Customer Reviews

Hunting Bears: Black, Brown, Grizzly and Polar Bears (Outdoorsman's Edge)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I just have doubts about a book which claims to be a comprehensive guide to bear hunting written by a hunter who has never, EVER hunted bear... I mean why don't I write the book, I'm no expert, but at least I've been bear hunting a couple of times. While I'm at it I'll write the "comprehensive guide to Safari hunting for lions" or even Tigers!!! Who cares if I haven't hunted them (or ever will in the case of tigers) I can write a book about it.

The only thing redeming abou the book is that much of it is a cut and past excepts from other bear hunting books and articles by other writers, covered with a bad intro like, Dr. Ken Nordburg says .... That information is good and solid, but why do you need this book to say it? I mean why don't I just buy the other books. Needless to say I returned it...

The back of the book has a picture of the author in full hunting garb and statements that imply that she's hunted down her prey all over the continent ...then buried in the fine print of the Acknowledgments section, she admits that she has NEVER hunted or killed a bear of any kind. This book is sold on false pretenses ...a lie.

Some of the information in the book is useful if you are interested in bears. ALL of the hunting information is garbage and too high level to be of any use ...what do you expect from someone who only wore boots for the picture? I read only the sections that might have something to do with the kind of hunting that I DO and then dumped it in the trash ...along with a vow to never purchase anything from the "Outdoorsman's Edge" series again (what "edge"? Jeez.)

Go buy Black Bear Hunting ...Expert Strategies for Success by Gary Lewis if you want a book written by a REAL hunter, not some closet greeny.

Brian

Etling knows large predators, that much is certain. I've read her two-volume work "Bear Attacks" and also "Cougar Attacks: Encounters of the Worst Kind." She is an excellent researcher and has left no stone unturned in order to find the best information for the bear hunter and then to report it in the fewest words possible. In other words, she cuts through the crap.

Her sources are extraordinary, too. From reading her books on bear and cougar attacks it's clear that she has gleaned her information from every notable large predator biologist in North America, as well as famous bear hunters like Warren Parker, the former leader of SCI.

From biology to evolutionary behaviors to tactics, reading sign, choosing the right gun or bow, hiring an outfitter, hunting from a float plane, skinning your trophy, and preparing it for the table, Etling's covered it all, and yet the book sells for a reasonable price.

I've hunted bears all over the world and I know I was impressed. Reading Etling's book just makes me want to book yet another bear hunt.

Kathy Etling is a hunter, whose hunts include African game (it appears, indirectly, from a reference on page 111 to her taking rifles to Africa) and hunting in Alaska (evident from page 129), but she has not, she admits (on page vii), hunted bear. The book's back-cover, however, calls her "one of the most respected authorities on bears and bear hunting, pursuing her quarry throughout North America." I'll take her word for it and assume the back-cover's claim that she's hunted bear to be wrong. In her acknowledgments she thanks several expert bear hunters, so even though the book, it seems, is not written by a bear hunter, it is written by an experienced hunter of other large mammals and is supported by the insight of bear hunters known to her.

This book, then, is a researched report on bears and bear hunting, where the writer (an experienced hunter herself, but not of bears) interviewed actual bear hunters (both rifle and bow) and incorporated extended quotations from the hunters in the report. This doesn't make the book incorrect or misleading. She admits she got help, doesn't claim to be experienced in this, and names her advisers. But the book does have a second-hand, armchair feel to it.

A book on bear hunting written by a hunter who never shot a bear. Merely a review (though fairly interesting review) of what other folks had to say. She's shot lots of other game, should have stuck to them.

Before I bought the book, I was a little bothered by the harsh reviews. After reading this book, I COMPLETELY understand why. I could go on and on, but in an effort to be brief, I'll share the most glaring example of an inexperienced author/hunter. Before I do, I want to point out that the author writes her book as if she is an expert in the matter of hunting bears. The following is just one good example of how much of a joke she is.

Under the section of "Big Bores for Dangerous Game", she writes, "Wood stocked rifles cannot compete with synthetic-stocked models for bear hunting." "Sorry, but a wood-stocked rifle is not up to the task of bear hunting. A wet wooden gunstock will swell, and even a slight amount of swelling can make bullets spray all over the target, if they hit the target at all. Sure, your scope may return to zero when the stock dries out, but how long will that take." (Nevermind the fact that most rifles hunted in Alaska today and for over the last hundred years, have wooden stocks).

As gunsmith, a former army sniper, an avid hunter who has taken many bears in all sorts of weather conditions and someone who has spent most of his life in Alaska, I found that paragraph to be one of the most idiotic and false statements. Yes, a wood stock can affect accuracy, but only at ranges you shouldn't be shooting bears at anyway. Any degree of inaccuracy cause by a swollen wooden stock, is going to be small, and certainly wouldn't cause your bullets to "spray all over the target".

I have used un-bedded wooden stocked rifles all my hunting years and was always a marksman. I have used these rifles (300 Win Mag, 338 Win Mag and a 375 H&H) in some of the worst weather Alaska can dish out; in rain and cold that would make Gore-Tex whimper and snivel (I love Gore-Tex).

Honey, stick to topics you actually and truly know about. I definitely would NOT recommend this book to anyone who is serious about learning more about bear hunting. I was extremely disappointed.

I try to consider myself an open minded person. When Isaw that this book was written by a female author I was a bit intrigued by the prospect of reading a book about hunting my favorite game written from the point of view of a female hunter. The author's biography page says of Kathy Etling, "...she is also a longtime, seasoned bear hunter who pursues her quarry throughout North America." Then in the text of the book she makes the disclaimer that she has NEVER hunted bear.

Otherwise the book is OK. It is generally information culled from other sources. It is more of an undergraduate research paper than an authoritative guide for a beginning bear hunter, much less a seasoned bear hunter.

I give it 2 stars because it could have been worse, but it could have been much, much better.