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Fall 2020

Features

  • Training, fitness, health
    Training: Workouts

    Don't Fall Back

    Training tips from local pros. As autumn takes hold in southwest Montana, our motivation for training in the mountains tends to match the season: shorter days, shorter runs and rides; less warm air and sunshine, less fire…
  • wolves, yellowstone, wolf pack
    Culture: Conservation

    Pack Mentality

    Following Yellowstone's wolves. Fall’s pre-dawn chill saturates the frosty stillness of Yellowstone Park’s northeast corner. Lizzie Cato, petite, freckled, and bundled in many layers and textures of purple, leaps into the…
  • hunting, public land, stewardship
    Activities: Hunting

    Common Ground

    Taking care of the Great Public Estate. Of all the questions which can come before this nation… there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our…
  • bikepacking, expedition, camping, biking, backcountry travel
    Activities: Biking

    Two-Wheeled Wanderlust

    Pedaling a lifelong dream. As free-range children, my brother and I grew up riding ten miles to Ryan Park for an ice-cream bar. Then, for my 14th birthday, my realm of adventure amplified with a bike ride through Scotland…
  • fall color, yellowstone, hiking
    Nature

    High-Country Hues

    None can ignore autumn, when the world explodes in dazzling displays of color. Amid Montana's dispersed evergreen hillsides, chokecherry and aspen commence a fireworks show of reds and yellows. Along the streams and rivers…
  • camping, campground tour, fall camping
    Activities: Camping

    All Along the Waterfront

    There’s a sweet spot in the fall, unfolding as subtly as a turning leaf. Seasonal crowds dwindle, but the days are still pleasant. Weather starts to change, but cool nights under a sleeping bag offer some of the best sleep…

Departments

  • pallet fire, bonfire, stewardship
    Culture: Conservation

    Clear Your Pallet

    Keeping Bozeman's water clean. Every winter, piles of pallets slowly make their pilgrimage up Hyalite Canyon Road and into the canyon’s many fire pits, providing fuel for bonfires and winter cheer. Long after the revelers…
  • Elk, steak, cooking
    Culture: Food & Drink

    Chop Talk

    Charcoaled elk steak with spiced honey. Ask hunters—or hunters’ friends and families—about their favorite cuts of meat, and the word “backstrap” will invariably be spoken, in reverential tones and amid sighs of gustatory…
  • mule deer, wildlife, whitetail
    Culture: Conservation

    Dark Side of the Mule

    A grim future for the big-eared ungulate. In his 1990 publication Mule Deer Country, Valerius Geist writes, “For all its current abundance, the mule deer, so different, so uniquely American, so young and promising, is…
  • hunting dogs, bird hunting, pointer
    Activities: Bird Hunting

    A Prairie Hunt Companion

    The best part of bird hunting. I’ll never forget Maggie’s first point. Barely six months old, she was still just a floppy-eared puppy, a German wirehair pointer that for some reason looked like a German shorthair. All I…
  • hunting, bowhunting, national forest, public land
    Activities: Big-Game Hunting

    Lady Liberty

    Hunting and freedom in the national forest. The evening before bow season opened, I loaded up a bike-trailer with camping gear and pedaled into a heavily timbered drainage outside Bozeman. Arriving at a Douglas fir–cloaked…
  • running, hunting, runting, bird dog
    Activities: Bird Hunting

    Runting

    Strengthening the canine-human bond. Necessity may be the mother of invention, but compulsion is the captain of creativity. At least that’s what I told myself, as I packed a pistol into my chest-pack, laced up my running…
  • hunting insurance, elk hunter, drew pogo
    Activities: Big-Game Hunting

    Killer Coverage

    Hunting insurance gains traction. These days, the world is full of uncertainty, and no one has enough time. If you're a hunter, you know this all too well—who doesn't wish they could hunt dawn to dusk all season long, and…
  • chores, exercise, fall fitness
    Training: Workouts

    Yard Fit

    Turning chores into exercise. Fall in Bozeman brings cooler temperatures, shorter days, and extra time spent working in the yard. This usually means less opportunity to hit the trails and more time spent raking leaves or…
  • landscape, montana, fall, prairie, red barn
    Activities: Miscellaneous

