WOODCHUCK
RED FOX
SKUNK, WOODCHUCK, RED FOX
As you go through the woods, cross the ponds and lakes, climb mountains, your luncheon in your pocket, compass and knife and cup and match-box all ready and friendly to your hand; as you feel the wilderness becoming more and more your empire, be sure that you do not abuse the privileges which are revealed to you. The more gentle and considerate you are in this life which has opened itself up to you, the more it will tell you its secrets. That you should leave disfiguration and destruction and bloodshed behind you does not prove that you are in any sense a true sport. The camera is one of the best guns for the wilderness. It is better to be film-thirsty than bloodthirsty. A girl who is in earnest about camera shooting can test her “nerves” quite sufficiently for all practical purposes. How about facing, or chasing, a six- or seven-hundred-pound moose, plunging down through a cut or a trail, and having the nerve to press the bulb at just the right moment? Or a big buck? Or a little bear? Or a porcupine? A good kodak and some rolls of film are all that is needed to begin the work of photography. A fine way to do, if you intend to go into the matter seriously, is to get some book on nature photography and make a thorough study of it. Other books, too, there are, which will be full of profit for you as you come to know the wilderness life. Begin with Thoreau, John Burroughs, John Muir, Stewart White, Ernest Seton Thompson, and these will lead you on and out through a host of nature books and finally into a more technical literature on hunting, camping, and the wilderness life in general.
I believe that in the end an intelligent study of the woods made with eyes and ears, heart and mind, notebook and book, will bring down more game than any shotgun or rifle ever manufactured. I have seen guide-books of northern wildernesses whose collective illustration suggested only the interior of some local slaughter house. No tenderfoot myself, for, when the first shotgun was placed against my shoulder, I was so little that its kick knocked me over, I do not write this way because I am unfamiliar with the pleasures of well-earned or necessary game, but because I have tried both ways and I prefer a friendly life in the wilderness. To kill what you see, just because you do see it, to set big fires, to be wasteful, to take risks in your adventures, are no signs that you know the woods—and they are most certainly no guarantee of your love.
CHAPTER XX
CAMP DON’TS
Don’t forget your check list.
Do make your plans early for the camping expedition.