Average customer rating:
- Jack London It Ain't
- A gripping, page-turning read
- The Bear Hunter
- Adventure and Jack London Together Again
- The Bear Hunter
|
The Bear Hunter
James, Hart Isley
Manufacturer: Alabaster Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Action & Adventure
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0979094917 |
Book Description
Spine-tingling, hunting adventure in the Alaskan wilderness.
Customer Reviews:
Jack London It Ain't.......2007-08-30
A mature old grizzly wakes from his winter sleep in the Alaska spring, his belly screaming for food.
Two men from the Lower 48 settle comfortably into their first class flight to Anchorage, on the way to a grand adventure.
On the same plane, further back, a man recovering from a bitter (and costly) divorce tries to enjoy the only asset left to him - a pre-paid, already-booked bear hunt in Alaska.
Before the second chapter is finished, the reader knows these four beings will meet, and the resulting aftermath probably won't be pretty.
James Hart Isley, a former nature videographer, touts "The Bear Hunter," his first novel, as "destined to become a standard for exciting wilderness adventures." Now, call me skeptical, but putting that out there - on the back cover, no less puts a great deal of pressure on a neophyte writer.
Isley introduces us first to "the bear," a creature with instincts honed over years at the top of the Alaska Range food chain. From his first appearance, "laying quietly in his dug-out cave," the bear is depicted as an inexorable force of nature, pushing his way out of the dripping lair he has spent the winter in, gulping fresh air, surveying his domain for food.
The two men sitting in first class are Dominick Petrone, a seasoned hunter, and Jeremy Miller, a writer for a running magazine and the son of Jake Miller, bear hunter extraordinaire. Dom and Jeremy are on their way to Jeremy's first bear hunt, a way for Jeremy to bond with his recently deceased father. Oh, and he also plans to write a book about the man, so his hunt is actually research.
They hook up with Barry Lyons, pilot, and Jean-Luc Le Rouge, guide, for a first-class-all-the-way trip to Game Management Area 16 (McGrath, Talkeetna, Tyonek and Kenai).
The bitter man flying coach is Stan Phillips (although he isn't identified by name until Chapter Four). He's mourning the loss of his wife and kids, angry at her infidelity, pissed off at "the incompetence of his discount attorney," and just mad at the world.
Stan connects with his guide, Pierre (AKA Frenchy) Le Rouge (yeah, they are father and son - that's an overriding theme throughout the book, but more on that later). But first, he endures a lost hotel reservation, crummy customer service, lots of booze and too little sleep. Turns out, they are going to Game Management Area 16 as well, although they're hoofing it (Pierre doesn't believe in using planes for hunting).
Two different camps, two very different levels of "adventure" (Isley really likes that word), but one goal: Shooting a grizzly, preferably 8 feet or bigger, and taking home a trophy.
Although a non-hunter might think that hunting bears in the spring, when they're groggy and weak from the long winter, is unsporting, our intrepid hunters really do have to work for their trophies. Dom and Jeremy are stuck in camp for days because of unending spring fog that makes it too dangerous to fly the Cessna in search of game. Stan finds himself hiking miles each day, first to the camp and then through the area surrounding the camp, in search of a shot. It's cold (still), wet and boggy. And then he falls through the ice still covering Beluga Lake and almost freezes to death.
And the bear doesn't just sit around, waiting to be shot. He's constantly on the move, searching for anything that will fill his stomach.
Of course, the long periods of fog-bound inactivity lead to tall tales and bonding, and the reader discovers that Jeremy never really felt his father loved him, and this hunt is a way for Jeremy to discover the man behind the legend. Jean-Luc and Pierre have their own back story, having become estranged because of differing philosophies regarding hunting and guiding, and Pierre's addiction to drink and his violent tendencies when under the spell of alcohol.
The fatal encounter (and before you start yelling "SPOILER ALERT," know this: This particular incident is teased on the jacket of the book) occurs when Jeremy, wanting a photo of the Arctic fox that has adopted the camp, sets up a lure with frozen bacon grease. But instead of the little fox, Jeremy attracts the attention of the old boar, which has become desperate to fill his stomach, having had no luck for many days.
The encounter does not end well for any of the men, including Jeremy, who runs from the camp while the bear is otherwise occupied. Having been training as a triathlete, Jeremy thinks he can put enough distance between him and the bear (even though the ground is still covered with snow, and Jeremy, in his sleeping bag at the time of the attack, is wearing only socks) and find his way to safety.
You can guess the rest of that scene. And the end of the book (all 30 pages of it - in a 191 page novel). I won't spoil it for you.
The book, although depicting a hunt, is "as much about the strong bond between father and son as it is about the taking of game," according to the jacket, although I saw more fighting and estrangement than bonding. But hey, I'm a girl - what do I know about the complex relationships between men and their male offspring? But it didn't seem to me that any of the characters resolved any of their problems, or even came to grips with them, other than whining that "Daddy didn't love me."
