Out Of Bounds

Out of Bounds

Crowded Skies of Spring

During this present Spring of Deception, it is warm enough on the Great Plains that I’ve resumed my afternoon jogs. I run on a trail near the river where the migrating birds are staging before they push on for the Northwest Territories.

Out of Bounds

Tail End of Winter

I’m hopeful second winter will be but an instant allowing the spring of deception to reign until summer.

Out of Bounds

Access Makes Freedom Ring

A powerful minority has seen the freedom Montana’s public land, easy access and plentiful native wildlife incubate, and decided they’d rather have Texas.

Out of Bounds

Access Becomes the Commodity

The access fight at Mitchell Slough was about more than just limiting public access on Montana rivers

Out of Bounds

Battle for the West

My sense of the West was formed watching at a distance the previous decades of conflict shaped by environmental laws passed in the 1970s

Out of Bounds

Is Trophy A Four-Letter Word?

While the fate of Montana or any state’s wildlife doesn’t rest on semantics, every time we talk about hunting in a public space we are engaged in public relations

Out of Bounds

Firearm Safety Before Acting

Soon computer-generated imagery will cure Hollywood’s firearm negligence. There’s no longer reason for firearms on set in inexperienced hands when realism can be created with pixels.

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Wing Song

Long ago I used to describe the whirl of flushing quail as that of miniature helicopters

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Stir Crazy

Winter has arrived and even as the days grow slightly longer with each sunset, the next two months will test my pup’s patience, as my own

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Going Home Again

Here’s a tip for winter reading: have your employer schedule a remodeling project just as the reading season begins

Out of Bounds

Goals for 2023: Prioritize the New

While the dismal weather the week before Christmas took some of the shine off the holidays, hopefully it foretells a winter of deep snow slowly melting into fabulous trout streams this summer

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Whitebark Decline Complicates Griz Recovery

Climate change, extreme fire and non-native blister rust have ravaged whitebark pine, which last week was listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act

Out of Bounds

How to Train a Bird Dog

The most important reward we give our bird dogs is opening the door and setting them loose at the start of the hunt

Out of Bounds

Regs Don’t Wipe Out Wolves

Unfortunately, the increasingly lax regulations adopted by Montana and Idaho, as well as those which always existed in Wyoming, means my ideal of ethical hunting will be further tarnished by gratuitous slaughter