Here’s the latest book from a woman hunter who knows what it’s like to push through the blackberry, gorse and matagouri and settle with a raging wild boar. Once dispatched, Kim Swan hauls it out from the rough country as good as, if not better than, any male. She’s one tough lady who not only loves to hunt but can also put it down on paper, offering readers the best of hunting yarns.

Marlborough hunter Kim Swan claims a popular following within the hunting arena. Credited with nine earlier titles, the racy accounts in this new book invariably involve wild pig hunting – a sport she shares with her faithful canine assistants. She breeds her own dogs before training and running them as finders, bailers and holders – usually as a pack of two or three. Loyal and hardworking, they provide the ultimate rewards this passionate sportswoman chases.

The author’s work is rural and physical, and she admits to also enjoying horse riding, tramping, mountain biking and stalking deer. The wilds of the Marlborough backcountry remain the playground where most of these tales are established.

This latest book presents the reader with a huge number of pig hunting adventures; the well-written script of some sixty odd chapters is a leisurely read with seldom a chapter exceeding three pages. The reader has a choice – the brief hunting stories can be intermittently enjoyed or the book read cover to cover. The action throughout fails to falter, and the outdoorsy tales are well described and include lots of humour.

To complement the text, there’s a selection of coloured photographs occupying sixteen pages. The pics portray excellent details of the wild game and country along with some of the author’s dogs. These images also offer a good visual representation of the backcountry and hunting associated with the accompanying reports – the wild, rough high country is not nearly so bad and exhausting when sitting reading about it in one’s armchair.

Not all the writer’s hunting days go to plan, but it’s a good bet she’s going to succeed in bringing home the bacon, or antlers, from these expeditions. Kim Swan accounts for some excellent wild boars thanks to her dogs and well-worn 7mm 08 Remington rifle.

Chapter 55 reflects further on a hunter’s enjoyment derived from days on the hill. It’s not always about the pork or trophy tusks; the reader discovers simply sitting and watching without a rifle also delivers priceless rewards.

Bateman Books have placed an excellent image on the jacket showing what this book is all about, and the pages within reveal Kim Swan is indeed this country’s best-known woman hunting writer.

By

Kim Swan

Published by

Bateman Books, 207 pages

RRP

$39.99