Cusp of Summer On a Carolina Day
There is nothing more apt to illustrate life than a stilt house hovering over water set to the rhythm of a spring tide. A friend of my granddad's used to sit on our porch in a wicker rocking chair and watch the creek go by. That creek is part of the Elizabeth River...
Weary Be the Cat’s Eyes See
Walking silently through the wet snow, I . . . reached the kill site, but another solitary hunter was already there. I have often searched the wilderness for something that is right under my nose. On this day, I had just returned from a grueling backpack hunt deep in...
Air Rifles Continue Hunting’s Quiet Revolution
Air Rifles Continue Hunting’s Quiet Revolution I’ll never forget my first morning deer hunting on public land near my childhood home in southern Wisconsin, a state with more than 600,000 deer hunters. For nine days a year, the state could field the world’s seventh...
Playing the Game – Candid Cameron
It’s a fact of life: dog’s like to fetch. While hoomans often see fetching as a boring game, for dogs running and grabbing goes back, way back, to that wolf era when we had to run down and grab animals, and then pull them down to the ground and begin eating them. It’s...
There In the Man
"And the boy...was he there, Bill?" I hauled off and went squirrel hunting the other day. Not so remarkable, I suppose. Except that the whitetail rut was in full blaze, and bird season was in and it's been a hell of a long time since I've forsaken a prime-time deer...
Berry Crisp
BERRY CRISP I’ve always had a sweet tooth, and few things in the dessert world tickle my fancy more than those featuring berries. You can use about any kind of berries with this recipe. 1 cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup packed...
B.A.S.S. Founder Ray Scott, The Father of Modern Bass Fishing, Has Died
B.A.S.S. Founder Ray Scott, The Father of Modern Bass Fishing, Has Died Sadly, I learned of the passing of my friend, Ray Scott. Like everyone else, for years I’d seen his “showmanship side” on TV. But it wasn’t until the mid 1990s, after I attended a Bassmasters...
Squirrel Pot Pie
SQUIRREL POT PIE 1 onion, chopped coarsely 1 stalk celery, chopped coarsely 1 large garlic clove, minced 4 cups beef broth Freshly ground black pepper 1 squirrel, cleaned Pastry for two-crust pie 1 (12-ounce) can Mexican-style mixed vegetables 1 tablespoon cornstarch...
Places to Be Sensed and Senses to Be Placed
Here's the portfolio; look what's inside. People are known for doing the one thing at which they are best. That's what we were telling the artist one afternoon in his studio with the window as big as The Ritz. There are well-known western artists and wildlife artists...
Venison Chili
VENISON CHILI It’s hard to beat a steaming bowl of chili, especially if flanked with a fine chunk of cornbread or a plate of corn dodgers, when you have a mighty craving for hearty fare. Here’s a recipe to use some of that ground venison you hopefully put in the...
CZ 600 Bolt-Action Rifle Recall
CZ-USA has recently learned of a potential safety issue with the CZ 600 bolt-action rifles. CZ-USA is voluntarily initiating a recall of these rifles to protect the safety of its customers because of the potential for a catastrophic failure if the barrel is not...
Of Ice and Men: Part II
Part II Of Ice and Men I helped him get to his feet and got him moving toward camp. He walked like a crippled man. I quickly pulled the cord attached to my pack and it came up full of water. I turned it upside down and jammed the frame into the snow. I left the rifles...
Can Sporting Breed Puppies Eat Adult Dog Food?
Can Sporting Breed Puppies Eat Adult Dog Food? SPONSORED CONTENT: Sporting breed puppies are bred and trained to work. As a result, they have very different nutritional needs from those of a future house dog. Puppy formulas are typically more nutrient dense when...
Baked Squirrel
BAKED SQUIRREL Mom often fixed fried squirrel, and when served with side dishes of biscuits, milk gravy made with the drippings from the squirrel, sweet potatoes and turnip greens, it was among my favorite meals. However, I liked her baked squirrel even better, and...
Of Ice and Men: Part I
Part I Of Ice and Men Just being in grizzly bear country gives one enough to stay awake about. Most dangerous of all North American game, the grizzly across a land that can present an equal peril. Western Alaska’s overwhelming of isolated hills and drainages — empty,...
The Book That Humbled Hemingway
When Hemingway read this book, he said: "She has written so well, and marvelously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer . . . [Markham] can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves as writers . . . It is really a bloody wonderful book."...
Beyond the Boundaries
"But there was something there — a different kind of contemporary realism." Imagine for a moment that you and I are with artist Adriano Manocchia, relaxing on Adirondack chairs under the eave of the porch at his house in Cambridge, New York, a double haul from the...
