Standing in six inches of snow, I watched a man stand on the wings of a Canada goose, then grab it by the feet and pull. After some ripping and swearing, he had removed the breasts from the legs and then tossed the legs into the trash. I was appalled; it was just [...]
I could hear the screaming of bull elk so loud in my ear it almost hurt. I crept in slowly, with the wind in my face and my bow at my side. I could smell the elk before I could see them. The bedding area was thick juniper and had many rubs on [...]
Summer is often the “salad” season for folks. I know my garden is light and green at that time. I'll often find myself foraging greens, picking berries and getting a sunburn. Red meat, most of my freezer, does not call as loudly to me. So I start looking around for the extra grouse [...]
It is not a big patch of ground, but it is my patch…kind of. You see, I am willing to walk longer, crawl farther and basically put up with a bunch of access BS to get to the land. My tenacity gets me something special: un-hunted turkeys. An awesome find that only two [...]
Right before humans started shooting arrows at animals we started curing meat over a fire. It is a multi-millennia strong tradition. But why? Two reasons, really. The first reason that humans began to cure things is for simple food preservation. Refrigerators and freezers in households are a very recent invention. Prior to these, [...]
Honestly, I am not all that grateful for the Butterball turkey that I eat a small slice of each year. Nor the green beans, nor the stuffing. Those are from the store; I did nothing but buy them off the shelf. While I am happy to have them, and glad for the ability [...]
The gobbler was at the top of a small draw strutting his stuff when I caught him in my binoculars—a respectable Idaho Merriam’s. It had been a frustrating weekend of turkey chasing, with stuck trucks, rainstorms, snowstorms and fog. The birds were there and I could get the toms to gobble, but they [...]
So, what does a traditional bowhunter do at the end of the bow season for big game when the cottontail rabbit numbers crash? Hunt ducks! What else? No, I don't recommend using archery tackle if you want to eat duck, but if you want to shoot and laugh a bunch... fletch up some [...]
Blame it on Duck Dynasty if you want, or maybe on the cacophonous croaking of frogs along the canal near my home, but I have developed a taste for bull frogs. Frogging is considered a summertime pleasure for many of my southern-born friends. It is a rite of passage to muck through the [...]
Bears are like shadows in the forest--to quote a famous Idaho publication. They are cautious, shy, and seldom seen. Bears are omnivores of the highest order, preferring a patch of berries to hunting a deer, but never turning down a meal. They can be bold, they can be predictable, but for me, bears [...]
