Among the Aspen: Northwoods Grouse and Woodcock Hunting

Among the Aspen: Northwoods Grouse and Woodcock Hunting

Following his English setters into thickets in search of grouse and woodcock, Mark Parman feels the pull of older ways and lost wisdom. How rare it is, in our high-tech world, to find oneself completely off the track, bewildered in the wild, and then find the path home by sight and scent and memory. Among the Aspen interweaves tales of companionable dogs, lucky hunts, and favorite coverts where quarry lurks with ruminations on the demise of hunting traditions, the sale of public lands and the privatization of places to hunt, the growing indifference to science, and the loss of wilderness on a planet increasingly transformed by the sprawl of humanity. "Most hunters are lovers of nature―its smells, sights, sounds, and the feelings that wilderness evokes. Parman, in these well-crafted stories and thoughtful essays, teaches us that there is much more to hunting than shooting." ―Jerry Apps "The best outdoors writers are always good storytellers, and Parman follows in that tradition. Reading his words, we're smelling the sweet ferns, hearing the faint clank of a dog's bell, seeing the sudden flush of birds." ―Jerry Davis Mark Parman is the author of A Grouse Hunter’s Almanac and a contributor to A Passion for Grouse . He is a member of the Ruffed Grouse Society, American Woodcock Society, and Loyal Order of Dedicated Grouse Hunters. He taught English for many years at the University of Wisconsin–Marathon County in Wausau and now lives near Seeley, Wisconsin.