Snow Grouse
When I stepped out on the balcony that cold, damp, late February evening to sniff the weather, the stars had disappeared. It was very still, and felt like snow. Re-entering the warmth of our little apartment, I heard the phone ringing. It was Gary calling to discuss...
To Bite the Bullet
An overturned jeep, no water, and a charging elephant in the night. What else could go wrong?
This Hunting Life
We were learning the world. It is that learning I speak of as hunting. In the house I rent hangs a photo of me taken as a teenager. I'm lying next to my dog in some tall reeds by a river. For a long time I wondered what made me frame that picture and hang it. Tika and...
Ruark On Safari: Politics
An excerpt from Ruark Remembered by Alan Ritchie who served as Ruark’s personal secretary for 12 years. Up until the last year or so of Bob's life, there was always a great urgency in his writing, an impatience in his attitude toward his work, and the desire to get on...
The Turkey Drought Breaks
An amusing story to be retold on those long, hot days in the blind between birds.
Parker Whedon: The Last Of The Old-Time Turkey Hunters
When Parker Whedon died on March 16, 2012 after a long struggle with Parkinson’s disease and the myriad complications associated with the illness, the world of turkey hunting lost perhaps its final direct link to the sport’s great names of yesteryear. From the time...
Fangs!
“Now that one’s interesting! Looks like a saber-tooth cat crossed with a teddy bear!” said a DSC Convention attendee as she passed by the photo of a Chinese water deer on display in the Scandinavian Prohunters booth. In the booth, John Langraf and I were visiting with...
A Camouflage Calamity
I’m gonna have to have a little talk with that Toxey Haas fellow. You know, he’s the one who makes Mossy Oak camo. Way back in the ’80s when he started making camo, one of the first patterns he invented was Bottomland. Since I’m an old Southern turkey hunter who likes...
Watch: The King
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ix42HwHapA In the spring woods, everything revolves around one bird. The Eastern Wild Turkey. Not just because he gobbles. Because he decides the game. Where he roosts. Where he walks. When he talks. When he disappears. Every move we...
The Price of a Dog: Part 3 of 3
Part Three: The Devil’s Money Click Here to Read Part Two When I arrived home, I was excited to tell Mother about the double and, of course, the twelve-hundred dollars. I removed the rubber band and began counting the money onto the kitchen table. “…eight-hundred,...