Friday, March 19, 2010

consumption

"Aldo Leopold once said; 'A wilderness without wildlife is of no use to me, a wilderness without wildlife is just empty country;' and he is right, and for some of us, walking on the land without tasting of its bounty is just empty walking. Some can survive on the sustenance provided by simple beauty, especially those that live far from the land. Others need to return with meat to feed their families and somehow justify the hours they spend in cold and lonely and lovely places. And yes, there are those that require the hides and horns of animals to substantiate their hunting tales, a brute addition perhaps, but a necessary addition, to their love of the silence and the beauty of the land. But we must all remember that whether we carry a gun or not, the strip-mine shovel digs for us. We are all takers. Takers removed by degree, not dimension, from the strip-miners, loggers and roughnecks. The only difference is in the giving back."

Bob Jamieson "Breaks", Gray's Sporting Journal, Volume Eight, Issue 4, Fall 1983, p. 46.

6 comments:

Tovar@AMindfulCarnivore said...

Great quote. Thanks for sharing it!

mdmnm said...

Tovar- thanks! I've been enjoying working through your archives.

Anonymous said...

That's probably the same Bob Jamieson who wrote a wonderful article in Skiing magazine back in the 70's that I can still quote from - thanks for the digging up of past gems! Tobin Kelley

Tovar@AMindfulCarnivore said...

Thanks! Luckily for you, there's not a lot to work through yet. :-)

mdmnm said...

Tobin-
Probably is the same guy. He was/is(?) and outfitter in BC and wrote for Grays a fair bit in the 80's and for Bugle some in the 90's.

EcoRover said...

Good thought. And once it's gone, it's gone forever.