Book Review

Let's look at four books that are very different in tone and scope. First, a collection of essays on hunting and nature, then a couple of books about shotgunning, and finally a history of Eley, the great English ammunition firm, which was touched on in the November/December Gazette section ("Readings on the Roots of the .410").

Tracks
By Donald C. Jackson (University Press of Mississippi, 601-432-6205, www.upress.state.ms; 2006) 279 pp. $25.

A self-identified "son of the South," Donald Jackson grew up in Arkansas and, after spending time in Southeast Asia and Alaska among other places, heeded the call to return home. Today he's on the wildlife and fisheries faculty at Mississippi State University, where, he writes, his main mission is "to keep the connection between people and rivers."
Tracks contains 22 essays plus an invocation celebrating the natural world that the author delivered to the Mississippi Wildlife Federation (a preacher's kid, Jackson once studied at a seminary). The essays range from memoirs about hunting frogs as a teenager; to pursuing ptarmigan, moose and bear in Alaska; to stalking deer and squirrels in Arkansas and Mississippi. Jackson recalls dove and duck hunts (including a notable one when he accidentally sprayed a companion with shot) and fishing expeditions in places as far-flung as Malaysia and the Gulf of Mexico.

Jackson loves the South's wild places, with their incredible diversity and fecundity. He points out that "beyond the backyards, out across the pastures, and back in the woods, another world is unfolding." He owns a small farm that is "a little piece of heaven here in Mississippi." There he can "slip into a woodland pond early on a winter's morning, shoot a couple of ducks, watch geese fly overhead, perhaps see a deer, spot a raccoon track in the mud alongside my creek, listen to the predawn chorus of coyotes, and greet the sunrise with a very special sort of prayer, with ducks, shotguns, and dogs as my sacraments."

The soul of the book is the chapter "Heritage," set on Davis Island, which edges the Mississippi River south of Vicksburg. These rich bottomlands were once part of Brierfield Plantation, owned by Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy. Now they're a vast hunting preserve, "where hundreds of acres are added or swept away every year as the river changes its channel." Jackson has hunted, fished and nature-rambled on the preserve through the invitation of its current owners, whom he characterizes as "guardians of heritage."

There's passion contained in "Heritage," and not a little bitterness. Jackson refers to the "War of Northern Aggression," during which his great grandfather fought under Confederate General Joe Wheeler. In his youth the author was told that "the war really wasn't about slavery" but rather rep-resented "an attempt by the Union to exploit our natural resources and to keep us under their thumb." Jackson encounters foundations of slave cabins while hunting on Davis Island, and on the wall at the clubhouse is a sobering framed bill of sale for an African American slave and her young son. Jackson admits that slavery, "even in its most benign form, was wrong," and he's not an apologist for it, but neither does he condemn it vociferously. I was not wholly comfortable with his stance and suggest you read his explanation yourself.

For Jackson, Davis Island symbolizes "a way of life, a connection with the land, and interplay between humans and land and river and forest and wildlife and swamp and lake that has all but vanished elsewhere in our country." He realizes that someday this place, too, probably will cease to exist, "and then the island would be connected to the mainland, no longer an island, having evolved over time into something else, still beautiful, still good, but something different."

The prose in Tracks is mainly clean and straightforward, although at times the author preaches a bit or emotes rather than simply presenting concrete details that let the reader build a mental picture of the place or creatures or even the emotions being described. Jackson is deeply in tune with his homeland, and he understands how it has molded its inhabitants. His is a heartfelt book that ought to be read widely.

Mastering Skeet
By King Heiple (Stackpole Books, 800-732-3669, www.stackpolebooks.com; 2007) 212 pp. $19.95.

I'm a hunter first and foremost, and I shoot skeet with a couple of select pals as a means of tuning up for bird season: We shoot gun down, stay at any station that's giving us trouble, and don't bother with keeping score. I know I'm in the minority, and this book is much more of a technical reference than a duffer like myself needs. According to King Heiple, a master instructor with the National Skeet Shooting Association, "If an occasional 25 is your goal, you don't need this manual... If your serious goal is 100-straights, this manual can help you achieve it."

