Category: Hunting
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The 2016 BD Alpine Start Hoody
As I’ve mentioned here and elsewhere, the Black Diamond Alpine Start hoody is one of the better pieces of outdoor clothing one can buy. The original version had a fabric which was as perfect as current technology allows; mine has stood up impressively well to lots of use in the past 20 months. The only…
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Just another deer hunt
It was damn cold at 0530 when DJ Shadow’s “Endtroducing” woke me from the depths of my sleeping bag. Well into the second verse, which illustrated why I’ve never been able to use the alarm on my watch. Little Bear sighed his squeaky baby sigh, bundled in his sleeping bag in between us. Worried that…
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Fuzzy longevity
Yesterday I finally retired* my Rab Xenon (*cut up for parts and usable scraps of material). I received this jacket in early 2012 for a BackpackingLight project, and for the better part of two years it got the snot beat out of it. Starting last spring it stayed in the closet more often than not…
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The next big pack
There were a few persistent flaws or sources of discontent with this pack, which eventually had to be remedied. Ergo the monster below, and yet another doorway/Bob map photo. It’s been tested in a very basic manner on a dayhike, but backpacking with Little Bear in Utah next week will be it’s first real trip.…
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The five-foot tarp
A five foot wide tarp is a dead useful thing to have around, for emergency use, hiding from the weather to cook or glass (above), or for a primary solo shelter which will force one to use good site selection and pitching techniques. It’s also an excellent and relatively cheap and easy MYOG (make ya…
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Roasted venison BBQ
An easy and versatile recipe which works well with larger roasts which might be a bit on the tough side. In this case, the whole bone-out front shoulder from an old mule deer doe: tons of flavor, but not particularly tender when cooked rare. First thing you’ll need is the venison marinating in the rub,…
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Low percentages
Sam came back over the sage at a slow run, white mustache twitching with moisture in the bright noon air. “I like to think I’m a good judge of character,” he begins, then tells me how when he walked to the other side of the pass to get service he looked up after dialing his…
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All about insulation
Insulation in outdoor clothing can be confusing. The common question is “will ___ keep me warm during ____”, which is as understandable as it is naive (and bluntly, stupid). Clothing does not make you warm, clothing keeps you warm, and neglecting metabolic training (ex: burning fats), proper fueling and hydration, and technique (ex: slow down…
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Planning pile: Tendoy Bighorn hunt
I’m nervous about being rusty. It’s been almost 3 months since I went backpacking, and while taken as a whole it isn’t exactly a perishable skill, the profusion of little things which come together to make a backcountry trip go smoothly make it easy to forget stuff. So I’ve got a nice pile on the…
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Esee Candiru review
I hesitate to discuss knives, as they’ve become one of the major talismans of the talk-more, do-lessitude which is such a feature of outdoor culture on the internet. That is not a condemnation of individuals so much as it is a reminder, to everyone, that it is disconcertingly easy to pave the rhetorical road to…
Bedrock & Paradox 
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