There are a lot of other problems with this book, but the biggest problem, and one I have found far too often in books lately, is that it's badly written. Badly as in not technically competent; badly as in poorly constructed and executed; and badly as in misspellings, typos, awkward phrasing, overwriting, and wrong or missing punctuation.
Newsflash: One uses a colon (:) to introduce a related thought or example into the sentence, i.e., "He and Jeremy's father had been together on many adventures: Alaska, Africa ...." The semicolon (;), on the other hand, separates two different thoughts in one sentence.
One would expect an adventure story to be fast-paced, to rush headlong into excitement and a massive adrenaline rush. But Isley's writing is passive, over done and uses far too many words to convey meaning. "Easing down the mountain, the grade would sometimes become so steep that the bear would turn around and slid rump first."
Perhaps I wouldn't have been so hard on this first-time writer had he not set himself up for harsh judgment: The jacket touts him as the next Jack London, and breathlessly gushes, "Not since Peter Benchley's blockbuster hit of 1974 has there been an adventure like `The Bear Hunter.' " And being that this is a self-published book, that wording came from the author, not the publisher. But Isley hasn't earned those praises, not with this book.
Bottom line: This adventurer was sorely disappointed. This book definite did not live up to its hype, and I was seriously rooting for the bear.
A gripping, page-turning read.......2007-08-12
I thought "The Bear Hunter" was very well-written and totally believable. The story really flowed and I could really picture the scenes described by the author. Alaska sounds like an incredible wilderness and the book really piqued my interest in exploring that part of the country. Similarly, I was intrigued by the various characters in the book, especially the locals, and felt a kinship to the different characters and their places in life.
There are a few parts of the book that are realistically gruesome and R-Rated. However, if you are a fan of Wild Kingdom and can endure watching predators go after and capture their next meal, you should be fine. Overall I was very happy with the book and would recommend it to anyone who likes adventure-seeking, outdoorsy, thrillers.
Felicia Brown
Author & Recording Artist
Just Breathe: Guided Meditations for Inner Peace
The Bear Hunter.......2007-07-04
What an amazing, heartfelt, deeply emotional book!! I was totally unprepared for the authors insight into human suffering, feelings of inadequacy, anger, lust, love and the deep connections that fathers have for their sons. All this in the mist of a bear hunting trip that expounds on the beauty of mother nature in the great Alaskan wilderness. This author delights and surprises you with his story turns. Sometimes funny, sometimes emotional, and sometimes keeping you sitting on the edge of the chair! One of those books you just can't put down! You'll love it and be waiting for more! So Mr. Isley, when is your next book??
Adventure and Jack London Together Again.......2007-05-04
Well written novel that captures the realities and posibilities of an Alaskan bear hunt. There is a raw element of Jack London in the authors writings which I look forward to in future work. Well done.
The Bear Hunter.......2007-05-03
This was a very good book. I really didn't want to put it down. I had to keep seeing what was going to happen next. It was very believable.
Book Description
Walk wild Route Y2Y with wolves, bears, the author, his dog, and other creatures on one of North America's last migratory corridors.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Read!.......2007-08-06
I've read a lot of non-fiction wilderness books and this is in the top 10 of my list. It's written very well and entertaining. I never heard of the Y2Y project until I read this book. Fascinating! I have driven through the Yukon, been to Yellowstone and BC. I think it's a great project and I hope that it continues to receive a more positive response. I highly recommend this book.
Loved It .......2007-04-25
Most stories of trail adventures and sponsored trips are full of bravado and ego boosting exagerations or inane details of equipment and techinque. Heuer, however, is a modest writer relating exciting stories without downplaying or overplaying his acomplishments. Best of all he is always relating them to a bigger picture that we can all identify with. Bravo.
So well written I felt I was there.......2007-02-06
This is a great book. A must read if you care about the wilderness,wildlife & people you will enjoy reading this. If you don't know how you feel about the wilderness,wildlife & humans, you must read this. It was wonderful to see how he got people to pay attention that thought they knew how they felt.
Read it!.......2006-11-10
An easy, entertaining read and a nice snapshot of the good and bad elements currently effecting the Yellowstone to Yukon region. Through a personal story Karsten makes both his huge trek and the region's biological challenges seem relatively easy to face. This is an important feat conssidering he and others hope to engage and mobilize thousands in a pioneering international conservation initiative.
As a PS, I was surprised to learn the Canadians were doing as much, if not more, damage to the environment then we 'mericans. And I thought they were so innocent up there.
Trying to make Y2Y real, and problems on BOTH sides of the border.......2006-03-21
Y2Y, if you're not eco-minded, is "Yellowstone to Yukon." The idea behind is that large animals, above all grizzlies, need a lot of room to roam -- and this room needs to be adequately networked and connected, with as few human-disturbed chokepoints as possible.