Heiple emphasizes a firm foundation of basics, which he explains with words, photos and diagrams. He cites three fundamentals: Keep your eye on the target, keep your cheekbone on the stock and have the proper lead at the instant the shot clears the barrel. This is not a "read and shoot" manual but rather a work to be pored over, its graphs and scientific "principles and techniques applied to your shooting style." The author stresses the importance of getting good coaching. He discusses proper form, stance, posture and balance, gun mount, pivoting and follow-through. Heiple also examines each individual skeet station, pointing out common errors for each shot and making suggestions for correcting flaws. A bibliography is included.

Eley Cartridges
By C.W. Harding (Quiller Press, distributed by Safari Press, 800-451-4788, www.safaripress.com; 2006) 192 pp. $65.

The manufacture of cartridges under the Eley name had its genesis in, of all things, the silversmithing trade. Probably because of a downturn in the silver business in the early 1800s and in response to the increased use of guns in both the military and sporting fields, members of the notable Eley family of silversmiths in London began making ammunition around 1828. (James Purdey was an early customer.) As author C.W. Harding points out, both silversmithing and the making of ammunition required a knowledge of how to work with metal and how to make and efficiently use small machines; also, precise workmanship was necessary to both crafts.

Of course accidents happen-as one did in 1841, when William Eley, who founded the firm, was killed "whilst mixing up mercury fulminate" for use in percussion caps. (A gruesome little clip from The Times of London describes the "frightful spectacle" of the corpse.) Following this inauspicious event, a pair of sons, William and Charles, ages 20 and 17 when their father died, carried on the business under the title "W&C Eley." Early patents for the firm included combustible paper cartridges, waterproof percussion caps, cartridges wrapped with animal skin and wire-reinforced paper cartridges. An 1859 price list details a range of other products including tools, lubricants, patches, war rockets, brass fuses, quick and slow matches and various types of gunpowder.

Harding describes the firm's evolution to become a major manufacturer of centerfire ammunition for rifles, pistols and shotguns. The book reproduces headstamps, advertisements of products from Rocket Cartridges (basically tracer ammunition; it was used to train air-corps gunners during World War II) to clay throwers, plus photographs of factories, actual cartridges and items such as percussion-cap tins and advertising displays. There are accounts of several explosions that the firm withstood over the years. Appendices list the numerous kinds of ammo made by the firm, both in-house and for a great many gunmakers, estates, shops and individuals throughout Britain, the US and other countries.

This is not the sort of book that you'll sit down and read cover to cover. But if ammunition and history are your cup of tea, you will want Eley Cartridges for your library.

Modern Shotgunning
By Dave Henderson (Stoeger Books, 301-283-6300, www.stoegerbooks.com; 2006) 160 pp. $24.95.

Writes Dave Henderson in an introduction to his new book: "I view shotguns as tools and value efficiency, performance and durability over aesthetics, feel and pedigree." Modern Shotgunning lives up to that ethos. It's an 8" x 10" hardcover with glossy color photos, and it's heavily weighted toward modern mass-produced guns, particularly those designed for turkey hunting, competitive shotgun sports and the use of rifled slugs to hunt big game. (Henderson's Website notes that the Endicott, New York, outdoor writer has worked as a big-game guide and taken more than 100 white-tailed deer with shotguns.)

As well as chapters on actions, barrels, chokes, gunfit, optics/sights, and gun repair and cleaning, the book includes information on hearing protection. (Henderson admits that guns have "cost me most of my hearing.") Although Modern Shotgunning seems authoritative in several areas, it also advances some questionable theories. Henderson writes that the 28 gauge "may be the most useful of the small bores because of its comfortable size, soft recoil and effective 3/4-ounce payload." What about the 20? It delivers all of the above, its additional 1/8 ounce of shot makes it a more-dependable game getter, and a much wider range of ammunition is available for it than the 28. Henderson suggests that a straight grip "will put the thumb of a shooter used to a pistol grip dangerously close to his nose." That's true for a short-stocked gun, but it isn't the case for a shotgun with an adequate length of pull.

Modern Shotgunning is probably best regarded as an overview for the beginning shooter who also anticipates hunting turkeys and deer with a shotgun.