Gunkholing for Ducks
In September, the summer folks trade their beach lives to head home. The public boat ramp near my home, the one that once was clogged with all sorts of recreational craft, is deserted. It’s a busy process to haul and winterize boats tied up in slips just as it is to...
The Gun Collection
“It was over there, in old furniture stores, junk yards and other out of the way places—where they knew nothing about old guns, and cared less, just so they could sell them at most any price—that some of the real prizes turned up, such as the Sharps coffee mill...
Smith Setters Revisited
It was quiet when I drove down the long, sandy, Smith Setters Plantation road. On both sides were fields full of warm weather grasses that were rimmed by a mix of pines and oaks. Two quaint guest houses were on my left, and a big kennel and an expansive horse corral...
Pit Blind Geese
Field-hunting geese from a pit blind represents the epitome of waterfowling. Each gust of wind brought the smell of freshly spread cow manure from the cut cornfield below. The maize had been harvested in the fall, and the ducks, geese, turkey and whitetails devoured...
Setters and Pointers in Advertising
“It was the time when hunting and fishing were as popular as video games and reality television shows are today. Let’s have a look at a few from the past 100 years.”
Put Down Your Book and Read Your Dog
Scupper was shaking so much that I thought he might spook the black ducks circling overhead. It was cold, there was some ice in the saltmarsh, but we weren’t out here long enough for him to be cold. Heck, it wasn’t even legal shooting time, so the only time he got wet...
The Art of Pointers and Flushers
The wind shifted overnight, and those northerlies sure cut yesterday’s highs in half. Replacing the hazy hot and humid was dog running weather; mid 40-degree highs, moderate humidity and a consistent, light-variable breeze. Carried on the wind was more than scent, and...
Why the Wye
An act of God combined with a dash of Grace creates a trout stream of royal proportion. Not far from the dirt path was a field thick with wide stalks of dark green, calf-high grass. To get a glimpse of the sun, wildflowers in nearly every hue—soft purple and blue,...
Of Remingtons, Parkers and Old Pats
Devout Remington men toting Parkers?