Back to real hunting

Press, 30 August 1986, Page 22

Back to real hunting

Pack and Rifle. By Philip Holden. Reed Methuen, 1386. 194 pp. Illustrations. $14.95 (paperback). (Reviewed by Kevin J. Whitelaw) Readers already acquainted with Philip Holden's hunting books will not be surprised at the re-release of “Pack and Rifle.” First published in 1971, the book gained popularity for its fastmoving, accurate account of the life of a Forest Service hunter. Of Holden’s string of hunting books, many still consider this book number one to be the classic of them all, although I will stick my neck out and say that his sequel was a better book. “Pack and Rifle” explains how during the 1960 s the author was lured to New Zealand to hunt wild game — and to be paid for doing it. Budding professionals or commonly termed “cullers” were rigorously trained at Dip Flat, Marlborough. Coping with the wild New Zealand bush, and safe firearms handling, were instilled into the keenest men. For those who stood the pace or made the grade, the life of hunting seemed unlimited. Fully trained, Holden was to spend the ensuing seven years as an enterprising Government hunter, a life which is commonly hazardous, but from which the author derives much

pleasure and humour. While most of the hunting ventures are based in the North Island, there is an interlude in Otago and Fiordland. Details abound of the “in vogue” .222 brigade, contract blocks, and tailing deer. Those real hunting days were tremendous times; it is prudent to recall, however, that this style of hunting deer has, with the winds of change, passed us by. On much of the country the author enjoyed, there is nothing left except tussocks and manuka. Much of the book is told in “Crump” style, easy to read and with constant humour. Some of the contents might well benefit younger hunters, but the references to spotlight shooting and the inexcusable shooting of domestic stock do nothing for the book’s overall merit. “Pack and Rifle” is still! a down-to-earth description of the way it was — racy and hard; and while it contains information and tales for all hunting, it has limited appeal for the general reader. Photographs and captions in the reprint have changed somewhat, and the jacket photograph now depicts a true “pineland professional” beside a swollen river, trying to relive the glory days.