My passion is alpine Mule Deer hunting with a bow and arrow. I studied biology and writing at Western Oregon University. I spend my summers backpacking in the mountains studying Mule Deer and developing strategies for killing trophy mule deer bucks. I have presented some of my research "Mule Deer bedding behavior on high-elevation summer ranges" at the national Ecological Society of America conference in 2011. I am currently writing a book to share all of the great things the mountains have taught me over the past five years.
I run a small taxidermy shop in Boring Oregon called Buck & Bull Taxidermy. I specialize in north american big game. I have ran this business for 5 years now and love it simply because it get to meet so many great people to share hunting experiences with.
Use Personality Traits to Harvest Mature Bucks: Part TwoDifferent Personalities Individual mule deer personality has been overlooked for too long. This may be because many hunting styles don’t allow or require a hunter to identify the personality traits of their prey, or it may be due to the moral complications that arise within most empathetic humans (including me). Either way, it is a [...]
Use Personality Traits to Harvest Mature Bucks: Part OneAlpine buck age classes Alpine bucks are not all the same – and this fact is not to be taken lightly. They can be grouped by age, and then again by personality. Yes that’s right, I said personality. Most toddlers can’t use the toilet (age class trait), but only so many like to hit, or [...]
Lone Wolf Mountainside SkinnerMy favorite hunting spot lays three miles (and 3,000 feet in elevation) up into some of the wildest mountains around. This makes for a tough, rugged hunt along jagged mountain ridges and cliff edges, and just making it there and back in one piece is a success. My goals were much greater though – to [...]
Natural Awareness: The Hunter’s Ultimate AssetWe live in a time and society that numbs us with numbers and labels and signs. When we walk into the mountains to pursue trophy game we must awake our senses form their modern coma and reconnect with nature. Initially it may be overwhelming, but the longer we spend away from the city, away from the buttons and junk food, the more we become aware. And awareness, more than physical strength and fancy equipment combined, is the hunters ultimate asset.
Cliff Hunter Chronicles: An Awesome Buck and a Bull to BootWe sat motionless behind our spotting scopes, chewing on Cliff bars, watching the sky, just waiting for our chance: two P&Y bucks lounged about in their sub-alpine sanctuary below, soaking in the sun and sipping on fresh snow-melt. “It’s probably about time to stalk in on them if you’re going to do it today. The [...]
Cliff Hunter Chronicles: Mr. PredictableMountain bucks – the old knobby-horned, sway-backed, grey-faced bruisers – make their way into the dreams of hunters with regularity. Here they stand on jagged alpine ridges, holding their antlers to the sky while squinting into oncoming mountain storms, they fill their bellies with tender floral shoots all through the day, and they lay about [...]
