Zane Grey – High Seas Prophet
So what can we say of Zane Grey, this dentist turned novelist turned outdoor writer? He was a dentist and photography and a storyteller. He was one hell of a baseball player. He was husband and father and perpetual wanderer and a hunter and fisherman who once held...
This One’s On Me
The following is an excerpt of Chapter 3 from Mike Gaddis's From A Higher Hill, featuring 65 explorations of the sporting life, the whole of which transcend contemporary perspective, and ascend to rare and unexcelled poignancy. Pardon the indulgence, my good fellows,...
Of Remingtons, Parkers and Old Pats
Devout Remington men toting Parkers?
Dowsing, Ducks, Dynamite and Damnation
I felt the shockwave through my feet before I heard the thunderclap explosion. Mud flew, water ran and two days later, I had a new pond. Brothers and Sisters, I am a water witch. Water witching, dousing, doodle-bugging— call it what you will, finding unseen things...
Moving Forward
I was crawling, attempting to get close to a majestic red sheep.
The Lords Of Loafers Glory
During the middle of the past century, it was commonplace for old men, maybe a smattering of somewhat younger n’er-do-wells and boys to congregate in popular gathering places. In small towns and rural crossroads, those spots were almost always a country store,...
Mamba By Any Other Name
It had happened so incredibly fast. The snake had bitten him before he could even think of reacting. And now he was alone, a wave of nausea wracking his entire body. He was going to die.
Fishing Premonitions
Though I continue to believe omens, signs or premonitions are total baloney, I did note some rather convincing portents while fishing the Wisconsin River one spring evening. Some people put a lot of faith in omens, signs, premonitions or whatever you choose to call...
How Coleman Became an Outdoors Icon
And why it’s been synonymous with camping equipment for more than a century.
Replacing Moonshine With Flyline
Arriving at Headwaters on the Soque farm in northeast Georgia is like stepping back into a world that has quietly eluded the encroachment of progress. It’s an easy 80 miles from Metro Atlanta, but it might as well be a thousand. When you arrive at the farm in...
The Day They Took My Guns Away
Originally published in Field & Stream, this article also appeared in the Sept./Oct. 2000 issue ofSporting Classics.
Wounded Comrade
It was 1913 when renowned hunter and sculptor Carl Akeley created his most famous sculpture, "Wounded Comrade." Inspired by an actual event Akeley witnessed on his first trip to Africa in 1896, and encouraged by fellow sculptor Alexander Phimister Proctor, he sculpted...
Hunting Spanish Beceite – Challenging Game In A Beautiful Country
“Tomorrow early, breakfast well before daylight. We need to be about an hour east of the hotel by the time black fades to gray! But tonight we eat well. I have ordered for you a variety of specialized Spanish dishes, including pork, beef and vegetables. Try a bit of...
My Firearm is Fire-Damaged. What Do I Do Now?
Fires are one of the most devastating things that can happen to our families and our homes. When the fire has died down and it’s time to sort through the ashes, what do you do with your fire-damaged firearms? We get a lot of emails and phone calls from people who’ve...
The Last Of the Outlaw Gunners
Or they were going to be, until a gator got in the way.
Behind The Badge
Imagine an America without first responders and ask yourself if that’s a country in which you’d want to live? That is both the cautionary tale and the lament of Behind the Badge, Answering the Call to Serve on America’s Homefront by Johnny Joey Jones. Jones is the...
All Writers Are Liars
All writers are liars, whether reef-fishing miles offshore on the Atlantic or fishing through a hole in the north country ice. The smokestack of the hulk gloomed from the depths, barely visible when the July sun ricocheted off the surface of the sea. Halfway to the...
Wayward in Hayward
The man who taught me grouse and woodcock lives with his wife in a Vermont hamlet just this side of Canada. He has some gray in his beard these days but only enough to make him look as wise as his years, and he smells like pipe smoke and cherry-wood shavings. He heats...
How to Choose the Best Knife
Looking for the best knife for you? Not only do you need to choose a knife that is well made, but also make sure that it has a functional design. If you’re an outdoorsman, then it’s highly probable that you own a different knife for every occasion. In fact, you may...
A Father’s Quandary: How to Explain the Benefits of Hunting to Youth
Rather than simply explain to his daughter the many benefits of hunting for game meat, this father decided to lead by example. And it worked. How does a father explain the benefits of hunting to his children? A few years ago in a restaurant in Jackson Hole, my...
Boddington’s Best Buck
A large, dark brown bear appeared on the ridge above us. The sound of Craig’s one shot was all it took for that top predator to home in on us. Soon after being put ashore we jumped a huge buck at sixty yards that took off quartering away to the right. I told him to...
Amid Whirring Wings
All the trappings and traditions of quail hunting explained in one article.
Sierra Nevada – Ibex On The Med.
Alfonso extended backwards his lowered, open palm left hand indicating to stop. As I did, using his right hand he pointed toward the horizon. My eyes moved upward. There stood a young male Sierra Nevada ibex staring in our direction. “Poco, poco!” cautioned my guide...
In the Moonlight of the Mountains
Sharing a turkey hunt with a daughter who’s growing up too fast.
The Rain In Spain Falls Mainly When You’re Trying To Hunt
Pedro Alacron and I were at a taxidermist in Cordoba, Spain to drop off my Beceite and Southeastern Ibex at a local taxidermist. They would prepare the skins and skulls for export to my taxidermist, Double Nickle Taxidermy in Texas. While filling out paperwork I...
American Rifles vs. the British Product
British gunmakers have long had an enviable reputation for turning out superior sporting guns and rifles. This has been mainly because from the very start they have always catered to the well-to-do class of discriminating sportsmen who have demanded the very best and,...
