Meat Eater

August 13, 2012
Rinella (American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon) chronicles his evolution as a hunter (and trapper and fisherman) from shooting squirrels with a BB gun during his Michigan childhood to hunting deer in “the wildest corner of the Wild West” or tracking Dall sheep in the mountains of Alaska, while his wife and son are home in the civilized environs of New York City. Woven into Rinella’s thoughtful prose detailing his outdoor adventures (or misadventures, in some cases) are historical, ecological, or technical observations dealing with the landscape, the animals, or the manner in which the game is harvested. Also, almost every chapter is finished with short “Tasting Notes” that outline the culinary dos and don’ts for meat from game like squirrel, black bear, and mountain lion. Rinella has a passion for hunting and wilderness that comes across in his writing, and even if you don’t agree with his ideas on hunting lions with dogs or catch-and-release fishing you can’t help pondering the arguments he makes. And that seems to be the point of the book, to make you think—about your relationship with nature, about what you eat and why you eat it—and if that’s Rinella’s motivation, this book succeeds. B&w photos.

August 1, 2012
TV host and outdoorsman Rinella (American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon, 2008, etc.) contemplates the hunter's place in modern society while reliving his favorite hunting trips. Before committing to the writing life, the author made a serious attempt at carving out a career as a fur trapper like his frontier hero Daniel Boone. Even though that endeavor fell through, the kid who grew up bagging squirrels, muskrats and beavers would not abandon the hunt. Instead, he found other ways to devote much of his life to stalking bighorn sheep, black bears, mountain lions and the like. At one point, he even managed to successfully split his time between college and subsistence hunting. While Rinella has taken more than a few trophies along the way, his excursions into the great outdoors have mainly been about feasting on wild game at the conclusion of each hunt--and he's eager to share. Relentlessly descriptive and endlessly evocative "tasting guides" at the close of each chapter help armchair hunters get a sense of what it might be like digging into their own heaping plate of camp meat, deer hearts or sun-dried jerky. Depending on the palate, readers will find these gamey recipes either mouthwatering or gut-wrenching, but the writing is steadfastly satisfying and clear. A passage on the purported edibility of roasted beaver tail is especially entertaining. The author wisely allows philosophical questions pertaining to the validity of hunting and the efficacy of state-enforced regulations to simmer in the background, and he effectively shows nature in all its glory. An insider's look at hunting that devotees and nonparticipants alike should find fascinating.

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September 1, 2012
Rinella hosts two cable-television shows and has written for everything from Bowhunter to O (Oprah's magazine). If hunting has fewer participants and advocates than ever before, Rinella is doing his best to reverse the trend. He is informative, passionate, literary, funny, and, well, cool. Perhaps what's most remarkable about his work is that it offers readers who only hunt at the local grocery store the opportunity to enjoy a vicarious adventure or two in the world of outdoor protein gathering. Rinella walks readers through his years of living off the land, from his youth as a trapper in Michigan through his adult life as a professional hunter and adventurer. Throughout are Tasting Notes, or thoughts on the consumption of wild game. There's a section on squirrel, another on eating heart, and even one on beaver tail. Ewww? Yes, but more often Rinella will pique one's interest. Also important to note is his advocacy of hunting and fishing ethics. Rinella's audience will continue to grow, based on his thoughtful writing.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)