They Smell Like Fish
When the house starts smelling like fish, I know summer has begun. Well, I can tell summer has arrived because Mike’s friends are arriving with frequency at my house — and they all smell like fish, har har! Of course, each of them has enough gear to open their own fly...
Two Sports
Men of remarkable talent and courage, Er Shelley and Paul Rainey brought a unique form of hunting to Africa. As the 20th century dawned, the gamelands near Memphis beckoned two very different young men. One was a pointing dog trainer from rural Michigan, uncannily...
The Elusive Southern Appalachian Brook Trout
AKA: Brookies, Squaretails, Specs, Natives, etc. The following is an excerpt from Fly Fishing the Blue Ridge Parkway By Sam R. Johnson. For the first time, fly fishing savant Sam Johnson has captured in one guide an incredible “bucket list” of over 210 of the most...
A Thing of Dying
In the 89th year of his being, Ben Willow had died where most completely he had lived, upon the hills of home, with a dog and a gun. A little less than midway through this book, iron-willed old Missouri-West Virginian Ben Willow throws himself mercilessly once more...
New! The Jon Boat Years by Jim Mize
New Book Release! The Jon Boat Years: And Other Stories Afield with Fine Friends, Fair Dogs, a Shotgun, and a Fly Rod Softcover, 175 Pages. Delightful tales of hunting and fishing, family, friends, dogs, and precious time well spent. Nationally recognized and...
Bill Cypress
We thought Bill Cypress was as close to perfection as human beings ever got. State Highway 16 ran south out of town. Not straight south — not to start, anyway. It had to work its way out of the hills first and make a couple of gentle turns past the new high school...
Chris Dorsey on Fox News
Sporting Classics TV host Chris Dorsey joins Fox News to talk hunting and conservation. Chris Dorsey joined Fox News Tonight host Joey Jones to discuss the many differences between green environmental groups and conservation organizations...and who does more for the...
The Annual Party
As you are reading this, one of the biggest events in America has come and gone — my birthday. That is the day when Mike fires up the grill, tosses on the steaks, bakes some potatoes and serves me a helping of each. Normally crowds of folks arrive to chew on the...
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...
Mournful Echoes
“…before I could gather my feet under me I felt a boot on my neck.”
When Older Men Gather Around
After an unsuccessful day in my stand on Thanksgiving Day, my daughter and I drove the next morning back to the Philly suburbs where I was born and raised. I suppose I’ll always call that place home, although Lynchburg, Virginia where I now live is becoming more and...
No Such Thing as a Bad Day Fishing
The bumper sticker read: A bad day fishing is better than a good day at work. I was sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic wondering how I had allowed myself to get in such a frustrating situation. Like all of the other miserable souls around me, I was growing more...
A Fishy Tale
In my youth, I chanced to date a girl whose family had a cabin on a lake. The lake was Bay Lake, just north of sprawling Mille Lacs Lake in central Minnesota. Going to the cabin was an escape from reality. Annie’s father took good care of the place, and when we made...
Staying at Hunter S. Thompson’s Digs
Thompson, along with Ernest Hemingway, were two of my biggest influences in regards to writing – and unfortunately – in how a writer should live. Hunter S. Thompson is credited with inventing an entirely new style of journalism, is the author of such literary classics...
Zane Grey’s Guns
Zane Grey, who became one of America’s most successful authors, hunted the "Tonto Rim" of Arizona for most of a decade with Model 1895 Winchesters in .30 Government (.30-06). What Zane Grey termed the Tonto Rim in Arizona is officially the Mogollon Rim, named for Juan...
RIA Premier May Auction
Rock Island Auction Co. gavels in $22 million in May! Rock Island Auction Company (RIAC) brought in $22 million in sales at its Premier Auction of 2023, which took place May 19-21! Featuring the Beaumont-Adams revolver surrendered by Confederate President Jefferson...