Good Samaritan Elk
There are many good Samaritan opportunities, but how do these deeds entwine bull elk with cutthroat trout? I had been living on the floor for ten days. My surgeon said I would need back surgery to repair a torn disk unless I could somehow drag myself up and start...
Bowhunting Walkabout
Mum always said everything happens for the best. Who would of thunk a conked-out Cruiser could lead to so much bowhunting fun? Standing alone in dry, desolate outback, I feel first rage, then fear, then can do nothing but laugh out loud at my predicament. I had blamed...
Russell Chatham: Moods of the American West
It would be very easy – and so much fun – to write about Russell Chatham as a Rabelaisian voluptuary, the kind of man who woke up every morning in a California-king-sized bed surrounded by empty bottles of Chateau Haut-Brion and empty-minded cheerleaders and with only...
Two for Two: Selous’ Double on Elephants
The author makes a perfect double on elephants during his famous African wanderings.
This Hunting Tale’s No Croc!
Motor softly and carry a big stick when you’re in croc-infested waters.
Winchester’s Lever Evolution: 165 Years and Counting
Even though Americans invented—among other things—the electric light bulb, the microwave oven and (for better or worse) personal computers, as far as I’m concerned, one of our country’s greatest achievements has been the perfection of the lever-action rifle. Yes, even...
Properly Grounded!
Our shipment of cattle feed arrived later than expected and took much longer to unload than I had anticipated. I badly wanted to hunt deer that afternoon. A cool front had passed through our area. Whitetails would be moving late afternoon. Sun near sinking into the...
The Meeting of Pope and Young
The biggest thing to happen to archery since sticks and string.
Walther Arms: Nobody Does It Better
My name is Bond, James Bond.” In the annals of the spy thriller genre, no other secret agent has achieved the iconic status of Ian Fleming’s 007. An agent with lethal skills and a license to kill, Bond, as his millions of fans know, is a dashing and debonair figure, a...
My Old Man
Everyone should have an old man. I’ve got one; he’s in his 80s, and he lives on a ranch on a wide, sage-studded plain surrounded by mountains. How about your old man? Maybe he stokes a morning fire in a gray clapboard house along the Chesapeake. Down there the land...
The Chowgarh Tigress
Jim Corbett’s adventures with man-eating tigers have made his name famous in tiny villages of the Kumaon Hills in India. The man-eater is the rare tiger, usually one so weakened by old age or wounds that it cannot do its usual hunting and is forced to prey on human...
Watch: Westley Richards Factory Tour
A fascinating behind-the-scenes look at Westley Richards in Birmingham, showcasing the precision and tradition behind their handcrafted shotguns. https://youtu.be/saEDMMmMp2o?si=KOtkPeuWV9uoErM_
The Greatest Hunter in the World
Hey Jed, what are you doing for the next four days?” The call was from my brother who a long time ago nicknamed me Jed. “I drew a late-season elk tag and I want you to come with me. Get in your car and I’ll meet you in Cody,” he instructed. I looked over at my wife,...
Building the Ultimate A.H. Fox
Dig the sun from the sunset? Retrieve the river from the sea? Beg back a life that has been wrestled to the grave? For a great part of our being, we are drawn against a metaphysical world of imponderables, an ethereal vacuum of longing, where hope is scarce and...
The Life of the Boot: A Russell Moccasin Documentary
For the first time, Russell Moccasin takes you behind the scenes and into their shop to see the full process of making a pair of Russell Boots.
Chester Saves the Day
As was the case the last several days, the bay and three sorrels had not moved far from where they had been hobbled the evening before. The dappled gray gelding, Chester? No telling where he had roamed. I had seen him run with tight hobbles as fast the other horses...
Helle 2025 Knife of the Year
Back in 1975, Helle launched a knife that would in many ways change how we thought about knives in Scandinavia. In collaboration with Tor Indergaard, we created a new knife where the blade was only half as long as was common at the time. This small, new invention was...
The Colt Chronicles
A skilled and fearless Indian fighter, the Comanches called him “Devil Jack.” In early June of 1844 Captain John Coffee “Jack” Hays and his 14 Texas Rangers were scouting for Comanche raiders some 80 miles from San Antonio along the Pedernales River. After setting up...
Confessions of a Shotgun Scribe
One of Ed Zern’s hilarious books is titled How I Got This Way. As you would expect, the book relates the mishaps and misadventures that caused him to develop into the mildly warped personality that wrote some of the funniest outdoor stuff ever written. I ran across...
A Letter from Aldo Leopold
The year was 1909 in America and a young, green scientist stepped boldly from a stage on the campus of Yale University, his hard-earned Master of Science degree firmly in his grasp. Now, he was a forester! Bonafide, certified and anxious. The university had captioned...
Song of the Kalahari
In the latter part of her life, Karen Blixen wrote wistfully of her one-time home in East Africa. The story became the book, Out of Africa and the movie of the same name. Africa still called to her decades after her departure. And I think I understand. Unlike her, I...
Cat’s Eyes
I have often searched the wilderness for something that is right under my nose. On this particular day I had just returned from a grueling backpack hunt deep in Colorado’s South San Juan Wilderness. Elkless again. As a field biologist working the area, I had seen...
Governor DeSantis’ Everglades Work Adds To Conservation Legacy
Florida’s 2,400-square-mile Everglades wetland is a water, wildlife and fisheries reserve unrivaled on the North American continent, and for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, saving the ecosystem is vital to the future of the state. Since taking office, DeSantis has...
The Indefatigable Charles Newton
“Ahead of his time” falls short. His tenacity matched his genius. But war and the Depression would have their way. When rifle maker Buzz Fletcher asked me to photograph a Mauser he’d stocked, I said, “Sure!” Would I like some 256 Newton brass to check it on the range?...