You haven't really lived until you've sat in a tree until midnight covered with mosquitoes. Okay, just kidding. Even so, I have done that many times- a few of those with one of my kids. Some people are natural born 'still' hunters. They thoroughly enjoy the experience of being in a stand or sitting out in the wilderness with their binoculars. For me, sitting still is torture. I've always been that...  Read More

A little over a week ago I had one of those rare mornings I had the opportunity to climb a mountain with both of my daughters. This is rare not only because they are both busy wives and mothers, but because one of them lives in Georgia. No, it wasn't on one of those warm sunny days. It was raining and foggy. I would describe it as a PERFECT morning in IMPERFECT conditions. So often people miss out...  Read More

Happy birthday America! Thanks to all of you who have served in the military to keep our nation free. Because we are the first and only nation on earth founded upon the gospel of Jesus.Christ, God has blessed us above all other nations. Why has patriotism plummeted in the last fifty years? Because people in positions of influence, starting with our educational systems, have rewritten our history. ...  Read More

I watched my partner head out with "his' moose as I made something to eat. I was now hunting on my own. A lot of people would probably have quit, but I had limited time to hunt and two families (ours and Laura's parents) counting on me to bring home meat to last through the winter. I saw a number of cows during the day, but no bulls. I decided to pull up and move to a second walk-in area, and just...  Read More

About a half hour later, my friend came trudging up the trail with his enormously heavy load of meat. I let him tag this moose because he had hit it just above the hind hoof before I shot it. Having 2 men to cut and pack a moose is a blessing, and we had about about a day and a half now to go and find one for me... so I thought... When he got back, he said, "I have a lot of things I need to do at ...  Read More

About fifteen minutes later, I saw my partner coming towards camp without his pack full of meat. He was angry and upset. We had ATV's, but we had camped at the edge of a 'walk-in only' area. He said, "I'm going to take my ATV in and get the rest of that meat." We had a lunch cooler with Pepsi on ice. I handed him a Pepsi and said, "You'll feel better in a little while." Twenty minutes later he wal...  Read More

We waded the river, each with half of a young moose's boned out meat in our packs. The other shore was a near-vertical soft, silty hill leading up to the ridgeline. By using the scrub willow brush growing there we were able to pull ourselves up as we climbed. At the top, however, we faced another problem. We had no more brush to pull us forward, so before we could climb up onto the ridge we had to...  Read More

I stood watching as the bull we could have had 100 yards from camp crossed a shallow river and disappeared into a willow patch over a mile from camp. My partner had missed two easy shots and had left all of his ammunition back at camp. I sat holding his empty rifle and watching the spot where the moose disappeared, while he carried his bow and arrows back to camp to get my rifle and his ammo. When...  Read More

The bull was standing looking at us 100 yards away. One hundred yards of flat, level ground with very little brush. Getting the meat out was going to be an easy pack.... that's what I was thinking. My partner had a different idea. He wanted to try to get it with a bow and arrow. It was the 1st of September and the rut hadn't started. I knew that there was absolutely no way he could get close to th...  Read More

It was my first time hunting with this partner. I had taken him to one of the few spots where I had consistently found moose. At first light, there he was- a young bull standing 100 yards away, barely visible through the fog that hovered over a small pond. Even though it was my hunt and my spot, I decided to let my partner shoot this moose. I had killed many moose and was more interested in his ex...  Read More

According to studies, the average four-year-old laughs 400 times a day. The average 40-year-old laughs only 4 times a day. The medical benefits of laughter are profound. Laughter strengthens your immune system, it diminishes pain, decreases blood pressure, regulates heart rhythm, and lessens depression, anxiety and stress. What happened to our laughter? Most  respond with something like: "Life bea...  Read More

Be careful who you follow. He said it would be easy. He said it would be no problem. I discovered that his definition of 'easy' and 'no problem' was very different from my own. There was a group of us with four wheelers and side by sides. Virtually everyone was stuck in the first muck hole. Thanks to our winches and extra hands, we only spent about an hour to go 100 feet. Then, we started up a ver...  Read More