The Deer Family is best known for its headgear — its beautifully shaped antlers. Their kingdom includes the lovely Whitetail, Mule and Key Deer, the nomadic Barren-Ground and Woodland Caribou, the majestic Moose and the elegant Elk. All are exquisitely adapted to escape from predators. We explore their essential roles in a variety of ecosystems from Florida to Alaska.

A band of Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep is observed through the seasons. When springtime splashes the mountain meadows with color, a lamb is born and an old ram, the band’s leader, dies. And so the cycle of life is completed. Portrayed are the mating battles of the huge rams, the seasonal migrations of the herd, and the never-ending search for food in the high mountains.

The aptly-named Largemouth Bass is the top game fish in America and, as a result, Big Business to fishermen. Marty Stouffer takes us on an exciting excursion into the bizarre world of Bass fishing. Along the way, we also examine the complete life history of this fascinating member of the Perch family. Ultimately, we also see its enormous economic importance.

Symbols of noble power and unsurpassed freedom —Falcons, Hawks and Eagles still arouse in us a centuries-old mystique. From the tiny Shrike to the majestic Eagle, they come in all sizes, populate every habitat and are each specifically designed for the prey they hunt. Some of the most impressive animals on earth are these expert, legendary hunters — aristocrats of the air.

Since ancient times, the faithful, home-loving Dove has been a universal sign of peace. The billing and cooing of a courting pair suggests true love. This program examines the intimate lives of our six wild and three domestic species of Pigeons and Doves: their displays, courtship, family life and migration — as well as the irony that these graceful Birds are the most hunted on earth.

Our most common wild feline is a perfectly designed predator — quick and clever enough to capture a tiny Meadow Mouse, yet formidable enough to bring down a full-grown Deer. Prey can become play, for this solitary hunter sometimes pesters its captured quarry to death. Easily confused with its cousin, the Lynx, the Bobcat flourishes in close proximity to humans.

What animal is the fastest in North America? What animal is best known — inaccurately — as an Antelope? What animal, less than a week after it is born, can race across the prairie at 40 miles per hour? It is the Pronghorn of our vast western prairies and it is born to run! Of all America’s hooved Mammals, this fascinating creature is the only one to originate on this continent.

America’s Tree Squirrels are always on the alert. They swing through the woods with the greatest of ease, often leaping astonishing distances from branch to branch. Much of their graceful agility is due to their long, bushy, balancing tails. These tree-top acrobats use their tails as signal flags, umbrellas, blankets, and parachutes, as they go about their industrious and amusing lives.

Montana’s Glacier National Park, with its breathtaking scenic vistas and sheer cliffs, is the cloud-scraping home of the Rocky Mountain Goat. Here Marty Stouffer examines the whole life story of this unique snow-white animal. We watch breathlessly as we see how the growing young kids learn to challenge gravity in a vertical world of harsh seasons, rugged crags and sudden avalanches.

“Prairie Wolf, Song Dog, Barking Wolf” — the Coyote is called by many names, not always complimentary. Once they trailed the great herds across our western plains. The herds are gone. The opportunists remain, and are flourishing despite efforts to eradicate them. Today, their numbers are stronger than ever, but this proof of their versatility only heightens the controversy.

Of all wild animals, Rabbits are among the most familiar and best loved. With their soft fur and appealing eyes, they represent the vulnerable side of Nature. Though preyed upon, the Rabbit Family boasts surprising assets in the fight for survival, and its members — from the Eastern Cottontail to the Swamp Rabbit — are widespread, and as successful as any other American Mammal.

Yellowstone Lake has a vast underwater wilderness never seen by the two million annual visitors to this National Park. It is also the realm of a creature that forms the cornerstone of an entire aquatic ecosystem — the brilliant Cutthroat Trout. A summer-long exploration by Marty Stouffer and crew begins in the remote Thorofare Region, our wildest land south of Alaska.

The crew’s exploration takes them deeper into the northern wilderness along the magnificent Yellowstone River. At LeHardy Rapids, Marty catches slippery Cutthroat to study them face-to-face, then dives into the turbulence to hand-feed a large school of Trout with Salmonfly larvae. Back on the surface, we examine the reproductive cycle and all the other primary predators of the Salmonfly.

As Marty and his crew continue to delve into the life cycle of the Cutthroat Trout, their exploration leads to Grizzly Creek. Here, Marty finds evidence of the big Bears’ presence and goes underwater to film the spawning ritual of the Cutthroat. In a fitting finale, some Trout die, as others return to the Lake. As the adventure ends, we’re left with deeper feeling for all life.

In springtime, in the mysterious hour before sunrise, feathered shadows gather on secluded display grounds, risking predation to perform ancient rites of survival. From coast to coast, from deep forest to prairie sandhill to high timberline, North America is home to a variety of Grouse; each noted for its colorful vocal sacs and each with its own spectacular courtship dance.

In French, the Fox is called “Reynard”, meaning “unconquerable through his cleverness”. Is this charming canid as crafty as the fables portray? Does it deserve its reputation as henhouse bandit? We’ll find out as we meet these cunning hunters: the Arctic Fox, the Swift and Kit Foxes of our Southwest, the wide-ranging Gray Fox and the well-renowned Red Fox.

Most predators and prey have evolved in unison. They are so closely matched that every day is an “Animal Olympics.” Intimately linked together are two birds — the speedy Goshawk and the alert Ruffed Grouse. Many predators pursue the Grouse, but none is so well-adapted to catch it as the Goshawk. This is the story of an unerringly precise natural balance.

Many thousands of these intelligent creatures roam the woods from Georgia to California. Some, bristling Boars with huge tusks, were imported from Europe and released as formidable hunting adversaries. Others are escaped barnyard swine. Only one is native — the Peccary of our southwestern deserts. This program explores the funny, bizarre, violent world of the Wild Hog.

Ground Squirrels would not win a popularity contest; unless, of course, you’re a hungry Hawk, Fox or Black-footed Ferret. From the Arctic Ground Squirrel of Alaska and the Golden-mantled of the Rockies to the ubiquitous Prairie Dog, our concealed cameras shed light on why these under-appreciated little critters allow us all to enjoy Nature’s most magnificent species.

As the dominant species, we are finally starting to realize our impact on the world and to re-evaluate our relationship with all living things. This program illustrates how we can best preserve our precious natural heritage of wildlife. Wild animals affect us in many ways — for recreation, we admire their freedom; for economics, we harvest their bounty; and for science, we explore their mysteries.

Ridiculed for its awkward appearance and homely face, this largest member of the Deer family is actually one of the most graceful. It moves with equal ease in water or on land. Solitary and restless, a bull Moose may weigh half a ton and stand nine feet tall — a formidable foe during the fall rut. Learn about these mighty animals as we follow them through a year’s seasons.

Managing wildlife most often means managing humans — the primary predator in virtually all our ecosystems. Through this complex, but vital, process, we constantly try to balance our own conflicting interests with those of our native wild creatures. This thought-provoking program examines some of the most innovative and controversial plans currently operating across the country.

Elegant and graceful, the Lynx is one of Nature’s finest physical specimens. Its primary quarry is the elusive Snowshoe Hare. It is seen that the numbers of predator and prey — Lynx and Snowshoe Hare — are intricately linked in a ten-year cycle that rises and falls in unison. This fascinating, unexplained phenomenon is only one of many mysteries in the Great North Woods.

North America’s most widespread Mammal is a tenacious, aquatic Rodent — always swimming, digging, or eating in a rich wetland home. It flourishes despite the pressures of civilization and the ever-present trappers who desire its thick, glossy pelt. Watching a Muskrat bite a Moose on the nose and fight with neighbors, we see why it’s been likened to a grouchy old man.

The White-tailed Deer is our most familiar large Mammal — and our number one big-game animal. In states like Pennsylvania, its popularity makes it one of the most controversial creatures. The abundance of Whitetail here proves that certain wildlife can thrive in man’s world. In following this lovely Deer, we learn how it now epitomizes the history of game management.

With its shy habits, soft plumage, and alert dark eyes, it’s no wonder the Bobwhite Quail of our southeastern states inspired this Southern compliment. Other members of the widespread Quail family include the Gambel’s, California, Montezuma and Scaled Quail. Their behavior, both as individuals and in coveys, proves them to be as clever and resourceful as they are lovely.

In a frigid landscape, a Polar Bear emerges from her maternity den with cubs. The Innuit people call this largest predator on earth “Nanook” and bestow upon it spiritual power. Most admired by the native people is the mother Bear which, over the course of two or three years, will fearlessly protect and patiently teach her cubs how to survive in their beautiful, high Arctic home.

