The Florida pioneer "cow hunters" gave birth to the cattle industry. Florida, discovered by Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon in the 1500s, left behind cattle that roamed the peninsula hundreds of years. In the 1800s, new settlers gathered-up the "scrub cattle" and bred them with their herds.

As cracker whips snapped, "cow hunters" rounded-up their herds and drove them by the thousands to coastal markets on the old "cracker trails." It was a dangerous passage.

The legendary "cow hunters" are today's ranchers. This book is about the past and the future of ranching in Florida as a new...