The Ignorant Angler

This is the infamous year end summary, sort of along the lines of the Christmas card with the letter stuffed inside.  I'll omit the photo of the dogs with fake antlers.  Some of you may remember Gene Hill . He was a well known outdoor writer,  and, I'd wager that he's still popular with the wingshooting crowd.  He occasionally wrote a piece for the sporting magazines titled "The Annual Report". I'll credit him with the title of this piece and absolve him of any responsibility as regards the content that follows.
Well, let's see, I still fish with a camera slung over my shoulder, and rarely hike without it either. Admittedly, packing an SLR is a pain, but I still think it's worth the hassle.  When I look back over the year or years, I can pinpoint dates that an event occurred.  Aha, fish that day, bugs that one, a seventy degree March day and so on. So, I can plan out my annual fishing trapline based on my meager experience with hatches, water conditi…

On a recent trip to the Clearwater River in Idaho I took an afternoon break from fishing and drove into Lewiston to visit the Jack O'Connor Hunting Heritage and Education Center.

I won't rehash O'Connors biography.  Suffice it to say that as a boy my curiosity in the outdoors and taste for adventure was fueled by the stories that graced the pages of the sporting magazines. A handful of legendary writers dominated the outdoor magazines of the day.  None were as iconic as Jack O'Connor.  His name graced the masthead of Outdoor Life for over three decades.  During that time he wrote hundreds of pieces about hunting and firearms.  The stories generated by his hunting adventures are an important part of hunting history and will educate and entertain sportsman for generations to come.  Out of print copies of his books fetch princely sums.  Fortunately, many are available as reprints.

The Center houses mounts of big game that O'Connor collected over a lifetime of hunting…