This past Christmas I received three books all written by the same author Terry Grosz. Before I received these books as a gift the name Terry Grosz was as unknown to me as it probably is to you today. Terry Grosz is a retired state and federal game warden but beyond those accomplishments he is a prolific author who writes some very interesting, informative and captivating stories. Grosz has taken his lifelong experiences as a wildlife law enforcement agent and put them into book form.
His first book was Wildlife Wars The Life and Times of a Fish and Game Warden. His second book is entitled The Love of Wildness The Journal of a U.S. Game Management Agent. His fifth book, I have yet to read his third and fourth, is No Safe Refuge Man as Predators in the World of Wildlife.
I picked up my first book Christmas night and in less than a week I was looking for something else to read after having read all three addicting and captivating books. Each book is a series of short stories in the life and adventures of Terry Grosz’s work as a game warden. Grosz spent 32 years as a game warden 4 as a California state warden and then on to being a federal wildlife management agent for 28 years and during these 32 years he amassed a wealth of fascinating tales that he retells in the pages of these 3 books.
Grasz was not only a great game warden he is also a master storyteller. Grasz was an impressive warden whose 6 foot 4 inch, 300-pound stature commanded authority and respect but also had his share of the dangers related to the job no matter his size. He had his tough and dangerous moments and was once deliberately shot in the back with a couple of loads of #4 shot and left for dead. His relates to you stories from the major groups of market hunters who operated in California rice fields to the weekend poacher who believes a couple of extra pheasants or pintail ducks taken with an unplugged gun are just a little bit wrong. He relates his battles with the wealthy, private duck clubs in California whose members thought the game laws were written for the other guy. He writes about how the wildlife law enforcement budget was always on the low end of the wildlife budget. He names the federal and state wildlife officials who didn’t do the job they were suppose to do when it came to protecting wildlife resources or making sure enforcement was properly funded. He relates the differences between a college trained biologist and the field tested, self-taught game warden biologist and how they never could see eye to eye each having different opinions and because of these views the wildlife suffered and the tension grew.
I thoroughly enjoyed each book and couldn’t put them down and started the next as soon as I finished the other one but there were places I found in each book where the author took his author’s prerogative to pat himself on the back and exaggerated his already impressive 6 foot 4 inch size as if he was a giant of a man or King Kong with a warden’s badge. The stories are exciting, imaginative, educational and true and retold for all to read by a master writer with a pen and pad.
Terry Grosz’s stories tell about the modern day poachers who steal the game resources of all the sportsmen, the guy who does it to outsmart the local warden, to the professional criminals who turn to the outright illegal killing of wildlife or the taking of fish for the illegal profits these acts bring.
If you are looking for some enjoyable outdoor adventure reading that you will find hard to put down then put the books written by Terry Grosz on your reading list. All three of these books are 6x9 inches, soft-covered. Wildlife Wars has 288 pages and sells for $17.00. For Love of Wildness has 373 pages and sells for $18.00 and No Safe Refuge has 266 pages and sells for $20.00. These books should be available from your local bookseller or direct from the publisher Johnson Books 18805 57th Court, Boulder, CO 80301. Phone 1-800-258-5830 for customer service. To the basic prices of a single book, if purchased from the publisher, you must add $4.50 per order for shipping and handling.
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