Socrates Becomes a Hunter

Socrates Becomes a Hunter

A boy’s dog named Soc finally proves his worth as a gundog by flushing pheasants for the boy and his uncle. That first spring together evolved into a long, hot summer, seemingly endless for a boy hankering for his first pheasant season. Sweating through chores,...
The Firing Line

The Firing Line

Last November in Scotland, a line of seven friends spaced 20 yards apart marched across a harvested field in pursuit of pheasant. On that misty morning, hunters, dogs and gamekeepers were eager to find birds and almost immediately they did. A brightly feathered...
Finding Socrates

Finding Socrates

The story of how a boy found a stray puppy that went on to be a great pheasant dog for him and his dad. A dog surprised us the spring of my 10th birthday when Aunt Helen banged the screen door behind her. As she shuffled in the dark of dawn toward the Sunday paper, a...
Getting Socrates Drunk

Getting Socrates Drunk

Stuck for a name, we had it when Uncle Harry christened the stray pup “Socrates,” given his proclivity to poison himself. Worse than a baby in a bathroom cabinet, right from the git-go he liked stuff he shouldn’t and revealed a fatal attraction for everything liquid....
Candid Cameron: Why I Like Birds

Candid Cameron: Why I Like Birds

This week Cameron the Weimaraner reminisces the trials and errors of his first bird hunt as a young pup pointing pheasants in the field. I can barely remember back when I was young and just a pup, but I rode in a truck and the door opened and Mike, my hunting partner...
The High-Quality, High-Quantity Hunting Lodge

The High-Quality, High-Quantity Hunting Lodge

Shoot your quail and eat it, too! Guests of the Primland Resort hunting lodge in Virginia never have to choose between quantity and quality. SPONSORED CONTENT In the age of technology and instant gratification, quantity seems to be taking precedence over quality. For...
What My Daughter (and My Dog) Gave Me

What My Daughter (and My Dog) Gave Me

It started with a puppy and an adventurous little girl. Every fire needs a catalyst and for me it was that orange-and-white ball of boundless energy and a daughter with an interest. Mesa was not my first Brittany—I’d had two before, but even with dreams of days in...