Don Thomas Books and Outdoor Photography

Since the nineteenth century, hunters and anglers have played a pivotal role in protecting the world's essential species and habitat. What we now call the environmental movement stems from the first efforts of sportsmen to preserve the land and animals they loved. In How Sportsmen Saved The World, renowned author, E. Donnall Thomas Jr. tells for the first time, the complete story of how sportsmen managed to make our world a better place.

Don Thomas’s latest collection of outdoor tales begins in some of the wildest corners of the world, in Africa and the Pacific, as he hunts wild and occasionally dangerous game the hardest way possible, with longbow and recurve. Subsequent sections take the reader to the Far North and all about the country before concluding in his home state of Montana. Although a highly successful bowhunter, Thomas’s rich prose emphasizes the people, places, and natural history he encounters during his travels as much as the actual hunting. A semi-retired physician and active Alaska hunting guide, Thomas writes about fly-fishing, wing-shooting, and wildlife as well as bowhunting for numerous national publications including Gray’s Sporting Journal, Alaska, Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, and Shooting Sportsman. He also co-edits Traditional Bowhunter and writes a regular column for Bowhunter. This is his 16th outdoor book, and his work has appeared in numerous anthologies. 330 pages, B&W photographs. Introduction by David Petersen. $22.00

Here are the stories of a true sportsman's passion, pursuing his life's dream to spend as much time as possible flyfishing, bowhunting, and wingshooting. Travel with Don as he fishes a small spring creek in the dead of winter for trout, takes on blackbear and steelhead in Alaska; hunts pheasants and sage grouse in Montana; stalks the wild mushroom as well as prehistoric paddlefish on the Missouri River; calls up wild turkey for his young daughter and takes on the wild boar of South Africa. At the end of each story Don shares a delicious recipe related to his catch of the day. In these stories , Thomas shows why he is one of America's quintessential sportsmen and storytellers.

In Fool Hen Blues, Don Thomas turns the sharp wit and keen insight that readers enjoyed in Whitefish Can't Jump and Longbows in the Far North on the art of wingshooting. His stories take us from the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska to the high plains of central Montana. Join Don as he hunts ducks on an spring creek in the dead of winter, chases blues in the fall, and stalks a sharptail lek with a camera in the spring.
In these stories hunting and the land comprise the framework for the larger picture of life's experiences. "That may finally be what the best of the outdoors has to offer us - a means of reckoning with the rest."

Alaska and the Far East of the former Soviet Union are intrinsically fascinating places for archers and nature lovers to explore. So claims author Don Thomas, and the stories about the country, the people, and the wildlife he has included in this marvelous collection validate his claim.
Here's what the leading outdoor publications have to say of Thomas' first book, Longbows in the Far North:

"(Thomas') clear, descriptive style will keep seasoned bowhunters and curious sideliners turning the pages." Alaska Magazine

"....its 16 chapters amount to either one of the very, very few well-written books on the subject, or the only one." Gray's Sporting Journal

"Although he loves wildlife and wild country, and writes passionately about them both, his greatest success is possibly his study of the relationship between the hunter and the shrinking Wild." Bowhunter Magazine

The record of Don Thomas' first five trips to Africa, The Double Helix contains equal measures of adventure narrative and insightful observations about one of the most fascinating places on earth. While the text contains chapters on everything from wing shooting to African politics, the heart of the book deals with bowhunting African plains game. No book ever written covers this subject so completely, and the extensive appendix contains a wealth of practical information that travelers to Africa will find invaluable.

In Longbow Country Don Thomas writes of his many years of hunting with the longbow. His love of the longbow and the outdoors permeates from each chapter, taking the reader on a trip afield with hi. From tales of hunting black bears in Alaska to Arizona javelina to the wild pigs of Hawaii, the 21 essays in this book are written from the heart of one of the best outdoor writers of our time.
Here's what other noted outdoor writers have to say about Longbow Country.

