Many books – and videos these days, it seems – try to answer the ancient question, “Why do we hunt?” through philosophical prose juxtaposing the beauty of life with the harsh realities of death and the reasons for our participating in this conundrum. This book doesn’t do that. Simply, we like hunting and fishing stories, and this compilation is a throwback to the hunting and fishing storytellers of our youth, the youth of four, middle-aged dads and husbands, sons and brothers. We don’t get the amount of time in the outdoors we’d like – and that’s okay – but we try to savor it as much as possible when we do. Sure, we’ll stumble upon greater understandings about the world and our place in it, but it’s through a series of moments – with the land, with family, with friends – that occur on the stage of hunting and fishing that we learn how to move forward while staying connected to what came before. For us – the members of the Lost Branch Sportsman’s Club – success doesn’t come through bag limits and competition, but by being present. And in the end, we just like to tell stories.