Ode to the Check-In Station
Technology makes reporting a kill easier, but there’s something to be said for the traditional way.
Mournful Echoes
“…before I could gather my feet under me I felt a boot on my neck.”
Once Bitten, Twice Shy: The Scope Bite
Arguably worse than any snake bite, when the rifle scope bites, it’s only a matter of seconds until the blood and the tears start to flow. There are seven venomous snakes in my home state of Oklahoma – the copperhead, the cottonmouth and five different species of...
It’s a Sin to Kill a Mockingbird…Or Is It?
A turkey hunter encounters a mockingbird with an impressive vocabulary, imitating quail, bucks and hogs. But one sound sent the hunter running. After poring over a topographic map all winter, I finally drew my X on an out-of-the-way piece of public land. It was going...
A Way to Hunt During the Offseason
You can hunt year-round when you travel into the stories of great outdoor writers.
Bearing Burdens in My Hunting Journal
This hunting journal helped me find the peace that eluded me so long and the perspective so crucial for surviving life between seasons. It doesn’t always happen on the first sit. Sometimes it takes a few days, maybe even a couple of weeks. One year, my kids were...
That Dog’ll Hunt: Best Bird Dog Names
The best bird dog names are easy to both whisper and wail. That’s why bird dog names are usually only a single syllable long. Naming a dog is serious business. Naming a bird dog, more serious still. There are so many subtleties to consider when christening a canine...
The Bearing Tree
The landmark was a reminder of purer, simpler days. Three years ago, on an opening day hunt in my home state of Oklahoma, I killed one of the biggest Rio Grande turkeys of my life. In fact, he was big enough to show off, so I hauled him across the street to where my...
Scoping Out The Burris Optics Factory. Eye-opening!
I recently took Burris Optics up on their slogan Find What Matters, and made a visit to their factory in Greeley, Colorado, to find out what matters to them. When I learned that Burris is headquartered less than an hour’s drive from my in-laws’ house where we’d be...