One summer while home from college I waited tables at an Italian restaurant in Laguna Beach run by some racist Milanese who'd recently emigrated from apartheid South Africa. How they ended up in Laguna I'm not sure, but their attitudes about people struck me as not only offensive but ironic considering that the kitchen and …
Dreams
I can't imagine being an insomniac; sleep has never been a problem for me. Almost every night like clockwork Bob wakes up around 2:30 or 3 and turns on the bedside lamp and starts reading a book and will read for at least a couple of hours. Most nights, I'll wake up, glance at him …
The Beautiful Familiar
"Come on dogs, let's go hunting." Not just one dog but two. Not much more work having two. They get fed at the same time, go to bed at the same time, and adapt to each other's miscellaneous routines at home, like, for example, keying off of each other when it comes to hearing something …
Ascension, or How to Hunt Chukar the Dumb Way
Are the gullible dumb? I've hunted chukar for two decades now, and once in a while I'll have a hunt that causes some kind of fundamental reevaluation of my identity. I earned an Ivy League Ph.D., and even I'm proud of that and view it as an accomplishment. At times, I've even thought it meant …
Continue reading "Ascension, or How to Hunt Chukar the Dumb Way"
Leslie’s Day
A friend responded to a Facebook post I made the other day in which I stated that Leslie made two of the best shots on chukar I've witnessed. This is my account. Since you asked... The first shot was at a single that busted wild about 25 yards above Leslie on a steep, steep basalt …
More Birds, and a Dilemma
Decided to up the punishment yesterday with some steep climbing. And it was good. The bagged-bird count wasn't so good, but we saw lots of birds. Early-season wild busting, way up high (again). Peat did better today, managing to hold two staunch points, but most of the birds we saw were launching far away on …
So Long, Angus
I could never rememberThat seething, steady leveling of the marshesTil age had brought me to the sea--Hart Crane, "Repose of Rivers" Ya stare, ya glare, ya constantly compare meBut ya can't get near me--Shock G, "The Humpty Dance" Hart Crane's incredible poem "Repose of Rivers" shows how memory makes up knowing and how we can't …
Love and Grief
"Her name is Rosie", the old man that was camped near us with Florida license plates told me as his dog walked over to me. Rosie, was an overweight black lab with gray on her face and eyes clouded over with glaucoma. "Come on Rosie, don't bother her," he yelled in her direction. I yelled …
Home Movies
After the light came We got an early start and headed up the mountain in the dark wearing headlamps for the first part of the climb. After about an hour of zigzagging up the mountain the sun started to rise in the distance. Some parts of the climb were super steep and I ended up …
Decade
Celebrating and reminiscing about great days on the chukar hills from past seasons. These beautiful moments, funny ones, exhausting ones, and even frustrating ones always remind us of the beauty of the sport and what the culture of chukar hunting means to all of us. The following is a collection of some photos we've never …