Jake MacDonald tells great stories and he's funny in just the way I like. I found myself chuckling quite often as I read this collection of personal remembrances. I thought if anyone could explain the allure of hunting and fishing Jake MacDonald could. Jake starts off when he was a young lad going out hunting with his Dad. They would leave on a Thursday afternoon from Winnipeg and drive out to Marsh Manor, their hunting lodge. Both the name and the description exaggerate: a decrepit, mouse-infested old City of Winnipeg trolley bus . Once there his Dad and his Dad's buddies would barbecue steaks, play some poker and drink whiskey and Jake would fall into his sleeping bag and pull it over his head so "the mice wouldn't run across my face." In the morning they would get up before dawn, eat a huge breakfast and then canoe to a hiding spot where they would wait for unsuspecting ducks to come in to land.

Now I get the part about getting out into the country, enjoying the surroundings (although I prefer the mice to stay outside of the area I am sleeping in), getting up early to see the dawn and watching for waterfowl. However, the only way I am going to shoot them is with a camera. I love watching ducks feeding, with their little behinds stuck up in the air, and I think a flight of geese coming in to land is a wonder to behold.

To MacDonald's credit he does seem to eat the birds he kills but he wouldn't starve if he never killed another bird. I also understand that one of the reasons there are plenty of places where I can go watch birds is because Ducks Unlimited, an organization of hunters, has helped preserve these spots. I also know that most waterfowl are not endangered so the hunters can't be making too big a dent in their population. I don't have anything against hunting or fishing as long as it is done in a manner that respects the earth and the animals. But I still don't understand the attraction of spending time and a lot of money to do so. I guess I'll have to accept that I am never going to understand it. ( )