If you hike in the springtime, especially with a dog, you will get ticks. If you aren't vigilant in finding and removing them, you might pay a very high price.
What Happens: A Tribute to Barry Lopez
The quickest door to open in the woods for a child is the one that leads to the smallest room, by knowing the name each thing is called. The door that leads to the cathedral is marked by a hesitancy to speak at all, rather to encourage by example a sharpness of the senses. If …
Wee Culture
She'd never do this herself, so I'm doing it. Part of the "culture" of this blog's title is off-the-hill stuff. Leslie, retired from a long career in healthcare, spends most of her non outdoor time in her studio making jewelry and scented soy candles. She sells her jewelry on her Etsy site "Taisie Design," but …
Making Connections
Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was carved by the world's great flood, and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by …
Chukar Finery
Leslie wouldn't dream of promoting herself, so I'm gonna. I'm doing this because, obviously, I'm proud of her, but also because some of you might find this interesting. Leslie's been making jewelry for a long time, but only recently began making her own silver charms, and only very recently set up an Etsy site to …
Looking Back
We're hunkered down again today. It was a blizzard this morning when we woke up. Bob and I really wanted to know the wind chill but our weather station anemometer stopped spinning due it to being caked with snow and ice from the cold winds. I'm not complaining one bit about the snow drift that …
Survivors
Chukar feather My stress doesn't come close to the stress wildlife endured this winter, but it's been there daily, mainly in the form of wonder and hope. In a phone call with my dad earlier this winter, I lamented the tough conditions for chukar and the rest, and he reminded me of this wonderful Emily …
Chukar hunters: speak up for your land
Chukar hunters know that public lands in Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, and Washington house these amazing birds, and that these lands are under constant threat of being sold out from under us. This threat is intensifying dramatically with the new administration. Rarely do we get an opportunity to express our opinions at a public meeting with …
Ticks and Climate Change
After my hunt with Peat last weekend, in fairly deep snow, I was surprised to find a tiny tick on him. A month or so ago, after a short walk near the Boise River, I noticed at least a half-dozen tiny ticks inside one of his ears. We've never found ticks, until now, on the …
Snapshots of Chukar Hunting
"I can't wait for chukar hunting season," Bob said just yesterday. We have just over 6 months now. We need time to recover. These are some snapshots of the 2015/2016 season mostly from down in the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area and a few at the Cecil Andrus Wildlife Management Area. We feel blessed to …