Articles

A workshop on seeing

Looking through the eyes of artist Jim Morgan

by Tom Davis - Thursday, Jul 13th, 2017

Courtesy: Jim Morgan

When Jim Morgan goes afield with something definite in mind, searching a particular subject in a particular setting that will “make” a painting, he’s almost always brought to ruin. Far better, he’s learned, simply to go and take what comes, staying open to possibilities, trusting in serendipity as an article of faith. If you put yourself in the right places in the right frame of mind—keeping alert, taking pains to notice even the smallest, seemingly most insignificant details of the environment—over time you’ll be rewarded.

With friends like Ryan Zinke, who needs enemies?

It's time for sportsmen to get real about our Secretary of Interior

by Ted Williams - Monday, Jul 10th, 2017

Photo: Lance Cheung

In Kipling’s The Jungle Book, bandar-log (monkey people) are hypnotized by the gyrations of Kaa, the python. They then march zombie-like into his gaping jaws.

That scene comes to mind whenever I hear sportsmen gush about anti-environmental bureaucrats and politicians simply because they pretend to hunt and fish, have kids who hunt and fish or, as with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, do hunt and fish.

Of cutthroat, elk and pine

National monuments protect more than artifacts and historical sites.

by Johnny Carrol Sain - Sunday, Jul 9th, 2017

Photo: Johnny Carrol Sain

Following guide and owner of Taos Fly Shop Nick Streit along the banks of the Rio Grande in northern New Mexico isn’t easy. There are so many potential ankle-twisting scenarios—rocks, holes, steep and slippery mud banks—and so many distractions. For a curious nose like mine, it was smells that were distracting. The spice of sage mixed with smooth vanilla of ponderosa pine, and then a medley of something else I couldn’t identify. The fragrant richness was unexpected in such austere country.

When forests die: Climate change and our sporting heritage

A report from the front lines of climate change research

by William Anderegg - Tuesday, Jul 4th, 2017

Dying aspens in the Colorado Rocky Mountains near Fairplay, CO (photo: William Anderegg).

I grew up fishing and hunting in rural Colorado. My brother and I would fish all day for cutthroat and rainbow trout in the streams and lakes, long beyond when I’m sure my dad was ready to head home. I remember the sheer joy I felt as I unwrapped my first gun—a beautiful little .410 shotgun—and learned to shoot it, first at cans and then eventually upland birds. We had our favorite campsites nestled in the quaking aspens that we returned to year after year, where we’d chase chipmunks around with small bows.

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