Grizzly Years Quotes

“The whole concept of 'wild' was decidedly European, one not shared by the original inhabitants of this continent. What we called 'wilderness' was to the Indian a homeland, 'abiding loveliness' in Salish or Piegan. The land was not something to be feared or conquered, and 'wildlife' were neither wild nor alien; they were relatives.”
― Doug Peacock, Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness

“The dangerous temptation of wildlife films is that they can lull us into thinking we can get by without the original models -- that we might not need animals in the flesh.”
― Doug Peacock, Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness

“I have spent too much time with my eye glued to the viewfinder and ended up missing both the image of the mind and that on film.”
― Doug Peacock, Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness

“Traditional Blackfeet saw the natural world in terms of awe and mystery. Animals lived in metaphorical relationships to them; the creatures were other nations. Every plant and animal passed coded information to man. Part of the price western science has paid for analytical power is that it has transformed the natural world into something alien.”
― Doug Peacock, Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness

“Humans are strongly discouraged fro comparing their lives with those of other animals. Yet everything I had experienced taught me that metaphor is the fundamental path of imagining, a first line of inquiry into the lives of other creatures that sheds light on our own.”
― Doug Peacock, Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness

“The only species of animal that tries to get by in the wilderness without interspecific tact of communication is the human critter.”
― Doug Peacock, Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness

“I froze. The grizzly paused, catching my movement, then lowered his head and with a sort of stiff-legged gait, ambled toward me swinging his head from side to side. I knew from having watched this bear interact with other animals that the worst thing I could do was run.

The big bear stopped thirty feet in front of me. I slowly worked my hand into my bag and gradually pulled out the Magnum. I peered down the gun barrel into the dull red eyes of the huge grizzly. He gnashed his jaws and lowered his ears. The hair on his hump stood up. We stared at each other for what might have been seconds but felt like hours. I knew once again that I was not going to pull the trigger. My shooting days were over. I lowered the pistol. The giant bear flicked his ears and looked off to the side. I took a step backward and turned my head towards the trees. I felt something pass between us. The grizzly slowly turned away from me with grace and dignity and swung into the timber at the end of the meadow. I caught myself breathing heavily again, the flush of blood hot on my face. I felt life had been touched by enormous power and mystery.”
― Doug Peacock, Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness

“Humans are so strongly discouraged from comparing their lives with those of other animals. Yet everything I had experienced taught me that metaphor is the fundamental path of imagining, a first line of inquiry into the lives of other creatures that sheds light on our own. As a species we started out that way, learning our ties to countless other species and discovering the fundamental parallelism that first pried open the secrets of our own intelligence. By”
― Doug Peacock, Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness

“I consider the mountainside a special place, a place with power, as I do certain other valleys and basins there and up in northern Montana where grizzlies still roam. I return to these places year after year, to keep track of the bears and to log my life. The bears provided a calendar for me when I got back from Vietnam, when one year would fade into the next and I would lose great hunks of time to memory with no events or people to recall their passing. I had trouble with a world whose idea of vitality was anything other than the naked authenticity of living or dying. The world paled, as did all that my life had been before, and I found myself estranged from my own time. Wild places and grizzly bears solved this problem.”
― Doug Peacock, Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness

“My friend Gage, who was here with me when I stumbled on the first den on the mountainside, could find humility before nature in his backyard. I cannot: I need to confront several large, fierce animals who sometimes make meat of man to help recall the total concentration of the hunter. Then the old rusty senses, dulled by urban excesses, spring back to life, probing the shadows for shapes, sounds, and smells. Sometimes I am graced by a new insight into myself, a new combination of thoughts, a metaphor, that knocks on the door of mystery.”
― Doug Peacock, Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness