TRAIL OF THE EAGLE is based on both letters and diaries-letters of Alaska Master Guide Clement M. (Bud) Conkle, and diaries of his wife Lenora.

While on extended hunts Bud regularly wrote letters to his wife detailing his adventures. He also had a great volume of correspondence with prospective hunters, as well as with clients he had guided.

LeNora faithfully kept a diary from the time that she and Bud left San Diego in 1946 bound for Alaska with the goal of establishing a lodge and a guiding business. She also saved every letter Bud wrote, including the carbon copies of his correspondence with others.

When Bud died in 1985 LeNora published a number of the stories that Bud had written to correspondents in his letters. Some were by-lined "Bud Conkle," some were by- lined "LeNora Conkle." Alaska Magazine and Alaska Flying printed a number of these articles. Encouraged, LeNora assembled TRAIL OF THE EAGLE, in which most of the stories are first person by Bud. In truth, the stories were by both Bud and LeNora, based on Bud's letters and LeNora's diaries. They were rewritten for publication by LeNora.

Jim Rearden, long-time Alaskan writer, who is a former guide and a pilot, a former professor of wildlife management at the University of Alaska, and who served for 12 years on the Alaska Board of Game, worked with LeNora in compiling TRAIL OF THE EAGLE, Hunting Alaska With Master Guide Bud Conkle.