It’s difficult to put precise boundaries on the time span, on the territory covered by Dr. Wayne Capooth’s book or even the activities encompassed. Instead, Capooth’s “The Golden Age of Hunting” touches on history, sociology, political science, and even psychology and philosophy along with the obvious subjects of sporting endeavors.

Memphis was the hub of this bygone phenomenon. West Tennessee, East Arkansas, North Mississippi and the Missouri Bootheel were the settings for outstanding and memorable quail hunting, deer hunting, bear hunting, panther hunting, hog hunting, squirrel hunting, rabbit hunting that took place from the close of the Civil War to the start of World War II in the Mississippi River Valley. Shooting displays and exhibitions were a side dish.

The life style of Mid-South hunting is such a massive topic that it took two large books for Capooth to do it justice: “The Golden Age of Hunting” and “The Golden Age of Waterfowling.”

Times change. The huge forests with massive oaks, cypress and other trees, the vast bottomlands that were wet much of the year, the extensive grasslands are gone. Populations grow, cities broaden, land is cleared. Cotton growing took some of the old hunting territory, then was joined by rice farming and soybean raising. Bulldozers took away far more of the wildlife habitat than man-powered crosscut saws ever could.

But the memories lingered. Faded, sometimes skewed, the exploits and adventures of Holt Collier, Herb Parsons, Nash Buckingham and legions of other real-life and legendary characters are brought to us in printed, enjoyable and preservable form in The Golden Age of Hunting. Add Theodore Roosevelt to the list. He became more accomplished, more determined as a conservation-focused sportsman/statesman because of his Mid-South hunting days.

The photographs alone in Capooth’s book are priceless. They are worth the price you pay for the volume. The text adds detail, history, fleshing out this fascinating subject.

We will never again experience the Golden Age of Hunting in the Mid-South. But we can cherish its memories, and we can learn from its lessons and from the foibles that helped snatch it away. We still have wildlife, though in definitely different amounts and even with somewhat different habits. We hunt them with equipment vastly superior to that used by the old-timers. But we regrettably lack the knowledge of the wildlife and the terrain, the habitat of the wildlife of old. Still, we can learn.