This article traces the evolution of Daniel E. Heywood (1869-1911) from a hunter and trapper to an early conservationists and wildlife writer. Heywood, who was raised on a wilderness farm along the shores of Umbagog Lake near the Maine-New Hampshire border, left written and photographic records that provide insights into his efforts to convince others to carefully use the natural resources that seemed to most of his contemporaries to be inexhaustible. Heywood took on this uphill fight with humor and persistence, despite many hardships along the his all to short journey.