I haven't seen one of these threads in a long time and they are usually a good place to get some pretty good quotes so lets commence.
If men, through fear, fraud, or mistake, should in terms renounce or give up any natural right, the eternal law of reason and the grand end of society would absolutely vacate such renunciation. The right to freedom being the gift of Almighty God, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave. - Samuel Adams
A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that. -Shane from the movie "Shane"
"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats."
H. L. Mencken
"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." -Robert Heinlein
Politics aside, there is something about crude behavior in a hunter that is not just offensive; it also eats at the soul of any true outdoors man. These guy's are cheapening "something we love, something sacred. The longer I hunt, the more humbling I find the experience. Each time I walk into the woods with my gun, I rediscover how infinite nature is and how transitory and small I am. My carefully maintained suburban identity falls away like a dry husk. I become more alert. My consciousness opens up. I am focused, aware, alive I am hunting.
Everything around me comes alive too: the earth beneath my feet, the water in a brook, every leaf on every tree. The slightest tremor in the air is the like the blast of a trumpet; the squawk of a distant woodpecker, a siren. Each step cracks open a new world. I am seeking an animal whose knowledge of this place is greater than mine ever will be. I come in humility precisely because no one is watching me, because I alone must live with the consequences of my actions here. Should I be granted a killing shot on a duck or goose, I will kill. This is a confirmation of the hunt, the thing that makes being here so elemental and important. What I love beyond all reckoning, beyond my ability to explain this even to myself, is this feeling of being more intensely alive than I've ever been. -Bill Heavey
If men, through fear, fraud, or mistake, should in terms renounce or give up any natural right, the eternal law of reason and the grand end of society would absolutely vacate such renunciation. The right to freedom being the gift of Almighty God, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave. - Samuel Adams
A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that. -Shane from the movie "Shane"
"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats."
H. L. Mencken
"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." -Robert Heinlein
Politics aside, there is something about crude behavior in a hunter that is not just offensive; it also eats at the soul of any true outdoors man. These guy's are cheapening "something we love, something sacred. The longer I hunt, the more humbling I find the experience. Each time I walk into the woods with my gun, I rediscover how infinite nature is and how transitory and small I am. My carefully maintained suburban identity falls away like a dry husk. I become more alert. My consciousness opens up. I am focused, aware, alive I am hunting.
Everything around me comes alive too: the earth beneath my feet, the water in a brook, every leaf on every tree. The slightest tremor in the air is the like the blast of a trumpet; the squawk of a distant woodpecker, a siren. Each step cracks open a new world. I am seeking an animal whose knowledge of this place is greater than mine ever will be. I come in humility precisely because no one is watching me, because I alone must live with the consequences of my actions here. Should I be granted a killing shot on a duck or goose, I will kill. This is a confirmation of the hunt, the thing that makes being here so elemental and important. What I love beyond all reckoning, beyond my ability to explain this even to myself, is this feeling of being more intensely alive than I've ever been. -Bill Heavey
