Check out the latest offerings from top hunting writers this fall.

Looking for a great hunting book to take along on your travels or to hunting camp this fall? The new books listed below provide plenty of armchair adventures.

Incidents from an Elephant Hunter’s Diary: This book of W.D.M. Bell’s newly discovered, never-before-published short stories is a delight. Once again the legendary hunter marches through the wilds of Africa, traversing a land untouched by modern civilization in search of adventure and ivory.

Reminiscences of an Elephant Hunter: The brand-new, complete autobiography of W.D.M. Bell was compiled from a treasure trove of the famed elephant hunter’s newly discovered notes and diaries. Part 1 is Bell’s incredible life story, Part 2 has original, previously unpublished stories by Bell, and Part 3 includes Bell’s letters, official records, and newspaper articles.

Great African Trophies: This photographic showcase of some of the greatest game trophies ever taken on the Dark Continent includes elephants, buffalo, the big cats, spiral-horned antelopes and dozens of other magnificent animals. Top five SCI and Rowland Ward trophies as well as historic, unlisted, and little-known trophies are included—read their fascinating stories here.

Celebrating 130 Years of Sports Afield: Just in time for Sports Afield’s 130^th anniversary, the magazine’s staff has assembled a complete history of the publication. The book features more than 400 beautiful handpainted covers, all digitally restored. A historical overview of the magazine on a decade-by-decade basis and period articles from each era complement the covers displayed in the book and give readers a glimpse of the sporting life in America through the years.

Hunting Wild Sheep and Goats Around the World: George Latham Myers II set out in 1995 to hunt all of the world’s sheep and goats. Since then he has hunted on five continents and eleven countries. Come travel with Latham as he hunts the Rockies, the Caucasus, Siberia, and New Zealand. Here is a mountain hunter who has done it all and tells the stories well.

COMING SOON! From the Cape to Kasserine: Craig Boddington has been writing a book about his African adventures every ten years since 1987. His latest covers the years 2007 to 2016, and he recounts the stories of safaris to Tunisia, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, and a host of other places in a conversational style that makes the reader feel as if they were along on every adventure.

Find more great hunting books by visiting Safari Press: www.safaripress.com

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It’s less expensive than you might think.

An African safari is one of the greatest adventures remaining on planet Earth, and a plains-game safari in Southern Africa is one of the best bargains in the entire hunting world. Such a hunt doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, and is actually within reach of most working Americans, although it may take saving, planning, and prioritizing.

“Southern Africa” in this context refers to Namibia and South Africa, and “plains game” excludes dangerous game. Africa is a big place, with at least 18 countries offering organized hunting. Conditions and prices vary radically. Prizes like bongo and giant eland are costly to hunt, and even in Namibia and South Africa, safaris that include dangerous game are costlier than plains game safaris. It is thus impossible to put a firm number on what a safari costs, but we can categorize the line items. You need to ask the hard questions, and ultimately come up with total numbers that you can compare as you do your shopping.

DAILY RATE: This is the basic charge for your hunt, including your professional hunter, camp, and food and services provided in camp. This usually includes basic trophy care (skinning, salting and drying, preparation for transport)—but not veterinary certification, crating, and so forth. In many situations the daily rate is the major cost, but in some situations licenses and trophy fees will exceed it. Daily rates can vary from as low as perhaps $300/day to, well, add a zero in the costliest countries. Generally, the more remote the area the higher the cost of outfitting, and this is passed to the customer.

There should be little mystery to the daily rate. However, many outfitters don’t express this as “X dollars/day,” but instead quote, say, ten days, fourteen (and so on) at “Y dollars.” You can do the math and compare against other “daily rate” charges. Also, many outfitters offer “package deals” that include the fees for certain animals. You should shop around and get a feel for what outfitters who price a la carte charge for these animals, thus what the package is really worth.

For comparison, things to consider: Are the days of arrival and departure considered “hunting days?” If your safari includes changing areas, are the “transfer days” considered “hunting days?” Is airport pickup/transport to camp included or separate? You can expect daily laundry service, and local beer (pretty good!) is often cheaper than soft drinks…but are (reasonable quantities) of alcoholic beverages included?

Boddington and Frontier Safaris’ Scot Burchell with a good black wildebeest taken in 2017. Like many operators, Frontier Safaris prefers to market “package hunts” that include certain pre-paid animals. Packages are often solid deals, but you need to shop around a bit to determine the value of the animals on your list.

LICENSES AND TROPHY FEES: Some countries are “trophy fees only,” which means, according to a printed schedule, you only pay for game taken (or wounded and lost, so don’t shoot unless you’re sure). In both Namibia and South Africa game on private land is privatized, so daily rates are low and operators derive much of their income from trophy fees. Farther north “government trophy fees” become the norm. Realistically, an outfitter’s trophy fees may include “add-ons” to actual government fees, but this is usually reflected in higher or lower daily rates. Some countries, such as Tanzania, have license fees, payable up front, in addition to trophy fees for game taken. Ethiopia is fairly unique in that, as in North America, specific licenses must be purchased up front for any animals you intend to hunt, and are not refundable.

Your total cost is largely controlled by your hunting success. If you’re on a tight budget, exercise restraint on your trigger finger! But I submit this: Once you’re there, you don’t know if you’ll ever be there again. Within reason, a few extra trophy fees for awesome animals you didn’t plan for may be the best bargain you’ll ever get.

OTHER FEES: These do not apply in all countries, but in some areas “concession fees,” “anti-poaching levies,” and taxes (such as VAT, essentially our sales tax) may apply. These should be listed in the outfitters’ price list, but may not be totally obvious. Ask!

TRANSPORTATION AND TRAVEL: Basic air fare from the U.S. or Europe to Africa hasn’t gone up much during my career so, in real terms, it’s gone down quite a lot. By planning early and shopping around you can find excellent fares. However, I strongly advise using a travel-savvy, hunter-friendly travel agent who really understands international travel with firearms. Some airlines no longer carry firearms, and most now require advance notification. Some European countries don’t allow transit with firearms, and some require police clearance. It is not impossible to work through this labyrinth on your own, but it’s a whole lot easier to work with a gun-savvy travel agent. Baggage allowances keep going down and excess charges keep going up, so pack wisely and expect to pay up to a couple hundred bucks each way for baggage.

Do not allow close connections; ground arrangements can get complicated if you miss a flight. Even so, it can happen, so make sure you have good phone numbers and either a satellite phone (inexpensively rented) or an international chip in your cell phone (preferably both).

Will you need to overnight in a hotel, or will you be whisked straight to camp? Hotels/meals before and after the safari are generally on your nickel and must be added to the total cost. Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo airport is the hub for most hunting in Southern Africa, now including Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The South African gun permit is free, but can be done in advance for an average of $150; and there are inexpensive guest houses that cater to hunters. However, if I’m not actually hunting in South Africa but going onward to another country I usually schedule flights so that I pass through Johannesburg “in transit.” For me this saves time and a little bit of money, but it makes a long trip even longer. Which is best is your call.

