Hunting Trips of a Ranchman and The Wilderness Hunter

by Theodore Roosevelt

There may be no better example of American individualism and rugged outdoorsman than the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt. In this volume we find two of Roosevelt's works on hunting, "Hunting Trips of a Ranchman" and "The Wilderness Hunter", combined into one volume. Roosevelt, who as President would bring some 230 million acres of land under the protection of the National Parks and Forest Services, was a great naturalist and his love of the outdoors is evident in the depictions of these books. Careful attention is devoted to the sport of hunting as these books work as both nature travelogues and practical treatises on how to bag game both big and small. Roosevelt recounts numerous hunts in this volume which will thrill and delight the hunting and nature aficionado alike.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Adventure, Memoir, Outdoors, Classics

242 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., also known as T.R., and to the public (but never to friends and family) as Teddy, was the twenty-sixth President of the United States, and a leader of the Republican Party and of the Progressive Movement.

He fathered Alice Roosevelt Longworth, a daughter.

He became the youngest President in United States history at the age of 42. He served in many roles including Governor of New York, historian, naturalist, explorer, author, and soldier (posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 2001 for his role at the Battle of San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War).

Roosevelt is most famous for his personality: his energy, his vast range of interests and achievements, his model of masculinity, and his "cowboy" persona.

Reviews

[Kristian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jedna jako zanimljiva knjiga, ali i jako duga, ostavlja dojam kao da se moglo više govoriti o filozofiji ovoga načina života o kojem se u knjizi piše a manje o tehničkim detaljima. Ali svakako dobra knjiga za upoznat način života kauboja, rančera i lovaca sa kraja 19. st u Americi.

[Chloe J W · Rating 3 out of 5]

I borrowed this book from an unofficial library and brought it back a degree dirtier and crinkled from where it got wet in an actual stream that soaked my backpack. I would, though unfortunately not always, read this book in a part of the woods very close to my house on top of a huge boulder right by a very shallow tributary that ran through to a much larger stream (it's been raining here a LOT). I liked this book overall, and honestly, I would like to think that Teddy would be very much okay with the grubbier state I brought it back in!

Yet, this book is still on the 3 star list because it was pretty contradicting. Teddy goes on and on about, "oh the Bison has been totally wiped out to the point of nonexistence, O that's so tragic that we let this happen, the Bison is such a lordly animal of the plains that represented such a glorious time, and now it's gone! The plains/Badlands-whatever has truly lost something remarkable!!! :(", and then after five pages of this he goes, "well anyway I've never killed a Bison myself but here're a couple stories about my brother Elliot killing some Bison after running them up a cliff.". Just,,,,, Teddy, ......what the hell man??

He does this again and again, he talks about the elk and how the elk are dying off and how they're one of the most noble animals of the forests and he speaks so kindly of their song, and then he retells maybe thirty stories over the chapter and following ones about killing elk! He even defends, "but we just kill the males." and I assume this is because they're so rare, but he breaks this rule too! He and his cowboys kill tons of cows for their meat since it's less smokey than the males' meat is.

Honestly, I'll admit it was really disheartening to read at times. I was forced to skip all the bear chapters once he told stories about neighbors or friends who killed hibernating mothers with cubs, which is downright sick in my view of things. Maybe I thought too into it, but I'll say that it really points out how downright parasitic humanity is to the surrounding nature we live in. I thought a lot about evolution, how over millions of years the species who can't keep up are lost to time, which means the animals around us are at the height of their game-- the survivors-- and it's pathetic how they can't even raise a fight against The Hunter with his Gun. We don't deserve this world, is my only conclusion.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book, but didn't care for the details of actually shooting and killing animals. The descriptions of the animals look and behavior leads me to believe that Roosevelt spent more time watching and learning about animals then he spent shooting. He also takes great pains to explain the merits of learning how to track game rather then climbing up a tree to wait for something to walk by.

This was the first of the books written by Theodore Roosevelt that I have written, and I look forward to some of the others.

[John Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I am deeply appreciative of all that Teddy Roosevelt did to maintain public lands and wildlife in America, these books were a difficult read for me. Prior to reading them, my impression of Roosevelt was that he was the consumate sportsman but his hunting experiences reflected someone who was rather wanton in his approach to hunting. There were simply too many instances of excess (e.g., he and one other person shooting 105 grouse in one day) for me to enjoy these books.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a big TR fan, reading his actual words, descriptions and firsthand accounts of his life are fascinating. It is amazing what has been lost in recent generations by being indoors more and insulated from the wilds. I wouldn’t have made it to 30! Glad we have these stories and look forward to seeing the Badlands one day.

[K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't finish this entire book, but I did get through the first half, which is about the various animals TR hunted while working on a ranch. Beatufiul, evocative writing, but the second half got rather repetitive and so I put the book down.

