Hush of the Land

A Lifetime in the Bob Marshall Wilderness

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Pub Date Mar 01 2024 | Archive Date Feb 29 2024

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Description

This inspirational memoir chronicles the six-decade quest of packer and outfitter Arnold “Smoke” Elser to protect wild lands by bringing thousands of people deep into the mountains of Montana on horseback. With limited financial means and while still in college, the young man from Ohio decided against a promising career in forestry and chose instead to share his love of wilderness with city dwellers by working as a professional outfitter.

Based on hundreds of hours of interviews, Hush of the Land tells the captivating story of Elser’s early days as a packer in the Bob Marshall Wilderness and Bitterroot Mountains. Share the joys and thrills of summer rides, harrowing grizzly bear encounters, fishing in clear mountain streams, and many nights around a campfire within some of the West’s last wild lands. In this lively narrative, Elser recounts how his testimony for the Wilderness Act, and the fight to preserve and expand Montana’s wilderness lands, influenced his career as an outfitter and educator and gave him a voice at the center of Montana’s conservation movement.

This inspirational memoir chronicles the six-decade quest of packer and outfitter Arnold “Smoke” Elser to protect wild lands by bringing thousands of people deep into the mountains of Montana on...


Advance Praise

“Smoke Elser is a legend not only in the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana but throughout the Rocky Mountain West. . . . Hush of the Land will be read for years by those who want a saddle-high view of a unique and adventurous life well lived.”—C. J. Box, New York Times best-selling author of Storm Watch

“Smoke Elser is a Montana treasure. His stories about the Bob Marshall Wilderness allow the reader to see God’s greatest cathedral through Smoke’s lifetime of adventures in this incredible landscape.”—Jon Tester, U.S. senator from Montana

“For more than fifty years Smoke has given his clients a brief but delicious taste of life on the trail in the slow lane. Read a chapter of this book, then close your eyes and transport yourself into the middle of the Bob Marshall Wilderness with Smoke on a fine adventure, big campfire, full tummy, huge stars. I tried it, it works! You will be there!”—Steve Running, Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate and professor emeritus of ecosystems and conservation sciences at the University of Montana

“There are but a few experiences that really define our lives as westerners and conservationists. Perhaps peering over the south rim of the Grand Canyon at first light. Maybe experiencing Glacier National Park, hearing a first elk bugle, or watching a grizzly sow teach her cubs how to forage. For a lucky few Montanans like me, being around a campfire with Smoke Elser is one of those life-changing events. We know that Smoke’s life is the quintessential hardscrabble storybook that most Montanans wish could be frozen in amber as permanent and true. Of course, it is interwoven with his unique wilderness ethic, sense of adventure, and reverence for the places we all love. As you read, it won’t take long to understand why Smoke is so revered as an outfitter, teacher, advocate, and incomparable storyteller.”—Ryan Busse, Montana conservationist and author of Gunfight: My Battle against the Industry That Radicalized America

“Smoke Elser is a legend not only in the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana but throughout the Rocky Mountain West. . . . Hush of the Land will be read for years by those who want a saddle-high view...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781496231000
PRICE $21.95 (USD)
PAGES 228

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Average rating from 4 members


Featured Reviews

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
This was a fascinating book of life as an outfitter in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. My grandpa knew Smoke and my dad has backpacked in the Bob Marshall and fought the big Yellowstone fire so I know a little bit about the wilderness but I haven't read much about outfitting. A lot of work goes into being an outfitter and the camps would never work without the amazing horses and mules.

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I’ve never been on a pack trip but I have spent time on horseback in Montana so I was interested in reading this book. It brought back memories, including of being in Yellowstone in 1988 just a few weeks before the fires reached the park.

The description of the pack trips start to run together after a while. But the stories about the efforts to save the wilderness areas for future generations made the book well worth reading.

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I have spent time in a lot of the NationaI Parks and was looking forward to this book. The author brought back the awe inspiring landscape, the absolute quite, and the unexpected danger of nature. At times there seemed some repetition, that I almost thought I was getting saddle sore myself. But all in all , a good book to experience a different way of life! I thank NetGalley and University of Nebraska Press for the advance read.

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I've never been on a pack trip (although I used to dream about this kind of stuff, in the middle of BFE and just out in the wild, but then I remember there are things that would probably like to eat me for dinner). I've also never been to Montana, but this was something that was of interest to me and was excited to pick it up (thanks NetGalley!).

This is an interesting story, and is so unique because honestly, there aren't tons of books like this.

Thank you NetGalley & publisher for my E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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