How are you getting to camp? If charter flights are required these are expensive in Africa and can add a lot to the total cost, depending on distance. Driving is not necessarily an option; a short distance on an African map may mean many hours on African roads. If charters are required make sure you get firm quotes on the costs. Fuel costs are high in Africa, so unless the distance is quite short it’s normal for outfitters to charge for “airport pickup/drop-off” and road transport to/from camp. However, those days should not be counted or charged as hunting days.

Consider really good trip cancellation insurance, and for sure get a medical evacuation membership. Chances are you won’t need either, but if you should, you need them badly!

HIDDEN COSTS: There shouldn’t be much left. If you choose not to take your own guns most African camps have suitable rifles, and charges for gun rental and ammo should be in the price lists. If levied, these are probably a fair tradeoff against baggage fees and gun permits.

After the safari there are some little details nobody likes to talk about. Tipping should not be considered optional to your camp staff nor to your professional hunter if he/she has done a good job. Every camp has a sliding scale. Too little is being chintzy, but too much places a burden on hunters who follow you. I have yet to meet an outfitter or PH who likes to talk about this, but they will if you pin them down. For the camp it depends on how many people, the length of the safari, and also the standard in the country. For a seven- to ten-day plains-game safari a few hundred bucks to the camp is normal, and perhaps the same to the PH. This must be in your planning figures!

“Dipping and packing” means veterinary clearance, paperwork, and crating for shipping. Some camps have a flat fee, others a fee per animal. Especially in Namibia and South Africa, where good taxidermists are plentiful, they may handle these chores; in other countries they may be handed off to a shipping agent. Either way, this is a multi-faceted burden. At some point after the safari you will probably be charged separately for “dipping/packing/crating,” shipping, and of course eventual taxidermy. It is impossible to get exact pricing up front, but do your very best to pin your outfitter down so unpleasant surprises are avoided.

Be aware: Shipping charges for trophies are getting out of hand. These costs are controlled by how much you shoot and how much you have sent home. That said, overseas shipping is usually by cubic measurement rather than weight, so removable horns (especially long horns like kudu and oryx) save cubic inches, and skins make little difference. To some extent you are captive to the circumstances—some countries offer very few options, and rampant through the industry are kickbacks to outfitters from taxidermists, and from taxidermists to shipping agents. The trophies are yours, but after you go home you have little control over them. So the time to exert your preferences is at the conclusion of your safari, as you’re working out the final details and payments.

Part of a season’s trophies at Zambeze Delta Safaris, salted, dried, tagged, and ready to start their long journey. Once properly dried these skins are as hard as concrete. Stored in low humidity they will be just fine for several years before tanning and taxidermy are required.

Sea freight is a much less expensive option than air freight. It takes longer, but it will probably be months before raw (salted, dried, dipped and packed) trophies are shipped, so a few extra weeks in transit means little. Shipping is very much a “hidden cost”—but you can and should ask about the options (understanding they may be limited). In Southern Africa, AHG Shipping (www.ahgshipping.com), recently established by hunters, vows to cut shipping costs by up to 30 percent, a huge step forward.

Unless you live near a designated port and have the time (and patience) to clear a shipment yourself, you (or your shipper) will engage a customs house broker to clear your shipment. You obviously can choose your broker, but your taxidermist and/or shipper can recommend a trophy-savvy broker. Just insist that your shipment arrive at a designated port as close to your home as possible, because unless you physically go retrieve your cleared trophies there is another unavoidable cost in trucking them to wherever you want them.

Taxidermy costs are controlled by you (whether you have it mounted or not). These bills don’t start for many months but, ultimately, they are part of the safari cost. In much of Africa there is little choice: Your salted, dried, and disinfected trophies will be shipped home, cleared, and then sent either to you or your taxidermist. In Southern Africa, uniquely on the continent, there are excellent taxidermists. So now you have a tough choice: Ship your raw trophies home and get them to your taxidermist; or have the trophies mounted there and the finished products shipped.

African taxidermy can be very good. The price differential isn’t what it used to be, but it is usually a bit less expensive and will usually be quite a bit faster. African taxidermists do know what African animals are supposed to look like. Smaller taxidermists in North America may be great artists, but may not be familiar with African animals. This suggests the wisdom of using larger studios, which may increase costs and require further shipping to your home. Since shipping of large items is always more by cube than weight, shipping of raw trophies is less expensive than shipping of mounted trophies. However, again, where practical, detachable horns save a lot of space, and thus shipping cost.

Determining the full and final cost of your safari is not simple. There’s a lot to think about, and there are unknown variables (based mostly on hunting luck), but unless you really don’t care, it’s a good idea to do some figuring and come up with an approximate bottom line. However, I’ll leave you with one last thought: Whatever it costs, I can assure you it will be worth it!

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A forty-year dream of taking a bighorn sheep leads to the hunt of a lifetime in Idaho’s Salmon River Country.

I first became obsessed with bighorn sheep when I was a young boy. Every year my family would pack up our camper and head west from our Iowa home to the Rocky Mountains for a vacation. When I was about ten years old we found ourselves in Yellowstone, hiking up to the summit of Mount Washburn. I was ahead of the rest of my family, just trucking up the hill. I topped a small rise when a noise quickly caught my attention. I lifted my head and there a few yards away stood a mature bighorn ram. I ran down the mountain and yelled to my dad, “Dad! Dad! Bighorn sheep! Thousands of them!” I dragged my dad up the mountain to the rise and there stood, well, not thousands, but three bighorn rams. I was hooked.

After moving to Idaho in my late twenties I began putting in for bighorn sheep draws in several states, only to endure nineteen years of “sorry” letters. I was preparing to put in for the Idaho draw in 2016 when my fourteen-year-old son, Logan, said “Dad, I want to put in for sheep this year.” I decided to put us in together for the draw, figuring maybe Logan’s new blood would buoy my chances. Still, there are only four tags available in the unit I put us in for, and I knew the odds of being drawn for two of them were very slim.

A couple of months later I received a message from one of my friends that he had drawn an Idaho mountain goat tag. I congratulated him and then remembered the sheep draw. I punched in my number on the Fish and Game website, closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and hit “enter.” I slowly opened my eyes and was met with “Congratulations!” I was in disbelief. I punched in Logan’s number and saw, “Congratulations!” It was unbelievable–we had both drawn once-in-a-lifetime bighorn sheep tags!

Since the unit was right by our house in Idaho’s Salmon River country, Logan and I began taking the entire family on our nightly scouting trips. I felt fortunate to be able to share this experience with my family, but scouting with a two-, four-, six-, and eight-year-old in tow does have its challenges. We had a ball, though, and having the kids bugging me throughout the day–“Dad, is it time to go sheep scouting yet?”–warmed my hunter’s heart.

