By Guy De La Valdene
Soft Cover 175 pages
Available from Simon and Schuster
1-800-223-2336
$19.95 + $5.05 Shipping
Woodcock are perhaps the smallest and most difficult game bird to hit due to their size and often erratic flight pattern.
Because of this they have a devoted following among the shooting fraternity in both the U.S. and Europe for this bird is multi-national. Tiny but tasty they are good eating and well worth the trouble of preparing for the table.
This book is an in-depth look at this elusive game bird by a devoted hunter of them. The section on the biology of the bird is more comprehensive and in-depth than most such discussions and worth the price of the book alone to those interested in this bird.
Every detail that can be of use to the hunter is expounded on and there is a good commentary on shotguns and bird shooting. The author’s love of woodcock shooting is evident and he endeavors successfully to convey his joy in the sport while teaching others it’s fine points.
The passion of hunting these birds is accompanied by the various ways of preparing them although French gourmet cooking is not exactly to my taste especially when it involves eating the still full guts of the bird. This alone is enough to convince me that the saying “50 million Frenchmen can’t be wrong” is itself glaringly wrong.
For the hunter pursuing woodcock this is as fine a reference book as you will get and well worth the nominal price.—Jim Dickson