Well, Karsten Heuer, a native of Canmore, Alberta, and a former Parks Canada ranger at Banff, decided to hike all the way from Yellowstone National Park to the British Columbia-Yukon border -- more than 2,000 kilometers/1,200 miles, and involving skiing and canoeing, not just hiking. Breaks in the trip were jam-packed with PR work on both sies of the border.
This book is about his trip. It's also about some of the problems the development of Y2Y corridor would face.
Surprising for many from the American side of the border (and contrary to one brief reviewer, this is about preserving ALL the Rockies, not just the American portion of those mountains) overall, more of the problems are probably on the Canadian side of the border. And that's in spite of the often anti-environmental leadership that currently resides in Washington, D.C.
Both exploratory oil drilling and coal mining crowd closer to the heart of the Rockies north of the border. Logging in the north involves more rapacious cutting, often clear-cutting in places it wouldn't be allowed in the U.S.
What's driving this is Canada's governmental structure, which is even more "provincial rights" in *reality*, in many ways, than the U.S.'s is "states rights" in *hyperbole.* And the Alberta and B.C. provincial governments have generally been as knee-jerk pro-development as California's anti-environmental Congressman Richard Pombo -- and in a position to do more with that.
Read this book, complete with stunning photos, to show why Y2Y needs preserving.
Amazon.com
After a century of declared war, Colorado's last grizzly was officially eradicated in 1952. But in 1979, while out bowhunting elk in the San Juan mountains, a guide named Ed Wiseman fought a big old sow with nothing more than a broken arrow--and won. Was this truly the "last" grizzly? David Petersen, for one, would like to know. He tracks the ghost grizzlies of the southern Rockies with a gusto that borders on mania, interviewing wildlife officials, hikers, hunters, taxidermists, and anyone else with a connection to the great bear--hoping to find evidence that a few still range Colorado's rugged backcountry. He spearheads campaigns into the wilderness and studies suspicious signs left behind. Ghost Grizzlies, his memoir of this search, is many books at once: it's a lesson in natural (and not-so-natural) history; an elegy for America's lost wildness; a very personal rumination on what it means to chase an elusive spirit; and a terrific true-mystery story that will appeal to outdoors enthusiasts, wildlife fanciers, and anyone else who enjoys a good Western yarn.
Book Description
Deep in the wilds of Colorado's San Juan Mountains there may still lurk a remnant population of the continent's most fearsome mammal: Ursus arctos horribilis. By 1952 it was widely assumed that the grizzly had been extirpated from Colorado. That is, until one September evening in 1979 when a hunting outfitter named Ed Wiseman was attacked by a four-hundred-pound golden-haired sow. The mauled but alive man (and the dead bear) confirmed what knowledgeable San Juan residents already knew: the Colorado grizzly was no ghost.
What has happened since that encounter almost twenty years ago is the subject of this story about the bear and our own species in the wild—and what the future may hold for both.
Customer Reviews:
Very Compelling.......2006-09-29
This book changed my entire outlook on the Grizzly bear in Colorado. The evidence is well presented without jumping to conclusions. There are many eyewitness accounts by experienced outfiters, ranchers and locals. There is also a great deal of well researched history on the Griz in Colorado and it's violent decline.
I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who cares about preserving the wild character of Colorado. This title has a special place in my library.
Oh give me home where the great bear roams . . ........2005-08-20
David Peterson has compiled a thorough review of the evidence for and against (mostly for) the presence of grizzly bears in Colorado: Rio Grande National Forest and specifically the South San Juan Wilderness Area and adjoining lands. Having spent a lot of time in the area, I agree with Peterson's assessment of the wildness of the region and the possibility/probability of the grizzly's presence there.
Like most good books, more questions are raised than are answered. What happens if grizzlies are proven to live here? What assurances are there they won't be "managed to death" like other resources/wildlife? How capable are we at making decisions based on largely circumstantial evidence? Will/should we strive to obtain concrete proof?
I especially liked the accounts of the grizzly sightings and encounters. Peterson thoughtfully investigates each and the interviews with the survivors of encounters of yore are worth the price of the book. One aspect of the book that turned me off a little was Peterson's attitude toward people who derive their living from the National Forest. He paints them accross the board as a bunch of selfish ner-do-wells who have no respect for the wildlife. I disagree and it's interesting commentary from the author who, by his own admission, smokes Camels thoughout the Rio Grande National Forest.
One thing is certain, this is a spectacular corner of Colorado (and New Mexico - much of the area discussed is only a stone's throw from the border). I've stood atop Conejos Peak five times, stared down at the South San Juan, and marveled at its unspoiled beauty and rugged landscape. I've seen ptarmagan at the high mountain lakes, mountain lions in the wide open valles, and more elk than I can count. I know the real names of the geographical locales disguised by the author and, ironically, the real treasure of this region is in what it lacks: no major thoroughfares, no fourteeners, no ski areas, no big nearby population centers, and continual second billing to the trampled Western San Juans. This volcanic area is relatively unspoiled by mining, however, Peterson points to the nearsighted management practices of the National Forest Service - especially grazing - as a threat to the ecosystem, and grizzlies if they are there.
