Author Description

This book is a collection of the personal experiences, oberservations, and opinions of more than 300 people who have written about hunting. The quotations cover many forms of hunting and are not limited to hunting for sport. In selecting material, I considered hunting to be any activity that involves the capture or killing of animals, be it for food, profit, protection, of property. trophy, or sport. The extent of the literature availible on the subject is vast. I chose to limit the inclusion of material dealing with the hunting of sea mammals, the illegal wildlife trade, and African big game hunting. All the entries in this collection are from works published between the late eighteenth century and today. This time period coincides with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in North America and the major social and economic changes that resulted. The individual quotes do not necessarily represent the public opinion of any era, but I hope that the chronology will provide an historical perspective on the issue. Although I did not intentionally restrict the selections by the nationality of the author, the contributors are primarily American, Cnadian, and British. The quotations were chosen on the basis of style, substance, and the reputation of the author. The quotations vary in length from one sentence to several paragraphs. Because brief quotations can sometimes invite different interpretations, certain passages have been allowed to remain in a longer form to better convey the author's thoughts on the subject. The material emphasizes the writings of nine of America's most well-known naturalist: Audubon, Thoreau, Muir, Burroughs, Hornaday, Roosevelt, Leopold, Krutch, and Abbey. Some repetition in theme occurs since I believe that reiteration indicates the popularity and endurance of a point of view.