Steve's Favorite Posts

04 Jan

Compass

Steven K. Ledin, January 4, 2013

Compass

I was up before dawn, and my backpack was still sopping wet from the caribou blood I washed off it from yesterday’s kill before I crawled into my sleeping bag last night. In the tent that morning were seven other hunters sleeping deeply, their non-harmonious snores a cacophony of wheezing and nightmarish sounds, and the combined stink and foul gasses of their rank breath and soured bodies and soiled hanging undergarments after a week of physical exertion with limited hygienic options was stifling and, so help me, visual.

This was the last day of an unguided caribou hunt near …

27 May

My Visit to Leupold and a Tunnel Dream Come True

Steven K. Ledin, May 27, 2010

As a very young man, many of my fantasies seemed almost unattainable at the time. Getting a driver's license was a pretty sure thing, but many years in the future. Losing my virginity was another one a long time coming. Getting my own dog took a while. Going to Africa on safari was just a pipe dream, as was walking on the pyramids of Egypt and racing cars and motorcycles and many other experiences.

Before I was interested in money or motorcycles or girls, there were guns. I've never not known guns and shooting, even since birth,

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19 Oct

Burris Elk Hunt 2009

Steven K. Ledin, October 19, 2009

I checked zero on the "Devil Gun" at a range on the way to camp. No issues. Good to go.

I kind of hoped that I'd get a gentle knock on my cabin door by a cute little maid when it was time to wake from my feather bed. She would put a cup of good coffee on my bed stand with a coy smile and offer her best wishes for a good hunt while she clicked on the morning news. With a twirl of her skirt, and a turn of her perfumed ankle she would be gone, leaving me …