I was doing some reading recently and came across some quotes from Theodore Roosevelt. These quotes are just a few of the many speeches President Roosevelt made championing the cause of the common sportsman. Most of the are from around 1905, sad to see that these quotes still are valid in these times. Please read them, they are real gems.
1905-...above all else, we should realize that the effort to this end is essentially a democratic movement. It is in our power to preserve large tracts of wilderness, and to preserve game for all lovers of nature, and to give reasonable opportunities for the exercise of the skill of the hunter, whether he is or is not a man of means.
(also from about the same time)
It is foolish to regard proper game-laws as undemocratic, unrepublican. On the contrary, they are essentially in the interests of the people as a whole, because it is only through their enactment and enforcement that the people as a whole can preserve the game and prevent its becoming purely the property of the rich, who are able to create and maintain extensive private preserves. The wealthy man can get hunting anyhow, but the man of small means is dependent solely upon wise and well-executed game-laws for his enjoyment of the sturdy pleasure of the chase.
Yet another golden one,
The professional market hunter (we can now replace this with the term GUIDE) who kills game for the hide or for the feathers or for the meat or to sell antlers and other trophies; market men who put game in cold storage; and the rich people, who are content to buy what they have not the skill to get by their own exertions-these are the men who are the real enemies of game.
It is also interesting to note of the stance that Roosevelt took. He was also a wealthy person, yet he took a personal interest in the stake of hunting for ALL people.
1905-...above all else, we should realize that the effort to this end is essentially a democratic movement. It is in our power to preserve large tracts of wilderness, and to preserve game for all lovers of nature, and to give reasonable opportunities for the exercise of the skill of the hunter, whether he is or is not a man of means.
(also from about the same time)
It is foolish to regard proper game-laws as undemocratic, unrepublican. On the contrary, they are essentially in the interests of the people as a whole, because it is only through their enactment and enforcement that the people as a whole can preserve the game and prevent its becoming purely the property of the rich, who are able to create and maintain extensive private preserves. The wealthy man can get hunting anyhow, but the man of small means is dependent solely upon wise and well-executed game-laws for his enjoyment of the sturdy pleasure of the chase.
Yet another golden one,
The professional market hunter (we can now replace this with the term GUIDE) who kills game for the hide or for the feathers or for the meat or to sell antlers and other trophies; market men who put game in cold storage; and the rich people, who are content to buy what they have not the skill to get by their own exertions-these are the men who are the real enemies of game.
It is also interesting to note of the stance that Roosevelt took. He was also a wealthy person, yet he took a personal interest in the stake of hunting for ALL people.
