Don Lerch was born and raised in Schuyler County, Illinois. He began coon hunting as a young boy and continued until he was no longer able to go. As a young boy, coon hunting was a necessity for meals, as there were nine other siblings, and the hides were as important because they would provide money for cloths, shoes, groceries or whatever might be needed for the family. Don and his wife Char retired in 2005 to spend more time together. He lost her in 2006 shortly after retirement. Although she was not a coon hunter, she was a rock of support throughout their marriage. The have two children and seven grandchildren. Don published his first book in 2012 and the response was so great for another one, be began gathering stories and went to work again. These stories generate from six different counties, Adams, Brown, Cass, Fulton, McDonough and Schuyler and span from the 1930's till present day. You will read about heartbreaking losses, mule riding, trying to cross the river without a plug in the boat, forgetting the gun, getting lost and some hunts you wish you had been along for the ride. The thrill of the hunt is priceless. Although Don is no longer able to hunt, the "fever" is still there, and as long as their are coon hunters, there will be stories, and he will listen.

Human-horse relationships take the central place in this edited collection examining the horse's perspective by asking: How are human-equine relationships communicated, enacted, understood, encouraged, and restricted? The contributors apply varied disciplinary methods as they emphasize comprehending horses not solely in terms of their functional uses, but also as impactful participants in relationships, whether more-or less-equally. By exploring the "who" of horses, The Relational Horse offers a better understanding of horses' lived experiences and interests within the worlds they share with humans, and a way forward for human-equine studies that more equitably represents the horse in those shared worlds.

Wildlife Research in Australia: Practical and Applied Methods is a guide to conducting wildlife research in Australia. It provides advice on working through applications to animal ethics committees, presents general operating procedures for a range of wildlife research methods, and details animal welfare considerations for all Australian taxa. Compiled by over 200 researchers with extensive experience in field-based wildlife research, teaching and animal ethics administration, this comprehensive book supports best practice research methods and helps readers navigate the institutional animal care approval process. Wildlife Research in Australia will help foster a national approach to wildlife research methods, and is an invaluable tool for researchers, teachers, students, animal ethics committee members and organisations participating in wildlife research and other activities with wildlife. Features A comprehensive reference for navigating the practical and applied aspects of conducting Australian wildlife research. Provides guidelines on understanding and applying ethical requirements around wildlife research. Includes general operating procedures covering diverse research methods. Details animal welfare considerations for working with native and exotic Australian taxa. Designed for a range of wildlife researchers, from practitioners, to consultants, academics and animal ethics committee members.

When American explorers crossed the Texas Panhandle, they dubbed it part of the ""Great American Desert."" A ""sea of grass,"" the llano appeared empty, flat, and barely habitable. Contemporary developments - cell phone towers, oil rigs, and wind turbines - have only added to this stereotype. Yet in this lyrical ecomemoir, Shelley Armitage charts a unique rediscovery of the largely unknown land, a journey at once deeply personal and far-reaching in its exploration of the connections between memory, spirit, and place. Armitage begins her narrative with the intention to walk the llano from her family farm thirty meandering miles along the Middle Alamosa Creek to the Canadian River. Along the way, she seeks the connection between her father and one of the area's first settlers, Ysabel Gurule, who built his dugout on the banks of the Canadian. Armitage, who grew up nearby in the small town of Vega, finds this act of walking inseparable from the act of listening and writing. ""What does the land say to us?"" she asks as she witnesses human alterations to the landscape - perhaps most catastrophic the continued drainage of the land's most precious resource, the Ogallala Aquifer. Yet the llano's wonders persist: dynamic mesas and canyons, vast flora and fauna, diverse wildlife, rich histories. Armitage recovers the voices of ancient, Native, and Hispano peoples, their stories interwoven with her own: her father's legacy, her mother's decline, a brother's love. The llano holds not only the beauty of ecological surprises but a renewed realization of kinship in a world ever changing. Reminiscent of the work of Terry Tempest Williams and John McPhee, Walking the Llano is both a celebration of an oft-overlooked region and a soaring testimony to the power of the landscape to draw us into greater understanding of ourselves and others by experiencing a deeper connection with the places we inhabit.

Secrets of an Ageless Journey (1997) the journey begins once again when a sixteen year old girl, Sarah, ventures into the mysteries surrounding her grandfather and the family ancestral ranch. While visiting her cousins on the ranch she discovers an old journal written over eighty years before. The journal becomes the focus of her quest for discovering a mysterious influence that is about the family; and in some way guiding her. (1915) the journal takes Sarah back to one summer in the life of her great grandfather, Joseph, and his twin sister, Ida Belle as they experience a similar ancestral stirring in their lives. A great grandmother comes to visit the twins, involving them in a mystery that has haunted her and the clan. It is through the grandmother that the premise of an invisible force and invisible world exist and was essential to the culture and heritage of an American Indian nation.

It was the pathetic mews of a hungry mother cat, scrounging in a dumpster to feed her kittens that first caught Bob and Kathy Rude's attention. They found the hungry cat and several more hungry felines while helping out at the family restaurant one summer. The chance meeting between the hungry strays and two government computer programmers led to the creation of Rude Ranch Animal Rescue, one of the United States' hardest working No-Kill Animal Sanctuaries. Read on to meet these original Rude Cats and find what can go right and wrong when you try to help a few stray animals and inadvertently start an animal sanctuary.

The third and final updated edition of David Attenborough’s classic Life trilogy. Life on Earth covered evolution, Living Planet , ecology, and now The Trials of Life tackles ethology, the study of how animals behave. ‘This is, quite simply, the best thing I’ve ever done.’ Sir David Attenborough on the TV series, The Trials of Life, upon which this book is based. This is the third and last of Sir David’s great natural history books based on his TV series and competes his survey of the animal world that began with Life on Earth and continues with Living Planet. In Life on Earth, Sir David showed how each group of animals evolved. In Living Planet he looked at the way they have adapted to the whole range of habitats in which they live. Now, in Trials of Life, he completes the story by revealing how animals behave – and why.

Ontmoet 36 van Suider-Afrika se mees algemene en interessante slange in hierdie lewendige en boeiende kindergids.

Ontdek die besondere kenmerkende gewoontes van slange – waar hulle woon, hoe hulle jag, watter gevare hulle bedreig, en hoe hulle hulself beskerm. Meer as 250 bekoorlike foto’s ondersteun die teks.

’n Volledige inleiding tot heelwat kenmerke van die gedrag van slange ontsluit die betowerende wêreld van hierdie wydverspreide reptiele.

This memoir describes the challenges a young man faces in achieving his dream of becoming a veterinarian. Even a period of homelessness and limited resources do not interfere with his commitment to achieve success. And this is only the beginning Soon he is faced with the challenges of working in the jungles of Panama, facing the ravages of a roaming black jaguar and the defenses of a native village against the entrance of man or beast. Then, how about Haiti, where the Tonton Macoute militias believe in instant justice, rarely valuing life, or Columbia, where the drug lords have absolute rule. As if that isn't enough, consider working in the African continent, along the tales surrounding the first shipment of Charolais cattle to the United States or the many facets of working with the wild mustangs in Colorado. Each exciting adventure is told with suspense, drama, and humor Enjoy