What a breath of fresh air from the sheep hunting authors out there! I have recently been sucked in by the writings and memoirs of various accomplished sheep hunters. Now, there are sheep shooters (the late Prince Abdorreza of Iran) and there are "sheep-aholics" (Soudy Golabchi and few others), then there is Ronald Gabriel.

Before I get in too deep, my intent here is to review Gabriel's book and not sheep hunting. As you know, sheep hunters are a different kind of hunt - as are elephant hunters or elk hunters that are possessed by inner demons to pursue what they pursue. I like sheep hunters. I like to hunt sheep. I am not yet a sheep hunter but more of sheep shooter as I am still trying to figure it out and need the help of guides and experienced veterans and outfitters to give me the courage to spend the time and money chasing sheep.

Enter Ronald Gabriel into my tiny universe. Gabriel is a Yale grad with a degree in Philosophy, then became a pediatric neurologist. He has written various books in his profession and is a committed sheep hunter in his normal life.

The Prelude in his book sets the tone of his ethics and his methods. He also seriously and thoughtfully questions his own desire to hunt. He asks the "why" question. Here is a sample from the first page-

"Can our desire to relearn the ancient art of the hunt and feel the thrill of the chase justify the inevitable cruelty visited upon animals not cleanly killed by the first bullet or arrow?"

He goes on to outline his views, his heart desires and why he does what he does. I got the feeling he wrote most of the book in prelude. It is obvious he cares about his quarry, but he also cares about himself and who he is as a result of the activity. Great questions for all of us.

Overall, I won't retell the stories. In summary, he rarely talks about inches or full curl or whatever. He focuses on the effort he has made, the people he is with, what he thinks about hunting in Canada or Russia or Asia. He gives a lot of history of the areas he hunts as well political commentary on the various governments he has crossed paths with. His voice is one of experience and a keen insight. I would like to hunt with him but would need to check my ethics and reasons as I am sure he would ask. He is a bit like Kai Uew-Denker, a PH from Namibia known for taking serious big elephants with very simplistic camps and support. Uwe-Denker hunts and he knows why he hunts. He also expects you to know why.

Gabriel deals in facts. You will find maps, commentary of travel, commentary on the classification of the various sheep, how they are hunted and a lot of great info.
You also get raw feelings, which sheep hunters frequently write about. He gets stranded in camps, he gets snowed out, he ends up with drunk guides and unethical hunters in camp - but he deals with it - as sheep hunters do.

This is one of those books where you will be better for reading it. This is not a collection of shot stories but a collection of memories that a clear, pointed and intellectually challenging. Buy this book. If you are debating about the various sheep titles out there, buy this one!

On the dogcat scale - I rate this 9.5 as one of the best out there.