Frans Diepstraten

My first exposure to hunting came early. As soon as I was old enough to walk a full day, I accompanied my dad to my uncle’s annual driven shoots. After a long absence when somehow girls and booze seemed more important, I returned, went through the rigorous hunter education program in the Netherlands, and got a bird dog. For a long time we mostly hunted small game: hare, ducks, geese, and pheasants, and the odd wood pigeon. The last few years in the old country, my uncle leased hunting rights of land that had roe deer, red deer, boar and fox. Small game took a back seat for a while, and that continued when we moved to Alberta, Canada. Bighorn sheep occupied my mind for a decade, and hunting season usually meant long days on the mountain, looking for rams, followed by a quick one-day excursion in November to pot a deer. This gradually changed after shooting a ram of a lifetime, and I could allow the single-minded passion to expand to other species and areas.

A new challenge entered my life when, as a keep-sane project during a period of unemployment, I built a longbow. After shooting the first few arrows I was hooked. Around the same time, long-suppressed urges started surfacing and I dusted off my old shotgun. And since bird hunting without a dog isn’t quite the same, a few years later Finn was added to our household.

One of my heroes, R.M. Patterson, once wrote: “Beyond lies a new valley, a valley you have never seen.” He was talking about an actual valley, and the never-ending drive to go explore the next one. Trad hunting and upland bird hunting are my new valleys, and hopefully the views will be magnificent.

Kyle Steed

I grew up the only hunter in my family. My family loved the outdoors and camping but that was never enough for me. I wanted to hunt. Being introduced to hunting as a young teenager by a family friend started an addiction that carries to this day.

At first it was only deer but eventually it evolved into a love of all things mountain hunting. In high school I bow hunted for about one season, but gave it up after finding it extremely frustrating. Since then I’ve grown a bit more patient and have learned to love the hunt for the experience and not the kill.

After shooting Frans’ selfbow at a bowshoot with a lot of friends and fellow mountain hunters, I knew I wanted to get back into archery and not just any archery shooting, but traditional bow hunting. I can’t wait for the experiences we’ll have as we try to conquer the strugglestick.