By Melissa Hendrickson   What better way to celebrate the rejection of Proposition 127 in Colorado, the citizen initiative that tried to ban mountain lion hunting, than baking up a delicious treat using rendered mountain lion fat? This jar of fat was reserved for special occasions as it was my husband’s first mountain lion and our first time cooking and baking with cat fat. If you don’t happen to have any cougar fat on hand, this recipe can be easily substituted with any other fat you might ...

A different kind of FHF adventure Words and Photos by Melissa Hendrickson One of the lessons I’ve learned over the many years of doing field work and hunting is having several backup plans can make or break a day out in the woods. Carrying this preparation mindset into organizing BHA events helped me successfully host a recent gathering when Mother Nature was trying to cancel: a 90% chance of mountain thunderstorms. This led to a last minute change for a foraging and forest health hike from ...

  The Long Road to Rendezvous Words and Photos by Melissa Hendrickson   As far as driving directions go, it’s a pretty easy route from our hometown to Rendezvous in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It only involves four turns: take highway 200 East, right turn on highway 93, merge onto I-90 East, then take I-94 East to Minneapolis. Granted we live in Sandpoint, Idaho so those directions do span the distance of almost 1,400 miles. In a stroke of serendipity, Rendezvous dates nestled themselves nicely ...

The alarm went off way too many hours before sunrise. The air was crisp with indecision on layers to wear. How many decoys to bring, what snacks to pack. Did the dog’s vest make it in? Should we shoot 2 3/4” or 3” BBs? This sounds like the start to any good waterfowl hunt, but this one comes with a twist.  The blind we were headed to was inside city limits, on Sandpoint Idaho's City Beach to be exact, which is usually a no hunting zone.  It’s also a no dog zone, but our fiery springer ...