Here's what I think. Any grizzly living in the SSJWA is pretty darned good and not getting found. It's clear from the accounts that even individuals who spend a lot of time there rarely see compelling evidence of their presence. These bears won't be "proven to government standards" to exist without a huge undertaking that, as Peterson points out, would be unconscionable on many levels.
What's more, I believe there are a small handful of local backcountry locals who know for certain that grizzlies are alive and well in the Eastern San Juans. They keep it quiet to avoid the inevitable stampede that would ensue if they went public. I, for one, hope they keep the secret. Someday Colorado (and perhaps New Mexico) may be ready to deal with grizzlies in their midst. But, we are clearly not ready yet. . . . . .
A Complete and Intelligent Study.......2002-07-24
Buy this book. Buy it new, buy it used, buy it for your friends, buy it for your enemies. Petersen has written a thoughtful and thorough examination of recent grizzly bear management policies (or lack thereof) in the San Juans of Colorado. The book is a pleasure to read.
As someone who occasionally sees grizzers on his property, I can't conceive of living in an environment that doesn't have a population of apex predators to keep things interesting. Petersen masterfully chronicles how government funded assassins with the support of short-sighted local ranching communities and clumsy land managers, managed to kill virtually every grizzly in Colorado. He also accurately details how Western ranchers have come to view public lands with more than a sense of ownership but rather with a sense of absolute entitlement. This has led them to run their stock on federal land at ridiculously cheap rates, ignore even the most commonsense principles of husbandry, and push bears and wolves into the zoos and picture books while trying to keep everyone else out. Also to blame are the Baby Huey-like semi-rich, who hack 20 acre ranchettes out of the diminishing habitat and in the process are strangling the thing they profess to love most.
Petersen manages to stay somewhat balanced, using an essay by the outspoken and bearlike Doug Peacock to say what is probably really on his mind regarding sheep ranchers and development dingbats. In the course of researching the book, Peterson also forges unlikely friendships with former (but not reformed) professional and amateur bearslayers , including Ed Wiseman, who killed the last known Colorado grizz in hand to hand combat in 1979.
There is the general belief in the book that the great bear still lives in the San Juans but has become more nocturnal and reclusive as it adapts to its shrinking habitat. There are certainly drainages wild enough to support a grizz but I personally don't believe there are any left. My heart tells me that any state with a wildlife management policy as pathetic and dumbheaded as Colorado's can't have allowed for even a single surviving great bear. Also, I am reminded of a story in Scott Weidensaul's recent (and excellent) book on vanishing species entitled "The Ghost With Trembling Wings." Weidensaul tells the story of an animal who escapes from a European zoo and whose likeness is posted on the news. Consequently, hundreds of eyewitness calls come flooding in from all over the country, each caller claiming to have personally seen the critter. It turns out that the koala had actually been run over by a train several hundred yards from the zoo immediately after escaping. Weidensaul's point is that people WANT to believe something so badly, they convince themselves of its existence. And I'm afraid that is what we are doing with the Colorado grizzly.
Great book - read four times........2001-07-22
My copy of this book is dog-eared and worn-out after all my readings of it and loaning it to others! David Peterson is one interesting writer. I had visited the San Juan Mountains prior to reading this book and explored the area where the Wiseman grizzly was killed. At the time I thought the Wiseman griz was the last in Colorado. This book inspired me to return and do a little searching of my own. Found some bear sign but was really amazed by how spectacular the high San Juans are in July. I think this book needs another postscript wherein "the search for survivors" is updated!
Wilderness and Grizzlies: This has it all!.......1998-08-22
This book is one of the best books I've ever read. David Petersen does a fantastic job of educating the reader while involving them in some exciting adventures. While searching for grizzlies in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, David fills you in on grizzly natural history, the history of the San Juans, and the need for preserving wilderness in North America. This is a must have book for all who are interested in grizzly bears, the Rockies, wilderness, and the outdoors in general.
Book Description
The Lost Grizzlies chronicles the ongoing search for proof that a small number of grizzly bears still lives in the isolated mountain wilds of southern Colorado. Rick Bass turns his considerable talents to an evocation of wilderness beauty and the history of human encroachment that may, or may not, have wiped out the last of these massive, solitary bears from their southern range.
Customer Reviews:
Bass paints a vivid picture.......2007-03-08
This book is a beautiful exploration of sense of place, married with a urgent discussion of the disappearance of wild places in the West. Bass' characters are vibrant and humorous. This is one of the best nonfiction 'green' books I have ever read.
