Idaho Archery Elk Camp

  As September approaches, my anticipation for one of my favorite parts of fall starts to rise until it takes over my thoughts. For the last few years and many years of my youth September was defined by a couple weeks at my Dad’s archery elk camp in Idaho. So many years and so many…

Centered

My life is chaotic. I bet your life is chaotic too at least at times. A good life full of the best blessings usually is wrought with chaos. The two must go hand in hand. Being a naturally quiet and reserved personality, I don’t handle chaos well. It makes me anxious and distracted even when…

Circle Of Life

It was a typical Wednesday morning. The flurry of getting everyone’s needs met before they headed off to work or school went by without a hitch. The clutter and dishes left in the waste would have to wait because this Wednesday was about to become non-typical. The night before I had carefully prepared everything my…

Moments in the Woods of Opening Archery Weekend 2018

It is hunting season, or more specifically archery season. It opened up here in Montana last weekend and thanks to the generosity of my husband and mother in law I was able to sneak away for 3 hunts that weekend. As I headed out on the first hunt and the miles ticked away behind me…

It’s coming…

Summer has tightened her grip on Montana. The smoke has begun to settle into the valleys a little bit more each day. Most of the foliage has turned brown and even what is green has an element of crunch to it. The mornings still have a coolness to them but the sun quickly overtakes it…

Tristan’s Boone And Crockett Moose

  Hunting season begins early in the year long before the weather turns and the freezer starts to empty. The future season actually begins when the draw results come out in June. That is when the planning can begin as it depends on what you draw. When this information pops up on our Montana Fish…

The Great Bait Debate

  Love it, hate it or indifferent on the topic, bear baiting deserves a candid conversation on the pros and the cons of this long debated practice. Bear baiting, in a way, stands alone in the sea of hunting practices as it is the only legal big game species to bait in some of the…

Mother Nature Takes Pity

Bears, the picnic basket stealing, honey loving, fluff buckets that continually produce the winning move in our cat and mouse games each hunting season. Every time the sun goes down on the last day of bear season and I am left standing in the brush, un-punched tag lying listless in my camo pocket, I develop…

Spring Bear Hunting In Montana

  Spring offers a few motivating reasons to get out into the woods here in Montana. Cabin fever is a great motivator, as are turkey season and bear season. This year I am spending some time out glassing for the elusive black bear. One of the benefits of bear hunting is the vast amount of…

Fall Off Cloud 9

So much has happened since I last put finger to keyboard. Nothing in this over computerized, technologically engorged culture ever waxes poetically anymore. But my fall has been the purest picture of perfect. I feel spoiled and I am spoiled. I don’t deserve to have had so many things go my way but I will…

A Moose Hunt Through 8 Year Old Eyes

Meet Briger, my 8 year old daughter and light of my world. I wanted to try and help her capture her first hunting trip so Tristan and I outfitted her with her own little camera and binoculars and she took care of the rest. The day we got home from the hunt I sat down…

2015 Bull Elk Hunt Part 2

Season was coming to a close. Many a long, cold, tiring day had ended in the cabin. There the sweaty long johns and soaked camo came off. A fire was kindled, grub was consumed and intense battles of cribbage and backgammon passed the hours until our tired heads hit the pillows. In the darkness amid…