Josef K. Schmutz Career Information

This webpage is part of a series, created by Joe Schmutz on 3 May 2023 and last updated on 24 March 2024.

• Born in Ulm, Germany in 1950
• Emigrated to Canada in 1968, Canadian citizen since 1978
• Married Sheila M. Schmutz née Stark in 1972

Education Robert Bosch Berufschule, Ulm, 1969 B. Sc., University of Wisconsin-Steven Point, 1974 M. Sc., University of Alberta, Edmonton, 1977 Ph. D., Queen’s University, Kingston, 1981 B. Ed., University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, 1991

Locations of Teaching/Research/Professional Practice

• Arctic Institute of North America, Calgary
• University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon
  • Department of Biology
  • Center for Studies in Agriculture, Law and the Environment
  • School of Environment and Sustainability

Related activities

Co-Founder, Large Munsterlander Association of Canada Co-Founder, SES Solar Cooperative Co-Founder, Versatile Hunting Dog Federation of Canada Owner, Prairie Hawk Encounters, wildlife tourism company (1989) Editor, Journal of Raptor Research, (1990-1992) Prepared dozens of conservation-biology-related reports, refereed manuscripts, and popular articles.

My wife Sheila and I care for our 64 ha of Aspen Parkland, slightly larger than what Aldo Leopold calls “the extent of his worldly domain.” When Leopold savours a walk at daybreak with his dog he notes that land boundaries become less real, and so disappears “the thought of being bounded.” When we are not stalking the land for ducks or holding organized hunting-dog tests, the land belongs to beavers in their ponds, to the resident and migrant wildlife community. It also belongs to cows for late-season grazing, for what Leopold calls “discontinuous pasturing” that keeps the resident plant community intact.

Hunting upland birds with cooperative and well-bred versatile hunting dogs has provided immensely rich encounters of over half the species N. America has to offer, each in its new-to-me landscapes.

Nearly as much as the dogs have contributed to our hunting, they have also been our subject for scientific study, particularly of coat color.

Back to homepage