Members of the Swanson clan trace their roots to a homestead in Michigan's Upper Peninsula their ancestors built in 1857. They're what are colloquially known as ‘Yoopers'—UP speak for ‘someone born up here.' 2013 was the last deer camp for family patriarch George Swanson, for after 77 years prowling these woods, he could no longer trust his eyes.
Roy Weatherby’s pursuit of hyper-velocity in elegant rifles sealed his slogan. Weatherby rifles shot flat and hit hard, after all. Seventy years later, they still do.
In this modern era of hunting rifles and cartridges, common sense would indicate that a cartridge with the performance level of the .30-30 would long ago have faded into obscurity. Why won’t it go away?
While the golden age of upland hunting may be a distant memory, the traditions born 50 years ago are still alive, and there is still plenty of great bird hunting to be found.
Do you toss and turn late at night over memories of bucks that got away? Our man does, too. Here are a handful of sleep-robbing tales of bucks that never even gave him a shot.