There’s just something about calling an animal into range of a kill shot. A screaming bull working its way into your soft cow mews, a flock of ducks circling back to your incessant pleading, the horrific wailing away of a javelina call to pull them in close… well maybe not the last one. If you love a quiet, peaceful hunt I would suggest against this tactic for hunting javelina. If you want an effective and higher success rate while hunting these little stink pigs, calling javelina might be the way to go. I never fully committed to trying to use a javelina call, I tended to use the spot and s ..read more

I’m not gonna lie, my kill to days hunted ratio for Coues deer is far from exemplary. To be honest it’s downright terrible. Sure I’ve put a few on the ground, but for the amount of years I’ve chased them a baker’s dozen of bucks would be more appropriate. It never bothered me when I visited Coues country on my annual winter hunt down in Arizona. It was an excuse to leave the arctic temps of Denver and go walk around the arid mountains in a t-shirt and healthy slathering of sunscreen. The goal was simple, suntan first, a little meat for the freezer a far off second. As a tourist, this policy ..read more

I drew, illuminates the words on my phone’s screen. I set the phone down and drew a deep breath and I closed my eyes. Mordor… I’m going back to Mordor. A mountain range with a close likeness to a line of shark’s teeth protruding from the valley floor that is as inhospitable as it is unpredictable. I swore these mountains off after years of brutal hunts that made me question if I was better setting down my bow to take up knitting. But when you have a friend ask for help, you help. Especially if that friend has spent selfless weeks in those mountains with you on your own torturous bighorn s ..read more

Saddle Hunting - Is This Latest Rage Justified? Jump on social media these days, look up your favorite whitetail hunters and chances are you’re going to see a decent proportion of them hanging from a saddle at some point. Not all are converts, but as time goes on it seems more and more are being lured into the cult. Justified? Who’s to say, but I’ll give it a try. I too jumped on the saddle hunting train last year and managed to shoot my biggest whitetail buck to date. I won’t go as far as saying I owe it to saddle hunting, I owe it in great proportion to luck! But the more I look back on it ..read more

“Don’t look back, you’re not going that way” ~Unknown Life doesn’t give you do-overs. It may seem that way, but there will be different variables to what looks like the same opportunity. There’s no going back, so the past is irrelevant. The future isn’t guaranteed so that’s also out in the ether. There's now and only now, the one place that we have the hardest time living. I sat on the barren mountainside where lack of oxygen long ago choked out the idea of any trees daring to call it home. The sun moved in and out of the clouds, creating large puzzle pieces out of the jagged mountains.&nb ..read more

I drew, illuminates the words on my phone’s screen. I set the phone down and drew a deep breath and I closed my eyes. Mordor… I’m going back to Mordor. A mountain range with a close likeness to a line of shark’s teeth protruding from the valley floor that is as inhospitable as it is unpredictable. I swore these mountains off after years of brutal hunts that made me question if I was better setting down my bow to take up knitting. But when you have a friend ask for help, you help. Especially if that friend has spent selfless weeks in those mountains with you on your own torturous bighorn s ..read more

September 23rd It absolutely downpours for 3 days so I took a bit of a break to regroup. I got to the trailhead of the next place I was going hunt just before first light. There were two trucks in the pull off, one having a horse trailer. Not ideal. But I’m committed for at least a few days at this point.  Hiking in I notice the a mule standing out in the open like an abandoned dog. I think he must have gotten away from his owner until I smarten up and look around. Oh yea, there’s his owner’s tent. I guess I was just surprised to see pack animals being used and only being 2.5 miles in ..read more

September 23rd It absolutely downpours for 3 days so I took a bit of a break to regroup. I got to the trailhead of the next place I was going hunt just before first light. There were two trucks in the pull off, one having a horse trailer. Not ideal. But I’m committed for at least a few days at this point.  Hiking in I notice the a mule standing out in the open like an abandoned dog. I think he must have gotten away from his owner until I smarten up and look around. Oh yea, there’s his owner’s tent. I guess I was just surprised to see pack animals being used and only being 2.5 miles in ..read more

Saddle Hunting - Is This Latest Rage Justified? Jump on social media these days, look up your favorite whitetail hunters and chances are you’re going to see a decent proportion of them hanging from a saddle at some point. Not all are converts, but as time goes on it seems more and more are being lured into the cult. Justified? Who’s to say, but I’ll give it a try. I too jumped on the saddle hunting train last year and managed to shoot my biggest whitetail buck to date. I won’t go as far as saying I owe it to saddle hunting, I owe it in great proportion to luck! But the more I look back on it ..read more

September 12th I rolled out sometime mid afternoon after having to take my mountain goat into the CPW and dropping the meat off at the processors.  Then it was a quick pack up for a three day bivy hunt. Walking in I immediately spooked out some elk. A good sign. Hopefully it’s an omen to come, the finding, not the spooking.  The bulls were talking but the wind was all over the place so I held back. No use blowing them out the first day I’m here. No rut fests yet, but a cow is bound to come into heat. As I am laying in my tent, I hear bulls advertising their wears uphill of me.&nb ..read more