Badluck Way

A Year on the Ragged Edge of the West

By: Bryce Andrews

Narrated by: Pete Simonelli

“Much more than a coming-of-age story, Badluck Way is an important meditation on what it means to share space and breathe the same air as truly wild animals, and the necessary damage that can occur when boundaries are crossed” (Tom Groneberg, author of The Secret Life of Cowboys).

In this gripping memoir of a young man, a wolf, their parallel lives and ultimate collision, Bryce Andrews describes life on the remote, windswept Sun Ranch in southwest Montana. The Sun’s twenty thousand acres of rangeland occupy a still-wild corner of southwest Montana—a high valley surrounded by mountain ranges and steep creeks with portentous names like Grizzly and Bad Luck. Just over the border from Yellowstone National Park, the Sun holds giant herds of cattle and elk amid many predators—bears, mountain lions, and wolves.

In lyrical, haunting language, Andrews recounts marathon days and nights of building fences, riding, roping, and otherwise learning the hard business of caring for cattle, an initiation that changes him from an idealistic city kid into a skilled ranch hand. But when wolves suddenly begin killing the ranch’s cattle, Andrews has to shoulder a rifle, chase the pack, and do what he’d hoped he would never have to do.

Called “an elegant memoir” by the Great Falls Tribune, Badluck Way is about transformation and complications, about living with dirty hands every day. It is about the hard choices that wake us at night and take a lifetime to reconcile. Above all, Badluck Way celebrates the breathtaking beauty of wilderness and the satisfaction of hard work on some of the harshest, most beautiful land in the world.

Pronunciation is important

Take a second to learn how the town of Ennis, MT is pronounced. Also Equine. Also chaps. Also - Wolf.
Not Woof.
Not Eeniss.
Not CHaps but shaps. Woof was the worst. Great story, someone should have checked and told this actor how to pronounce these words!

It was ok

The narrator mispronounced ‘Ennis’. As a Montana resident, that was disappointing and distracting. The detail of the story was awesome; but the killings were too descriptive for my taste.

Pronunciation of Ennis

This book was fascinating and very much worth listening too. The only issue I have is that the town of Ennis was mispronounced. I hope no one goes to Ennis after listening to this book and calls it by the way it is pronounced in the audible edition..that would be embarrassing. Otherwise a very good Audible book.

Like the story. Good escape.

The story was good. If your in to ranchers, alpine wilderness and wild life it is a nice distraction from every day life.

The narrator :

He is great and has a great voice. It just wish he would pronounce the word wolf as if there is a "L" in it because there is one. Other than that he is great for and book.

Thoughtful and vivid storytelling

For those curious about the interplay between ranching and the reintroduction of wolves, this book is a must read. Thoughtfully written in a style reminiscent of Norman McLain. It will leave you with a deeper understanding of the challenges ranchers face, a deeper sense of the wildness personified by wolves.