Sanctity of Sanctuary Ranch

Sanctity of Sanctuary Ranch

The words “sanctity” and “sanctuary” both have Latin roots. Sanctity, from sanctus, defined as “sacred or holy,” and sanctuary from sanctuarium, “a sacred or private place.” These words both define in totality the experience at Pat Bollman’s and his family’s whitetail...
Tangles With El Tigre

Tangles With El Tigre

Each day’s end brought fear and a sense of unease to the small ranching community of Center City, Texas in the fall of 1903. Whispered throughout, the terrible term “El Tigre.” Warner Glenn knelt on the shallow tracks of the desert floor, carefully...
The Ghost of Camelot Ridge

The Ghost of Camelot Ridge

Every so often, it occurs to me that I am, without question, one of the luckiest guys in the world.  It’s a brash statement, no doubt, and I hope that it doesn’t come off as bragging, because that’s not how I mean it. To me, it just means that I understand, and that...
Leo Tolstoy and The Bear Hunt

Leo Tolstoy and The Bear Hunt

I felt something warm above my head and realized the bear was drawing my whole face into its mouth; my nose, already in it and feeling the heat of it… Have you had summer in Moscow and St. Petersburg this year? “the bundled-up June tourist asked at the...
The Dilemma

The Dilemma

The rifle was all they talked about. A slick new Winchester Model 94 resting in the glass showcase at Harden’s Hardware. Jack coveted it. All the boys did.  An inveterate hunter all of his long life, Mr. Harden smiled at the boys’ enthusiasm. Recalling his excitement...
A Winter’s Bone

A Winter’s Bone

Damn cold. The stove has died during the night, down to coals. I’m completely awake, just opening my eyes to the dark of the cabin. The creaking I hear as I get out of the bed isn’t just the old bunk springs, it’s my bum elbow and that damn left knee. I heave an...
Buffalo Bill: Famous Hunting Parties of the Plains

Buffalo Bill: Famous Hunting Parties of the Plains

No individual so personified the American West and spirit of the late 1800s as William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody. Pony Express rider, scout and legendary hunter, Buffalo Bill and his popular Wild West show toured the U.S. and Europe for more than 30 years. Cody...
When Wolves Come Calling

When Wolves Come Calling

I spotted a dark figure moving in the dense north Canada forest to my left, and my mind somehow convinced me it was a black bear headed my way—no need to move or be ready. I was hunting wolves. Moments earlier I ceased calling when four wolves suddenly appeared down...
The Old Timer, Wandering Always Like The Wind

The Old Timer, Wandering Always Like The Wind

I have often sat, solitary, in twilight’s slow dissolution to gray, awaiting the unmistakable sound of hooves as they rustle their way through the dusk. It is a time of relentless solitude, and in the whispered vespers of the hemlocks, there is a fleeting...