Hunting With A Camera. 



CLARENCE E. EDWORD5 



I HAVE frequently wondered if it was blood lust which induced men to 

 go forth to kill the inhabitants of the wild — ^the folk which wears feath- 

 ers and fur — or whether it was not a means to an end, an excuse, as It 

 were, for satisfying a desire to get out into the open. The ordinary 

 man dislikes to be considered lazy, consequently he thinks it necessary 

 to have some fair excuse for going to the woods for recreation. He 

 equips himself with guns and murderous-looking hunting knives and goes 

 forth to take the lives of innocent animals and birds. He reverts to type, 

 If you please, and again becomes a savage, stalking his ganoe and glory- 

 ing in his skill at outwitting the beasts and birds. 



There is a certain pleasure in matching wits with the feathered and 

 furred folk of the forest, but to many a man that pleasure is marred when 

 it is followed by the shedding of blood and the taking of the life of a free 

 »nd happy denizen of the wild. Fortunately for the wild life of our country 

 game laws have been enacted which limit a man's kill. Were it otherwise, 

 the slaughter would go on, the lust for innocent blood increasing with the 

 increase of the bag. Man's boasting and his desire to be known as a 

 "mighty hunter" has much to do with the indiscriminate killing of game, 

 and there is no doubt that were it not for this desire to pose as a clever 

 woodsman many of the bloody trophies of the chase would never be shown. 



The day is at hand when there will be little glory given to the man 

 who hunts down his game for the purpose of slaughter. Already the 

 camera is replacing the rifle, and it is becoming a recognized fact that it 

 requires much better woodcraft to get a shot at a wild animal with a 

 camera than with a gun. Nor is the pleasure of such hunting of fleeting 

 and transitory nature. It Is not necessary for the man, or woman, with a 

 camera t6 back up statements of wonderful hunting by the purchased as-k 

 sertions of guides, for the pictures speak for themselves, and tell much more 

 than the boasting hunter. They tell of the difficulty of the stalk after the 

 game, and, in addition to this, they tell that the animal or bird is still en- 

 joying life and freedom. 



Hunting with a camera is becoming much in vogue of recent years, 

 and as it is a form of hunting that does not disturb the sensibilities of the 

 most delicate-minded person, It is sure to grow in interest. It has the 

 additional charm of being a sport which can be indulged by both sexes, 

 thus permitting of a companionship that is usually denied under the regime 

 of gun and rod. There is a thrill attendant upon the long stalk after deer 

 or other big game, with finger itching to pull the trigger which will end a 

 noble life. But that thrill does not compare with the feeling that goes with 

 the outwitting of the same big game for the purpose of taking its photo- 

 graph. It must be a longer stalk, and the distance must be materially 

 shortened, otherwise there is no result. 



One of my friends has a photograph of a wild cat, which stands snarl- 

 ing on a log. The picture is highly prized on account of the thrill which 

 accompanied its taking. Had my friend hunted that cat with a gun he 

 would never have walked to within eight feet of the snarling animal, as he 

 did with the camera, but would have shot it from a safe distance. I think 

 the thrill that accompanied the photographing of a ground squirrel by 

 myself at a distance of six feet, after almost an hour's maneuvering, was 

 as great as any ever experienced by the hunter of big game with a rifle. It 

 must be confessed by all hunters with the gun that after the shot is fired 

 and the animal lies dead there is usually a feeling of depression, of commis- 

 eration for the life that has been taken. With the camera hunter there is 



