Deer music, land music, sky music: A first drum
Months ago, I was going to write about making my first drum.
traditions
A hunting culture in decline: Causes and consequences
We conserve and protect what we care about. If we don’t care much, where in our hearts can a serious conservation ethic possibly take root?
The ‘sport’ of hunting: Why I don’t call it that
In a world like ours, where discussions of hunting are already full of pitfalls and confusions, “sport” and “recreation” only get in the way.
An absence of orange (and other sins against safety)
The young man’s hunting outfit consisted of dark wool pants, a camouflage vest, and a brown knit hat just a couple shades lighter than winter deer hair. (Strike One: It was rifle season and he wasn’t wearing a stitch of blaze orange.) His lever-action rifle, aimed downward, was pointed at the laces of his left … Read more
Mother Nature’s Child (or Girl the Hunter)
Even before the film started, my antennae were up. Cath and I had gone to the January 25th screening of Mother Nature’s Child: Growing Outdoors in the Media Age out of general curiosity. The documentary’s message would, I expected, be much like that presented by Richard Louv’s compelling book Last Child in the Woods. In … Read more
Unposted: Hunting, neighborliness, and private land
When Cath and I moved to our home here in the hills on the eastern side of the Winooski Valley, there was one group of people I wanted to keep off our few acres: hunters. Anywhere you stood on our land—or fired a rifle—you were within a few hundred yards of our house. In most … Read more
Hunting with Gandhi
In college, studying Mahatma Gandhi’s moral and political philosophy, I was impressed by the twin commitments of his lifelong quest for truth. On the one hand, he lived according to what he saw as the truth, which must, he wrote, “be my beacon, my shield and buckler.” On the other hand, he had the humility … Read more