Lord of the Savanna
Most African safaris have become somewhat leisurely activities in which hunting from vehicles is the primary method of locating wild game. But there are still a few animals that can be pursued only in the kind of primitive, harsh environments typical of ancient...
42nd Annual Southeastern Wildlife Exposition February 16-18, 2024
The first stop on your trip to SEWE 2024 needs to be Charleston Place, if for no other reason than Sporting Classics will be manning a booth there. The magazine will be set up at the entrance to the art gallery on the second floor. You can’t miss us! Since 1983,...
A Deadly Struggle with a Giant Crocodile
The rasping metallic whine of Christmas beetles saturated the hot, still air of midday of November 21st, 1976, the shrill sound blending with the oily, watery roil at the head of the pool of the Sabi River in South Africa’s Kruger National Park. The smoke of barbecue...
Doubles Duty Practice Shooting System
Practice is the final road to excellence. After all the lessons and input and expensive guns have been acquired, it is the physical game of practice that propels the shooter into the winners circle. Certainly there is also natural talent, without which most of the...
A Fox and a Conscience
Conscience,” the negro minister had solemnly said in his sermon that Sunday, “is sho’ going to keep a man good. It will make yo’ ‘fraid to lie, or steal, or bear false witness.” Ben, the old negro who had outlived his generation and who was sheltered in his desolate...
SEWE 2024 Trip Auction
Bid for Thrills: Unleash Your Adventurous Spirit and Support DU! Join SEWE & Ducks Unlimited for an exclusive trip auction at the Charleston Marriott on SEWE Saturday, February 17th at 4 PM. If you are dreaming of that once-in-a-lifetime hunt, fishing experience...
A Cole Creek Diary
It tumbles off the east face of Big Back Mountain, leaping and flowing down its stony, laurel-lined course as it has for eons. Dad and I had fished its lower reaches when we’d first moved to Tennessee back in the early sixties, and many times we had talked about...
Oh, Canada! A Waterfowler’s Dream Destination
Canada is home to nearly a quarter of the world’s wetlands, and the prairie potholes of the country’s western provinces are the planet’s richest water bird nursery—aka, the duck factory. For the North American waterfowler, it is a land of hope and opportunity. Witness...
EP 161: Late Season Does
Click Here to Listen Larry and Luke both live in Texas where ranches under the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's "Manage Land Deer Permit" (MLDP) can hunt whitetails until the end of February. In this episode Luke and Larry talk about their upcoming late season...
Ruark On Safari: Politics
An excerpt from Ruark Remembered by Alan Ritchie who served as Ruark’s personal secretary for 12 years. Up until the last year or so of Bob's life, there was always a great urgency in his writing, an impatience in his attitude toward his work, and the desire to get on...
On a Collision Course with The H.M.S. Maternity
Excerpted from the book Facing the Charge. Who would have thought that a nice, brisk morning walk could get your torso hung up on a set of giant, prehistoric, enamel meat hooks? But I get ahead of myself. See, there was this dirt road just outside Lew’s safari camp...
SEWE 2024: The Sporting Showroom
Directly across the street from Brittlebank Park, visit the new Sporting Showroom on the second floor of the enhanced Charleston Marriott, open Feb 16-18th the reimagined Sporting Showroom combines carefully curated outdoor exhibitors and outfitters with a setting...
Testing Water Resistance of Russell Moccasin’s
Russell Moccasin boots like the Backcountry are created with a unique multi-layer moccasin construction found nowhere else in the world. This Double and Tripple vamp constructions were invented at Russell over a century ago, and are still preferred by outdoorsmen due...
An Adventurous Lady
Gertrude Legendre lived a life of adventure, hunting virtually around the world, hobnobbing with kings and celebrities, and then while serving her country, somehow surviving capture by the German Gestapo. The guests at Medway Plantation had finished dinner and moved...
Escondido Lodge: A Hidden Gem No More
SPONSORED CONTENT Have you ever had an “amor escondido,” a secret or hidden love, an unrequited passion that you could fulfill only in your dreams? If that’s the case, I have something that may soothe your aching heart. Escondido Lodge is the latest offering in Alex...
