Spring arrived two weeks early by Missouri standards. The dogwood and redbud trees in the front yard, an unofficial phenological metric...

About 20 yards from my tree stand I retrieved the evidence. Another hunter had been here before me. Exposed from the leaf litter by...

Marsh Moments No.1 (Rules) The wind was stiff. Sustained out of the northwest at 15 mph with gusts near 25. A good day for flags,...

It was a shock. There he stood, all alone. In 15 years he had never been entirely alone. But worse yet. Worse than being alone. He had...

In 1942, Aldo Leopold began writing the essays that would later become the classic, A Sand County Almanac. Interestingly, this book...

It’s two days before Christmas. My deadline for submitting a story to the Conservation Federation of Missouri magazine is January 2,...

Veterans Day. Many old timers still call it by its original name, Armistice Day. A moniker remembered by waterfowlers in part because of...

Late Friday morning, folks started arriving. Eight of ten would be in attendance, plus ex officio members of distinction; three...

I pulled back the screen door and reached in to grab the brass handle of the inner door, pressing my thumb to unlatch it open. A blast of...

This one will probably rub some folks the wrong way but have no fear. I make no laws. I am no threat to anyone, because in the final...

After days and weeks of blue skies and warm temperatures, the feel was a little different. Heavy gray clouds. An occasional mist carried...

As I walked the old tote road, a drifting petrichor lingered mixing with the scent of sweet fern crushed between my fingers. Caught in a...

And so, the email went… “Very pleasant weather up here except for this damned Canadian wildfire smoke. Got me to coughing last evening...

It was a pilgrimage of sorts. A place I knew but had never been. A shrine to some. For me, a place of historical and inspirational...

The recent summary of the MO Hunting and Trapping Regulations features a picture of a dog on the front cover, perhaps a Brittany or...

Passing through town on my way north, I decided to stop for a cold one. As I parked my truck, I saw the front door swing open at Don’s...

Empty skies test the meaning of both futility and hope. But if I see a duck, there’s hope and if there’s hope, I’m hunting. Today,...

About 15 miles from home, I could feel the change. More intensity, stress rising slightly. Calmness evaporating. As traffic increased, so...

Part of my family’s story includes a pine log cabin near Rhinelander, Wisconsin. Once owned by my grandparents, a few old pictures and...

In the late 1970s, family members always struggled to understand what I was studying in college. It was painful listening to them try to...