Broken Down and Shot Out
When the Tin Liz breaks down five miles from home, the Old Man and the Boy discover a new way of bird-hunting. A classic from the September, 1956 issue of Field & Stream.
There Are Strange Things Done in the Springtime Sun
Aficionados of campfire poetry in general, or fans of the so-called “Poet of the Yukon,” Robert Service, will likely recognize that the title of this piece comes from his eerie yet wonderful poem, “The Cremation of Sam McGee.” The setting for the saga lies far from...
Quail of the Kalmias
These birds of the hills develop both a speed of flight and a finesse of dodging that are superior to anything the field birds can show.
Too Perfect to be Random
It's so perfect, in fact, that most serious quail hunters would rather go afield without a shotgun than without a dog. Some veteran bird hunters pay exorbitant lease prices to exercise their dogs. Oh, they may shoot a bird now and then, but they shoot mostly because...
Kentuck Turkey Tango
Some 480 million years ago, plate tectonics waltzed the lapetus oceanic plate into what is today’s United States to form part of the supercontinent, Pangaea. For a hundred million years afterward, the Central Pangean Mountains lifted skyward, as high as the Alps....
If You Can’t Lick the Weather, Join It!
“The only way to handle weather,” said the Old man, “is to know what to do with it – and use it accordingly”
A Thousand Rebel Yells
It was black dark and there was the disarming gush of the swollen, little stream, and I could only sense the rise of the earth above me. But I had done battle here before. I could feel it in my bones, as in the ghostly lines of Mary Fahl's "Going Home," from Gods and...
Last Waltz
Though I had known her for nearly two decades, I had never seen her like this. I had first come to her in autumn, myself still nearly a youth, her lovely, angular shoulders discreetly draped in purple and amber and varying shades of gold, glowing soft and warm as she...
Long Island Pond Shooting
The greatest sporting artist of the 20th century hunts black ducks on an icy pond.
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...