Duck Hunting – A Tale of Two Marshes

Duck Hunting – A Tale of Two Marshes

Here is the story of two different marshes, on two different continents, gunned within a month of each other. British driven duck shooting versus American over-decoys duck hunting; green, well-watered country versus desert. In November I shot ducks in Scotland, and in...

This One’s On Me

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,...

Dowsing, Ducks, Dynamite and Damnation

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...

A Door in the Woods

A Door in the Woods

Though it was now past dusk and the forest was dark and still, I could see that, yes, it definitely was a door, alone, in the middle of the woods. “Good boy, Rex, easy now. Whoa on the bird!”   The gathering gloaming of the approaching evening made it rather difficult...

The Lords Of Loafers Glory

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,...

The Old Man’s Leopard and the Omen

The Old Man’s Leopard and the Omen

It had to be an evil omen. The first glow of the sun eased out the night and pinked the peaks of the majestic Water Berg Range. Towering mountains, like a series of huge waves about to crash onto the land below and a crumbling old stone house guarded by flat-topped...