The Homecoming

The Homecoming

Returning to his favorite squirrel woods after 40 years, he would rediscover the land and a few things about himself. Dank black pools of standing water enveloped the timber, mostly oak and hickory. The trees were massive in their maturity, casting the woodlot and its...
This Old House

This Old House

When the old house was occupied, its splintering walls were stout, its diminutive shelter a fortress of good spirits, its heartwood hale and its ambiance light with ale. Way long ago now, in the antediluvian and simplistic age in which I knew boyhood, circa. 1954,...
How to Define a True “Trophy” Buck

How to Define a True “Trophy” Buck

This question might sound simple, especially to those of you that have just begun your whitetail hunting career, but take it from me, it’s a question that has kept deer hunters awake at night. After almost 60 years of “taking to the whitetail woods,” I...
Père David’s Deer Back From the Brink

Père David’s Deer Back From the Brink

The intriguing survival story of a deer species discovered in China more than 150 years ago. When I was a small boy I started digging a hole in the backyard. My dad came out and asked me what I was doing. “Digging a hole,” I answered. He smiled broadly. “If you keep...
Skills of Successful Wingshooting Guides

Skills of Successful Wingshooting Guides

Being a hunting guide might seem like a dream job, one we would all like to have, but there is a tremendous gap between the dream and the reality. There is a famous anecdote, possibly apocryphal, about Fred Astaire’s first screen test for RKO Pictures. Apparently, the...