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...
EP 157: Campfire Talk with Luke and Larry
Click Here to Listen With Christmas festivities behind them Luke and Larry are looking forward to new hunting and outdoor adventures. But not before they had the opportunity to hunt one of their favorite hunting places, the Cotton Ranch in Northeast Texas. And as Luke...
Tiger Hunting In Africa
It was our second morning of fishing on Tanzania’s Ruhudji River and we had just skirted a pod of agitated hippos on our hour-long boat ride to where we’d be fishing. Our guide, South African Mark Murray, told my partner Phil Satre to swing his fly across the head of...
The Longest Month
There’s no slump like a grouse hunting slump.
Sporting Classics with Chris Dorsey
It is the final week of the season for Sporting Classics with Chris Dorsey and we are ending the year on a high note. Make sure you catch the action on Outdoor Channel this week for an epic adventure in Tanzania as Steve Hicks and I hunt massive Cape buffalo with PH...
Ode to the Check-In Station
Technology makes reporting a kill easier, but there’s something to be said for the traditional way.
Roosevelt Elk Are Different
Forget the business of slams; it was simple wanderlust, the desire to experience anything foreign and untried that placed bow-hunting Roosevelt elk at the top of my wish list for so many years. I’d long contemplated driving westward from my home in New Mexico to...
Mollygrubs Messer: Trials and Tribulations with an English Pointer
Although Mollygrubs Messer grew up in a region of the South not known for abundant populations of quail, during his youth that grand game bird Havilah Babcock once described as “five ounces of feathered dynamite” was still fairly commonplace in agricultural regions...
EP 156: Campfire Talk with Luke and Larry
Click Here to Listen Larry recently returned from his Alberta whitetail hunt with Ron Nemetchek's North River Outfitting, during which he experienced mild northern Alberta temperatures, along with little to no snow. In spite of a lack of good hunting weather Larry...
Upland Hunting’s Bookmark Days
Make sure to catch this week’s encore airing of Sporting Classics with Chris Dorsey as he marches through the high plains of Arizona for Mearns, scaled and Gambel's quail - then we're off to South Dakota for pheasants at Tumbleweed Lodge with Veteran, author and FOX...
The Best Plains-Game Rifle for Africa
The gun has to be capable of dropping everything from ten-pound dik-dik to 2,000-pound eland.
Hunting for “Ground” Venison
Ditch the treestand and kill your bucks at eye level.
Colter’s Hell
The half-naked young man lay breathless inside the dark and dank beaver lodge, his legs and feet covered in cuts and scratches. He had narrowly escaped death after being captured by Blackfeet Indians while canoeing up the Jefferson River and had sought refuge in the...
Syren Julia
I was just a youngster when I first noticed that men and women were different. Long before I encountered puberty, I noticed that women thought differently than men. And acted differently, too. My daddy was a stern disciplinarian, but somehow, he seemed to “get me”...
The Bear of Her Life
Steve and Caroline Hicks share an epic adventure in Alaska as they hunt for both brown bear and black bear with Glacier Guides. The team uses a yacht as home base, cruising along the shores of the Last Frontier while glassing for bear before landing ashore for a...
The Greatest Game Animal On Earth
Blessed with imagination and a library card, I hunted dangerous game from a tender age. My companions on those early safaris were Corbett, Ruark, Hemingway, and a dozen others, adopted uncles whose manifest pleasure in the beasts and bush of wild places shaped my...
Old Europe, New Frontier
Our forced march was exhausting, and I was cold, wet and miserable. For nearly an hour we’d been trudging across a heath bog in eastern Europe, trying to reach the blind before daylight. It was like walking on a six-inch mattress floating in a foot of water. I’d...
A Christmas Present
The colorful flats around Christmas Island are the world’s best place to fly fish for giant trevally.
Moments of Perfection
Covey rising, dogs holding point, one bird dead in the air as you swing on another. Might there ever be another moment so pure? Every time I head out for some far-flung destination like Quinhagak or Kinnakeet or Tierra Amarillo or the wilds of southern Georgia, it’s...
