high school I was embarrassed by the extra gear. But my dad wasn’t letting me leave home without it. Raised in, 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