This is a true story of the life of Ed Ueeck, who lived from 1897-1990, written by his niece Kim Ueeck. Some of the book is taken from letters written by Ed and other parts past down to Kim by Ed.
The book cronicals Ed's life starting of on the log cabin farm in Wisconsin ending in Alaska. Ed enlisted in the Army at 17 to fight in WWI, where after the war he migrated west seeking adventure. These adventures led him to a dock in Seattle where he boarded a boat to Alaska. The bulk of the book covers the years he trapped in the Sheep Mountain area of Alaska for about a 10 year period.
It's a fascinating tale of adventure where all but one of the years he trapped he did it alone with two dogs. Most years he didn't see another human during the season (late September to March). It's a tale of constant work having to continually hunt to feed himself and his two dogs, dealing with the extreme elements, and wonder of the natural world all around him. He discribes wildlife in great detail. I particularly enjoyed his description of how the wolves he observed hunted, would outsmart traps, and their cunning nature. He discribes how he would observe how they would hunt caribou and carefully plan ambushes by working in teams. One particular tale told of a night he spent in a tent with a pack of wolves circled him and his dogs all night long. Other interesting dis riptide of wildlife include sheep, caribou and the cunning wolverines.
The book includes pretty good discriptions of how he set up and equipped his trapping camps, the equipment he used, and how he cared for himself and his dogs. He hunted with both a 22LR and a 30.06. The book contains some excellent discriptions on how to set traps and read animal signs and habits to help with locations of where to set traps. The book also has a few tales of narrowly escaping with his life. I don't want to give any of this away.
I found the book very well written and enjoyable from start to finish. Being a dog lover myself, I enjoyed how he discribes his dogs and how much he relied upon them to keep each other alive. A couple of the stories actually put tears in my eyes. One particular story included how his favorite dog was "drafted" into service during WW2 and gave his life in battle during an attack in the battle of Attu.
Other interesting parts of the book were Ed's pictures and the artwork of Fred Machentanz who used Ed as his model for his famous artwork of frontier life in Alaska.
The book is well worth the read. It's a great book to learn about survival in the wilderness.
Alaskajohn
Book Review - The Man from Sheep Mountain
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