[Last Ranger · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Wilderness Hunter by Theodore Roosevelt 1894/ K /

The Making of the Rough Rider:

From his earliest childhood Theodore Roosevelt’s primary interest was to become a professional Naturalist and to that end he spent a lot of time outdoors hunting and collecting plants and animals and educating himself as to their behavior and habitats in the Natural World. In the mid to late nineteenth Century he moved to a Ranch in the South Dakota bad-lands where he stayed for several years. In 1894 he wrote “The Wilderness Hunter”, really a collection of essays on his days of ranch-life and hunting. He participated in roundups, branding and supplying his men with plenty of meat for their meals. Sometimes they ate beef from the herd, but mostly he and a cowboy or two would hunt deer, pronghorn, elk and sometimes bear or big-horned sheep. For most of his adult life he was a prolific writer of letters and magazines articles. In this book he writes beautifully about his experiences and observations, makes you feel like you’re with him at some lonely camp site. His essay on the Buffalo is excellent. His experiences living and working in the outdoors would help make him stronger and prepare him for his time in Cuba, Africa and exploring an unknown river in the Amazon Jungle. And of course his time in Politics. Truly, T.R. was One of a Kind and did things that few modern day President would even dream of.

Last Ranger

[T JB · Rating 2 out of 5]

There’s nothing I want more than to rate this higher, but unfortunately the packaging together of 2 entirely separate novels makes it not only an arduous read, but a monotonous one as well.

Roosevelt is obviously an icon in many ways and I love how this book encapsulates this side of the man. He’s an outstanding writer with a special attention to detail and hardy, old school view of life and sport. I particularly enjoyed his descriptions of the landscape and of general life for a hunter in the largely unsettled west.

The main issue is my above compliments are led astray in ‘Hunting Trips’ with encyclopedia style facts about various animals that are often covered twice or even three times in a way that lacks any sort of excitement. In ‘The Wilderness Hunter’ these facts are merely asides to stories rich with character, landscape and hardship of this hunting lifestyle. You can really feel apart of that thrill of the chase and also are put in a time machine as stories from a lifetime ago are recounted in vivid detail.

With that said, I am not a hunter by any means and these are in fact in journal entry style so it must be taken with a grain of salt coming from me, but for the average reader who may lack the proper context, getting through nearly 800 pages is a slow tiring process (especially if you’re reading in bed or are prone to drift off).

Overall, ‘The Wilderness Hunter’ may be closer to a 4 star read for me, but if you’re a traditionalist when it comes to reading like I am and are not one to skip around, you’ll be a little exhausted by the time you even get to it after the first novel finishes. I understand why they are grouped as one, but personally feel they operate best as separate bodies of work in their current long winded format.

[EJ Daniels · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really fascinating look at Theodore Roosevelt's time as a ranchman in the Dakota badlands and his many hunting trips and forays into the wilderness, this book serves as much as a biography of Roosevelt himself as it does as an account of his hunting trips.

Written before Roosevelt was elected president, Hunting Trips & Wilderness prefigure the legendary figure which would come to define rugged individualism in America and the effect which such myths would have on American self-conception. Roosevelt regularly breaks his hunting narratives to describe how the thrill of the hunt or the beauty of the local land have helped contribute to the self-conception of the "free American man." As such, this text also functions as a fascinating glimpse into Roosevelt as a pseudo-sociologist.

I would recommend this book for anyone interested in Americana, Theodore Roosevelt, the American West, and/or hunting. Despite his anecdotes, Roosevelt never strays far from his central theme and the modern sportsman will enjoy comparing and contrasting the modern hunt from the style employed in the late 19th century

[Steve]

A bit intimidating, but man. I have read a lot of books about hunting/the outdoors and this one takes the cake. I'm not one for heroes, but Teddy is hero material. He basically invented wildlife conservation, ran a huge Montana ranch, was involved in politics(obviously), hunted, fished, and wrote several books. All without the aid of modern transportation, medicine, or clothing. Amazing read.

[Pete Iseppi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought that this book would be more about the actual trips that T.R. took out west as a young man. Basically, it was a narrated tabulation of all of the wildlife that he shot (and not always killed.) I'm a T.R. fan, and admire his many accomplishments, most of them taking place after the period of his life that this book covers. However, the man had a blood lust that did not fade overmuch as he aged.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Hunting Trips of a Ranchman" was an entertaining read if the hunting narrative genre floats your boat. Unfortunately "The Wilderness Hunter" was mostly a re-edited HOToaR with entire chapters lifted wholesale. Including both books in a single volume was pointless and disappointing

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Theodore Roosevelt on his trips to our then wilderness.
Fascinating.
The writing is a little dated and somewhat dry, but the observations and attention to detail are amazing.

[Pamela Rankin · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent book

Absolutely great book of hunting in an entirely different era. TR was absolutely one helluva guy! Really enjoyed the book.