Under the Lodgepoles
By J.D. Miller
In the wild, unforgiving backcountry of Montana, four generations of McCormick men have carved a legacy beneath the sweeping arms of the lodgepole pines. This year, Jack McCormick returns not to hunt, but to lay his father to rest-an old man whose wisdom still whispers through the trees. But the land is not done writing the family's story.
As Jack's sons arrive with their wives-new archers forging their own paths through the timber-a fresh chapter unfolds. Trials of blood, love, legacy, and survival rise with the morning mist. The elk are screaming in the high country, the bears still roam, and mountain lions stalk the shadows. But it's not just the wilderness that tests them-it's the weight of memory, the bonds of kin, and the unyielding pull of tradition.
Rich with reverence, sharpened by raw realism, and soaked in the scent of pine, sweat, and woodsmoke, Under the Lodgepoles is a tribute to the sacred rituals of the hunt and the unspoken truths passed from father to son. Through grief and grit, from the glow of the campfire to the silence of the bowstring, a family finds what it means to truly endure.