Troutalope
Genus: Oncorkynchus pronghornii Habitat: Wide-open spaces inland American West Life History: Contrary to common opinion, the troutalope is not rare. In fact, thousands of people have a stuffed one in the garage, bagged with other incredible junk headed to the...
The Rain
Someone once wrote that “rain is the oldest sound to reach the porches of man’s ear.” I like the sentence and I like the sentiment. And I like rain. I like to hunt in it, fish in it and just walk around in it. I like the sound of rain, the feel of it and the soft...
The Old Maid
Good covey dogs are, as Lincoln said of Civil War generals, “as plenty as blackberries.” Hardy, spirited rangers that will put up whatever there is to be put up and give you your money’s worth day in and day out. That is, in good bird country. But if you are ever...
The First Time it Comes for You
Oh, man, it was big. Actually, he was big, a mature, bull Cape buffalo. If you knocked off the tickbirds and caught him as he stepped out of the shower, he was a light heavyweight of 1,800 pounds. That number hadn’t really meant anything to me until I’d beheld him...
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...
I Will Give These Pups My All
As we grow old together, I’ll be there to gather the joy from every moment of their lives.
An Artist Apart
The type of paintings I most enjoy are the ones where I look and think, ‘How did he get away with that and still make it work’? [Years ago,] on a Saturday morning in August, my husband Charlie woke me up to show me an ad in Sporting Classics. Dan Metz was...
Fred Selous Heart of Steel
In the words of his contemporary and close friend, Teddy Roosevelt, Frederick Courteney Selous (1851-1917) was “the greatest of the world’s big-game hunters.” Certainly, there were few sportsmen of the late Victorian and Edwardian period who would...