Raised in a small town in Illinois, Phillip Lee McGinnis grew up working for a horse trainer and knew early on he wanted to become a cowboy. After a tour of service in the United States Marine Corps, Phil spent time in Hawaii roping wild cattle and starting colts, then moved to Montana and lived in a wall tent working with cattle in an area where grizzly bears are a constant threat. In this Filson Life, learn how he came to settle in Sublette County, Wyoming, where he lives out his dreams of being a cowboy in the least-populated county in the least-populated state in America. 

 

Tell us your story Phil. How’d you grow up? Where are you from? 

Well, I grew up in Illinois in a tiny-town of about ...

Read More

 

First things first, being a cowboy isn’t easy. It involves early mornings, hard work and long hours on the back of a beast that is known to buck every now and again. Pair that with the frigid temperatures in Sublette County, Wyoming, known as the "Icebox of the Country" due to having the lowest year-round temperatures, and anyone pursuing this job in this particular state has their work cut out for them.
 

It isn’t for everyone, but for folks like Shawn Butner and Casey Manning, cowboying was their calling and the only way to realize their dreams of collegiate rodeo championships.
 

Born and raised in Wyoming, both Shawn and Casey grew up knowing exactly what they wanted to do. Like most kids i...

Read More

Around these parts, winter means duck hunting: cold mornings, dark skies, and bright green birds. In the latest Filson Life, follow Alex Busillachi and Blake Berry of Slade Northwest through a successful Snohomish Valley hunting trip.

 

Waking up in the early morning under a deep and dark sky usually signifies the start of an arduous day, however for a waterfowl hunter it signals pure excitement. As the city of Seattle slept and became a mere reflection in the rearview mirror, we set a course due North towards the historic Snohomish Valley where we were met with a stiff wind from the southeast and a flurry of rain, which every waterfowl hunter knows are keys to a successful day.

As our mudded ...

Read More

Miles DeMott has been hunting compelling stories for more than three decades, writing across genres for a variety of audiences in print and digital spaces. The author of two novels, his most recent works for Covey Rise extol the virtues of prescribed burning and distill the essence of Kentucky bourbon. A native son of the piney woods of South Georgia, he lives and writes in Alabama. In the latest Filson Life, follow along as he recounts a hunting trip with the renowned Tom Brokaw and Covey Rise magazine in the fields of South Dakota.

It was my first pheasant hunt, with the added pressure that I found myself walking through the early morning cornfields alongside Tom Brokaw, legendary journali...

Read More

Born in the heart of dairy farming country, Elliot Anderson (better known as "El"), was raised hunting, trapping and fishing in the north woods of Wisconsin. El’s father David imparted romantic tales of Robert Services’ writings into his childhood. Sharing legends of gold, mountain men, and remnants from his own Alaskan days, David created a magnetic pull towards the life of an outdoorsman that El would never shake. Now, El has been drawn to the Iditarod; one of the most revered races in the world. In this Filson Life article, learn more about the man, El, who appears alongside his crew in the November Filson catalog.

 

Words and revisions by Elliot Anderson, Shivani Kakde and Kimberly White.

 ...

Read More

Aleph Geddis, a wood sculptor from Orcas Island, WA, has spent the last four months in his carving shed working on a one-of-a-kind piece of art for our upcoming flagship retail store in Seattle. Utilizing hand-made tools and an unique style formed through an appreciation of North West Coast Native Art and travels around the world, Aleph, with the help of his carving team, has created a 18.5-ft testament to the wild spirit of the Northwest. We took a trip to visit him at his carving shed and find out more about his creative process, and what exactly went in to this particular piece.

How long have you been working with and carving wood?

I started carving seriously a little over 20 years ago as a...

Read More

Tanner Wendell Stewart is a Seattle-based Emmy Award winning photographer, born and raised in the small town of Enterprise, Oregon. He moved to Seattle in 2006 to more fervently pursue a career in photography, but the years spent among open plains, pristine lakes, and stitch-work mountain ridges, alongside his small community of friends in Enterprise developed in Tanner a love for capturing the beauty of nature, and a deep appreciation for the warmth of people and the value of relationships. It is these things that he tries to capture in every frame.

 

Over the last three months, I have taken my Filson ge­ar around the world. I started on my first adventure in Yosemite National Park, three wee...

Read More

Using the ancient methods created by the Okanogan-Wenatchi bands of the Colville Tribe, Bernadine Phillips handcrafts coiled cedar root, bear grass and wild cherry bark baskets. She has always had deft hands, beginning with years of traditional beadwork before learning coil weave basketry from her family. She searches the mountains for her materials, then prepares baskets over several weeks or months for use in berry picking. We had a moment to catch up with Bernadine near her home in Omak, Washington, and learn more about this inspiring art form.

How long have you been working with basket weaving and other traditional crafting methods?

I learned to make the coiled cedar root baskets about 22 ...

Read More

Patrick Colleran has spent summers exploring the Wilderness of Oregon, Montana, and Idaho as a Wilderness Ranger and backpacking guide. Alison Riley is a former hiking and rafting guide who had more bird dogs than friends growing up in rural Vermont. It wasn’t until right before Guinevere, the 11-month old Wiredhaired Pointing Griffon was born, that they started bringing shotguns into the mountains to hunt birds. Recently moving to Port Townsend from Missoula, MT, the three of them have been exploring their new backyard and learning how to hunt the elusive forest grouse of the Olympic mountains.

 

Much of the Olympic range is protected as Wilderness either managed by the National Park Service ...

Read More

Photography by Michael Cevoli. Michael is a commercial and documentary photographer. A graduate with honors of both the bachelor’s and the master’s program at the Rhode Island School of Design, he lives in southern New England.  Words by Grant Smith. Born in Butte, Montana, raised in the prairies nearConrad, Montana, and pursued his secondary education in Rhode Island. Hehas worked as a small-town newspaper editor, a commercial fisherman, and afarm hand. Mike Cevoli and I have always embraced the harsher aspects of life. This shared pursuit of adversity formed our friendship. During late night conversations in dank Rhode Island bars we bonded over tales of personal failures and shared anecdo...Read More