Ben Hoskyns is a consummate wildlife artist and also a keen shot, running a small shoot at home. Who better to devote a large part of his time, energies and talent over an intensive two year period, producing The Nature of Game?
After The Better Shot (Holland & Holland) with its large chapter on safety, this is surely the most important addition to the shooting man's bookshelf - and also, one suspects, a book that fills the biggest gap.
It would not be surprising if even the most experienced international shot were to find much of the information new to him. How many can really distinguish between the greylag and the pinkfoot, have a good understanding of the etiquette of boar hunting, and also identify the game species of upland America? Even at a more local level, many of the sights, sounds and movements of the redleg, or even our old friend the pheasant, are not as familiar as, perhaps, they should be to those who spend so much of the autumn and winter observing them over the barrels of a Holland & Holland.
Add to this essential education - not only indentification but shooting and even cooking tips - the sheer delight of enjoying some 300 of Ben Hoskyns's peerless drawings and The Nature of Game becomes more than a shooting man's guide. it is a book to savour and inspire for there is so much to learnbefore we can call ourselves all-round countrymen. The desire to conserve and respect the hunted is illustrated here with just as much force and evocation as the oft quoted Karen Blixen theme?
or it may be said that hunting
is ever a love affair.
The hunter is in love with the game,
real huunters are the true animal
lovers.
Hardback.