Aiming At Night
Still in the dark about night vision and thermal sights and gobbledegook thereof? To enlighten… The feral pig appeared with the first stars. I was already hiking to the car. A quick sit steadied the rifle; but the reticle vanished in night’s shadows and the boar...
The Indefatigable Charles Newton
“Ahead of his time” falls short. His tenacity matched his genius. But war and the Depression would have their way. When rifle maker Buzz Fletcher asked me to photograph a Mauser he’d stocked, I said, “Sure!” Would I like some 256 Newton brass to check it on the range?...
The Extraordinary Howard Hill
Viewed from the end, an imbedded arrow is an obscenely small mark, cleaving it the stuff of fairy tales. But film director William Keighley wasn’t working on a cartoon. He needed that arrow split. For real. On camera. Who better than an archer who shot as if drawing...
Reticles That Help You Hit
When I fired my first shot with a centerfire rifle, only about half of all hunters used scopes. Offhand, squinting down the Krag’s long barrel and struggling to hold it up, I tugged the trigger. The report savaged my ears, the steel butt my clavicle. The oil can on...
The Antlers Were Extra
Records lists grew on entries from “meat hunters.” Effort and focus still lag Lady Luck!
Alvin Biesen: Riflemaker of the Coalyards
Years ago, sweating, prone, almost out of time and watching mirage slow to a crawl through the 20x Redfield, I shaded downwind just out of the X-ring and caught it. “Good call,” came a voice behind the line. I rolled over, slid the bolt open on the Remington and...
The Extraordinary Bob Swinehart
Doing things the hard way became habit. With arrows. In Africa. At the end.
Sending One Bullet Elegantly
It is not necessary to kill with one shot. Neither must you find your mouth with a soft taco on the first try.
Hunters Lost
They knew what they were about. Hubris may have taken some. Others died innocent.