Cogan's Woods

An “evocative memoir of Ellis’s yearly squirrel hunts with his father in 1960s Kentucky”—Publishers Weekly

In Cogan’s Woods, Ron Ellis fondly recalls annual August hunting trips with his father: heading toward the great forests of Kentucky in the family Mercury, exploring the foggy woods and hills above the Ohio River. While they searched for game, Ellis’s father imparted his wisdom to his son, passing on a legacy of appreciation for the natural world.

This lyrical account of a beloved time and place celebrates a father-son relationship nurtured by a landscape that shapes the men and draws them back year after year.

“A celebration of cherished things—friendship and family, storytelling and nature, the physical senses.” —Rick Bass, author of Why I Came West

Rick Bass is an author and activist. He has received many awards and honors for his short fiction, including the O. Henry Award, the Pushcart Prize, the PEN/Nelson Algren Special Citation, and the Story Prize. He is also the author of novels and nonfiction, most recently The Traveling Feast: On the Road and at the Table with My Heroes. His stories, essays, and articles have appeared in a wide variety of magazines, including The New Yorker, the Paris Review, Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, and the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine. He lives in the Yaak Valley , Montana, where he is a member of the Yaak Valley Forest Council.