Showing titles in Outdoors & Nature

Disillusioned with overly competitive organized sports and concerned about her lively daughter’s growing shyness, author Angie Abdou sets herself a challenge: to hike a peak a week over the summer holidays with Katie. They will bond in nature and discover the glories of outdoor activity. What could go wrong? Well, among other things, it turns out that Angie loves hiking but Katie doesn’t. Hilarious, poignant, and deeply felt, This One Wild Life explores parenting and marriage in a summer of unexpected outcomes and growth for both mother and daughter.

In simple but powerful text, the ethical way to hunt is described from preparation to shooting to care after the shot.

For a traveling bird hunter, October is heaven on Earth. It's Randy's favorite month. He is a storyteller, dog trainer, wingshooter, and wandering bird dog man. Every fall, he turns his truck north and west to match wits with grouse, pheasant, quail, and Chukar. He takes us through the years and the dogs. He tells the stories of coveys flushing, roosters cackling, quail running, shotguns, family, and even one unlucky yard chicken. He will take you west to Montana and Arizona, north to Michigan and Wisconsin, and south to Georgia.

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single book. How to Survive Your First Trip in the Wild bundles up everything you need to prep for your first-ever backpacking adventure - so you can explore the back country with confidence. Start strong with an essential equipment guide geared toward beginners. Discover how to choose a campsite and follow along with camp setup and breakdown directions. Water treatment info, outdoor cooking basics, snacking suggestions, and a sample three-day backpacking food plan supply you with vital knowledge to survive in the wilderness.

When it was first published in 1998, The Backpacker's Field Manual set the standard for comprehensive backpacking books. Now exhaustively updated to offer a more complete view of backpacking today, it covers the latest developments in gear - such as Global Positioning Systems and ultralight hiking equipment - first aid, and Leave No Trace comping, and includes a chapter devoted to outdoor leadership resources and basics. Beginners and experienced hikers alike will find this book indispensable for trip planning strategies.

In the fall of 1978, Ray Ordorica packed everything he thought he would need into his Toyota LandCruiser and drove north to Alaska. He came to a land he had never seen, to find something he wasn't even sure existed: a wilderness cabin he could use for a year or more to live, think, relax, read, and write. Ordorica found his cabin, fixed it up, and, although it was just an un-insulated 12- by 16-foot one-room log structure, he spent three winters in it in relative comfort.

Heading for a hike? Make sure you equip yourself with these skills to help you navigate any terrain like a pro. The pull of exploring nature and the unknown is part of being a human–the desire to explore has shaped much of human history. And now, for you, it is also the foundation of many adventures.

Off the coast of Oregon, the Columbia River flows into the Pacific Ocean and forms the Columbia River Bar: a watery collision so turbulent and deadly that it’s nicknamed the Graveyard of the Pacific. Two thousand ships have been wrecked on the bar since the first European ship dared to try to cross it. Since then, the commercial importance of the Columbia River has only grown, but despite the construction of jetties on either side, the bar remains treacherous.

Lazy days spent in the uplands inevitably bring a closer connection with nature. Especially when your sport is seeking that game little bird, the woodcock. For the woodcock reassures us that the brooks are still dancing merrily through the woods and are on their way to sweet-scented meadows. So it is, the woodcock brings joy to the lovers of forest, cover, and stream.

Paradise, Gierach shows us, is relative; it can be found in the guilty luxury of fishing private waters or when one is soaked to the skin, in a small canoe on a big lake in a storm a hundred miles from anywhere, exhilarated after a day's fishing. There are also pleasures to be found in unexpected places: solitary fishing trips, fishing for less-appreciated fish like carp, or meeting a guide who at first seems like an inarticulate ax murderer but who proves to be a "Zen master among fishing guides."

You want to go fishing, but you have become bored with it lately. It is no longer the challenge it used to be. You have heard about fly fishing, but you are not sure how to get started. You've seen the fly fishermen out on the banks of the river, but you don't know how to cast like they can. You might be thinking to yourself, can I do it? The answer is yes!

A chance meeting around a safari campfire on the banks of the Mupamadazi River leads to The Last Ivory Hunter: The Saga of Wally Johnson, a grand tale of African adventure by renowned hunting author Peter Hathaway Capstick. Wally Johnson spent half a century in Mozambique hunting white gold—ivory. Most men died at this hazardous trade. He’s the last one able to tell his story.

Flushers, retrievers, and pointers: Discover a complete guide to training an obedient, enthusiastic hunting dog. With a combination of clear instructions and fascinating insight into the mentality of hunting breeds, even a first-time owner will be able to train their dog to its full potential.

Using a black magic marker and a gray work jumpsuit, Jim Crumley of Buchanan, Virginia, drastically changed the nature and purpose of hunting camouflage when he created the first sportsman’s camouflage - Trebark. Throughout his life, Crumley has been a constant student of how to bowhunt better, and his desire to learn new and better techniques for bowhunting was one of the reasons he created Trebark camouflage. In this hunting guide, he shares the wisdom that he’s learned throughout his lifetime about how to be a hunter, how to find a deer lease, how to scout for deer, and more.

Taking risks and exploring the unknown are as vital to human beings as our need for air, for growth, for affirmation, for something. These 19 stories reach deep into humanity's compulsion for the rush of new experiences.

In today’s high-strung, overly sensitive world, it is hard to find practical advice. This is why Robert Ryan has taken the liberty of compiling this volume of hunting wisdom that cuts to the quick about everything a hunter might need to know, but can’t generally get a straight answer on. If you are having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that you hate elk hunting or don’t know the proper method for stealing your friend’s boat, this volume can help.

In June 2007, Erin McKittrick and her husband, Hig, embarked on a 4,000-mile expedition from Seattle to the Aleutian Islands, traveling solely by human power. This is the story of their unprecedented trek along the northwestern edge of the Pacific Ocean-a year-long journey through some of the most rugged terrain in the world - and their encounters with rain, wind, blizzards, bears, and their own emotional and spiritual demons.

For readers and viewers of The Perfect Storm, opening this long-awaited work by Sebastian Junger will be like stepping off the deck of the Andrea Gail and into the inferno of a fire burning out of control in the steep canyons of Idaho. Here is the same meticulous prose brought to bear on the inner workings of a terrifying elemental force; here is a cast of characters risking everything in an effort to bring that force under control.

Small-stream fishing wisdom with the same insight and pungent humor that has become Gierach's trademark. Advice on tackle selecting, reading water, and scouting.

In this collection of original stories, highly acclaimed novelist and outdoor writer William Tapply shares his finest stories of bird hunting in the Northeast country. Every season for over 30 years, Tapply has hunted the fields and backcountry of New England. Tapply’s warmth and knack for evoking the subtle, telling details of the places and hunts that he loves will stir a new appreciation and excitement in every listener. With his dog Burt, Tapply takes the listener out to his best spots.