Articles and Writings
I really enjoy writing about firearms, hunting, and conservation. These articles are some of my favorites.
ONLINE ARTICLES AND STORIES - NORTH AMERICAN HUNTING
I knew I shouldn’t, but I couldn’t help myself. I glanced straight down. The ground was some 30 feet below, and I was hanging in clear air by two knots at either end of my nylon hammock. My Mayan-descendant guide, Tigre (Jaguar), was the knot-tier. I trusted he knew what he was doing, but still, it was a long way down.
A final push through low-hanging branches provided us access into a glade that contained the baying hounds and the distant shape of the first Mountain Lion I had ever seen in the wild.
I couldn’t believe it. I had a bobcat, a predator trophy I never expected. It was so much more of a success than 10 coyotes would have been.
The article from my time at the Dorchester Shooting Preserve appeared on the TruthAboutGuns.com.
If you’re going to mess with Frances Arnold, don’t do it when she has a Daniel Defense DDM4 PDW in her hands – especially if you own a PT Cruiser.
Frances’ and my last article/video from the 2020 Dallas Safari Club Convention appeared last night.
Upon reaching the spot where the hog had been feeding, I was heartened to see a large splash of blood.
It really should have been a failure, my first-ever attempt at hunting feral hogs.
This time rather than heading to the next ridge, Mike suggested we head back to his truck and drive to another area and start the glassing and stalking over again.
The first morning of our hunt dawned crisp and clear, and with the pit-of-the-stomach excitement that feels at once so good and yet so worrying.
Fifty years ago, Jack O’Connor published a story in Outdoor Life magazine in which he recounted a tale of overconfidence, bad weather and missed opportunities.
While Colby and Jacob again swapped equipment, I acquainted myself with one of the leaders of the next stage of our hunt, an 11-month-old “Rockstar” (Colby’s descriptor) named Louise.
Josie and Jessie, much to their dismay, were placed into their enclosure while Jacob suited up as the backer and Colby prepared to act as the guide.
They gave fair warning. In fact, it seemed that they exchanged a look, shrugged their shoulders and then looked back as if to say, “Please don’t look for the bird on the ground. Look up.”
ONLINE ARTICLES AND STORIES - AFRICAN HUNTING
Whether as a source of well-informed advice for appropriate cartridges and rifles for ‘gazorks’, or as an enjoyable exploration of the preferences of one of the greatest hunting and gun writers of our time, Favorite Rifles and Cartridges will not disappoint.
The probable outcome of the battle between Coutada 11’s Bushbucks and Nyalas is clear. Given the seriousness of the battle’s resolution, culling of Nyalas, plus encouraging an increase of leopards through continued habitat conservation and anti-poaching, seems a logical management scheme for Zambeze Delta Safaris. Without intervention, from humans and leopards, an iconic spiral-horned antelope, the Bushbuck, could disappear from the wonderful Coutada 11 landscape.
The scientists in South African Conservancies noticed two factors that gave the Bushbucks a fighting chance in the face of the Nyala incursion. In the first place, they observed that humans could limit the Nyalas ability to drive Bushbucks to extinction through so-called culling. This conservation management practice has come under serious attack by many who feel that nature will work population balances out if left alone. Others argue against the practice simply based on emotions, arguing that killing off scores of animals is barbaric. Regardless of the emotional heat generated towards culling, animals always have limited resources, and some, like overpopulated elephants and Nyalas do terrible damage to their habitats including other species that get in the way of their excesses…
Returning to Coutada 11 and the Nyalas and Bushbucks, we can ask why the latter are declining in numbers. Is it just because of competition with the swarms of Nyalas? Before we look at possible answers, let’s revisit the ‘cousin’ status of these two species. Unlike the Elk and mule deer, that belong to the general ‘deer’ category, Nyalas and Bushbucks are kissing-cousins. Seriously, back a few million years ago a Bushbuck and an Nyala, or more likely several of each, made babies.
A very real overpopulation problem is occurring in the Ndumu Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where one species of antelope, the Nyala, is crowding out another species, the Bushbuck. (Fay and Greeff, Nyala and Bushbuck I: A Competing Species Model)
O.K. so I need the reader to keep in mind that I am trying to make a point here. That being, the Sabbatical year forced on Outfitters and Professional Hunters not only in Africa but in places like Canada, Europe and Australia resulted in larger-than-average trophies within those regions when they reopened.
“I’ve never seen this many shootable trophies, let’s hold off and see if we can find something even better.” My two Coutada 11 PHs, Julian Moller and Dylan Holmes, uttered a version of that statement multiple times during my two 2021 Safaris.
I sat in a semi-daze, not so much from the bourbon in my hand as from the day’s happenings. Hunters have dream animals, often these animals are trophies that seem out-of-reach whether because of finances or rarity.
I never dreamed that too many leopards could be a problem. Yet by my third day with Jamy Traut Safaris in Kaokoland, Namibia we’d had so much action at our bait sites that my Professional Hunter Kabous Grünschloss informed me we’d need to make a side trip to stock up on fresh meat.
It started out as such a wonderful day. Bright azure sky, light breeze, and, best of all, we were traveling back into the mountains that formed one boundary of the 100,000+ acres of the Blaauwkrantz Safaris property.
ONLINE ARTICLES AND STORIES - REMINISCENCES
I couldn’t believe it. I had a bobcat, a predator trophy I never expected. It was so much more of a success than 10 coyotes would have been.
