A Boy, a Dog and a Shotgun

A Boy, a Dog and a Shotgun

Over there, to the southeast and on low horizon, a 6:30, end-of-the-year sunrise emerged. This sunrise was one of those generated only by prescribed conditions, specific peculiarities not often available—late year, rain probable, skeletal trees framing muted pink,...

A Night with the White Goats

A Night with the White Goats

Having hunted elk, sheep and other big game through the West in previous years, we were anxious to add a goat’s head to our modest collection. After many inquiries for a “sure place,” we started for Lake Chelan in the State of Washington.   We left the railway at...

This Blessed Rage to Order, Pale Ramon

This Blessed Rage to Order, Pale Ramon

Ernest Hemingway, Wallace Stephens, Mark Twain and a Cock-eyed Consideration of Time and Space Wallace Stephens wrote an obtuse poem, “An Idea of Order at Key West,” wherein this gal was singing on the beach at sunset, about 1934 near as I can figure, and Stephens was...

Legendary Game Warden Forrest Hanks

Legendary Game Warden Forrest Hanks

“There’s only two things to fear in Alleghany County— that’s God, and Forrest Hanks.”  The Texas firing range was hot as blue blazes, but not as hot as Forrest Hanks’ M1. His Garand boomed, each time the .30-'06 bullet ripping another dime-sized hole in the tattered...

The Foundation Formerly Known as NRA

The Foundation Formerly Known as NRA

NRA Foundation and the Art of the Steal: A Heist So Clever Donors Must Forget Why They Donated America has produced some remarkable business models over the years. Apple convinced millions of people to stand in line overnight to buy phones that were only marginally...

Full Circle

Full Circle

The fact that I am sitting here writing this makes me smile a little bit in serendipitous gratitude, for it is abject proof that you can, in fact, will something into existence. My journey to Sporting Classics actually started 11 years ago. I was hosting a gun...

Uganda: The Pearl

Uganda: The Pearl

While rummaging through some of my father’s old books, I stumbled across African Game Trails by Theodore Roosevelt. It’s an interesting read regarding the exploits and African journeys of an American hunter and conservationist. One chapter, “Uganda, and the Great...

Oh, Lucky Man! Sigbot “Bodo” Winterhelt

Oh, Lucky Man! Sigbot “Bodo” Winterhelt

Na, ja, my father hated all hunting and hunters. He didn’t understand. He thought, first of all, that all they did was destroy, and my father lived only to preserve things. And hunters in Germany wear a uniform, green loden cloth, you know, and my father hated...