This week I’ve got an interesting book to recommend. Of Woods and Wild Things is a collection of short stories by Tioga County author Don Knaus that follows the lifelong outdoor adventures of fictional Wellsboro, Pa., native “Eddie,” who is nicknamed “Mouse.” Along for the ride are his father, grandfather and uncle and a host of hunting and fishing buddies nicknamed J.P., The Spigoon, Hand Jive Willie, Grizz, Artie, Fast Eddie and Old Weird Harold.
The book begins a few years before Mouse is born, with the story of his father staging a deer drive in Germany near the end of World War II, continues through the boy’s childhood years of learning about the north country woods and waters, delves into his adulthood as a teacher, coach, husband and father, then moves on to his middle-aged years of reminiscing and reliving the adventures of youth with old friends and concludes with his pensive moods and memories after retirement.
These stories are about people, realistic but quirky characters who grow up with a strong heritage of hunting, fishing and outdoor survival skills and a universal disdain for “city folk” and “flatlanders.” Lessons about life, death, love, joy, humor, conflict and pain are played out against a background of wild and beautiful Tioga County, home of the “Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania.”
Every story takes place in the outdoors. The book includes tales about rabbit hunting with beagle dogs, deer hunting, trout fishing, wilderness canoeing, capturing rattlesnakes, wild turkey hunting, hiking in the mountains, groundhog plinking, waterfowl hunting and more. But each story also advances the life and experiences of the main character Mouse and his friends and relatives.
My favorite story is Chapter 23, “The Cursed Canoe.” With style and humor, this one tells the tale of old friends but current coaching rivals J.B. and Mouse as they undertake an ill-fated canoe run down famous and remote Pine Creek. After cutting his foot on rocks, getting spiked by a bass fin, suffering second-degree burns when he blows up the gas stove, getting devoured by a legion of huge mosquitoes and doused by a downpour into his sleeping bag and finally realizing that they are doing more portaging than canoeing in the low waters, Mouse convinces J.B. to bail out and hitch-hike home. But during the trip they also find positives: the sight of shining rock cliffs at dusk, a daybreak doe sipping water from a trout pool and occasions of laughter at each other’s misfortunes. At those moments comes the refrain, “This was worth the trip.”
My second most favorite tale is Chapter Four, “Two Tioga Tales.” In this story young Eddie becomes interested in Indian artifacts, and during a fishing trip, he finds an arrowhead, which he shows off to his father. But the father tells him that the arrowhead has imperfections and was probably a throwaway in its time. Then we flash back 200 years to the story of a Seneca boy trying to impress his chieftain father with a new arrowhead he has made. The chieftain points out its imperfections and tosses it away, to be found 200 years later by a child from another culture.
Many readers will disagree with some of the outdoor activities depicted. The author relates numerous examples of ethical outdoors behavior but also realistically represents some illegal or questionable actions and attitudes, such as unsportsmanlike competitive pheasant shooting, over-killing limits on trout, dangerously firing a .22 rifle at ruffed grouse on tree limbs and an odd disdain for catch-and-release trout fishing. As Don Knaus states in his introduction, “Purists might pale at some of the action, but ... that’s the way it was.”
Of Woods and Wild Things is attractively designed, with a forest green cover, a compelling front cover image and blurbs by outdoors writers Kermit Henning and Sylvia Bashline. It’s an unusual book and a very good read. Contact the author directly for purchasing information at dmknaus@epix.net or www.donknaus.com.
Good luck out there. And have a great week outdoors.
Trail Notes: Looking for the ideal holiday gift for an outdoors person? Paperback copies of my book The F-Troop Camp Chronicles are on sale at The Book Rack, Daffin’s, Copyland, Luigi’s Pizza, Greenville News, Courthouse Square Drygoods Co, Allied News, CDS Sports and Neshannock Creek Fly Shop. For special prices on signed and numbered hardcovers, use the contact info below.
Don Feigert is the outdoors writer for THE HERALD and the ALLIED NEWS. He can be contacted at 724-931-1699 or dfeigert@verizon.net. Visit his Website at www.donfeigert.com.
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