Pheasants of the Mind: A Hunter's Search for a Mythic Bird

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0136627501 ISBN 13: 9780136627500

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 1990

Quarter cloth over boards with a sewn binding. 154 pp; b&w illustrations throughout.

"It is impossible to read this without being reminded of Garrison Keilor at his best, which is very good indeed." -- M.F.K. Fisher

"One by-product of current anti-hunting sentiment is that hunting lore gets lost in the process. In the musings of Proper, however, such literature lives on. Pheasant hunting is his focus and serves as a springboard for philosophizing on camaraderie, recreation, agricultural methods, dogs, outdoor equipment, property management, cooking, and other important facets of leisure or not-so-leisure time. Those who think hunting is hokey or barbaric have probably never read Aldo Leopold, Theodore Roosevelt, or Datus Proper. The love of land, seasons, or times of day, the old and new ways of outdoor sportsmanship, and the styles and manners by which we live are admirably explicated in these well-crafted essays." -- Henry T. Armistead, Thomas Jefferson University Library, Philadelphia Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review:

No single title, in our opinion, sums up the life of the solitary pheasant hunter like this masterful work. Pheasants of the Mind is an introspective, sensitive book of timeless flavor in which pheasant hunting dominates the author's thoughts and actions throughout the year. It is a celebration of the time-honored art of pheasant hunting. 154 pages.

From Library Journal:

One by-product of current anti-hunting sentiment is that hunting lore gets lost in the process. In the musings of Proper, however, such literature lives on. Pheasant hunting is his focus and serves as a springboard for philosophizing on camaraderie, recreation, agricultural methods, dogs, outdoor equipment, property management, cooking, and other important facets of leisure or not-so-leisure time. Those who think hunting is hokey or barbaric have probably never read Aldo Leopold, Theodore Roosevelt, or Datus Proper. The love of land, seasons, or times of day, the old and new ways of outdoor sportsmanship, and the styles and manners by which we live are admirably explicated in these well-crafted essays. Highly recommended for hunting/natural history collections.
- Henry T. Armistead, Thomas Jefferson Univ. Lib., Philadelphia
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.