Hunting for Diver Ducks on the Great Columbia River

It was 7 am Monday morning in Spokane when I picked up Mark and Puck to begin the three hour drive to the portion of the Columbia we would hunt for the next two days. After loading Mark’s gear including Puck, my Tahoe was packed to the ceiling with all of the gear required to hunt ducks. Most of the gear was designed to keep our bodies as warm as possible, but as all duck hunters know, the reels of decoy lines, decoys, stools, camo, dog food, water, waders, boots and the list goes on, all just to bag a few ducks is necessary as I was to beginning to understand.

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Just a Beat-Up Old Ithaca With a Story to Tell

Christmas 1986, the last gun Daddy ever gave me. Nothing much to look at, Ithaca Flues Model, twelve bore, field grade. Double barrels, double triggers, extractors. Bluing turned brown, stock too short, barrels too long, too much drop, too much choke. But a man might drink a lot of good liquor before he heard the tale this gun could tell.

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The Ultimate Solitary Think Tank

[caption id="attachment_1751" align="alignnone" width=""]One of Ann’s “solitary think tanks” on Joshua Creek Ranch.[/caption]

I’m approaching one of those BIG milestone birthdays.  You know, one of those that ends in a “0”, one where the total of your past years is a higher percentage than the total of your expected future years.  One that makes you stop and think about your life:  past, present, and future.

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The Upland Nation Spreads Its Wings at the Safari Club International Convention

The Annual Hunter’s Convention held by Safari Club International is a magnet for power players in big game hunting, but this year marked a departure as leaders in upland shooting announced significant developments with far-reaching implications.

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Sporting Clays on the Bourbon Trail: Part III, White Dog Mash and Other Delights

The itinerary was ambitious – eight days, seven posh sporting clays venues, 13 flats of shells and eight bourbon distilleries. Porsche had loaned us a 2011 Cayenne S SUV powered by a 400-horsepower V8 behemoth, while Connecticut Shotgun Manufacturing Co. supplied one of their marvelous A-10 American sidelock over/under shotguns. In Part I, we had visited Nemacolin. Part II took us to the Elk Creek Hunt Club. And now, in this third installment, we reach the distilleries for the ultimate experience in fine bourbon.

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100 Rounds of Sporting Clays With the B. Rizzini BR320

OK, so you have $3,500 to spend on a new, break-open sporting gun. Now real quick, what are the first shotguns that come to mind?

The Browning Cynergy Classic Sporting.  Beretta’s SV10 Prevail or 687 Silver Pigeon II. The Caesar Guerini Summit Sporting. We’ve even seen a number of new Zoli Kronos Sporting models hovering in cyberspace for about the $3,500. And the Baserri Mari Elite should soon be hitting the dealers’ shelves in larger quantities.

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