Each summer, as Salmon make their spawning run, a gathering of the largest carnivores in North America also takes place. Up to a hundred huge Brown Bears line up along the McNeil River in Alaska. Each Bear stakes out and defends its fishing territory. The cast of characters includes sows with playful cubs, battle-scarred boars, and juveniles, with comical fishing styles.

“Timberdoodle, Bogsucker, Twister” — the Woodcock and its nicknames are equally unusual. It flies as slowly as 5 mph, or becomes a blur of speed as it spirals hundreds of feet into the air in a spectacular springtime courtship display. Its life story, from downy young to fall migration, is filmed at Moosehorn Wildlife Refuge in Maine. Moles and Moose also play a part in the story.

The Grizzly Bear is funny and ferocious, a quivering coward and a daring hero, easily tamed yet forever wild. This disappearing giant is one of the most contradictory and complex of all our animal ideas. In this program, the entire spectrum of our attitudes toward the Grizzly are examined as well as the animal itself. Rare footage reveals the birth of tiny cubs during the female’s winter denning.

With their proud bearing and stately crown of antlers, Elk are admired by many as the most elegant member of the Deer family. Years ago, herds of them roamed freely across our land. Today, confined to western mountains, they depend increasingly on management by man. We investigate the controversial situation in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, site of the National Elk Refuge.

Among our least known, and yet most intriguing, Mammals are the Weasels. They are probably the most beneficial of our predators, and they are definitely the quickest — their movements being almost too fast to follow. Audacity is the most appropriate word for these deadly little carnivores. A three-inch-high Weasel will actually attack a man who attempts to block it from its captured prey!

The many members of the Weasel Family are known for their luxurious fur and for their often-aggressive dispositions. While the Sea and River Otters are highly playful, the Wolverine, Badger and Mink are fierce hunters which rarely back down and run. This unique family also includes smelly Skunks, arboreal Marten and Fisher, and rare Black-footed Ferret.

We all know domestic Cats. We’ve seen them savagely attack a ball of yarn, contentedly purr on our lap, and instinctively sharpen their claws, probably on our finest furniture. Yet we rarely see their wild cousins, the most elusive of all animals… and the most deadly. This program explores the Jaguar, Mountain Lion, Lynx, Bobcat, Margay, Ocelot, and Jaguarundi.

The domestic Dog has won affection granted no other animal. Surprisingly, “our best friend” closely resembles its wild cousins — the Wolf, Coyote and Fox — the most misunderstood and feared family of animals in North America. Today, we are fascinated by the social behavior of the Wild Dogs and are beginning to appreciate their roles as “Top Dogs” in various natural ecosystems.

By viewer request, we look at a Bird whose story is woven into our culture. Yet this creature, the Pilgrim’s choice for the first Thanksgiving meal, soon became a rarity. Our largest gamebird, with its flamboyant courtship, is a strong flier that prefers to run. We meet the shy Gobblers of our eastern woodlands and their lanky western kin — forebearers of all domestically raised stock.

Our traditional symbol of Nature’s abundance was once feared to be gone as a gamebird due to overhunting by humans and a loss of their habitat. But today, the Wild Turkey is one of game management’s greatest success stories. The many who worked so hard for this comeback were perhaps too successful, for some states now worry about having an over-abundance of these birds.

Spring comes to our four flyways, heralding the arrival of millions of migrating Waterfowl. In marshlands from Canada to Mexico, Divers and Dabblers perform gaudy breeding rituals and settle into nesting season, an unfolding drama of rebirth in America’s heartland. Beautiful adults and cute young alike must survive clashes with Raccoons, Weasels and Eagles.

Witness the wondrous birth of tiny twin Deer fawns, and see wide-eyed Wolf pups emerge from their den. Both the Deer and the Wolf are followed through their age of innocence into maturity, when — finally — during a winter hunt, both the young Deer and the young Wolf assume their traditional adult roles as predator and prey. We see that each one is half of a beautiful natural whole.

Is this beast really a ravenous monster? The Wolverine is a rarely-glimpsed, and thus much misunderstood, scavenger with tremendous strength. It is the source of many legends. The Indians regarded it as a supernatural being. Here we see the real Wolverine in the rugged land it shares with Wolf, Red Fox and Snowshoe Hare — and we learn why this wandering loner deserves our respect.