The Funniest Man I Ever Knew
The ground began to rumble and the toilet seat commenced to shake!
Derrydale Press Prints Without Peer
Derrydale. To American sportsmen the name brings to mind handsome, leather-bound, strikingly illustrated books and prints that convey the essence of the sporting experience. Eugene V. Connett III founded The Derrydale Press in 1926, "to produce a group of books on...
A Company of Gentlemen Adventurers
The huge beast literally ripped off Pickering’s head.
Attacked by a Leopard!
Although Robert Ruark was regularly exposed to dangerous animals during his hunts, and though he had a great many narrow escapes, he only got hurt once. This happened on shikar in 1962, in the Madhya Pradesh region near Betul in Central India. There, a wounded leopard...
I Need a Vacation
All work and no play makes Cam a dull boy! Well, as I write these words the grouse and waterfowl seasons have been open around 70 days and I have been in pursuit of feathers for 62 of those days. Whew, I’m tired, and Mike needs to get a job so he does not hunt all the...
Killing a Lion With a Knife
Harry Wolhuter, a ranger in South Africa’s Kruger National Park for 44 years, led an amazing life. From Wolhuter’s memoir comes his amazing escape from a pair of hungry lions.
Warrior Axe Premium Coffee
Something good is brewing in the Sporting Classics Store South Carolina based Warrior Axe Coffee was born in a small garage by Bobby Allmann and his father, Bob “Papa” Allmann. As avid coffee drinkers, the two began roasting small batches of beans from Central America...
Overcoming In-Season Obstacles with Your Bird Dog
Between dangers in the field and training-related issues while hunting, how do you handle and prepare for obstacles that may arise this season? You’ve waited since last fall for the hunting season to roll around, and your expectations are high for your bird dog....
Helle: Quality Outdoor Knives Made in Norway
Helle represents the history and traditions of Norwegian knifemaking where both beauty and functionality go hand in hand. All knives are handcrafted using traditional methods and traditional materials along with some modern influences to improve the overall usability....
Dove Hunting in the Heart of Texas
There’s an old and much quoted saying that everything is bigger in Texas, and when it comes to football and dove hunting, that’s no lie. But for the sake of this story, I’m going to talk dove hunting in Coleman County. It has one of the highest dove populations in the...
Where Giants Fought
Morgan Hillard Tracked the grizzly 90 miles by following prints and carnage left in its wake. Three miners dead; torn limbs and partly consumed bodies, grieving widows and children, and a horde of hunters now camped near “the meeting of the rivers,” a place named by...
What To Hunt
So, what to hunt? Everything with feathers! Mike sometimes says he thinks he needs to show me a picture of the bird(s) we will be hunting that day. OK, I get distracted because any and all birds are on my radar. I live to hunt birds. This is the time of year when...
Eric Forlee A Painter Charged with Life
And "charged" with life is exactly what he means. Incredibly, he has had no formal art training, yet he is considered by many to be among the world's best wildlife artists. He considers himself a cultural orphan, whose life experiences span three continents and...
Top Ten Hunting and Fishing Books
From conservation and historical accounts to fictional adventures, these books make for great reading whenever the season. If you’ve completed this list, make sure you browse our entire selection. Last Stand: George Bird Grinnell, the Battle to Save the Buffalo, and...
Winchester’s Haunted House
Said to be haunted by the ghosts of those killed with Winchester rifles, the home is an interesting site even without the superstitions.
Getting There
I take my time with the old men now. I take my time with the duffers I find on opening day, swapping yarns and a thermos by 9am, or posted alone on a barren ridge no deer has crossed in more than a decade. They will tell me, whether I ask or not, that they don't much...
Hunting is a Marathon
Hunting is a marathon and Mike and anyone hunting afield with me needs to keep up! Hunting is a task that is not to be taken lightly. Once the door is open on the truck and I spring out faster than a jack-n-the-box, it’s like the Kentucky Derby — I’m off to the race!...
The Lady in Green
Everybody had now gathered but Steve. When questioned, the other drivers disclaimed all knowledge of his whereabouts or his peculiar behavior. But they knew perfectly of both. For a very long time we have had on the plantation a black man named Steve. For a generation...
Greg Beecham Wildlife Artist Coming Home
It’s only natural that Greg Beecham should feel as he does. His dad, Tom Beecham...drilled drawing into him before the youngsters years had reached his teens. Greg Beecham’s dusty brown felt hat rides high on his forehead, the way a cowboy sits straight on his horse....
He Wrote On the Heart of the Boy
I had not come here to say good-bye — I already had, and I never would. The Last eleven miles of road were as I remembered. Even these many years later. Each mile — rutted, washed-out and overhung with cypress and oak — had always seemed to be the price we paid to...
Shadows on the Hills
It is at the edge of dark, that pandemonium erupts. One day, I want to shoot a buffalo. With paces between us, facing his dare. I want to know for once before I die, even if on the day I die, the tremble of doubt and the taste of fear. It is only just, before all I...
Hunting Clues
There's your clue! If you remember the odd comment about nearly everything a few years past, everyone was saying: “There’s your clue!” This comment came when folks everywhere would wonder what to do next or which road in life to take when a fork in the road appeared....
2022 Magnolia Speech School Clay Shoot
The 2022 Magnolia Speech School Clay Shoot was held October 20th at the Providence Hill Farm in Jackson, Mississippi — and Sporting Classics was a sponsor. This year, more than 200 shooters enjoyed morning and afternoon shoots leading to an evening party overlooking...
The Baby Toddles
I think a dog’s pleasure in scenting game is certainly as keen as our seeing it. How many birds do you think there are in it?” I asked Jake. “Forty if there’s one,” he said. I believed him; for Jack owed me nothing, and he is not a farmer. To a farmer — at least, to...
