Bird Dog Man, the Story of W. W. Titus, Father of the National Bird Dog Championship Field Trials, chronicles the history of the early days of field trials in North America. Told through Titus’s own memoirs supplemented by the writing and research of award-winning author James T. McCafferty, Bird Dog Man begins with the first U. S. field trial held in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1874 and follows the development of the sport through the late 19th and early 20th centuries from New York to Mississippi to Manitoba. Titus (1857-1932) wrote with the skill of a professional, the keen eye of a trained observer, and the wit of a humorist. His descriptions of his travels and of the human – and canine – characters he met as he followed the field trial circuit offer rare glimpses of rural life and outdoor sports in the South and Midwest of the late 1800s. Besides his many firsthand anecdotes from field trial competitions, Titus regales the reader with accounts of his travels and his hunts for quail, waterfowl, prairie chickens and other game in the glory days of American sport shooting. As a bonus McCafferty adds facts not included in Titus’s narratives such as episodes from Billy’s childhood and accounts of events from Titus’s later years, as well as extensive endnotes and a thorough bibliography. Dog lovers, hunters, and history buffs alike will want to read Bird Dog Man.

The bear and panther that populated the woods and canebrakes of the lower Mississippi Valley in the 1800s left a permanent mark on the collective memory of that region. Unfortunately only a relatively small number of writings from that time have survived that provide real insight into the habits of those creatures and how the early settlers of that region hunted them. Writer James T. McCafferty has added richly to that scant body of Southern lore by collecting some wonderful but previously overlooked articles by an antebellum cotton planter and physician and presenting them in his new book, Hunting Bear and Panther in the Old South: The Writings of Dr. Henry J. Peck of Sicily Island, Louisiana. McCafferty, author of The Bear Hunter: The Life and Times of Robert Eager Bobo in the Canebrakes of the Old South and numerous articles on hunting history, introduces Peck’s writings with a brief biography of Dr. Peck (1803-1881) and an overview of his works. Besides Peck’s writing on the life cycles and the hunting of the animals named in the title, the book includes articles on hog and deer hunting in his day. Readers will find in this volume rarely encountered details about the weapons and methods used by nineteenth century sportsmen, such as Peck’s descriptions of the “fire hunting” of deer, the making of the knives used by bear hunters, and accounts of dangerous—and even deadly—encounters with panther and bear. One of the book’s appendices adds Peck’s personal investigations and thoughts on the early 18th century fights between the French and the Natchez Indian tribe that took place on or near the doctor’s appropriately named Battleground Plantation. Hunters and lovers of Southern history will welcome this book.

Over a century ago readers of sporting journals in America and Europe relished the tales of Mississippi Delta bear hunter Robert Eager Bobo. Yet, in the years since, this most famous bear hunter of the late 1800s has been all but forgotten – until now. The Bear Hunter: The Life and Times of Robert Eager Bobo in the Canebrakes of the Old South brings to the modern reader, not only the story of Bobo’s bear hunting, but a thoroughly fascinating and entertaining picture of pioneer life in the nineteenth century Delta wilderness. Come now with Bob Bobo and a variety of captivating characters – including the notorious outlaw Jesse James – on their quests for black bear in an environment that now exists only on the pages of history: the wild, trackless, Delta canebrake. Gallop at a breakneck pace through sloughs and swamps, where a horse’s stumble over a cypress knee could mean sudden disaster; thrill to the savage chorus of the hounds as they pursue their game; charge into the cane to knife the bear before it can decimate the pack; taste the fear when the tables turn and hunter becomes the hunted; relax by the campfire on a frosty November evening and listen to the tales of wolf and panther and gun and knife; laugh, too, at comical stories of old time Delta backwoods ways; and, perhaps, shed a tear, as the inevitable tragedies of life visit your newfound friends. The book will delight hunters, outdoors lovers, nature enthusiasts, southern history buffs, folklore fans, and anyone who just enjoys a good book. But let us not delay! The hunters are gathered; the horses are champing at their bits; the dogs are spoiling for a fight; Bobo is sounding his horn. It is time to ride!