Great Dogs

Great Dogs

The most difficult part of nurturing a great dog is keeping yourself straight. I think of the dogs I have loved. Bird dogs. Yours and mine. I think of the ways I have loved them. This time, aside loyalty and devotion—almost a given within kind and understanding...
The Legend Of Old Three Legs

The Legend Of Old Three Legs

For nearly a decade the canny old wolf eluded the best hunters and trappers while waging a reign of terror on farmers and wildlife. Despite his one serious handicap, he was a streamlined and highly efficient killing machine. It almost seemed as though all the savagery...
Prairie Pike

Prairie Pike

At Cheyenne Ridge Signature Lodge, it’s the “other season” you don’t want to miss. Hedy Lamarr was one of the most glamorous film stars of Hollywood’s “Golden Age.” Viennese by birth, she was invariably cast as a seductress of...
’Ol Settler Of Deep Hole

’Ol Settler Of Deep Hole

No fish had ever exerted a greater influence on the thoughts, the imagination, the manners or the moral character of his pursuers. Uncle Eb was a born lover of fun. But he had a solemn way of fishing that was no credit to a cheerful man. It was the same when he played...
There’s Always The Pier 

There’s Always The Pier 

All sorts of interesting characters frequent our fishing piers, but they all share the same thing—a passion for fishing. South Carolina’s Daniel Island is actually a peninsula of the original Cainhoy Plantation sandwiched by the Cooper and Wando rivers that...
Winter Weather Wisdom

Winter Weather Wisdom

My Grandpa Joe was chock full of weather-related wisdom. For example, about this time of year, whenever a premature warm spell hinted at a change in the seasons, he would opine: “A fellow can’t trust spring. It tends to be mighty fittified.” He knew, by dint of long...
The Last Buffalo  

The Last Buffalo  

On the floor, on either side of my fireplace, lie two buffalo skulls. They are white and weathered, the horns cracked and bleached by the snows and frosts and the rains and heats of many winters and summers. Often, late at night, when the house is quiet, I sit before...
Daisy Days: Boys And BB Guns

Daisy Days: Boys And BB Guns

Although as a boy I didn’t receive dozens of Christmas gifts each year, those that did come my way from Mom and Dad were invariably practical, prized or memorable (and in some cases, they fit all of those descriptions). Such was the case with a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun....
The Fishing Plug Man

The Fishing Plug Man

He was the best kept secret since the Trojans hid in the Horse. His name was W.C. Crissy; he was an august old codger from Little Rock, Arkansas, and his game was rare and valuable commodities. I say old and august. August for certain; old I’m not sure. For I...
The Fish That Shook The Pier

The Fish That Shook The Pier

In the summer of 1964, an average Joe revealed to the happy-go-lucky Myrtle Beach tourists where some large creatures roamed. Large is actually insulting when it comes to describing thousand-pound sharks. How about one that weighed almost a ton, caught with rod and...