California’s Proposition 117, a ban on mountain lion hunting, passed in 1990 and inspired similar anti-hunting ballot initiatives in other states. Photo by GaryKramer.net Wildlife management decisions must be based on the best available science–not on the whims of public opinion. I was browsing the craft booths at a summer festival in my Colorado town […]
Gain confidence and extend your ethical field-shooting range at an Outdoor Solutions Long-Range School. The sun was beating down out of a clear sky, but a cool breeze against my left cheek kept the heat down. It had been a wet spring, and tall bunches of bright green, tasseled grass dotted the steep mountainside. My […]
A camp in Texas is helping women learn the skills they need to become successful hunters. Yes, she hunts! Although hunting remains a male-dominated activity, women are the fastest-growing segment of the hunting community, and they are a much larger minority than when my generation grew up. In a time when declining numbers are the […]
How to prepare for the upcoming hunting season. Here in North America, most hunting seasons are geared around autumn. We American hunters are accustomed to short autumn seasons that we look forward to and plan around. Many European hunters, on the other hand, enjoy a six-month roebuck season spanning spring, summer, and fall. Some African […]
True wilderness is getting harder to find on the Dark Continent. Mentor, friend, and great hunter the late Jack Atcheson Sr. once said to me: “True wilderness is characterized by the absence of wildlife.” Atcheson was from Montana. As historical record, the Lewis and Clark expedition almost starved in what is now great elk country. […]
Is the capybara South America’s most interesting animal? Among other regrettable traits, I have a terrible addiction to taxidermy. I’m trying to curb it, but I have some pretty cool stuff in my house. Visitors don’t exactly ignore the big cats, the African antelopes, or the sheep and goats, but there’s one animal that, consistently, […]
The Hartmann mountain zebra is plentiful in Namibia and parts of South Africa, and is a challenging game animal with excellent meat. The first Hartmann mountain zebra I ever saw stood alone on a rocky ridge leading up into the heights of Central Namibia’s Erongo Mountains. I can still see the dry wind whipping its […]
A new world-record tiny antelope and an unusual hyena were recently accepted into the Rowland Ward record book. Interesting record book entries come in large, small, and unusual packages. In August 2018, Rowland Ward received a Top 10 entry for a large brown hyena submitted by Neville Boardman Jr., who shot the animal near Cumberland, […]
As long as you can keep your shots inside a paper plate, you’ll likely hit the vital zone. With big-game animals it is always essential to hit a vital zone. Misses don’t count and near-misses are far worse than clean misses. For most of us the “vital zone” means center-chest, the heart and/or lung area. […]
Proof that giants still walk among us. Photo above: Crossing the Tana River in Kenya with big ivory in the 1960s, a scene that will never be seen again. (Photo by John Dugmore) On May 8, 2019, my old friend Michel Mantheakis from Tanzania and Namibian PH Koos Pienaar, hunting in Namibia’s eastern Caprivi, guided […]
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