I used to hate the looks. The small eye rolls and the raised brows. The quizzical shadow that briefly flashed across other hunters’ faces when they looked at my deer. Most of the time they didn’t say anything much; they just offered a small, half-hearted congratulations before moving on down the trail. But every now
There’s a lot to be said about heroes. Not so much the fictional, comic-book kind, but the real-life men and women whose actions and lives influence us and shape us into who we will become. I remember perfectly one cold November day back in Vermont. I was eight years old and a friend’s father took
These days, no matter which way the wind is blowing, civil discussions between two parties always seem escalate to bloody, knock-down, drag-out fights in the street. The hunting community is far from immune to this, but few topics will get us foaming at the mouth quite like this classic: Is caliber or accurate shooting more
The cabin sat alone on the edge of the mountain. For most of the year it stood unused and empty: its roof stacked heavy with snow in the winter, its weathered sides fading to gray in the spring and summer sun. Yet the cabin was not forlorn; it was not abandoned to simply decay and
The buck emerged from the trees at a fast trot during last light on the last day of the season. I had been still-hunting all day and assumed my season was over when he appeared. The adrenaline surge hit me like a train. I raised my muzzleloader and fired, dropping the buck in a cloud
When most of us hear the words “game bird” we automatically think of the ring-necked pheasant. These redheaded, long-tailed little whirlwinds seem to dominate the upland world, evoking images of tweed cap-wearing aristocrats holding downed roosters and petting pedigreed dogs. Yet there is another, more common, populous, and widespread upland game bird out there that
