January 2013
1 post
Hunters have a lot to lose in the current debate... →
November 2012
2 posts
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Giving thanks
I haven’t had time to go hunting much this fall, so I don’t have a lot of meat in the freezer. But I do have frozen huckleberries, picked during a hiking trip this summer (and hoarded ever since). So I was able to share something wild on Thanksgiving, a huckleberry pie:
On a day that’s all about gratitude, it feels appropriate to serve food that was foraged on public land...
Talk of the Nation →
I’ll be on NPR’s Talk of the Nation this afternoon, at 3 pm ET, talking about hunting. Please tune in!
October 2012
4 posts
Upcoming events
There are lots of chances to meet me and hear me read from my book or talk about it and ask me questions.
Are you in Austin, Texas? If so, come to the Texas Book Festival this weekend! On Saturday, Oct. 27 at 8 pm, I’ll be telling stories (a la The Moth) at Cheer Up Charlie’s with literary superstars Cheryl Strayed, Jami Attenberg and Emma Straub.
Then, on Sunday, Oct. 28 at...
NPR's On Point with Tom Ashbrook
I’ll be on a WBUR show called On Point with Tom Ashbrook today. It’s a live call-in show from 11 am to noon Eastern Time, but there are plenty of other ways to tune in.
4 tags
Grizzly bear charge - a first-person account
This is a guest post, written by my childhood friend and new hunter, Jesse Howe:
If you asked me 3 weeks ago if I am a hunter, the candid answer would have been no. If you had asked me 4 months ago it would have been a resounding no. Hunting is new to me, but every morning I venture out I learn something and become more entranced by its spell. I now completely comprehend why my brother’s...
September 2012
6 posts
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EVENT: Texas Book Festival
I’m thrilled to be one of the many authors who will appear at this year’s Texas Book Festival. If you’re in or around Austin, TX on Oct. 27 and 28, I hope you’ll stop by!
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Remembering 9/11 →
One year ago, I had the honor of writing about this 9/11 survivor. Today I’m thinking of all the people we lost in the terrorist attacks and the two wars since.
1 tag
EVENT: Book signing (and big buck contest... for...
This Friday (9/7) evening, I’ll be signing copies of my book at a great little store in downtown Bend. If you’ve never been to Cowgirl Cash, it’s an adorable boutique that sells vintage and new western wear, jewelry and other stylish miscellany. Come by during downtown Bend’s monthly Art Walk. You can visit with me, try on Tony Llamas and shop for antler art… all at...
August 2012
3 posts
Araneus diadematus
Several smart readers emailed me to identify the spider in my previous post: Araneus diadematus, also known as a cross orbweaver, cross spider or European garden spider. Apparently it not only spins a beautiful web, it also eats mosquitoes. A friend, in other words, not a foe. A hearty thanks to all the crowd-sourcers!
New neighbor
I’m not sure whether to be worried or… neutral. Anyone know what this is?
Daughters and sons
If you’re interested in hunting and haven’t read any Steven Rinella yet: You’re welcome. You are in for a treat, because Rinella is as precise a writer as he is thoughtful a hunter. He is also really, really hard working. He writes books. He writes articles. He hosts a TV show. He blogs. He’s a dad.
In his latest blog post, he reveals that he and his wife are now expecting a baby girl, and...
July 2012
7 posts
Urban wildlife sighting
A velvet buck found some shade under my neighbor’s trampoline:
2 tags
Reader mail
A note from a reader arrived at my office yesterday:
Of all the possibly controversial parts of my book – my murderous meat-eating, callous gun-ownership, blasphemy against the NRA, pinko support for wolves, elitist criticism of lead ammo – this person chose to take offense at a description of my hometown. Oh well. Probably best to stop at page 21, then. That page, heavily annotated, also...
Butterfly porn
I’m not sure why, but I’ve seen more butterflies than usual this summer. The other evening, I came home to find these Oregon Swallowtails mating on the front porch:
2 tags
Be Prepared for Anything
My book isn’t a how-to, by any means, but that didn’t exclude it from this amazing display at Barnes & Noble:
I’m proud to see CALL OF THE MILD alongside titles such as “When All Hell Breaks Loose” and “The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive.”
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Two trails, 150 years apart
Like most Americans, I’m reading “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed right now. It’s a memoir about her 1995 hike along part of the Pacific Crest Trail. There’s more to the book than just the hike, but the trek itself is what I find myself putting the book down to talk to Scott about. It was grueling, and her writing is so vivid that I can almost feel dust sticking to the sweat...
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On the radio
My first-ever radio interview is airing today on an awesome CBC show called Q. I haven’t heard the interview yet, which means my imagination has composed several variations, some good and some dreadful.
I drove to Portland for the interview, then back to Bend in the same day. The return trip gave me three-plus hours alone to agonize over each answer I’d given. Why didn’t I...
Hunting for dinner
These days, the ethics of meat-eating is a popular topic. So I joined the fray on CNN’s food blog, Eatocracy, with a short list of reasons why hunting for dinner is a good idea:
http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2012/07/02/55-why-hunting-your-own-dinner-is-an-ethical-way-to-eat/?hpt=ea_r5
When the piece went live, I tweeted it. And someone responded with a link to this video, which addresses the...
June 2012
4 posts
2 tags
Summer lovin'
I hate the term “date night,” but I’m beginning to appreciate the idea of it. After work one day this week, we left the baby at home with my parents and went fishing. It was like old times, pre-baby, when we used to fish at least one evening a week in the summer.
We drove about 15 minutes away, recounting our day to each other as we pulled on waders and strung up our fly rods....
3 tags
My dog is famous
The best unforeseen side effect of writing a book: Fame for my mutt.
Seriously.
Sylvia, my flat-coated retriever mix, is in the latest issue of The Bark (for anyone unfamiliar with this magazine, it’s basically The New Yorker for dogs) not once but TWICE. There’s a Q&A with yours truly. And, on the last page, there’s an essay about my fly-fishing wonderdog.
Sylvia, hard...
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The San Francisco Chronicle
To Liz Colville, whomever you are, wherever you are: Thank you.
Ms. Colville wrote a lovely review of CALL OF THE MILD for the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/06/17/RV0K1ORQJM.DTL
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Signing books at CostCo
In addition to selling tires and above-ground pools, CostCo also hosts author signings.
Sitting in the middle of the store, at noon on a Saturday, next to a giant pile of CALL OF THE MILD, was less awkward than I’d expected. The people-watching was top-notch. It felt borderline intrusive to smile at someone and then glance into his or her shopping cart. What is that couple going to do...