The sheep scouting crew.

I also asked my rancher neighbors to keep their eyes out for rams. My friend and neighbor Preston Cutler told me a spot to check, and the next night we headed out. I unloaded my crew of young sheep scouts and began to glass. I had barely put up my bino when I spotted six rams. I set up the spotting scope and could see there were two small rams, three medium rams, and one that dwarfed the others in both body size and horn. We watched, took pictures, and filmed them until we started running out of light.

Every night for a week we went back, but we never saw the rams again. I decided we should try the other side of the mountain. After getting to the top of the mountain I got the kids situated and began glassing. Nothing. I glassed for over an hour and we were just getting ready to head out when something caught my eye. I put the scope on it, and sure as heck it was a ram. I soon found the other five. The big ram was still with the band and I got a better look at him. Definitely a shooter, and three other rams in the band were as well, though they were not of the big ram’s caliber.

I scouted other areas but didn’t find anything of interest. On one scouting trip about three weeks before the season, on my own and several miles back in the middle of nowhere, I wrecked my motorcycle on a wet log in a rainstorm and wrenched my knee. I thought I had broken my leg at first, but after gathering myself soon realized it was my knee and that I could put no weight on it. I struggled to get the bike upright and carefully made my way out to my truck. My hunt was in peril and I began to think about how I could get Logan on the rams without me. I even wondered if I could get permission to forego my tag until next year. Twenty years of trying to draw, and now this. No way. I bought a knee brace and decided I would have to tough my way through it.

Four days before the season opener, Logan and I backpacked in to our camp at 9,500 feet and about a mile from where I had last seen the rams. The next day we set out to find them, in hopes of keeping an eye on them until opening morning. After setting up in a nice spot and glassing for a couple of hours, we heard a commotion below us and saw the rams disappearing into the small timber in the head of the drainage. I feared we had blown it. I hoped they had only caught a bit of our wind in the fickle mountain drafts.

After a tense while we started spotting bits and pieces of the rams feeding on the far side of the trees. The big ram appeared and led them out into a shale slide where he began scraping out a bed. Eventually seven rams worked their way out to the slide and bedded down for the afternoon. We watched them for about five hours as they slept, fed in a small opening with scattered trees, and bedded down again. I was a real treat to enjoy the day with my son in the presence of such majestic creatures high in the mountains. As long as they stayed here, we had an ideal plan for opening morning.

Then all hell broke loose. Rams came busting out of the trees in full panic-flight mode. Down the shale they ran, into the bottom of the drainage, and they were gone. I told Logan I didn’t know what happened, but I guessed that one of them had run into a mountain lion, for we knew no other humans were anywhere near. Dejected, we headed back to camp.

Once in camp we started thinking about what to do. We decided to take the chance that they had only moved one canyon over, and decided to glass not far from camp the next morning.

Up at daylight, we headed to a small island of about five trees looking across into the drainage where the kids and I had spotted the rams a couple of weeks prior. We got comfortable and started glassing as soon as it was light. Logan spotted the rams first in the shale slide across from us. We watched the rams from this spot for twelve hours that day, never leaving the shade of our tree island. I was thrilled and proud to see the patience and maturity Logan showed on this long day. One thing of note was that one of the smaller rams was missing, which seemed to lend credence to my mountain lion theory. Tomorrow was the opener and we had them in the perfect spot. We glassed until we could sneak out in the dark and headed back to camp to prepare for opening morning.

I gave Logan first pick of the rams and he chose a wide three-quarter-curl ram. I chose the big, over-full-curl ram, the leader and king of this band. There was another full curl ram that was pretty but thin-horned, and another that was almost a twin to Logan’s ram, and three smaller rams. Now if our plan would only work!

We were up well before daylight on opening day, excited to be sheep hunting. We moved into our spotter’s nest from the previous day and waited for it to get light enough to see. We soon spotted the rams on the same shale slide where we had left them, but they were higher than they had been the night before. All good so far. Now if they just would move down the slide, we could easily move into a shooting position. As we watched, they instead moved up over the top and back into the drainage they had run from two days before.

Logan and I packed up and headed across a large saddle and across the shale slide to where the rams had crossed. We moved to where we had tree cover and crept over the ridge edge. Nothing. Not a ram in sight. Slowly we sneaked down the ridge to try to find a place to glass from. Then we heard shale sliding, and froze.

Down the ridge to our left were the rams, digging in the shale, just 200 yards away! Slowly we crouched and scooted to a bit of cover and a shooting position. I slid up to a downed log and Logan was to my left. The ram I had chosen was perfectly broadside and in the clear, but the ram Logan had chosen was still obscured by brush. We had decided if the opportunity occurred for both of us to take our rams, we would count to three and both shoot. This would be easier said than done, however, especially with the pressure and excitement of a once-in-a-lifetime ram in the cross hairs.

We waited and waited for an opportunity at both rams until they fed down the slide and out of sight. Had we just blown the only chance we would have at these rams? Should one of us have taken the shot? We stayed put in our position for hours, hoping the rams would return. The sun was beating down on us, cooking us where we sat, with no shade available.

A few hours into our sit, a small ram appeared in the clearing directly below us. Anxiety was at a high again as we got into position, hoping the big rams would follow the smaller ram out into the open. Another small ram appeared, and then they disappeared and the wait was on again. The wind was swirling toward where we thought the rams were bedded. We debated whether to move down the ridge or get out of the drainage completely to keep from spooking the rams.

Eventually Logan stood and crawled up on a log to stretch and instantly exclaimed, “There they are!” The rams were working back toward us across the same slide where we had found them then lost them earlier. We got into position again and they disappeared into a narrow band of timber where we should be able to see their movement in any direction. Nothing. Another few hours passed and with the fickle winds we decided to move to keep from spooking the rams. Just as we stood, we spotted them again in the same shale slide but this time feeding back up toward where we had missed our opportunity nine hours prior.

The ram Logan had chosen was feeding broadside in a clearing but my ram was behind a rise with only his horns visible above the rise. This began a frustrating game of peek-a-boo which went on for half an hour. One ram would present a shot but the other would be obscured, then vice versa. I had known that pulling off a double would be difficult, but this was almost more than we could bear. The rams split, with several going high on a course that would bring them out into the shale in the open, and our two rams coming over the small rise and feeding directly toward us.

Our emotions were on a roller-coaster ride as we had to watch both groups of rams and hope the wind wouldn’t betray us. Our two rams continued to feed toward us, head on, neither offering a shot, now at thirty yards and closing. They stopped just before the trees directly below us. I had the cross hairs on my ram, directly between his shoulders. But Logan had no shot at his ram. This was it. Another few moments and we would be spotted at close range by these rams and blow them clear out of the country.

