With this book Jim Fergus lived and wrote about virtually every bird hunter’s dream…to take a season and chase birds across the country...just the author, his lab Sweetzer and an AirStream travel trailer. The book starts in September with the West’s early bird seasons and from there takes the reader through all of the coverts we dream of hunting in a lifetime, ending in the desert south chasing quail. Fergus wasn’t the only one living a trip of a lifetime, Sweetzer also had an unbelievable adventure retrieving over 20 species of birds on the trip and though she’ll never be able to tell us I’m sure she remembers fondly the people and birds she encountered on this adventure.

I could actually see myself making a couple of these trips in my lifetime, although mine would be slightly different to fit my idea of the sporting life. The first would be a trip following the migration through the Central and Mississippi Flyways with the occasional side trip for upland birds. The second trip would focus entirely on upland birds throughout the country…unless of course the ducks and geese just happened to cross our paths, then we may have to entertain them as well. So many things to do and so little money and time to experience them all.

In his second book along the same theme, The Sporting Road Fergus writes in the epilogue of Sweetzer growing older and the scars of the body being like a road map to the places they have been. It’s moments like these that make me realize that my number one dog, Emma, is starting to show her own signs of aging as she approaches seven this summer and the many places we’ve been together. It is my hope we will have years worth of “roads” ahead of us, but also makes me realize there is no time like today to live and enjoy the things you have now. If you contemplating such a journey I’d highly recommend both of these books or if you looking for an excellent sporting read these books are just the ticket.

One of the trips I hope to make with Emma in the next couple of years is a duck hunt along the famed shores of the Chesapeake. If any of you have experienced this trip or have suggestions on the planning please drop me an email with your tips.

Do you have a book you'd like to recommend to others? Send your suggestions to gundogdoc@gundogdoc.com.