History of the Hunt: Recent Episodes
Keith Crowley
A podcast about the history of the hunting culture in America and beyond. Outdoor writer and historian Keith Crowley interviews experts and discusses prominent hunters, great outdoor writers, and the important conservationists of the past.Think Teddy Roosevelt, think Ernest Hemingway, think Aldo Leopold. Or maybe George Bird Grinnell, Robert Ruark, and Sig Olson. Let's not forget about Phillip Percival, Gordon MacQuarrie, and Ding Darling. Modern hunters owe those people, and a long list of their contemporaries, a debt of gratitude for the many opportunities we have today... and that's our focus. Produced by /Lodge Trail Ent., LLC. Theme music "Grip of the Black Gold" by Steve Blexrud and Thunderheads. Used by permission: https://www.thunderheadsmusic.com/store.html
Host Keith Crowley talks with Randy Zarnke, President of the Alaska Trappers Association, about his project to record oral histories of the old-timers in the Alaska backwoods. Zarnke has spent the last 23 years tracking down these old hunters and trappers to preserve their stories. As you might imagine, there are some real characters out there in the Alskan bush. For example, one of Randy's interviewees began his career by live-trapping brown bears using a bucket of ether as a sedative! Zarnke has put many these exciting and incredible stories into a book called "Alaska Tracks."
Show Notes:
Alaska Trappers AssociationJim Rearden books on Alaska
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Theme Music: Grip of the Black Gold
Songwriter: Steve Blexrud
Performed by Steve Blexrud and Thunderheads _______________________________________________________________Books by Keith Crowley
- Pheasant Dogs: Stories from the Field
- Gordon MacQuarrie: The Story of an Old Duck Hunter
- Wildlife in the Badlands
Keith Crowley's published wildlife and sporting photography can be found at CrowleyImages.com
Host and MacQuarrie biographer Keith Crowley talks with Editor Dave Evenson about two new Gordon MacQuarrie compilations taken from his newspaper columns in the Milwaukee Journal between 1936 and MacQuarrie's premature death in 1956. In these new books, titled "Right off the Reel" and "Dogs, Drink & Other Drivel", both published by the Barnes Area Historical Association, we learn more about MacQuarrie the person and MacQuarrie the reporter than we do through the Old Duck Hunter trilogy of books produced in previous decades. Many of the newspaper columns served as prequels for the more famous ODHA stories which ran in the national hunting and fishing magazines of the Golden Age. In many of these newspaper stories we first meet great MacQUarrie characters like Mr. President, Gus, Hank, Fred, Norm, and a host of others. Crowley and Evenson also discuss the infamous "Richard's Lakes" mystery as well as the upcoming MacQuarrie Pilgrimage to MacQuarrie Country.
Show Notes:
- Right off the Reel
- Dogs Drink & Other Drivel
- MacQuarrie Pilgrimage
- Gordon MacQuarrie: The Story of an Old Duck Hunter
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Theme Music: Grip of the Black Gold
Songwriter: Steve Blexrud
Performed by Steve Blexrud and Thunderheads _______________________________________________________________Books by Keith Crowley
- Pheasant Dogs: Stories from the Field
- Gordon MacQuarrie: The Story of an Old Duck Hunter
- Wildlife in the Badlands
Keith Crowley's published wildlife and sporting photography can be found at CrowleyImages.com
Host Keith Crowley talks with writer Ken Blomberg about the impact Art Hawkins had on wildlife science in the mid-20th Century. Hawkins was one of Aldo Leopold's students at the University of Wisconsin, and he went on to establish many modern methods of surveying wildlife populations including the invention of transects. Hawkins, along with Frank Bellrose saved the American Wood Duck and Hawkins was a founding member of the Wood Duck Society. Hawkins and Bellrose designed the first wood duck houses and experimented with locating and design. Ken Blomberg continued a correspondence with Hawkins through many years and his new book "Letters from Art: Standing Tall in the Shadow of Aldo Leopold" is full of insights into Hawkins, Leopold, and many other giants of conservation. We also discuss Ken's German Shorthairs and how Aldo Leopold's famous dog Gus has direct blood ties to Blomberg's GSPs.
