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I just finished reading it last night. It was written by John Barsness . Copyrighted 1994. It was a very good read, I really liked the descriptive prose . There was a lot of the author in it. Very enjoyable. My only gripe is the title, I'm from the west coast of BC, Montana is an eastern state. chuckle.

Ha!

Glad you liked it....

John

1989, my college roommate and I split the cost of the '89 Gun Digest. In it was an article about hunting the west by a fellow named Barsness. First article of Mule Deers that I read

Believe that was my first article for Gun Digest--though I'd written a couple for Handloader's Digest before then.

That was when I first started writing for gun magazines. Had been making a living writing for a wide range of magazines before then, including fishing, hunting, Wester history and "general interest", but 20 years later gun magazines had turned into my steadiest income.

Love to read it, how do I find it?

41

That Gun Digest and a copy of Skeeter Skelton's Good Friends, Good Guns, Good Whiskey were my reading after studying....kept me sane. I've still got the Skelton book and my buddy still has the Gun Digest. We'd visit the Northside Scheels in Fargo on Saturday to drool over guns. Fellow who worked there was kinder to us than folks at the other two Scheels stores who knew we were too broke to buy much. Later on, roommate bought quite a few guns from that salesman and I bought a couple as well. He was playing his long game and it paid off.

41Rem, When I find a book recommendation that interested me, I check Triftbooks (sp), Amazon and Abe Books . They are only services that tie in to used bookstores around the world. Since I'm a reader and not a collector, good and acceptable levels have been fine with me. I haven't been disappointed in the quality. Only one, a $5 book, was a bit musty smelling. I think the price reflected that. Make sure you check shipping cost. I'm in Canada,from the States I have seen costly to prohibitive shipping charges. The ones from England come air mail quickly and the British mailing costs are good deal less.

It's all too easy.

PM sent.

Just finished "Western Skies" tonight. Superb read. I expected to be jealous of things I never experienced. The writing managed to evoke some deep memories of what I did. Grateful for that...

And I always read, these days, at my desk with the computer on, and the browser pulled up. There's also a lighted globe on a stand next to the desk. Things I've maybe heard of in passing get a deeper look while I'm reading

Lek reproduction
Pointillism
Cordillera

Seeing A.J. McClane's name brought a haunting perspective of the passing of years...

This is not a book to be read and shelved
It'll be handled a lot

John,

Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks,
John

I'm about halfway thru my copy, really enjoying it so far. Mule deer can really turn a phrase. Some of them make me stop, go back, reread & ponder.

John have you ever written a novel of pure fiction that was hunting/fishing related?

41

Nope! I published a few short stories decades ago, among many articles on subjects other than guns and hunting, but in general realized that apparently I was better at non-fiction, probably because it was easier for me to to think up subjects and ideas.

There have also been several shifts in the business over those years. When I first started publishing, fishing articles paid just about as well as hunting articles. But by the mid-1990s payment for fishing articles had stagnated, which is when I decided to quit writing them.

I assume by that, you also quit fishing entirely, huh John?

Nope! In fact during the years I was traveling a LOT to hunt in various places, both in the U.S. and other countries, often put a take-down fly rod in my rifle case so I could take advantage of any opportunities. Or sometimes a hunting outfitter had tackle on hand. Got to fish all over North America and also places such as Argentina, Norway and Tanzania.