Suddenly Logan whispered, “Dad, the pretty full-curl ram is broadside. He’s beautiful. I am going to take him if you have a shot on your ram.”

I asked if he was ready and he nodded yes. I whispered, “One . . . two . . . three.”

The mountain exploded with the report of two rifles as one. My ram dropped in his tracks and began rolling down the shale slope. I instantly turned to Logan and asked what happened.

He said, “I’m not sure. He ran straight down the slope.”

We gathered up and moved just a bit to where I could see my ram piled up against the only boulder on the shale slide–he was down for sure. We headed over to where Logan’s ram had been standing. Nothing. I began looking for hair and blood to confirm any sign of a hit and sent Logan down to follow the obvious tracks on the shale. Now I was feeling an odd mix of elation and worry.

Logan reappeared and said, “Nothing. I missed.”

My heart sank. What should have been a moment of complete euphoria–a crescendo and the culmination of a challenging day–now turned to guilt. I was thrilled to have cleanly taken my ram but at the same time overcome with sorrow that Logan didn’t get his.

Then Logan said, “You know, Dad, I’m actually glad it worked out this way. I would have loved to have gotten that ram but at least it was a clean miss and I got to share the experience of you getting your ram, and plus now our hunt isn’t over, which means we get to spend more time together on the mountain like this.”

I’ve never been more proud of my son than that moment. I gave him a big hug and tears welled up in my eyes. I was so proud of his maturity and his respect for the animal and the hunt, and thrilled that he still relished time spent with his father. We headed down the slope to check out the fallen king.

Upon reaching my ram, we were both wearing ear-to-ear grins. I put my hands on the magnificent horns and thanked the ram for giving his life. I have judged many sheep in my life, but I had misjudged this ram. Knowing most of the rams in this unit averaged 14 to 14½ inch bases, I had guessed he would score in the low to mid-170s. But as I ran my hands over this warrior’s battle gear and counted the growth rings on the over-full-curl horns, I knew I had underestimated him. He was truly an exceptional ram and befitting a once-in-a-lifetime tag. He was nine years old, with a Roman nose and scars from years of hard-fought battles.

James Reed with his beautiful bighorn ram, taken in Idaho’s Salmon River country.

We sat, absorbing the moment. The mountains were silent now and almost reverent. We snapped pictures, and as the light was fading from the sky I told Logan to prepare for a long night on the mountain. We were both nearly out of water and dehydrated from the long sit in the unrelenting sun during our ten-hour wait. As I dressed the ram, Logan gathered wood for a fire and scouted out a flat spot to camp for the night. He found a nice little bowl about fifty yards above us, which would provide shelter from the wind and be a safe spot to have a fire all night in the shale, and most important, keep us from rolling down the mountain while we slept.

I finished up with the ram about midnight, laid the meat out on the big boulder, and spread the life-size cape out on a fallen tree to cool. Logan had a fire going and we had intended to cook some sheep loins over it but we were both too exhausted and dehydrated to eat. Logan was soon asleep and I simply lay there looking up at the stars, enjoying the moment and time on the mountain. I looked at my son, who, I thought, had transformed into a man on this hunt. I looked at the magnificent ram’s horns, dimly lit by the flickering firelight. I looked at my old friend Orion in the clear night sky, and thanked him for being there on another great hunt.

I knew I was in for a long, chilly, uncomfortable night, but as a tear ran down my cheek, I knew in truth the night wouldn’t last long enough. Then it occurred to me: We still had another sheep tag to fill.

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Official Rules: Sports Afield Buffalo Safari Sweepstakes

Definition of Terms: Sports Afield is a magazine published by Field Sports Publishing Inc, a California Corporation, herein called Sponsor from time to time.

1) ELIGIBILITY: Open and offered only to legal residents of the United States and all other countries where legal, winner must be 21 years of age or older. Sweepstakes void where prohibited by law (Please note that many countries states and possessions have rules against sweepstakes; please check your local laws). Employees, officers, and directors (and their immediate family/household members) of the Sponsor and any of its parent companies, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotion agencies, are not eligible.

2) DEADLINE: Sweepstakes starts 1 May 2019 and ends 28 February 2020. To be eligible, entries must comply with these official rules and be received by 28 February 2020.

3) ENTRY INSTRUCTIONS: Complete and pay for an order for a subscription to Sports Afield magazine via mail, by phone, or at www.sportsafield.com between 1 May 2019 and 28 February 2020 (all paid subscriptions and renewals with a valid email address are automatically entered); or type your name, complete address, phone number, email address, and age on a postage paid postcard and mail to: Sports Afield, Safari Sweepstakes, P.O. Box 2129, Seal Beach, CA 90740-9972. Postcard must be received between 1 May 2019 and 28 February 2020 to be eligible. Postcards MUST BE TYPED to be legible. ONE ENTRY PER HOUSEHOLD. MULTIPLE ENTRIES INVALIDATE ALL ELIGIBILITY. NOTE that ALL ENTIRES WITHOUT AN EMAIL ADDRESS are INVALID.

4) ENTRY CONDITIONS: By entering, entrant agrees: (a) To abide by these sweepstakes rules (exact compliance is essential); (b) To accept as final and binding the decisions of the Sponsor, administrators, and their agents in all matters relating to this sweepstakes; (c) That all entries submitted become property of Sports Afield and will not be acknowledged or returned; (d) To the collection of all information on each entry and its use for promotional purposes by Sports Afield, and to its transfer to third parties.

5) PRIZES: There is one prize, the GRAND PRIZE which includes a fully outfitted 10-day Cape buffalo safari for one hunter in November 2020, outfitted by Marromeu Safaris in Mozambique. The hunt includes the daily rate for a 10-day buffalo hunt, which covers the services of a professional hunter, accommodation, all meals, drinks, camp staff, trackers and skinners, field preparation of trophies, land transport within the area, one rifle permit or rental rifle, hunting license, community taxes and fees, and meet & greet service at the Beira, Mozambique airport. Does not include government imposed trophy fee for one buffalo (Approximately $1,750 in 2019 but this is subject to change by the Wildlife Authorities of Mozambique). Nor does it include personal firearm importation fees. Winners may shoot additional animals and may bring a companion at standard rates set by Marromeu Safaris.  The GRAND PRIZE also includes a CZ 550 rifle in .375 H&H, a Z8i 1-8×24 riflescope from Swarovski Optik, and a cartridge belt from Trader Keith. Sponsor reserves the right to substitute or alternate any and all from those listed above. The prizes are awarded on an as-is basis, and the Sponsor makes no warranties as regards to the prizes. Prizes cannot be assigned, transferred, redeemed for cash, or substituted except at the sole discretion of the Sponsor, who may substitute the prize with one of equal or greater value if the prize becomes unavailable.

