Deep Enough for Ivorybills is a powerful, thoughtful collection of autobiographical writings about James Kilgo's hunting and fishing excursions in the woods, fields, and swamps of South Carolina and Georgia. Portraying a world both visceral and majestic, Deep Enough for Ivorybills establishes Kilgo not only in the sporting lineage of Robert Ruark and William Faulkner but also in the naturalist tradition of Annie Dillard and Loren Eisley.
I really have no business reviewing this book because I really had no business reading it. I thought it was a natural history book about Southern swamps and the native flora and fauna. It was about HUNTING!! My least favorite thing to read about after descriptions of battles. I have nothing against hunting as long as the hunter eats what he kills and kills in a sportsman like way. I just don't want to read about it. This was a man's book as far as I'm concerned. It not only had chronicles of duck and deer killed, but also the evening camaraderie of the members of the hunting club.
There was one chapter about getting lost in a relatively small swamp or woods that I found interesting and some character studies of fellow hunters that were a nice relief from the killing.
Dr. James Kilgo has led a life full of excitement and adventure through the Southeastern United States. As Dr. Kilgo writes about his experiences, he pulls the reader in so that you feel you are a part of the story. His characters are real and the kind of people you'd like to sit across a camp fire with and share stories.