By David E. Petzal

From time to time it is my pleasure to introduce you to people who are both superior craftsmen and artists as well, such as D’Arcy Echols and Ryan Breeding. Now, let me present Mike Malosh, who makes knives in the style of William Scagel, and does his own designs to boot. Mr. Malosh’s creations are called Chaser knives, and he does a number of things that set him apart.

By David E. Petzal

“The only time I ever got my s**t together, I couldn’t pick it up.”—Roger Miller

Packing successfully for a hunting trip is far more important than making out a will which will hold up. If you die and your will is successfully contested, what do you care? You’re dead. If, however, you bring only longjohn bottoms on a hunt and leave the tops at home, you’ll regret it bitterly for a week or more.

Because I’m at the age when I have trouble remembering who I am, much less all the stuff that I have to take along, I’ve developed a system that’s worked pretty well. First, take out all the hunting gear you own. I mean everything, even if it has no place where you’re going.

Second, assemble what you need, and don’t do this by simply slinging it into a duffle bag. Don’t assume that you have patches and gun oil in your cleaning kit. You may have taken them out on the last trip because the TSA doesn’t allow gun oil. Are all your batteries fresh? Have you gained so much weight since last season that, when you button your heavy pants, little purple veins erupt on your nose?

By David E. Petzal

Some time ago I introduced you to the Work Sharp Knife and Tool Sharpener, a small belt sharpener that has had roughly the same impact on Western civilization as the printing press, penicillin, and the Hula Hoop, and all because it is the first device that will let even the most fumble-fingered put a razor edge on nearly anything that cuts. (I have put a paper-slicing edge on a Cold Steel Spetsnaz shovel with it.)

By David E. Petzal

While at SHOT Show and SCI last month, I saw a great deal of New Stuff that we will not  be able to live without. The downside to New Stuff is that it comes at the cost of Old Stuff, and sometimes, the Old Stuff is a lot better than the New Stuff that replaces it. And that is why Peter Barrett, Field & Stream’s late Executive Editor, would take a puff on his pipe and say “Kid, if you find something real good buy two, because as true as God they’ll stop making it.”