Steve opat

Director of media, Alpine Hobos Media

Producer, Alaskan odysseys podcast

Steve Opat was born on a mountain top in Tennessee - greenest state in the land of the free. Born in the woods so he knew every tree; he killed him a B’ar when he was only three.

While this is actually the beginning of David Jebediah? Crocket’s saga, my tale is remarkably different. I was actually born at one of the largest hospitals in the world - the Mayo Clinic - and was then raised in the woods of small town SE Minnesota. The town I lived in had the only stop light in our entire county. Our county is the only one in Minnesota that does not have a lake.

When I could first wield a BB gun, I gave the neighborhood birds a noble and endless fight. Soon I was introduced to trapping and there wasn’t an animal safe underground either. My official coming of age ceremony may have been during Christmas the year I was twelve. That was when a Ruger 10/22 showed up under the tree. Thereafter, there wasn’t a safe small game animal within walking distance of home.

All of his hunting was not without tutoring. For as long as I can remember, my father was a member of conservation organizations as apparent in the number of Terry Redlin paintings we acquired from banquets over the years. Dad also used these events to introduce we kids to people who could really groom us into the outdoorsmen we were destined to become. I remember all the names and instances of the people who taught me some aspect of the outdoors and I’ve done my best to thank those people as I’ve gotten older.

While my sister was a tom-boy simply because she only had brothers and two other boys in the neighborhood, my brother and I were true nature boys. If given the chance to be feral, I would have taken it (still would). During our teen years we began working at a hardwood tree farm. This groomed me into a full-fledged tree, prairie, and animal habitat nut-job. I still can’t walk through any woods without examining the health of the forest. I now own my own property and endlessly manicure it the way I did the oaks and maples on that tree farm.

During those years, I was a conflicted kid. Popularity in school was tough to manipulate when I was perpetually torn between spending time trying to arrow whitetails and spending time following my German Wirehaired Pointer ‘Gerbie’. He was a pretty fair dog who never got enough birds in front of him to ever mature into an exceptional one. That said, he’ll forever be the best dog I ever own and my best friend all through my youth.

I harvested a few whitetails in those days but never could put it all together to harvest a stud. My brother and I were on the leading edge of the quality deer management campaign and passed up more deer than any teenager ever should. I don’t regret passing up deer. I learned a lot by being perpetually present in the woods.

College led me to North Dakota and the great plains. This is where I began evolving into the man and the hunter I was born to be. I’ll never forget the day in the student dining center when a new friend said, “Do you know there is all this land in western NoDak that is federal and open to hunting antelope and mule deer and stuff?” That weekend we made the trip across the state and our lives were officially changed. We were reborn; no longer confined to treestands and small parcels of land. We were wild indians again and our life trajectory changed to one that would accommodate as much of that as possible. We are best friends to this day.

That’s my background story. In my articles, I reference these days often. There’s no way I could ever summarize all the western, high-mountain, and backcountry adventures I’ve had since that first fateful trip out to the North Dakota Badlands. But if you follow me long enough, you’ll probably learn the lessons obtained from each of them. Thanks for following.

Happy Hunting.

- Steve Opat.

Articles by Steve Opat

Alaskan Odysseys Airbnb

Have Steve Opat’s adventures, as featured in the Alaskan Odysseys Podcast and Steve’s writing, inspired you to make the trip to Alaska? Here’s your chance to experience the incredible wild places by booking a stay at the Alaskan Odysseys Airbnb. This one bedroom, one bath, is the perfect place for four guests to relax or serve as a jumping off point for a backcountry adventure.

The living room is adorned with a variety of art and taxidermy and is overlooked by a lofted bedroom with king size bed, sateen sheets & down comforter. The wood stove creates an ideal area to read, dine, or play piano and the wrap around deck provides great views through the surrounding birch forest. The neighborhood moose are frequently viewed & the area hills can be seen beneath the forest canopy.