What's Elizabeth Reading? ...Craig Kulchak

Craig Kulchak is a grouse hunter who lives in the Boise area. He's come out with a few books about his adventures, and his latest, "Grouse Along the Ridge Roads," came out last year. It is a book of grouse hunting memoirs starring Kulchak, his setters, and whoever was along for the trip on that particular day.

Usually, when I write about books for the Idaho Press-Tribune, I talk about the author, what work went into the book, or something else interesting about the book itself. As I was reading "Grouse Along the Ridge Roads," all I kept thinking was that if the newspaper's readers could just read an excerpt, they would have a pretty good idea about how the book reads, what sort of stories it tells, and who Kulchak is. So I ended up printing a portion of one of Kulchak's stories, along with a sidebar giving basic information about him and the book. Below is the excerpt (and the article is here):

Moving above, I could hear the gurgling of a small creek hidden beneath thick branches and tracked the sound of the girls’ bells as they wove through cover. From my vantage point I had a clear shooting lane for some distance downstream, and waited anxiously while Anneca and Beth unraveled the maze of scent below me.

The melody of their bells was steady. The pace slowed, and then suddenly stopped. I tried to decide where my setter brace was and how to get the birds up from the dense cover below. But the decision was made for me with a sudden rush from one of the dogs and then the calamity of multiple grouse rising from the tangled mass of branches — all heading downstream!

I stood watching in disbelief as four big blues rose and faded from view behind a tall fir, then came to my senses and focused on the next group. Three more grouse appeared above the willow and I picked out the lead bird, taking it before it made the fir. The two behind the front grouse disappeared as quickly as the first group, preventing a charge from the second barrel.

Calling out “dead bird” and urging them on in their search, though they were now out of sight, I continued to call out to my hidden setter brace — listening to the happy tone of their bells as they methodically searched the forest floor for our prize. There was a short pause in one of the bell’s chimes, then the steady rhythm of that single bell as it moved up the slope in my direction, signaling we had our second grouse (of the day)!

Beth came out of the jing first, looking back over her shoulder as her sister came into view carrying a big, powder gray bird. Anneca had a hard time maneuvering through the thick, tangled mass of willow branches with that large grouse and tried several routes to no avail. Finally, with no other alternative (in her mind), she did the only logical thing to protect “her” grouse — she buried it!

When Anneca finished, she struggled a bit more, but found a deer path leading up the slope around the willow. With a look of satisfaction, she continued up the slope to my side with Beth following up the rear. It took a while to make my way back down to Anneca’s “buried treasure” and to find its exact location, but she helped.

Two grouse in one covert are enough and, after shaking off the dirt and leaves from our final bird, we left the willows and the other grouse, walking the steep grade back to the van together and saving this special place for another day.

 Beth and Anneca might have been my favorite pair of dogs Kulchak has owned and hunted with, by the way.

As for the writing, Kulchak does a good job of blending description of setting with the action of each memoir. He doesn't let it bog things down, making it more of a land survey than a hunt, but instead includes scenery as often as he would have paid attention while he was there.

Note the first paragraph here, where he talks about the creek and, in the next clause, shows us the dogs are on the move. Even better, we've got sound and sight, placing us on the trail with him. He isn't passive in that first sentence, either; Craig is tracking. It's a beautiful bit of authorial juggling.

In the first sentence, he sets up the general setting, and in the second, he narrows it, telling us about his vantage point and what its limitations are, important for a hunter. After zooming in, he widens his gaze again, showing us the "maze of scent" Anneca and Beth are working their way through. Sounds vast, doesn't it? "Maze" gives me that impression.

He does tell us that he is waiting anxiously, but then he makes us wait a little, too, by spending a sentence and a half watching the dogs before something changes, and even this change is a cause to hold your breath, not go racing off down the hill. This, people, is showing, not telling. Make your reader wait alongside the characters (in this case, Kulchak).

Craig Kulchak with one of his setters, Briar.

The next sentence is the moment of decision. It tells us that Kulchak is not an impulsive hunter, but also heightens that tension he's been building by making us wait with him. What fun is a hunt or a hunting story without the anticipation?

Then we get the release, literally. The birds are on the move. It's worth questioning his choice of using a long sentence here, but if we're going for beauty over being startled, a long sentence makes sense. I just don't feel the rush of the dogs, do you?

As I said earlier, Kulchak has been giving us tidbits of scenery along the way, keeping us squarely in the wild: "dense cover below," "tangled mass of branches" and "heading downstream" are all good reminders that illustrate what is going on. Better yet, he's mentioning them as his characters (dogs, grouse, him) interact. Remember that you are never in a floating bubble (unless you're Glinda); you constantly interact with your surroundings. As a writer, don't ignore them.

I enjoyed the sentence "I stood watching in disbelief as four big blues rose and faded from view behind a tall fir, then came to my senses and focused on the next group." We watch with him as the grouse fly away, then he yanks both himself and the reader back to the hunt with "then came to my senses" and throws poetry out the window with a short "focused on the next group." The rest of that paragraph is all business, a blow-by-blow account of what happened next.

I'll stop analyzing there for the sake of length, but I'm sure you get the idea and can probably take it from there on your own. Kulchak does a nice job with this book, and if you're interested in grouse hunting, hunting stories in general, or watching dogs on the hunt, I'd recommend it. Most stories are poetic in bent, whereas this one was more humorous, but there is a good mix throughout.

On the down side, he needed a better copy editor. There are basic English mistakes throughout the book. Be aware of that before you purchase this book, if that is the sort of thing that drives you mad.