Indian Vultures

I wrote soberly on the Indian Vulture crisis years ago in the Atlantic. They continued to decline; nobody gives a damn about serious whiny articles. Today, my friend Jemima “Mima” Parry Jones, daughter of the grand old falconer Philip Glasier, sent me this YouTube piece of pro- vulture propaganda, and I am envious- it will …

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New Dutch

Dutch Salmon has a new collection of outdoor tales: Country Sports II: More Rabid Pursuits of a Redneck Environmentalist.  (Available from High Lonesome Books, PO Box 878, Silver City NM 88062).  I think it is his best and most varied yet. I don’t think I can “review” it any better than to use my introduction, …

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Public Lands- More Perspective on Don T

Ron Moody, a neighbor of Don’s in Lewistown, has written on the subject of Public Lands and their loss before, notably in this article from  the Bull Moose Gazette he sent me last week: “So is this dispute an isolated event? Or do other NGOs (non-government organizations) self-censor or suppress support for public access to …

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Undue Influence

E Donnall Thomas is an old friend who has written many good books, and had many adventures. In our neck of the woods he is best known as the guy who convinced David Quammen that at least some hunting of mountain lions was OK after David editorialized against the practice, by taking him out with …

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A contrarian view on eagle conservation

I had published this on Jameson Parker’s blog in response to a question and it occurred that it would make an interesting little essay. But some have misunderstood it, so let me give you my conclusions before my reasoning: I don’t think (Golden) eagles are in any way endangered, but I support protection for them. …

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White Man in Africa, 1997

Dug this up when Annie D showed me a YouTube of a baby rhino– white? — in S Africa, in a similar predicament. Back in ’97, when it was permissible if naive to think Mugabe was not a monster (such writers as Peter Godwin had already laid out the truth), when Zimbabwe had one of …

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RIP: Frank Bond, 1943- 2013

Frank Bond, of Santa Fe New Mexico, one of the four founders of the Peregrine Fund; lawyer, rancher, principled politician, father, old- fashioned but innovative conservationist; old friend; perhaps first, in his own mind,  falconer, died of a swift- moving cancer last week. The scion of a wealthy sheep -ranching family in northern New Mexico, …

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Free Association

I have been kicking a few unrelated (?) things around, having plenty of material but not feeling, with our tough environmental conditions (no water, heat, impending possible rain making it an uncomfortable mix of steamy and dusty) much like writing a long essay. I was rambling freely through these things to L. and suddenly thought: …

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Krazy Kats continued

(I just could’t continue with the K’s)…   David Petersen is a bowhunter and a good writer; I think of him as an old shaman of the antler totem, and he has just received an award from the Back Country Hunters and Anglers. Here he is with a fine bull elk. But he is not …

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The Crazy Cat Lobby

I have known environmental gadfly Ted Williams for well over 30 years, since  Gray’s Sporting Journal was based in Brookline Mass. Ted was and is tough, sardonic, and not one to mince words– he was has never been inclined to cut anybody any slack, even friends. I am by no means in agreement with him …

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