The ranch was alive.  A symphony of coyotes yipping and howling greeted us.  Just prior to first light the trees across from a field we were near erupted in the gobbles of numerous turkeys descending from their roosts.  Things looked promising.  By sunrise, Melanie was calling and she was getting lots of responses.  Melanie says that her two absolute favorite things to hunt are turkey and elk because you have to “talk” and interact with both of them. It was incredibly excitin

“There wasn’t no place I couldn’t go with a 22 rifle and a fishing pole.” Y’all remember that old Don Williams tune? I suspect we all look back on our younger years and remember them as a better time. Whether they always were or not doesn’t matter if we choose to remember the best of times. For most of us our youth was certainly less complicated by electronics. No cell phones.

The working gun is many different things to many different people. But amidst the sea of usin’ guns, there are a few constants that I believe all should adhere to. Reliability, accuracy, and sufficient power for the intended task. Now, before we jump in with both feet, I’ll have you know, dear reader, I am not in law enforcement nor private security and have no background in any such profession. I am a ranch cowboy. But, I am an enthusiast with a genuine need for a solid side

The title of the 1960s Outdoor Life magazine article was “The Art of Brush Hunting” written by John Wootters.  I started reading and quickly realized it was written about hunting near Sheridan, Texas, a small community twenty-five miles south of where I lived and where I hunted. I committed to memory everything Wootters wrote in that article. I was truly impressed that a writer, obviously from “my part of Texas” had an article in Outdoor Life and was writing about the hunting

Of course, they are also at home in the great state of Texas. Scaled quail dispersion in Texas shows them ranging from the panhandle down into the Big Bend country and following the Rio Grande. From there they seep deep into Old Mexico.

The pronghorn is America’s colloquial antelope. He’s known far and wide as the fastest land animal in the Western Hemisphere. They say he can run at speeds up to 60 MPH, reaching velocities that only a cheetah could surpass. This trait has earned them the name “speed goat.”

It’s funny how we associate certain smells or things with memories and people. Having spent a lot of time around my mother’s parents as a child growing up, it’s not surprising I have plenty of fond recollections of them. My granddad and I had a special bond, and we grandkids all called him Pawpaw.

In the late 1800s, John M. Browning was on a roll. He designed the robust 1886 Winchester that was chambered for big-bore cartridges. Then, in 1892, he brought out a scaled down version that would handle various popular handgun cartridges. Later, we got the Model 1895 Winchester which was a whole new design for high-velocity ammo. But I think his crowning glory, where lever actions are concerned, was his Model 1894 rifle and carbine.

We hunters and gun toters like to present questions to one another in efforts to get a very finite answer from our brethren. “If you could have one gun to hunt with, what would it be? You can have one carry gun, what is it and why? Pick one handgun cartridge to do everything with.”

The more we hunt, the more wild game meat we accumulate for the freezer. We enjoy eating what we’ve killed and sharing meals with family and friends makes the memories of the outdoors even more special. I’ve not encountered a game animal yet that isn’t tasty, if it’s handled and cooked correctly.

Anticipation of adventure filled the air as Charlie Pirtle and I loaded down his pickup with camping gear and enough food to survive several days in the New Mexico back country. With the chuck box situated perfectly, we carefully added cots...

Perched in an old quad-pod near a windmill in remote Pecos County, Texas is one of my favorite places to be each fall. For reasons...

Blue wildebeest, eland, gemsbok, greater kudu, impala, lechwe, springbok, white-tailed deer, and zebra. Right off the top of my head...

The Model 1886 Winchester was the first John Browning-designed repeating rifle to be manufactured by Winchester. The classic lines and...

I was just a big kid, horseback near the Nueces River, the first time I got a really close look at javalinas. I rounded a bend in the...

The morning air was crisp in the high desert as we unloaded my side by side from the trailer at dawn. Right after the sun breaks the...

Any way you’d want to look at it, Rafael “Red” Lopez was a bad dude. Border legend has it that he was from the Mexican state of Coahuila...

Hunting camps and the folks we share them with are as important as the wildlife we see and hunt, oftentimes they are the most important...

A few years ago I had the pleasure of making two trips to Australia to participate in a buffalo management project. I was hunting with...

After a couple days hunting the vast Manketti Reserve with Quagga Safaris Professional Hunters (PHs) Eon Kok and Tyron Fletcher it became...