Grand Prize winner must pay for his/her own airfare to Beira, Mozambique, and will also be responsible for round-trip transportation via charter flight from the airport to the hunting area, about $3,500 USD (less if shared), as well as hotel accommodations before and after the hunt, trophy fee for the buffalo, veterinary certificate, and dipping and shipping of trophies. Winner must also obtain all necessary visas and heath certificates as required to travel to and from Mozambique and possess a valid passport acceptable to Mozambique immigration authorities. Scheduling for the hunt is to be arranged between the Marromeu and the winner, but the hunt must commence no later than 15 November 2020 and will be subject to available openings.  If winner is unwilling or unable to travel, or cannot travel during the time period offered for the hunt, hunt is forfeited and no compensation is offered. Cash value is $1.00. The winner(s) will be asked to sign a liability waiver in camp before commencing the hunt. Neither Sports Afield nor Marromeu Safaris shall be liable to perform if failure to perform is caused by supervening conditions beyond Sports Afield and Marromeu’s reasonable control, including but not limited to acts of God, civil commotion, war or armed hostilities, strikes, labor disputes, government demands or requirements. In such cases the hunt is cancelled and no compensation will be made.

6) ODDS: The odds of winning are approximately 1 in 25,000 but exact odds will depend upon the total number of eligible entries received.

7) WINNER SELECTION: Winner will be selected by the Sponsor on or about 10 days following the close of the sweepstakes in a random drawing from among all eligible entries received.  ALL WINNERS WILL BE INITIALLY NOTIFIED VIA EMAIL.

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Ten more destinations that can be enjoyed either before the hunt, or after its completion.

The Crags
The Crags region, near Plettenburg on the Garden Route in the Western Cape Province, is actually very different from the Garden Route. The Crags region is close to a beautiful lagoon at Nature’s Valley, although the swift current can make swimming somewhat hazardous. There’s a lot to see and do, and can be best appreciated by taking the Cruise the Crags Tour.
Monkeyland is home to abused and abandoned primates; they came from labs, or were abandoned as pets. You can take guided walks through a natural forest where you will encounter spider monkeys, gibbons, vervet monkeys, howler monkeys and many more. Some of the tamer animals often play with the guests.

The Drakensburg
The Dragon Mountains, or to the Zulu – uKhahlamba (Barrier of Spears) – are a wall of rock that rises from the Natal grasslands forming a natural fortress surrounding the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, and the Letseng diamond mine; the world’s highest diamond mine at 10,000 feet elevation. In 2006 the 603 carat white diamond “Lesotho Promise” was unearthed. It’s the 15th largest diamond ever found. Drakensberg is a World Heritage site, and is known for its large collection of rock art. The best times to visit are during the spring (September-October) or late autumn (late April-June).

The Eastern Cape
The Eastern Cape is South Africa’s most diverse province. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Port Elizabeth. It was created in 1994 from the Xhosa (“Click Language” people) homelands of Transkei and Ciskei with part of the eastern portion of the Cape Provence thrown in for good measure. The landscape is quite diverse. The western interior is arid, while the east is wet and green. The Eastern Cape has over 500 miles of virtually-untouched coastline. All of the “Big Five” can be seen in this malaria-free environment.

The only snow skiing in South Africa is available at the Tiffindell Resort in southern Drakensberg. The Adodo Elephant National Park is home to 170 elephants, 400 Cape buffalo, and at this writing, 21 black rhino.

For the surfers, there’s Jefferys Bay where the wild coastline is backed by some of Africa’s most spectacular rain forest. It’s the site of surfing “supertubes” – South Africa’s longest and most consistent waves. If wine is your desire, the town of Whittlesea near Queenstown, is the home of Harrison-Hope winery, the first winery in the Eastern Cape. Recently Inkosi Wine was opened in April of 2017.

There’s the Amatole region around East London whose forests, peaks, rock formations and waterfalls are an outdoor lover’s dream. It has been said that J.R.R. Tolkien’s inspiration for his Middle Earth and the living trees in Lord of the Rings came from this area.

The Elephant Coast
Elephant Coast, KwaZulu-Natal is home to the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi and iSimangaliso Wetlands Parks. KwaZulu-Natal’s best private lodges lie in northern Zululand and Maputaland near the border with Mozambique. The area is less than 130 miles in length and right at 43 miles in width, full of South Africa’s most beautiful scenery – long beaches, rivers and forests. A visitor can swim with sharks, surf, hike, deep sea fish, scuba dive, observe whales and dolphins, or just kick back and watch the world go by. The best times to visit are winter, autumn, or spring, as the summers can be extremely hot and humid.

The Garden Route and the Little Karoo
The Garden Route consists of the 130-mile coastline stretching from Mossel Bay to Storms River along the Southern Cape of South Africa. Mossel Bay is known as the place where the first Europeans landed in South Africa – Bartolomeu Dias landed there February 3, 1488. The Bay’s continuous occupation by humans can be traced back more than 160,000 years.

The Route contains spectacular and diverse scenery, rugged cliffs that fall into the ocean, long beaches, lakes, forests and the Outeniqua and Tsitsikamma Mountain ranges.
It’s these mountains that trap the wet ocean winds and provide the abundant rains that keep the area lush and green. It’s these same mountain ranges that keep the interior arid, creating the semi-deserts the Little Karoo and the Great Karoo.

The Little Karoo stretches from the east side of the Outeniqua range to the Swartberg range. It’s a desolate land of rocks and scrub brush. It is noted for its ostrich farms and Cango caves. The Caves are found in the Precambrian limestone foothills of the Swartberg Mountains near the town of Oudtshoom. Cave paintings and artifacts found in the caves indicate that they were occupied during the Middle and Late Stone Ages. Tours are conducted most days. They are broken into two types “Standard Tour” that takes one hour, and “Adventure Tour” which requires 90 minutes. The Adventure Tour involves climbing up steep rock formations, and crawling through small passages; definitely not for the claustrophobic or those with a fear of heights.

The national parks of Knysna, Tsitsikamma and Wilderness have now been incorporated into the Garden Route National Park system. Each one has different vistas, forests and coastlines to offer the traveler.

The KwaZulu-Natal Midlands
The KwaZulu-Natal midlands are an inland area of South Africa that is outside Pietermaritzburg but stop at the Drakensburg Mountain Range. The Midlands Meander is a collection of well-laid out routes created in 1983 that include almost 200 shops, galleries, restaurants, accommodations and more. They run through various small towns and villages, and provide a great opportunity to shop for high quality South African arts and crafts. It’s an easy one-hour drive from Durban, and four and one half hours from Johannesburg.

After meandering, you can visit the KwaZulu-Natal battlefields where the bloody battles between the British, Boers, and Zulu impis took place. Visit the sites of the famous 1879 battle sites of Islandlawana and Rorkes Drift. Two years later, the British and the Boers were at war in what became known as the First Anglo-Boer War fighting their battles across this same stretch of land.

