The morning started out much like the first few of our eight day elk hunt high in Idaho's back country. My partner Dave Stanley and I got up well before dawn, had breakfast, and then made plans for the day. We decided to hunt a long ridge about a mile west of camp [...]
Like most big hunts made by folks of limited means, the one I did for caribou in 2017 started with a whole lot of procrastination. One is always finding excuses to put off a dream hunt—money, family, work, hair appointments—the list goes on and on. However, after I returned from my 2015 Alberta [...]
Seeing women in a hunting camp these days is not at all uncommon. It happens so regularly, in fact, that their male counterparts simply accept the female member of the party as just “one of the guys”. Indeed, bowhunting is one of our truly gender-neutral sports. One might assume this is the result [...]
It was the last hour of our last hunting day. My brother and I were on our way home, and feeling defeated. Here we were, in the forests of our home country of Spain, during the peak of the rut for red and fallow deer, and it looked as if we were going [...]
The saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover" definitely applies to the South Texas brush country. At first glance it doesn't look like anything could survive in this dusty, dry, cactus-choked wasteland. It doesn't get much better on the second or third glance! However, for this Midwestern traditional bowhunter, I would soon [...]
All bowhunters know that success in the field is equal parts luck and skill. Over the years, I have been a bit short on the luck part, but have kept at it, confident that the “luck pendulum” would eventually have to swing my way. And so it was that I entered last year’s [...]
It was 38 degrees outside my tent cot. I was wearing pajamas, wader liners, a jacket, gloves, wool socks, a blanket, and my sleeping bag. Essentially I was wrapped up like steaming hotdog, and I had no intention of leaving my cot. However, some primal instincts in me to feast on wild hog [...]
It all began about twenty years ago, when I started hunting with a bow and arrow. Growing up in the heart of the Alps, I have always been in close contact with nature. I have developed hunting skills since I was a boy; a gift given to me from my grandfather, who used [...]
Original artwork by Kyle Sivertsen I was cold and stiff from two hours of sitting motionless near a game trail waiting for elk. The mid-October morning was the first cold one of the fall, and I felt underdressed. Until this point, my elk season had involved warmer weather and more movement on my [...]
It can be easy to read stories and watch shows of other hunters and become consumed with the “it’s always greener on the other side” frame of mind. But I’ll bet you have hidden treasures in your backyard. It could be endless acres of squirrel, rabbit, and woodchuck habitat. Maybe you live near [...]
