daverichey July 3rd, 2008

TITLE: Ask The Whitetail Guides
AUTHOR: by J. Y. Jones
PUBLISHER: Safari Press Inc
DISTIRBUTOR: Safari Press Inc
CONTACT:
Safari Press Inc
15621 Chemical Lane
Building B
Huntington Beach, CA 92649-1506

WEBSITE: Safari Press Inc
PHONE: Phone (714) 894-9080
COST $24.95 + S/H; Hardcover, dust jacket, 227 pages and b/w photos.

It seems that everyone and their twin brother has written a deer-hunting book in the past 20 years, including three by this writer. Those books, with some qualified exceptions, provide very little more than the author’s personal perspective. Often, that perspective is based on hunting in just one state or just one area within that state.

Such is not the case with Jones’ book. He draws on the skills and talents of 18 longstanding whitetail deer guides from North America, including Mexico. These guides provide definitive advice on how to hunt whitetails. Amazing enough, some of the tactics used on whitetails in Kansas will probably work in Illinois, Montana, Idaho or Nebraska.

For example, Jones offers the hunting advice of people from widely diverse areas, such as: Hal Blood of Maine; Jeff Charles of Maine; Dan Rosman of Michigan; Chris Pevey of Georgia; Charles Ruth of South Carolina; Jay Steen of Alabama; David Davis of Texas; Mike Gardner of Texas; Don White of Texas; Eric Albus of Montana; Keaton Kelso of Kansas; James Woodley of Illinois; Gary Drinkall of British Columbia; Rene and Kelly Semple of Alberta; Jim Shockey of British Columbia; Duwane Adams of Arizona; Carlos Gonzalez Hermosillo of Mexico; and Kirk Kelso of Arizona.

The table of contents covers such diverse topics as Selecting An Outfitter/Guide; The Whitetail Guides Evaluate The Hunter; Evaluating Hunting Arms; Hunting Whitetails With The Guide; Hunting Big-Woods Bucks; Hunting Old South Bucks; Hunting Brush-Country Bucks; Hunting Big-River Bucks; Hunting Cold-Country Bucks; Hunting High-Desert Bucks; and Parting Shots By The Whitetail Guides.

This book covers all types of methods and techniques from hunting the Michigan fields and woods to hunting the southwest for Coues deer. It covers such places as Maine to Alberta and British Columbia. The plains states of Kansas and others are covered as is the lowlands of South Carolina and the rich palmetto and wooded lands of Alabama.

What this book does, through its various writers, is provide sportsmen with countless different ways to hunt the whitetail deer. Some techniques that work in one place may be adapted for use in another state with similar terrain.

This book is much different than most whitetail titles, and that is just another good reason to buy it. What you’ll find here is totally different than the stuff found in other whitetail books. It’s different, and studying the many hunting methods can make you a better hunter, wherever your whitetail hunts may take you.

Tags: , deer, guides, hunt, j.y., jones, press, richey, safari, whitetail

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daverichey June 22nd, 2008

TITLE: Radical Bear Hunter
AUTHOR: Dick Scorzafava
PUBLISHER: Stackpole Books
DISTIRBUTOR: Stackpole Books

CONTACT:

Stackpole Books
5067 Ritter Road
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055

WEBSITE: Stackpole Books for more information on this and other Stackpole Books
ISBN#: 978-0-8117-3418-9, for bookstore ordering
COST:  $21.95 + S/H; Paperback, color photos, 212 pages with index

The interest in black bear hunting has grown significantly in recent years. Whitetail deer, for most hunters, remain their primary focus. Bear hunting is less expensive than going after caribou, elk or moose, and bears frequently become the second big-game species to be hunted.

Black bears are relatively common in certain states, and the author features a chart that shows approximately how many bruins live in certain states and Canadian provinces. Anyone planning a spring or fall bear hunt should pick a state or province with high bear numbers.

I look at this book after being an experienced bear hunter for over 30 years. It covers all the angles a new or experienced hunter should know to be successful. Bear hunting is available in many areas, and after hunting deer for many years, sportsmen decide to tackle a game animal that has the ability to fight back if it chooses to do so. For some hunters, this faint element of danger is welcomed.

Don’t get me wrong: even though black bears can be deadly, the danger is fairly remote providing hunters do not get between a sow and her cubs. Make no mistake about it: bears can be dangerous, as the author points out in this book.

It has some great bear-hunting chapters, and the book is well illustrated by color photos. Some of my favorite chapters include:

• Reading Bear Sign
• Reading A Bear’s Body Language
• Baiting The Black Bear
• Spot And Stalk
• Hunting With Hounds
• True Trophy Black Bear
• Deciding On A Hunt Location
• Picking An Outfitter
• Live Smart In Black Bear Country

The chapter on How To Field Judge A Bear is very informative. All bears look as big as a black VW Bug to the uninitiated sportsman when they see their first up-close bruin. Judging a big bruin can be handled in many different ways, and the author outlines his methods of judging a bear’s size.

He tells how to establish the height on a bear standing with all four feet on the ground, and how to place markers on nearby trees to give a better idea of its size. Know too that the difference between a spring bear that has just come out of hibernation, and a fall bear that is fattening up prior to hibernation, can be vastly different.

Several years ago I shot a 450-pound black bear on Vancouver Island while hunting with guide Jim Shockey, and the hide squared seven feet. That spring bear weighed 450 pounds but would have tipped the scales at about 600 pounds in the fall. The author of this book explains the differences between spring and fall bruins.

I found this book to be very informative, and chockful of useful information about bruins. It offers most of the information a beginning hunter will need, and there is some data here that even some advanced bear hunters may not know.

It is a worthy book to add to any hunter’s library, and if that hunter is gearing up for a future bear hunt, this is one title he should read.

Tags: bear, bruin, dave richey, hunt, hunting, radical, scrozafava, stackpole

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