Tales or Tails
Several years ago I bought "Pheasant Tales," an anthology about what probably is our most cherished immigrant, edited by Doug Truax and Art Delaurier, Jr. and elegantly illustrated by Eldridge Hardie, at Fieldsport (www.fieldsportltd.com), the definitively elegant wingshooter purveyor here in Traverse City.
Don't ask me why, but I had many false starts at the book and it sit on my bed stand collecting dust, for the horror of my wife, night after long and lonesome (for the book) night, but a week or so ago I decided to put an attend to the book anguish and give it the attention it deserves.
I really can't tell you why reading, or at least start reading, this fantastic book was such an odyssey. I love pheasant and pheasant hunting, although I must confess that I am hunting them less than I would like, maybe it is due to the soft flight of the woodcock and fantastically elegant flavor of the ruffled grouse, or maybe work and life gets in the way of pheasant. Go figure!
Anyhow, the herculean work has been completed and I had derived a lot of pleasure from it, had a lot of laughs and may have shed a tear or two. And now that I am done, I may even think about one more pheasant hunt before the virtual (preserve) season is still going.
