Hello and welcome to Monthly Fuel, a newsletter for the day to day happenings, routines, inspirations, to - dos, good listens & reads that keep me going. Expect an update of what I’ve been up to, thinking on and an occasional vision board, accompanied by favorites from my monthly roll of film.
Published once a month.
The day to day
November was for bird hunting and not a lot else. Ajax got his license back after a 2 year “hiatus” we’ll call it, and was itching to get out there. I decided to take part this year and suppose every year thereafter - I’m hooked. I spent most of the season hauling around a semi automatic Remington 1100 and ripping through shells without bagging a bird. As soon as my dad caught wind that I was hunting this year, he bought me a Turkish over/under (a gun for a girl he tells me) and planned to meet us in eastern Montana for the exchange. I’m fairly certain me picking up pheasant hunting was a long awaited dream come true for him. I shot my first rooster, with my girl gun, at the bitter end of a 6 day eastern Montana hunt.
Going out east was a worthwhile trip to see somewhere new and get Wes on more birds. We took a week off of work to do so. The closest place to get them near Missoula is up the Flathead Valley and even then, it’s nothing like what you’d experience in South or North Dakota. You can count on seeing some pheasants and huns, but you’re often lucky to have a shot at your bag limit. The Mission mountain backdrop seems to make up for the lack of action. I doubt there’s a prettier place to hunt.
Chasing birds is the type of hunting I can get behind. You’re moving around, watching the dog work and you don’t have to be as quiet as you do with other blood sports. At least that’s what I tell Ajax/myself. There’s nothing quite as exciting as watching the dog lock in, flushing a covey, and feeling that shot gun to shoulder. The only way it gets any better is if that bird falls from the sky. Good, honest fun.
The pheasant season doesn’t end til the end of December and we can chase chukars until the end of January. If skiing doesn’t take over entirely by then I suppose we’ll go looking. If not for us, then for Wes. That dog’ll hunt.
We spent Thanksgiving out at the ranch in Potomac, drinking Manhattens around the Smith family hearth - a holiday tradition we look forward to. This year, our successor in the little house went to spend the evening with family and offered up his place for us to stumble to once the party was over at Annick’s. We gratefully excepted the offer- avoiding the drive back to town.
We woke up to snow and lots of it - one of my favorite things to wake up to in the little house. We got the fire going and drank coffee around it before taking off for Dillon for a last chance, get some meat in the freezer- deer hunt, an unsuccessful one at that.
We weren’t able to compensate the lack of red meat with pheasant. It takes a lot of birds to fill a freezer and it seems Ajax and myself need some more practice to do so- We’re thinking of joining a trap league. Our new date night, I suppose.
The Vision
Listen
We tend to listen to more vinyl in the colder months. Choosing an album to listen to in full, manually flipping the record and hearing the scratch of dust & static forces me to be more present. We’ve got lots of Johnny Cash - like 5 different albums worth that we’ve been spinning upon getting home from work or packing for the weekend.
A notable November mention is “Bird Hunters” by Turnpike Troubadours- the obvious soundtrack for chasing ditch chickens.
Read
Towards the end of the month I picked up The Big Sky by A.B. Guthrie Jr, per Annick Smith’s recommendation. I have yet to finish, but from what I can tell, it’s a fitting accompaniment to driving around the Rocky Mountain front. Its a novel about the rugged life of a “mountain man” in the 1800s who finds adventure and spirit in the west - as one (myself) does.
Find
Ajax and I invested in an Argali stove tent. Less of a find and more of a purchase, we bought it new, but it’s a total cold-weather trip game changer. Its packable- pretty sure the tent & stove combined weighs less than 7 pounds, so if we wanted to pack it in somewhere we could. We more so bought it so we could go on cold weather camping/hunting trips and be able to better dry things out and avoid the nightly cost of a $100+ motel. We’ve spent 8 nights in it so far this season - so I suppose it’s paid itself off already. That stove will throw some heat if you stoke it well. It can be 10 degrees outside and we’ll be wearing t shirts playing cribbage inside. You do need to continually tend to the fire if you plan on being warm in the morning. Ajax sets a repeating 1 hour 15 minute alarm throughout the night to keep ‘er going. Meanwhile- I sleep like a baby, curled up in my Paul Petzoldt bag - another find/gift. If you can get your hands on one of these sleeping bags you’ll never be cold again. My dad acquired three while working for the St. Croix outdoor ed. camp, as he’d take students on backpacking expeditions - in the winter. It’s not very packable, but works well for camping from the truck.
Working on
Writing- I’ve been working on a piece for The Revelry Collection magazine about our time on the ranch that’ll be featured in Volume 003. I have a short piece in Volume 002 that’s available for pre- order now! If you haven’t checked them out, you can do so here.
That’s all for November.
Talk soon
This is excellent. Thank you!
This was a great post! Love the photography and you’ve got a great looking bird dog!