Living a Dream reflects five decades of observing, studying, hunting and daily thinking about ducks. It is about my evolution as a hunter, a biologist and as a conservationist. The book is a mix of hunting stories, natural history and my observations and opinions concerning the biology and management of waterfowl. The early chapters depict my years growing up and hunting on the St. Lawrence River. Later chapters reflect my formal education, particularly my years at the Delta Waterfowl Research Station, and the development of my increasingly skeptical attitude toward how waterfowl are managed. I include chapters on management in Europe, for perspective. Finally, I speculate about conservation issues and the future of both management and hunting, and what I feel we should be doing differently.

I wrote this book out of concern for the future of waterfowl hunting. I use my own experience, my education in a sense to share with the reader what I believe to be the personal and social benefits of hunting. I am concerned about hunter ethics and behavior, and about greed and political interference in setting hunting regulations. I'm concerned with over-commercialization, and the possibility that liberal regulations will negatively affect populations and at some level, the future of waterfowling. I'm also concerned about the decline in hunters and the anti-hunting movement which is largely steeped in ignorance and threatens the future of this important part of our outdoor heritage. I believe the issues discussed in this book are timely and timeless. This is why I wrote Living a Dream.

John House has been a professional, full-time artist for almost 25 years, working out of his home in Evansville, MN, where John, Barb and their four children reside. John loves painting oil originals with a distinct sporting flavor, bing an avid duck hunter himself, since his father started him at 10 years of age. John won the prestigous Minnesota Duck Stamp contest in 1999, and tied for 11th in the Federal Duck Stamp contest, on his first attempt. John's greatest desire is to paint for sportsman, and he's excited about the endless possibilities of sporting art yet to be painted.

The publisher, Minnesota Waterfowl Association, is committed to preserving Minnesota's waterfowl, other wetland wildlife, wetland habitats, and promoting the values of humting.