Posts with the category “daily-devotions”

In the same way that 'hunger' is the best seasoning for food, exhaustion is the best ingredient for rest. And yet we've all learned that it's impossible to rest when we have today's responsibilities and problems and stresses and challenges and offenses swirling around in our brain. Life is OFTEN very hard. The things that we carry are OFTEN very heavy. God knows. He understands. He will not remove...  Read More

I've always been wired for a challenge- for adventure- for exploring new territory. Many times I have hiked for miles into a new stretch of mountains and looked longingly at all of the country that I did not have time to explore. If a broken world contains so much beauty, what must it have been like when God first created it? While there is comfort in the familiar, there is something invigorating ...  Read More

My Dad and I were talking last night about our best fishing trip ever. In truth, it would be just about anyone's best fishing trip ever. It was the middle of June on a river in Alaska's interior, and the King salmon were running. Along with two of my friends, we launched 2 rafts about 11 PM and floated and fished from shore until the following morning at 6 AM. It was not uncommon for all 4 of us t...  Read More

For me the dream was never 'Alaska', it was simply to serve my country in the military. I was out of college and teaching school, but always regretted not serving. It was my decision to enlist in the infantry (hoping to be stationed in the south where I could get a good tan) that led to my being stationed in Alaska. As a young boy I could never have imagined that decades later I would be running a...  Read More

Though we didn't realize it at the time, my brother John and I entered our final season of trapping together my freshman year of college. He was a sophomore, and both of us were attending Rochester Community College. We bought a 1961 Plymouth Valiant with a push-button transmission for $50 to use as our trapping car. We both had 8 AM classes, so we would split up in the morning and run our traplin...  Read More

Games were played on Friday night under the lights, so one Friday after school John decided that we should run out to a spot we knew on the Zumbro River where we might jump some wood ducks. John was an excellent shot, but I couldn't hit the side of a barn with a shotgun unless I was shooting from inside the barn. For that reason, John always let me shoot first. We did find ducks, and as I pulled t...  Read More

Having the right equipment changed everything. For the first time we had everything that we needed to be successful. Winning the prize drawing at the trappers' convention paid off big time, as we were now thoroughly equipped and catching fur almost every day. Professional athletes prepare for years- decades- to be the very best that they can be. God calls us to this same level of commitment. 2 Tim...  Read More

While we were busy year round, fall became the time of year we most looked forward to. We fell into a rhythm that included wading the Zumbro River in the dark before school, checking our muskrat, mink and beaver sets. Then we were walking woodlines and windrows checking sets for fox, racoon and badger. Then we would race home, take a shower, eat breakfast, and head to school. After school, we had ...  Read More

Just a year older, my brother John was the 'Daniel Boone' in the family. Knife throwing, axe throwing, slingshot, BB gun and arrow shooting, raft building, crayfish spearing, gopher trapping and fishing were all on his resume before junior high. As his trusty sidekick, they were on my resume too. About junior high age, we decided that we were going to earn money trapping fur. We had no idea what w...  Read More

I was accustomed to marching long distances with a heavy pack from my infantry days, but this was different. We weren't starting fresh. We were both young and strong, but we had 14 miles on our feet before starting this last eight mile push. The footing was exceptional- some of the best I've ever had. Even the valley floor had a hard packed game trail. Even so, the weight of our packs and the grav...  Read More

By the time Tim and I got back to our camp we already had 14 miles on sore feet. We broke down our tents and gear and carried everything down to the ice patch. I was already bleeding just above both hips. Carrying my Dall sheep and camp off the mountain, my pack was so heavy that I rubbed through the skin a patch about the size of a golf ball on each side. Once we added our meat the packs were so ...  Read More

We woke up to beautiful clear skies. This was 4 days of sunshine and perfect weather in a row. Tim kept saying to me, "This isn't sheep hunting." In a lifetime of Dall sheep hunting, I have never again had such perfect weather. This was good news for Larry, because he had spent the night somewhere in the mountains lying on the ground. We had to repack our meat in new ice because the large chunks t...  Read More

Leaving our meat packed beneath snow and ice, we filled our water bottles, shouldered our packs, and they led me up onto small bench where they had camped. By now it was late afternoon. Larry said, "I'm going to walk 7 miles to the head of this drainage to snoop around. Don't worry about me, I'll spend the night up there." Larry had a sleeping bag, but no tent or sleeping pad. He had no cook stove...  Read More

As I laid sleeping on the ice, Tim and Larry had been stalking a ram. They got close enough for a shot and then settled in to wait for me. Tim and I had taken turns packing a large Sony video camera in a waterproof case. Our hope was to get a great hunting video of one of us getting a Dall sheep. When we split up the day before they took the camera because I was by myself. They finally decided tha...  Read More

