Nessmuk question. And favourite quote...

[Rhodri]

Just finished an enjoyable re-reading of Bushcraft and Camping . And I've got two questions:

The first concerns the very last paragraph that goes:

"And with kindness to all true woodsmen; and with malice toward none, save the trout-hog, the netter, the cruster, and skin butcher, let us... prepare to turn in." Italics mine.

What, pray tell, is a Cruster? (One for our american friends perhaps?)

The second question is - what's your favourite Nessmuk quote? Mine is:

"In still hunting, swear yourself black in the face never to shoot at a dim moving object in the woods for a deer, unless you have seen it for a deer. In these days there are quite as many hunters as deer in the woods; and it is a heavy, wearisome job to pack a dead or wounded man ten or twelve miles out to a clearing, let alone that it spoils the pleasure of the hunt, and is apt to raise hard feelings among his relatives." Italics mine again.

Lovely. But could his tongue have been in his cheek even in the 1880s? Mind you, perhaps things haven't changed that much - I bet there are plenty of such hunting accidents in the US today...

Cheers,
Rod

 

[falcon]

Sadly there was one in the UK last winter while someone was lamping with a rifle.....

I would imagine that the concerns described by Nessmuk eventually translated into the practice taken up in the USA of hunters wearing dayglow orange in order to avoid such incidents. I'm not sure whether the same practice exists in Europe but there is a band around my Runnarkop hat (which I think may be Finnish) which reveals a dayglo orange band when folded up. I think the hat is designed for deerstalkers and assume it's there for safety purposes again.

 

[Buckshot]

I bet there are plenty of such hunting accidents in the US today...

Cheers,
Rod

I think that's the main reason many states insist on day glow orange being worn. when hunting. Often people use some horrible (to us that is) orange/ black cammo pattern
Most animals see in black and white (there is recent evidence that deer see in colour for a short distance and then B&W after that though) so wearing bright orange doesn't really affect how animals notice you.
I'm sure someone has actual stats on this but it's off topic a bit...

Cheers

Mark