Aldo Leopold?

[HardcoreHarry]

I am re-reading Aldo Leopold's, Sand County Almanac, and I am intrigued by his mentioning bowhunting in Mexico in "Song of the Gavilan."

I was wondering is there anyone out there who might have some further insights into the equipment that Leopold used?

Are there any biographies or perhaps magazine articles that might cover this?

I am wondering if perhaps Leopold was influenced by Hill or any of the early pioneers of bowhunting.

Hardcore Harry

[Orion]

He talks more about his own hunting exploits in "Round River," Oxford University Press. 1993.  For the most part, he used an osage selfbow.

[HardcoreHarry]

Thanks!

I'll start there!


Hardcore Harry

[HardcoreHarry]

WOW!! Take a moment to read this letter I found that Aldo Leopold wrote to a bowhunting buddy!! This is from a writeup on Fred Bear in the book "I Remember Papa;"

   

As Leopold said in the Introduction to his book "There are some people who can live without wild things, and some who cannot."
Fred admired Aldo Leopold. Here is a letter that Fred gave me that Leopold wrote to a friend, Herbert Stoddard, in Tallahassee, Florida on March 26, 1934. This is from one archer to another.

Dear Herbert:
I am sending you by express a yew bow, which I have been making for you this winter. I have enjoyed it because it was a way to express my affection and regard for one of the few who understands what yew bows-and quail and mallards and wind and sunsets-are all about.
I cannot assure you that it is a good piece of wood. Staves, like friends, have to be lived with in many woods and weathers before one knows their quality. The fact that the stave is yew, has a specific gravity of .432, came from Roseburg, Oregon, and has been waiting for a job since 1930, is no more a test of how it will soar an arrow than the fact that a man is a naturalist, weighs 160, and has had time enough to season, is a test of the zest or nicety with which he will expend his powers in the good cause. All I can say of this bow is that its exterior "education" embodies whatever craft and wisdom is mine to impart. What lies inside is the everlasting question.
The bow is built for endurance rather than speed, hence the length. Its weight (in a cold cellar) is 50 pounds at 28 inches. This ought to temper down, in your climate, to a heavy American or light York. I doubt it will hold on the gold at 100 yards, but it might. Should you use it regularly for York, I would advise a lighter string.
If it proves a good piece of wood, it should be re-tillered after a season's use, to catch up any "hinge" which may by then have developed. I will be glad to do this for you. At that time, should it have proven a worthy stick, it may also be shortened to make a straight hunter, or a York.
I have tried to build into this bow the main recent improvements in bow-design, but since some of them are not visible, they will bear mention. The square cross section and waisted handle are, of course, visible innovations, but probably less important than the new location of the geographic center. In former days this was put close under the arrow plate, but in this bow it lies as near the center of the handle as is possible without overworking the lower limb. In a 31/2" handle I have found this spot to be 11/2" below the arrow plate. Some authorities make it 13/4", but I know from observation that these too-modern bows never appear at two successive annual tournaments, or if they do, they are "on crutches" and ready for premature pensioning to some idle peg on the bow-rack.
The horns whence came these nocks were pulled off the skeleton of an old cow on the Santa Rita ranges by Dave Gorsuch. The slight flaws at the base of the upper nock are the measure of the seasons which bleached her bones before Dave found her. I doubt not that many a black vulture perched on her skull meanwhile, and many a quail and roadrunner, coyote and jackrabbit played their little games of life and death in the hackberry bush hard by her withering hide. Did that stodgy old cow, whilst living, know, or get any satisfaction from knowing, that within her growing horns she was converting her daily provender of desert grama and sun-dried mesquite into an enduring poem of amber light? Does an eagle know, or get any satisfaction from knowing, that in his incomparable pinions he is converting carrion into a structure so perfect that every breeze sings its praises? Does a yew tree glory in fashioning from mere soil and sunlight a wood whose shavings curl in ecstasy at the prospect of becoming a bow? Does a cedar's pride lie in his towering height, or in the fact-unknown to all save archers-that under his shaggy bark lies a snow-white wood that planes with the joyful sound of tearing silk-the sound that bluebills make when they hurtle out of the sky at the invitation of placid waters? These are questions meant for an archer to ask, but for no man to answer.
One cannot fashion a stave without indulging in fond hopes of its future. I hope this one will one day sire a litter of six golds for you, and will many a time hear your gleeful chuckle as you add up the ends for a 500 score. On many a thirsty noon I hope you lean it against a mossy bank by cool springs. In fall I hope its shafts will sing in sunny glades where turkeys dwell, and that one day some wily buck will live just long enough to startle at the twang of its speeding string.
Among my more homely prayers are these: That the nock will never come off just as you start out for the woods or targets, nor the arrow plate spring loose just as you modestly explain to some visiting tyro that the inlay is of mastodon ivory which "stayed put" since the Pleistocene.
And, lastly, if the bow breaks, with or without provocation, pray waste no words or thoughts in vain regret. There are more staves in the woods than have yet sped an arrow, all longing to realize their manifest destiny. Just blow three blasts on your horn and I will make you another.

        Yours as ever, Aldo Leopold
 

http://www.bowhunting.net/artman/publish/Lattimer16.shtml  


That letter ought to be above every bowyers workbench!!


Hardcore Harry

[TimZeigler]

That there is poetry.
Thanks for sharing. Tim

[nd chickenman]

Aldo Leopold should be required reading for everyone, not just hunters and conservationists.

[chesapeakeblend]

Yeah Aldo Leopold can make a story come to life.  I don't know of any other book that is truer more now than when it was written.  I actually keep A Sand County Almanac at my bedside and read from it weekly.  

My wife finally stopped asking how long it is going to take me to finish it.  I have read it about 7 or 8 times.

[laddy]

I have spoken to Sigurd Olson about Aldo Leopold.  These early conservationists were driven by their sheer love of wild and pristine places.  They both fought many battles, we should always be grateful for the work they did on our behalf.  Without them our hunting , fishing, and access to wild places would perhaps  not be available for most of us.  And  yes that poetic language was normal for them.

[Precurve]

I believe men from this age had more time on their hands than we do today, and that they (some of them at least) used it to look more closely at the things most meaningful to them.  Obviously Aldo Leopold was an archer.  I never knew that about him.  Beautiful, moving story.

[Richard in OK]

There is an excellent biography. The author is Curt Meine. Richard

[HardcoreHarry]

Originally posted by laddy:
And  yes that poetic language was normal for them.

True, but not everyone could write like Leopold!


Hardcore Harry

[HardcoreHarry]

Originally posted by Richard in OK:
There is an excellent biography. The author is Curt Meine. Richard

Thanks!

I will check it out!


Hardcore Harry

[laddy]

I have lost count of how many times I have reread "Sand county Almanac" , Sig Olson didn't have the quite the lilt that Aldo had, he accurately described  the land he loved and lived on, that is enough for his many fans.