A Man Made of Elk

From the Foreword by Don Thomas: “Like all of the few ‘outdoor’ books that truly deserve to endure, A Man Made of Elk is, well…different. That’s logical enough, for the same can be said of its author. A former Marine pilot and current backwoods intellectual, idealist, iconoclast, and, yes, hunter, Dave Petersen defies categorization as adroitly as his terrific prose…. I know deer hunters, bear hunters, and sheep hunters, but I don’t know anyone else who identifies as completely with one species of game as Dave Petersen identifies with elk. This book’s title goes beyond metaphor; the guy is made of elk.”

Dedication

Foreword

Author’s Introduction

Acknowledgments

Part I: An Elk Hunter’s Almanac  

1.     Farts in a Hurricane 3  

2.     A Man Made of Elk 9  

3.     A Lucky Day 16  

4.     A Hunter’s Heart 23  

5.     Close to Home 36  

6.     Wapiti Wisdom 39  

7.     “Come On!” 44  

8.     The Same Elk Twice 53  

9.     One Perfect Arrow 65

10.    Wallowing in It 76

11.    Evolution of a Trophy Hunter 81

12.    A Mighty Big Squirrel 89

13     Failure 91

14.     A Winter Vacation 95

Part II: Woodsmanship: How I Do It (and how I try not to)

15.     Privileged Advice 103

16.     Eating Humble Pie 109

17.     Bushwhacked! 118

18.     Blood and Guts Made Easy 123

19.     Confessions of a Jerky Junkie 128

20      Going Squirrely 135

21.     Turkey Tactics for Wapiti (and vice versa) 141

22.     Bunny Bashing Basics 145  

Part III: Campfire Philosophies

23.     Do Animals Have Feelings That Hunters Can Hurt? 153

24.     A Trip to the Meat Market 159

25.     The Sacred Game 166

26.     Meditations on Poaching 169

27.     The Silence of the Bulls 175

28.     Modern Hunting, Ancient Philosophy 184

29.     Control 200

30.     The Mule Deer Wars 203

31.     Let’s Use the Quads God Gave Us 210

Postscript: Thomas Aquinas Daly 219

About the Author 229