Like it or not Nathen was good because it was written about a subject he was well versed in, as were a couple of his other books.
The rest were the result of his great capacity to listen, remember and write and his very active imagination.
But I agree with others, he got a lot of kids onto the fieldsport path at a time when it had started to die.
For me lurchers were in my blood and a way to make a living. Then shortly before the ban something happened that turned me, not from killing but from seeing dogs run! it made me physically sick and it took till a couple of years back before i could watch again. I was carriage driving in the forest when I saw a dog weaving a rabbit I stopped, watched it carry the rabbit back to a young lad and smiled.
So Phil its each to their own, life choices and opportunities. Rather strangely nearly every door into hunting around the globe has been opened by a woman, often wealthy and keen of hunting company. Nice photo, something I have few of. the dog has merle collie in its ancestry, 3/4 cross or more?