Because of their exuberant, tail-wagging friendliness, many people don’t realize that well-bred sporting goldens are not only excellent trackers on land or water, but also excel at bomb-sniffing and search-and-rescue duty. They are biddable and rugged, although by comparison some may be softer than Labrador retrievers.Read more

A quarter-inch of ice lay on the surface of the flooded Arkansas rice field in early January. Tank, a 6-year-old German wirehaired pointer, sat quietly in the blind as we waited for the morning’s first ducks. A heavy overcast made it seem colder than it was.Read more

The development of gamekeeping has, to a degree, followed the advancement of sporting arms. In the British Isles, the invention of the muzzleloading gun in the early 17th Century added a new dimension to hunting: Gathering wild game became more than a necessity of survival—it was now a sporting endeavor.Read more