Etcetera
I kill it, I grill it …
TED NUGENT
KILL IT & GRILL IT (2002)
• • •
All animals will not only be not shot, they will be protected—not only from people but as much as possible from each other. Prey will be separated from predator, and there will be no overpopulation or starvation because all will be controlled by sterilization or implant.
CLEVELAND AMORY, FOUNDER OF THE FUND FOR ANIMALS
DESCRIBING HIS IDEAL WORLD IN SIERRA, (JUNE 1992)
• • •
Hunting, fishing, drawing, and music occupied my every moment. Cares I knew not, and cared naught about them
JOHN JAMES AUDUBON (EARLY 1800s)
• • •
They might in the future more than ever before engage in hunting beavers.
SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN (CIRCA 1600)
• • •
… wild flowers should be enjoyed unplucked where they grow.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
HUNTING TRIPS OF A RANCHMAN (1885)
• • •
I am happy now, to recall that I was not only his son but his companion, and whenever there was a hunting expedition or any other pleasure, I was always with him.
JOHN PHILIP SOUSA (CIRCA 1900)
• • •
When he was young, I told Dale Jr. that hunting and racing are a lot alike. Holding that steering wheel and holding that rifle both mean you better be responsible.
DALE EARNHARDT (LATE 1990s)
• • •
One day you get no chances for all your struggle. Or, worse yet, you fail chances that you should have seized. Another time you make them all. If you consistently get limits, however, consider making the rules more difficult for yourself. Field sports are not about targets and scores. Score-keeping is necessary in competitions between humans, unattractive in competitions with weaker adversaries. Consistent scores of many to zero do not smell of struggle and chance. They smell of greed.
DATUS PROPER
STRUGGLE AND CHANCE: WHY WE DO IT (1991)
• • •
There are few things most outdoor-minded men pride themselves on more than the ability to build a good fire.
GENE HILL
LOG FIRES (1967)
• • •
There is no reason why, with proper care and enforcement of necessary restrictions, the Jackson’s Hole [Wyoming] district may not be kept as a game paradise, where sportsmen may come from all parts of the world and kill game, thus bringing to the state hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, at the same time preventing the utter extinction of animals that are indigenous to the country and of increasing interest.
OUTDOOR LIFE (1899)
• • •
I know of no more common fault among parents. No matter how zealously guarded a boy’s life may be, the time will almost certainly come when he will either handle firearms, or find himself in the company of other boys who are doing so, and in either case his chance of emerging from the affair in a watertight condition is in direct proportion to the familiarity the participants have with the weapon.
BURTON SPILLER
MORE GROUSE FEATHERS (1938)
• • •
Hunters and the government have different objectives. Most hunters want to see as many waterfowl as possible and be able to shoot a few. In contrast, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tries to manage ducks so that hunters can kill all they see.
GEORGE REIGER
HERON HILL CHRONICLE (1994)
• • •
Man is a fugitive from nature.
JOSÉ ORTEGA Y GASSET
MEDITATIONS ON HUNTING (1942)
• • •
I have always observed that the sportsmen who really know invariably hang their game in a natural position: that is, by the head.
ARCHIBALD RUTLEDGE IN
SHOTGUNNING IN THE LOWLANDS
BY RAY P. HOLLAND (1945)
• • •
The truth is, most guides are not smart enough to hold down a steady job at the local sawmill, and are obliged to choose between guiding and burglary.
ED ZERN
TO HELL WITH HUNTING (1946)
• • •
One evening after I had turned in, the flap of my tent opened and the [French] countess came in wearing a lace Parisian nightgown that covered her but poorly and carrying a beer glass full of whiskey. She sat down on the edge of my cot, offered me a drink, and then took one herself. “Hunter, my friend, I am lonely,” she told me sadly. “Countess, where’s your husband?” I asked her. She looked at me a long time. “Hunter, you Englishmen ask the strangest questions,” she said and flounced out of my tent.