    Oddballs of Fall

    Autumn's uncommon activites. Summer may have wrapped up, but there’s still plenty of time to spend outdoors before the snow falls. While the tried and true autumn activities are always a good bet, there are plenty of less…
  • horseback riding, horses, hunting
    Activities: Hunting

    Horsing Around

    When horse and hunter meet. I was probably humming “Don’t Fence Me In,” an old cowboy song that ricochets around my mind when I’m on my horse. Fall was in the air, and the horses were fresh. I remember the mare in front of…
  • climbing, humbug spires, granite, rock climbing
    Activities: Rock Climbing

    Rah, Humbug!

    Climbing clean granite south of Butte. No, your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you—that is indeed clean white granite, in a bevy of prominent bulges, just two hours from Bozeman. Nestled in a beautiful subalpine setting,…
  • hiking, stone creek, fall
    Activities: Hiking

    Gettin' Stoned

    Hiking the Stone Creek trail. Starting at the southern end of the Bangtail Divide and heading east, the Stone Creek Trail climbs to the crest of the Bangtail Range and weaves through evergreen forests and open, rolling…
  • Painting, art, poetry
    Culture: Arts & Culture

    Gatlin' Dave

    Gatlin’ Dave stared at his quarry with eyes of burning ice— Raised the rifle to his cheek and fired once. Then twice! The shots rang out loud and fierce on that crisp Montana day. But the huge deer heeded not Dave’s tries…
  • taxidermy bars, restaurants, food
    Culture: Food & Drink

    Head Hunters

    Top taxidermy bars. After a long hunt, we know where you’re headed: the bar. Gathering around a table with full brews and buddies by your side, recounting triumphs and blunders, is a tradition of its own. And no bar is…
  • hunting, prairie, eastern montana
    Activities: Hunting

    Eastbound & Down

    Hunting Montana's eastern prairies. I’d spent an hour sitting motionless in the sage while I observed the pronghorn herd. Running through September, Montana’s archery antelope season includes the heart of the annual rut,…
  • Art, poetry, painting
    Culture: Arts & Culture

    Keep Me Montana

    If I could pick a place to die I wouldn’t think on it I’d lay me under this big sky Of sun and clouds and grit I’d sing a mournful lullaby But hold back many tear And save ‘em for the sorry souls Who never wandered here…
  • california migration, californication, paul revere
    Culture: Humor

    Californication

    Bracing for the migration. The Californians are coming and you are unfortunately going to need to prepare for it. It’s actually in some ways your own fault. The people in Montana are way too nice and helpful. There is…
  • grizzly bear, bear safety, yellowstone
    Training: Tips & Tricks

    Distance Learning

    Staying safe in bear country. Bears are often depicted as savage man-eaters in the media, likely due to the tendency to sensationalize individual incidents for the sake of ratings. Others view them as cuddly animals akin…
  • felling a tree, cutting wood, firewood
    Training: Tips & Tricks

    Timber!

    How to properly fell a tree. Winter is coming, and so are those cozy nights nestled up next to the fireplace—sipping a hot drink, watching it snow, and listening to the wood you cut crack like popcorn as you throw another…
  • elk hunting, glassing, scouting
    Activities: Big-Game Hunting

    Game Plan

    Pro tips to fill your elk tag. Elk season is upon us and greetings at the local bar have changed from "How's the fishin' been?" to "Get yer elk yet?" Make this year the one when you proudly answer, "Damn straight!" Here…
  • History Rock
    Culture: More

    Postcard from the Past

    Early inscribers at History Rock. When we explore or travel we want to share the experience with others and remember it for years to come. We tag, post, tweet, or twitch (yeah... I'm not social-media savvy). The early…
  • hyalite reservoir, water, lake, watershed
    Culture: Conservation

    Know Your Water

    All about the Bozeman Municipal Watershed Project. Over the next few months, the City of Bozeman and the Custer Gallatin National Forest will begin forest-fuels-reduction work in the northern part of the Gallatin Range,…
  • mountain goat, conservation. wildlife
    Nature

