Beating Around The Bush  A Life in The Northern Forest

By Wilf Taylor and Alan Fry

Born in 1921, Wilf Taylor was raised in the foothills of Alberta south of Calgary where he gained a variety of practical skills while enjoying the outdoor life.   Growing up during the 1930s in a rural area, hunting and trapping were part of his daily routine to assist with the family finances.

Wilf enlisted with the Canadian Army in 1941 and served with a tank regiment serving overseas in France, Belgium and Germany from 1942-1945. After repatriation, Wilf and his wife Vera, who he’d married just prior to going overseas, return to Alberta and start a family.   They ranch for a few years.  In  1950 Wilf applies to work for the Canadian Parks Service.   He received a letter from Frank Bryant which resulted in the start of his career with the Warden Service.  Wilf has many interesting experiences at Leanchoil, in Yoho National Park, and later in his backcountry district at the Head of the Red Deer River in Banff National Park.

Wilf later works for the Alberta Forest Service and the Alberta Game Branch.  He and Vera and their 6 children move to the Northwest Territories in 1967 where he works for the Northern Affairs Program (a division of the Federal Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development).  Wilf was stationed in Inuvik, NWT, and later Whitehorse, YT.

Wilf’s recollections of his interesting and varied career are captured by Alan Fry whose expertise as a writer enabled Wilf to share his memoirs in this book.  Wilf Taylor passed away August 26th, 2014.

Published by Harbour Publishing in 1989

M. Nylund