Still an open question........2006-04-17
Rick Bass challenges us to reconsider the question of whether there are grizzlies left in the wilderness of the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado. It is a question that is not easy to answer with a "yes" or "no". So what if he or someone else finds evidence as in traces of grizzly hair in scat, or sizes of footprints in the mud, or claw marks on the trunks of aspen trees, or better yet, has a brief encounter with what looks or sounds like a grizzly bear? This may well be the last survivor(s) of a population that is doomed for extinction, which many people have prepared themselves to accept or acknowledge. Besides, documenting their existence may bring more intruders (hunters, outfitters, biologists included) to this fragile wilderness, thus accelerating the demise of this once-mighty population. The real issue here is not whether they are still there, but whether knowing that they may still be there is enough for us to respect their right to be left alone, to leave their domain untrammeled, and lessen our own ruination by ensuring a greater natural legacy to future generations.
Bass embarked on two separate off-trail adventures into the wilds of the San Juans with the hunch that the great bear might still exist. On the first trip, which was early fall, he seemed to idolize Doug Peacock, who was schooled in the wilderness philosophy of the late Edward Abbey from both friendship and experience traveling together. On the second trip, which was early summer, Bass, although traveling with a larger group, pushed further into the wilds by himself at one point and experienced an epiphany. In both trips, Bass shares with his readers his deep appreciation of the wilderness, recalling the insights of nature writers as Aldo Leopold, Barry Lopez, and Wallace Stegner. The temptation to go willy-nilly in personal introspection, however, recalls the negative aspects of Jon Krakauer. His occasional rambling about ions and mutations makes him a scientific dilettante that can mar the reading experience. He mistakenly refers to "Adirondack National Park" (Adirondack Park) in comparing the San Juans to other wilderness areas. Influenced by Peacock, Bass detests the conventional methods wildlife biologists use to study the distribution of wildlife populations and recommends a more sensitive methodology that does not rely on direct documentation or technological gadgets.
What good is a wilderness--and why call it as such--if the elements that have beheld mankind and have captured our imagination and instilled dread for so long, such as its fiercest predators, are gone? When people like Bass and Peacock tread quietly in wilderness and finds evidence of a remaining wildness in places like the San Juan Mountains, there is reason for optimism. The natural world is all the more interesting when we find, in addition to scenery and natural splendors, an enduring ecosystem that should be left alone for others to see, wonder, and experience.
Needed less pomposity.......2004-11-04
Author Rick Bass recounts three years of annual efforts to find evidence of grizzly bears in Colorado's San Juan mountains. Each time, he heads into the woods with a colorful cast of characters, most notably Grizzly Years author Doug Peacock. Their goal is to document the presence of the endangered grizzly; success will presumably spark a reaction in the government and conservation agencies to take efforts to protect both the grizzly and its environment. Bass finds what appears to be plenty of evidence, culminating in a terrifying encounter with a large male grizzly from 30 feet away. The centerpiece of the book is on the way that Bass and his companions interact with the environment around them, be it the woods, or the towns and ranches that they visit for one reason or another.
The Good and the Bad:
As much as I liked isolated sections of this book, the drawbacks left me colder than a group of activists on a mountain peak at dusk. The good things included a worship-inspired look at Peacock, who is shown to be a modern day Johnny Appleseed in that he is far more comfortable in the wilds than among the people. Peacock charges off into the brush cursing when agitated; and he is liable to charge into the brush cursing when he is happy and excited, too. At a meeting with a fundraiser, he turns down money because he has been asked to have contact with a donor in exchange for the funds. He is motivated by unexplained feelings, mysteries of the woods, and mystic natural signs whose meanings he comes up with unaided. The fact that Bass seems to worship Peacock only becomes annoying when Bass attempts to insert himself into the relationship by intimating that he understands Peacock better than others in the group (I'm not even saying he doesn't, just that it detracts from the narrative). In most cases, the hero-worship merely serves to enhance the story, as we get behind a mythologizing of a man that even critics would call strongly individualistic.
We also fail to get a good idea of how the larger movement to document and thereby save the grizzlies is progressing. We don't know exactly what proof will produce what effect, and so the real-life impact of the mission is de-emphasized to the extreme.
I have three other main complaints; the first is that the large majority of the conservation ethic articulated by the characters is extremely basic. There's a lot of quoting of Leopold, and a repeated return to the idea that we are all a part of the forest, that every unit is dependent on related parts, etc. He not only presents these ideas with the pride of their creator, but he goes over them again and again, with minor variation. Better was when he talks about specific issues, such as the ethical considerations of radio-collaring a bear (although we never get the pro side of that statement). Another interesting set of information is given by a character named Tolisanti, who gives a discussion on how many creatures are needed to preserve a species, and what roles different species play in terms of conserving an environment.
