Neil “Gobbler” Cost (1923-2002): King Of Turkey Callmakers
With the death of Neil Cost on May 29, 2002, at the age of 78, the turkey hunting world lost the most renowned of all callmakers. I was also fortunate enough to personally know this extraordinarily skilled craftsman whose callmaking earned him national acclaim and to...
Winter Weather Wisdom
My Grandpa Joe was chock full of weather-related wisdom. For example, about this time of year, whenever a premature warm spell hinted at a change in the seasons, he would opine: “A fellow can’t trust spring. It tends to be mighty fittified.” He knew, by dint of long...
Daisy Days: Boys And BB Guns
Although as a boy I didn’t receive dozens of Christmas gifts each year, those that did come my way from Mom and Dad were invariably practical, prized or memorable (and in some cases, they fit all of those descriptions). Such was the case with a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun....
The Lords Of Loafers Glory
During the middle of the past century, it was commonplace for old men, maybe a smattering of somewhat younger n’er-do-wells and boys to congregate in popular gathering places. In small towns and rural crossroads, those spots were almost always a country store,...
Sweet Soul of the Smokies
Maggie “Aunt Mag” Williams (1863-1961) In the halcyon days of childhood, most of us had the distinct privilege, although we might not have recognized it at the time, of being in close contact with older folks who merited the description of being “a genuine character.”...
First Gun
For most boys of my generation, certain milestones immediately went into the treasured files of memory. They were destined to remain there permanently. “Firsts” were particularly important in this regard—first squirrel, first trout on a fly, first rabbit, first...
Grizzly Trouble On The Thorofare
Wyoming’s Thorofare River, draining an area that is possibly the most remote region in the lower 48 states, is the Yellowstone River’s major feeder above Yellowstone Lake. I came to know the stream intimately in the 1980s thanks to involvement with an outfitter who...
“Uncle Mark” Cathey: A Rare Breed Of Sportsman
William Marcus Cathey was a son of North Carolina’s Great Smokies and a man who lived what for most of us could only be a dream—a life devoted primarily to hunting and fishing.
Frank Young: An Angler for the Ages
As a trout fisherman, Frank was simply the best I have ever been privileged to witness in action, and I’ve been astream with the likes of Gary Borger and Lee Wulff.