Any of Rutledge's works are well worth having. Bird Dog Days has general chapters on dogs in general, grouse hunting in Pennsylvania with and without dogs, 4 chapters on birds (wild quail for those of you who are not from the South), a chapter on ringnecks, and two chapters on sportsmanship. I found my copy on Amazon; it was used (though it looks like it just came off of the shelf at Barnes & Noble). There is some issue with the book's publication hence the high price. PS: John P. Bailey was from Coffeeville, MS.

Bird Dog Days, it should be noted, has a lengthy introduction by Jim Casada, books editor for Sports Classics magazine

uh . . . make that Sporting Classics magazine

Jim Casada is probably the foremost authority on Rutledge and he is working on a biography.

His early poetry is very good as well.

Decided to wait on this book for now, but did pick up a 1st edition of Home by the River.

That is the best book to start on for Rutledge

Not quite starting, already read and loved Home and the Southern Heartland or whatever it is called. Reading Buckingham at the moment, and while they write a lot of the same topics, they do present them completely differently. Rutledge seems more on the hunt and a storyteller, Buckingham is more of a 1st hand account style and more about the actual people then the hunts themselves.

Enjoying both immensely, just find the differences between them surprising/entertaining. As a boy who was brought up on Uncle Remus, I am quite in my element.