Category: Hunting
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Nine years of fear
I learned a while ago, and have re-learned many times since, that fear before a trip rarely has much to do with conditions or hazard, and has everything to do with the concern that you’ll soon have to do something difficult. To perform close to the known ends of your abilities. The sooner that fear…
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Who was Carmen Spinelli?
I’ll never know for certain; but a month ago M bought me her/his old longbow as a birthday gift. The argument for a hunter being able to bowhunt competently is obvious. In a world where being able to hunt many of the great western landscapes hinges upon tag drawings, which in extreme cases can take…
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The feds, the states, and the critters
Since before the Revolutionary War wildlife in the United States has been public property, and for almost as long the oversight of that wildlife has been the purview of the states. Just as with almost every other issue, from education to health care, the integrity and coherence of state control has become less clear as…
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The most important backcountry skill
The above is a screen grab from the latest episode of Meat Eater. Whats significant here is not the episode itself, which is an excellent one, but what Steve Rinella is doing here. A few minutes prior he shot a large-antlered, mature mule deer, fulfilling a decades long quest with a perfectly placed 392 yard…
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Seek Outside Divide 4500 by the numbers
This is generation two of Seek Outside’s backpacking/all purpose pack, the Divide. Specs on this one are ~4500 cubic inches. 35 inches of unrolled height along the back panel, 32 inches of effective height (shown in first photo, below) with two rolls of the roll top. Top circumference is 40.5 inches, bottom is 36. The…
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Shills and ambassadors
Seek Outside BT2. Didn’t pay for the mid, and Seek Outside fast-tracked a prototype nest so we didn’t get munched by sandflies last winter. Such treatment is both a privilege and a burden. Getting free stuff is awesome. And not primarily because you don’t have to buy it yourself, though as someone who went down a not…
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610 pack, the evolution
My best, conservative, estimate is that since 2009 I’ve built roughly 30 backpacks, and owned a further ~20, which were either purchased retail or given to me for review or prototyping. This is a large number, especially considering that at the moment we only (!) have eleven packs in house, a mere two of which…
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Forest Service cabins of Montana
You should know about the forest service cabins in Montana. Retired patrol cabins, ranger stations, fire lookouts, and private residences which have gone into public hands, they’re one of the great secrets of public lands recreation in North America. Why am I writing about these cabins now? Because the Forest Services takes reservations a half…
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2015 in 12 photos
January: hunting Chamois and Tahr in New Zealand February: backpacking the Heaphy Track March: early, early season packrafting on the South Fork of the Sun April: animals everywhere in the North Fork of the Sun May: my favorite route across the Bob, yet June: M is really, really pregnant; and it’s hot July: Little Bear…
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Holiday roasted venison leg
This is a spectacular, spectator friendly, no-holds barred recipe for special occasions. I made it for solstice last weekend and aside from the visceral and personally satisfying rare backstrap the day of the kill is the best way I’ve ever had venison. Since the very young buck I shot with Little Bear came home whole,…
Bedrock & Paradox 
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