The Roundup: Unfilled Tags, Game Bags, and Time Lags
Time and light both run short, but freezers are filling and there's much to come.
Howdy folks,
It’s the season where big effort presses up against the small unexpected; fall always feels this way to me. The long hours of quiet nothings can wear on a soul, especially a soul like mine with an empty freezer. But hunting often turns up moments that you don’t even know to look for, and they color the spaces that feel stretched thin.
When I walked out to feed the equines in the extreme pre-dawn hours of Saturday morning, neon green and purple pillars reached high into the dome of stars. Long ears silhouetted perfectly against the light show, and my hunting partner Elise and I marveled as velveteen muzzles nudged us for breakfast.
We marveled a bit too long. Elise had put four bulls to bed the night before, and our plan for the morning was tight as a drum. Two hunters beat us to the gate by less than ten minutes. We watched them cruise toward our bedded bulls with speed. We took a different route and walked in a fast mile hoping the hunters might bump the bulls over. Then, we saw the blaze orange again, far ahead, on our exact alternate planned route.
“You know,” Elise said, “I’ll take the few extra minutes to take in the Northern Lights on a Montana morning if it means getting beat to our spot.” I nodded in agreement, and we chased different plans for the rest of the weekend. Elk tags continue to burn holes in our pockets.
But hey, hope is the thing with feathers. We’ve decked out this newsletter with a bunch of great moments, from some really great wins in the election season to our FIRST submitted piece for our community corner (Thanks Lou!) and much more.
We’ll be back next week with a long read from all of us.
Until then, happy hunting —
Nicole Qualtieri, Editor-in-Chief
Trophies and Spikes: Election Wins & USFS Job Losses
Our brief take on recent policy and conservation highs and lows
Trophy: We are incredibly grateful to see that the Colorado ban on big cat hunting didn’t pass muster with the voting public.
Trophy: Florida adds the right to hunt and fish to its state constitution in a big majority vote.
Our friend Rachelle Schrute at GearJunkie writes the story on both wins. Thanks for being on top of it, Schrute.
Trophy: Colorado voters didn’t ban fur, either. This was good news for the state’s many fly tyers, shops, and anglers who rely on animal hair for the most delectable of bug dupes.
Cameron Evans covered the issue for Outdoor Life before Election Day, and we’re thankful she did.
Spike: The U.S. Forest Service is cutting 2,400 seasonal jobs that will deeply affect management of recreation areas, trails, public roads, and more.
Nick Bowlin of High Country News and Vox wrote the best piece we’ve found on how this is going to affect our public lands. Warning: it’s shitty for workers, it’s shitty for the Forest Service, and it’s an absolute abdication of management on behalf of the public trust.
Field Notes
Slices of out-of-office life from our editors
Katie, Kestrel, and I headed into the hinterlands of Montana in search of deer with five tags in our collective pocket. Incredibly, we filled three out of five tags in a short four-day expedition. Luck and experience came together, and we’re working on a collective long read to share individual views and moments from the trip. We can’t wait to share.
On another note, our beloved Gabby Zaldumbide accepted a promotion with our friends at Project Upland. She’ll still be contributing occasionally, but with less frequency. Follow her personal ‘stack at Part Time Cowgirl, and we highly recommend subscribing to her beautiful work with Project Upland. We’re also glad to have her smart and thoughtful countenance at the ready when needed. Good luck, Gabs!
Community Corner: “Bird Language” by Lou Tamposi
We aren’t the only ones making cool stuff. Lou runs his own ‘stack called Cow We Doin’ where he focuses on living and eating radically. We dig it. He also sent us our *first* community-sourced piece of poetry, specifically for this newsletter. Lou, thank you. He publishes similar poems as notes for his young kids "L." and "H." Go check it out!
I wanted to pass along a "sketch poem" I wrote earlier this week in the whitetails woods, about ten minutes before I took my first deer of the season. - Lou
Bird Language
I’ve seen twice now a hawk
swooping through the forest canopy
as I sit, waiting for deer —
His shadow sets off alarms from
jays, chipmunks and squirrels —
I look up as he lands
just a few branches away.
When I told you that morning
that I would be hunting,
you tell me, L, to catch a deer
so we can eat it.
H. laughs — you love meat —
nodding in agreement.
Right now, I’d like nothing more
than to catch a deer
so we can eat it.
But instead I’m listening to
bird language and watching
the setting sun light leaves on fire,
waiting for deer.
—Lou Tamposi
We want to publish your short work! If you have:
a letter to the editor
a piece of published writing you love
a book that everyone should read
an important bit of news
a great photo or snapshot of artwork
a short story, a poem, or something else creative under 300 words
Send any of the above to editor@thewestrn.com and we’d love to share it in The Roundup. We are jonesing for some ol’ school lit mag vibes around here!
ICYMI: Our Top Stories Thus Far
It’s hard to stay on top of emails, so we want to make sure you get what you signed up for.
Cleaning Out the Freezer We went full lit-mag with this long read made up of a series of short pieces. We received amazing feedback, so we offer a thank you to those of you who sent us notes, shared the piece, or reached out individually.
The Extreme Sport of Wolverine Research Katie takes us into the high alpine where wolverines thrive. Turns out, you need to be an expert mountaineer to study these creatures.
Killing Animals Helped Me Make Peace with Death Nicole tackles the long-ago loss of her father by finding new meaning in the life-death continuum. Hunting helped write a new story.
The Skeleton in the Gear Closet Katie reports out her curiosity about sustainability in the hunting apparel industry. She follows that thread right into the middle of where identity politics and environmentalism meet.
The Narrow Trail Between Predator and Prey Kestrel goes on a creepy elk hunt and decides that if they’re ever put in a room alone with a man and a bear, they’re going to kick both of their asses.
Coming up: Westrn Hunt Camp stories from the three of us. Nicole dives into what the edible animal hierarchy looks like. Katie examines the next 30 years of outdoor media.
Paid Subscriber? Send Us a Friend’s Email and We’ll Gift Them a Free Subscription!
From now until November 21st, current and new paid subscribers get a free gift subscription to share.
If you are a current paid subscriber, or become a new paid subscriber, email us at editor@thewestrn.com with the email address of your gift recipient. We’ll get them going with a nice welcome email.
And if you’re not a paid subscriber yet, we’d love you to join us. You’ll also get a two-for-one deal through the 21st.
It’s a feel-good investment in an editorial team like no other in the outdoor industry.
Thanks for the share, Nicole!