If someone had told me in my early twenties that hunting would lead me to some of my biggest learnings, my most gratifying experiences and give me a profound perspective about the world, I would have laughed them off.
Read the ArticleIf someone had told me in my early twenties that hunting would lead me to some of my biggest learnings, my most gratifying experiences and give me a profound perspective about the world, I would have laughed them off.
A remarkable devotion exists with each of my Labradors, curated around the ideal of the perfect retrieve. When I reminisce on my past, each pup has bestowed me with a great balance, all while I endeavor to provide them with the best life possible.
Dark Hollow was uninviting at 5:00 AM on the cold predawn of November 7th. I'd given the neglected pasture that name as it had transformed over two decades into a labyrinth of thorn-infested honey locust and multiflora rose. If the devil designed a forest, this was it, and I sure as hell wasn’t welcome.
There are two types of whitetail bowhunters: those who consistently get close to mature whitetails, and those who don’t. It’s that simple.
Let’s be honest, waterfowl hunters beat the hell out of their gear. It’s not out of negligence or apathy, it’s a byproduct of our relentless pursuit. Find the birds, gain access, make a plan, build a hide, set a spread, hunt it out, clean it up, process birds, find the birds, find the birds, find the birds…and so the season goes.
Gear selection on expedition-style hunts is make or break and a clothing system is a critical component. My list is under constant scrutiny and dynamic, informed by cumulative lessons learned, sandwiched between the rarely occurring mountainside epiphany.
Learning to cut weight from your gear and not compromise your safety is a learned skill. After scrutinizing your pack list, it's easy to assemble a large pile of equipment. It's more challenging to focus on the little things that conspire against you, adding unnecessary weight and bulk. Ounces equal pounds, and the little things add up quickly.
This is an easy to execute dish that would work equally well on a stovetop or at a campfire. It’s an ode to simple food, found close to home, that’s eaten at the peak of freshness. References to meals very much like it can be found in dishes from places as varied as India, Nigeria, the Caribbean and France.
If Mother Nature stays on our side, British Columbia will have an unprecedented morel mushroom bonanza from late May until the end of June. Morel mushrooms are a prized delicacy in restaurants and kitchens worldwide. By the end of last year, 1,600 wildfires ravaged 870,000 hectares of land because of climate change, decades of fire suppression and unprecedented temperatures. In the ashes of wildfires or other natural areas impacted by intense burning, bumper crops of morel mushrooms can grow—although it’s never a guarantee.
I didn’t understand the fanaticism surrounding turkeys until I was in the thick of it. In fairness to myself, I could hardly be blamed. I spend most of my time in a part of the country with such decrepit turkey numbers that NWTF population maps just show a white void when it comes to my stomping grounds. I don’t see turkeys when I deer hunt, rarely find feathers, and until last year, when I spent a couple of weeks pursuing the primeval beasts, I had never heard a gobble outside of a barnyard environment.
The simpler a recipe is the more crucial it is to use great ingredients. You cant cover up inferior ingredients through the cooking process. For a breakfast sandwich the key components are always your bun and whatever is the main filler in the sandwich. A breakfast sandwich is most often filled with soft ingredients so having a hard bun will likely end with the ingredients being pushed out the other side of the bun as you eat it.
Where I reside in Montana, winter days are short, menacingly dark, with snow storms frequently followed by rain; weather that is unappealing to most. As the spring days grow longer, I am drawn to spend more time outside enjoying the extra hours of the season. Everything about spring turns my thoughts to adventures in the mountains. Witnessing the mountains emerging from winter while engaged in a hunt is something I never grow tired of. The varied thrush is a bird I often hear during long, drawn-out evening glassing sessions in the mountains. With their first calls echoing through dense stands of old growth timber, and the scents of a forest gradually rewarming, it’s easy to fall in love with spring black bear hunting.
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