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The book Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail is written by Theodore Roosevelt while living in Dakota during the 1880s. Roosevelt would later be the famous Rough Rider and the trust-busting President, but first he was a rancher. He shares his experiences with life out on the range, the cold winters and the scorching heat, the ranch, cattle thieves, and hunting wild animals like elk, sheep, goats, and antelope. The author did a good job portray what ranching life was like at this time. TR also describes things like the landscape, the ways of a cowboy, Indians, law and order, and so on. If you can adapt to the harsh environment of the plains, you will make it as a rancher and hunter. I think Webb would have enjoyed this book.

I really liked this book. After reading this book, I have grown to like and respect TR even more. The first part of the book was focused on ranching while the last took on hunting. There were many quotes I enjoyed, but there was one that stood out. "As a rule, I never shoot anything but bucks." When he is hunting for sport, he only shoots the males. This is something I do as well. This book pertains to the class under lecture 6 on ranching. TR described the plains in a cowboy view point. He took up ranching and found he would have to adapt to life on the plains, and he did. Ranchers fed the country with their beef, but they had no idea that their experiences would lead to what ranching is like today. TR has an avid rancher, outdoorsman, and hunting which eventually led him as President to preserve our wild and majestic lands before they disappear.