Book compiles funny outdoor essays

While there’s no shortage of Montana novels documenting the rugged bravado of their authors, one outdoors writer decided to focus on the less glamorous side of hunting and fishing in his recently published book.

The self-styled “Don Rickles of the Flathead Valley,” Gordon Stewart this year released “You Pick the Poison Ivy,” a compilation of his humorous essays previously published in the Kalispell Weekly News.

It consists of 70 humorous stories and poems, punctuated with original outdoor photography by the author. His stories bear titles such as “To Catch a Sucker,” “Camp Run-A-Muck” and “Down in the Dull-Drums” — chronicling a lifetime of outdoors misadventures.

Stewart was born in North Dakota, but he has lived in the Montana for the past 50 years and says he often has found himself at odds with his outdoor surroundings since moving to the Treasure State.

“As soon as I opened up my suitcase, Mother Nature jumped out at me, and she’s been after me ever since,” he says.

That’s not for lack of experience.

A lifelong outdoorsman, Stewart was president of the Montana Wildlife Federation in the late 1980s and spent 25 years on the board of Flathead Wildlife Inc., including two stints as that organization’s president.

While the book consists mainly of prose, Stewart isn’t afraid to tackle poetry as well, with several limericks and ditties sprinkled throughout the book. Friends and acquaintances of Stewart may also know him for his popular Christmas poems, a tradition he started 15 years ago. Last December, he mailed out 200 of them.

For the past 25 years, Stewart has worked as a night auditor at a Kalispell hotel. Before that, he had a 19-year career as a social worker, and said it was during that time that he wrote most of the material that went into the book.

“I tried to make them short stories so a guy could pick it up and read one in the bathroom,” he explains, adding, “I believe humor is the best medicine you have.”

Stewart says his brand of humor is one that can resonate with anyone who has found himself or herself at odds with the great outdoors, whether it’s camping, fishing, hiking or hunting.

“It’s time immemorial,” he says of his writing. “It’s not going out of style.”

But, he adds, even those without his affinity for the natural world can get a kick out of his book.

“It’s basically for anybody that likes humor, even some of the church people that don’t hunt or fish,” he says. “I just want to put a smile on someone’s face, and if that’s my legacy to humanity, I’m doing my job.”

“You Pick the Poison Ivy” can be purchased online at Amazon.com. Those interested in the book can also contact Stewart directly for a copy at (406) 752-2955.