"Don is a truly gifted outdoor writer, and he has captured the essence of these experiences in a way that goes far beyond the "how-to, where-to" common to much of today's so-called hunting literature. To be able to write equally vivid descriptions of both the adrenaline rush of a point-blank confrontation with a siberian grizzly, and the subliminal feel of a sagebrush sunrise, sets Don apart from his peers. There is no better bowhunting writer around today..." Doug Borland, Anchorage Alaska

"These pages are filled with the infectious outdoor passion that makes it a timeless bowhunting classic" Gene Wensel, Stevensville, Montana

The descriptive essays and stories collected in My Kingdom For A Lab! reflects the author's decades of experience with the country's most popular canine breed. While emphasizing experiences with Labs around his Montana home, the outdoor material - infused with insights into natural history as well as wing-shooting -- covers a broad venue from the arctic to the African veldt. Although written from the perspective of a dedicated outdoorsman, all Lab enthusiasts will find engaging and informative material in this collection, ranging from thoughts on training to notes on the history of the Labrador retriever.

"Hunts are best measured by the endurance of the memories they produce," E. Donnall Thomas Jr. writes in this, his first collection of waterfowling essays. He might have added that good books are likewise measured by how vivid, and how long, they remain in the mind of the reader. By Dawn's Early Light is a book that will stay with you long after you read it.
Though he has pursued big game, upland birds, and a variety of fish all over the world, Thomas reserves a special place in his heart for duck and goose hunting. That's because waterfowling to him is a uniquely American sport. A sport of home and hearth, of memories made even more poignant by the knowledge that the first light of dawn is fleeting and will not last. Thomas captures these moments so well that his memories become ours.
Those who have been enjoying Thomas' work in the pages of publications like Gray's Sporting Journal and Ducks Unlimited magazine, and in books such as Whitefish Can't Jump and Fool Hen Blues, will recognize the clear, incisive style that has made him one of America's Favorite sporting essayists.

Join angler, doctor, and raconteur Don Thomas on a rollicking and unforgettable angling road trip to the far corners of the world. His journeys to Alaska, Costa Rica, Australia, the Galapagos, and other exotic locations allow him the kind of fishing experiences most of us can only dream about. His writing offers us the chance to join him stream-side as he casts for gamefish that are as tantalizing as the locations in which he fishes.
Join him as he travels near and far, with rod in hand, in search of sheefish (North America's "most elusive and mysterious game fish"), smallmouth bass, mojarra, and machaca, barramundi, crevalle jack, spotted seatrout, mahi mahi, and many more. Along with travel and fishing anecdotes and amazing battles with saltwater and freshwater species large and small, each chapter includes entertaining riffs on the particular gamefish featured, and an "At a Glance" section listing the world records for the species.

This collalboraton with photographer Denver Bryan became one of the best selling outdoor titles of the decade.

A follow-up coffee table collaboration with Denver Bryan, from Ducks Unlimited.

Join avid angler and world traveler Don Thomas as he shares the secrets of his favorite fly fishing destinations around the globe. Chase the biggest trout in the world-- from Montana and Labrador all the way to Chile and New Zealand. Wade Caribbean flats for bonefish and permit -- from the Bahamas and Mexico to Belize and Venezuela. Explore America's undiscovered saltwater backcountry in Texas and Florida. Discover the challenge of bluewater fly fishing the Pacific Ocean in Costa Rica, Christmas island and Midway Atoll......
Thomas also finds ample rewards in the intangibles of foreign travel: people, places, sights, natural history, food, company, and the magic that occurs when anglers encounter new fish and new waters in special places.
For each destination, both fresh and saltwater species to be caught are listed; tackle and flies are recommended; and prime times, costs, and staging cities are given. Each chapter also includes tips on where to fish, the natural and cultural scene you'll encounter, detailed contact information on guides, outfitters, lodging and booking agencies, as well as health and safety tips-- in short all the tools you need to choose your next angling destination and hook up with great fishing when you arrive.

"Don Thomas has made a delightful series of borings into some great fisheries. He Brings us vivid impressions, highly original anecdotes, and a persuasive picture of the importance of angling." - Thomas McGuane

Dream Fish and Road Trips is a brilliant new collection of fly fishing stories from a man who has been fortunate enough to live in two angling meccas - Alaska and Montana - and who has traveled the world in search of fly fishing adventures, from Christmas Island to Siberia.
With writing both perceptive and disarmingly simple, hilarious, and informative, Thomas takes us along to some of the world's great places......... If Hunter S. Thompson took up fly fishing, he'd eventually find Don Thomas. Here's a book for all fly fishers itching to break out of civilization.