Guy de la Valdène was a writer, photographer, and sportsman who was raised in the United States and France. His essays have appeared in publications such as Gray's Sporting Journal and he wrote five books; Making Game: An Essay on Woodcock (1985), For a Handful of Feathers (1995), Red Stag: A Novel (2003), The Fragrance of Grass (2011), and On the Water: A Fishing Memoir (2015). He died in 2023. Robert DeMott , a former English professor, is an Editor-at-Large for The Upland Almanac and co-editor (with Dave Smith) of Afield: American Writers on Bird Dogs . He lives in Athens, Ohio.