Last Buck at Charlie’s Place
My last buck — the last to date at Charlie’s and likely the last, though the unknown has yet to reach its terminus. Distraught. That definitive aptly portrayed the sentiments of both Neal and me. Current news, while not completely unexpected, put us on alert. Near two...
John Schoenherr Bold and Beyond
As both sportsman and art lover, my walls battle for either mounted heads or country scenes. Oddly, though, I own no wildlife art. Before visiting John Schoenherr I wasn't sure why. Now I am. Over the years, most wildlife has seemed partisan to me, as though the...
Why I Taught My Boys to be Hunters
It has always seemed to me that any man is a better man for being a hunter. I have said that my hunting has often been solitary; but that was chiefly in the early days. During the last 25 years, I have rarely taken to the woods and fields in the shooting season...
Night of the Leopard
As night fell, a dense bank of fog from the Indian Ocean pushed inland over the Mozambique coast, blocking the moonlight and cloaking the forest in darkness. Condensation that had formed high in the jungle canopy literally rained down onto the leaf litter below. Just...
Hunting is Like Work
I may need to charge overtime. Treats and a half, Mike! I wrote recently that fishing is like work, and I’m here to tell you that hunting is like real work. I have to climb mountains, trek down valleys, wade or swim across rivers and struggle and muscle my way through...
The Phantom Setter
Originally published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1961, this story is one of the finest ever written about gundogs and grouse hunting. It is certainly the most chilling.
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...
Report from the Field
Hunting season is here! Time to find birds! These are the days all hunting dogs live for. Hunting season is underway and once that calendar rolled over and spotted September on the exposed page, I dashed to the truck and dove in. My days now are spent sniffing about...
First Season Expectations
SPONSORED CONTENT: You’ve built up to your pup’s first hunting season — but what should you expect from your young dog? The experts weigh in. Every sporting dog owner has high expectations for their dog. Social media is flooded with beautiful images of dogs on point...
Joshua Spies the Wide World
For Joshua Spies, it's about payback. Across the lonesome, windblown prairie of northern mid-America, locals know him simply as "the kid." On this morning, the prodigal artistic son of Watertown, South Dakota, stands in his studio surrounded by six easel paintings,...