In the tradition of Hemingway and Faulkner, this sporting novel looks into the complicated heart and soul of a passionately devoted outdoorsman. Aleck Maury is a teacher and scholar whose pursuit of sport comes at the expense of his career, and often, his family. Gaining deep satisfaction in the rituals and techniques of angling and shooting, Maury elevates to an art form what to most is a pastime. To pursue the mysteries of blood and death, nature and solitude, he endures almost any hardship. In his own words Maury recalls his childhood, courtship and marriage, the loss of loved ones, and his final years. Along the way, his story is filled with fascinating digressions into the woods and mountains of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee where his fly-fishing and quail shooting adventures unfold, all of them filled with hunting lore and keen observations on nature and animal behavior.