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
“Dada… um… did you shoot a elk yet?” I always get a little edgy as the big game season nears its close. Maybe it’s my hyperactive sense of responsibility reacting to an empty freezer. Maybe it’s the knowledge that I’ll soon be consigned to the audience of life’s great drama. In any case, having, Read More
Dad chose his words wisely, as dad’s are prone to doing: “Nope…it’s my job to carry the spotting scope” “I’ll hike and find someone who can jump our truck…why don’t you go ahead and hunt” “Here’s another scotch” This year I was lucky and drew one of the most coveted Wyoming deer tags. My, Read More
My fingers were almost numb inside gloves that had been left in the truck all night. Cold metal from the trailer hitch and scraping ice off the windows had quickly taken their toll. Feeling was slowly coming back as the defrost blasted. Headlights guided me through the darkness as I headed to the put in., Read More
Over the years I’ve done a handful of european mounts myself. It’s always tedious and doesn’t turn out as well as it would if done by a professional. But I like the process and often don’t want to throw down the money to have a taxidermist do the job. This year I had decent, Read More
My attention ebbs and flows. A month ago I had almost no interest in hunting, I was immersed in fishing. There were years where my focus was waterfowl, then it switched to upland birds for the last couple. While introduced early, passions for fishing and bird hunting came later to me. Big game hunting, Read More
They called him Deadeye Dan, although that was before I came along. He was a great shot. Dropping whitetails on the run as they darted between cottonwoods, elk in the fog at three hundred yards. Always just one shot. By the time I was able to tag along on hunts those days were long, Read More
My uncle always said that elk were a staple and everything else was an appetizer. I guess we liked appetizers because as a kid we would always shoot a couple of whitetail does for the freezer. We had tons of them on our family ranch and they tasted delicious. Now, I have almost no access, Read More
I can no more explain why I hunt than I can explain why I read. I have reasons – because others must die for me to live, and I’m resolved to do my own killing; because it’s the most sensually vibrant and emotionally complex way I know of to experience the natural world; because, Read More
The air is getting cooler. A few trees are starting to turn. Many folks are thinking about fall fishing. Aggressive browns, big streamers, you name it. We love to fish, we’ll probably still fish this fall. But something else is underfoot. It’s hunting season. Some folks are already going full tilt. Archery seasons have, Read More