JOHN A. HUNTER
HUNTER (1952)
• • •
We still do not realize that today we can enjoy the wilderness without fear, do not appreciate the part that predators play in the balanced ecology of any natural community. We seem to prefer herds of semi-domesticated deer and elk and moose, swarms of small game with their natural alertness gone.
SIGURD OLSON
THE SINGING WILDERNESS (1956)
• • •
… she was prone to claim she was so dreadfully bored by suitors—all of whom seemed limited in their sphere of interests to business, hunting, and horses—that she felt she ought to have a sign fashioned to read Gentlemen Prohibited hanging from the porch gate.
CHARLES FRAZIER
COLD MOUNTAIN (1997)
• • •
Robin Hood and his merry men would envy the modern-day bowhunter.
FRED BEAR
FRED BEAR’S WORLD OF ARCHERY (1979)
• • •
I hope you are shot in the gut and lie in a cold wet ditch and die slowly.
A LETTER TO ED ZERN,
IN RESPONSE TO A BIRD-HUNTING
ARTICLE HE HAD WRITTEN, QUOTED IN
HUNTING AND FISHING FROM “A” TO ZERN (1985)
• • •
A new subspecies of human, the animals rights activists, has suddenly appeared, and they have a large following.
JAMES SWAN
IN DEFENSE OF HUNTING (1995)
• • •
I have known many meat eaters to be far more non-violent than vegetarians.
MAHATMA GANDHI
IN GANDHI ON NONVIOLENCE BY THOMAS MERTON (1964)
• • •
The man who said “The only experience a man can’t recover from is hanging,” is wrong. He never tried to raise three Labrador puppies.
GENE HILL
“RAISING PUPPIES, PART II” IN
A HUNTER’S FIRESIDE BOOK (1972)
• • •
Once he opens his mouth, there is no doubting. The conversation of an Outdoorsman is as different from that of Others as a solunar table is from the breakfast table.
RICK BASS
THE DEER PASTURE (1985)
• • •
I’m not sure where in my anatomy the hunting impulse resides—in my genes, some would say, or in my soul but it’s certainly there as, I’m convinced, it is in all of us.
WILLIAM G. TAPPLY
SPORTSMAN’S LEGACY (1993)
• • •
The wilderness thrills us and gives us life, and while we nurture the traditions of our grandfathers and grandmothers, we are saddened by what we anticipate for our grandchildren. Sometimes, sitting silently in the forest or climbing into the mountains, it occurs to us that we do not want to go home because we have begun to think of ourselves as an endangered species. To hell with that.
TERRY McDONELL
“WHO WE ARE” IN THE BEST OF SPORTS AFIELD
EDITED BY JAY CASSELL (1996)
• • •
We all have our days when the gun barrel is crooked and the game has the last laugh. If we complain about our lot in the matter of game and hunting, that’s probably one of the things that we have in common with our ancestors.
RON FORSYTH
REFLECTIONS, MAN AND BOY (1997)
• • •
What this country really needs, I decided, is a good cheap chigger remedy.
HAVILAH BABCOCK
“HOW TO GET RID OF CHIGGERS” IN
MY HEALTH IS BETTER IN NOVEMBER (1947)
• • •
In these delicate times, people who actually deal with fish, birds or mammals before all edible parts are wrapped in plastic are looked on either as half-wits … or barbarians.
JOHN BARSNESS
WESTERN SKIES (1994)
• • •
I see no reason to apologize for being a hunter, particularly in this age. What comparable sweetness, mystery, and wonder can be found in the Styrofoam-dished, Saran-wrapped, boneless, skinless chicken breasts at the meat counter of the supermarket?
JIM FERGUS
A HUNTER’S ROAD (1992)
• • •
Rikki-tikki had a right to be proud of himself; but he did not grow too proud, and he kept that garden as a mongoose should keep it, with tooth and jump and spring and bite, till never a cobra dared show its head inside the walls.
RUDYARD KIPLING
“RIKKI-TIKKI-TAVI” IN THE JUNGLE BOOKS (1894)
• • •
A warden’s time is spent counting, recounting, and then re-recounting some wild population, or the ratio of their sexes, or even (as with the pellets) their signs.