Tim and Larry Hand also had a great story. When they got up that morning and saw that the 7 rams we intended to stalk were gone, they decided to head up the valley. After I shot my ram, the other 7 headed deeper into the mountains. They didn't hear my shot, couldn't find me anywhere, but eventually came upon those same rams. They were experienced sheep hunters and between them had killed many rams...  Read More

Larry asked, "Where did you go? When we got up in the morning the sheep were gone, so we waited for you but you never came." I said, "I shot one too."He asked, "Where did you find him? There was only one legal ram in that bunch of seven."I said, "Another ram must have joined them overnight. When I found them this morning there were eight in the bunch with two legal rams. After I cut mine up I brou...  Read More

I was startled awake out of a deep sleep. With my head laying directly on the ice, the 'crunch- crunch- crunch' of footsteps echoed like a megaphone. A man was 100 feet away, walking toward me on this small ice field. I glanced at my watch. After the grueling ordeal of getting my pack and Dall sheep off the mountain, I had been asleep for 6 hours! When I sat up, I also startled him. He hadn't seen...  Read More

Though all I was wearing was a light t-shirt, the sweat was pouring off me. By watching for exactly the right places I was able to navigate my way  with close to a 200 pound backpack down, down, down to the valley floor. All the way down I was looking for my hunting partners, Tim and Larry Hand, but did not see them. My patch of last year's snow was mostly ice. I had finally arrived but I wasn't f...  Read More

My pack, with my entire camp AND a whole Dall sheep, was so heavy and the mountain so steep that I continuously had an image in my mind of my knee joints bursting like you pop the knuckle on a chicken bone. Soon my quad muscles were quivering like jelly. For a long time it seemed like my goal- a tiny patch of snow on the valley floor- was not getting any closer. My exhaustion seemed to increase th...  Read More

I had never mounted an animal and had no idea how to cape out a Dall sheep. I had skinned a lot of furbearers and knew how to dress out a deer, but this was different.I kept looking for my partners, but no luck. By taking my time, I was able to get the cape off and bone out all of the meat while keeping it clean. The old arctic winter army packs have enormous volume. They also have long straps so ...  Read More

I left my ram where he lay and started on the sheep trail to get my pack. I had no lightweight or quality gear of any kind, and I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that my pack probably weighed 70 pounds. Because I was so high on the mountain this was only a 10 minute traverse. It was definitely sketchy, but I had confidence because I'd walked it once before. As I rounded the end of the moun...  Read More

The place where my ram died was far too steep for me to cape it and bone it out. At the very least I needed a flat spot where I could lay a small tarp down to set my meat on to keep it clean. There was a sheep trail a short distance beneath me, so I dragged the ram down to a better spot. I didn't have a camera, and Tim and Larry Hand had the heavy video camera we had packed in. I still had no idea...  Read More

When I squeezed the trigger, the ram simply rolled over. I couldn't believe I had my first Dall sheep. Thanks to my partner Tim Hand, the day before I had learned how to descend a shale slide. This was fortunate because there was NO other way to reach my ram. If I had not already done this once, it would never have occurred to me to try. The mountain was so steep that it looked like I was stepping...  Read More

When you are looking straight down at a Dall sheep, the curl of the horn actually looks smaller than it really is. Even so I was certain that both rams were legal, but I couldn't tell which one was bigger. They battled for several minutes before one retreated and the dominant ram bedded down. At this point, the ridgeline was so narrow that I actually lay down on the back side of the ridge and used...  Read More

In places the ridgeline was razor thin- perhaps a foot or less wide- but it was also a sheep trail. As I looked down into the first 'bowl' up the valley, I didn't see my partners but I DID see our band of rams 300 yards beneath me. Another ram had joined them, so instead of seven there were eight. Not only that, but the eighth ram was also legal, and the two mature rams were battling it out for do...  Read More

I had no idea where my partners were. I reached the top of the mountain ridgeline right at sunrise. I had hoped to see Tim and Larry's camp from here, but no luck. I had a general idea of where they would be camping, but with the Dall sheep gone I figured that they would be looking for me. Our plan had been to meet up just below me where that other hunter had screwed us up. This was my first sheep...  Read More

I had no desire to speak to this hunter who had ruined my morning, so even though we were just a few feet apart I simply turned my back to him and began climbing a short distance to a sheep trail. When scouting the week before, this was the first sheep trail I had ever walked on. I knew that it wrapped around the face of this mountain and continued for several miles up the next valley. I also reme...  Read More

