The Red Gods Call

Dust jacket notes: "Even as a child, the internationally famous naturalist Paul Errington had a fascination with nature, grasping every available opportunity to explore and discover its wonders. These recollections of his boyhood experiences in hunting, fishing, trapping, and simply observing wildlife provide a rare and pleasant adventure. From the Big Sioux River in South Dakota to the Big Bog Country in Minnesota and on to the wilds of the Canadian North, you'll follow young Errington along game trails - through the pine and spruce and white cedar; through the birch and aspen; over the rocks, lakes rivers, and marshes. You'll share his joy in owning his first rifle; the excitement, frustration, and humor of his first hunt; the pride over trapping his first mink and killing his first deer. You'll laugh reading about his first canoe, so laboriously constructed in his manual training class, only to be quickly chopped up for firewood after its baptism and subsequent sinking...his discovery that traps, when thrown in a bonfire, not only lose all traces of human scent but lose all temper in the springs as well...his short-lived conviction that skunk oil must be worth something, and the lasting impression his skunk oil-polished boots leave on his classmates....And you'll wonder at this young man's intense observation and true appreciation of nature's creatures as well as his determination to be a part of their wilderness, regardless of the obstacles in his way. Whether you glory in the excitement of the hunt, the serenity of quietly sitting by a blazing fire just watching and philosophizing, or the nostalgia of times past when wilderness areas were in abundance, you'll find it all here - captured with keen perception, warmth, and humor. A book of memories, of adventure, of a never-ending zest for life, The Red Gods Call is a reading experience that anyone who has ever heard the Red Gods calling - tempting him up and away - will treasure."