From the Editor

It’s been some time since any changes have been made to the Shooting Sportsman editorial staff. Our core group has been performing like the locks on a fine gun, firing off issue after issue of what we’re told is a magazine clearly on target. But change is inevitable, and with this issue come several modifications to the masthead.

Before I introduce the new team members, however, I want to wish a fond farewell to longtime contributor Barry Davis. I have known Barry for going on 15 years, he having signed on as Sporting Clays Editor in 1993, the year I joined SSM. I met Barry that summer at Hunter Mountain, in New York, where he was competing in the Sporting Clays Pan-American Games. He and I hit it off immediately, as I appreciated his no-nonsense style and enthusiasm for shooting. Since then he has consistently produced entertaining and informative Sporting Clays columns and been a pleasure to work with.

A couple of years ago Barry became ill, and this led to an extended hospital stay. When he eventually returned home, all of us were relieved and looked forward to his speedy recovery and return to our pages. But after a time and much soul searching, Barry and I recognized that he no longer would be able to cover sporting clays as he had in the past. It’s never easy to part ways with friends, and I’d like to thank Barry for his long-term commitment and the positive impact he’s had on SSM. He will be missed.

So who to take over the Sporting Clays column? Who knows not only the game but also SSM’s readers and what they want to get out of the sport? Time and again one name kept popping up in our search: Chris Batha.

If you’ve been around double-gun circles long enough, you know Chris Batha. Chris, who hails from South Carolina by way of England, is a presence. He is an entertainer, a raconteur, a person around whom crowds gather to hear the latest buzz in the industry or tales from his latest gunning adventure. His enthusiasm for all things shooting is electrifying and his passion for the sport contagious.

Even more important—at least for our purposes—is that Chris knows of what he speaks. He has “been there and done that” and is able to draw from experience. A world-class shooting instructor and gunfitter, he knows what it takes to become a talented shot, and he’s able to explain complex subjects in terms that anyone can understand.

But don’t take my word for it; read Vic Venters’ bio of Chris on page 74 and Chris’s inaugural Sporting Clays column on page 56. I hope you agree that the addition of Chris to our masthead is a positive one and that you find him to be as wonderful an ambassador for shooting as I do.

Tom Davis

The other good news is that we’re welcoming Tom Davis as an Editor at Large. Tom, who lives in Wisconsin, has been writing for SSM since the magazine’s fourth issue. It hasn’t been until the past few years, however, that he’s begun contributing with regularity. In that time we’ve published stories of his on subjects ranging from picking a professional dog trainer to waterfowling from layout boats to the history of hunting trains in the US.

For years I’ve admired Tom’s articles in magazines like Pointing Dog Journal, Pheasants Forever and Sporting Classics, where he has written on dogs, the outdoors, and sporting and wildlife art. He also has authored more than a dozen books, including The Orvis Book of Dogs, The Tattered Autumn Sky—Bird Hunting in the Heartland, and The Art of Remington Arms.

His real passion, though, is hunting dogs, and he currently has two English setters: Ernie and Tina. It is our hope to give him plenty of excuses to travel the country chasing birds and keep us entertained with his adventures.