We lose a great outdoor writer, I have copied this artical from the Predator Xtreme Website, I hope they don't mind. If you are not familiar with his writings you should be if you have read anything from the oudoors. For more go to predatorxtreme.com

Scott Hammers/The Bulletin 11/28/2008 (Editor’s Note: It is with great sadness that we announce that our good friend and longtime contributor, Ed Park, passed away Tuesday night. We will have more on Ed's achievements and the impact his life made on sportsmen and those who knew him in the days ahead. Following is the write-up in Ed's local paper,The Bulletin.)

Ed Park, an outdoor writer for nearly half a century, died Tuesday in Prineville, Ore.

He was 78.

Raised in Portland, Park was just out of high school and working as a fire lookout on Black Butte in 1948 when he wrote his first outdoor story.

The account of a bobcat attacking Park’s dog was rejected by Outdoor Life magazine, but Park persisted, writing and publishing thousands of articles for nearly 100 publications.

While hunting, fishing and camping dominated Park’s writing, he was an avid runner as well, competing in distance races for nearly 50 years, and he held a black belt in judo, a sport he picked up while serving in the Army during the Korean War.

Park moved to Central Oregon in 1961 and became a full-time freelance writer and photographer. For six years, he wrote a regular outdoor column for The Bulletin.

Ron Kerr, the former executive director of the Northwest Outdoor Writers Association, said Park’s ability to make a living as a freelancer for nearly 50 years is a testament to his skills.

Park taught Kerr several valuable lessons on how to develop sources and sell his work when they first met nearly 40 years ago, Kerr said, and Park mentored countless other aspiring writers.

“Ed was extremely good at marketing himself,” said Kerr. “He got so well known, he wrote for Outdoor Life and all the big magazines, all the little newspapers and local magazines, traveled everywhere. He did everything.”

A member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America since 1964, Park helped found the Northwest Outdoor Writers Association in 1973, colleagues said.

Gary Lewis, an outdoor columnist for The Bulletin, met Park a few years after a 1991 stroke forced Park to cut back on his outdoor activities and writing. Lewis said he only discovered the significance of their meeting later, when he was flipping through old magazines and realized he’d been reading Park’s work for years.

“Ed was fascinated with nature; he was interested in every little thing,” Lewis said.

Bill Monroe, outdoor columnist for The Oregonian, said Park was “a giant” in the world of outdoor writing. When Monroe took the job at The Oregonian in 1983, Park called him up.

“I was astounded I’d be getting a call from Ed Park,” Monroe said. “I cut my teeth on Ed Park when I was in Vietnam. That’s what we’d do, read the big outdoors magazines, Field & Stream, Sports Afield, Outdoor Life, and Ed was writing for all of them.”

Although his stroke limited Park to typing with a single finger, he continued to write a regular column for the Central Oregonian until recently, and published his final article Nov. 10 addressing the ethics of hunting and trapping animals for fur in the magazine Predator Xtreme. He was also currently the only dedicated online columnist on Predator Xtreme’s Web site and had just submitted his latest column on Monday, the day before he passed.

Memorial services have not yet been scheduled.