Hello! Welcome to the website and my blog page for Jack Wills, author. I plan to write about nature and my current books, and I want to provide information on current issues concerning wildlife and wild places, especially public land.
I encourage your input. If you have any thoughts related to my current book, or one of the subjects presented here, this website has provided a place to leave your comments. If you wish to leave a private message or if you want to contact me directly, you may reach me at my email address: jackwilsauthor@gmail.com
About The Author
I am the author of two novels: A Land Divided, and The Mountains Are Watching. I am also a nature photographer and I have a website designated for the display of my nature photographs; https://jackwillsphotography.zenfolio.com/. It seems reasonable to provide some background on my life to show my experience related to my topics. The information I present here will be general or specific as it seems prudent.
Early Life
So, here it goes. I grew up in a rural town in Missouri. My family owned a 260 acre farm a couple of miles west of town (population around 1,400 at the time). From the age of 12 to 16 years old, I was involved in some of the duties around the farm. We raised corn, soybeans, cattle and pigs. By the age of 14, I was the primary person responsible for preparing the fields, planting the crops and keeping them free of weeds. I was also involved in animal husbandry.
It is important to mention that a significant activity for me when I was not working the farm or attending school was hunting and fishing. Quail were my main prey. And this is significant in my developing consciousness as it relates to hunting. It was around 15 years old that I realized hunting would not be a part of my future. I knew I was sensitive to the suffering of farm animals the year before, but it took a specific experience to solidify my awareness of the same suffering in wild animals.
Despite the frigid weather that often accompanied quail hunting, I enjoyed the activity. It was exciting to follow the hunting dogs into the field in search of the elusive birds. It was exciting to carry a shotgun in the crook of my arm. It was exciting to have a covey of quail burst into the sky and it was exciting to successfully shoot such a fast moving target. As far as I was concerned, it was a right of manhood, and I was good at it.
On one such hunting trip, I had just shot a quail but not killed it. It was fluttering around in the bush, trying to fly. I knew it would not live very long, and I was faced with ending its life to end its suffering. It was common to wring the neck or cut the neck of an injured animal or bird. I did not have a knife, so I began to wring the bird’s neck. As I was doing that, it seemed the bird looked at me. At that moment, I felt this overwhelming pang of sympathy for the suffering and loss of life. I knew we would eat it soon and we never hunted for trophies, but it felt somehow wrong. That was the beginning of my loss of enjoyment for hunting. Although I hunted a few times after that, I no longer experienced joy and excitement.
Middle Life
I went to college when I was 17 years old. It was a mixed experience and I joined the Navy at 19, during the Vietnam War. When I was discharged (honorably, I might add), I returned to college and received a Bachelor of Journalism. I chose this degree track because I enjoyed the idea of writing. Soon afterward, I was writing for a newspaper in Tennessee and later in South Carolina. By the third year, I knew a career in newspapers was not for me.
It was when I was 28 years old that I moved to Oregon, because I had briefly experienced the majestic landscape of the Pacific Northwest while in the Navy. It was during this portion of my life that I began to backpack the mountains of Oregon. I have backpacked the Coast, Cascade, Ochoco, Strawberry and Wallowa mountains, and the Rogue River Trail, usually alone, or with my dog a yellow Labrador retriever name Nick. I was fascinated by the varied landscape of the land in Oregon and I enjoyed my time alone with nature.
I was interested in photography from my time in the Navy, but I did not focus on nature specifically until later years. Writing took a back seat to exploration of the land, and my new career. I obtained a Master of Psychology at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon during this time and worked in the mental health field until I retired from private practice in 2016.
Later Life
Along the way, I was introduced to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by a close friend. I carried a camera with me at the time, but found my photographs lacking. Slowly, with determination and perseverance, I developed some skill at observing wildlife, capturing action, and using software to enhance the visual impact of my photographs. Eventually, I collected a fairly impressive set of cameras and lenses. I had considered myself a nature photographer for many years, but slowly I realized I preferred photographing wildlife.
It was during this part of my life that I developed an appreciation of wildlife and the issues that confronted the viability of animals, reptiles and birdlife. Over time, I have become increasingly concerned that the varied species of earth are rapidly disappearing. It is clear to me that we humans are largely responsible for the demise of our companions on earth. Though my training is in science, I have not received training in animal biology. Nevertheless, I am deeply interested in the behavior of animals and the problems they face, especially those problems created by humans.
Hence, when the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge was occupied on January 2, 2016, I reacted much like one of my characters in my novel, A Land Divided George Henry. This book is a mixture of my lifelong desire to write a novel and my love for the land and the creatures that inhabit it. Public lands continue to be a flashpoint today. In recent months a Utah legislator introduced an extensive proposal to return much of federal land to state management. This led to considerable and vociferous objection by many who use the public lands and who fear the outcome of state management. For now, pubic lands remains in the hands of the federal government.
My second novel, The Mountains Are Watching, evolved from my frustration over the tension and conflict between the culture of Yellowstone National Park and the culture of the surrounding area; namely the states of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. The main friction point seemed to be the boundary between Yellowstone and the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Area. On one side, the wolves and grizzly bears are protected and on the other, wolves are fair game. Hunters took full advantage of this boundary, and particularly the state of Montana established hunting rules that were favored by hunters. This in turn attracted a variety of people who wanted to get a shot at a wolf. In my novel, The Mountains Are Watching, not ignoring the concerns about wolves, I ask the question: What about grizzly bears?
At the time the novel was written, grizzly bears were protected. By the time you read this, that protection may have evaporated. My novel addresses some of the issues associated with the potential changes resulting from the elimination of protections for the grizzly bear. The concerns regarding the grizzly bear is developed in my novel and I hope it entertains as well as informs. (Also see my recent blog on the grizzly bear delisting controversy.)
I hope you enjoy my novels and my website. I invite comments. You can comment on my website, or you can send me an email at: jackwillsauthor@gmail.com.
Jack Wills Author Website 