Spotted Horse on the Windy Prairie
Sporting Classics Assistant Editor-Digital, Adam C. Trawick, went with Byers Media to take a couple toms off the windy prairies of South Dakota. It was a brutal, gale-force driven 26 degrees Fahrenheit that smacked us as we stepped foot onto the muddy grounds of the...
Youth Field Trial Alliance
A Cause We Can All Get Behind I want to give a shout-out to a relatively new organization whose presence on the sporting landscape can’t be viewed as anything but a good thing: the Youth Field Trial Alliance. The brainchild of Chris Mathan, the human dynamo behind...
Sporting Classics Bourbon Rock Glasses
Made from premium full-grain leather our new bourbon rock glasses feature robust stitching and solid brass rivets for a secure hold. Engraved with our signature Sporting Classics logo these glasses are something you'll be proud to put on your bar. Each leather wrap...
The Big Predators
With lions, wolves and grizzlies on the increase, I may start wearing a bulletproof vest when I go to these remote areas. I like hiking in fields and forests to sniff about for deer, elk, birds and rodents. Now, however, I must look over my shoulder and stay alert for...
Join Us at Griffin & Howe June 2-4, 2023
Join Sporting Classics and many other fine exhibitors as we help Griffin & Howe celebrate its 100-year anniversary, the 25-year anniversary of Hudson Farm and grand opening of the new Griffin & Howe Showroom! The Anniversary Showcase runs on Friday June 2nd,...
Jim Fender’s African Book Collection
Click Here to View All An inveterate reader with wide-ranging interests, Jim Fender has spent a lifetime collecting and reading books in a wider variety of areas. In many senses a reader of the “old school” (someone with wide-ranging interests and a willingness to...
A Great Double Barrel Shotgun That’s Affordable
With the Autumn, Fabarm is filling a hole in the shotgun market with an eminently satisfying double barrel shotgun that's affordable. It’s a peculiar thing, but for many years, newly made, well-constructed double barrel shotguns have been as scarce as the legendary...
Perspectives On Hunting Myself
I, as often as not, enjoy the day when nothing happens, like a nothing day I spent on a deer stand. A friend of mine told me that an old wrangler in Montana had expressed it best when he said "the thing that a man hunts when he hunts is himself." I don't know when...
MTM CASE-GARD’s The Bull Rifle Rest
MTM Case-Gard has made a name for itself with innovative polymer-based solutions for shooting and hunting enthusiasts. Now, it expands its shooting support system offerings with The Bull rifle rest. Built similar in design to the company's popular K-Zone shooting...
Nosler Introduces Carbon Chassis Hunter Rifle
Nosler Inc. recently announcd the new Carbon Chassis Hunter, Nosler’s first chassis rifle system. This rifle provides benefits that you’d expect from Nosler including V-block bedding, LOP and comb adjustments and detachable magazine with AICS compatibility that come...
SAUER 100 Rifles Feature H-S Precision Stocks
J.P. Sauer and Sohn now offers SAUER 100 LWT (lightweight) and Pantera XT rifles with H-S Precision stocks. These are the first SAUER rifles available with the technically advanced American-made H-S Precision stock featuring a 7075-aluminum bedding block with Kevlar,...
Fiocchi Poised to Knock Down Big Game
Presented in a wide range of the most popular hunting calibers, Fiocchi Knock Down blends premium components with a precision-engineered monolithic bullet design for decisive terminal performance on big game. Part of Fiocchi's EnviroShield technology, Knock Down...
New 400 Legend from Winchester
Hunters who are required to use straight-wall cartridges or who just want a hard-hitting big bore chambering can now add the 400 Legend to their list of choices. The 400 Legend ballistics make it an optimum choice for any hunter who wants a cartridge with moderate...
New Savage Rifles in 400 Legend
Savage Arms is one of the first riflemakers to partner with Winchester Ammunition to bring deer hunters several rifles chambered in 400 Legend. The new hard-hitting yet mildly recoiling chambering means new opportunities for big game hunters across the country. Savage...
Does It Still Happen?
