Shatzko has had his share excitement while hunting. The following is a passage in his book on his polar bear hunt in the Arctic when the ice floe he was camped on broke loose. "In the morning, with the last wisps of the windstorm dying, Frankie got out of the tent first. 'You guys need to come see this.' There was certain urgency in his voice that had all of us scrambling out of the tent. At first, I didn't comprehend what I was seeing. The hump of land that had been a mile away last night looked as if it was more like ten miles away this morning. We all walked out toward what used be the pressure ridge. We were looking at open water. The ice, eight feet thick, had broken cleanly away. We stood on a shear ice cliff, staring at the raging Arctic water eight feet below. Our camp had broken away and had become a makeshift boat. It was being smashed with all the ocean's considerable fury. Below us certain death waited patiently. . . ."
Shatzko's hunting adventures in North America form the basis of the book. There he has hunted moose, caribou, mule deer, and, most of all, lots of sheep. Shatzko comes from a hunting family and his father and daughter feature in the pages of his hunts. Early on Shatzko realized that if he trained his horses, he would have access to the most remote wild places of British Columbia, and, so, he sets out to do just that. From the very beginning of his hunting exploits, he outfits himself, with only his own horses for companions; by far this takes more preparation, hard work, courage, determination, and resilience than going on a guided hunt. After hunting as much as possible in Canada, he tries his luck in Mexico, the United States, and two hunts in Central Asia for ibex and Marco Polo argali. But guides also feature prominently in these pages, especially the legendary Canadian Arctic outfitter Fred Webb.
All in all Shatzko has taken eleven trophies that qualify for the Boone & Crockett record book, no mean accomplishment for a hunter who is still a young man. In the introduction, the author says "I started this journey as a young man, who hunted strictly for sustenance, and I became a man who considers the challenge of hunting for trophy animals to be at the very core of who I am. This passion for the hunt is in every chapter." We could not say it any better ourselves. A great read.
