"IN A LITTLE TIME i saw the bear climbing up a large black oak tree, and i crawled on till i got within about eighty yards of him. He was setting with his breast to me; and so i put fresh priming in my gun, and fired at him. At this he raised one of his paws and snorted loudly. I loaded again as quick as i could, and fired as near the same place in his breast as possible. At the crack of my gun here he come a tumblin' down, and the moment he touched the ground, I heard one of my best dogs cry out. I took my tomahawk in one hand, and my big butcher-knife in the other, and run up within four or five paces of him, at which he let my dog go, and fixed his eyes on me. I got back in all sorts of a hurry, for i know'd if he got hold of me, he would hug me altogether too close for comfort. I went to my gun and hastily loaded her again, and shot him the third time,which killed him good."
--- Davy Crockett "A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, of the State of Tennessee".....by himself ---
I Never saw a better piece of writing, anywhere. A primary source, first hand description of one of nature's, and humanity's, most profoundly fundamental occurances. And the writing style is natural, honest, clear as a bell. Not bad for a semi-literate backwoodsman.
On the american frontier, black bears were a huge force, a huge "problem" if you will. and please bear in mind, pun intended, that our nice cozy little united states of america from sea to shining sea would never have been possible without doin' what davy dun did.
Nevertheless, I'm going to put bells on my cats. Maybe even bells and whistles; i go whole hog.
Yes, we predators must hunt, we have no other choice, we are so impelled by nature's god himself.
But I sure as hell don't have to let my cats kill birds, not as well fed as they already are.
The thought occurs to me that if all cats in the world were hung with bells, the slaughter would stop.Not only that, but there are, the forest service estimates, at least four thousand black bears in the great state o arkansas. davy never wanted to kill 'em all, just enough to feed folks, and give everyone a chance to live.
The very idea of going into a vast wilderness forest and confronting a four hundred pound bear with a muzzle loading musket is utterly beyond comprehension. Similarly, the thought of standing in a long line with hundreds of other people, and shoving gun powder and shot down the barrel of a gun...
... while hundreds of other people in a long line a few yards away from you do the same, knowing that whichever line can get their control their shaking and get their guns loaded first has a much better chance of survival, is equally incomprehensible. And of course, fron them on, it just gets worse...
Disarmament? Gun Control? How about outlawing every weapon on earth except bows and arrows? A worldwide "Dukes of azzard". (see american television show from '70s @ '0s).
Bows, arrows, and Bells. That's the answer, folks...
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