Bear in the Back Seat, Book 2: Adventures of a Wildlife Ranger in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

This is the second of a two book series about the authors' experiences dealing with bears, elk, wolves, hogs and more in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. There ate fun and frightening encounters and some memorable animals. This book will definitely make you smile. I enjoy reading about the rangers and wildlife managers and their accounts of the highs and lows of their careers. I read this book using immersion reading, while listening to the audio book narrated by Carey Jones. His authentic dialect beautifully compliments the material. A fun and thought provoking read.

I enjoyed this series of stories about handling animals (and humans) in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Though the author makes light of some of the challenges of managing the animals, particularly bears, there is also a consistent message that the animals normally only become dangerous if they've become accustomed to being fed by humans. Some of the vignettes are humorous, some more serious, but they all seem to be told with authenticity and directness. You get no sense that the author is making this stuff up just to sell books ! In fact, the book does take on a rather documentary quality at times, when I felt a more personalized language, and perhaps some dialogue and quotes, would have made it more appealing and memorable.Some of the interesting passages that I highlighted in my Kindle copy of the book include:"If I had to choose an animal to come back after I die, it would be a river otter. They seem to play all the time."..."we smeared Vaseline on the back of each cub to try to mask any human smell on them. We hoped the mother would wake up and lick the cubs to clean them.""Male bears are naturally programmed to kill every cub they find in an effort to maintain dominance in their territory."

I worked in Yellowstone in the summer of 2000. I didn't have any close encounters with a bear. But walking a boardwalk through the woods, I came upon a mama elk. She was the most beautiful tawny color - like a deer. As I stopped & realized she was way too big for a deer, her head popped up. I was probably 70 yards away & backing up, talking nice to her, when she covered half the distance in the time I'd taken 5 steps back. Trying to remember advice given at orientation I figured I was in store for a hoof beating. Suddenly she turn off the boardwalk & put her head down to apparently check on her calf. I was 54 & didn't run any more, BUT I TURNED TAIL & RAN!!! This book was so interesting as he dealt with the wild animals under his care. Sometimes riveting & sometimes funny. I loved my summer in Yellowstone & after reading this book, I'd like to spend some time in the Smokies & Shenandoah.

Bear in the Back Seat II, was a wonderful read. I live around Bears here in Alaska and they are amazing creatures. Everything written about how to enjoy our bears is true and mostly important, is how to protect the bears from thoughtless humans. It always amazes me how sometimes the worst offenders are the people who know better. #1..... Don't feed the bears. The Ranger in this book brings his world alive and invites you in it and you begin to see that #1 law is the most in important rule to follow. Through this caring Ranger (Kim), you experience the joy and the sorrow of trying to manage a wonderful animal and sometimes us thought humans. Some of the stories are funny and warms your hear, other stories makes you stop and see things differently. You'll begin to appreciate all of are Wildlife Rangers and the dangers they encounter to protect us and the Wildlife.This is a great read and I am sure you will see Wildlife experts as the real Heroes they are.L. Williams

Interesting stories of a park ranger's experiences and the work involved in keeping visitors safe and protecting the parks. Light easy read, yet educational. Mr. DeLozier was a dedicated and hard working park ranger who's job required him to work very long hours in some very undesirable and sometimes very dangerous conditions.I find the statement about the number of people killed from black bear attacks in the Smokey Mt. park or US in general, misleading. It gives the impression that the chance of being killed by a black bear is slim to none. While very few have died, it isn't because the bears didn't try. If it weren't for others being there to beat the bear off the victim or the victim able to do so, the death toll would be much, much greater.I am grateful for the work of our park rangers and impressed with their bravery and sorry they continually have to repair the damage of ignorant or disrespectful park visitors.For more info. on black bear safety and behaviors, read "Backcountry Bear Basics" by Dave Smith and Ben Kilham's two books, "Out On a Limb" and "Among the Bears".

I really enjoyed this book. I liked he way it was written in short episodes. I also enjoyed learning about the wild animals. I visited the Park briefly a couple of times including Cades Cove which I found very interesting. I will confess that I am quite timid concerning wild animals and seldom ventured far from the safety of a car. If I had read this book BEFORE my visits, I might not have left my car at all. I did not know there are SO MANY black bears there!!

Not literature, but light reading that will appeal to nature and wildlife lovers. This is a wonderful collection of true stories from the Great Smokey Mountains told by a knowledgeable park ranger. This collection includes many stories of black bears, elk and wild hogs. Easy and fun reading that is presented in one chapter/one story format so you can finish one story and jump around in the book if you desire. Not my usual type of book, but I'm glad I read it. All genders and all ages would like.

Five Stars out of Five. I certainly recommend it to any who enjoy reading this type of material or not.

Great story. Amazing what can be done with animals.

Bear in the Backseat was if you like animal books, which I do really great. It told you a lot about bears and their antics. It also explained the life of a Wildlife Ranger and some of the dangers he comes across. He also has to go out in all kinds of weather, it's not an easy life, but very rewarding if you like nature.It was interesting for me since we don't have bears in my country,. Well worth reading

I loved both "Bear" books. Some stories were just plain funny and I've recommended the books to others. It sure made me realize though that people are just plain silly when it comes to wild animals and that we should be a heck of a lot more observant when walking trails anywhere these days as bears continue to move into civilization. Kudos on two great reads!

Made me laugh. This is a lovely hands on account of wildlife from a ranger's perspective. Light hearted and serious too.