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I’LL BE THE FIRST to admit that centering this issue around a theme like “Home” may seem like a curious choice—especially after so many of us have spent so much time at, well, home. But once you get into the stories we’ve gathered here, I’m confident you’ll quickly understand, and appreciate, why we landed on Home. This is no mere collection of cabin-fever yarns. In fact, what was most remarkable—and, ultimately, rewarding—about assembling this issue was seeing the various ways the writers each interpreted the theme. 

  • For Phil Bourjaily, home is the act of kenneling his German shorthaired pointer Jed one last time after their final bird hunt together. 
  • For T. Edward Nickens, home is sorting through and organizing his “gear grotto” every winter—a time to reflect on the recent hunting season and look forward to spring fishing.
  • For Dave Hurteau, home is a familiar drive to his folks’ place during which every turn on every road triggers a hunting or fishing memory from his childhood. 
  • For David E. Petzal, home is the spirit—and spirits—of a hunting camp that has long since vanished. 
  • As me, home is a trout river—a specific stretch of the same trout river I fished over and over, season after season, in the last year. You can read the essay, “My Home Waters,” here.

That’s just a taste of the Home Issue. There is plenty more to enjoy. 

cover of the Home Issue of Field & Stream
Waterfowl decoy carver J.P. Hand is on the cover of our Home Issue. Christopher Testani

Fittingly, the production of this issue coincided with a homecoming of sorts. On a Friday in February, I traveled to the Catskills in New York to team up with F&S photography director John Toolan and contributors Roscoe Betsill and Christopher Testani for a photo shoot. Pre-pandemic, projects like this happened all the time—so much that they were easy to take for granted. But this was the first time the four of us had been able to work together, in person, in two years. I didn’t realize just how much I’d missed teamwork like that—collaborating with colleagues, with friends, with the sole purpose of creating great stories for Field & Stream. 

On days like that—no matter how far you’ve had to travel—it’s hard not to feel right at home.

Hunting dog story in Field & Stream home issue
For the Home Issue, Phil Bourjaily wrote about his up-and-down hunting history with his older GSP, Jed. Dan Brouillet

How to Read the Home Issue

  • If you’re a subscriber and have accessed the digital edition, the Home Issue is ready for you to enjoy on our iOS, Android, or Field & Stream apps.
  • If you’re a subscriber but new to the digital edition, head over to fieldandstream.com/digital to activate your account.
  • If you’re not a subscriber, but you’d like to be (hell, yeah!), visit fieldandstream.com/subscribe to get set up with a subscription.
Colin Kearns
Colin Kearns

Colin Kearns is the Editor-in-Chief of Field & Stream. His media career began in 2004, when he landed the summer gig of a lifetime, as an editorial intern for Field & Stream. After college, he worked at Salt Water Sportsman magazine for three years, before joining F&S as a full-time staffer in 2008.

Freshwater Fishing