Here is the most comprehensive guide to making your own Native American tools and weapons. This reference takes you through the steps of the basic flint-knapping of arrowheads and scrapers to the most complex decorating and finishing techniques of painting and fletching. Fully illustrated with photographs and line illustrations, this is the perfect book for the survivalist, historian, student, or Native American enthusiast.

The sport of hunting ducks and geese is alive and quite well in North America, thanks in large part to a resurgence of waterfowl numbers, which, in turn, can be traced to conservation groups such as Ducks Unlimited and Delta Waterfowl, Inc., as well as to sportsmen who impose limits on themselves far stricter than those issued by the law.
Assembling the gear, fixing the decoys, working with the Labs and Chesapeakes, caring for the firearms, fixing the blinds or duck boats, and always looking for more hotspots to hunt, waterfowlers are a breed unto themselves.
In these pages, read how to become adept at all aspects of duck and goose hunting--how to set the decoys in various conditions, how to call for the various species at different times of the year, and how to get out there on the marsh or grain field and collect birds.

Time-honored practices for a more self-reliant and satisfying lifestyle. Ever have the urge to raise your own chickens, grind your own flour, or start your own compost pile? If any of these ideas sound appealing, this is the book for you. A growing number of people are intrigued by the "homesteader" experience and the idea of doing things themselves, whether they own a big spread in the wilderness or live on a small plot of land in the suburbs. Traditional Crafts and Skills from the Country presents the practical information necessary to become more self-reliant at home, pick up a new hobby, or even learn a skill that may provide a secondary income. The authors' crafts and skills include: beekeeping; raising sheep and goats; starting seeds; composting; felling trees; building split-rail fences; making soap and candles; drying and preserving foods; laying stone; making butter and cheese; reading the weather; and much more. From raising livestock to woodcrafting, from the garden to the kitchen, Monte and Joan Burch have a fresh and easy-to-follow approach to country wisdom that is sure to win over even the most die-hard city dweller.

For an angler, it's tough to beat the fresh-caught flavor and satisfaction of a delicious fish dinner savored after a successful day on the water. But to get the most from your catch, it must be handled, cleaned, and prepared properly from the moment of capture. In this long-awaited guide, outdoorsman Monte Burch, with the help of step-by-step instructions and detailed illustrations, explains how to handle all types of gamefish caught in both fresh and salt water, including trout, salmon, bass, walleye, perch, catfish, northern pike, bluefish, redfish, striped bass, and many others. This handbook covers the skills needed for gutting, scaling, skinning, steaking, and filleting all popular gamefish, as well as the knives, tools, and other equipment needed, and illustrates basic cooking methods. Burch also describes the best techniques for preserving fish, including freezing, drying, pickling, canning, and smoking. Then he shares many of his favorite recipes for frying, baking, poaching, and broiling your fish. Cleaning and Preparing Gamefish is a book all anglers will want to keep close at hand and refer to often. Its usefulness will last a lifetime.

Extend your working, living and storage areas with low-cost barns, sheds and animal shelters. Building Small Barns, Sheds & Shelters provides basic, easy-to-follow construction methods for attractive outbuildings. Here's complete information on tools and materials; foundations and floors; framing, sheathing and roofing; windows and doors; wiring and plumbing; and finishing details. Specific plans and how-to-build instructions for popular home and family-farm structures include:

-- Multi-purpose barns

-- Woodshed, toolshed and carport plans

-- Combination small barn/studio

-- Barn-style garage

-- Underground root cellar

-- Smokehouse

-- Housing for poultry, rabbits, hogs

-- Various fencing designs

Revised and updated! With more than forty years of experience butchering domestic animals, game, and birds, award-winning outdoor writer and photographer Monte Burch presents this complete guide for butchering many types of livestock or wild animals. Learn how to butcher cows, chickens, goats, hogs, deer, turkeys, rabbits, and more, with simple and easy-to-follow, step-by-step photographs and illustrations. Burch also provides recommendations on which tools (knives, paring knives, meat scissors, meat grinders, shrink-wrappers) to use for the task at hand. He lists detailed instructions on how to butcher each animal and use each part, so nothing goes to waste. Now you'll be able to prepare meat for salting and curing, freezing, sausage making, and more. From field dressing, skinning, and boning out a whole deer to efficiently plucking ducks and bleeding out hogs, The Ultimate Guide to Home Butchering is the one-stop guide to help you become more self-sufficient in preparing your meat for your table.

A handy reference book on caring for your deer once it's down-handing, skinning, butchering, transporting, and more. Hunting, butchering, and preparing deer has been a way of life for Monte and Joan Burch. Drawing on their years of experience living off the land and practical skills gained while butchering livestock, Monte and Joan offer The Pocket Guide to Field Dressing, Butchering, and Cooking Deer as a must-have resource for the hunter on the go. Included is essential advice on: Field dressing Transporting Hanging Skinning Caping Butchering Cooking Each step is accompanied by black-and-white drawings and color photographs that further illustrate the advice being offered. So whether you are a novice or an experienced professional, The Pocket Guide to Field Dressing, Butchering, and Cooking Deer will undoubtedly prove to be an essential reference. Skyhorse Publishing is proud to publish a broad range of books for hunters and firearms enthusiasts. We publish books about shotguns, rifles, handguns, target shooting, gun collecting, self-defense, archery, ammunition, knives, gunsmithing, gun repair, and wilderness survival. We publish books on deer hunting, big game hunting, small game hunting, wing shooting, turkey hunting, deer stands, duck blinds, bowhunting, wing shooting, hunting dogs, and more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Here is the complete guide to a skill that may be mysterious to some, written by Monte Burch, an authority who practices many of the traditions of tanning and hiding. Starting at the beginning, Burch introduces the hunter to the tools of a tanner, and even gives complete plans for making many of these implements. Instructions are given for making fleshing beams, stretchers for pelts, fleshing knives, and many others. He also covers tanning formulas and materials, both traditional and modern. From the oldest method to the newest twist, Burch's guide will be indispensable to the modern hunter. (6 x 9, 240 pages, b&w photos, illustrations) Monte Burch has been trapping and tanning since the 1950s, and writing about the outdoors for four decades. He has written thousands of magazine articles and more than fifty books-including Field Dressing and Butchering Upland Birds, Waterfowl, and Wild Turkeys; Field Dressing and Butchering Deer; and Field Dressing and Butchering Rabbits, Squirrels, and Other Small Game. He lives on a farm in the Missouri Ozarks, where trapping and tanning are a way of life.