Stage for Stories – A Paean to Porches

Stage for Stories – A Paean to Porches

Porches were a place where you could be at peace with the world…a stage for stories. In yesteryear one of many blessings, what folks living in my native heath, the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, tended to take for granted was that they could enjoy...
The Literature of Turkey Hunting

The Literature of Turkey Hunting

Jim Casada contemplates the art and romance in the literature of turkey hunting and the world of sporting, wildlife literature at large. The malady of bibliomania exhibits varying symptoms. Some collectors are perfectly happy to do little more than gaze on lovely yet...
Old Flintlock: A Sporting Scribe for the Ages

Old Flintlock: A Sporting Scribe for the Ages

No writer has sung the South’s sporting song with the same alluring sweetness as Archibald Hamilton Rutledge. Known to family and friends as “Old Flintlock,” he was a proud son of the southern soil with roots that reached deep into the Carolina Lowcountry’s past. His...
Cane Pole Magic

Cane Pole Magic

A cane pole, whether used from shore or in a boat, is wielded by a simple, graceful motion in which the angler lobs the baited hook. The image is as enduring as it is appealing, something straight from a Norman Rockwell cover on an old Saturday Evening Post. A...
A Fascination With Fly Rodding

A Fascination With Fly Rodding

From the time I was first able to tag along without completely impeding his fly fishing, Daddy let me accompany him on short after-work outings to nearby trout streams in my native Great Smokies. My father was a dedicated fly fisherman and one of those wise mentors...
The Sportsman’s Code of Hunting Ethics

The Sportsman’s Code of Hunting Ethics

Each of us carries a bit of sport’s future with us every time we set out with a gun or bow, and one critical aspect of ensuring that future is not a bleak one involves ethical behavior. Turkey season here has come and gone. It’s time to recharge my internal batteries,...
The Fine Art of Fishing Lies

The Fine Art of Fishing Lies

A fine fishing liar is a master in his field and a sage dispenser of a special kind of wisdom well worth hearing and heeding. Robert Ruark, arguably the finest outdoor writer this country has ever produced and certainly a lifelong favorite of mine, had firm opinions...