Synopses & Reviews
There have been few hunters as daring, as powerful, and as articulate as our twenty-sixth president, Theodore Roosevelt. From his ranching years in the Dakota Territory to his famous African adventures, Roosevelt's tales are unparalleled stories of the hunt. The best of them are collected here.
Of Roosevelt's many volumes on hunting and exploration, two reader favorites have always been Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail and African Game Trails, both excerpted here. During his ranching years, Roosevelt ranged far and wide, and his African trips were also famously bold. In all his expeditions, Roosevelt reveals in detail hunts that were incredible journeys of both pursuit and discovery, for wherever he went in the outdoors he assumed the dual roles of hunter and naturalist.
The hunts range from upland birds and waterfowl to prized big game animals like elk, bear, and sheep amid lofty peaks. There are goat pursuits among ice-glazed mountain spires and close encounters with grizzlies in the black timber. Roosevelt survives lion charges and buffalo attacks and stumbles on elephants.
From the peaks and plains of the American West to the vast and mysterious East African game fields and forests, Roosevelt shares his experiences and observations in irresistible prose.
Review
"Besides being one of our greatest presidents, Roosevelt stands alone as a conservationist, a visionary when it came to the protection and preservation of America's natural resources, and an author."--
Library Journal"...he was a keen observer of nature who relished the entire outdoor experience. His writings reflects that and make the books much more interesting than a recollection of hunts."--Idaho Statesman
"In the old days, in the wild west, men went out and shot anything they wanted.... In the time before hunting tags, licenses and conservation, senseless slaughter was at home on the range. It took the dedication of conservation-minded hunters like Theodore Roosevelt to start clubs and enact conservation legislation aimed at saving animals for future generations."--BC Outdoors Hunting & Shooting
Review
"If you haven't yet dug into TR's superb hunting titles, this is an excellent place to start. It will send you into a rich mine of reading that will take you many winters to exhaust." --
Gray's Sporting JournalAbout the Author
Lamar Underwood is the former editor in chief of
Sports Afield and
Outdoor Life and is presently the editorial director of the Outdoor Magazine Group of Harris Publications in New York. Among the many books he has authored or edited are
Classic Hunting Stories,
Classic War Stories,
The Bass Almanac, On Dangerous Ground, and
Whitetail Hunting Tactics of the Pros. He lives in Pennington, New Jersey.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
Introduction by Lamar Underwood... PART ONE: THE WESTERN YEARS: Selections from Hunting Trips of a Ranchman and The Wilderness Hunter... Wilderness Hunters and Wilderness Game... Hunting from a Bad Lands Ranch... Hunting the Grisly... The Deer of the River Bottoms... The Black-Tail Deer... The Prong-Buck: A Trip on the Prairie... Still-Hunting Elk on the Mountains... A Trip after Mountain Sheep... The Black Bear... Mountain Game; The White Goat... The Moose; The Beast of the Woodland... Hunting Lore...
PART TWO: SAFARI: Selections from African Game Trails... Foreword... A Railroad through the Pleistocene... Lion Hunting on the Kapiti Plains... On Safari: Rhino and Giraffe... Hunting in the Sotik... Elephant Hunting on Mount Kenia... To the Uasin Gishu... Uganda, and the Great Nyanza Lakes... Of Ants and Elephants....