Nate Smith’s Dairy Farm

Nate Smith’s Dairy Farm

The right or wrong of hunting has nagged at me from the beginning, and after a decade of hunting I finally set out to think it through.  I agree with the sentiment of writer Edward Abbey: “Hunting is one of the hardest things even to think about.” As is my way, I...
Wilcox Pass

Wilcox Pass

Paynesville, Minnesota, 1875 It was cold. A damp kind of cold that reached into the bones and could scarcely be shaken away.  The lateness of autumn had arrived and soon winter would descend on Minnesota’s once rugged back country.  Before long, tens of thousands of...
A Red Oak Thanksgiving

A Red Oak Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 1964, one I’ll never forget. I was 14 years old.  Mother was decidedly against it. “They’re different, Lane, not like us,” she said. “I don’t mean that they’re bad. They aren’t… just different. They’ll have family and friends down from Jackson and...
Red Legs!

Red Legs!

When the lakes begin to turn hard and icy winds gust from the north, the red legs are not far behind!

Pheasants in the Mist

Pheasants in the Mist

The October sky darkens and melts into the horizon, hovering briefly between shades of cobalt blue and gray. Barren fields, pocked and ridged like a nuclear wasteland, stretch out on either side of the truck as we speed through the twilight, tires singing on the...
New England Woodcock and Storied Shotguns

New England Woodcock and Storied Shotguns

Storied is not exclusive to price tag or class. Occasionally the twain rub shoulders and have a bountiful supply of tales to tell, but there are no guarantees. This Purdey, however, had it all. Scratches and dings and rubbed-smooth spots. Cost? Likely something...