Our Outdoors: Musts for Gusts
Our Outdoors: Musts for Gusts By Nick Simonson Beyond the usual celebration of dog and bird and of field boots and swinging shotguns, this year’s pheasant opener was highlighted by another frequent autumn occurrence in the upper Midwest: gusty conditions. In the gales that topped forty miles per hour on one stretch of my first weekend walks, the pines around me in the tree belt howled in a way that made me nervous that branches would start falling at any moment. More than a couple of times I had to adjust the Velcro strap on my already-turned-backwards blaze orange hat […]
Our Outdoors: FOMO
FOMO is the acronym for the “fear of missing out.” The term was coined in the mid-2000s as shorthand for a growing form of social anxiety about not being in on the latest happenings and events, particularly as online displays of all the fun other people were having increased through channels such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram being delivered directly to developing smartphone technology. While I’ve never particularly cared much about those avenues or many of the things that happen on them – I’m just thankful that my columns and stories about the outdoors are automatically posted to them for […]
Our Outdoors: The Shed
Our Outdoors: The Shed By Nick Simonson My four-year-old son calls it an “adventure.” Which, being of much slighter stature, and not as familiar with the rise and fall of the hillsides in the small drainage just outside of our housing development, the thirty-minute hike we take from time-to-time probably is a grand trek when perceived from his vantage point. With the top of the hills hayed in late summer, the open area above the brome-and-milkweed covered slopes with the public trail winding through the last stretch of undeveloped land gives him a chance to run around in the open, […]
Our Outdoors: Scent Checked
In the headlights, the yellowing leaves of fall in the ash tree alongside the approach on the gravel country road were pre-dawn reminders of the ongoing seasonal shift. The cool air that curled into the truck as I opened the door was the second, and the third was the ritualistic walk around the pickup to the back and the uncasing of my bow for my first morning sit of the season, having previously taken on some warmer patrols in the evenings. The quiet calm of the cool darkness before sunrise was only occasionally disrupted by a cricket cadence as I […]
Our Outdoors: The Shot Not Taken
By Nick Simonson The eastern bank of clouds meant that my friends on the far side of the state likely would not see much hunting action as my dog and I traversed the gravel roads south and west of town away from the shadow of the frontal boundary. The sun slowly climbed over the gray bank and dawn was delayed by the extended horizon, but we would be spared the downpours that cancelled their grouse openers. Here and there on the blacktop and dirt, stretches of dampness marked those places where light rains had fallen before the start of the […]
Our Outdoors: They’re Laughing with You
By Nick Simonson The day after I tagged my deer last season was warm but windy and there was no snow on the ground. It was more like a September scene than one from November. With temperatures in the mid-50s and gusty breezes at 25 miles per hour, I watched the hillside grasses bend as the northwest gales curled around the sunny side of the hill my lab Ole and I walked on during our final day of vacation which was set aside for big game, but now took on a new purpose after a punched tag. Not a hundred […]
Our Outdoors: Cast & Blast Season
By Nick Simonson As a youngster, I was fond of “Choose Your Own Adventure” books. More often than not, I’d cheat and just read each page and then figure my way back through the story to slay the dragon, escape from the alien prison camp, or ultimately get the best result possible in its pages. Similarly, when visiting a restaurant now as an adult, I also enjoy making my way through those special menus that often include mixing-and-matching an appetizer, main course, side items and dessert all for one ridiculously low price. That’s perhaps why, as a sportsman, I also […]
Our Outdoors: In Good Standing
By Nick Simonson I’ve never been fond of heights. Despite being marketed (and statistically confirmed) as the safest way to travel, airplanes have always made me uneasy. Even the top of the Ferris wheel in the Fargo Scheels makes my stomach drop a little bit when my son and I reach the apex on the slow-moving trip to the second story. With lightning striking and rendering a trusted deer stand inoperable, what with its melted bolts and connection points, charred footpad from the point of impact and twisted legs that transferred the discharge into the ground, I began the process […]
Our Outdoors: A Time Out of Place
By Nick Simonson Even in the dim start of the day which hinted back to how many seasons in the area had begun, with low clouds hanging over the rock-and-cedar covered edges of the small stream on Lake Superior’s north shore, it was evidently summer. The humidity stuck to everything like the rust-colored algae on the rocks in the slower edge pools and I felt the breathability of my waders fade as they quickly began to cling to my legs in the August air. While not hot to start, it was a far cry from those cold spring days of […]
