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In most places, it's down time for hunters now, unless you are chasing jackrabbits or hunting released birds on a preserve. Aside from attending expos and conventions, applying for hunts, or rummaging through catalogs, what else can a hunter do to keep the spirit of hunt alive and well in the soul?

Reading, of course.

Aside from my three hunting books , which I'm sure you all have read and cherish, I want to call attention to three books that have just come on the market that are not the usual tips and techniques books.

"45 Unforgettable Bowhunters!: Inside the Lives of the Sport's Most Famous and Infamous Personalities" by M.R. James. (ihunt! Communications, 2008, 464 pages, hardback, $29.95, and special signed collectors edition, $84.95). M. R. James is the former editor of Bowhunter magazine, which he founded in 1971. He has spent more than half a century in the bowhunting world, reporting on all aspects of it, as well as bagging his share of critters. M.R. has seen the development of the compound bow, and watched archery hunting take off and mushroom into a huge, growing industry.

James begins this new book with a quick history of the evolution of bowhunting in the US. He then follows with a thoroughly enjoyable collection of stories about 45 bowhunters who especially touched him over the years — the good, the bad and the ugly. The characters range from the famous Fred Bear, Chuck Adams, Ted Nugent, Ben Person, Glenn St. Charles and the first female senior member of the Pope and Young club, Carolyn Zanoni; to ones we wish were not bowhunters like Alaska serial killer Bob Hansen (one-time holder of the world record Dall's sheep) and poacher Noel Feather; to a one-armed bowhunter, and a New York police officer who survived after being out of the World Trade Center rubble on 9/11.

A remarkable cast of characters and each story told eloquently with M.R.'s gift of wordsmithing. Reading this will not only give you snapshots of some fascinating people, but it reveals a multi-faceted history of bowhunting that seldom appears in magazines that dwell on methods, gear and trophies.

"The Hunter: Developmental Stages and Ethics" by Bob Norton. (Riverbend Publications, 2008, $9.95, 165 pages, paperback). As all hunters these days have had to take and pass a Hunter Education class to get a license, they will be familiar with the research of Wisconsin psychologists Robert Johnson and Robert Norton about the Five Stages of A Hunter — The Shooter, Limiting Out, Trophy, Method and Sportsman. Bob Norton, today a Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin and counseling psychologist, has fleshed out the stages and woven his extensive research on hunting psychology with personal stories of his own hunting, and encounters with hunters, good and bad. As a psychologist myself, I lament that more psychologists have not spent time studying hunters. The lack of understanding of what moves one to get up in the icy dawn and wade out through a crust of ice on the water to shiver as the north wind pummels you with snow showers, is a real problem for hunters, who have become a minority group, because we are largely misunderstood by the general public whose support hunters need to survive. Bob Norton may well have conducted more personal interviews with hunters — thousands of them — than anyone else ever. He reports of this research without falling into boredom; the bane of scholars.

While a scholar, Norton's accounting of this research in this book is very readable and important as every hunter today must be an ambassador for the sport. I found particularly interesting his chapter on "Ethical Hunters" that offers some explanations for why people break game laws. Norton's words are not speculation, but based on solid research. We need more of that kind of thinking to help chart a course for hunting's future.

"Wifezilla: Married To A Fire-Breathing Angel" by Jim Shockey. (ihunt! Communications, 2007, 112 pages, paperback, $19.95) The tall, muzzleloader-toting outfitter, guide and hunter in the cowboy hat, Jim Shockey, is surely one of the best-known modern hunters. Aside from his hunting exploits, Shockey is also a humorist. "Wifezilla" is inspired by his lovely wife, Louise, who gave up a career as an actress to wed a hunter. Gleaned from the pages of Shockey's infamous "Shock Therapy" columns in North American Hunter, this collection of stories offers many tips for keeping a hunter's marriage alive, as well as warm-hearted pokes at the hunting fraternity in all its glory.

James Swan — who has appeared in more than a dozen feature films, including "Murder in the First" and "Star Trek: First Contact," as well as the television series "Nash Bridges," "Midnight Caller" and "Modern Marvels" — is the author of the book "In Defense of Hunting." Click to purchase a copy. To learn more about Swan, visit his Web site.