Joshua Slocum: Lost At Sea
His interests were narrow but deep—deep as the deep blue sea. Joshua Slocum was born to a sea-faring life in 1844, “on a cold spot on coldest North Mountain on a cold February 20,” back when ships were wood and men were iron. His granddaddy was an American Quaker, a...
Confessions of a Lead-Slinging Luddite
What if I told you more white-tailed deer have been taken with an 1894 30-30 Winchester than all the other sundry deer hunting cartridges combined? What if I told you that you could hunt worldwide with a battery of only three rifles, a 22 Long Rifle from 1887, a 7...
Cold Mornings on the Little Choptank
It’s icy on the river, but with geese hovering above, it’s a mighty good place to be.
A Cat and His Hats
Other hats await, too. Hats I will someday own. I don’t read the girly magazines any longer, but I’m still dog-earing and sweating up the catalogs. The boys blew ashore just a little after four. They had started out in the wee hours aboard the Marsh Hen, a...
A Great and Tainted Genius
There’s the greatest writer of the last century and wanderings across the continents with gun and rod, and it begins in 1951 just outside Havana Way up in the Sawtooths, the day comes creeping on the wind. The aspens rattle and the stars fade as the first light hits...
Buffalo Dream, Bison Nightmares
No time to fart or fumble, on my belly with a beast that had tried to kill a man only the day before. Willard Sumption had a buffalo ranch a little south of Aberdeen in that rolling country east of the Missouri breaks. Willard had one bad eye from the time two of his...
Fire & Iron Damascus Steel
Modern smiths keep an ancient art alive.
Battle of Sugar Point – Wild Rice Shoot-Out
They were among the most peaceable Indians, the papers all said, but they had a grievance. This is the story of the Battle of Sugar Point. Wild rice. It’s good alright, mighty good, cooked long and slow in moose broth, with maybe morel mushrooms and...