Matt SmytheNov 9, 20172 minFIRST LIGHTAt first light I returned to where we had last seen blood. A sparkling sheen of frost on the fields, thin ice on standing water, and my...
Matt SmytheNov 21, 20165 minTHE RANGE OF OUR UNIVERSEAleida shot her first deer, a healthy 2 year old four-pointer, during archery season last year. It was her first trip into the woods as a...
Matt SmytheApr 1, 20151 minHUSH FOR ONE SECONDhush for one second I said hold still what do you hear I asked geese wind everything then off they went
Matt SmytheJan 4, 20141 minTRACKS IN JANUARY SNOWI turn to head back inside pressing new steps into the snow different than the ones that brought me here
Matt SmytheJun 14, 20131 minTHAT IS THE TEMPOThe boys and I and my friend Jason hit opening day of trout season on a reasonably-kept secret Finger Lakes stream again this past April...
Matt SmytheMay 17, 20133 minDEAR ALASKA(fp note: since this piece was published as my submission to the TU Blogger Tour competition, I was selected by a panel of magazine...
Matt SmytheOct 17, 20123 minOUR THOUSAND MILESI was elected and served a two-year term on the Canandaigua City Council back in 2009. My decision to run was based on my need to not...
Matt SmytheJun 18, 20124 minGROWING UP BRAVEA shorter version of this story originally appeared in the Summer ’12 issue of Canandaigua Magazine. I could have called someplace else...
Matt SmytheMay 24, 20124 minBALANCECam Smythe was many years and many miles from his small-town childhood in the woods and water of Upstate NY. The quick smile, quiet...
Matt SmytheMay 18, 20123 minTHE GIFT OF MEMORYMy grandma Doris passed away in ’93. I was 19 and stationed in Erlangen Germany, but happened to be on a month-long mission in the UK...
Matt SmytheApr 26, 20123 minTHE BOYS OF NOT-YET SUMMERThe morning started at 5:30 with a couple sausage, egg and cheese breakfast wraps, coffee and an apple fritter on the ride to a...
Matt SmytheApr 9, 20121 minTHERE’S NO WAY THEY COULD’VE KNOWN10, 9 and 7 years ago. Swaddled and warm in their loving mother’s arms, just hours after their respective births. Brand new in this great...
Matt SmytheNov 30, 20112 minWOODPILETo prepare, I’ve started cutting and splitting fuel for the stove. A few weekends now spent with my dad’s old 16″ STIHL chainsaw and...
Matt SmytheOct 25, 20114 minTRACKING DAD’S DEERI had just walked back from my stand to the truck to meet the kids. Dressed in sweatshirts, jeans, muck boots and still sporting...
Matt SmytheJul 11, 20113 minTHERE’S ALWAYS TIME FOR ONE MOREThe plan was to paddle our kayaks into the West River for bass. Jason and I made the same trip last year and have fished a handful of...
Matt SmytheJun 13, 20111 minFOREWe don’t golf on no steenking golf course. We’re too busy catching bass and laughing at your drives.
Matt SmytheJun 2, 20114 minTHREE DAYS & THIRTY NINE YEARSThis past Memorial Day weekend, I spent a few days camping in the Adirondacks with some new friends and fishing for native brook trout....
Matt SmytheApr 19, 20112 minMAY ONE. DAY ONE.Less than a couple weeks. That’s what I’ve got left of the day job. That’s all that’s left of the twice daily auto-pilot-and-iPod-mix of...
Matt SmytheMar 22, 20113 minWE’RE VIKINGS, SUCKAWe dig Spring. As a matter of fact this year we did a whole bunch of celebrating and out-of-door reveling the day before Spring arrived...
Matt SmytheDec 29, 20102 minLATE GOOSE, DAY 2There’s a measure of insanity, I suppose, in the psychology of the late season goose hunter. The first couple days of ridiculous wind and...