I must admit I love it when stories come flying at me, even if they arrive before I’m out of bed in the morning, especially when preoccupied with pheasant season, always looking for an opening to bust free through a thorny covert. So, obviously, I didn’t object one bit to a dawn phone call Tuesday. […]

That beautiful waxing moon that’s been illuminating this week’s clear, starry sky is called by some the Rutting Moon, and it’s supposed to have an amorous effect on mature whitetail bucks, which go into full rut and throw caution to the wind in search of receptive does. Tonight it’s totally full, so bowhunting has likely […]

The huge, white half-moon dominating the southwestern sky Tuesday night got me pondering, as prominent moons often do. This one to me suggested a mouth agape, half opened in astonishment at what has transpired over the past month. First Irene, then this surreal winter snowstorm that visited us last weekend, two months before winter. What […]

I’m assuming pheasant season opened with a bang Saturday. I wasn’t there to witness it. Why buck opening-day crowds? That’s my motto. Crowded coverts are not for me. But I’m not here to chat about hunting today. We have other issues, ones I pushed onto the backburner last week after learning of an old Whately […]

A familiar landscape it was, viewed from a new vista, flavored by a soft southern breeze that helped inflate a solemn affair with a touch of charm. Old friend Dave Scott, ninth-generation farmer on a proud Whately spread — that alone worthy of tribute — was being laid to rest at a place of his […]

Here I sit, once again wondering where I’m headed, akin to taking an old path through new woods. Unafraid, I’m confident I’ll find my way back to the truck one way or another. So why not stretch my legs and see where they take me? I know where I should be going. It’s the final […]

With grandson Jordi in town for Labor Day weekend, I was sleeping in a small upstairs room when my wife appeared at the door after 4 a.m. Sunday. “Honey?” “Yeah.” “Sorry to wake you. A cop just left. He said a neighbor complained that Buddy was barking and there’s a skunk in the kennel.” “How […]