Alaska was not yet a state when Will Troyer began his thirty-year wildlife career in 1951 with the Department of the Interior.  There were few biologist positions in the territory, so he accepted a job as fish cop and game warden in southeast Alaska.

In 1955, he became manager of the brown bear refuge on Kodiak Island.  He and his assistants pioneered the first primitive techniques for capturing brown bears to gather biological information by trapping bears in foot snares, lassoing them, and forcing buckets of ether over their heads.  Years later, after more modern equipment became available, he anesthetized the big bears in Katmai National Park by sneaking through the woods with a Cap-Chur gun and shooting them at close range with a drug-filled dart.

Troyer worked in many remote areas of Alaska, from the Arctic Coast to the southeast rain forest and the stormy Aleutian Islands.  He vivdly describes his emotions while standing in the midst of forty thousand caribou or sitting on a remote sea island as masses of sea birds glide, swoop, and circle around him.  His descriptive walk through a delta marsh filled with thousands of nesting and calling shorebirds, ducks, and geese reveals his love for the wonders of nature.

Traveling through Alaska was often hazardous due to violent winds, stormy seas, fog, and sudden blizzards.  He survived two airplane crashes and a near drowning with colleagues when their rafts were swept over a roaring waterfall.

Will Troyer was a real-life bear wrangler and genuine Alaska pioneer.  He is also an engaging and entertaining writer, and bis book is well worth reading.