Vol. 4 Num. 4

JUNE - JULY 2016 All wingshooters get a special thrill from seeing, holding, or shooting a best gun. These are works of art as well as highly functional tools of our passions. In the June-July issue, we meet stocker, a sculptor of wood who creates the beautiful stocks on best-quality guns: his name is Paul Hodgins. Born and raised in the UK and living and working now in the US in Logan, Utah, Hodgins was part of a unique apprentice program at Holland & Holland that he joined in 1973 at age 16. There, he had intense training and acquired the skills to become a stocker, or a “sculptor” of finely finished wood on best shotguns. Read “Sculpting Wood” by Greggory Elliott and you’ll have an even greater appreciation for the craftsmanship that goes into a best gun. More on the best of the best takes you to Longpine Plantation outside of Thomasville, Georgia, for a story on a special-invitation quail hunt from Covey Rise’s back-page columnist Dr. John C. Blythe. Though a son of the South