On a recent Safari to Namibia, I took a very nice leopard. The story about this hunt appeared in the 2021 September/October Issue of Sports Afield.

Man, is this review of Maven’s B.1 binocular overdue. It was originally planned for December 2020 after a trip to Mozambique…and then there was some crap about a virus.

My English friends refer to this type of behavior as “stating the bleeding obvious”. It’s one of my coping mechanisms during stressful situations.

As the panic started to build, my inner conversation was simply, “What is wrong with me?!”

Time-and-time again I have felt fortunate to review wonderful firearms. This is another of those instances.

"You have just taken one of the Tiny 10," said Arnold. "What is that?" I asked with disinterest.

Intriguingly, Jamy Traut admitted that a good bit of his motivation for being a PH came from reading the writings of people like Robert Ruark and Harry Selby.

My friends who love firearms, shooting and hunting as much as I, sometimes say that they envy me.

“You can hunt anything in North America with this rifle.” With those words, my Dad gave me his lovely custom-built, .35 Whelen Improved rifle.

When I caught up (virtually) with Ivan Carter, he had been [forced] quarantining for several weeks in a friend’s vacation home near a South African Beach.

“That is an enormous Impala ram!” exclaimed my PH, Arnold Claassen. I responded, “I’m really not excited about taking an Impala.”

I realize Hank Williams, Jr. was singing about something totally different in his raucous lyrics about ‘The Family Tradition’.

Mark Haldane’s South African diction came across clearly through the WhatsApp link.

Over pre-dinner beverages, Francois Rudman asked “So, how many times have you hunted Africa?” “This is my first time”, I replied.

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.

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.

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.

My review of Blaser’s ‘Tool-less’ R8 Ultimate rifle appeared on TheTruthAboutGuns.com.