STREAKED MEAT DUTCH OVEN POTATOES
STREAKED MEAT DUTCH OVEN POTATOES Pork was the staple meat of my boyhood, and that was true not just in my family but for country folks across much of the Southeast in general. While a pig offered plenty of variety in terms of “meat on the table,” with dishes...
Streaked Meat Milk Gravy
Some Culinary Musings on Pork Pork was the staple meat of my boyhood, and that was true not just in my family but for country folks across much of the Southeast in general. While a pig offered plenty of variety in terms of “meat on the table,” with dishes including...
Dead Fish Tell No Lies
To think that this box might hold Harry's legendary Atlantic salmon was too much for the club members to bear. Postmortem jurisprudence. I believe that’s what they call it. This "executor of a will" responsibility is indeed an objectionable bit of business. "Damn it,...
Traditional Mountain Cornbread
TRADITIONAL MOUNTAIN CORNBREAD Across much of the country, and certainly in rural regions of the South, cornbread has long been a staple. For the sportsman, it goes wonderfully well with venison chili or any type of game soup or stew. The keys to making really good...
Haunting On the Big Two-Hearted
I am a confirmed cynic when it comes to supernatural and paranormal malarkey. However... It began innocently enough, as such things often do I suppose. Tom Davis, a contributing editor to this magazine, called me about taking over an article he was unable to do, a...
Venison Loin Steaks With Raspberry Sauce
VENISON LOIN STEAKS WITH RASPBERRY SAUCE 1 pound loin steaks 1/3 cup Dale’s Steak Seasoning 1/3 cup water ½ stick butter 1 garlic clove, minced ½ cup raspberry jam Marinate loin in Dale’s Steak Seasoning and water; drain. Melt the butter and add garlic. Sauté briefly....
The Little Devil – Bad Bets
The bets we had made put my much-needed expense money at serious risk. Since I had the responsibility of managing the canoe and could only cast while it was drifting freely, I was at a considerable disadvantage. You had to admire Jack Fincassel. He was the hardest...
Redfish Filets with Lemon Tabasco Butter
A Springtime Staple: Redfish Filets with Lemon Tabasco Butter Spring is in the air and that means fishing season is in full swing here in the lowcountry. A South Carolina staple, Redfish are an incredibly fun species to catch and also make for delicious table fare....
Venison Calzone
VENISON CALZONE 3/4 - 1-pound ground venison 1/2 cup chopped onion 1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms 1 clove garlic, minced 1/4 cup venison kielbasa 1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning 1/4 teaspoon oregano 1 14-ounce jar tomato and basil spaghetti sauce 1 8-ounce package...
Nearing the Nimbus
She had made it all possible. She was the melody of his song. And ever she watched and waited for him, in a warm, yellow kitchen. It is dark below. Raindrops clamor helplessly at the small window by his shoulder, driven in itinerant streaks across the glass by the...
Son of the South
Son of the South:Reminiscences of a Southern Sportsman follows the life of one of North Carolina's most outstanding hunters and fishermen-conservationists Bob Gordon. At 82, the stories of his hunting adventures in North Carolina and way beyond take shape in a sort of...
Honey Pecan Mountain Trout
HONEY PECAN MOUNTAIN TROUT 2 pounds of trout fillets or, with small fish, split down the middle and remove as many bones as possible. 1/2 cup all-purpose flour Salt and pepper to taste 1/2 cup finely ground pecans 1 egg or egg white, beaten Butter, softened Honey...
African Elephant Hair Bracelets
Designed after the original African Elephant Hair Bracelets dating back over 1200 years it was believed that wearing these bracelets would protect against harm, sickness, and misfortune. The four knots symbolizes the powerful forces of life: the sun, wind, fire, and...
Guarding the House – Candid Cameron
The backyard is being invaded by deer! Normally life at home is peaceful and I can lie on the couch and watch TV. I like hunting shows, especially any shows that put pheasants in the air or ducks on the ground. But lately I have to sit by the backdoor and play the...
Passages – 1996 Issue of Sporting Classics
Memorable Quotes Over the Years A collection printed in the 1996 issue of Sporting Classics The streams that hold trout are filled with spirits. They are filled with magic that will stay as long as someone comes to feel it. When we come upon old gear that has been...
Walk Your Way Through the Colors
Mike Stidham, the critically acclaimed, self-taught artist, paints fishscapes. One summer evening a year ago, Mike Stidham left his studio and drove a few miles to a heavily fished stretch of the Provo River where it spills out of the Wasatch Mountains through the...
The Last Bear
Generally, he would have welcomed the chance to leave the hunter behind and go alone to finish the hunt. It would've been a good way to end his bear-hunting career. But this time, he couldn't. Kernels of snow splashed from the tracks for several feet in every...
