The Sporting Road: Travels Across America in an Airstream Trailer--with Fly Rod, Shotgun, and a Yellow Lab Named Sweetzer [Paperback]

Jim Fergus (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 17, 2000

From renowned outdoor writer Jim Fergus comes this collection which represents a kind of extended journey across the country from Colorado to Florida and points beyond. From pheasant hunting at Nebraska's Fort Robinson to bone fishing on the flats of Grand Exuma, Bahamas, these 32 essays, arranged by season, chronicle Fergus's most memorable travels hunting and fishing over a period of 6 years. A book about the natural world and man's place in it, The Sporting Road is also a book about relationships, which for Fergus include old friends, new acquaintances, and his trusted yellow lab, Sweetzer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Whether scrambling up the desiccated slopes of Utah's Desolation Canyon in pursuit of birds known as chukars or whipping a tenuous fly line into the Florida surf, Fergus (A Hunter's Road) relates simple and vivid details in this pleasing account of six years of travel and sport. Perhaps befitting a sportsman, Fergus has a spare writing style and uses only what he needs. The result is a light and enjoyable collection of tales featuring Fergus, his dog Sweetzer and a random cast ranging from a Georgia native known as Fishboy to a modern-day Davy Crockett, whom Fergus dubs the Mountain Man in deference to his flintlock rifle and steady hand with a double-bladed tomahawk. Fergus and the people with whom he hunts are not the beer-guzzling, reckless pillagers of nature who often live in the popular imagination. Even those who don't condone the sport should heed Fergus's points that hunters such as Theodore Roosevelt began the conservation movement, and that development, overgrazing and chemical farming cause incalculably greater harm to animal populations than does huntingAharm that is "rarely perceived by anyone other than the knowledgeable wildlife biologist." Because the book is composed primarily of previously published, though reworked, articles, readers are sometimes reintroduced to people and species that have already appeared. Even so, these overlapping tales have the honest allure of a good campfire yarn. Illus. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Colorado outdoor writer Fergus' essays celebrate bird hunting, friends, dogs, fishing, Native American culture, and the American countryside. Hunting and fishing are his primary concerns, and the majority of the pieces are about hunting turkeys, geese, grouse, partridge, and quail and fishing for bonefish, tarpon, bass, and trout. The sporting activity takes place as Fergus works his way across the country in an Airstream trailer with only his dog, Sweetzer, for company. In addition to accounts of his adventures in pursuit of fish and fowl, Fergus offers vivid descriptions of obscure wildlands in North Dakota, Nebraska, and elsewhere as well as appealing vignettes about cooking, camping, and the people he meets on the road. Insightful observations on the perils facing small towns and farms bring a touch of social consciousness to the easygoing, personable memoir. This book will appeal to those who enjoy the outdoor writing of William Tapply (see below) and Russell Chatham. John Rowen --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (October 17, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312267800
• ISBN-13: 978-0312267803
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #493,550 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jim Fergus is a former freelance writer who has published hundreds of articles in dozens of regional and national magazines and newspapers. He is the author of three novels, and two books of nonfiction. His bestselling novel, One Thousand White Women, has been a favorite selection of book clubs and reading groups across the country for over a decade. The novel won the Mountain and Plains Booksellers association Fiction Award. The French translation - Mille Femmes Blanches - won the "Best First Foreign Novel" award in France, and has sold over 400,000 copies in that country. Fergus' most recent novel, Marie-Blanche, a sweeping family historical fiction that spans the entire 20th century, was published in France in the spring of 2011. An English edition of Marie-Blanche is soon to be published in America in Kindle format. Jim Fergus divides his time between southern Arizona, northern Colorado, and France.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A book for non-sportsmen, too, May 26, 2000

By 

Ron Franscell, Author of 'Sourtoe Cocktail Club' - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sporting Road: Travels Across America in an Airstream Trailer--with Fly Rod, Shotgun, and a Yellow Lab Named Sweetzer (Hardcover)

If you've ever thought about a fisherman's life on the banks of a trout stream or knee-deep in the Bahamian surf, or just contemplated why the seasons change colors, you might want to hitch a ride with Jim Fergus.

The self-described "hook-and-bullet hack" -- in fact, one of the most thoughtful hunting and fishing writers in America, a field editor for Sports Afield magazine -- travels "The Sporting Road" like Kerouac with a fly rod and a 12-gauge, where every stream is a stream of consciousness. As you cruise the blue highways from Washington to Florida, Fergus muses about hunters' patient wives, sharptail grouse, bamboo fly-rods, the coming of snow, bonefishing, Native American culture, lives worth living, the perils facing small towns, good dogs and good friends. There's a certain poetry that emanates from somewhere deep down, an echo of a primitive time, brought up-to-date by Airstream trailers, Coleman grills and, for better or worse, Eddie Bauer.

This is a good book for non-hunters and non-anglers, the most militant of whom assume avid sportsmen have little conscience or intellect. Fergus proves otherwise. He is an eloquent spokesman for the sporting life, not defensive and clearly thoughtful. If you've ever wanted to understand the allure of frigid mornings in high-plains cornfields, or soggy nights on the banks of an unknown river, or why a hunter would drive for two days for a fleeting glimpse of a bird too small for dinner on its own, read "The Sporting Road."

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A darn good read, October 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Sporting Road: Travels Across America in an Airstream Trailer--with Fly Rod, Shotgun, and a Yellow Lab Named Sweetzer (Hardcover)

Fisherman? wingshooter? Read this book. A "sequel" of sorts to "A Hunter's Road," Fergus again hits the road in a book that, for generations to come, will be seen as a social commentary on rural America at the tail-end of the 20th Century. For us, though, it will merely serve to put more pressure on our marriages, as we load up our vehicles with rod and gun and head out of town, inspired by Fergus and friends' sporting adventures.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book took me back to a time ... not long ago., May 26, 2000

By 

Gerald Batson "Jake Blues" (Rochester Hills, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sporting Road: Travels Across America in an Airstream Trailer--with Fly Rod, Shotgun, and a Yellow Lab Named Sweetzer (Hardcover)

Unfortunatly, for me, I was well past middle age (55) before I ever ventured into the woods with a shotgun looking for some game.

I was very excited about my first hunt and after three days of not seeing any game, I realized that during that time, I had changed ... from a novice hunter to a man in love with the outdoors.

I may not have seen any game but I saw the trees (seemed like the first time) ... and the grass, the river, the lake, the fields, the sun and shadows, the clouds drifting overhead.

I listened to the wind, the sounds the trees make when they rub together, the rustling of the grass.

In spite of the fact that I carried a weapon and moved thru the woods in a preditory mode (or maybe because of it) I experienced a sense of peace and wonder that I hadn't known since I was a child ... and I loved every moment of it.

I felt safe, at one with my surroundings ... I felt like I belonged there.

Reading this book brought me back to that place ... and it made me long to get back in the woods as soon as I can.

This book spoke to my heart.

Thank you Mr. Fergus.