This is a week about wild game and the country it comes from. Five days at the mouth of Paintrock Canyon on a working Wyoming ranch, and I’ll be there for all of it.
Every day runs the same way. We spend the morning in the field, the afternoon cooking and the evening pouring wine. By dinner the whole day makes sense: the morning tells you what you’re cooking, and what you cooked tells you what to open.
Field skills, wild game cookery and wine
Field skills: catch-and-release fly fishing, the shotgun range, long-range shooting with Swarovski Optik professionals, and horseback riding and nature observation. An introduction, not a course.
Hands-on wild game cookery. The group works together from start to finish, and every guest cooks.
A wine tasting and a discussion of pairing wine with game, at a long table with the meal you made.
Who This Trip Is For
The Hunt-Curious
If you’ve wondered about hunting but never gone, start here. We’ll practice the field skills behind it, and I’ll show you how to cook what it brings home.
The Epicurean
If you care where dinner comes from and what belongs in the glass beside it, you’ll get both answers at my table.
The Hunter Who Cooks
If you already hunt, I want you cooking what you bring home as well as you went and got it.
Anyone Ready to Slow Down
If you need five days outside at the speed of a ranch, this is it. There’s no wifi, and I count that as part of the deal.
Your Host
I’m a writer and a wild game cook. I spent years running restaurants and working in the wine trade before I went feral, so I come at everything from the field with a cook’s hands and a wine man’s palate. Home is Spoke Hollow, our family ranch in the Texas Hill Country, where habitat, sporting tradition and the table are all one job.
I work in conservation with Trout Unlimited and American Rivers, and I like explaining how land, water and wildlife fit together in plain terms. I write for Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine and host the television series No Small Water.
Day by day
- Sunday
- Arrive and settle into the tents along Paintrock Creek. The first meal cooked together, and the first tasting.
- Monday
- Ride out through the ranch’s cattle operation and see how the land is grazed. In the afternoon, the group cooks Ranchlands beef, start to finish.
- Tuesday
- Catch-and-release fly fishing on the creek, then spotting scopes and a field journal. In the afternoon, the group prepares and cooks trout for dinner.
- Wednesday
- The shotgun range in the morning and long-range shooting with Swarovski Optik’s professionals after lunch. Josh works the dogs on chukar and talks through upland hunting, then the group cooks the birds.
- Thursday
- A morning on horseback glassing for the ranch’s elk herd while Josh explains how elk are hunted. That night, the group cooks elk for the biggest dinner of the week.
- Friday
- Breakfast together, then home, with the week’s recipes and pairing notes.
The Details
- Dates
- September 12–17, 2027 · Sunday to Friday
- Price
- $4,475 per person
- Deposit
- $2,237.50 at booking
- Group
- Limited to 13 guests
- Lodging
- Safari tents along Paintrock Creek, one king bed or two full beds
- Includes
- All activities, meals, lodging and the evening wine tastings
- Not Included
- Travel to the ranch, taxes, fees and gratuity
- Take Home
- The week’s recipes and pairing notes
- Getting There
- Fly into Cody, 1.5 hours, or Billings, 3 hours
Questions
Do I need any experience?
No. The week is built for people new to the field and the kitchen, and for those who already know their way around both. Every morning is an introduction, and every afternoon is hands-on.
Are shotguns, rifles and fly rods provided?
Yes. Shotguns, rifles and fly rods are provided. You are welcome to bring your own if you have them.
Can two of us share a tent?
Yes. Tents have either one king bed or two full beds. Ranchlands offers 10% off the reservation when two guests share a tent.
Can you accommodate dietary needs?
Yes, with notice. Let us know when you book.
What about riding?
Horseback riding is part of the week. Ranchlands cannot accommodate riders heavier than 230 pounds.
Is there cell service or wifi?
Cell service is limited on the ranch, and there is no wifi.
What is the deposit?
A deposit of $2,237.50 holds your place. Travel insurance, including medical evacuation coverage, is strongly encouraged.
How do I get there?
Most guests fly into Cody, Wyoming, about 1.5 hours away, and rent a car. Billings, Montana, is about 3 hours. Airport shuttles can be booked from Cody.