The Northern Cape
South Africa’s largest province is also its least populated. About one-third of the country, it is mostly desert and semi-desert land containing the Karoo, Kalahari, Namaqualand, and Richtersveld deserts in an area that stretches from the Orange River in the north to the Western Cape border in the south. It covers 225,665 square miles, but contains a population of fewer than one million people mostly in a few small towns. In the 1870s, the town of Kimberly became known as the City of Diamonds. Between 1871 and 1914, over 13,600,000 carats of diamonds were dug out using only picks and shovels. This mine became known as the “Big Hole”; covering 42 acres and having a depth of 790 feet. The Big Hole is now a world class tourism facility.

The Northern Province is best seen by car. Accommodations and food may take a bit of work to discover, but it will be worth the effort. It’s a place to meet the Khoi San people who first inhabited the area about 100,000 years before the arrival of other black people or European settlers.
The Northern Cape has the second-largest national park, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, the first park of its kind. It adjoins Gemsbok National Park in Botswana and comprises an area of 15,000 square miles. The park consists of sand dunes, sparse vegetation, the occasional tree, and many dry riverbeds of the Nossob and Auob rivers. They are said to flow only about once every 100 years. This less-traveled province could well be the high point of a safari to South Africa.

The Western Cape
Cape Town is the Western Cape’s prominent city. It’s an area known for its fine wine, abundant wheat fields, produce, abalone, crayfish and kabeljou (food fish). From June to November, hundreds of whales return to the Cape’s shores to calve. It’s considered one of the best places for land-based whale watching in the world.

Valley of a Thousand Hills
During the first part of the 19th century, wagons traveled from Durban through the hills and valleys to the Pietermaritzberg area to service and supply the burgeoning mining industry. Today, the Old Main Road still runs through small villages and over ridges and valleys while offering spectacular views of land dotted with Zulu villages. The road runs through villages filled with restaurants, coffee shops, galleries, pubs, inns, B&Bs and lodges. Almost around every turn is a spectacular view of the gorges.

Zululand
The Zulu are a Bantu ethnic group of people with a population estimated to be between 10-11 million people, with the majority living in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. The Zulu formed a powerful state under their leader Shaka Zulu in 1818. They are probably the best known African tribe with many books and movies about their culture. Fifty years after King Shaka’s death, the British still considered the Zulu nation a threat. Their solution was to start a war in 1879 to destroy the Zulu nation.
Many battles were fought and interest in the historic battlefields is growing. The best way to tour the battlefields is with a knowledgeable guide, because many of the battlefields have returned to open grassland with little more than a stone cairn to identify them.

These are just a few of the attractions to be found in South Africa. If you are interested in before- or after-safari side trips, check out a reputable safari broker like www.discountafrican hunts.com for help in organizing and planning your hunt and South African visit.

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Reader Guy Thornberg sent us this article, written on old Sports Afield letterhead, which he found in a 1949 book by George Leonard Herter. The letter is titled “Streamlined Fly Tying” by Major Jerome M. Sackheim and appears to be an article he wrote for Sports Afield, probably in the 1950s. Click on the link below to read the entire letter.

Sports Afield Letter-Article

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How do you know how much gun is enough?

Many friends and colleagues in the business are primarily gun writers, while others are primarily hunting writers. I am a bit of both: I love sporting firearms, and I’m an avid hunter. So a favorite campfire argument (and writing topic) concerns the suitability—“adequacy,” if you will—of various cartridges for specific field applications.

An old African adage is to “use enough gun.” Although not directly attributable to Robert Ruark, it made a great title for a posthumous collection, published in 1965. I tend to follow that advice, and if I err it’s usually on the side of caution. So, regardless of the cartridges or game discussed, any article on the subject is probably going to draw comment. Invariably, at least one will start with: “Karamoja Bell shot over a thousand elephants with his 7×57…” I don’t know where this story got started, but for sure it is perpetuated by folks who haven’t taken time to actually read W.D.M. Bell’s works.

Just the other day, once again, I saw in another publication a reference to Bell’s “1,011 elephants” with the 7×57. For me this is like fingernails on a blackboard, because it just isn’t true. Bell left us excellent books on his exploits, still great reading today, and he identifies the rifles he used often enough that reality is clear. Bell was a smallbore guy, and the .275 Rigby (a.k.a. 7×57) was a favorite…but he used a lot of other rifles. His largest one-day bag was taken with the .318 Westley Richards, a .33-caliber firing a 250-grain bullet. Because ammo was so available, he used the .303 British a great deal, 215-grain .311-inch bullet. After World War I he returned to Africa just once, and his battery included a .400 Jeffery double and a .416 Rigby bolt action.

Today Bell’s preferences for elephants no longer matter. He was a great marksman and athlete, hunting in an altogether different time, and history has spoken: Most of his choices are illegal today, below the statutory minimum. But this isn’t about Walter Bell, or even about using “enough gun.” Rather, how can you know how much is enough?

The .30-06-based .370 Sako, a 9.3mm cartridge, shown with 286-grain Barnes expanding and solid bullets…the left-hand bullet was recovered from a buffalo; the right-hand bullet was recovered from an elephant. Both were “enough gun.”

This is actually difficult. In any hunting situation there are broad parameters of “adequacy,” with a wide selection of suitable calibers and cartridges. In Oregon last year my friend Tim Lesser shot a black-tailed deer with his pet .375 Ackley Improved. We can probably say that he was overgunned, but he certainly got the job done…so too much gun seems a lesser sin than not enough, which can result in wounded game. Today it’s common for .22 centerfires to be legal for deer. I don’t think they’re perfect, but with today’s heavy bullets designed for deer hunting they are adequate. Based on experience in Africa on small antelopes such as steenbok I’m totally convinced that, regardless of velocity, the .17s are not adequate for deer. Their light, frangible bullets, intended for varmints, just don’t have the penetration. Cartridges below .22 centerfire generally remain illegal for deer, and I think this is a good thing.

Let’s look at some larger animals. As large and potentially dangerous beasts, African buffalo tend to fall under the same legal minimums as elephants, in most countries either 9.3mm (.366) or .375. I’m sure these are enough, but since I believe in adhering to game laws I have little personal experience with lesser calibers on African buffalo, a couple with .33s and that’s about it. Ruark wrote that he had taken buffalo easily with his .30-06, and I saw a buffalo taken very cleanly with a single 156-grain solid from a 6.5x53R (not all countries have minimums), and of course many buffalo were taken with such light calibers in the old days.

The Asian water buffalo is bigger than the Cape buffalo, but few jurisdictions have legal minimums. Australian market hunters tended to use .303s and, later, .308s. I do have some experience here. In the Philippines we used an M14 with 7.62mm military ammo—which is all we had available. In Argentina I’ve taken water buffalo with the 7×57 (with 175-grain solid); and also the .300 RUM (with 200-grain Swift A-Frame) and .350 Remington Magnum (with 225-grain Barnes X). There were no problems, and for sure bullet selection makes a huge difference. However, in all cases this was pushing the envelope, not “erring on the side of caution.” Obviously there was enough gun to kill the animal, because that’s what happened…but was there enough gun to stay out of trouble if things didn’t go quite right? I think not.