While I settled gently back into my chair, I checked my watch; it was eleven thirty. I was now convinced of my failure in this morning’s hunt for a buck.
My eyes popped open as the yearling’s bleat made its way through my sleep-deprived brain. He let out another mewing cry as I slowly lifted my rifle from the arms of my camouflaged sling chair.
“Let’s go hunting.” It was as simple, and complex, as that. My brother, Randy, and I had been chatting on the phone.
The low point of my thoughts coincided with 1) an elevated wind strength and 2) the appearance of the young buck.
As we rolled to a stop, my Dad carefully opened the door on his 1963 Chevy pickup. I slid across the smooth vinyl seat, under the steering wheel, and stepped through his door and into the darkness of the Texas Hill Country.
Even with our self-imposed selectivity, there were so many birds we were able to focus on ducks that would drop on the ground around our blind rather than in the water.
As we pulled out of the driveway in Lubbock, Texas, the ice pellets started rattling off the windshield of the station wagon and the north wind bent the trees toward the ground.
As typical of the hunts that went on at this favorite site, I remember one that occurred when I was eight years old.
In my mind dove season in West Texas is a September sport. It could involve some cool evenings, but more often than not I sweated under the not-yet-winter sun while buried in patches of six feet tall Helianthus annuus (the native sunflower).
If what we experienced for the next hour and a half of our hunt was shown to me on a hunting video, I would assume that it had been spliced together from several sessions.
As I considered the soggy dawn, I reminded myself that the rain was melting the ice. My morning had not begun well.
My Dad was no saint. He could (and often did) swear like a sailor. He had a temper that was scary to behold. And he helped me understand the almost indescribable excitement of the hunt.
His next five steps brought him to a brush pile made up mostly of mesquite and willow branches.
Though we saw our quarry in the distance, today the Mourning Doves were victorious.
He bent double and pushed down the next to the bottom strand of barbed-wire. As he did so, he used his free hand to lift first one, then the other, shell pocket of his game vest over the pointed wire.
Growing up reading the wonderful books on hunting in Africa, I dreamed of shooting an ‘elephant rifle’.
Guides are always sensitive to their hunter’s feelings. The best Guides, like Tim and Larry, always aim to build up the hunter’s self esteem thereby increasing the hunter’s confidence.
Larry’s grin widened as he reviewed the facts about the “Bear Crick Montana Testicle Festival”.
I thought it might be interesting and useful to focus on the installation of only one of my trophies from the South African Safari, plus the final results from the installation of all the trophies.
A boyhood dream, generated by exposure to the books of Taylor, Ruark, Roosevelt and Hunter, was to go on an African Safari.
PUBLISHED ARTICLES - PRINT MAGAZINES
THE WILDEST OF DREAMS – Hunting my First Leopard in Kaokoland. 2021. Sports Afield.
Hunting and Conservation in Africa During a Pandemic: A Conversation with Namibian Outfitter Jamy Traut. 2021. Hunter’s Horn, Spring, pp. 000-000.
Was it a Unihorn? 2020. African Hunting Gazette, Volume 26(2), pp. 70-71, 73-77.
Mark Haldane: Professional Hunter and Conservationist. 2020. Hunter’s Horn, Fall, pp. 78-83.
Steady as she goes – the Stukeys Shooting Bench. 2020. Australian Hunter, Volume 74, pp. 73-75.
Ivan Carter: Conservation is not Theoretical. 2020. Hunter’s Horn, Summer, pp. 22-25
A Day Well Spent. 2020. Hunter’s Horn, Spring, pp. 62-65.
My Dad’s Elk. American Outdoorsman. Fall 2019, Cover and pp. 6-12.
The Strangest Client. 2019. Africa’s Sportsman Magazine, July/August/September 98-101.
Small Sizes Count! 2019. African Hunting Gazette, Volume 24(4), pp. 72-73, 75-77, 79.
Leica Moment. 2019. Africa’s Sportsman Magazine, April/May/June, p. 68.
Posting Isn’t Just for Mail. 2019. Australian Hunter. Volume 68, pg. 62.
Laramie Lion. 2019. American Outdoorsman. Winter Issue pp. 68-70, 72-77.
Blaser R8 .300 Winchester Magnum – Preppin’ for a Safari! 2019. American Outdoorsman, Summer, pp. 28-31.
Whitetail Medicine. 2019. North American Deer Hunter, Summer, pp. 28-30.
Goose Down. 2019. American Outdoorsman, Summer Issue, Cover and pp. 54-56.
A Father’s Gift. 2018. African Hunting Gazette. Volume 24(2), pp. 82-84, 87.
Wolves, Heat…and Trophy Bulls. 2006. North American Hunting Club.
Spring Bear in the Selway. 2001. Safari Magazine. November/December, pg 62.
TO APPEAR SOON
From Field to Wall – Endgame. Africa’s Sportsman Magazine.
Hog Bonanza on the Ocmulgee. Australian Hunter.
A Deep South Hunt. Australian Hunter.
Way Too Big! Hunter’s Horn.
Rooihartbees in the Wind. African Hunting Gazette.
Embracing My Inner Idiot. African Hunting Gazette.
Gold Level Impala? Hunter’s Horn.
We listened as the Brocket continued its noisy passage through the dry leaves lying inches deep on the forest floor. I continued shaking my head in disbelief. How could I possibly miss a seven-yard shot with a shotgun?!