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request for help to develop a hunting is conservation reading list

archer wapiti

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I tried searching this site for such a list, but haven't found one.

I've been asked to contribute to a list of suggested readings for a college course in conservation biology. As part of the course, the students are

"...required to read, evaluate, & report on a book by a conservation/wildlife/wilderness advocate. I want to provide a list of possible titles to help them select such a book. I have a good start, but would appreciate hearing from any of you that have read a book that you enjoyed & could be interpreted (broadly) as a conservation advocacy book.

...I'm especially looking for books that are authored by folks who may not be academics or scientists but who aren't afraid of gushing on about their love of nature. Send me anything you can think of."


I'm not trying to co-opt his class and turn it into a hunting is conservation advocacy class, but the list so far includes no titles related to hunting and its pivotal role in North American conservation and that seems like a shortcoming. Sand County Almanac isn't even on there, which is shocking to me. I'm hardly well-read in the subject but have included a couple titles below. I thought this would be a good opportunity to build a list not only for this class, but anybody on here wanting to read more on the subject. If there's already such a list published somewhere, please let me know.
Thanks!

Hunting Trips of a Ranchman & The Wilderness Hunter - Theodore Roosevelt
Sand County Almanac - Aldo Leopold
 
Lochsa Story by Bud Moore...great book about land ethics, trapping, multiple use land policy, and the conservation efforts in the Bitterroot region of MT and ID.
 
Everyone has given great examples so far. I am going to suggest something a little different. Ding Darling was a cartoonist from 1906-1949 publishing cartoons in 150 newspapers throughout the U.S. Daily he made cartoons on conservation, habitat loss, over harvest of game and so forth. He was so influential that Franklin Roosevelt finally gave up and said if you think you can do better then do it and named Darling the first head of the U.S. Biological Survey, now known as the USFWS. Darling started programs like the Federal Duck Stamp, was a member of the Boone and Crockett Club, and has state parks, national wildlife refuges, and the national conservation training center named after him. The University of Iowa has been archiving his works and can be found here: http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/ding/who.php
 
+1 on Last Stand.

Also see Montana's Wildlife Legacy. I wrote a review here somewhere.

Anything by Posewitz.
 
Check out the most recent edition of Bachcountry Hunters and anglers Backcountry Journal. They have prepared a list of their top ten. Some of the above are there, as well as others. It is a great list.
 
The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America

Paperback – May 4, 2010

By Douglas Brinkley

I used this book in a senior level elective class in the College of Business, Montana State University.
 
A Hunter's Heart: Honest Essays on Blood Sport by David Petersen.
Not very conservation heavy but gets at the some of the deepest human motivations for the hunt by some of the great modern sporting writers.
 
+1 for Last Stand
+1 for A Hunter's Heart- It was the first book I had on my own (had an environmental literature class in college that lit the fire a bit) and I've read it three times now. Probably due for another go.
 
Last stand is a really good read and I think would appeal to a wide audience.

Another book is "The Big Burn" it does a great job of outlining just how bad things got in the late 1800's early 1900's for wild places and wildlife. The collective greed of human's and its impact upon our world is represented so well and the backdrop of the "Big Burn" to humanize the story is very moving. Its something I will have both my children read at some point and a book I would buy and gift to anyone who cares about wildlife or wild places.
 

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