New Beginnings

A sportsman marks the seasons differently than most people. For me, the arrival of my bow signals a new year. So does a full freezer—I’ve got about 80 pounds of venison, 20 pounds of pheasant, and 15 pounds of turkey in the deep freeze. It’s time to make thick, meaty stews and have friends join our family at the table. It’s also time to launch a new blog. My hope is that Cedars & Sandhills, much like the state of Nebraska, will be a verdant and lively space away from the bustle of pop culture. I tried blogging about pop culture and politics, and I didn’t like the direction it took my heart. I found myself trolling the internet for trending news or controversial issues. That’s just not who I am, and I never felt comfortable walking in those shoes. I do, however, feel remarkably comfortable in a pair of hunting boots, or waders, and so that’s what I’m going to write about—the life of a sportsman in central Nebraska, raising a family a mile off the Platte River, planting trees in the spring, gardening in the summer, canning venison in fall, and reading James Herriot to the kids by the fire in the winter. I love my four-seasoned life in the Cornhusker state, and Cedars & Sandhills will invite you into it.

I do want to give you a heads-up: occasionally, Cedars & Sandhills will display dead animals, weapons, and a protein-heavy diet. Quite frankly, there’s no other way to write about the life of a sportsman in Nebraska without these details. With this warning, however, I also want to assure you that I will do my best to respect the solemnity of life and death, for this also is the sportsman’s way.

Perhaps nobody has said it better than Aldo Leopold. Permit me to steal his words in describing my intentions for this blog: “There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot. These essays are the delights and dilemmas of one who cannot.” – Aldo Leopold, from the “foreword” of A Sand County Almanac.

Zeke Pipher is the author of the “In Pursuit: Devotions for the Hunter and Fisherman.”