How to Select Your Next Hunting Cartridge
The panoply of centerfire rifle cartridges extant in 2023 isn’t just extensive; it’s redundant. Navigating it to select the ideal for your needs, desires and styles of hunting can be overwhelming. We have at least 25 varieties of 30 caliber cartridges, 15 7mms, 10...
Enter to Win a Stag and Fallow Hunt in New Zealand!
Enter to Win a Stag and Fallow Hunt in New Zealand with Chris Dorsey and John Scurr Hunting this April! https://bit.ly/47Q9LXu Join, Upgrade, or gift a Safari Club International - SCI Membership AND uses the code NZHUNT, for a chance to win a Stag and Fallow Hunt in...
After Brazilian Jaguars
During his famed and troubled exploration of “The River of Doubt,” Roosevelt and his fellow travelers take time to pursue the deadly jungle cats.
NEW: Gallery by SEWE
Gallery by Southeastern Wildlife Exposition (SEWE), a new, brick-and-mortar extension of the annual Charleston SEWE event. The Southeastern Wildlife Exposition (SEWE), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the southeast’s premier wildlife art show and outdoors...
EP 160: Squirrel Hunting
Click Here to Listen This week Luke and Larry talk squirrel hunting, skinning and cooking. They also discuss the upcoming white bass creek run, recent deer hunts, venison cooking, wild hogs and more.
Ducks of Wood: A Good Investment or Not?
In my half-century of collecting antique duck and shorebird decoys, I have been asked countless times: “Are they a good investment”? My answer is always the same. “It depends.” And then I go on to explain. Just for the purpose of answering this question, I will...
Martial Rounds Afield
Contradictory though it sounds, a military connection usually predicts cartridge popularity in the hunting fields. Despite a few naysayers condemning martial cartridges as “nothing but mankillers,” most centerfire rounds that emerge from battle go on to long careers...
Keeping Counsel with a Creek
We were transients moving from one epoch in life to another, but the little stream and the woods and fields it drained live larger than one can imagine.
EP 159: Hog Killing Time
Click Here to Listen With most big game hunting seasons coming to a close, it's time to start thinking about North America's most popular introduced big game animal, thees days either available to or coming to you soon, the wild hog. Larry and Luke both love hunting...
High Plains Lover
So there I am. In the rapidly fading sunset roughly 85 miles southeast of a city in New Mexico that I’ve never been able to spell, straddling a six-foot sheep fence on wobbly legs and a cramping left foot with three strands of needle-sharp “bobbed” wire mere inches...
The Reluctant Guide for Roosevelt
The fresh-faced young man from New York was eager to hunt mountain goats and was doing his best to persuade the rugged man from Missouri to act as his guide. The Missourian was Jack Willis and the tenderfoot was 28-year-old Theodore Roosevelt, who was with a...
The Rifle That Took The Smithsonian’s Giant Of Kumaon
The yellowed newspaper clippings and fading photographs tell a remarkable story. It was in November, 1967, that David Hasinger, Dr. Karl Jonas and their wives traveled to India to hunt tigers. Beyond the slightest doubt, they were mindful of Jim Corbett’s famous...
A Tribute to Wildlife Artist Jim Killen
“Life is like a painting. It starts with a dream and a blank canvas and it’s anybody’s guess how it will turn out. Then brushstroke by brushstroke with time and care, something beautiful starts to take shape and you have then created a masterpiece.” Jim Killen The...
Howa Super Lite 6.5 Creedmoor
Conventional wisdom suggests this rifle shouldn’t exist let alone function smoothly and shoot precisely. Yet here it is: Howa’s Super Lite. If there is a lighter weight mass-produced bolt-action hunting rifle than the 4-pound, 7-ounce Super Lite, I’ve yet to hear of...
EP 158: Campfire Talk with Luke and Larry
Click Here to Listen This week Luke and Larry discuss late season Muzzleloader hunting, ammunition selection, accuracy, distance and more.
The Most Expensive Sporting Arms
Have you ever noticed how any time there’s a gathering of outdoorsmen, an argument always breaks out? The B.S. level rises with each successive opinion, and pretty soon, things get heated. It happens all the time at Sporting Classics. The problem is, we’ve got so many...
