Escape From A Hell Hole
Finding a big billy wasn’t difficult, but getting his trophy out of the mountain wilderness would become the most perilous struggle of his life.
A Thousand Rebel Yells
It was black dark and there was the disarming gush of the swollen, little stream, and I could only sense the rise of the earth above me. But I had done battle here before. I could feel it in my bones, as in the ghostly lines of Mary Fahl’s “Going...
The Elephant’s Got the Gun
One of the first hunters to take advantage of the “Ivory Rush” in the Lado Enclave, John Boyes soon learned just how dangerous his new occupation would be. The death of King Leopold of Belgium in 1909 created an elephant hunters’ free-for-all in the...
Men And Gun Shops, Like Kids In A Candy Store
Boys grow up to be men, but men always stay boys at heart. On a recent gunning trip to Scotland, I witnessed that return to boyish ways. Between driven and walk-up bird hunting days a group of mature, fully grown, adult American males poured into two very high-quality...
An Adventurous Lady
Gertrude Legendre lived a life of adventure, hunting virtually around the world, hobnobbing with kings and celebrities, and then while serving her country, somehow surviving capture by the German Gestapo. The guests at Medway Plantation had finished dinner and moved...
The Rifle That Took The Smithsonian’s Giant Of Kumaon
The yellowed newspaper clippings and fading photographs tell a remarkable story. It was in November, 1967, that David Hasinger, Dr. Karl Jonas and their wives traveled to India to hunt tigers. Beyond the slightest doubt, they were mindful of Jim Corbett’s famous...
Mars the Pointer
He was all alone now, but the birds were still there. He was called Mars because new names can become scarce around a big kennel and someone had come up with Jupiter and with Mercury (shortened to “Mere” and “Jupe” for other pups). Later, he...
The Guns Of The Celebrities
In 1939, before the U.S. entered World War II, movie star Robert Montgomery enlisted in London for American field service and drove ambulances in France until the Dunkirk evacuation. In a break from helping British heroes, he acquired a pair of guns from James Purdey...
Maynard Reece’s Legacy Is Protected Habitat
In all of art history, never has there been a more venerable emblem of wildlife conservation than the tiny U.S. Federal Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp. Invented by an American sportsman during the Dust Bowl to protect habitat for migratory birds, revenue generated...