Through an Old Man’s Eyes

Through an Old Man’s Eyes

The following is an excerpt from the “Characters” chapter of Jim Spencer’s book A Life Well Misspent. With a keen eye for detail and a deep connection to the natural world, Spencer invites you to walk in his footsteps, feel the thrill (and disappointments)...
Pit Blind Geese

Pit Blind Geese

Field-hunting geese from a pit blind represents the epitome of waterfowling. Each gust of wind brought the smell of freshly spread cow manure from the cut cornfield below. The maize had been harvested in the fall, and the ducks, geese, turkey and whitetails devoured...
Eight is Enough

Eight is Enough

On January 23, 1990 Kevin Thacher, my wife Marge, and I made our way a mile over rolling sand dunes from the English village of Wells-next-the-Sea. There was a very strong wind, alternating with ice, rain and heavy snow. We were there for the goose flight....
The Treasure of Simply Belonging

The Treasure of Simply Belonging

For restless years I harbored an unrequited craving for a 28 gauge. It came from reading too much Mcintosh, and misconceptions, perhaps, of life and love. In a hundred fantasies, the little 28 would come as breathlessly to shoulder as my high school heartthrob, a...
A Woman in White

A Woman in White

By all the laws of nature, George Blackwell should have quietly died of hypothermia in that very spot. But nature doesn’t always apply her laws with an even hand… At about the midpoint of his 67th season, George Blackwell looked at the world around him and...
Misses (and Worse)

Misses (and Worse)

The following is Chapter 1 from Jim Spencer’s latest book A Life Well Misspent. With a keen eye for detail and a deep connection to the natural world, Spencer invites you to walk in his footsteps, feel the thrill (and disappointments) of the hunt, the serenity of...
Where the Clouds Are Birds

Where the Clouds Are Birds

I think I know what Otis Redding had on his mind when he crooned “Sittin’ on the dock of a bay.” Only there’s no dock here. There’s no bay either, but I’m sitting on a high bluff overlooking the Parana River in Argentina, takin’ the rest of the day off.  Mi amigos...