Show Notes:
Letters from Art: Standing Tall in the Shadow of Aldo Leopold
Ken Blomberg Bio
Eau Pleine Kennels
Wood Duck Society
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Theme Music: Grip of the Black Gold
Songwriter: Steve Blexrud
Performed by Steve Blexrud and Thunderheads _______________________________________________________________Books by Keith Crowley
- Pheasant Dogs: Stories from the Field
- Gordon MacQuarrie: The Story of an Old Duck Hunter
- Wildlife in the Badlands
Keith Crowley's published wildlife and sporting photography can be found at CrowleyImages.com
Show Notes
- Host Keith Crowley talks with author Roger Pinckney about "The Greatest Hunting Trip Ever"...The Lewis and Clark overland expedition to the Pacific Ocean in 1804-06.
- Roger explains why grizzlies were the Corps of Discoveries least favorite animal, and why bison were their favorites.
- Our guest discusses the guns of the L&C expedition, including the famous Girandoni Air Rifle.
Related information:
More writings of Roger Pinckney
- Lewis & Clark: The Greatest North American Hunting Trip Ever
- Garden & Gun
- Books
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Theme Music: Grip of the Black Gold
Songwriter: Steve Blexrud
Performed by Steve Blexrud and ThunderheadsBooks by Keith Crowley
- Pheasant Dogs: Stories from the Field
- Gordon MacQuarrie: The Story of an Old Duck Hunter
- Wildlife in the Badlands
Keith Crowley's published wildlife and sporting photography can be found at CrowleyImages.com
Host Keith Crowley talks with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Historian Mark Madison about J.M. "Ding" Darling, the creator of the Duck Stamp and the Director of the Bureau of Biological Survey (predecessor to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.) Darling was aPulitzer Prizewinning political cartoonist who had a knack for getting the most out of people when it came to conservation. Because of his leadership, his forethought and his political skills, billions of dollars have been raised for conservation over the past 80+ years through the Duck Stamp Act and the Pittman-Robertson Act. Darling also created the artwork for the first Duck Stamp in 1934 as well as the flying goose symbol found at National Wildlife Refuges across America. Darling was a passionate hunter and passionate leader fighting for the preservation of the outdoor life he loved. Madison and Crowley discuss Ding's relationships with both Teddy Roosevelt (whom he admired as a personal friend and as the President) and Franklin Roosevelt (who he disliked politically, but grew to respect,) as well as his close friendship with President Herbert Hoover. Our host also explains his love of the Ding Darling Refuge on Sanibel Island in Florida
Related Information:
- Ding Darling Bio
- History of the Duck Stamp
- Darling Editorial Cartoon Archives
- Bye Now, It's Been Wonderful Knowing You(Ding's Farewell Cartoon, published posthumously.)
- Images from Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge
- Darling's Comic which won his first Pultizer
_______________________________________________________________
Theme Music: Grip of the Black Gold
Songwriter: Steve Blexrud
Performed by Steve Blexrud and Thunderheads _______________________________________________________________Books by Keith Crowley
- Pheasant Dogs: Stories from the Field
- Gordon MacQuarrie: The Story of an Old Duck Hunter
- Wildlife in the Badlands
Keith Crowley's published wildlife and sporting photography can be found at CrowleyImages.com
Show Notes
- Host Keith Crowley interviews the creator and administrator of Robert C. Ruark on Facebook. Mike Walker turned his passion for all things Ruark into a successful social media page.
- Walker explains where he gets his content and why Ruark is one of the best Golden Age writers.
- He also explains why he believes Peter Hathaway Capstick is not one of the best!