The second main complaint is Bass's annoying tendency to read spiritual overtones into almost everything. The quality of light, the sighting of a bear skull, the accidental discovery of a hunter's camp; everything has a meaning. And Bass doesn't think that he's coming up with the meaning, he clearly reads that the forces of nature are communicating with him, directly and on purpose. A meadow is happy that he's leaving, although it didn't mind his presence while he was there, for example. And there is a constant return to the idea that the existence of grizzlies is a function of the spirit of those who seek them rather than their own mechanizations. This might be ok for another reader, but I want more hard facts and far less spiritual rhapsody about how Rick Bass is a receptacle that nature chooses to fill with portent.
Finally, I have a big problem with Bass's attitude that his own conservation ethic, which has a heavy basis in a Native American-like basis of respect for each creature, is the only proper one. He repeatedly refers to academics and bureaucrats in wildlife management in a demeaning manner, drawing a deep division between himself and paper-pushers. While I personally share many qualities and sympathize entirely with many aspects of the hippie movement, my sympathies fall short of condoning some of the bizarre attitudes. The way to save the woods might include a frontiersman-like effort to catalogue what's out there, but it also includes involvement by the government, as well as a lot of the hard scientific work conducted in the laboratory. Just because everyone's not a Davey Crockett doesn't mean that everyone doesn't care about preserving wildlife.
What I learned:
The Hundred Years rule of thumb asks what population size is needed to give itself a 99% chance of survival for 100 years. There is a new idea in conservation that preserving wildness might be better sized by establishing a series of concentrated rings, with more human activity allowed in the outer rings, but little to no activity allowed in the central rings. This allows for less chafing on both sides of the fence, for both civilization and the wild. Different types of species as far as conservation goes include keystone species, which anchor a set of inter-special relationships; indicator species, which give early warning when something bad is happening to an environment; flagship species, which are the sexy animals that might motivate the public to devote energies to conserving an ecosystem; and recovery species, which indicate that an ecosystem that has been damaged might be coming back to life.
Also, and most interestingly, when hunters shoot bears who have just recently emerged from hibernation, they may find live ants scurrying around in their stomachs, which have not yet begun to produce stomach acid.
Defining.......2003-02-06
I thoroughly enjoyed this tale of the trail, but as science it dosen't bother to include any. Only the fact that standard conservation biology principles are ridiculed. Unfortunately this population of Ursus arctos horribilus is all but gone. They are at California Condor levels if present at all. They see one bear, but what of the DNA analysis? Bass does not tell us here. Bass's bear is more a vision than a reality.
The crowd of Earth First!ers from Tuscon and points north represented by the volatile-tempered Doug Peacock, that has allowed Rick Bass to join is a select band of outlaw literary types, that worship the wild and lament its demise. I share this sadness and want to prevent it myself, but my twelve years working as a fish and wildlife biologist did little to encourage me that this is possible. By aligning himself only with outlaw radicals whose personal behavior screams "left-wing enviro-nut" these noble ideas will be hard to sell by these messengers. Only with mainstream acceptance will change occur.
In Bass's home territory of Yaak, Montana this will be a hard sell. Libby is a devastated lumber town where I once worked for the U.S. Forest Service. I was so discouraged that I quit early and left town never to return. Bass runs with a select clique who live in Livingston, Montana a sort of "Hollywood North" of rich and famous actors and artists the likes of Peter Fonda, Tom McGuane, Dennis Quaid, the brothers Bridges, an endless list. But it's the outlaws like Dave Forman the founder of Earth First!that run the underground sects of the environmental movement, and they have a terrorist thesis; "Monkeywrenchers" as Ed Abby envisioned. Peacock is the model although he does not actually commit vandalism acts himself. They don't accept newcomers into their ranks easily; particularly impoverished writers from the "sticks."
I wrote Mr. Bass once of my efforts chronicled in my first book "Against A Strong Current," on these conservation matters and received no reply. Acceptance by this group is not my goal but credit is difficult to get, even if one has extensive credentials and a government work record that takes place on scene as part of the in house system working for the same change. It is easy to be upstaged by amateurs. Bass seeks to sell romance sans the "Guzzi" consumerish trappings. This work is a success at that, but it is not in any sense, biology.
I Believe It Was a Grizzly.......2002-01-20
This book is a unique combination of comedy, real-life adventure and a luminous testimony to one of America's most endangered and mythical beasts. Bass is at his best here, capturing the hearts of his readers through an alternately hilarious and spine tingling account of his journey into the Colorado mountains in search of grizzly bears.
The problem facing Bass and his two friends is that the grizzly bear is believed to be extinct in Colorado. However, several undocumented sightings and signs have convinced them that the bears exist in the remotest regions of the mountain range. Thus they are out to do all they can to locate bears and document their findings.
