When the Turkeys Busted Loose

When the Turkeys Busted Loose

Me and Poach and the Window Wizard, walking this scrubby sheep pasture west of town. Sheep got buck teeth and clip the grass right down to the dirt. Canada thistle and prickly ash take over, tight clumps around the boulders the glaciers brought when they came and...

Miracle Mule Deer

Miracle Mule Deer

One father-son mule deer hunt through the Arizona desert leads to an unbelievable discovery and a miraculous shot by a young hunter. It was hard to believe a whole year had passed since last deer season and, as this one approached, I considered it with great...

Samuel “Baker of the Nile”

Samuel “Baker of the Nile”

In autumn 1858, on a beautiful day in the Scottish Highlands, a remarkable sporting feat that would be recounted innumerable times until passing into legend, occurred.  During dinner the previous evening at the Duke of Atholl’s estate, Sam Baker, recently returned to...

Moose Work

Moose Work

I’d been suckered back in. Suckered back to bowhunt moose in Alaska. I should’ve known better. I’d visited Southeast Alaska three times before, culminating in some of the worst hunts of my existence.  My first trip was the worst. A friend and I hunted two weeks as...

Thunder in Bear Canyon

Thunder in Bear Canyon

We knew they were there. We’d first seen them a year ago this past September—a mama bear and her three cubs working the upper end of, appropriately enough, Bear Canyon.  She was in superb shape, a real veteran and obviously a master at her craft, for each of her cubs...