Gary Edinger grew up in rural Wisconsin in the 1950s. As a youngster, he learned to hunt, fish and trap in the hardwoods he called home. Edinger glided through the woods, equally efficient at felling and skidding a stand of oak as he was at swiftly skinning a deer. Hard work and a hard way of doing things weren’t lost on Gary, lifted as he was by six generations of homestead family pride. The outdoors laid a foundation for Edinger to not only survive, but thrive in a sometimes harsh and unforgiving world.
However, the Wisconsin woods couldn’t fully contain his curiosity for long. Edinger dreamed big and followed his love for adventure and knack for an old way of doing things to compete — and win — in sled dog racing at a world championship throughout Alaska and Canada. An impressive feat for anyone, let alone a man who was self-funding the extensive dog training, breeding and travel costs from modest logging wages. A taste for the North also left Gary spending a handful of summers fishing commercially on Alaska’s Yukon River with a hand-built fish wheel, a classic device situated in rivers for catching running salmon, which looks and operates like a watermill.
Though he wears just one, the Danner Pronghorn is his boot of choice. Shop your size here
Hunting was always a part of Edinger’s life. In the early 1990s, he helped his nephew, Tom Henderson, establish and expand Bitteroot Outfitters, a backcountry elk-hunting outfit in the burnt and craggy mountains along the Idaho-Montana border. Expeditions were carried out via horses and mule pack strings, yet again a nod to tradition and the hunting heritage of the West. Edinger was enamored, and still is, not having missed a fall in 27 years.
In 2007, on a fateful
