Another winter is upon us and with most hunting seasons over, it’s a great time to stoke the wood stove, curl up under a blanket and enjoy the outdoors vicariously with some classic or modern hunting literature. Turn off the TV, put away the notepad and crack the binding on a real book.

Deer hunters, let authors like Larry Benoit, R.G. Bernier and Hal Blood take you on the track. Whether it’s your lifelong ambition to track down a big woods buck in the snow or if you’re merely looking for education and entertainment, they’ll bring you along through the written word so you can almost hear the snow crunch underfoot and feel the pounding pulse as you draw nearer to your quarry. In the process, you’ll learn much about the ways of the whitetail.

If you prefer classic literature, the aforementioned authors and their books share a common ancestry. First published in 1882, “The Still-Hunter” by T.S. Van Dyke remains at the top of the “must-read” list for novice and experienced deer hunters. Theodore Roosevelt, who was a hunting companion and literary associate of Van Dyke proclaimed, “It is one of the few hunting-books which should really be studied by the beginner because of what he can learn therefrom in reference to the hunter’s craft.”

Turkey hunters have a virtual library of literature to choose from. There are comprehensive how-to volumes like Jim Spencer’s “Turkey Hunter’s Digest,” or his three-book “Bad Birds” series of adventures and misadventures. For more local flavor, there’s “New England Turkey Hunting: Strategies for Success,” with separate sections on life history and biology of the birds; the history of wild turkey restoration in New England; and gear, tactics and techniques.

On the classic side, two turkey books top the list. First is “America’s Greatest Game Bird: Archibald Rutledge’s Turkey-Hunting Tales.” Rutledge’s somewhat archaic writing style adds seasoning to this soup of savory stories on the origins of turkey hunting, and illustrates how much the sport has evolved. Second is Tom Kelly’s “Better on a Rising Tide.” Like the aforementioned volume, this is a great read even if you don’t hunt, and even better if you do. Kelly’s book teaches us as much about ourselves as the birds we pursue.

For the generalist, few classics can rival “Hunting Adventures with Jimmy Robinson.” A former associate editor of Sports Afield magazine, his work comes from the golden age of modern hunting literature. While he recounts pursuing everything from moose to quail, my personal favorites are “Bull Cans of the Delta and Rockets of the North,” accounts that first inspired me to become a waterfowl hunter.

For the big game enthusiast, few single volumes can match Jack O’Connor’s “Big Game Hunts.” Follow the accounts of O’Connor and his venerable .270 Winchester as he pursues lions, tigers, bears and a bevy of other beasts across North America and around the globe. Or, if you really want to settle in for a long winter, you might consider “The Gigantic Book of Hunting Stories.” As the name implies, this titanic tome covers the gamut of game from small to large, domestic to exotic, classic to modern, ending with a lengthy section on the philosophy and ethics of hunting.

Lastly, if philosophy and ethics are your thing, and you’re looking for an answer to that ages-old question of why we hunt, consider “Meditations on Hunting” by José Ortega y Gasset. The author explores how hunting shaped our physical and cultural evolution and questions how something that motivates a person to work so hard can be called a diversion. And don’t fret if you can’t get through them all. Like big bucks, bagging big books takes time and effort.

Bob Humphrey is a freelance writer and Registered Maine Guide who lives in Pownal. He can be reached at: bob@bobhumphrey.com

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