The hunt, with its frequent shifts and switches, its random* and
idiosyncratic animal movements, its diverging multiple paths, opposes
quantification, logic, stillness. Only through specifics is it worth.
Consider that the best scent is that which is occasioned by the
effluvia, or particles of scent, which are constantly perspiring
from the desiderata as it flees, and are strongest and most favorable
to the pursuant pack, when kept by the gravity of the air to the
height of the breast; for then it neither is above their reach,
nor is it necessary they should stoop for it. At such times, scent
is said to lie at the heart, and is convenient. But this
is only a slight part, for the chase comprises three distinct elements:
the practical reason of the hunter, the instinct of the quarry,
and the trap. We do not measure here our success in terms of truth,
but in blood and experience.
(* Randonnée: hunting term; the name of the course that
hunters take in pursuit of their game) |