Related information:
- Archive.org
- Horn of the Hunter by Robert Ruark
- The Old Man and the Boy by Robert Ruark
- Death in the Long Grass by Peter Capstick
- Tigrero by Sasha Siemel
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Theme Music: Grip of the Black Gold
Songwriter: Steve Blexrud
Performed by Steve Blexrud and ThunderheadsBooks by Keith Crowley:
- Pheasant Dogs: Stories from the Field - Hunters, Trainers & Trialers
- Gordon MacQuarrie: The Story of an Old Duck Hunter
- Wildlife in the Badlands
Keith Crowley's published wildlife and sporting photography can be found at CrowleyImages.com
Host Keith Crowley talks with Ashley Hlebinsky, Curator of the Cody Firearms Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming. Subjects include:
- Buffalo or Bison?
- Which guns really "won the west."
- The history of big-bore buffalo rifles.
- Long range shooting.
- The total remodel of the Cody Firearms Museum.
- Retiring at 30?
Related information:
Firearms Historian Ashley Hlebinsky - BioAshley on InstagramCody Firearms Museum
Buffalo Bill Center of the WestFirearms Policy CoalitionElmer Keith on Big Bore Buffalo Guns _______________________________________________________________
Theme Music: Grip of the Black Gold
Songwriter: Steve Blexrud
Performed by Steve Blexrud and Thunderheads _______________________________________________________________Books by Keith Crowley
- Pheasant Dogs: Stories from the Field
- Gordon MacQuarrie: The Story of an Old Duck Hunter
- Wildlife in the Badlands
Keith Crowley's published wildlife and sporting photography can be found at CrowleyImages.com
Show notes:
- Legendary outdoor writer Gene Hill captivated readers with his wit and humor for decades.
- Host Keith Crowley interviews publisher, editor, and writer, Steve Smith, about his close friend Gene Hill and their adventures hunting - and writing - together.
- Hill's words about hunting dogs were the best and may be in part the result of Hill's WWII experiences.
Related information:
- Gene Hill Books
- Pointing Dog Journal
- Retriever Journal
Look for Steve's new ebook on sporting travel called Going There, coming soon on Amazon.
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Theme Music: Grip of the Black Gold
Songwriter: Steve Blexrud
Performed by Steve Blexrud and Thunderheads
_______________________________________________________________________
Books by Keith Crowley
- Pheasant Dogs
- Gordon MacQuarrie: The Story of an Old Duck Hunter
- Wildlife in the Badlands
Keith Crowley's published wildlife and sporting photography can be found at CrowleyImages.com
- Host Keith Crowley interviews Aldo Leopold scholar and biographer, Dr. Curt Meine from the Aldo Leopold Foundation.
- We talk about the legendary conservationist's roots in hunting, Leopold's historic book, A Sand County Almanac, and how he changed the world of wildlife management.
- We also talk about Leopold's love of bow-hunting with traditional, hand-made bows and arrows.
- We put to rest the famously misattributed "quote" about ethics in hunting.
Related topics:
- Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work by Dr. Curt Meine
- A Sand County Almanac (2020 Edition!) by Aldo Leopold
- Game Management by Aldo Leopold
- Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
- Aldo Leopold Foundation
- Gordon MacQuarrie: The Story of an Old Duck Hunter by Keith Crowley
Theme Music: Grip of the Black Gold
Songwriter: Steve Blexrud
Performed by Steve Blexrud and Thunderheads
Books by Keith Crowley
- Pheasant Dogs: Stories from the Field - Hunters, Trainers & Trialers
- Gordon MacQuarrie: The Story of an Old Duck Hunter
- Wildlife in the Badlands
Keith Crowley's published wildlife and sporting photography can be found at CrowleyImages.com
Outdoor writer and historian Keith Crowley introduces you to this new type of hunting podcast. He explains the purpose behind History of the Hunt, who and what we will talk about, and what we definitely WON'T talk about.
Theme Music: Grip of the Black Gold
Songwriter: Steve Blexrud
Performed by Steve Blexrud and Thunderheads
Books by Keith Crowley
- Gordon MacQuarrie: The Story of an Old Duck Hunter
- Pheasant Dogs
- Wildlife in the Badlands
More information can be found at CrowleyImages.com