The days are gone when seemingly limitless numbers of canvasbacks, mallards, and Canada geese filled the skies above the Texas coast. Gone too are the days when, in a single morning, hunters often harvested ducks, shorebirds, and other waterfowl by the hundreds. The hundred-year period from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries brought momentous changes in attitudes and game laws: changes initially prompted by sportsmen who witnessed the disappearance of both the birds and their spectacular habitat. These changes forever affected the state’s storied hunting culture. Yet, as R. K. Sawyer discovered, the rich lore and reminiscences of the era’s hunters and guides who plied the marshy haunts from Beaumont to Brownsville, though fading, remain a colorful and essential part of the Texas outdoor heritage. Gleaned from interviews with sportsmen and guides of decades past as well as meticulous research in news archives, Sawyer’s vivid documentation of Texas’ deep-rooted waterfowl hunting tradition is accompanied by a superb collection of historical and modern photographs. He showcases the hunting clubs, the decoys, the duck and goose calls, the equipment, and the unique hunting practices of the period. By preserving this account of a way of life and a coastal environment that have both mostly vanished, A Hundred Years of Texas Waterfowl Hunting also pays tribute to the efforts of all those who fought to ensure that Texas’ waterfowl legacy would endure. This book will aid their efforts, along with those of coastal residents, birders, wildlife biologists, conservationists, and all who are interested in the state’s natural history and in championing the preservation of waterfowl and wetland resources for the benefit of future generations.

For most of the millions of Americans who go afield in pursuit of game in the 1990s, a hunt is about so much more than the act of hunting. It’s also about connecting to the land, bonding with your hunting companions, and respecting the spirit of the chase. The core of the hunt, the very reasons that people go afield, is the same today as it was in 1900. Tradition. And tradition is what this book is about. A striking collection of stories and artwork, this is a celebration of our hunting heritage that’s sure to evoke your own special hunting memories. "100 Years of Hunting" includes compelling stories about hunting game from the ever-popular whitetail to mule deer, elk, grizzly bear, bighorn sheep, grouse, ducks, pheasant, and more from the past 100 years. These engaging narratives are from such legends as Grover Cleveland, Zane Grey, Archibald Rutledge, Gordon MacQuarrie, Patrick F. McManus, Ernest Hemingway, and Robert Ruark. These hunting tales are paired with great artwork, including outstanding wildlife photography, hunting collectibles, sporting paintings, period ads, and historical images.

Stories and essays from Zane Grey, Sigurd Olson, Ernest Hemingway, Patrick McManus, Norman Maclean, and Jimmy Carter, and more combine with artwork and collectibles.

The book offers guidance to aspiring historians at every stage and in every walk of life, from practical advice on tackling and organizing projects to recommendations for finding and using resources of all kinds, whether at the local library or historical society or on the world wide web. It is intended to be a serious guide to the best practices for researchers as well as a good read as a collection of research stories. The author includes useful bibliographies, vetted websites, and practical advice on doing research well.

On the Hunt is the story of deer-hunting in Wisconsin, from the spear-throwing Paleo-Indians to the sportsmen of today. Meticulously researched by one of the state's most prolific outdoor writers, On the Hunt covers subsistence and sport hunting, deer camps, changing deer management policies, and recent developments and controversies, from human encroachment on deer habitat to CWD. Range maps and charts tracking annual herd populations and harvest goals complement Willging's engaging storytelling. Drawing from Department of Conservation papers, hunting magazines, newspapers, historic photos of classic deer camps, and the personal stories of hunters and deer managers, On the Hunt offers a fascinating glimpse into a distant and not-so-distant past, when the hunt joined men in almost mythical unity and bucks were seemingly larger than life. An ardent sportsman with nearly 25 years of hunting experience, Willging understands that deer-hunting is as much about the smell of the woods in autumn and the meticulous cleaning of a fine rifle as it is about bringing home a whitetail. His story of how Wisconsin's own World War II flying ace, Richard Bong, squeezed in a few days of hunting while home on leave vividly illustrates the sport's powerful pull on hearts and minds. Willging also engagingly conveys the important tradition of the deer-hunting camp, from a humble two-man shack in Chequamegon National Forest (like the one he shared with his best friend, Steve) to the grand old Deer Foot Lodge founded in 1912 in Vilas County. On the Hunt is perfect preparation for the avid sportsman's annual fall trek with friends and family into the woods.

From its earliest days of human habitation, the Texas coast was home to seemingly endless clouds of ducks, geese, swans, and shorebirds. By the 1880s Texas huntsmen, or market hunters, as they came to be called, began providing meat and plumage for the restaurant tables and millinery salons of a rapidly growing nation. A network of suppliers, packers, distribution centers, and shipping hubs efficiently handled their immense harvest. At the peak of Texas market hunting in the late 1890s, Rockport merchants shipped an average of 600 ducks a day in a five-month shooting season, and in the last year of legal market hunting, an estimated 60,000 ducks and geese were shipped from Corpus Christi alone. Market men employed efficient methods to harvest nature’s bounty. They commonly hunted at night, often using bait to concentrate large numbers of waterfowl. The effectiveness of the hunt was improved when side-by-side double barrel shotguns and large-gauge swivel guns gave way to repeating firearms, with some capable of discharging as many as eleven shells in a single volley. Their methods were so efficient that, by the late 1800s, Texas sportsmen and others blamed the alarming decline of coastal waterfowl populations on the market hunter’s occupation. In 1903, after a long fight and many failures, the first migratory bird game law passed the Texas legislature. Though the fight would continue, it was the beginning of the end of the year-round slaughter. Most market hunters quit, and those who didn’t became outlaws. In this book, R. K. Sawyer chronicles the days of market hunting along the Texas coast and the showdown between the early game wardens and those who persisted in commercial waterfowl hunting. Containing an abundance of rare historical photographs and oral history, Texas Market Hunting: Stories of Waterfowl, Game Laws, and Outlaws provides a comprehensive and colorful account of this bygone period.

Strategies for Today's Small Game Generation Whether it's waiting out a fox squirrel in a northeastern Ohio hickory grove, calling from a midnight stand for red fox, or anticipating the whirlwind flush of a ruffled grouse, nothing challenges the hunter nor hones the skills quite like the pursuit of North America's small game species. In his latest book, Successful Small Game Hunting, M.D. Johnson helps rekindle the flame that sparked the desire to hunt. With new twists on age-old outdoor ideas and just enough nostalgia to remind you that small game hunting is "where it all began," Johnson revisits the species and the techniques that have helped make small game hunting the grand pastime that it is. Wonderfully illustrated with outstanding images by award-winning photographer, Julia Johnson, Successful Small Game Hunting follows in the footsteps of Johnson's other titles - Successful Duck Hunting and Successful Turkey Hunting - by putting you right into the middle of the action with some of the finest small game hunters and trappers in the nation. Recapture the thrill of your first hunt as M.D. Johnson and friends guide you through the woodlots and uplands, the marshes and the fields in search of small game.