Hunting Books
Hunting books range from man versus wild narratives such as The Old Man and The Sea by Hemingway, to more pedestrian books detailing strategies and tactics employed when hunting certain game. Wild turkeys are notoriously difficult prey, for example, and hunters looking for a challenge are often advised to try their hands at turkey hunting. The turkey hunt comes around twice a year in most locations in North America, once in the spring and once in the fall.
Other hunts happen once a year, such as the deer hunt. In the United States, hunting is regulated according to the game type. For some game, such as deer, there are more hunters than the allotted number of tags for the species. This issue is usually resolved via lottery. You purchase your hunting license and are put in the lottery for big game such as bighorn sheep, mule deer, or elk. If you get a tag for any given species, you are then allowed to bring home one specimen of that species. In big hunting states, such as Utah, it is common for a hunter to go years without winning a tag for a prized hunt like the elk, and hunting books are very willing to point out this difficulty.
One of the biggest aspects of the hunt is the concept of fair game. Fair game is not a solidly defined concept, though many hunting books have attempted to tackle it. It can best be described as the spirit of fair competition between hunter and prey. It was perhaps best exemplified by the president Theodore Roosevelt, who was both an avid hunter and conservationist. He got the nickname Teddy after a bear hunting story.
As told in hunting books and history books alike, Roosevelt was out on a bear hunt while president. His hunting party, even back in those days was uncommonly large, since he had aides and other hangers on out on the hunt with him. As the hunt began to draw to a close, the president had yet to make a shot, much less a kill, and his aides concocted a plan. On the night before the last day of the hunt, they brought in a captured bear cub and chained it to a tree. The next day they led the president to the chained cub. He famously refused to kill the animal citing that it was not fair for him to shoot a chained up and defenseless animal and call it hunting. The spirit of gamesmanship has always been a part of the hunt, but it has rarely ever been put on such succinct and poignant display as by Teddy, who later had small stuffed bears named after him, as well as the occasion. You can purchase collectible teddy bears online.