From the Foreword …
If you have youngsters coming on, let them read these tales. I’ll feel more than satisfied if I can persuade a few members of the coming generations to have a hankering for the scatter-gun and all that goes with it: the never-forgotten thrill, after an icy vigil in the duck blind, when a bunch of “canvas” hovers over your decoys, the goose flesh that travels up and down your spine when your maiden efforts on a yelper elicit a response from some bearded gobbler, the rapture of listening to a “sight cry” as the pack hustles a buck in your direction, and above all the sense of pride in a job well done, when the bird dog that you have broken yourself, flashes into his first picture point. There’s nothing quite like it, and the more shotgun fans we can produce, the better we can be assured that our heritage of American game bird shooting will endure. It doesn’t take long to realize that you can’t “eat your cake and have it, too,” which insures game conservation, propagation and management.
An Afternoon at Bray’s Island
As a general thing, bird shooting in South Carolina was better in the backcountry than on the coast. Two exceptions, however, proved the rule — Pineopolis, near Monks Corner, the county seat of Berkeley County, was well-known for its bird shooting, while my friend Willie Ford came back from a hunt near Beaufort and said he had bagged so many quail in three days’ shooting that he was really ashamed to bring them home.
This story is from the Spring 2021 edition of The Upland Almanac.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the Spring 2021 edition of The Upland Almanac.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Luigi Franchi Imperial Monte Carlo Extra: One of Italy's "Best" SxS Doubles
As on London’s gun-maker’s row, Italians had skilled craftsmen who made “Best” guns of superb quality
An Upland Bird Hunter's Equipment in Need and Equipment Indeed...
From the first year I discovered upland bird hunting in my early teens, my search for the right clothing and equipment began in earnest. All you need to see to support this reality is to look at all the upland clothing and equipment I have stored from ceiling to floor in my garage and sportsman’s closet downstairs
Day's End - Making memories
Has there ever been a bird dog man or woman with a soul so dead that he or she has not been re-energized by the first cool days of September, by the first forecast of frost, by noting the opening days marked on the calendar so many months before?
A SIMPLE PLEASURE: THE HUNT LUNCH
In William Harnden Foster’s classic book, New England Grouse Shooting (1942), for which he wrote the text and provided numerous black-and-white sketches, he includes a wide-ranging catch-all chapter called “Grouse Shooting Outfits
PACKING for Success
I spend a lot of time these days chasing game birds. But it hasn’t always been this way
Shooting FAST and SLOW
Scientists have recently discovered that human brains operate in two settings – a fast, reactionary “fight or flight” mode (System 1) and a slow, considered, contemplative mode (System 2)
Private Lands, Public Access
“Just what lies behind that fence?”
Early Season - GREATER PRAIRIE CHICKEN HUNTING
Greater prairie chickens are tailor-made for early fall gunning. Young birds hatch early enough to be nearly full-grown by September, offering lots of potential targets in good habitat
QUAIL Struggle to Survive a Multitude of KILLERS
By some estimates, the wild bobwhite population in the U.S. has declined 70 to 80% since the 1960s
Journeys Shared: A Worcester Letter
Hi Bob, Just finished the sensational roller coaster “memoir-style” essays of man and bird dog(s) that you and Dave Smith assembled and put into print