A hunter just east of us lucked into the kind of story you tell forever: on a brutally cold December day near Minot, North Dakota—five degrees, howling wind, and snow on the ground—farmer Eric Henke and his buddies were chasing pheasants when they finally crossed paths with a ghost they’d been spotting for years. After carefully working the frozen cover with four dogs, they flushed an almost all-white rooster pheasant, a rare genetic oddity that had been teasing them since summer. When it finally popped up just yards away, Henke dropped it after a short chase through the snow, sealing a once-in-a-lifetime moment. The bird was not actually an albino, but moreso beautifully unusual, and now it’s headed for a place of honor on the wall. This is proof that sometimes the coldest hunts deliver the hottest stories and memories!
Read the full story here.

Photo credit: Eric Henke