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A couple of years ago, on one of my not infrequent wanderings, I had been prowling the town of Great Falls, Montana, taking in sights and embracing the history. About the middle of the afternoon, I decided to press on. I didn’t have any particular destination in mind or any time schedule. I was like “the bear that went over the mountain to see what he could see.” A few miles outside of town, I came to a crossroad. There was a road sign with an arrow pointing to the town of Belt. That was an interesting sounding name and,...
A childhood memory that has lived with me forever and I’m sure subconsciously had a part in shaping my life. When I was three years old, our family lived in a rented house on the outskirts of Curlew, Washington. That is a little cattle and logging community up near the Canadian border. Our house sat out from town where it met the open prairie. I can remember a covered front porch and a uard surrounded by a white picket fence. It was open range country. There was a herd of cows and calves that grazed close to our place. A c...
I was scared. Like cold sweat, heart pounding scared. I knew it was all over. A bear was going to have me for lunch. It was late summer and the bear population was pretty serious about getting fat before winter. We didn’t see bears very often, but there were plenty of signs that they were around. Our Forest Service trail crew was camped on War Creek. We were maybe a week into a two-week trip and about eight miles in from the trailhead. The four-man crew was doing trail maintenance, and I was doing the cooking and tending t...
He was walking carefully, putting down one foot at a time, trying not to break through the thin crust on the snow. The scrawny old coyote had watered up at the tank in the back corral and was on the search for his breakfast. I leaned against the barn door and watched him. He knew I was there. He set back on his haunches and looked over at me with an expression that said, “Okay, I just took a drink of your water and now I’m leaving. So what are you going to do about it?” I let him know by my own expression that I wasn...
Home is the hunter Home from the hills With fragrance of Sage and pine He tracked the white goats The stately bull elk The great bear that Roams on the line He traveled the paths Of lion and wolf And drank from Glacier-fed streams His heart lingers there At timberline bare His soul drank from Nature-fed dreams The warmth of his hearth Is welcome indeed With love in the arms Waiting there His loved ones know Soon he must go With the eagles again They must share When sirens are singing Their wilderness song The pull on his...
The cowboy’s heart may be many things, but it is seldom lonely and is most always thankful. He lives close to nature and God’s natural order of things. His heart is; -Reverent and awed as he observes the miracle of birth and the changing of the seasons. - It’s joyful when he watches newborn calves romping and playing little calf games on a sunshine-filled spring morning. -Gentle and kind when he teaches a young horse the lessons needed to become a good partner. -Savage and fierce when threatened by man, beast, or force...
