The Old Songs

The Old Songs

Sing me the old songs. Tell me the stories of times gone by. I want to spend an evening or so with you to hear about your dogs. I want to see your guns. I want to read your favorite books. I want to warm my hands in front of your fire and try     your pipe tobacco and...

A Man In Full: Roosevelt Becomes A Man

A Man In Full: Roosevelt Becomes A Man

Daddy sent Theodore off to Harvard in 1876 with this advice: “Take care of your morals first, your health second, and your studies third.” Predictably, young Roosevelt was a better boxer than student, much preferring independent inquiries rather than activities...

From Pin Oak Flats to the High Country 

From Pin Oak Flats to the High Country 

I definitely learned more about elk hunting by assisting others than I ever learned hunting on my own. Hunting out west in the high country is a totally new experience for many of us “flatlanders.” I was in my early thirties before I had the opportunity to head to the...

Three Boys and a Cannon Barrel

Three Boys and a Cannon Barrel

It was a Federal Criminal Conspiracy: three boys, a cannon barrel and scaup to drive them crazy. The saltwater scaup are mostly gone now, but back when I was a boy they would raft offshore, a thousand, ten thousand at a time. It would take a booming gale to get them...

Beard Beauty

Beard Beauty

Turkey beards are a meaningful memento of success in the field—one with the potential to provide ongoing pleasure limited only by your creativity. There is a pronounced tendency among turkey hunters to consider the length and thickness of a turkey’s beard the ultimate...

The Opening Weekend Tragedy

The Opening Weekend Tragedy

This October marks the 21st anniversary of one of the most tragic events in the history of upland bird hunting: opening weekend of the 2003 South Dakota pheasant season. Over the horrifying course of those two days, more than 100 gundogs (no one knows the exact...