Releasing this one a few weeks late, but a few weeks ahead of waterfowl and archery season. Jeff, Blair, myself, and 3 of my family finally crushed a waterfowl hunt on camera. 84 birds in 2 hours, exactly half and half Canadas and mallards. The plan was to base an entire episode around this hunt, but as sometimes happens we … Read More
First Brook Trout
The second half of our adventure with Hank found us back at Elbow Lake in Kananaskis. The smoke had eased up, and the bear closures didn’t impact the hike in. So much more to say about all that, but will leave it to the From The Wild episode. I happen to be a salmonid lover. When asked to choose a … Read More
Meeting My Headwaters
Some topics the internet does a fine job of covering, and the Ram River fishing experience is not one of them. Way back in season 2 of From The Wild, we fly fished the Granby tributaries and fell in love with fly fishing. Ever since, I’d wanted to have a similar experience, but it made no sense to me to … Read More
A REMINDER ABOUT GROUSE HUNTING
The only hunting I did as a kid with any regularity was grouse hunting. Every year. We’d go mid September around my birthday when the leaves were mid-change and the frosts getting hard at night. A few decades later, and I’m hunting grouse with Hank Shaw, at the same time of year. By this time we’d already spent a few … Read More
Late Season Waterfowl
I’ve been waterfowl hunting the wrong season my whole life. Was always eager come early September to chase the birds that found the first cereal crops knocked down. Error. I did that this year, as always. I spent some special time butchering geese with my buddy Blair, tossing the odd super-lean carcass 20′ away or so to give the swarm … Read More
First Perch
Ice fishing in Saskatchewan is solidly ‘a thing’ in my life now – my dad loves having us out, and this time around it was with the family for New Year’s. Last year I got started with trout Dec 11, so this felt like a late start to the ice fishing season. I think I needed a respite after getting … Read More
Oh, Christmas Fawn. I mean, tree.
Umpteen years of getting Christmas trees at IKEA. I’m a serious scrooge when it comes to box stores combined with the month of December [thank you online shopping]. I think at some point one of the kids mentioned this fall that we should cut our own tree from the forest. It was a done deal before they’d finished their sentence. The … Read More
Squirrel, Grouse, and Everything Nice
Hunting season had just started, and Hank Shaw was going to be arriving in a week or so. I had plans for our fledgling bushcamp prior to his arrival, the most important of which was getting a tent frame built out of the surrounding black spruce. I have an aluminum frame for the tent, but hauling it had proved to … Read More
DOPPLEGANGER MEETUP
So it turns out Hank Shaw and I both eat quickly. We both regularly drink Calvados. We have about the same amount of grey in the beard, both hunt/fish/forage, and generally speaking we see the world much in the same way. Who knew. I told him it’s a good thing we’re not married. I met Hank online about 10 years ago when … Read More
Early Season
From The Wild episodes are planned out quite a few months ahead of time, and on the roster for season 3 is me going into my family’s ‘moose camp’. I’ve actually never been with tag in hand, as they always call bulls during rut, and I’ve always been chasing calves. The older I get, the more I want to participate, at least … Read More