FRANK CALKINS
ROCKY MOUNTAIN WARDEN (1964)
• • •
I think it was Jim Harrison who said that, in a debate between the NRA and proponents of gun control, he’d rather be in a rowboat. Although I am a longtime member of the NRA, I know what he means; I can think of nothing more mind-deadening than being in the presence of two debaters with their minds made up, who reiterate the same old arguments at the top of their voices while utterly ignoring or missing each other’s points.
STEPHEN BODIO
ON THE EDGE OF THE WILD (1998)
• • •
Around here turkey shoots are as common as ’possums.
JIM CARMICHEL
JUST JIM (1969)
• • •
Hunting is one of the hardest things even to think about. Such a storm of conflicting emotions!
EDWARD ABBEY
ONE LIFE AT A TIME, PLEASE (1988)
• • •
How can any man or woman, city born and bred, expect to know firsthand—to understand—that killing is a daily part of life for all of us. They know, of course. But a lack of thoughtful interest, even outright denial, is easier without any personal involvement.
M. R. JAMES
MY PLACE (1992)
• • •
It’s important to believe that you’ve spent enough time there, watching, listening, intermingling; and to know that what you’re doing—killing—is not only imperfect and unclear, but can also be done respectfully only when you remain unsure and somewhat doubtful.
TED KERASOTE
HEART OF HOME (1993)
• • •
I ran a trapline that taught me more about nature than anything else I’ve ever done.
GEORGE REIGER
HERON HILL CHRONICLE (1994)
• • •
To keep our opportunity to hunt, we must always remember that wildlife belongs to all the people. The future of hunting depends upon how the majority of people view hunters. These people form their opinions when they see how we hunt and how we care for, and about, wildlife.
JIM POSEWITZ
BEYOND FAIR CHASE (1994)
• • •
Suzie doesn’t approve of hunting in any form. “That’s what cattle are for,” she said.
RICK BASS
IN THE LOYAL MOUNTAINS (1995)
• • •
Like most Americans, I had no experience with any kind of hunting, knew essentially nothing about it, and couldn’t fathom why anyone would want to kill and eat a wild animal.
RICHARD K. NELSON
FINDING COMMON GROUND (1996)
• • •
[Dogs] have a much stronger bond to humans than any other species, stronger than horses, or cats, or even falcons … After all, they are the only animal to have volunteered for domestication.
DAN O’BRIEN
EQUINOX; LIFE, LOVE, AND BIRDS OF PREY (1997)
• • •
A strange new animal stalks the woods in North America: the eco-redneck. Ecce homo. It is an obvious irony to some, an unintentional one to others, but these days sporting persons and environmentalists are apt to be one and the same.
STEVE CHAPPLE
CONFESSIONS OF AN ECO-REDNECK (1997)
• • •
I believe that animals—birds and animals, anyway—do think, but that they think in ways that would seem alien and frightening to us if we could inhabit their minds.
STEPHEN BODIO
ON THE EDGE OF THE WILD (1998)
• • •
What a dreary, monolithic suburban culture we shall be, when all eccentric passions have been stamped out.
MAX HASTINGS, ON THE LABOR PARTY’S EFFORTS
TO BAN FOX HUNTING AND OTHER BLOOD SPORTS
IN BRITAIN
THE FIELD (APRIL 1997)
• • •
There can be no excuse for losing a buck from which blood has been drawn … In my camp, the failure to find a buck known to be wounded is a distinct stigma, keenly felt by all of us.
JOHN WOOTTERS
HUNTING TROPHY DEER (1997)
• • •
We, as hunters, are increasingly going to find ourselves in circumstances where we must define and defend our position. The possession of firearms is a right, but hunting is a privilege. Anti-hunters are fanatics for sure, but they are well funded and well represented. We need to be smarter these days. We need to be more respectful toward the game we hunt.
MIKE GOULD
THE LABRADOR SHOOTING DOG (1998)
• • •
