Hunting and Fishing in Texas

A reprint of a Texas classic. Sporting essays and vintage photography from the war years and the Great Depression. 


From the Texas Trans-Pecos to the Coastal Prairies, Hart Stilwell lived a dream life of hunting and fishing adventure. In this collection of essays and vintage photographs from the early 1900s, Stilwell documented the Texas outdoors with narrative detail, engaging anecdotes, and a prophetic sense of preservation issues.


An accomplished plug caster, rifleman, and wing shot, Stilwell honed his craft during a hardscrabble period when fishing lures, shotgun shells, and rifle cartridges were worth much more than an undiscovered stretch of coastal shoreline or a gate key to a fine deer pasture.


In Stilwell's writings you’ll recognize traditions of sport that are still popular today. He loved a good bird dog, a fine pair of rattling horns, a proper set of working decoys, and a turkey call with just the right pitch. He professed a "constitutional weakness for any fish that jumps," and among his circle of friends it seemed that campfires and good conversation were more important than big racks and bag limits.


Hunting and Fishing in Texas, first published in 1946, is a retrospective view of a simpler time. If you've ever cast a line or fired a shot in the Texas outdoors, you'll appreciate Stilwell's enthusiasm for sport, his keen sense of humor, and his suggestion of a precisely balanced mix of consumption and conservation.