In the resulting adventures we find the three companions trapsing through woods, sliding down canyon walls, confronting bureaucrats and tracking down bear sign. Things are complicated, and given a distinctly uneasy quality, by the behavior of Doug Peacock. Peacock, himself a well-known author and champion of the grizzly bear, is plagued by frequent and dramatic mood swings. His alarmingly volatile temper, moments of intense introspection and frequent outbursts of graphic profanity have the reader feeling like he/she is walking on eggshells. Because Bass has done such a good job of describing his friend, and how he came to be the way he is, it's easy to forgive Peacock his peculiar behavior. However, it is not easy or pleasant to read.
As the story unfolds, and the three men get closer to their goal, the tension becomes almost unbearable. When Bass finally sees a bear, after months of exhausting effort and disappointment, the scene unfolds in classic Bass technicolor with heart racing clarity and insight. "When I am ten yards from that fallen tree - which I am all but ignoring, focusing on the deer - a creature leaps up from behind it, seemingly right in my face, a brown creature with great hunched shoulders. It's a bear with a big head, and for the smallest fraction of time our eyes meet. The bear's round brown eyes are wild in alarm, and mine the same or larger, I'm sure. The bear's rich chocolate color, like a moose and nearly as big, an animal of such immense size that indeed my first thought, the one right before fear, is: That bear's as big as a moose!"
I won't ruin the suspense by telling you what happens next. It should be enough to know that Bass neither disappoints nor fails to find deeper currents of truth running beneath his experience. This is another book that shouldn't be missed. Just don't expect it to reveal its gifts easily.
Average customer rating:
- This is a charming book of outdoor adventures.
|
Smugglers on Grizzly Mountain (Eric Sterling, Secret Agent, Book 4)
Ernest Herndon
Manufacturer: Zondervan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Action & Adventure
| Literature
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Christian
| Fiction
| Religions
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Ages 9-12
| Christianity
| Religions
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Fiction
| Environment
| Nature
| Science, Nature & How It Works
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ages 9-12
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Night of the Jungle Cat (Eric Sterling, Secret Agent, Book 3)
-
Trouble at Bamboo Bay (Herndon, Ernest. Eric Sterling, Secret Agent, #6.)
-
Double-Crossed in Gator Country (Eric Sterling, Secret Agent, Book 2)
-
The Secret of Lizard Island (Eric Sterling Secret Agent, Book 1)
ASIN: 0310382815 |
Customer Reviews:
This is a charming book of outdoor adventures........2001-05-16
"Eric Sterling: Secret Agent" Smugglers on Grizzly Mountain, by Ernest Herndon, is a charming book for children aged 8-12. It is about three pre-teen special agents for Wildlife Special Investigations (WSI), who are assigned a case involving mushroom smugglers. The three children, Eric C., Erik K., and Erik's sister Sharon, are sent off to Alaska where they meet with Martin Bull who shows them what they are to do. After a brief overview of their case, the three are sent to climb Bear Ridge Mountain armed with camping supplies, a telescope, and bear mace. As soon as they reached the summit, the three detectives spotted the mushroom smugglers and radioed down to Mr. Bull. Mr. Bull told Eric to come back down the mountain first thing the next morning. As soon as Eric woke up, he packed up his supplies and headed down the mountain. After his long hike down the mountain, poor, tired Eric was greeted by an unfamiliar man who told him that there was an emergency and that Mr. Bull had to head home. However, Eric smelled something fishy, he knew something was not right. But I won't tell you what it is, you will have to read this book for yourself to know what the exciting ending is to this great book of outdoor expeditions.
Average customer rating:
|
The Black Grizzly of Whiskey Creek
Sid Marty
Manufacturer: McClelland & Stewart
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Bears
| Animals
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Wildlife
| Animals
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Mountains
| Nature & Ecology
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Reference
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0771056990
Release Date: 2008-04-08 |
Book Description
In describing the true events surrounding a series of bear attacks, a bestselling nature/adventure author explores our relationship with the great grizzly.
In 1980, the volcanic ash erupting from Mount St. Helens signaled a wet summer leading, that August, to a failure in the berry crop that all bears need to survive. In Banff, merchants and citizens were preparing for the lucrative Labour Day Weekend. Many were used to seeing black bears up close, and usually, the more dangerous grizzly bears kept to the back country. But that summer people were starting to see grizzlies shadowing the outlying hotels at the forest edge. And then an elusive bear attacked two men, and one of them died of his injuries.
During the massive hunt that followed, Banff was portrayed in the national and international media as a town under siege by a killer bear, and tourists stayed away. The pressure was on to find and destroy the Whiskey Creek mauler, but he evaded park wardens and struck again — and again. When the fight was over, hard lessons were learned and changes were made that would save the lives of both bears and people in the coming years. Sid Marty’s
The Black Grizzly of Whiskey Creek is a gripping story that speaks to our complex and increasingly combative relationship with the wilderness.
Average customer rating:
- They're out there...