The sun and I seemed to be climbing at about the same pace. As I reached my destination above the Dall sheep it was just getting light enough to see. The sky was clear, but a low fog was whisping in and out at my elevation. I wondered where my partners were. I hadn't heard a shot yet. As I crested a final small knob, I saw one of them standing in the fog 50 feet from me. He was facing away from me...  Read More

I broke camp and was climbing well before daylight. It was far too dark to see the Dall sheep, but I didn't need to worry about getting off the trail because my path was uphill all the way. About 5:30 AM two massive bull caribou glided right past me. Either would have been 'the bull of a lifetime' for most hunters. By 6 AM the eastern horizon was showing signs of light. The blanket of stars above ...  Read More

Carrying a heavy pack through low brush up a steep hill was no picnic. I finally made it to a little knob that gave me a relatively straight shot up a ridgeline to the sheep. There was nothing left to do but to set up camp and wait for morning. About 11 PM, just before dark, other hunters entered the valley and set up camp about 3 miles from me. I was directly between them and the sheep and they c...  Read More

The rams were bedded in a place with no approach. Even if we walked past them they could see us coming from either direction. We decided to split up, with Tim and his dad camping at the base of the mountain just past the rams, 8 miles up the valley. I was setting up on a high ridge about 2 miles this side of the rams. Only one of the 7 rams was a legal full curl. We decided to come from both direc...  Read More

We put on our heavy packs and jumped into a vertical shale slide. I wasn't happy about it, but my partner, Tim Hand, had grown up in these mountains, so I trusted him. Our return to camp, which would have been over an hour of suffering down that steep ridge, took about 15 minutes. Another lesson learned. Though they were nearly 8 miles away, we could see where our rams had bedded down. While we ha...  Read More

Watching a wolf kill a sheep was exciting, but our Dall sheep hunt was far from over. In fact, it hadn't officially started. We'd come in the day before, but this was August 9. The season didn't open until the 10th. We had spotted a small band of rams the night before, climbed a steep ridge this morning, and were trying to figure out where they went. We finally saw them several miles away running ...  Read More

There was no struggle. The wolf hit the Dall sheep like a freight train and it was over. But then the most amazing part happened. Once dead, the wolf bit this adult ewe about halfway down its spine, right where the rib cage was largest. Then he lifted the entire animal off the ground, with its head and legs dangling, and carried it into the brush. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. I...  Read More

As fast as the Dall sheep were running, the wolf was quickly gaining ground. He expertly separated one ewe from the others, and in a moment he was on her. It was over in a matter of seconds. Divide and conquer- this is the same strategy that Satan uses to destroy friendships, marriages, families, and churches. When we are alone, we are a much easier target. When we lack unity, he can even use us a...  Read More

It only took a moment to see why the Dall sheep were on a dead run. A lone wolf was racing toward them. In John 10:12 Jesus said, "The wolf attacks the flock and scatters it." That's exactly what was happening. Think of it- the shepherd GATHERS and PROTECTS, the wolf SCATTERS and HARMS. The shepherd brings UNITY. The wolf brings DIVISION. There have been a few times in my life when I have seen pas...  Read More

Hunting Alaska's Dall Sheep was a new experience for me. I was lying on my belly on top of a mountain 'glassing' a small band of ewes and lambs when I decided to set up my spotting scope for a closer look. I barely had them in focus when they began to run as though their lives depended on it. When danger comes, their only defense is to FLEE. When it comes to maintaining moral purity, this is also ...  Read More

I was now over 3 hours into my '15 minute' stop to drop off tires and a Christmas tree. When the fuel truck arrived, the driver walked into my shop to see if he could figure out why the furnace wouldn't start. No luck, but he filled my fuel oil tank and I was able to start the furnace in the house. As the house was warming, I went back into the shop and finally figured out the problem. I still did...  Read More

The whole time I was working on my frozen garage door I was hearing lots of 'beeping' sounds. I thought there was heavy equipment working in the neighborhood. When I walked in to check the house, I discovered every C02 detector blaring loudly. As I was getting a ladder I noticed that the house was very, very cold. One by one I removed the detectors, because just pulling the batteries didn't stop t...  Read More

Laura and I are custodians of a home and shop in Big Lake. I drove out there this week intending to store our Christmas tree and some spare tires and pick up a snowmachine. After snowing more than 2 feet earlier this month, it rained hard last week. The huge double garage door to the shop was frozen shut with over half inch of ice at the bottom. I had a torch to try to melt the ice, but I couldn't...  Read More