Hunting Trips of a Ranchman Quotes

“Shooting well with the rifle is the highest kind of skill, for the rifle is the queen of weapons; and it is a difficult art to learn.”
― Theodore Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman, Sketches of Sport on the Northern Cattle Plains

“We rested a couple of hours at noon for lunch, and the afternoon's sport was simply a repetition of the morning's, except that we had but one dog to work with; for shortly after mid-day the stub-tail pointer, for his sins, encountered a skunk, with which he waged prompt and valiant battle—thereby rendering himself, for the balance of the time, wholly useless as a servant and highly offensive as a companion.”
― Theodore Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman, Sketches of Sport on the Northern Cattle Plains

“Manitou is a treasure and I value him accordingly. Besides, he is a sociable old fellow, and a great companion when off alone, coming up to have his head rubbed or to get a crust of bread, of which he is very fond.”
― Theodore Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman, Sketches of Sport on the Northern Cattle Plains

“Yet it is curious to see how a really truthful man will forget his misses, and his hits at close quarters, and, by dint of constant repetition, will finally persuade himself that he is in the habit of killing his game at three or four hundred yards.”
― Theodore Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman, Sketches of Sport on the Northern Cattle Plains

“I poked my head through the bushes, and saw that the little bunch I was after had joined a great flock of teal, which was on a sand bar in the middle of the stream. They were all huddled together, some standing on the bar, and others in the water right by it, and I aimed for the thickest part of the flock. At the report they sprang into the air, and I leaped to my feet to give them the second barrel, when, from under the bank right beneath me, two shoveller or spoon-bill ducks rose, with great quacking, and, as they were right in line, I took them instead, knocking both over. When I had fished out the two shovellers, I waded over to the sand bar and picked up eleven teal, making thirteen ducks with the two barrels.”
― Theodore Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman, Sketches of Sport on the Northern Cattle Plains