Craig Boddington

United States

Executive Field Editor at Guns & Ammo

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Articles

Your First Safari

3 weeks ago | sportsafield.com | Craig Boddington

Don’t wait too long. Just take the plunge!I hear it in every American hunting camp, and constantly at every hunting convention: dreams of an African safari. “When the kids are out of school. When the mortgage is paid. Maybe in a couple of years. Someday.” The great booking agent Jack Atcheson, Sr. had a great sales slogan: “Go hunting now, while you are able.” Someday is not guaranteed, nor are the health and physical abilities to enjoy it. Much in life is a matter of priority.
Boddington's Top Deer Cartridges and Rifles

4 weeks ago | gunsandammo.com | Craig Boddington

At our Timber Trails deer camp in southeast Kansas, our hunters arrive after lunch the day before the hunt. I’ll have a bench set up in the pasture, so the first order of business is to check rifles. I’m as serious a gun guy as a hunter, so I’m curious to see what our deer hunters bring. Our hunters come from all over. I’m sure they expect flat country with big, open fields they might need to reach across. That’s not our Kansas. Instead, rolling ridges and thick oak forest.
The 7 PRC: Best of the PRC Cartridges

4 weeks ago | shootingtimes.com | Craig Boddington

Affiliate Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We earn from qualifying purchases. I’ve been writing about this stuff for 50 years. With seniority, some skepticism is inevitable. I’ve seen many brave new cartridges come and go. When younger, I was quick to embrace the latest whiz-bang. Today, I’m more likely to sit back and see what happens. Much of this skepticism came 25 years ago, when the market was flooded by long, short, and super-short unbelted magnums.
Africa's Toughest Antelope | Sports Afield

2 months ago | sportsafield.com | Craig Boddington

The wildebeest is often called “the poor man’s Cape buffalo.”Legend has it that African antelopes are “tougher” than similar-sized animals elsewhere in the world. It’s certainly true that with a full suite of predators to worry about, Africa’s prey species are constantly on edge, ready for that surge of adrenaline that might speed them out of harm’s way. As for toughness, it varies. I can’t think of an African animal that’s hardier, pound for pound, than an impala.
The Ruger Super Redhawk, now in .22 Hornet: Full Review

2 months ago | gunsandammo.com | Craig Boddington

The Ruger Super Redhawk is a big, burly revolver. Since its introduction in Guns & Ammo’s November 1979 issue, it’s been chambered in powerful handgun cartridges. The .44 Remington Magnum has been its mainstay, but it was also the launching platform for the .480 Ruger in 2003, the first cartridge to bear the Ruger name. It’s also among few production revolvers to be chambered to the .454 Casull. More recently, it’s been chambered to 10mm Auto.
Deer of the Desert Southwest

Feb 4, 2025 | sportsafield.com | Craig Boddington

Hunting the elusive Coues and Carmen Mountain whitetails. It’s early February and I’m in northern Mexico, one of the best places on Earth in late winter. Mornings are brisk, midday sunny and pleasant under a cloudless sky, bright campfire at night. I’m hunting Coues whitetail, the grey ghost of southern Arizona and northwest Mexico. I’ve been at it for three days, haven’t seen a good buck yet. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t, really don’t care.
Hunting for Fish

Dec 30, 2024 | sportsafield.com | Craig Boddington

A group of hunters takes to the sea in search of the ocean’s biggest game. Photo above: Steve McInnes, owner of the Strictly Business with a good striped marlin. On this unusual day, everyone on board boated a striped marlin. As soon as this photo was taken, the marlin was released. Like most hunters, I also like to fish. I’m neither avid nor expert, and fishing is generally not what I write about. I might as well write about do-it-yourself brain surgery.
.30-30 Winchester: Still Getting It Done After All These Years - Petersen's Hunting

Dec 18, 2024 | petersenshunting.com | Craig Boddington

After the shot, the pig was running hard, vanishing into yellow grass at the crest of the ridge. There had been no reaction—other than the kick into a higher gear—but sometimes there isn’t. The shot wasn’t far; my swing and lead felt good. Sometimes you feel sure, but you can be wrong. My companions were less certain. Downright skeptical.
The Sable Turns the Tables

Nov 11, 2024 | sportsafield.com | Craig Boddington

South Africa is now one of the top places to find a big sable antelope. This past June, in big, brushy country in the western Limpopo Valley, my friend Bryan Pettet took one of the most beautiful sable antelope I’ve ever seen. It was 48 inches-plus on both horns, secondary growth six inches up the bases. I never thought I’d get a chance to run my hands over sable horns like that, and especially never thought it would be possible in South Africa.
Father David's Deer | Sports Afield

Nov 4, 2024 | sportsafield.com | Craig Boddington

This unusual cervid may be the world’s weirdest-looking deer. Photo above: A big bachelor herd of Pere David’s deer at Woburn Abbey in England, photographed in January with deer in heavy velvet. A nucleus herd gathered at Woburn by the 11th Duke of Bedford saved the species, and the estate still manages one of the world’s largest herds.