Explorations of the Wild and the Human Spirit

Journey into a collection of essays, reflections, and field observations that seek to uncover the deeper truths hidden within the desert and ourselves.

These writings weave together natural history, survival wisdom, philosophy, and personal experience — offering a window into The Way of Things.

Understanding Game Trails

To understand any terrestrial environment one must know how to track and read sign. This skill allows you extend your awareness through time and distance. Part of this skill is understanding game trails, thus allowing you to look back much deeper in time than just tracking. This knowledge is a

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BGG 25 – A cultural and historical review

BGG 25 will be 30 years old next year. What is BGG 25 ? It is “Big-Game Guzzler number 25”. More precisely it is a artificial water source meant to help out the desert bighorn sheep. It is the 25th artificial water source installed by the Society For The Conservation

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Moon Sheep

In this day and age, of electric lights and telescopes, the cultural influence of the moon has changed. In our hunter gatherer past everybody would have lived by, and understood the ever-changing yet predictable cycles of the moon. Watching the night sky from their campfires our ancestors saw the moon

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The Moment

Perhaps a 1000 summers have come and gone since this glyph was etched into the stone, and yet it story is as clear and precise as the day it was made. This story is a moment in time that was treasured by an individual. To truly understand this moment we

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The Desert Bighorn Sheep Of The Newberry Mountains

Like many desert bighorn sheep populations in the distant past the newberry population was large and vibrant. It was hunted by the ancient people that inhabited this land as a valued food source. Then in a process that happened throughout the Southwest the Newberry sheep were affected by disease, habitat

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Time Wave

Through the centuries, mankind has often speculated on what is the true nature of time and how it works and we currently have a scientific understanding of time, that is sometimes referred to as space-time. We also have a cultural idea of time that allows for all kinds of things

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The Campfire

The campfire is one of the things that truly define humanity and one could even say that we really weren’t really humans until we had fire. And it is interesting to note that many campfire traditions that were known to our ancestors are still practiced and are still relevant in

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Hunting in the Human Way: The Shaman and Hunting Magic

Today most of us would think that a discussion on shamanism and hunting magic to be purely academic. However I think that a proper understanding of ancient shamanism and hunting magic is necessary to understand our modern environmental movement and the philosophies that exist within it. For instance many people

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Hunting in the human way: Killing

Most people today come from a modern urban culture and can no longer make a kill nor can they walk barefoot across the desert or drink the water from the rivers and streams that are there. We cannot make a kill due to mental blocks that has developed in the

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Hunting in the Human Way: Falconry

There is nothing in the natural world that can be compared to the ancient art of falconry, especially when it’s done with a complete cast of characters. These characters are, of course, the falcon and the human and horses and dogs. This fantastic collection of characters can truly be said

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Hunting in the Human Way

In order to understand hunting in the human way one must understand humanity’s past and present and this will give insight to those who wonder about its future. In our modern day and age it is passionately debated as to whether hunting and killing are proper and useful components of

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The Grid

For many years I have worked in power plants that generated electricity for “the grid”. “The grid” refers to the electrical distribution system that supplies electrical power to our homes and factories, sometimes from power plants more than 1000 miles away. Some of the units I worked on were as

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