In our cover article, The near hunter, Erik Rhey recalls being the odd man out in hunting territory. In The End of Hunting, our page 2 feature, Greg Roberts offers several better ways to save the planet than banning hunting. Ian Archer tells why he goes bow-hunting for whitetail deer in An ancient dance.

In Neighborhood nosh, Leslie Russell says that in her rural part of Oregon, wild elk, deer, and goose are common mealtime fare. The attitude toward hunting of Rosemary McLeish, who styles herself a lifelong pacifist, might be well described as Totally anti. In Hunting manners Toby Tompkins reminds us that rules of decorum apply in the forests. When Elizabeth Hart looks around her in Texas, all she can see are gun-totin’ Real men. In A delicate balance, Dan Peterson puts forth the argument that hunters are necessary to preserved the balance of nature. A gun-owner, Ed Goldberg (Is that the 2nd Amendment in your pocket?) nevertheless regards handguns as a menace and a disease in need of a cure. Dean Suess offers a whimsical look at this month’s subject in Hunting: 10 versions. In Sons of guns, Gillian Wilce wonders at the necessity of guns. Country-dweller Rod Ferrandino takes a dim view of the hunting frenzy in Potshots. In Hunting season, Bud Gardner says that the only thing wrong with it is the guys who come out from the city dying to kill something. We inaugurate short story writer Eudora Welty into our pantheon of Honorary Black Lambs and offer a Literary Sampler of four excerpts from authors mentioned in this issue. Our Black Lamb Recipe is for Cordero Verde. Bridge columnist Trixie Barkis offers readers the chance to do better on a slam hand than she did. Advice columnist Millicent Marshall comes down hard on handguns and automatic weapons. And Professor Avram Khan gives us another challenging Black Lamb Word Puzzle.