The Final Stalk
Hunting sheep among the lofty mountain peaks of the Yukon.
Northern Georgia Quail
This week, Sporting Classics with Chris Dorsey visits northern Georgia for a cast-and-blast adventure with quail hunting at Barnsley Gardens and fly fishing for trout at the headwaters of the Soque River. I am joined by retired Ducks Unlimited executive turned...
Mollygrubs Messer: Duxbak Debacle—Redux
The Misadventures Of Mollygrubs Messer Episode 10: Duxbak Debacle—Redux An earlier chronicle of Mollygrubs’ seemingly unending misadventures involved a prized Duxbak cap, misbehavior, and a “sho nuff whupping” from a high school English teacher who had endured all the...
Pair of Mallards
An essential tale by the South Carolina legend.
Fish Conservation at Vermejo Park Ranch
Rio Grande cutthroat trout in New Mexico rebounding thanks to private lands conservation.
Strange Happenings At Chickamauga Creek
The hunter had been following a sparse blood trail for over two hours and it looked as though his greatest fear might be realized. The scant blood sign was beginning to peter out even more. John Forrest feared it might disappear altogether. Although he was sure he had...
Hunting Beaver Dam Lake
The Mississippi Delta is a land of hard-working people and enduring legends. Many in this agricultural region farm thousands of acres in cotton, soybeans, wheat, corn and any productive crop that will grow in topsoil built up from centuries of rotting vegetation over...
Mars the Pointer
He was all alone now, but the birds were still there. He was called Mars because new names can become scarce around a big kennel and someone had come up with Jupiter and with Mercury (shortened to "Mere" and "Jupe" for other pups). Later, he was registered as Morton's...
A Wyoming Rattle Trap
First light came to the riverbottom like a developing Polaroid, shades of gray giving way to bright greens and golds with every blink. The barely noticeable form of a distant buck crosses the valley below us in the nose-down manner of a spaniel working the scent trail...
EP 155: Campfire Talk with Luke and Larry
Click Here to Listen With Christmas just around the corner and some prime deer hunting still to be had throughout much of North America Luke and Larry talk about the value of hunting food sources, especially food plots as deer start recovering from the rigors of the...
Troutalope
Genus: Oncorkynchus pronghornii Habitat: Wide-open spaces inland American West Life History: Contrary to common opinion, the troutalope is not rare. In fact, thousands of people have a stuffed one in the garage, bagged with other incredible junk headed to the...
Joshua Slocum: Lost At Sea
His interests were narrow but deep—deep as the deep blue sea. Joshua Slocum was born to a sea-faring life in 1844, “on a cold spot on coldest North Mountain on a cold February 20,” back when ships were wood and men were iron. His granddaddy was an American Quaker, a...
Capturing the Essence of Wildlife: Zoltán Boros
London gunmaker John Rigby & Co. has added distinguished wildlife artist Zoltán Boros to its esteemed art department. Hailing from Subotica, Serbia, Zoltán's journey into the realm of hunting-themed art began during his secondary school years, fueled by a passion...
The Rain
Someone once wrote that “rain is the oldest sound to reach the porches of man’s ear.” I like the sentence and I like the sentiment. And I like rain. I like to hunt in it, fish in it and just walk around in it. I like the sound of rain, the feel of it and the soft...
Roosters with a Moonwalker
This week, Sporting Classics TV walks the pheasant fields of South Dakota with a man who walked on the moon! We’re joined by General Charles Duke who is one of four living moonwalkers and General Walt Boomer who led all Marines in the Gulf War in a spectacular...
John Seerey-Lester’s Top 20 Paintings
The artist and author selects 20 of his favorite paintings and explains why.
Adventures with Jim Belushi
You never know what will happen when hunting and fishing with this comedian and his friends.
Swarovski Optik Special Offer Extended
SPONSORED CONTENT Swarovski Optik has extended its special offer for SLC and EL binoculars. Now through the end of December, you can save $277 on an SLC 15x56 and up to $445 on an EL 8.5x42 or 10x42. When hunting, the smallest details are crucial and hunters around...