The Red Snow

Fülszöveg

The small tundra clearing became a scene of instant bedlam. Within the time of the wolves' first lunge, a chaos of blurred movement had erupted, punctuated by the sounds of clicking hooves, wheezing grunts, and the tearing of wet moss and willow roots as blunt hooves splayed and slashed in the panicked frenzy of attempted escape.
A fleeing caribou calf, its nose held high, bleated in terror as the momentum of the gray bitch's final vaulting leap carried her past the floundering animal, causing the old wolf to miss her best opportunity at the quick kill. Though she recovered instantly, the calf had already switched directions and quickly had the advantage.
The black wolf was luckier. In full stride, he launched his own leap while still ten feet from a caribou cow that had, like the calf, hesitated almost imperceptibly to change direction. The same maneuver that spared the calf spelled doom for the cow as the 140-pound wolf crashed into her rib cage just behind her shoulder. In a... Tovább

Fülszöveg

The small tundra clearing became a scene of instant bedlam. Within the time of the wolves' first lunge, a chaos of blurred movement had erupted, punctuated by the sounds of clicking hooves, wheezing grunts, and the tearing of wet moss and willow roots as blunt hooves splayed and slashed in the panicked frenzy of attempted escape.
A fleeing caribou calf, its nose held high, bleated in terror as the momentum of the gray bitch's final vaulting leap carried her past the floundering animal, causing the old wolf to miss her best opportunity at the quick kill. Though she recovered instantly, the calf had already switched directions and quickly had the advantage.
The black wolf was luckier. In full stride, he launched his own leap while still ten feet from a caribou cow that had, like the calf, hesitated almost imperceptibly to change direction. The same maneuver that spared the calf spelled doom for the cow as the 140-pound wolf crashed into her rib cage just behind her shoulder. In a blur of motion too fast to see, the black's jaws clamped shut over the cow's muzzle, enveloping it in his mouth and rendering her helpless.
from
THE
JAMES GREINER
THE
JAMES GREINER
The gray wolf is a tough and clever animal that lives a dangerous life amid the awesome natural beauty of the Alaska wilderness. In this brilliantly conceived narrative, outdoor writer James Greiner, who lives and works in Alaska, tells the story of the gray wolf, one of the most fascinating—and misunderstood—animals of the Arctic.
Focusing on a single pack of wolves that lives in the vast Xanana River valley, Mr. Greiner traces the life of each individual member for a one-year period, recounting in splendid detail the birth of pups, the triumph of the hunt, and the agony of death in man-made traps. The system of survival is an elaborate one that involves both luck and instinctive skills as the wolf makes his livelihood on the rugged flatlands beneath the Alaska Range.
A counterpoint to the wolfs story is that of Jake Tatum. A lonely, embit-(continued on back flap)
(continued from front flap)
tered hunter who flies to his remote cabin for a winter of trapping and hunting, Tatum encounters the wolf pack in a duel to the death. He, like the wolf, is subject to the law of the wild which decrees that once ecological boundaries are violated, the trespasser must face the consequences.
The Red Snow is a book rich in Arctic lore, which only a man who has spent much of his life in the inaccessible wilderness reaches of Alaska could have treated with such authority.
I
PHOTO BY CAROL GREINE5
James Greiner s work has appeared in various periodicals, including Sports Afield and Alaska Magazine. His first book was Wager with the Wind. A pilot and big-game guide, Mr. Greiner lives in Fairbanks, Alaska, with his wife and four children.
JACKET PHOTOGRAPH BY ROLLIE OSTERMICK JACKET TYPOGRAPHY BY DENNIS MCCLELLAN
Printed in the U.S.A.
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