Mother’s Day Gifts 2022
There’s a lot of pressure on us all when it comes to Mother’s Day gift ideas. You want to find something she’ll use all the time, but it can’t be strictly utilitarian. It should also have a sentimental spin. But overthinking it only makes the whole process harder. So...
Shrimp and Hominy
Shrimp and Hominy Hominy seems, in today’s culinary world, to have given way in large measure to its first cousin, grits. Yet this dish, featuring two standards of Lowcountry fare, was, according to Two Hundred Years of Charleston Cooking, “served in almost every...
Art of Fox Hunting – Tallyho and Tribulation
I admit, that, like most fox hunters, what attracted me was the excitement of being able to gallop over big fields and jump big fences out in the real world. When I dream about horses, as I sometimes do, I often dream about my own horse, a large and touchy palomino,...
Venison Steak and Potatoes
Venison Steak and Potatoes At Hampton, as in a hunt camp, hearty fare was a must. This recipe fits the bill. Ingredients: 1 pound cubed venison steak 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 can (10 3/4 ounce) cream of celery soup 1/2 cup milk 1/2 cup sour cream 1/4 teaspoon freshly...
I’m Not a Mule
I’m Not a Mule The other day I was doing something I really like to do — shopping. In fact I was in a store, and with Mike’s help, trying on backpacks so I can be ready for the summer ahead and some backpacking trips. Then I spotted her — a lady who was staring at me....
Arnold Palmer of Duck Hunting Properties
SPONSORED CONTENT As commodity prices go, few have been tracking mallard dividends as closely as Steve Farris. After a stellar career as a Grammy-nominated guitarist and one of the cofounders of the '80s band "Mr. Mister," Farris has turned his creative energies and...
Pickled Shrimp and Capers
Pickled Shrimp and Capers Shrimp are wonderfully versatile in that they can be a main dish, a cocktail, or merely hearty hors d’oeuvres for a party. Here’s a somewhat unusual approach that works well when you are having a large group for drinks and snacks. It will...
Ethics and the Meat Hunter
Contemplations on the ethical hunt. I saw the yellow Rank and the branched antlers as he stepped through a thin place in the second-growth timber, maybe 70 yards away. He was gone before I could even slip the rifle sling off my shoulder, let alone shoot. The wind was...
Game and Field Fair 2022
Sporting Classics Attends 2022 Game & Field Fair On the weekend of April 1, Sporting Classics traveled to the mountainous region of Adairsville, Georgia, for the Game & Field Fair sponsored by The Pepi Family Studios and High Adventure Company on the Beretta...
Orange Glazed Baked Duck Breasts
Baked Duck Breasts in Orange Glaze One of my all-time favorite outdoor stories is Robert Ruark’s account, from The Old Man and the Boy, of the occasion when he and his grandfather hunted ducks and fished with some Cajun friends of the Old Man down in Louisiana. Every...
The Coyote – Nature’s Versatile Vagabond
Richie Nash had never seen a coyote on his family's farm south of Monroe, North Carolina . . . but all that changed on a cool December morning as Nash sat in his comfortable box stand overlooking a freshly cut cornfield. Half an hour after sunrise, Nash noticed a lone...
Shrimp Chowder Recipe from Casada
Shrimp Chowder Ingredients: 1/2 large onion, finely chopped 1/4 cup (a half-stick) butter 2 large potatoes, peeled and chopped 1 cup boiling water 3/4 teaspoon salt 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated 2 cups whole milk 1 pound shrimp, cook, peeled, and chopped...
Top of the Food Chain – Candid Cameron
Hoomans are afraid of wolves, my ancestors, because they are at the top of the food chain. OK, I was lying all across the couch the other day when Mike pushed me and made me move. Never mind I can stretch out and cover the entire couch from end to end with my body and...
Venison Brunswick Stew
Venison Brunswick Stew You’ll need: 3 pounds venison, cut into one-inch cubes 2 tablespoons canola oil 1 large onion, chopped 1 large potato, chopped 2 stalks celery, chopped 1 large can tomatoes, chopped (or use frozen ones from the summer garden, which I do) 1...
Palm Sunday Turkey
There are a couple of rather elementary ground rules that apply under such conditions and, strangely enough, a great many people find them difficult to follow. Anyone who has chased turkeys for any length of time, assuming he is a realist and does not suffer from a...
How To Support Joint Health in Your Sporting Dog
SPONSORED CONTENT: When we think about the longevity of our hardworking sporting dogs in the fields and blinds, joint health is often a point of concern. They run hard in a variety of conditions, they jump over logs or stone walls, and they twist and turn their way...