Big bears are much the same, except that no North American jurisdictions I’m aware of set different minimums for grizzly, brown, and polar bear than for other native big game. I’ve always figured the .33s and .375s were about right, and certainly have been in my experience. Especially with grizzly, which is more often a target of opportunity than the others, hunters often use what they have. Jack O’Connor took a number of mountain grizzlies with his beloved .270…but when he went for Alaskan brown bear he used a .375. After taking a sheep in southern Yukon I tried hard to get a big grizzly we’d seen, and the only rifle I had was a .270 WSM. I didn’t get a shot, but I probably could have made it work.

On the other hand, the only problem I’ve ever had with a big bear was with a .300 Winchester Magnum and a good 180-grain bullet. Bullet performance is critical, but shot placement is everything, so isolated bad experiences are not definitive. However, as recounted in my recent Deadly Encounters book, veteran B.C. guide Cy Ford was killed by a grizzly his hunter had wounded with a 7mm Remington Magnum. The bear also died…but not soon enough. Traditionally, Inuit hunters loved the .222 Remington, a fact that is cited almost as much as the W.D.M. Bell myth…but, over the years, a lot of Inuit hunters went out on the ice and never returned. So I’m not going to waver on this. Soon I’m going to B.C. to hunt a grizzly, and I’m taking a .338 Winchester Magnum, a sound and sensible choice.

Potentially dangerous animals alter the rules, so let’s talk about some large non-dangerous beasts. The eland is Africa’s largest antelope and the world’s largest non-dangerous animal; a big bull outweighs any buffalo. I doubt anybody has shot “a lot” of them, but I’ve taken over a dozen. I have mostly used .375s; in my view they really are perfect as a combination of ranging ability and power for such a large animal.

In 2016 Boddington used a .300 Winchester Magnum with 200-grain Hornady ELD-X to take this Cape eland, Africa’s largest antelope. Over the years he’s taken most of his eland with .375s, which work perfectly—but he’s not convinced that much gun is essential.

Is that level of power really needed? I don’t know. Just a couple weeks ago, hunting with Frontier Safaris in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, I shot a nice Cape eland bull with a .300 Winchester Magnum and a Hornady 200-grain ELD-X bullet. We never found a drop of blood, but we found the eland down within a hundred yards. I’m reminded that Donna shot a big eland bull with a .30-06 and Federal 180-grain Trophy Tip; and daughter Brittany shot one with her 7mm-08 with 140-grain Nosler Partition. No problems with either, so while a .375 gives me great confidence on eland, maybe it isn’t really essential.

The biggest bull moose are a bit lighter than eland, but still very large animals. Because they’re a food staple in the North many hunters have taken more moose than I have, and most are probably shot with whatever general-purpose hunting rifle is available. My experience is that moose are not especially hardy but, more importantly, they are long-legged, but slab-sided, so do not require as much bullet penetration as elands or buffaloes. Most of mine have been taken with .33s and .35s (which work decisively), but I’ve seen moose taken quite cleanly with .270s and I’ve used .30-calibers with no problems.

Often it seems that moose react slowly upon receiving a bullet, standing or walking away, and then lying down. I shot a big Alaskan moose at close range with a .416 Remington Magnum…he didn’t go anywhere, but didn’t seem unduly impressed by all that power. The most dramatic effect I’ve ever seen was a Canadian bull my Dad shot in the heart with his .308 Winchester: Straight down and dead in its tracks. This would lead one to believe that the .308 Winchester is the best moose gun ever invented. Maybe, but no animal reacts the same upon receiving a bullet…and the other two great variables are shot placement and bullet performance. So it’s always dangerous to fixate on isolated incidents, whether good or bad, and better to make your choices based on a consensus of experience. There’s always a broad range of perfectly suitable choices, but experience-based knowledge is out there and available.

Moose often react slowly upon receiving a bullet; this bull was not especially impressed by all that power. Although the moose is a big animal, Boddington is convinced that larger cartridges aren’t necessary.

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Special-run rifles are a great way to own an interesting and accurate rifle without the cost of a true custom job.

Some hunters believe they have only two choices when it comes to rifles. The first, and most obvious, choice is one of the many factory models cranked out like coffee-makers. This isn’t a bad thing, because despite the illusions of hunters who still yearn for the days of “handcrafted” factory rifles, on average, today’s CNC-machined rifles shoot far more accurately right out of the box. Many actions are designed and built for finer accuracy, are often fitted with better barrels, and a high percentage have more-stable synthetic stocks. They’re also available in a wide array of weights, suitable for anybody from Himalayan mountaineers to artillery officers.

The second choice is to order a real custom rifle, one made just for us. Unlike a rifle put together with aftermarket parts, wood-stocked customs take far more time (and money) to create. Albert Einstein once noted, “When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute — and it’s longer than any hour. That’s relativity.” Waiting for a wood-stocked custom rifle can be like sitting on a hot stove for years.

Luckily, between “boring” factory rifles and exciting/painful custom rifles lies a broad spectrum of other hunting rifles, including so-called “special runs” available from some factories. These usually offer combinations of features not offered in standard factory models, whether chamberings, stocks, or barrels, or they might have fancier wood. Their price is normally somewhat higher than standard factory rifles, but not anywhere near the price of a true custom.

Over the years I’ve owned a number of special-run rifles, and all have shot very well. This might simply be attributed to today’s overall trend toward finer accuracy (including better bullets), but after analyzing my range notes, the special-runs have indeed shot noticeably better than most of their “parent” factory rifles.

A good example would be my Winchester Model 70 Featherweight .270, acquired during a fundraising auction at the Jack O’Connor Hunting Heritage and Education Center in Lewiston, Idaho. The 75th anniversary of the introduction of the Model 70 was celebrated by special runs of two grades of O’Connor Tribute rifles. Mine, of course, is the lesser grade (otherwise I couldn’t have afforded the auction) but it’s still a really nice-looking rifle. The Center had acquired several Tributes to use in fundraisers, and still had four left to choose from. Since there wasn’t a shooting range handy, my choice was based on the figure in the stock wood.

After I got back to Montana, however, it wasn’t long before the rifle made a trip to the range. Its very first group at 100 yards, shot with Norma’s 150-grain Oryx factory load, measured 0.40 inch. Not every group has been that small, of course, but the rifle shoots so accurately it’s moved all my other .270s down the road, and often gets used to test-fire new components. The new “Wonder Powder” (as O’Connor would have called it) for the .270 is Alliant Reloder 26, which easily gets 3,000 fps with 150-grain Nosler Partitions from the 22-inch barrel, with groups averaging around ¾ inch. (I also hunt with this rifle, something that’s shocked a few people. One guy insisted, “You don’t hunt with a rifle like that,” a statement I suspect would offend Jack O’Connor.) In fact, part of the reason I kept bidding on the rifle was hearing from several other Tribute owners about how well their rifles shot.

