THE GENERAL'S GAME BOOK: THE SPORTING LIFE OF A MILITARY GENTLEMAN. By Dare Wilson.

2013 1st edition. 8vo (160 x 240mm). Pp183. B/w photograph plates. Buff boards, spine printed in red.

Dare Wilson's sporting career dates back to 1920s when, as a small boy, he started fishing in Northumberland on the River Derwent. Since then as he has pursued successful careers in the army and in conservation, he has fished and shot all over the world; turkey hunting and snake catching in Georgia, pheasants in Korea, sand grouse and quail in Palestine, geese in Ireland, ducks in Manitoba. A natural story teller, General Wilson's sporting career almost ended while wildfowling on the Wash in early 1939 - he, his Cambridge University friends, and their dogs, were saved by a miracle. An uninterrupted line of black Labradors have shared Dare's experiences. The current one is the twelfth. For good measure the General tells of his thrilling winter sports (skiing and cresta) and parachuting experiences. His team of SAS free-fallers broke the World Record in 1962 - though tragically one member died. Dare may have lived life on the edge but the risks he has taken have always been carefully calculated. Had they not been he would not still be an active fisherman and shot in his 90's. This is a treasure trove of sporting stories. Chapters include: The seeds are sown; Problems on the wash; 'Paradise to a shooter'; A blizzard on the Solway; Wildfowling reverie; Chancing it in No-Man's-Land; Sandgrouse beyond Beersheba; Recollections from Egypt and Sudan; Quail, francolin and chukar in Palestine; Lake Hula, a Mecca for duck; The ponds of Beisan; Turkey hunting in Manitoba; Turkey hunting and snake catching in Georgia; Duck hunting in Manitoba; Pheasants in Korea and duck in Hong Kong; White-fronted geese in Wexford; Sporting options in Kenya; The magic of grouse; The charm of ptarmigan; Woodcock, snipe and the minstrel of the moors; Rabbits and rough shooting; The fascination of salmon; Sea trout and otters; Wildlife in Lapland; Sporting interludes in Germany; The unique Cresta Run; The six-mile free-fall parachute drop; Eighty-five years of shooting for sport.