A message from Tony…

Welcome! I do hope you enjoy your visit to this web site. All involved with this project will do our best to make it interesting and informative.

Life is an amazing journey. And while this next statement is a blatant cliché, I use it here without reservation: It seems only yesterday the journey began! This observation is likely a function of growing old, but it is accurate. Those early years of childhood that fashioned my entire being are yet fresh in recall; I visit there regularly. I remember those days of work in the family garden and the poor-dirt row crops and the ragged barn. I recall that simple wood-frame house that was home. I can even now almost hear and see and smell the farm animals and yard dogs that were ever present and key players in life as we then knew it. All are gone now, but they remain fresh in some quiet, reflective corner of memory.

Childhood recreation was limited. And when it came it was simple. But it was adequately restorative and much anticipated. It consisted of squirrel hunting or fishing with my dad along a near-by river. And even that held an element of work, for it was these collections of wild things that made up a significant portion of our food. That part, all the way from adolescence, has remained. I still hunt and fish and prepare those favored ingredients for the table. Another example of the early years shaping the later ones. During most of those basic trips to the woods and waters, I allowed my youthful imagination to wander, to roam freely. I read every outdoor magazine I could acquire, and I dreamed of those exotic places and animals about which I read. There was, however, little hope that those dreams would be realized. But life proved otherwise.

Now I look back. Those dreams of an ordinary country boy came true. They took me hunting in 18 states, four Canadian provinces, and the Republic of South Africa. They were lived out in the pursuit of whitetails, turkeys, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, black bears, moose, elk, caribou, nine species of African plains game, and a host of non-native animals now residing in the United States. All were admired, respected, and used for sustenance.

And I was fortunate to be able to write about those and other adventures, much the same as those writers I so very much enjoyed as a child. Some 2,000 articles have been published in a long list of magazines. There have been to date four books. Dreams do come true, and the journey continues.

Not long ago I became intrigued by Christian fiction, an interesting genre that has grown in popularity. This, too, was influenced by childhood – those Sunday services at a rural country church, those two-a-day revival meetings that were often accompanied by boisterous summer thunderstorms beating down on a tin roof. The teachings in such gatherings impacted my life. As a result, venturing into this avenue of writing, new to me but well established for many, is not surprising. The first book in a series, if not available now, will be soon. Check the books icon on this site for updates.

And check the others as well. There will be articles, an ongoing commentary, an outfitters list and perhaps, if time allows, a tips and recipes section. We will attempt to keep this fresh and relevant.

Thanks for the visit. Come again soon and regularly. And we do hope that your life is an amazing journey!