Book chronicles Flint-area hunter's many outdoor memoriesBy David V. Graham, Flint Journal, found at Mlive.com
January 22, 2010Jim Miller is the kind of hunting buddy other hunters appreciate — he’s easy-going, witty and has a way with telling stories. It helps that he is a pretty good shot and a real character.
Miller, 61, of Genesee Township, is well-known in local duck-hunting circles and among Flint area turkey hunters. He was an officer in the old Saginaw Valley Waterfowlers until it disbanded in the 1980s, and he is currently president of the Flint River chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation.
Most people who know Miller will not be surprised to learn that he has writtten a self-published book, “Huntin’ with Butch,” about his long-time best friend and hunting partner, Jack “Butch” Ashley II, of Flushing, who died on the Fourth of July in 2004 from a heart attack at the age of 57.
Both men retired from the Flint Waste Water Treatment Plant in Flint Township, where they met in the 1970s. Soon after meeting and discovering their mutual love of hunting, they began hunting together, mostly ducks, deer and eventually turkeys.
Miller tells a lot of stories in this thin book, which only has 62 pages, most of them humorous, but never mean. It is obvious Miller had a real affection for Butch, who sounds like he would have been a trying companion at times.
For instance, he was fond of tossing his shotgun whenever it jammed or otherwise didn’t work right, which apparently was fairly often. Sometimes it turns out that the shotgun didn’t shoot right because Butch didn’t take care of his gun properly, such as reassemblying the gun the wrong way after cleaning it.
Butch, Miller writes, was also really fond of sleeping, often in the field. In fact, the cover photo of Butch shows him sleeping while sitting in a duck hunting blind in the Shiawassee River State Game Area near St. Charles. Miller said he picked the photo for the cover because it wanted to communicate the idea that the book is a humorous one, not a serious tome.
However, Miller doesn’t kick Butch around for these lapses in alertness, but rather confesses that sometimes he had a hard time staying awake too. Most hunters do when they get up long before the crack of dawn.
Even though Miller gave his friend several duck calls, Butch didn’t like to do any calling and always encouraged Miller to do so. Miller writes that he suspects Butch couldn’t get the hang of duck calling, which truly is a difficult skill to master. Fortunately, he liked to call turkeys with his box calls, and that worked out fine.
In one chapter, Miller writes about the time they went deer hunting in the Ubly area and used two-way radios to keep in touch. Butch put his radio inside his coat near his shooting shoulder, and every time he he raised his muzzleloader to aim at a deer, the gunstock hit the “call” button on the radio.
Thinking that Butch was calling him, Miller would radio back, which of course spooked the deer. Eventually, Butch was able to make a good shot on the doe, despite the radio calls.
When they got together after the shot, Butch chewed out Miller for his radio calls until they both realized what had happened with the radio button.
Another time, Butch lost his radio while hunting, so Miller was forced to buy him another one. Only later did Butch find the missing radio in a pocket he had neglected to check.
There are several chapters in the book about how things went comically wrong while turkey hunting in the Glennie area or deer hunting in the Ubly area of the Thumb. Sometimes the stories are about Butch’s mistakes and goofs, but sometimes they are about Miller’s failures as well. Miller, unlike some writers, isn’t afraid to make fun of himself.
Miller tells these stories in a folksy, conversational way, which is pretty much the way he talks. While sometimes his grammar and punctuation are a little on the creative side, it isn’t serious enough to be a problem.
Not everything in the book is for laughs, however. For instance, Miller writes about how he was called upon to deliver the eulogy at Butch’s funeral and how difficult that was to do without falling apart with grief.
He ends the book by telling about how Butch’s daughter has financed a youth hunting program in honor of her late father, and how Miller has participated in that program by taking inexperienced boys and girls turkey hunting for their first time. That program is still going strong, by the way, which is a good thing because youth participation is going to be necessary in order to save the hunting sports in the future.
The book sells for $15.95 and is available from the publisher, Xlibris, by calling 1-888-795-4274 or emailing the company at Orders@Xlibris.com.
Miller is hoping to place the book in at least a couple of local bookstores and sporting goods stores, but that process is still in the works.
http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2010/01/book_chronicles_flint-area_hun.html
