Suggested Winter Reading List for Outdoor and Indoor People.

Having a stockpile of good outdoor books is a important on long, cold, and dark winter nights.  

With winter arriving in full force it is time to compile a winter reading list. I’ll help our dear readers with a suggested list of books from some of the many outstanding writers who have called Wisconsin home. Wisconsin has a long history of outstanding and influential outdoor and nature writers. John Muir was a driving force behind the creation of our national parks, and Aldo Leopold pioneered the movement to use science to manage wild game populations. Other Wisconsin writers set the standard for writing about hunting, fishing and nature. So peruse this list of authors and their works, and if any spark an interest, add them to your winter reading list. 

John Muir is one of the best and most influential writers to ever call Wisconsin home. Muir’s family immigrated to the state in the 1840s when Wisconsin’s wild lands were being converted into farms and towns. Muir also attended the University of Wisconsin when it was in its infancy in Madison where he was known for his mechanical ability and inventions. Muir chronicled this period in his life in the book, The Story of My Boyhood and Youth. The book is a mix of nature observations, a chronicle of a pivotal era in Wisconsin history, and personal adventure stories. Originally published in 1913, this work was an autobiographical work by the then very famous and successful “Father of our National Parks”.

Another extremely influential Wisconsin writer was Aldo Leopold. His seminal work is the justly famous Sand County Almanac. First published in 1949, the book lays out Leopold's concept of a “Land Ethic” based on the idea that, “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise." This book has inspired generations of conservationists and environmentalists to work to restore and preserve the land and ecosystems. In addition to expounding on his philosophy, he also details the natural history of Wisconsin and includes many natural observations. This book is a must-read for anyone, whether you are an outdoors type or an indoors type. 

Kenny Selway is a great story teller and writer who bills himself as “The Last River Rat,” which is the title of his first book. The book was co-written by Kenny and J. Scott Bestul. As explained in the forward, the book covers a full year in Kenny's life as he roams the backwaters and bluffs of the Mississippi in and around Alma, WI. The Whitman swamp was Kenny’s home turf and many of the adventures occurred in this swamp. According to Kenny, the year really starts in April because nature’s cycles just work that way. Each chapter covers a month of the year and details the major activities that a river rat would engage in that month. 

Included in each chapter are stories of the many adventures Kenny had while roaming the Mississippi. Kenny is also a great observer of nature and he imparts his knowledge of the natural world in the book. Kenny’s intimate interactions with nature have helped him to develop a unique personal philosophy of life that he shares bit by bit in this and his other four books. 

I had the privilege of going on several canoe trips with Kenny in the Whitman Swamp as the advisor for an outdoor club from the Menomonie Middle School. Kenny is one of the most genuine and down-to-earth people I have ever met and his writing reflects his personality. 

Mert Cowley calls Chetek home and hunts in Burnett County. He is the author of multiple books including In Camps of Orange, The Ultimate Stand, and A Hundred Hunts Ago: Seasons of the Past. Mert writes poetic hunting tales about the members of the Pearly Swamp deer camp in both Camps of Orange and The Ultimate Stand. The poetic tales cover the humorous and fictional adventures and misadventures of the Pearly Swamp Gang. The books also include entries from old journals from other deer camps and lots and lots of hunting camp photos. In A Hundred Hunts Ago, Mert describes the beginnings of sport hunting in the state, and how deer hunting has evolved over the years. He also includes stories of the early games wardens and journals from several different hunting camps. And like in his other books, he includes a plethora of hunting photos. 

Whitetail Fundamentals and Fine Points for the Hunter by George Mattis is widely considered to be one of the finest books ever written on the topic of deer hunting. Published in 1969, the author shares the knowledge he gained in over 50 years of deer hunting in Wisconsin and through out the United States. George was a widely published writer and this book was the culmination of his writing career. Topics in the book include still hunting, small and large group hunting, trail watching, running down a deer in the woods, and snow tracking. George also tells hunters how to find a deer after the shot, how to deal with a harvested deer, and how to deal with buck fever. Mattis includes a lot of information on whitetail biology and behavior. He also explores whitetail hunter behavior. This is one of my favorite books and I usually reread it in the run up to deer season. Reading this book is like connecting with an old hunting buddy. 

