One of the sharpest marketing executives in the gun business, Dwight Van Brunt, has written a tell-all book revealing some of the juiciest stories in his long and varied career in the industry. The former director of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and marketing director of Burris optics has finally broken his silence and unveiled his secret:

Dwight Van Brunt was “Born A Hunter.”

This is the title of Dwight’s autobiographical book about his world-wide hunting adventures, leaving those of us who were hoping for a no-holds-barred account of his stellar marketing work for one of the most successful handgun companies in the industry aching for the real insider dirt.

“Born A Hunter” is 28-chapter book in which each chapter is devoted to a specific species. Dwight jumps back and forth between Africa and North America, keeping the reader enthralled and entertained. The writing is fresh, lively and remarkably well crafted for a first book. Some of the chapters are reprinted from magazine stories that Dwight has written for leading outdoor magazines such as Sporting Classics, but most are completely original.

Two themes run throughout “Born A Hunter,” and both are transparent in their unrestrained outpouring of Dwight’s true heart. The first is his love for his family and how much pride and joy he takes in watching them develop as hunters and people. The second is his unabashed love for the outdoors and for the true spirit of fair chase hunting and the selective shooting of trophy animals.

The book is handsomely illustrated by Jocelyn Russell in pen-and-ink drawings of the various species that Dwight describes in his wonderfully descriptive style. The original oil she painted for the dust jacket is a good rendition of a scowling Cape buffalo that Dwight shot in Namibia.

One story,“Ross’ Bullet,” is a delightful short story about how Dwight’s son would secrete a small item into his father’s hunting gear as a symbol that he was thinking of his dad and was with him in spirit even if the confounded demands of grade school prevented him from accompanying his dad. In the story, Dwight finds a yellow wooden bullet that son Ross shot from his toy rifle in with his handloaded ammunition that he was taking on an elk hunt. Dwight shares just how touched he was with his son’s gesture and how much he loves his boy.

A similar emotional impact hits you as you read about Dwight’s love of the great Alaskan wilderness and the raw beauty of Africa. Woven in there are some of the most descriptive passages of a hunter’s exhilaration and excitement of chasing grizzly bear, leopard, moose, kudu and all the other great trophies that Dwight readily admits has been his blessed good fortune to hunt.

If you’re passionate about hunting, you need to add “Born A Hunter” to your bookshelf. From one insider to another, good job, Dwight.