A Rough-Shooting Dog

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

When avid bird-hunter Fergus ( The Wingless Crow ) needed a partner to find, flush and fetch quarry in the rugged countryside of central Pennsylvania, he chose an English springer spaniel, seven-week-old Jenny. In this charming account of a human-canine relationship, he describes Jenny's becoming a member of the family as well as a hunting companion. Taking us through her training and into the field in pursuit of grouse, woodcock and pheasant, he notes that on a hunt dog and human must coordinate their particular skills. Fergus describes the rough-shoots--alder jungle, cat-tail slough, old orchards, beaver pond--and discusses the merits of pointing and flushing dogs. Best of all, he conveys the real pleasure and excitement of upland bird hunting--the working partnership between hunter and dog. Illustrated. (Sept.)

Library Journal

``For the hunter, fall is the island and the rest of the year is the swim.'' Thus writer and outdoorsperson Fergus describes his first year with Jenny, a springer spaniel whom he is training to hunt upland birds. During the year's course, he loses his father, becomes a father himself, and finds that hunting is the one way to get close to wild creatures and to the natural cycle of death and life. Fergus writes sensitively and knowledgeably of the flora and fauna around him, while eloquently describing his roams with Jenny--a pair learning to act as one. Contemplative, yet joyful and celebratory, his work is reminiscent of James Kilgo's Deep Enough for Ivorybills ( LJ 4/1/88) in its view of hunting as a way of gaining knowledge. A welcome addition to any library. See also Fergus's Shadow Catcher , reviewed in this issue, p. 144.--Ed.-- Roland Person, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale