The Sporting Gentry

12/17/2018

Hello All,
After a long absence, the Sporting Gentry returns to announce that B'wana Walt's Safari Hot Sauce will soon be available from Amazon--I hope! Stay tuned for further developments . . . and a few recipes.
Walter

10/27/2016

Spey casting is an art both ancient and new. I learned a lot about it this last weekend and for those of you who find the term unfamiliar I'll tell you about it sort of the way I learned. When I still lived in Southern California I took fly-casting lessons from the Long Beach Casting Club. I could cast a fly accurately out to about thirty feet but getting farther frustrated me. [ 788 more words ]

http://www.thesportinggentry.com/spey-casting-encountering-two-hand-fly-rod/

Spey casting is an old and at the same time futuristic tool for the fly angler. I explore its potential on the famous Rogue River of Oregon.

05/28/2016

Tumblr, for those who may not know, is a website of photos. Here, anyone can post whatever they want and comment on it. For the cyber-squire I really must recommend a few of my favorites. If I've left any tumblr sites out that you recommend, do please send them to me in comments. You might even start up a conversation in The Snuggery. [ 381 more words. ]

http://www.thesportinggentry.com/tumblr-counties-cyber-shire/

Others post items of interest to the cyber-squire and they post them on tumblr. Here are a few of my favorites.

05/09/2016

As the Campbell's company has been insisting for ages, soup is good food. Indeed it is, though preferably not from a can! Soup has a number of advantages that go back to the dawn of humanity. Even before the advent of ceramic cooking vessels, we can readily surmise that hunting and gathering bands made soup in the skins of the animals they cooked. [ 673 more words. ]

http://www.thesportinggentry.com/?p=3215

Any Italian grandmother would tell you that soup is good food. It's also a traditional 'primi' the first course of a proper meal. Eat more soup.

02/28/2016

Old guns, as I commented before, are the guns I like best. As Jay Gardner wrote, "It's a question of soul." New, latest technology guns have their place, it's true. My Beretta A400 Explor is definitely my weapon of choice when it comes to throwing heavy charges of steel shot. These aging bones and joints just appreciate the multiple recoil management systems. [ 793 more words. ]

http://www.thesportinggentry.com/?p=3195

It’s not really a question of old guns being better, it’s a question of soul. --Jay Gardner  He's right! Old guns just have more soul, simple as that.

02/17/2016

Fish Philadelphia came to my attention during a period in my life when I was attempting to overcome a medium grade phobia about deep water. I had always been a poor swimmer due to a natural tendency to sink like a stone so taking my delight in field sports as a entry to a 'cure' I took up spear fishing--for a while. [ 575 more words. ]

http://www.thesportinggentry.com/?p=3177

Fish Philadelphia is a creamy, rich Mexican marisco, or seafood dish quite different from what we usually think of Mexican cooking.

02/09/2016

Whether it was the smallmouth bass or its largemouth cousin I'm not sure. But in 1881 Dr. James Henshall declared black bass "Inch for inch and pound for pound, the gamest fish that swims", and I can do nothing but utter a heartfelt, "Amen!" If we in the cyber-shire were unabashed Anglophiles we would possibly discount this notion but that would be a mistake. [ 706 more words. ]

http://www.thesportinggentry.com/?p=3165

Whether it was the smallmouth bass or its largemouth cousin I’m not sure. But in 1881 Dr. James Henshall declared black bass “Inch for inch and pound for pound, the gamest fish that swims”, and I can do nothing but utter a heartfelt, “Amen!”  If we in the cyber-shire were unabashed Anglophiles we wo…

01/31/2016

Stock Fit Part 1. Stock fit means nothing without the shooter. If you cannot mount a gun consistently in the same place, time after time, no one on earth can make a stock to fit you. I cannot count the number of times I have been asked to look at a stock fit only to find that the shooter does not mount the gun in the same place twice. [ 1367 more words. ]

http://www.thesportinggentry.com/?p=3152

  Stock Fit Part 1. Stock fit means nothing without the shooter. If you cannot mount a gun consistently in the same place, time after time, no one on earth can make a stock to fit you. I cannot count the number of times I have been asked to look at a stock fit only to …

12/01/2015

Have you noticed that the shooting parties on Downton Abbey never shoot waterfowl? The reason seems to be that the great estates used game as a crop to be managed and sold and waterfowl are notoriously uncooperative with the gamekeeper. Grouse to a degree and pheasants very much so are quite manageable. You can modify their habitat or, in the case of pheasant, even pen raise them for release. [ 797 more words. ]

http://www.thesportinggentry.com/duck-duck-goose-a-review-of-waterfowl-cookery/

With duck populations stabilized and goose populations booming, the Cyber-squire now has access to waterfowl shooting unmatched since the Great Depression. What is needed is proper care in the kitchen. Hank Shaw shows you how.

11/16/2015

British Best shotguns call to mind the finest in shooting traditions. What is often forgotten that among those traditions is a long history of technical innovation. It may come as a shock to some but Purdy, Boss and Holland & Holland all employ the newest in computer controlled machinery. This quickly brings their product to final finishing where and saves skilled hand work for where it is needed. [ 299 more words. ]

http://www.thesportinggentry.com/longthorne-guns-a-new-british-best/

The Sporting Gentry call your attention to the latest in British Best guns, Longthorne Guns. For those interested in ordering, please contact us.

10/13/2015

With the exception of Heinz Beans on toast, legumes don't seem to have been part of the traditional countryside cuisine. Even my copy of Irish Countryhouse Cooking, which is chock full of ways to cook the fish and game of the British Isles, has only a couple of recipes and those are for those odd broad beans we rarely see on this side of the pond. [ 915 more words. ]

http://www.thesportinggentry.com/legumes-and-the-cyber-squire/

Legumes (or beans and peas) may not be upscale cuisine but they are too good to be avoided. Here's a way to make them part of your diet.