Hunter Climb High...

Written by New Zealand amateur hunter Keith Severinsen to cover off his local hunting then two major overseas hunting expeditions. The writing is acceptable but not professional, the content however will make this book unpalatable to many who don't see hunting as sporting. Published in 1962, hunting some of the species has not aged well.

To align with this book you need to consider that shooting in New Zealand of deer (including chamois and Thar) by amateur hunters is performing a culling role to ensure the best of the species thrive and that numbers are kept under control. These are all introduced species, and not native. When amateur hunting does not adequately control the numbers then paid culling is necessary - at a cost to the tax-payer, and this leads to discussion about removing these species completely, which advantages no-one.

Harder, it to justify is some of the hunting in India, Alaska and the USA, which is also covered in Severinsen's book. Here they are targeting trophy species - in some cases species which are now highly protected, however at the time they were deemed plentiful and all the hunting carried out was perfectly legal. In India the target species included tiger, black buck, leopard, sloth bear, gaur (Indian bison), crocodiles and various deer. In Alaska the target species included dall sheep (with the massive corkscrew horns), moose, caribou, black bear, Alaskan grizzly beer, Rocky Mountain goat. In Montana - mule deer & pronghorn.

Arranged primarily in chronicle order, the author does take some liberties with his timeline to arrange the hunts thematically at times. This sets up a bit of a glitch in the narrative, where he loops back saying for example (paraphrasing) ‘when we called off this pursuit, I headed up a valley which is when I got my black bear...' which had been described two chapters earlier. This doesn't really upset the flow too much.

There is plenty of bushcraft, stalking and hunting skill well described as well as the actual taking of the animals. There is also good coverage of some of the logistics of organising an overseas expedition from the bottom of the world in the 1950s/60s.

An interesting read for a limited market.

4 stars