To the Top

To the Top

To the top!” I said, grinning, when Jake asked where we were going while pointing nearly straight up to a spot where two giant peaks collide. For few such as us, this is where dreams of trophy bighorn sheep, elk, and mule deer begin. Five hours later Jake Worthington...

Colter’s Hell

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

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

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

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

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

A Christmas Present

The colorful flats around Christmas Island are the world’s best place to fly fish for giant trevally.

Moments of Perfection

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

The Final Stalk

Hunting sheep among the lofty mountain peaks of the Yukon.

Northern Georgia Quail

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...

Pa’tridge Fever

Pa’tridge Fever

The proper hunting man experiences a special reverence for grouse country.

Mollygrubs Messer: Duxbak Debacle—Redux

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...

Strange Happenings At Chickamauga Creek

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

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

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

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...

The First Time I Saw God

The First Time I Saw God

It was about 5:15 p.m., 108 miles northeast of Oran, I remember, when the starboard gunners shouted, ‘’Torpedo off the bow!” The helmsman tried to swing her so the thing would run parallel to us, but the old bucket was bottom-heavy with about 9,000 tons of high...

EP 155: Campfire Talk with Luke and Larry

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

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

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...

Chasing the Silver Ghost

Chasing the Silver Ghost

There are many places to chase tarpon—Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and Ascension Bay, the Caribbean, Belize and various jungle rivers up and down Central America, the lower Gulf and Atlantic coasts, even some rivers in Africa. All encounters with these silver-plated...

Capturing the Essence of Wildlife: Zoltán Boros

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

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

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...

Keeping Things Wild

Keeping Things Wild

There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot . . . This is a story for those who cannot. In 1927 Crazy Ernie, Kid Al and my dad won a hunting shack in a poker game and lost their hearts to a swamp. In a remote northwoods clearing stood a...

Where the Clouds Are Birds

Where the Clouds Are Birds

I think I know what Otis Redding had on his mind when he crooned “Sittin’ on the dock of a bay.” Only there’s no dock here. There’s no bay either, but I’m sitting on a high bluff overlooking the Parana River in Argentina, takin’ the rest of the day off.  Mi amigos...

Attacked By a Grizzly

Attacked By a Grizzly

A veteran prospector, Hatheway was heading out from camp to stir something up for the pot. It had somehow become his task to put food on the table at the small mining camp. He was the oldest and felt somewhat responsible to use his shooting skills to keep the stewpot...

The Old Maid

The Old Maid

Good covey dogs are, as Lincoln said of Civil War generals, “as plenty as blackberries.” Hardy, spirited rangers that will put up whatever there is to be put up and give you your money’s worth day in and day out. That is, in good bird country.  But if you are ever...

Swarovski Optik Special Offer Extended

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...

Wren & Ivy 2023 Collection

Wren & Ivy 2023 Collection

As the amber leaves of autumn cascade, so does Wren & Ivy’s newest collection. Discover products crafted with passion, echoing the elegance of yesteryears while embracing the conveniences of today. Just like those cherished moments before dawn on a hunt, this...

Negrini Black Friday Sale

Negrini Black Friday Sale

For a limited time take 15% off select Negrini cases! With over 40 years of experience making the best quality gun cases, Negrini Cases of Italy is the leader in ultra-light air travel case technology. Discover the Negrini Gun Case difference. ATA approved, Made in...

Going Up Under The Mountain

Going Up Under The Mountain

When it came to pheasants, Kelly had his own bag of tricks—mothods you’d never find in a dog-training manual.

Confessions of a  Lead-Slinging Luddite

Confessions of a Lead-Slinging Luddite

What if I told you more white-tailed deer have been taken with an 1894 30-30 Winchester than all the other sundry deer hunting cartridges combined? What if I told you that you could hunt worldwide with a battery of only three rifles, a 22 Long Rifle from 1887, a 7...

Kings Game: Epic Driven Boar in Hungary

Kings Game: Epic Driven Boar in Hungary

You can hunt wild boar on six continents... but there is no place on Earth that celebrates the art of shooting swine quite like Hungary... a nation rich in both hunting traditions and opportunities including red stag, fallow, and roe deer. This week's episode of...

The Rodney Dangerfield of Gamebirds

The Rodney Dangerfield of Gamebirds

If I may indulge in the slightest understatement, I’ve been around a while. And I’ve seen a few things. Not as many as some, but more than most. I’ve been lucky enough to have gunned birds all over the world, and there aren’t a great many species that I haven’t hunted...

Spirits of the Forest

Spirits of the Forest

The bull appears to be staring straight through me. I can smell his muskiness, and I’m thinking that he must be able to smell me too. He continues to walk toward me as if he is going to greet me and introduce me to his herd. He’s bigger than I ever imagined and walks...

SC Wildlife Art for Sale

SC Wildlife Art for Sale

These unique wildlife art prints and originals are from the private collection of Chuck Wechsler, editor of Sporting Classics for 35 years. Each piece includes framing as shown and is custom packaged to ensure safe delivery. Click Here to View All African Lions at...

EP 154: Campfire Talk with Luke and Larry

EP 154: Campfire Talk with Luke and Larry

Click Here to Listen Was a time when having turkey for Thanksgiving dinner meant heading to the woods and harvesting your own bird. Luke and Larry recall some their early Thanksgivings adventures and how using rifle and bow turned lean Fall “woods” turkeys into a...

Venison Osso Buco Recipe

Venison Osso Buco Recipe

This venison osso buco recipe is a new, tasty way to prepare tender venison hams without having to grind or cube the meat. While my preferences when it comes to venison tend to run to cube steak, backstrap (too bad the whole deer isn’t backstrap) and ground meat,...

The First Time it Comes for You

The First Time it Comes for You

Oh, man, it was big. Actually, he was big, a mature, bull Cape buffalo. If you knocked off the tickbirds and caught him as he stepped out of the shower, he was a light heavyweight of 1,800 pounds. That number hadn’t really meant anything to me until I’d beheld him...

Tucker Smith: Painting the Wild Winds

Tucker Smith: Painting the Wild Winds

One enduring memory I have is of a silhouetted figure, the outline of a cowboy hat, the rangy gesture of a man, hand extended, holding what appeared to be a magic wand, reaching toward a small square surface tilted upright on an easel. Steadily, as clouds churned...

EP: 153 Campfire Talk with Luke and Larry

EP: 153 Campfire Talk with Luke and Larry

Click Here to Listen This week Luke and Larry talk about their latest book release "Campfire Talk" available at SportingClassicsStore.com. Signed by Larry Weishuhn and Luke Clayton Click Here to Order Today Featuring 41 chapters, you'll find yourself sitting around...

The Passage

The Passage

July 14th, 4:16 a.m. Dear Tom, When I first laid eyes on the old rifle back in the fall of ’54 it was already pretty used up, at least on the outside. On the inside it was still in good working order. I guess Dad figured it was high time for his boy to fire a gun for...