Tales of Quails and Such

[Jrclmn18]

Ok, so am looking for a good read/tabletop decor on hunting. I am NOT looking for training books. The title of this post is in reference to a book by Havilah Babcock. He wrote many humorous short stories on hunting and fishing the southern states back in the day. I would recommend all of these to any avid hunter, especially a bird hunter. Some of those recommendations are Tails of Quails and Such, My Health is Better in November, Jaybirds Go to heck on Fridays and I Don't Want to Shoot an Elephant. Anyone have any other recommendations. These listed are great.

[Jrclmn18]

Typo - TALES of Quails and Such. Also, I am guessing this forum is auto edited to ensure the exclusions of fowl language since the other title IS NOT Jaybirds Go to "HECK" of Fridays.

[asc]

Big Red series by Jim kjelgarred(spelling?) read them as a kid, great books to start.

Babcock's stuff is good.

[ezzy333]

Any of Gene Hills stuff.

Ezzy

[ckirsch]

Robert Ruark's "The Old Man and The Boy". It just doesn't get any better than that. "Gun Dogs Afield" by Horace Lytle is another good one. Corey Ford also wrote some great stuff.

[TraditionsGSPs2010]

Robert Ruark's "The Old Man and The Boy". It just doesn't get any better than that.

+1 Ruark had me when he refers to the quail as "a gentleman".

If you like humor, I would definitely check out Patrick McManus. "They shoot canoes don't they" and several others are a compilation of short stories. Some of them are side splitters.

[RoostersMom]

I, too, love McManus - he's funny, funny, funny.

[Meller]

Jenny Willow

[BrushBuster]

http://whitetail.outdoorsfirst.com/boar ... =1&start=1

Here's a short story about an English Setter.

[Hookadooka BirdDogs]

Look for these:

Game Birds of North America by Leonard Lee Rue III

New England Grouse Shooting by William Harnden Foster (must read)

The Wildlife Series-Ruffed Grouse by Sally Atwater (must read)

American RoughShooting by Edward K. Roggenkamp, III

Pheasant Hunting by John Hightower (1946)

Drummer in the Woods by Burton Spiller (21 stories about grouse hunting)

Grouse and Grouse Hunting by Frank Woolner

Tom

[phoneman45]

Any book by Gene Hill tops the list. He was fortunate enough to have lived during the heyday if you will, of bird hunting in the northeast. he hunted and fished during the 60s 70s and 80s and was a master essayist as well. He wrote for all the main outdoor rags of the day and his Hillcountry articles were the mainstay in Field and Stream for years. He wrote several books as well such as Tears and Laughter, Mostly Tailfeathers and A Hunters Fireside Book. One thing i always foiund funny about Babcock is that when ever he was described by an editor or publisher he was always said to be a master with a flyrod, but of all of his stuff that I read he was mainly a bream fisherman who used a cane pole and live bait, he never once mentioned a flyrod in any of his writings. I suppose that with all the hoopla associated with flyfishing they thought he may look more outdoorsy to his readers if he was said to flyfish, (he may have but I have never seen it mentioned in his books). by the way ebay has thousands of outdoor books, I buy from there all the time.

eric

[JonnyNC]

Havilah Babcock is one of my favorite authors, I keep a copy of "Tales of Quails and Such" on the nightstand.

Another great Southern writer, who was a contemporary and a friend of Babcock, is Nash Buckingham. Some of Nash Buckingham's stories aren't politically correct but they are true to his time; and they give you a glimpse into Southern sporting culture of the early 1900's when quail hunting was at its peak.