    Where Land Meets Sky

    Respect in goat country. Mountain goats live in some of the most remote and precipitous terrain in North America. The challenge and beauty of these places also draw recreationists, who often encounter goats along the way.…
  • astronomy, mars, the red planet
    Training: Astronomy

    Mars Returns

    The red planet lives. It’s the color. Lurid, baleful red, blazing unblinking in the night sky. Like a burning ember, or a drop of blood. No wonder this “wandering star” in the realm of the gods was associated with grisly…
  • romance, dating, bozinder
    Culture: Around the Bozone

    The O/B Hot List

    Bozinder: a new dating app for Bozeman. An indelible part of the Bozeman ethos is to ditch the 9-to-5 and spend more time in the mountains and on the rivers. We’ve rejected the big-city mentality of working ourselves into…
  • hiking, sauntering, sunset
    Activities: Hiking

    When in Roam

    The forgotten value of sauntering. Saunter: To wander or walk about idly in a leisurely manner. —Webster's Dictionary, 1913 Full disclosure: I admit to the following (anyone who knows me will read this with a jaundiced…
  • hunting hipster, camouflage, outdoor hipsters
    Activities: Archery

    Field Dressed

    A guide to outdoor hipsters, part one. As the seasons change, so do the outdoor activities that come with them. Each one brings with it a unique band of fanatics—people who talk, dress, and act as if their entire lives…
  • climbing dog, etiquette, crag, dos and don't
    Activities: Rock Climbing

    Gettin' Ruffed Up

    Dog-owner etiquette while climbing. Your dog is an extension of yourself. You take her everywhere, she picks you up when you’re feeling down, and to the dismay of your significant other, she enjoys prime real estate in…
  • whitetail, cwd, chronic wasting disease
    Culture: Conservation

    Chronic Killer

    Bracing for a wildlife pandemic. Humans aren’t the only ones who could take a few notes on disease transmission this year; it’d behoove Montana ungulates to spread the word as well. That’s right, there’s another pandemic…
  • music blasters, pillory, acoustic invaders
    Activities: Hiking

    Pillory: Acoustic Invaders

    Calling out trailside music-blasters. Bozeman is a great place to live. With mountains to climb, trout to catch, and wilderness to explore, there’s a reason so many people are moving here. Even on the bad days, when work…
  • hiking, yellowstone park, river, forest
    Culture: Around the Bozone

    Yourself Included

    Nature welcomes everyone. There’s much talk these days of inclusivity, a word that makes me think of all the high-end real-estate ads trumpeting the exact opposite: “Exclusive property in the woods!” “Enjoy exclusive …
  • Hyalite Canyon, Fly Fishing Bozeman
    Culture: Around the Bozone

    Beauty and the Beast

    How a Valley Girl landed in Bozeman.  After a decade of swimming through the dating pool of self-absorbed almost-working actors in Los Angeles, I took up with a Montana man.  “Do you want to go on a fun little outing?”…

Gear Reviews

Book Reviews

  • Cookbook, cooking, game
    Culture: Books

    Book: Tenderize the Wild

    Unlike backstraps, which require only salt and pepper to make a person sigh with sensory bliss, some wild-game cuts need more love. Even elk, if not shot cleanly or taken care of properly in field, can lose its luster. To…
  • Cooking, poultry, cookbook
    Culture: Books

    Book: Upland Game Bird Cookery

    When you work hard for your game, there’s nothing quite as disappointing as botching the meal. This is where a good cookbook comes in. Townsend resident Eileen Clarke’s Upland Game Bird Cookery (Ducks Unlimited, $20), has…
  • Cookbook, local, cooking
    Culture: Books

    Book: Flavors under the Big Sky

    Combining a foundation of local ingredients with zesty elements from the kitchen of her Chinese-immigrant parents, Stella Fong provides an eclectic assortment of recipes in Flavors under the Big Sky (Arcadia, $27). Stella…
  • Cookbook, sausage, cooking
    Culture: Books

    Book: Sausage Season

    For the last several years, I’ve dabbled in making my own wild-game sausage. It’s turned out well, but in the back of my mind, I know it can be better. Sausage Season (Deep Creek Press, $28) by Eileen Clarke is going to…
Outside Bozeman Fall 2020

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