Editor’s Note: American poet and writer Jim Harrison, died on March 26, 2016. In a career spanning more than 50 years, he produced 21 volumes of fiction, 14 books of poetry, two books of essays, a children’s book and a memoir. Harrison remains popular among sportsmen who both appreciate his fine writing and identify with any number of his indulgences, of which he partook as if ignorant of the word moderation. The essays in Just Before Dark give a taste of his appetites. Here are some excerpts from a few of them.
![Prime Cuts](https://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/7434/173628/57be78f865200/Prime-Cuts_1472101938.jpg)
"Sporting Food”
The idea is to eat well and not die from it–for the simple reason that that would be the end of my eating. I have to keep my cholesterol count down. There is abundant dreariness in even the smallest health detail. Skip butter and desserts, and toss all the obvious fat to the bird dogs. But as for the dinner that was earned by the brush with death, it was honest rather than great. As with Chinese food, any Teutonic food, in this case smoked pork loin, seems to prevent the drinking of good wine. In general, I don’t care for German wines for the same reason I don’t like the smell down at the Speedy Car Wash, but perhaps both are acquired tastes. The fact is, the meal required a couple of Heileman’s Exports, even Budweisers, but that occurred to me only later.
Until recently, my home base in Leelanau County, in northern Michigan, was over sixty miles from the nearest first rate restaurant, twice the range of the despised and outmoded atomic cannon. This calls for resourcefulness in the kitchen, or what the Tenzo in a Zen monastery would call “skillful means.” I keep an inventory taped to the refrigerator of my current frozen possibilities: local barnyard capons; the latest shipment of prime veal from Summerfield Farms, which includes sweetbreads, shanks for osso bucco, liver chops, kidneys; and a little seafood from Charles Morgan in Destin, Florida–triggerfish, a few small red snappers, conch for chowder and fritters. There are two shelves of favorites–rabbit, grouse, woodcock, snipe, venison, dove, chukar, duck, quail–and containers of fish fumet, various glacés, and stocks, including one made from sixteen woodcock that deserves its own armed guard. I also traded my alfalfa crop for a whole steer, which is stored at my secretary’s home because of lack of space.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Autumn 2016 من The Upland Almanac.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Autumn 2016 من The Upland Almanac.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
![Luigi Franchi Imperial Monte Carlo Extra: One of Italy's "Best" SxS Doubles](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/7434/1351870/0SAiBgwJa1690522419485/LUIGI-FRANCHI-IMPERIAL-MONTE-CARLO-EXTRA-ONE-OF-ITALYS-BEST-SXS-DOUBLES.jpg)
Luigi Franchi Imperial Monte Carlo Extra: One of Italy's "Best" SxS Doubles
As on London’s gun-maker’s row, Italians had skilled craftsmen who made “Best” guns of superb quality
![An Upland Bird Hunter's Equipment in Need and Equipment Indeed...](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/7434/1351870/0h6ZDlgeW1690522171927/AN-UPLAND-BIRD-HUNTERS-EQUIPMENT-IN-NEED-AND-EQUIPMENT-INDEED.jpg)
An Upland Bird Hunter's Equipment in Need and Equipment Indeed...
From the first year I discovered upland bird hunting in my early teens, my search for the right clothing and equipment began in earnest. All you need to see to support this reality is to look at all the upland clothing and equipment I have stored from ceiling to floor in my garage and sportsman’s closet downstairs
![Day's End - Making memories](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/7434/1351870/EeU72KbeV1690521830955/DAYS-END-MAKING-MEMORIES.jpg)
Day's End - Making memories
Has there ever been a bird dog man or woman with a soul so dead that he or she has not been re-energized by the first cool days of September, by the first forecast of frost, by noting the opening days marked on the calendar so many months before?
![A SIMPLE PLEASURE: THE HUNT LUNCH](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/7434/1351870/4Mz1sXXwx1690521511022/A-SIMPLE-PLEASURE-THE-HUNT-LUNCH.jpg)
A SIMPLE PLEASURE: THE HUNT LUNCH
In William Harnden Foster’s classic book, New England Grouse Shooting (1942), for which he wrote the text and provided numerous black-and-white sketches, he includes a wide-ranging catch-all chapter called “Grouse Shooting Outfits
![PACKING for Success](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/7434/1351870/l4XBowtsD1690520861758/PACKING-FOR-SUCCESS.jpg)
PACKING for Success
I spend a lot of time these days chasing game birds. But it hasn’t always been this way
![Shooting FAST and SLOW](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/7434/1351870/gjwqXIrYF1690520647592/SHOOTING-FAST-AND-SLOW.jpg)
Shooting FAST and SLOW
Scientists have recently discovered that human brains operate in two settings – a fast, reactionary “fight or flight” mode (System 1) and a slow, considered, contemplative mode (System 2)
![Private Lands, Public Access](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/7434/1351870/2sl_j_sBx1690520520826/PRIVATE-LANDS-PUBLIC-ACCESS.jpg)
Private Lands, Public Access
“Just what lies behind that fence?”
![Early Season - GREATER PRAIRIE CHICKEN HUNTING](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/7434/1351870/ZoKkc9gSo1690520053991/EARLY-SEASON-GREATER-PRAIRIE-CHICKEN-HUNTING.jpg)
Early Season - GREATER PRAIRIE CHICKEN HUNTING
Greater prairie chickens are tailor-made for early fall gunning. Young birds hatch early enough to be nearly full-grown by September, offering lots of potential targets in good habitat
![QUAIL Struggle to Survive a Multitude of KILLERS](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/7434/1351870/-l8cK61yV1690519328990/QUAIL-STRUGGLE-TO-SURVIVE-A-MULTITUDE-OF-KILLERS.jpg)
QUAIL Struggle to Survive a Multitude of KILLERS
By some estimates, the wild bobwhite population in the U.S. has declined 70 to 80% since the 1960s
![Journeys Shared: A Worcester Letter](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/7434/1351870/LVBmlYdlV1690519046706/JOURNEYS-SHARED-A-WORCESTER-LETTER.jpg)
Journeys Shared: A Worcester Letter
Hi Bob, Just finished the sensational roller coaster “memoir-style” essays of man and bird dog(s) that you and Dave Smith assembled and put into print