With the winter finally asserting its grip around here, I am looking at purchasing one of the Wensel books.  I originally was going to go with Hunting Rutting Whitetails but seeing as though it is out of print, I was wondering if anyone could give me any recommendations on any of their other books to select.  I have a 7 month old daughter who will be hearing parts of it before she hits the hay!  Thanks for any direction you can steer me in.

Any of there books are a very good read,
http://www.brothersofthebow.com/html/books.html

Once upon a tine by Barry is more of a collection of tales and stories . Come November by Gene is a good read as well.  Happy reading !

PM sent.

Thanks for the links I have been pmd

Gene's book, Buckskin and Bone, is kind of an updated version of his older books. Barry's book, while full of good info, is more of a hunting story kind of book.

They are both great.  Order 'em together now, and save on the shipping.

Get them all. They are all excellent. I really like the older ones "Hunting Rutting Whitetails", "One Mans Whitetail", "Treestand Strategies" etc. because it's fun to dream about hunting in MT back in those days. But they are all excellent by both Gene and Barry.

By the way, the older ones are out of print but you can still find them on Internet sites occasionally.....and no I won't sell mine! HA!  Good luck!

I have read Come November a few times. It's a very good book. It taught me a lot about thermals.

Thanks for the kind words. Three of the above can be ordered from our website. For used copies, try abebooks.com  Buckskin and Bone is my biggest seller but a very close second is Come November, even though it was written 15 years ago.

I have all of Gene's and Barry's books and Mike Mittens book.  I also have all of Roger Rothaar's (SP) books.  All of them are great winter time reading and if you pay attention you will pick up something new every time you read them.

I imagine Gene has heard it a thousand times, but his first couple of books inspired me  and changed how I went about hunting deer.  I still bring them out every once in awhile even after what twenty- thirty years and read them again.

He is also the only notable bow hunter I have ever had the opportunity to see in person.  Interesting guy.

Thanks Gene !

QuoteOriginally posted by Gene Wensel:
Thanks for the kind words. Three of the above can be ordered from our website. For used copies, try abebooks.com  Buckskin and Bone is my biggest seller but a very close second is Come November, even though it was written 15 years ago.

Thanks for the heads up on Abe books Gene. I found a autographed copy of One mans whitetail and a copy of Hunting rutting whitetails. Bought the both last night!

I would get any of them I could - all are worth the price of admission.  Then I would go to one of Barry's bootcamps.  I learned a ton last year and this year I had more encounters with mature bucks then ever before ... using just one of the ideas I picked up at his bootcamp.

I read Come November every year and learn or am reminded of some little detail I forgot or had slipped by me during previous reads.  Between sits on the treestand while warming up in the truck, I often read parts of Gene's, Barry's, or Roger's books.  

I also highly recommend Barry's bootcamp.

Another author I highly recommend is Don Thomas, any of his books are worth reading.  I know a young lady that was raised with her dad reading a chapter or story from one of Don's books every night.  She once told me that spending those few minutes every evening with her dad was most often the highlight of her day.

Another good one is Tension on the String by Mark Baker.  It is a collection of his bowhunting stories, most of which take place in Montana, but a few are in other states.

Walt - thanks for the recommendations.  I will definately look into all above mentioned

So what would you recommend for a first read. Come November or Buckskin and Bone.

QuoteOriginally posted by Mr. fingers:
So what would you recommend for a first read. Come November or Buckskin and Bone.

And what about treestand strategies?

I prefer "And the horse you rode in on". Its their comedy and the one I understand the best

My take on Treestand Strategies is it's the Cliff's Notes version of One Man's Whitetail,everybody should have a copy, and reread it every once in while to get back and reinforce the basics.   It has a lot of useful information and explains the basics very well. If you read this book and practice the techniques you would be ahead of 80% of the hunters out there. You used to be able to buy a copy on the auction site for 99 cents plus shipping,I bought them five or six at a time and gave them away to friends and people just starting to hunt with a bow.  

This is how I rate them on my whitetail education scale:

I put Tree stand Strategies on the sophomore/junior year in high school level.

Bowhuning Rutting Whitetails and One Man's Whitetail are on the college 101 and 102 level.  These two will explain the nuts and bolts of how to selectively pattern and hunt big whitetail bucks.

Come November is Gene's Master thesis.  In it he explains some of the finer points of big buck behavior and how to analyze and solve the questions they always create.  It is more about teaching you how to evaluate whitetails and to think for yourself then anything.

Buckskin to Bones is Gene's doctorial dissertation.  It has a lot of philosophy on hunting and why we hunt, while answering some of the question left over from the previous books. Everybody should read this book, it doesn't matter if you hunt or not.  

Anyway, that is how I relate to Gene's books to education.  


Barry's book, Once Upon a Tine, is an entertaining read that combines the adventure of the hunt with lots of little bits of information that often make the difference in the hunt.  Oh ya, like always with anything Barry is involved with, you will find yourself laughing throughout the book. For me, this is the most enjoyable of all the books.