Words and values were their greatest legacy — the outdoors their greatest gift. Tell me. Do kids somewhere still grow up with Cochise, Robin Hood and William Tell, rather than the Terminator and Robo-Cop? Do they still forge blood-brother pacts with the Ogalala Sioux?...
Chef Teaches Savoring Wild Game
“I like making good food accessible to everyone — especially hunters." Southeast Louisiana is a dreamy place to grow up if your loves are diverse hunting opportunities and exceptional flavors. For Lance Lewis, the other key ingredient was having a father who took him...
Back from the Brink
I now have my own tale of a brush with death. While the pages of Sporting Classics magazine are filled with tales of near-death battles between man and various beasts, I now have my own tale of a brush with death. No, I did not get charged by a Cape buffalo, trampled...
A Monster in Tigerland
Hunters and natives join forces to end a cattle-killer’s reign of terror.
Francis Lee Jaques Shape of Things
It has been suggested that Lee Jaques was the first American bird artist to put his subjects into the landscape, not merely against it. Francis Lee Jaques grew up on the Kansas prairie, fascinated by the myriad delights of nature. When he wasn't helping on the family...
McKenna Quinn: Elegant Ladies Outdoor Apparel
20% Off Limited Time Only! Made in Texas, McKenna Quinn is the premier shop for women's hunting and fishing apparel. Designed for comfort and functionality these top quality products are perfect for the sporting enthusiast both on and off the field. Click Here to View...
Old Timer
He didn't look 80 years or more; he had the timeless quality of vigorous old age, the look of extended youth often seen on the faces of old men who have preserved some boy thoughts, particularly boy thoughts upon nature... Mill and I had finished our sandwiches and...
How Dogs Tell Time
Yes, dogs can tell time. Unless you’ve been living under a rock or deep inside a cave, it’s a well-known fact that dogs can tell time. I know that every morning between 6 and 7am, it’s time to eat. My empty stomach gives me the clue. Then around 10 or 10:30am, I go...
Dorsal Fins On the Cape
Was that a great white that swam by in the Cape Cod darkness?
In Silver Light: Painter Chet Reneson
The master who refuses to yield.
Luther Kelly Hall
“When fishing, we each have our own moments of terror, drama, introspection, and comedy.”
Sporting Classics TV with Chris Dorsey Premiere and Book Signing at New York Beretta Gallery May 3
Beretta Gallery USA is hosting an exclusive premiere screening of Sporting Classics TV with Chris Dorsey at their New York Gallery on May 3rd, 2023. The premiere of next season's hit Outdoor Channel series will celebrate the history and excitement of a classic driven...
Barbara Marks
Marks reflect culture, geography, and wildlife in her paintings and sculptures.
Shawn McAvoy
Sculptures that capture a deep respect for the natural world with every detail.
Vertical Gun Racks
This long gun rack fits all standard rifles, shotguns, muzzle loaders, ARs, AKs, scoped guns, BB guns, and airsoft guns. Great for display or concealment and easy access, these gun racks are the perfect gun storage and space saving solution. Made in the USA, the...
Wyoming Finest: William G. Smith
Paintings by the equality state’s favorite son.
The Rise of Hipster Hunters
A new brand of sportsmen has begun taking to the field. Hunting embodies many ideas — tradition, camaraderie, stewardship, self-reliance — but it has never placed much emphasis on staying abreast with movements or trends beyond the scope of the outdoors. And this, in...
The Power of Remembering
Comes a time when remembering is about all a man can do.
The Great Takeover
Dogs are prone to move in — and take over. Ever since your hooman ancestors — the cave dwellers — pushed aside the huge mastodon skin and invited my ancestors — the huge wolf — into your caves, dogs like me have moved in and taken over. It’s debatable whether those...
Classic Alaska Charters
Typical June Family Trip with Classic Alaska Charters... Booking now for 2024! SPONSORED CONTENT: Classic Alaska Charters has long been the sportsman’s best choice for affordable overnight Alaska fishing charters in Southeast Alaska’s Ketchikan and Misty Fiords...