Another classic and timeless book is Those of the Forest written by Wallace Byron Grange. Wallace was Wisconsin’s first Superintendent of Game and also worked for the U.S. Biological Survey. Wallace was a friend of Aldo Leopold. In Those of the Forest, Wallace describes the daily lives of multiple generations of animals in a section of forest. Wallace includes a wide variety of animals in the book including snowshoe hares, shrews, owls, butterflies, and many other birds. Wallace demonstrates how the different species interact with each other, deal with seasonal changes, and how animal populations vary over the generations. This book is an intimate biology lesson - a lesson well worth reading. 

Blaze Orange, Whitetail Deer Hunting in Wisconsin by Eau Claire photographer Travis Dewitz is a pictorial tribute to Wisconsin deer hunters. This book has a plethora of photographs that show the many aspects of deer hunting from hunters in the field , to scenes in the meat processing plant, to the gun shop, to deer camps, and to rooms full of deer trophies. The photos are vibrant and beautifully done. Each photograph has short descriptions that give context to the photos. When I first perused this book, I was amazed to see photos of a few friends. This is a well-executed photo catalog of deer hunting in the state. 

For fans of the history of deer hunting in Wisconsin, On the Hunt, A History of Deer Hunting in Wisconsin is a must-read. Author Robert C. Willgig produced a comprehensive tome that begins by describing the life cycle and biology of the whitetail deer. Robert then begins his history at the end of the last ice age with the Paleolithic hunters who transitioned from hunting mastodons to hunting whitetails. Next up is a discussion of ingenious subsistence hunters followed by the era of market hunting. 

The many debates over rules and regulations from the 1930s to the 1960s are discussed in detail. The onset of CWD gets a chapter. The book ends with a treasure trove of DNR deer data from 1900 to 2007. The North Country Notebook is a collection of essays by George Vukelich. The essays cover a wide range of topics from worms and compost, to learning to hunt, to boots, and bluegills. The essays are short and this book makes for a fast read. The essays are funny, irreverent, and insightful. 

Dunn County resident and noted outdoor writer, Don L. Johnson, wrote Grouse and Woodcock, A Gunner’s Guide after he retired as an outdoor writer with the Milwaukee Sentinel. Don was an avid grouse and woodcock hunter. The book is based on his 50 years of experience bird hunting. Don covers all aspects of woodland bird hunting. The book begins with the biology of grouse and woodcock, then delves into the habitat that each species of bird hangs out in and how to use this knowledge to find birds. Hunting methods and guns are food for thought in other chapters of the book. Don had a number of great bird dogs and he devotes an entire section of the book to bird dogs. This is a very informative and fun book. 

I had the privilege of getting to know Don when he moved back to Dunn County when he retired. He was generous enough to read some of my early writings and gave advice that helped me to improve as a writer. 

The final book on the winter reading list is Wild Wolves We Have Known. The authors are Richard P. Theil, Allison C. Theil and Marianne Strozewski. This book is a collection of essays written by wolf biologists from all over the world. One essay is about Brutus the bold arctic wolf who likes apple cores. Ernesto the Spanish wolf who lived in an agricultural area that was not considered to be suitable habitat for wolves. Old Two Toes was a famous Wisconsin wolf who roamed the northern portion of the state in the 1940s. Another essay described the recovery of a Mexican wolf pack in New Mexico, wolves from Scandinavia, Yellow Stone National Park, and other places. The essays describe how biologists ended up interacting with the various wolves during their scientific studies. The essays are informative, entertaining, and enlightening. 

I hope the readers found a few books to read this winter. This is by no means a comprehensive list of the excellent writers that have called Wisconsin home. Hopefully, this list will provide some great reading on cold winter nights and begin a journey of discovery of the many Wisconsin writers.