Arkansas Wildlife Book

Does anyone know of a book about identifying wildlife and plantlife that is specific to Arkansas? I would really like one with full color pictures and info about what is and isn't edible in the wild. If not a book just for Arkansas, one thats at least regional.

Here's one by Keith Sutton that may be of interest to you, willky.
http://books.google.com/books?id=rXFvplk1EssC&dq=Arkansas+wildlife&pg=PP1&ots=8ieOBO4GKj&source=citation&sig=AOpMrJFeRHwK6nOsuUQmhNshonE&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=11&ct=result#PPA4,M1
Let me know if that's what you are looking for,
UL

While this is pretty interesting (already read about 15 pages of that preview...), I 'm looking more for a book to identify plants and animals (i.e. birds, trees, edible and nonedible plants, etc.).

Arkansas Game and Fish have a lot of free publications you can either download or have them mail you. The Arkansas Wildlife magazine of theirs is not free but I highly recommend it. http://www.agfc.com/data-facts-maps/publications.aspx

For plant identification I suggest two of Carl Hunter's books - Wildflowers of Arkansas and Trees, Shrubs, and Vines of Arkansas. Hastings probably carries both of these. You can find them on Amazon.com as well.

I've heard some really good things about Keith Sutton from a fishing buddy of mine. My next two book purchases will probably be his Arkansas hunting guide and Arkansas fishing guide.

You may also find this website helpful for identifying reptiles and amphibians. http://www.snakesofarkansas.com/Main/HomePage

Awesome Zen. Thanks!

I've bought the audubon society book that includes the Arkansas region (its pretty awesome), but I'm wondering if there is a book that address edible plants that is specifically for Arkansas (or at least a smaller region that half of the U.S.). Let me know if any of ya'll have or know of one.

As far as I know there are no books just about Arkansas edibles. I have a general edible wild plant field guide but I'm not too enthused about it. I still haven't found anything that beats Euell Gibbon's old Stalking the Wild Asparagus.

Mushrooms Demystified is the best book I've found on edible fungi. Although they are past their peak you can still find a few chanterelles about. I found some yellow and black ones up at my folks house last weekend.

If you want to borrow any of my field guides let me know. It usually takes more than just a few minutes leafing through one at the bookstore to know whether it's a keeper or not.

What I've read online is there are few edible plants in Arkansas and the ones that are, are not around for long. I don't know how accurate the information was though.

Back in the mid 70s I took a edible and useful wild plants course when I was working on my under
grad degree at HSU. The instructor was Dan Marsh. We had a text book and some were I still
have it. He practiced what he preached. Unfortunatly I don't remember much about the class
except a field trip into the Caney Creek are, before it was a wilderness. He would stop ever so
often on the hike, West to East, and pull up a plant, clean it off and eat it. Wish I had gleaned
more from his mind back then.

Might want to learn about setting snares. Might be more useful in a survival situation around here, especially depending on the time of year. There are some great snare setups for catching squirrels.
UL

I guess what I'm wanting is to be able to just identify plants and know which ones are edible. I don't really have a good reason for why, but it just seems like something good to know. UL, you're right, snares would be a better idea in survival situations, because there are more calories in meat than plants. However, if I can really get a good idea of what is and isn't edible (plant-wise), I think these will be more readily avaliable.

There are a lot of common greens that are edible in Arkansas - purslane, lambs-quarters, poke, pigweed, and dandelion just to name a few.

I would like to know of more edible roots. I've seen what looked like jerusalem artichoke around some of the streams in Arkansas. I didn't think they grew here but it was definitlely some large helianthus species. If they have roots they would be edilbe. I'll have to dig some up next time I see them.

Don't forget about sumac. You won't find a better source for vitamin C. It makes a great herbal tea or you can use it to make kool-aid. It's better if you are able to dry to pods for a long time.