In a collection of spoofs on outdoor life, the author explains how to construct a grasshopper trap, the many uses of a skunk ladder, and how to become a human fuel pump.

    In these fascinating, wide-ranging, wonderfully informative stories, Tom Brown--director of the world-famous Tracking, Nature, and Wilderness Survival School--tells all about the uncommon benefits of the common trees, shrubs, flowers, and other plants we find all around us. This indispensible guide includes information on:How to use every part of the plant--leaves, flowers, bark, bulbs, and rootsWhere to find useful plants, and the best time of the year and stages of growth to harvest themHow to prepare delicious food dishes, soups, breads and teas from the riches of the great outdoorsAn incredible range of experience-proven medicinal uses to treat headaches, burns, digestive disorders, skin problems, and a host of other maladies

    Dramatic, amusing, and engaging observations of a major climb by a first-time climber.

    Includes complete text of Shipton's six books: -- Nanda Devi -- Blank on the Map -- Upon That Mountain -- Mountains of Tartary -- Mount Everest Reconnaissance Expedition 1951 --- Land of TempestEric Shipton's adventures in the mountains are virtually incomparable. He explored Central Asia, Africa, and South America, making a number of significant first ascents of his own as well as pioneering routes for the first ascents of others. This set of Shipton's six mountain-travel books, now in paperback, takes readers along on his exploits and expeditions, letting them experience a time in history when vast regions of the world were unknown to all but the indigenous inhabitants.

    

    Expert cooks bring a thoughtful balance of both simple and gourmet recipes spectacularly presented in full color by noted food photographers and stylists.

     The 4th edition is bigger and better than ever, with 292 fact-filled pages, 106 illustrations, and 144 photographs. Featured are new photos and first-hand accounts of rescues; expanded material on big-water rescue -- new gear and methods; self-rescue and rescue of others by hand, boat, rope, and other ways; tools and techniques -- rope work, throw bags, boat handling, high- and low-tech gear to use when seconds count; rescue organization -- leadership, teamwork, patient care, evacuation, and more.

    There is not one well organized and plotted tale among them. I suppose I ought to apologize for their formlessness, but that would be apologizing for deficiencies in my own character. A hunting or fishing trip is not by nature a closely planned and scheduled affair. You never know what is going to happen outdoors, for nature is more surprising than a woman.The University of South Carolina Press is proud to republish these stories. The tales were first collected in 1951 and there is a timelessness about them. They are for people who revel in simple things--a bevy of quail scudding over tawny broom sedge; a staunch dog silhouetted against the setting sun; a night's untroubled sleep; the soft swish of a paddle at sunrise; a cooling drink from a sequestered spring at noon-tide.

    

    

    A comprehensive field guide, fully illustrated with color photographs, to the trees, wildflowers, insects, birds & other natural wonders of North America's eastern forests & woodlands, from Hudson Bay to Florida.

    In those years bird hunting was a social activity as well as a field sport. My Health Is Better in November, first published by the University of South Carolina Press in 1947, has remained popular primarily because Bobcock's stories describe the camaraderie of the hunt, bringing it to life. Readers can imagine themselves in the field, watching the dogs on point near an overgrown fence row. In recent decades hunting has become a more solitary pursuit, leaving many longing for the good old days. In these pages you will find that lost fellowship along with a bit of humor that will delight and amuse even those who have never shouldered a gun or cast a fly.

    Vald ne's writing is at once evocative and biting, gracefully balancing the obsessions of a naturalist, sportsman, and gourmand. "In 1983 Valdene, a journalist and enthusiastic bird hunter, traveled around the country studying the woodcock and joining the efforts of scientists and bird lovers to band the game bird and document its loss of habitat. Summing up what he learned about this curious bird and its habits, he deplores the rapid dwindling of the woodcock population in the U.S., due in part to hunters' killing two million of them each year. Valdene makes no excuses, however, for his own delight in hunting and eating the vulnerable bird. This contradiction remains at the heart of his book in which he oddly blends natural history with accounts of his hunting." - Publisher's Weekly

    A must for anybody interested in rifles