Falconry in Wyoming

One recent afternoon as I was returning home from visiting a friend, I turned down a Sublette County road that traverses through the sagebrush uplands next to the New Fork River and noticed a pickup truck out in the sage, with two men near the tailgate, with a bird dog. Intrigued, I drove by slowly, and finally one of the men moved just enough for me to get a glimpse of a peregrine falcon in the back of the truck.

With colder temperatures and occasional snowstorms triggering the changing of the seasons, most recreationalists leave western Wyoming’s public lands while awaiting snowy opportunities, but for others, it’s at last time to go out — it’s time to hunt Greater Sage Grouse with falcons.

I stopped my truck and backed up, shutting off the motor to inquire if they were about to be in pursuit of sage grouse. The falconers, here from California, invited me to have a look at their birds. After we had a very pleasant visit in the sagebrush, I ended up accompanying the men on a hunt the next day.

Catching up with an old friend

It is an Easter-basket sunrise. Yellow in the east blends into pastels of pink, purple and, in the far western arc of the sky, green and robin’s-egg blue. The lights of Jackson, 1,500 feet below me, still twinkle, and I can still pick out the brightest: the red neon “Emergency” stretching over the hospital; the glow of Couloir, the mid-mountain restaurant across the valley at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort; and the lights at the Flat Creek Inn.

In the distance, the silhouette of the Tetons is visible. Thanks to a recent storm, the snow line has dropped — only the bottom thousand feet or so are brown. One more storm and they’ll be white for the winter.

The 1.7-mile hike up Snow King and the views from the top encompass everything I love about living in Jackson Hole.

Timberman Saddles Up for the NFR

Wyoming cowboy Kelly Timberman is getting ready to compete in the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, taking place Dec. 2–11. It's his seventh-straight trip to the all-star event, and Timberman is hoping to close out an amazing season by taking the title in bareback riding, which he describes in three words: Intense. Extreme. Physical.

That sounds like an understatement to me, but then again, you're not going to catch me on a bucking horse any time soon. Intrigued, I caught up with the daredevil cowboy from Mills to get the scoop on what drives him to risk life and limb in the ring. Click here to read our interview.

How to Find a Cup of Coffee that Truly Fills You Up

I never had a coffee place. I mean, I have often found a place convenient to my house where I would stop for a cup of coffee; but a place to call my own? Unfortunately, no.

Recently we moved to Wyoming, and my convenient place to get a morning cup of coffee (conveniently!) became my brother-in-law’s restaurant. And while I think the coffee here is just about the best in the county, I wasn’t expecting much more than a satisfying pick me up.

But out West, stopping for a morning coffee isn’t just a routine; it’s a ritual.