Peg Leg Pete: The Story of a Warm Friendship Between a Wild Mallard Drake and the Family of Mel Ellis

by Mel Ellis

The author describes his family's six-year association with the mallard duck who had lost one leg in a muskrat trap.

Genres: Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Mel Ellis was a prolific, venerable writer and observer of the Wisconsin landscape. He crafted outdoor columns for The Milwaukee Journal for 15 years, wrote short stories, edited a field column for Field & Streeam for 12 years, penned magazine pieces for national media and three of his 18 books became Disney TV movies.

Ellis was Wisconsin born and bred. His "Notes From Little Lakes" columns from the Milwaukee Journal (1957-73) and the Wisconsin Sportsman (1976-82) chronicle nature observations and family life at an old frame house on 15 acres in Waukesha County. Ellis's columns and essays have been collected, edited and reissued in a new book you can savor in 10-minute respites and on long, winter nights. "Notes from Little Lakes" was published by The Cabin Bookshelf, Waukesha, late last year and should be available at bookstores statewide.

Reviews

[Karen GoatKeeper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peg Leg Pete is a wild Mallard drake caught in a muskrat trap which severs one leg. The Ellises rescue Pete, but he is a wild duck and wants to return to the wild.
Although the book implies a close relationship between the Ellises and Pete, it is more of a shared time observing and interacting with the wild and semi wild ducks on their Wisconsin lakes.
The author was an avid hunter. Some of the book reflects on hunting, hunting methods no longer used and modern 'hunting' along with his change of attitude. Other parts do not reflect well on modern attitudes toward the outdoors.
The book is interesting, thought provoking and easy to read. Part of that interest is in how a family lives with nature in Wisconsin including the winters as well as how those ducks that don't migrate survive the cold and snow.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sweet story of a family in Waukesha county, Wisconsin who rescues an injured mallard drake in the mid-1960s. This main story is sprinkled with tales of other animals in the author's life, wild and tame, all poignant. The author wrote outdoor columns for The Milwaukee Journal for 15 years and has a personal, heartwarming style of writing.

[Felix · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Trenton Giese]

good