Leopard in Our Lap
I felt terrible. I could have prevented the whole thing if only I had killed the leopard when it charged. When our family of five set out on our hunting safari in Africa, we were prepared for a great adventure. Although we knew Africa could be a dangerous place, we...
The Bloody Side of Hunting
For me, this hunting season is becoming the season of cuts. If you think this piece will be about dead animals, read something else. The recent blood in hunting has been mine. From thorns to sharp rocks to barbed-wire fences, there are things in the hunting world that...
Last Buck at Charlie’s Place
My last buck — the last to date at Charlie’s and likely the last, though the unknown has yet to reach its terminus. Distraught. That definitive aptly portrayed the sentiments of both Neal and me. Current news, while not completely unexpected, put us on alert. Near two...
John Schoenherr Bold and Beyond
As both sportsman and art lover, my walls battle for either mounted heads or country scenes. Oddly, though, I own no wildlife art. Before visiting John Schoenherr I wasn't sure why. Now I am. Over the years, most wildlife has seemed partisan to me, as though the...
Why I Taught My Boys to be Hunters
It has always seemed to me that any man is a better man for being a hunter. I have said that my hunting has often been solitary; but that was chiefly in the early days. During the last 25 years, I have rarely taken to the woods and fields in the shooting season...
Stories Told By Doug Turnbull’s 1886
SPONSORED CONTENT: A recent Turnbull Restoration calendar featured a spread of Turnbull’s personal Winchester 1886 from 1888, which he restored and converted to .475 Turnbull in 2007. The spread focuses on all of the “imperfections” his rifle has collected over the...
Night of the Leopard
As night fell, a dense bank of fog from the Indian Ocean pushed inland over the Mozambique coast, blocking the moonlight and cloaking the forest in darkness. Condensation that had formed high in the jungle canopy literally rained down onto the leaf litter below. Just...
Hunting is Like Work
I may need to charge overtime. Treats and a half, Mike! I wrote recently that fishing is like work, and I’m here to tell you that hunting is like real work. I have to climb mountains, trek down valleys, wade or swim across rivers and struggle and muscle my way through...
ETHOS Performance Shop Upland Shotgun
Benelli’s ETHOS Performance Shop Upland 20-gauge semi-auto shotgun with its Inertia-Driven System meets all the requirements. SPONSORED CONTENT Every quality upland shotgun should meet these requirements: be easy to shoulder, swing and point; easy to operate by feel...
The Phantom Setter
Originally published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1961, this story is one of the finest ever written about gundogs and grouse hunting. It is certainly the most chilling.
Cole Johnson in Black and White
"You don't decide on a style...you do the work and a style evolves." Over the years, I have had the luck to interview some very talented wildlife artists. A number actually hunted, others did not. In the work of those that did, I discovered another quality, a...
The Old Man’s Leopard and the Omen
It had to be an evil omen. The first glow of the sun eased out the night and pinked the peaks of the majestic Water Berg Range. Towering mountains, like a series of huge waves about to crash onto the land below and a crumbling old stone house guarded by flat-topped...
Report from the Field
Hunting season is here! Time to find birds! These are the days all hunting dogs live for. Hunting season is underway and once that calendar rolled over and spotted September on the exposed page, I dashed to the truck and dove in. My days now are spent sniffing about...
Into the Mountains
Montana’s landscape is so spellbinding it will make you forget everything that led you there. Even the fishing.
First Season Expectations
SPONSORED CONTENT: You’ve built up to your pup’s first hunting season — but what should you expect from your young dog? The experts weigh in. Every sporting dog owner has high expectations for their dog. Social media is flooded with beautiful images of dogs on point...
Joshua Spies the Wide World
For Joshua Spies, it's about payback. Across the lonesome, windblown prairie of northern mid-America, locals know him simply as "the kid." On this morning, the prodigal artistic son of Watertown, South Dakota, stands in his studio surrounded by six easel paintings,...
Night Sweats
It is important for a man to do a thing well, even if it is killing. The honor of a feat is the measure of how you do it...And what was the truth of me? To hell with Bob Ruark. To blazes with Hemingway, Capstick, Percival, Boddington, the whole and bunch of them. It's...
The Trespasser
"That's a very sad story,” said Austin. "It gets worse," said Ray. Passing through the ranch gate and driving down the tree-lined gravel lane toward the log house seemed like going back in time. The little English setter, asleep in the passenger seat for the past...
The Price Per Pound
The other day I was eating a pheasant breast Mike had grilled when he said, “Cameron, slow down gobbling on that thing, it is very expensive per pound.” Well, how dare him tell me how to eat. I descended from wolves and know about eating meat of all types. Now I was...
At the Edge of Alaska
A sheep-turned-grizzly hunt along the Canadian border.
The Blood Horse
Though Chinese ceramics of 3500 BC depict horses both harnessed and ridden, the archaeological agreement is that the horse was first domesticated in Asiatic Russia around 3,000 BC. The wild horse of Mongolia, or Przewalski's horse, as it was named in 1881 by the...
The Traveling Knight
Sir Henry Seton-Karr dreamed of hunting America, later using a .500 double to take many of its game animals.
A Hunting Song
“Give me a dog that is keen of scent, and a gun that is tried and true . . .”
Island Getaway
Bunny gunning on Nantucket amid the homes of the rich and famous.
Fall at Brays Island
Fall at Brays Island brings with it the much anticipated scene of crisp mornings, rock steady pointers and eager cockers culminating in a burst of bobwhites in every direction. With 3,500 acres of quail courses and woodlands, Brays is every upland bird hunter's dream...
A Bear for the Ages
“George is here with us in spirit, and I have a feeling that everything is going to work out. In truth, I think it’s going to be magical.”