I know you are asking, where in the world did you find a book by this title and why would you read it?

Glad you asked. I place a great deal of credibility in Safari Press and their Classics in Big Game Hunting Series. This book happens to be the 37th book in the series. The folks at Safari Press seek out the unusual and the usual and then try to present it in such a manner to get us hook and bullet guys to pay the price and read the offering. Thus far, they have not let me down in my efforts to broaden my reading horizons.

The complete title for this book is - "Journals of Andrew Jackson Stone - Expeditions to Arctic and Subarctic America for Mountain Sheep, Goat, Caribou, Grizzly, Moose and Muskooxen 1896-1903". It was edited and collected by the grandson of Stone, Wilson R. Stone and compiled by a historian, photographer, psychologist - Margaret Frisina.

You may have caught the "hook" for this book in the name of the man - Stone. He was the first man to kill and bring to "civilization" numerous specimans of the Stone's Sheep. He originally called it a dark or black sheep and his contemporaries in the exploration/naturalist trade named the sheep after him. That was what hooked me - along with the thought that Stone sheep were only named/discovered 113 years ago in a very primitive area of Alaska.

The book is a collection of Stone's journals of three or four long expeditions he made to Alaska, the Arctic and Canada to explore. This was done at the time men were trying to get to the North and South Pole's. It was the time period were Africa was being explored and exploited by ivory hunters. Teddy Roosevelt helped sponser one of Stone's expeditions. He was regarded as one of the hardiest and toughest naturalists of his day. the diaries are daily journals of his trials and hardships as he traveled the remote areas of Alaska interacting with various native tribes.

His goal was to collect samples of birds and mammals native to the area and meet the people that survived in these remote places. From the book, it is difficult to discern a total "body count" but it easily numbered in the thousands. He killed every animal there except muskox and shipped it to New York to be mounted, studied and named. He had several animals named for him but the Stone's Sheep is what he is famous for.

This book does not rank with Shackleton's "The Endurance" and his three year attempt to get off of Antarctica or Ambrose's "Undaunted Courage" about the Lewis and Clark expedition. Both of these books are better written and more gripping in the story. However, the hardships endured by Stone are amazing along with his committment to explore new places and chronicle his experiences and observations.

This book does not take you to the wilds of Africa as does F. C. Selous nor does it inspire you to go climb a mountain. It is a legitimate look at what it was like to attempt some "great thing in life" with no other thought than the thrill of doing.

Stone made money lecturing on his experiences but you get no clue as to how successful or unsuccessful his efforts were perceived. He died mysteriously in Alaska not long after he made these expeditions.

So, for you real sheep hunters out there - you may want to get this book. It will give you a perspective on Stone's Sheep and how it came to "discovered". You will also learn about a man, largely ignored by the scientific and hunting communities, that cared deeply about what he was doing and ends his journals with this statement - "I am content to do a lifework that may make worthy of my country and my friends."

I rate this a 7 on the dogcat scale as it is a tedious "read" at times, it is not literature but a scientific book about and by an explorer that was a real outdoorsman and adventurer. I appreciate the efforts of his grandson to keep this Stone's story alive and for Safari Press to put the effort into publishing this obscure book.

Thanks for the review. I've never been sheep hunting and it looks like it's worth a read. Without meaning to change the subject, what books get a 10 on the dogcat scale?