They Say You Can Never Go Home

Of course you CAN go home geographically speaking. Sure the city, neighborhood, and house you grew up in all still exist; and yes you can stop by to see your little hand print in the concrete of the back porch, or play on the old tire swing at your elementary school. But times change. Things change. People change. It's not that change is bad, but all that really remains of the way things were back home are the memories you replay in your mind. Yet even the memories get sweeter with time and their facts fade with age. Hence they say you can never go "home".

But I did. Two weeks ago.

I made a quick trip to Utah to go elk hunting with friends, and it was as good as it has ever been. The house, the church, and the school of my youth, and all the people that were in them have aged and grown, but the woods where I learned to hunt are immune to time. The same Autumn smells fill the same canyons year after year. The rain falls, leaves turn, and trails wind in the same way. Squirrels still squeal the same scoldings when you enter their property. And my favorite little spring still trickles out it's precious water, which still attracts the same big bucks and bulls, whose approach still makes my heart pound and nerves quake. The feeling I get when I enter those woods is the same year to year - like a big welcome home.

Here's a quick look at some of this year's hunt:

Jake never did find that big deer. He hit it, but I don't think well enough to kill it. I'm sure that buck is healed up by now and standing on some ridge somewhere showing his big buck buddies his cool new scar.

I made the mistake this year of hunting during the first week of the hunt with only an elk tag. It wasn't until too late that I remembered we see mostly deer during the first half of the hunt, and mostly elk during the last half. Next year I'm going to hunt later when the elk are breeding and easier to find. But even without an elk in the freezer I am glad I was able to go...home.

My Leave of Absence

Yes I realize I haven't posted anything for quite a while. To say that school has kept me busy this last year is a major understatement. It has just zapped every ounce of blogging energy out of me. But I'm graduating very soon and already feel the freedom, along with the desire to start posting again. Despite surrendering my life to my education, I actually did get outside for a few days this last year. Here is a quick catch up of a few things since I last posted.

I was able to shoot a whitetail doe with my traditional style muzzleloader on new year's eve. I thought it was a good shot, but I trailed her for a quarter mile in fresh snow and she just stopped bleeding. Maybe I'll meet up with her again this fall.

And hunted turkeys a couple nights after class, but the only thing I got close to was this:

While home on vacation I spent a couple nights in the Uintas backpacking with family.

I also revisited an old tradition of catching monster trout in box canyon on stonefly nymphs, only this time it was in the middle of a hail storm. I think I could live and die in that river and be happy.

While on vacation Chris and Jake and I wet a few flies on one of my new favorite trout streams:

I'm excited for this fall because not only am I going to have stuff to post about, but I'll have the time and energy to do it. For example, a week or two ago I got a few good pictures off of my trail camera. A couple of bucks (albeit small) on land that I can hunt have already got my blood pumping.

What do you think, should I fling an arrow at this little guy if I see him while the season is open?

I can't wait. I've been so excited I even set up my treestand in my backyard. Yeah I know I'm a nerd. Check it out on Courtney's blog. Yes it is a private blog, (I prefer to keep my clientèle out of my private life, á la "What About Bob"). Just email her and she'll invite you in.

Two Favorites From My Gun Case - Part 2

Of all the firearms I call mine, my favorite is a Hawken .50 caliber muzzleloader.


Unlike modern guns that have quick-loading, rapid-firing actions, long range telescopic lenses, and superb reliability, durability, and clean-ability, this old muzzleloader only provides one close-range shot, if the powder stays dry, and if the barrel is clean. It doesn't have a scope, it takes a long time to load and clean, and it's not as accurate.

So why own/hunt with it? Because it only provides one close-range shot, it doesn't have a scope, it takes a long time to load and clean, and it's not as accurate. Really it's the same reason that I hunt with a bow instead of a rifle: It's presents a greater challenge.

To shoot it you have to load everything down the muzzle of the barrel, hence the name: muzzleloader. First you measure and pour the gun powder down the barrel.


Then you place a lead ball on a patch of cloth...


...and shove it down the barrel with the ramrod.


The spark that lights the powder for this style of muzzleloader comes from a percussion cap that you place over a small hole at the back of the barrel.


It is actually made of the same stuff that caps for a child's cap gun are made of. When you pull the trigger the hammer falls and busts the cap, which shoots sparks into the barrel igniting the powder.


The powder ignites and blows up, creating lots of pressure that pushes the ball down and out the barrel toward its target. My buddy demonstrates:


I built the gun myself...well...I sanded, shaped, and stained the stock, blued the barrel, polished the brass, and put it togeher. It came in a kit.


Because I built the gun I know every flaw, like where I sanded it too much or not enough, or how I put the front sight on a little crooked. I remember where I predrilled a screw hole just off center and now one of the screws in the butt plate sticks out a little. I know all its imperfections because I caused them, yet I like that fact. It's more personal, and really it's more rewarding to hunt with a weapon that I helped make. Like fooling a fish with a fly that I tied.

In addition to all of this, there's the rich history behind these guns that really makes it my favorite. If I could take a vacation to any point in time, it would be to the days of frontiersmen and early American homesteaders; to days when cast iron cookware and covered wagons were common, and camp was home rather than an escape from it. Imagine the pictures I'd bring home from that vacation.


In those days a Hawken muzzleloader was the gun to have; the top-of-the-line in firearm technology. I'll tell you more about my passion for that aspect of this gun when I shoot a great plains whitetail with it this coming winter.

Two Favorites From My Gun Case - Part 1

A little while ago I bought a new gun. Well... I actually traded a handgun that I rarely ever used (and truthfully didn't really like anymore) for a brand new .17 HMR rifle and scope:

I didn't really need a new rimfire rifle, but does anyone ever really need one? I admit I was motivated by the incredible price I found, (as a result of all the "gotta-stock-up-on-handguns-and-ammo-before-Obama-takes-'em-away" hype that so many bought into out here). It has quickly become my second favorite of the guns that I own.

For those who don't know, a .17 HMR is a relatively new caliber that is as cheap to shoot as a .22 Magnum, but it has a much flatter trajectory, higher speeds, and better accuracy. It's basically a .22 mag case that has been necked down to .17 inches:


Mine has a heavy target barrel for better accuracy. I can't wait to take it back to the Utah desert for extra long shots at jackrabbits in the sagebrush, although I enjoy using it out here as well. Maybe this summer I'll put my crosshairs on that coyote that tried to eat Rudy last Fall.

Stay tuned for my favorite gun.

Natural Photography

I used to own a really nice camera. Through its lens I discovered how beautiful the natural world in which we live actually is. This post is just a few of my pictures from back then.




I like photography in general, but something about capturing the world as it occurs naturally, unaltered by human presence, draws me. That kind of beauty doesn't need to be created or formed. It already exists, (albeit sometimes for only a split second)...


...and is just waiting to be experienced by a lucky few.


I do see the beauty in man made...



But for me it just doesn't compare to the natural kind. Like when smoke from a distant brush fire fills the evening sky and intensifies the setting sun's glow on the already amber and orange autumn leaves, making it feel like the world is on fire...


Or when a floating rain-ship hovers low over a high alpine meadow...


I think a good outdoor photo can tell an amazing story, leaving you wondering, "How did that happen?"...


...or "How does that happen?"...


...and especially "Why does this happen?"


I suppose there is plenty of beauty in Los Angeles and places like it. I just prefer this kind: