The Grand Lady of Yellowstone
A new book by Brad Bulinby Dan Hartman
Dec. 10, 2020
My good friend Brad Bulin has a new book out titled, " The Grand Lady of Yellowstone & Other Wolf Stories"Samples I"ve seen promises it will be a good read. You'll find it historical, informative and very entertaining!
The following is a short interview I did with Brad.
What inspired you to take on this project?
After years of guiding, I came to realize that my people loved my stories almost as much, if not more, than what they saw on a guided trip with me. Time and again they would tell me stories were the highlight of the trips and that I should write them down sometime. So I thought, why not, if that is the best way for people to hear them and to give some of those people less fortunate than those of us who live here a chance to experience some good wolf stories, I will do it. I had no idea that it would become as personal of a story as well as a summary of wolf activity and natural history.
I know you and Caroline are a lot like me, meaning it's all about the story. How did you select these particular stories?
I was trying to find the most memorable and uniquely interesting wolf stories that I could, those illustrate intriguing wolf behavior and interactions. Next, I wanted a thread of connectivity between the stories and to intertwine my own personal experiences within the text. Therefore, I chose to write the stories as personal eperiences, not just factual wolf tales. Many of the stories were important moments to me personally as well as, hopefully, entertaining and educational. Lastly, I did choose stories with opportunities for people to learn about natural history, especially that of the wolves.
Now that you've got a little four month old baby girl in the house, do you feel a responsibility to tell those stories for future generations?
Yes. There, that question is done. I suppose I need to elaborate, huh? Of course. I wrote the books with the idea that anyone, including our future generations could read it. I want these to be stories that could be told years from now and still make sense. This park is changing and, with it, so too are the wildlife watching opportunities and experiences. In fact, there were several opportunities to address how the park is changing and how to act apporpriately within the park. I sincerely hope the book helps people appreciate what we have even more, both young and old. I really hope we can all encourage the next generation to sit down and read it and to get out and experience nature more. Too many people are losing touch with nature and those of us who live here see examples of it every day. One of the main goals for me all along was to somehow help people connect to Yellowstone, either more so or for the first time, whether they can travel here, have traveled here, or will never set foot in the place.
It's nice you finished the project in time for Christmas, how do people go about ordering the book??
Currently the book is available on Amazon, even arriving before Christmas if they order soon. I will also be selling autographed copies out of our house in Gardiner and on our soon-to-launch website (YellowstoneWildlifeProfiles.com) when my copies arrive, unfortunately that may be just before or even after Christmas. I am also distributing to local businesses that are interested. Feel free to call me at: 406-223-9175
