Customer Reviews

A Hunter's Road: A Journey with Gun and Dog Across the American Uplands (An Owl Book)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a somewhat novice upland bird hunter with a young dog, and as a writer for a state wildlife management agency, I found a deep appreciation for the observations, sentiments and candid representations of the experiences the author enjoyed while researcing his book.

He details a trip across the United States and all the interesting people and places he visited and came to know as intimately as only a hunter or nature lover could. This book was like a long daydream that I didn't want to end, and I'm greatful he invited me along. I have met so many hunters of the type he writes about - some good, some bad and some who just "are."

He at times reports objectively about their attitudes and other times makes judgements that I may or may not agree with, but it was always entertaining and was food for thought.

This is not a book that will teach you where or how to hunt, but it will teach you about why you hunt and what is happening to the hunt. We would do well to think about his words as we enter the 21st Century.

Fergus, a peripatetic writer, travels cross country with his lab using hunting as his reason to find the heart and soul of America. Wandering the fields and woodlands seeking a covey on the rise, Fergus shares the joys and challenges of friendship, dogs, and the American frontier. Fergus and his companions are saddened by the lose of habitat that protects breeding birds, that provide there communion with nature. Reverently, he ponders one of the great philosophical questions of our time: Can a hunter also be an environmentalist?

Fortunately, I stumbled across Jim Fergus' book while doing research in my local library. I've now purchased a copy to keep and reread. If you enjoy Steinbeck or Buffett, you will enjoy reading this book.

PS... I'm a middle-aged, environmentalist, non-hunting woman.... AND I loved this book.

For anyone who has a genuine respect and love for upland bird hunting - the sport, the dogs, the game and their habitat - Jim Fergus's A Hunters Road is one of the definitive Classics. The book is not only a wonderfully entertaining read, it is also a serious commentary on those who pursue the sport, the good, the bad, the ugly, the ethics, and the environment. Of course, there will be reader's who either misread or misinterpret Fergus's intent. For those however, who wish to journey into the sanctity of the sport (bird lovers included), and be subliminally educated in the process, Fergus's A Hunter's Road is a must.

Fergus covers more ground in this journey than many bird-hunting addicts would care to admit to themselves. He not only scours the country for the finest coveys, but along the way he also flushes up the issues and lifestyles that upland bird hunters across the U.S. know all too well.

But when these issues and lifestyles see the light of day, he often misses them with both barrels (as he humbly admits is his luck with birds), because his words don't fire out as cleanly as his readers might have hoped. Some sentences seem to go on forever, and the "nearly"s and "somewhat"s are the briars and sinkholes on an otherwise clear path.

What Fergus missed in editing, he more than made up for in content. The book is well researched, the character portraits are courageously honest, and his self-inspection even moreso. There are emotional moments and passages which will make you laugh so loud you'll wake up the dog. The game recipes he collects from each companion are a clever idea, and they add a unique flavor to this traveller's log.

It's the kind of journey you wish you had time to take, and it's the kind of book you wish you had written. Only if you had, you might have cleaned it up just a little better.

I could relate to so many of the experiences in this book, it seems like it could be the story I write about my time in the field. This represents every hunters dream. The best book I have read. Thanks Jim. How 'bout them "Reebok" Quail of Arizona? Good Hunting.

Spectacular book and if you're a bird hunter, you won't be able to put this one down. The author went on a journey than many of us can only dream about!

As a fellow bird hunter and conservationist, I am just going to say that I am thankful for writers such as Jim Fergus who in this book explores the ethics of hunting in a modern world while traveling around the country on a five-month long hunting trip with his beloved yellow lab, Sweetzer.

An environmentalist and hunter, Fergus is ostensibly biased against the hunters that have an attitude that differs from his own and he unobtrusively confronts those who seem to lack respect and compassion toward the environment and the animals they kill. He criticizes those for whom it is more important to "limit out" than to preserve the resources that we have. Fergus has tremendous respect for the birds he kills and the reader is acutely aware of the paradox of killing an animal and feeling remorse at the same time.

He raises good questions about the viability of hunting any kind of game in the future in the United States, especially on public lands. Hopefully it will motivate Americans to take more measures to protect the environment and wildlife habitat, if only so that we can continue to enjoy the pursuit of hunting in the wild just as our ancestors have always done so.

Good read, nice book about his travels with his dog. Covers most of the country bird hunting. Not preachy but makes good points about loss of habitat and regional differences in the way folks hunt birds.

I've never hunted in my life but I was swept into this adventure with Fergus and his dog, Sweetzer. It was an exciting and thought-provoking read and I learned much about bird hunting (methods and ethics), the land, and our fragile environment. Fergus' writing style is humorous and intuitive. It's a must read for all who care about our environment.

I liked the premise and based on the reviews bought A Hunters Road. Good outdoor writing effectively takes the reader afield in their minds eye, be it the forest of Maine, the flats off the Florida Keys or the African Savannah. Good outdoor writing also speaks to the place that hunting and fishing holds in our life; how it is a part of us emotionally and spiritually. Consequently, good outdoor writing is a tough job, one that A Hunters Road is not up to. For all it's promise this book is a relatively dry travel journal peppered with sappy hunting cliches.