Seasons of the Hunter

English naturalist Izaak Walton wrote that fishermen are invariably good people because they have a lot of time to think. In his introduction to this fine anthology, Bourjaily writes that hunters are good men because they test their skills not only against the wild but against themselves. These hitherto unpublished pieces, four of them fiction, 16 semi-autobiographical sketches, reveal that these hunters are fine craftsmen too. Gene Hills's ""When No One is Looking'' conveys the honesty between a young boy and an old judge hunting woodcock. ``Everything Your Heart Desires'' by Robert F. Jones is an exciting tale of bagging buffalo in Africa. Other contributors include Thomas McGuane, Charles Gaines, Craig Woods, Richard Wentz and Thomas McIntyre. An introspective thread runs through most of these works as the hunters seek a rationale for this primitive sport in a world in which man need no longer kill to eat. November