Few companies adapt to a changing world and remain relevant centuries after their founding, but gunmakers have a talent for it – and none more so than London’s Holland & Holland.

It was 170 years ago that tobacconist Harris Holland began dabbling in guns at his shop on King Street in London’s Holborn district, and the company he built is still thriving – not only producing its traditional products but maintaining its reputation for breaking new ground and developing new designs, allowing it to remain at the pinnacle of world gunmaking.

When writing about Holland & Holland, one is tempted to dive into a sea of superlatives. But since buckets of ink have been expended over the years describing its past, let’s look at where the company stands today…

A gun dog in every sense of the word, the Llewellin Setter is the perfect companion for quail hunting. It is a dog that craves and needs the outdoors, but its mellow and calm demeanor also makes the Llewellin Setter perfert for families.

Over the course of centuries, Llewellin Setters have been bred and trained for upland hunting to go along with their natural abilities. With a distinct nose for bird hunting, many argue, this is one of the best dogs to hunt with…

There is a notion across North America that good bobwhite quail hunting is gone for the average bird hunter. I disagree.

For the past 25 years, I have focused my bobwhite quail hunting on the prairie states. Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma all have the potential for high-quality population numbers, so it’s just a matter of gathering updated information to decide how, when and where best to hunt.

Midwest bobwhite hunting can be done with a professional guide, working out of a lodge or on land open to the public, Being a traveler with numerous bird dogs, I prefer public access programs or state and federal public lands to hunt.

The latitudinal range of the bobwhite is immense. Hunting quail in the Midwest northern tier is different than in the southern reaches of the United States. In addition to the climate differences, the habitat and landscape changes within the bobwhites’ world revise the hunting dynamic. Thus, whatever latitude one chooses to hunt, success depends on keen ecological observation of the birds’ habits and habitat within that environment.

The way of most Midwestern bobwhite hunters is the “boots on ground” approach, walking hard behind pointing dogs, shooting wilds birds using a automatic or pump shotgun, hunting the singles after the flush and driving in a pickup, bone tired. As in the South, Midwest quail hunting is also a tradition, but the ground game differs in style from place to place. Take, for example, a Kansas hunt I made a few years ago.

That day, it was relaxed with…