One Versatile Beagle
Want a dog that can track rabbits, squirrels, pheasants, and wounded big game? Consider the beagle.
Great Morning
Originally published as a piece in his “Tailfeathers” column for Sports Afield, this tale is a splendid example of the author’s genius in pulling on the heartstrings of his readers. It subsequently appeared in one of the many collections of Hill’s tight, bright little...
Hunting the Crown Jewels of the UK
On a cloudy, cold, dank, boot-wearing morning, I began my hunt for the unique saber-tusked Chinese water deer. I was paralleling a hedgerow separating forest from cropland planted in rape – grown for its valuable oil-bearing seed, but extremely attractive to these...
Two Brothers. Two ‘Real’ Fish. One Great Memory
My parents made a serious error raising me. I was their firstborn, so I suppose I can cut them a little slack. They were still trying to figure out the whole parenting thing. One of their most critical mistakes, notwithstanding the one they made nine months before I...
Time to Hunt Memories
The middle of January is tough on New Hampshire bird hunters. The waterfowl and upland seasons are over, there is a foot or more of snow on the ground, and the temperature is cold. Very cold. It is hard to look forward to spring white geese and turkey hunts when they...
Illinois Odyssey
When the subject of pheasant hunting comes up, most people think of South Dakota. For bobwhite quail hunts, they envision a Southern plantation. Who thinks of upland hunting in Illinois? As a lifelong resident of this state, I can understand the lack of enthusiasm for...
An excerpt from The Kings of Curlew Island
It was Richard who showed me the huge antler—a dropped horn from a whitetail buck. Massive to a degree rarely seen, not less than five inches it measured around the handsome beading. Moreover, there were nine clear points, none mere craggy excrescences; they were...
When the Ducks Begin to Fly
The author swears off duck hunting for good, but something pulls him back into the salt marsh again.
A True Tale of Faithfulness
We were hunting the legendary Lodge and Ranch at Chama in far northern New Mexico on that cool autumn evening, and when we hit Cañones Creek, we bore north. We reached the base of Cerro Venado Macho, or “Big Buck Hill,” and commenced climbing its steeply ascending...
Martin Frank “Bubba” Wood 1940 – 2024
We hunted quail with heavy hearts as we learned of the passing of Bubba Wood. Bubba was a beloved sportsman whose knowledge and passion for the outdoors was matched by his generosity in support of wildlife and habitat conservation. He created the Texas Duck Stamp...
2024 January/February Issue
Shake off winter and warm up to the promise of an exciting African safari with the January/February 2024 issue of Sporting Classics. In this issue we go after leopard in Namibia and sit with Jim Corbett in what was likely his most important night vigil. Meet Jim...
The Cutthroat’s Tomb
Fishing for a trout that many once believed was extinct.
Reunion Hunt
The author and his old TV sidekick Gerald McRaney get back together to hunt big whitetails, and in some unusual ways.
The Festive Hunt, 1909
The long line of native pagazi, each man carrying his allotted 60 pounds of supplies and equipment, moved like a giant mamba through acacia bushes and across the savannah. The American flag was held proudly aloft at the front of the long, seemingly endless line. Some...
Got Your Pa’tridge Yet?
The common hail becomes a sick taunt when ruffed grouse are scarce.
A Doe in the Snow
Do you have to bring home antlers to consider a hunt successful?
Come See SC at the 2024 DSC Convention Booth #3749
“The Greatest Hunters’ Convention on the Planet” runs January 4-7. Make plans now to attend!
Gambling for Gambel’s
Perhaps it’s simply luck. Perhaps it’s some sort of obscure instinct which guides a hunter. Or possibly it is as the Indians believe—if you live right and observe the proper rituals, the spirits of the woods and prairies will take you by the hand and lead you to good...
We Have Rifles
We have the rifles. We have the cartridges. We have the bullets. What we don’t have is consensus. Which is why we have so many rifles, cartridges and bullets. Welcome to free choice, an unusual option in most parts of the world. A challenge if not conundrum in the...