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Redefining Mentorship

Dominic Corsini
On a cool evening, I sat hidden amidst a group of boulders, watching the north face of a 11,000-foot summit as over 100 elk made their way out of the timber and onto open grasses along the adjoining alpine basin. It was a sight I hope to remember for the rest of my days. And yet, as impressive as it was, this spectacle had a downside. That being … it was July … not September: no rut crazed bugling elk, no aspens draped in the colors or autumn, and no crisp morning air.  There wouldn’t be a ...
Media Backcountry Journal the campfire Backcountry Journal r3

Women in the Woods

Kassi Smith
Above: Women in the Woods Elk Camp in Colorado. Photos by Ryan McSparren.   By Kassi Smith The ray of light as dawn breaks over the High Rockies. The distorted reflection of mountain giants just below the waters’ surface. A held breath as the first mallard sets for landing. These experiences are visceral, and they are ubiquitous. Like many, I wasn’t born into a family that recreates outdoors; but even so, my earliest memories are of escaping into wild spaces. Before the age of 10, I would ...
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Reactivated

Zachary Williams
BY LUKE FRONTCZAK   The morning had been perfect – clear skies with a long narrow blanket of fog covering the valley floor below my hillside perch, which turned pink as the sun came up. Five seconds before beginning the trek back to camp, a little motion caught my eye as I put on my backpack. Pulling up my binos, antlers filled my vision. My butt involuntarily fell to the ground, and I felt my heart shift from fifth gear into second. After five years of hunting Washington state, this was the ...
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Cochetopa Cottontails

Gabriela Zaldumbide
  By Gabriela Zaldumbide   One of the reasons why I became a hunter was so I could source my own food. In the last two and a half years, I’ve had the pleasure of hosting many wild game dinners, adoring the opportunities to share my elk, venison or small game with friends. Unsurprisingly, after attending some of these “family dinners,” my friend Anna became interested in harvesting an animal herself. She had harvested a whitetail doe with her dad before in Alabama, but that was long ago. She ...
Media Backcountry Journal the campfire Backcountry Journal r3 Hunting for Sustainability

R3: Revelations, Relationships and Reciprocity

Gabriela Zaldumbide
BHA Hunting for Sustainability students discuss public and private land boundaries. Photo by Alex Kim   This article originally appeared in the Fall 2019 issue of Backcountry Journal. By Gabby Zaldumbide The Wisconsin air was bitter cold. Turkey season had unfolded, but winter refused to end. As I sat perched on the ground, shotgun in one hand and hot coffee in the other, my hunting instructor and I could hear gobbles as the turkeys left their roost before sunrise. We set up in tall grass ...
Media Backcountry Journal Backcountry Journal r3 Hunting for Sustainability

About Backcountry Journal

Backcountry Journal is the quarterly membership magazine of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. Each issue covers conservations issues, BHA news and exciting hunting and fishing stories from your wild public lands, waters and wildlife across North America.

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