The Deer Pasture

Rick Bass's deer pasture is centered in the rustic beauty of the Texas Hill Country--a land of ravines and hallows, dark and shady, with near-vertical bluffs. In the fall there the hickories turn gold and drop a ton of leaves into the creeks; the water is clear and cold and still. Also in the fall the Bass men come there for a week of camping and hunting, for the deer pasture is in the heart of white-tailed deer country, and the Basses have leased that same 956 acres for hunting each November for the past forty-nine years. In these seventeen delightful essays, handsomely illustrated with forty-one original drawings, the author tells the story of the deer pasture and its significance as a family tradition. It is not just a place to stalk deer - hunting is merely the frame for most of the stories. The deer pasture is also a place to get together, a place to chase armadillos, a place to tell campfire stories, listen to quail, make camp biscuits, and watch the antics of ringtails--and most important, a place to recharge spiritual and emotional batteries and to renew family ties. In his celebration of rock houses and full moons of the Hill Country, of waterfalls and the habits of deer, Bass conveys the close relationship of man and nature even in this modern age. In his sketches of grandparents, uncles, and cousins and their ties to this piece of land he touches on the depths of the common bonds of family. This book is not only for deer hunters and their families, but also for nature readers, even those who never go on a hunt.