“cigars”

When Captain Bob Wetherald, owner of the Mid River Guide Service, invites me to go hunting, I drop everything. He's arguably the Potomac River's best seaduck and diver guide, and the spread of smoked duck breast and spirits he puts out for the post-hunt social hour are alone worth the trip.

All honest men deserve three things: a good dog, a good shotgun, and a place to hide from their wives. Oh, I can hear the lady huntresses chiming in now: "I hunt! I love guns! My husband wants to be around me all the time!"

A variation of the Ruger Standard, the Mark IV Hunter features stainless metalwork with a handsome, brushed satin finish, and a 7-inch bull barrel with six flutes. It's fitted with iron sights, but it's drilled and tapped for optics.

The meat and gravy is ideally suited for mashed potatoes, which makes this hearty dish just as enjoyable in fall as it is in spring.

Not every state allows Sunday hunting, which made Assistant Editor Jon Draper's Wyoming pronghorn hunt all the more memorable.

A veteran grouse hunter finds out why fast-flushing birds of the Deep South are regarded as gentlemanly.

It is often the first installation in a deer camp. It is usually a timber cut from nearby woods but it could be a salvaged scrap pipe. Regardless, it is always a place for hunters to gather, assess and admire deer. It is the buck pole, a symbol of success to American hunters.