Stories, advice, and campfire philosophy from a lifetime of traditional bowhunting.

In Heartsblood, nationally acclaimed nature writer and veteran outdoorsman David Petersen draws clear distinctions between true hunting and contemporary hunter behavior, praising what's right about the former and damning what's wrong with the latter, as he seeks to render the terms "hunter" and "anti-hunter" palpable.

The odds for a hunter bagging North America's premier game animal just became much greater, thanks to this book. Hunters view elk hunting as the pinnacle of the big-game hunting experience in North America. The average elk hunter is successful once in every eight years. Most of them are not happy with these odds and are continually seeking ways to shift the odds in their favor. This "how-to" book provides all the essential information that is critical to becoming successful at elk hunting. Chapters include: Understanding Elk Behavior Equipment & Gear What Makes a Great Elk Camp? Learning the Habitat Where & How to Find Big Bulls Calling & Other Strategies

Since its publication in 1932, Black Elk Speaks has moved countless readers to appreciate the American Indian world that it described. John Neihardt’s popular narrative addressed the youth and early adulthood of Black Elk, an Oglala Sioux religious elder. Michael F. Steltenkamp now provides the first full interpretive biography of Black Elk, distilling in one volume what is known of this American Indian wisdom keeper whose life has helped guide others. Nicholas Black Elk: Medicine Man, Missionary, Mystic shows that the holy-man was not the dispirited traditionalist commonly depicted in literature, but a religious thinker whose outlook was positive and whose spirituality was not limited solely to traditional Lakota precepts. Combining in-depth biography with its cultural context, the author depicts a more complex Black Elk than has previously been known: a world traveler who participated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn yet lived through the beginning of the atomic age. Steltenkamp draws on published and unpublished material to examine closely the last fifty years of Black Elk’s life—the period often overlooked by those who write and think of him only as a nineteenth-century figure. In the process, the author details not just Black Elk’s life but also the creation of his life story by earlier writers, and its influence on the Indian revitalization movement of the late twentieth century. Nicholas Black Elk explores how a holy-man’s diverse life experiences led to his synthesis of Native and Christian religious practice. The first book to follow Black Elk’s lifelong spiritual journey—from medicine man to missionary and mystic—Steltenkamp’s work provides a much-needed corrective to previous interpretations of this special man’s life story. This biography will lead general readers and researchers alike to rediscover both the man and the rich cultural tradition of his people.

Portrays the Sioux spiritual leader as a victim of Western subjugation.

Black Elk Speaks, the story of the Oglala Lakota visionary and healer Nicholas Black Elk (1863–1950) and his people during momentous twilight years of the nineteenth century, offers readers much more than a precious glimpse of a vanished time. Black Elk’s searing visions of the unity of humanity and Earth, conveyed by John G. Neihardt, have made this book a classic that crosses multiple genres. Whether appreciated as the poignant tale of a Lakota life, as a history of a Native nation, or as an enduring spiritual testament, Black Elk Speaks is unforgettable. Black Elk met the distinguished poet, writer, and critic John G. Neihardt in 1930 on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and asked Neihardt to share his story with the world. Neihardt understood and conveyed Black Elk’s experiences in this powerful and inspirational message for all humankind. This complete edition features a new introduction by historian Philip J. Deloria and annotations of Black Elk’s story by renowned Lakota scholar Raymond J. DeMallie. Three essays by John G. Neihardt provide background on this landmark work along with pieces by Vine Deloria Jr., Raymond J. DeMallie, Alexis Petri, and Lori Utecht. Maps, original illustrations by Standing Bear, and a set of appendixes rounds out the edition.

From his self-built cabin in the southern Rockies and throughout the wilderness West, Petersen has spent the past twenty years observing, studying, praising, and defending the grand wild beasts that animate his daily world. Especially so the elk, a miraculous come-back that, through the 112,000-member Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, enjoys a larger and more dedicated fan club than even the grizzly bear or wolf.In this tightly linked collection of essays, Petersen takes us deep into the mountain forests to watch, smell, and talk with wapiti (a Shawnee word meaning white rump) and their wild neighbors, reflecting with wisdom, authority, and humility on their evolution, their behavior, their daily lives, and the impacts of the continued suburbanization of the West. Our guide looks as well at the various creatures who prey on elk -- from insects, to bears, to people with guns. In the latter instance, Petersen steps boldly beyond conventional side-taking to selectively praise the good and damn the bad, his only loyalty being truth, culminating with an exuberant condemnation of elk ranching and other forms of wildlife profiteering.