Kids are in the back seat, headphones on, watching a new National Geographic DVD. Under the seat is a 12 gauge and six weight. Interspersed throughout the cab are stuffed animals, a fuzzy pink blanket, tripod, binoculars, sippy cups, and a soft sided cooler with enough snacks to feed a small army. Confined in the, Read More
Rays of golden sun and smoke gray clouds fight for dominance. Ultimately the sun wins. The Wyoming wind also has skin in the game and seeks to make a shot at the title. The dogs and I are merely props in the scene. Pulling up a hood and zipping my collar I seek to keep warm. The, Read More
Cooped up in the back of the pickup the dogs were restless. They had been let out a few times between stalks, but mostly it had been a long ride. Antelope were the top priority. The dogs and a chance to look for sage grouse were a distant second. By mid afternoon we were, Read More
I was once told that speaking critically of girlfriends and spouses was one thing, but to do the same about someones gun dog is crossing the line. There are a ton of great hunting dog breeds out there but most of us settle on one or two. From that point on we espouse the, Read More
My eyes were already open when the alarm hit 2:30am. By 3:00am I was hitching up the boat. I put the dog in the cab. Scraping the windshield quickly, I worried she might eat the breakfast burritos that my partner in crime had toiled over the night before. After sipping on a thermos of, Read More
Folding neatly the greenhead splashed soundly onto the water. The old lady made quick work of the retrieve.
The old lady gets all the ink. See here, here, here and here. But I actually do have two dogs. My 5 year old male, while lacking the flair for the ridiculous and the dramatic of his counterpart, has been consistently retrieving birds like a laser guided missile since he was a pup. At, Read More
Tears streaming down her face, I agreed to head back to the car and and hang out for the last 20 minutes of shooting. The sound, and even the thought, of shotgun blasts had her terrified. We had never had this problem before and the two younger kids were unfazed, simply wanting to shoot, Read More
Bucking in circles like a rodeo bull, her enthusiasm belied her age. I was scrambling around the cold garage looking for duck hunting gear that hasn’t been used much lately. The temps started to drop, from a high of 20 F, as soon as the sun dipped below the mountains. Waterfowl was our game, Read More
“Dada… um… what… um… what are we going to doooo today?” It was a good question. We’d been batching it for a few days and the seams were starting to show. Three consecutive days of no mom, no nap, and long hours hunting in the elements had combined with the post-Christmas hangover to produce, Read More