Seasonal stories · gear that earned the ride Back to the farm
From the farm notebook The Hunting Book
Season first, catalog second

Stories from the walk in.

Not a store. Notes on firearms, bows, knives, apparel, and the equipment that either earned a hook in the shed or got sold. The farm page stays the farm. This page is for the part of the year when the woods are the job.

On the peg

Stories + kit
Season · early fall

First sit after the cattle move

Wind off the west fence. Same trail the pair used in August. Still-hunt notes and what the boots did to my feet.

Rifle

The truck gun is not the brag gun

What rides behind the seat, what zero it holds after a washboard road, and why fancy glass stays home some mornings.

Bow

Practice that looks like the stand

Twenty yards from a sitting position beats a pretty group from the garage at 7 p.m.

Knife

One blade for the deer, one for the pocket

Field dressing is not the place to find out your steel won’t hold an edge on hide and pelvis.

Apparel

Quiet cloth, not a costume

What actually kept wind out on a ridge, and the jacket that sounds like a grocery bag at 18 yards.

Pack / other

What came out of the bag unused

The honest list after a season. Weight you carried for no reason is a tax.