Double Challenge

Though Ted's father, Al Harkness, would rather his son went on to college, Ted is determined to stay and develop the family's two hundred acres of land in the heart of the Mahela wilderness. His dream is to provide accommodation and services for the growing number of fishermen and hunters being drawn to the region. To that end, he is willing to take a low-paying job at the only real resort in the area - both to gain experience and to stay in the Mahela. Al is a life-long and proficient hunter and trapper. He has learned to value the need for conservation laws after seeing the early settlers - only seven families - completely wipe out the native deer population through year-round hunting. More than ten years later, through careful management, the deer are back, but among the locals, he and Ted are still almost unique in their strict observance of hunting regulations. It is this very integrity that causes Ted to lose his job; a loss which unexpectedly opens the way for father and son to take the first step toward making Ted's dream a reality. All goes well until Al is wrongfully accused of shooting the area's most notorious poacher. Evading arrest, Al hides out in the Mahela, leaving Ted to find a way to clear him. Twin prize bucks of massive size and grandeur, a faithful collie named Tammie and the wild, beautiful country, all play key parts in this warmhearted tale of fidelity and hard work that seek to prevail against the power of greed and treachery.


Genre: Young Adult Fiction