Warren stumbled into a life of bird hunting. As a Westerner it took years for him to realize that shotguns and the birds one hunts with them were serious pursuits. Somewhere along the way he realized that he'd taken most of North America's native grouse. With the addition of Maggie, the Gordon setter, to his life, the pursuit of the Grouse Grand Slam seemed possible. The book includes the mutual training of each other and the graduation of a bird hunting puppy into a true bird dog along with Warren's realization that the dog, too, was as dedicated to the hunt as he was. These stories of man, and of dog and man, cover western North America from places as different as Fairbanks, Alaska is from Fort Riley, Kansas, as British Columbia is from Arizona. Laugh with the dog that won't tolerate the waste of time for the first cup of coffee in the morning and cry when two people shoot at the same bird. Consider the interplay of planning and sheer dumb luck in both the training of the dog and the happenings of the hunt. Whether you've been there yourself or haven't ever hunted beyond the outskirts of town, this book has something for you to enjoy.

Certifiably psychotic guides, angry knife wielding natives, feces chucking primates, hallucinogenic drugs, Hemingway's incensed niece, and breakaway jungle toilets are just a few of the trials and tribulations author Gayne C. Young faced during his first few years as an outdoor writer. Join this natural born - and, yes albeit hard to believe, professionally trained - raconteur as he travels the Texas swamps and brush country, African veld, rainforests of Papua New Guinea, and the Yucatan Jungle in search of adventure, excitement, and his next beer."