At the other end of the beauty spectrum is a Tikka T3 Super Lite in .260 Remington, part of a special run put together a couple of years ago by Whittaker Guns, a big store outside of Owensboro, Kentucky (www.whittakerguns.com). The place is run by Darrik Caraway, a rifle loony with a very good feel for what hunters want, the reason you shouldn’t visit Whittaker Guns without money. This special run of T3s was put together just before Tikka upgraded to the T3x, and the Super Lites are the fluted-barrel version of the standard Lite.

This Tikka T3 Super Lite is part of a special run commissioned by Whittaker Guns in 2014. Tikkas have the reputation for fine accuracy anyway, but 6 3/4 pound rifles don’t always shoot like this.

This run included synthetic stocks finished in Mossy Oak camo, which would give O’Connor a case of his well-known “vapors”—but as a sheep hunter he would have appreciated the weight, 6 3/4 pounds scoped. He’d also have to like the accuracy: The .260’s first 100-yard group was also shot with factory ammo, and three 140-grain Remington Core-Lokts went into 0.44 inch. Of course, it hasn’t shot that well with every kind of ammo, every time, but its primary handload averages around 0.6 inch. Like the .270 Tribute, this is without any tweaking, either of the stock’s bedding or trigger pull.

Darrik Caraway’s latest inspiration is a special run of Tikka T3x Lite stainless rifles in .22-250 Remington, but with a 1:8 rifling twist to accommodate longer, heavier bullets with high ballistic coefficients, for hunting both big game and varmints. They should arrive about the time this column appears in print.

Another very accurate special-run rifle was a Ruger No. 1AH in .25-06 Remington from Lipsey’s, a wholesale firearms distributor. The 1AH was itself a special model, with the small Alexander Henry fore-end combined with a light-contour 24-inch barrel, but the wood was also specially selected European walnut.

Over the half-century since Ruger No. 1s were introduced they’ve have had a mixed reputation for accuracy, but the problem was mostly solved when Ruger started hammer-forging their own rifle barrels in the early 1990s. Early testing with several bullets resulted in a three-shot group of 0.39 inch with 75-grain Hornady V-Maxes and Accurate 4350 powder. I’m always suspicious of single three-shot groups, so I loaded up some more ammo—and four three-shot groups averaged 0.53 inch. The rifle also shot 100-grain Barnes Tipped TSXs and 120-grain Nosler Partitions into groups measuring well under an inch.

These days all Ruger No. 1s are limited-number “special runs” from Lipsey’s, with new configurations each year. There are six chamberings for 2017—.243 Winchester, 6.5 Creedmoor, .270 Winchester, .275 Rigby (7×57), .308 Winchester, .35 Whelen, and .44 Magnum. The most interesting to “modern” shooters might be the 6.5 Creedmoor with a 28-inch barrel, and to traditionalists the .275 Rigby with a medium-weight 24-inch barrel and open sights. (For those hunters who feel the need to use “correct” ammunition, Hornady makes both brass and ammo headstamped .275 Rigby.)

I’ve owned several other special-run rifles that shot better than average for their make and chambering, leading me to suspect they’re put together with more care than everyday production rifles. Somewhat understandably, the manufacturers I’ve asked about this are reluctant to make any firm statements—although they often smile a little when answering. After all, there’s some variation even in carefully made rifles, and perhaps more importantly, among shooters. Leading customers to expect above-average performance would no doubt result in a certain percentage of disgruntled customers.

In the meantime, I’ll keep looking for more special runs myself, as do many other hunters. Some even anticipate them, making requests or even starting to guess, for example, what new configurations of the Ruger No. 1 will appear next year. The guessing and anticipation is almost as interesting—though not as painful—as waiting for a custom rifle.

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Congratulations to Craig Boddington on winning the 2017 Weatherby Hunting and Conservation Award!

 
Craig Boddington has been named the 2017 Weatherby Award winner. The Weatherby Award is a prestigious hunting award that is based on these criteria:  the number and quality of the collected species, the amount and type of conservation effort put forth by the individual throughout his/her lifetime, and the hunter’s personal character, hunting ethics, and integrity.   It takes dedication, sportsmanship, a high level of ethics, and over-the-top hunting accomplishments to win this award.  Craig, as the 61st Weatherby winner, has joined the ranks of the privileged few ever to attain this pinnacle in the hunting world.
 
Born in Kansas in 1952, Craig Boddington is a hunter and an author of international repute. A veteran of over one hundred African safaris, he also has extensive hunting experience in North America, Europe, Asia, and the South Pacific. The author of twenty-six books on hunting and firearms, Craig has also written in excess of four thousand magazine articles on the same subjects. He has used his hunting trips as field experience for his writing, gathering information about hunting, fauna, ballistics, and firearms wherever he travels. His extensive experience with firearms and calibers has given him insight into what does and does not work and has made him a leading expert in the field.
 
He began his outdoor-writing career in college and continued after graduation while on active duty in the Marine Corps. After leaving active service, he joined Petersen Publishing Company in 1979, where he served as an associate editor for Guns & Ammo magazine; as an editor for Guns & Ammo Specialty Publications; as an executive editor for Petersen’s Hunting magazine; and from 1983 to 1994 as editor of Petersen’s Hunting magazine. He currently is executive field editor for the Outdoor Sportsman Group and a frequent contributor to other major publications, including Sports Afield and Safari magazines. His professional awards include Leupold’s Jack Slack Writer of the Year (2006) and the C. J. McElroy Award from Safari Club International (2008) and the Conklin Award (2009).
 
In recent years, Boddington has become active in outdoor television, serving as cohost for Petersen’s Hunting Adventures and Guns & Ammo TV and as host of The Boddington Experience. In 2005 Boddington retired from the U.S. Marine Corps after serving thirty-one years on active and reserve duty.
 
When he isn’t hunting, Boddington and his wife, Donna, divide their time between California’s Central Coast and a farm in southern Kansas. He has two daughters, Brittany and Caroline.
 
The 2017 Weatherby Award will be presented to Craig Boddington at a black-tie banquet on 3 January in Dallas.  For more information on the Weatherby Award and the banquet, please visit WeatherbyFoundation.com. Please join us in wishing Craig Boddington our heartiest congratulations on winning the hunting world’s most prestigious award.

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Sports Afield subscriber Tom Hellgeth sent us this letter, written by Sports Afield’s founder and original editor, Claude King, dated May 3, 1898. It’s a fascinating glimpse into the early years of the magazine.

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