“stories”

A New World screwworm (NWS) outbreak in Mexico has raised alarms at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The impact on livestock and wildlife—including game animals—could be devastating if the flying insect and the flesh-eating maggots it produces are not kept out.

The author learned there are elk—and a lot of them—in West Texas. He also learned there is at least one man there he should have met a long time ago.

Of bayed bears and broken branches—a week with dogs and houndsmen in western Idaho is a “paws-on” experience.

They say that ignorance is bliss, and it is, until that bliss is snatched away by the cold, icy hand of reality. In this case, that hand was wielded by a fellow hunter sitting shotgun in an approaching pickup truck.

What does he plan to buy with his prize money? “Gum and a toy,” says the hunter.

Skyfall’s flooded timber, swampy oak thickets, 20-acre lake and adjacency to the Trinity River is as attractive to ducks as it is to hunters. Add to that the deer and hog hunting, tactical shooting ranges and incredible instructors, and you’ll be wishing there were more than 24 hours in a day.

Just when it looked like the author would go home empty -handed, he hit a familiar vein, the ol’ Texas two-step.

Back in December of 1959, the Model 99 at the heart of this story cost my mother $85.25. It has become a wise investment in precious metal, walnut and stories that cannot be traded for any amount.