- Wilderness and Grizzlies: This book says it all!
|
Ghost Grizzlies
David Petersen
Manufacturer: Henry Holt & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Bears
| Animals
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Mammals
| Zoology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Reference
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0805031170 |
Amazon.com
Does the grizzly bear still pad its way across the back range of the Rocky Mountains, in the San Juans of Colorado state? David Petersen, a longtime resident, believes that it just might, enduring "like the knapweed in the ditch." In this fine book, he surveys the history of bear-human interactions in these remote but increasingly developed mountains, discussing at length the possibilities of grizzlies being reintroduced in number there. (Among the prime candidates for reintroduction, he suggests, are current zoo inmates.) Petersen's call to protect the last grizzlies is well placed, and it has a humbling message: "By working to save the bear and its tiny wilderness enclaves," he writes, "we are working to save ourselves. If we can't be big enough to accommodate a species as intelligent, magnificent, and manlike as the grizzly, we probably have no chance of long-term survival ourselves." If Petersen's view is correct, we'd better study his words and get to work.
Customer Reviews:
They're out there..........2000-02-17
Dave's lyrical writing style engages the reader throughout this 275 page book, which thoroughly chronicles the fate of the grizzly bear in Colorado. One is left with a sense of wanting to know what's next, what's happened since the ink of this book dried in 1994?
Personally, I felt compelled to action, to do my part to help keep the San Juans as wild as possible for those Ghost Grizzlies to have a chance to someday rematerialize.
Wilderness and Grizzlies: This book says it all!.......1998-08-17
David Petersen captured my attention early in the book and kept me glued to the pages all the way through. He presents the reader with the grizzly bear, its natural history, and its possible existence in the Colorado wilderness. Along the way, he involves you in exciting adventures and a thrilling search for bruins. This is a must have book for the library of anyone interested in grizzlies, wilderness, the rockies, and the general outdoors. This is definitely the best book I've read in a long time.
Average customer rating:
|
Grizzly Bear Mountain
Jack Boudreau
Manufacturer: Caitlin Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Canadian
| Historical
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Maritime Provinces
| Regional Canada
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| 20th Century
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Canadian
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0920576818 |
Book Description
Hot on the heels of his best seller, Crazy Man's Creek, Jack Boudreau writes his sequel. We go back to the small community of Penny, learn what rural kids did to amuse themselves - mother wouldn't approve - and then look over Jack's shoulder as he develops his fascination with the grizzly bear, first as a hunter, then as a photographer.
The grizzly bear, according to Jack, is not a threatened species, at least not in the McGregor Mountain Range. Through Jack's eyes, we begin to understand and appreciate this marvellous beast. For example, did you know that grizzlies ski?
As well as giving us a greater understanding of this magnificient bear, Jack speaks of his love of the rugged mountain country of Northern British Columbia where he feels lucky to have lived most of his life.
Book Description
One of the truly scarce books of outdoor sport and Western Americana, "Hunting Grizzlys, Black Bear and Lions" is herein available in an affordable reprint edition. Written by Will Evans and other members of the pioneer Evans family, these first-hand memoirs offer a rare look at ranch life and big-game hunts in the Davis Mountains of West Texas and the Gila region of southwest New Mexico, 1880s to 1920s. We read what is perhaps the only account on record of the grizzly bear in Texas; another grizzly hunt, in New Mexico, goes on for days and takes hunters, horses and hounds to the limit. Black bears, mountain lions, and outlaw cattle round out these authentic, unvarnished recollections.
Sadly, the grizzly is gone from the Southwest, and the black bear virtually gone from West Texas. Here are the life, times and adventures when bears and panthers roamed "big-time" across the Southwest wilderness.
Customer Reviews:
wild yarns.......2006-01-29
poor hearsay writing, sound like campfire storytelling...sorry i wasted my money....my advice to you...don't
Hunting "Big Time".......2003-06-30
A short but informative book that documents the grizzly bears' existance in west Texas.
Books:
- The Bee (Life Cycles)
- The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design
- The Burning Island: A Journey Through Myth and History in Volcano Country, Hawaii
- The Cartoon Guide to Genetics (Updated Edition)
- The Commercial Use of Biodiversity: Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit Sharing
- The Company of Wolves
- The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Ecology (Oxford Reference)
- The Dreams of Dragons: An Exploration and Celebration of the Mysteries of Nature
- The Dynamic Genome: Barbara McClintock's Ideas in the Century of Genetics
- The Ecology of Sumatra
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Lean Manufacturing Pocket Handbook
- Real Food for Dogs: 50 Vet-Approved Recipes to Please the Canine Gastronome
- Megaliths, Myths and Men: An Introduction to Astro-Archaeology
- National Security and The Nuclear Dilemma, 1945-1991
- Sweethearts: The Timeless Love Affair - On-screen and Off - Between Jeanette MacDonald
- The Age of Innocence
- Sonata De Otono: Sonata De Invierno
- Beware of Those Who Ask for Feedback: And Other Organizational Constants
- National Cultures and International Competition: the Experience of Schering AG 1851-1950.
- Antilles
