Chasing the Caribou
A witless beast could hardly inflict the trials, even perils, visited on caribou hunters. Could it? Had the rain paused more often, I might have looked longer. But the ceiling had a deliberate set, as if the low, lugubrious clouds were screwed in place. Dawn’s veil of...
Paul Mauser: The Man Who Repurposed the Door Latch
His rifles armed world powers in titanic wars, and hunters in the greatest game fields on Earth. The spoor, braided at first, was unraveling. “Ready to bed,” John mouthed the words. Short yards ahead, a patch of dried mud came to eye—two feet off the ground....
Tiger, Tiger, in the Night
Elsewhere, man-eaters were quickly shot. In Corbett’s India, they kept killing. Deeply rutted pads and a cleft across the right forefoot distinguished the prints of the eldest cat. The toes were also exceptionally long. By February 1929, the tigers -— by their sign an...
Baron Bror von Blixen: Farmer, Charmer, PH & Adventurer
In Kenya he found big game and adventurous women–peril and economic ruin, too. He relished the risks. They started on the Congo, at the former slaving hub, Stanleyville, in a steel boat bought from a Belgian trader. Its three-ton capacity belied its small size....
The Extraordinary Bob Swinehart
Doing things the hard way became habit. With arrows. In Africa. At the end.
When 300s Were Young
What place, after a century, does a British cartridge have in the booming chorus of American 30-caliber magnums? Dawn’s hard snow was loud underfoot but the elk were noisy, too. Wind strumming the pines covered the crunch of our steps till both of us, surprised, met...
Never Invisible
“For extended trips, where time is no object and cross country work is intended, the ox-wagon is the best means of conveyance, especially if a bulk of heads and skins is to be collected, and carried about. The hire of a wagon, with a full span of oxen native driver,...
The New Essential Riflescope
Having grown up hunting November hardwoods, where riflescopes were scarce as clean socks in deer camps, A. B. Learned could be forgiven a provincial view: “I always use open sights,” he declared, “preferring their speed to the somewhat slower peep sight. I have...