**Contains previously published material--please see author's notes at end of this description.**It's a book tracing a hunter's lifetime, from a hellraising kid, to a progressing adult, and at last a reflective ol' geezer. While an industry mires, even saturates itself in "how to" and "what's new" literature, a bunch of folks across rural America seem overlooked. Aching to see ourselves in the pages we turn, we instead drown in the latest flood of giant ten-pointers falling to the latest flood of gadgetry or clever tactics. This book solves that by speaking to regular hunters which most of us are, lucky to kill even one ten-pointer somewhere along the line, but probably never two. The book, itself, was conceived in exceptional deer country inundated with accomplished hunters, but none of us see the slightest semblance between the way we hunt and how it is portrayed on outdoor television shows or in magazines. This book heartens readers to feel better about themselves because they hunt; not less of themselves for failing to measure up.The book never wavers from the homespun honesty personifying conversations hunters across America engage in daily. Some lore, sure, some episodic adventures spilling over at the edges, you bet, but they are real stories from real America-no paid guides or any other extravagances-so not a common hunter among us will feel left out.Chronologically, follow the author's growth from the days of body counts and fist pumps, and watch how hunting grips his life in the most meaningful ways until at last in his sixties he can look back to fit the pieces nicely into place. It describes a journey dotted emotionally with defining moments, at its highest point a climactic encounter with a black bear arrowed at twenty short yards from a ground blind.While hunting constitutes the main theme, much of it episodic, there are routine philosophical turns as well; especially when speaking of hounds, old-timers, hikes, and whatnot, but narrowing all the way down to etching tracks through an overnight inch of snow under a full moon, or the smell of crackling woodstoves, or the first sip of coffee from a thermos before daylight, all of it compels readers onward.Wit and humor share center stage often, particularly about the farming community, some game warden fare, Hattie's megaphone, Rambler 404's "Bear Bat," the "R" word, or Ole Hunter warning Ken about homemade ladder stands: "I'm telling you true! I don't have too many falls left!" You get the picture.Parring a symbolic "trail lined with decency," it is a version of hunting wherein regular Joe's needn't look far to see themselves. And whether they are laughing out loud or shedding a brief tear, they will at last be marching in step with their own pulse. The latest revelations about ten-pointers cannot make that promise.Author's Note: This book could be assessed as the episodic version of Beyond The Shot. In that book I leaned on political aspects of hunting more than I have here. Many of the stories in Beyond The Shot are repeated herein along with many additional stories, the reason being this was originally prepared for commercial publishing and demanded a lighter approach. Now that it is finished, I am pleased enough with the results to essentially replace Beyond The Shot with this book. I will leave Beyond The Shot available, but would suggest if readers were going to choose one or the other that they should choose this one.
Roger Page, sixty-three years old, is enjoying semi-retirement from his thirty-two-years of operating a landscaping business by embarking on a second career in outdoor writing. You can find his articles frequently on the back page of Deer & Deer Hunting Magazine as well as North American Whitetail. He has also landed articles in Bear Hunting Magazine, Life In The Finger Lakes Magazine, New York Game & Fish, and Fur-Fish-Game. He currently has two full length books available on Amazon. One is directed at fishers-An Improbable Cast... Called Fishing Partners; the other for hunters-Beyond The Shot-Commemorating Our Resilience-A Book For Hunters. Page hunts passionately, fishes more passionately, bets on an occasional horse and loves any kind of hound. Most of all he loves his wife of thirty-six years, Karen, and their rural life in Addison, NY.
