Bobcats Before Breakfast by John W. Kulish, 1969
“Nature makes no concessions. She neither arbitrates nor bargains. A tough boss, she makes all the rules and none of the adjustments.” (p. 17)
Bobcats Before Breakfast is an accounting of the life of John W. Kulish, a self-taught naturalist who made his living as guide, hunter, and trapper in New Hampshire before and after WWII, pausing during the war to serve in the United States Navy. He speaks of his motivation to live this way, of his willingness to suffer the hardships of uncertainty and hunger, of the alienation from others who could not understand his commitment to the natural world, and of his relationships with the animals he chased and those that helped him chase.
I like this book because every romantic idea I have ever had about being a woodsman and living off the land was stroked here. His feelings on his childhood and the expectations of his parents reminded me of reading Elliot Merrick’s True North and shouting “Yes! Yes!” as he described wanting to leave the city. A lot of people can relate to meeting, or failing to meet, social expectations and suffering discontent. Life would be so much better if one could spend their time in the woods or mountains, or anywhere else. The reality, though, is that existing like that is incredibly demanding. You must be tougher than most mentally and physically and Kulish absolutely was that. His tales of endurance and scarcity are intimidating, and he did it for forty years.
Kulish also offers a unique perspective with his “woods degree.” He had attained so much local knowledge by doing, that he could dispute what was thought to be settled science. He knew the animals better than the academics did and he speaks about it.
This book gets a rating of Full Tang.
