tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post174125256757776194..comments2024-03-28T16:35:26.665+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: Hunters in the snow by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569)Bruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-91425359203668849672018-11-25T21:53:17.722+00:002018-11-25T21:53:17.722+00:00Not all human populations that subsisted by huntin...Not all human populations that subsisted by hunting domesticated dogs (or any other animals). And it is true that many modern countries do not permit hunting near population centers, and some discourage or heavily regulate the use of hunting dogs.<br /><br />To be honest, I also get a kick out of English portrayals of hunting dogs, though perhaps I'm saying that more sincerely. I think it expresses a hearty acceptance of the commonality between man and beast, both the hunting companion and the hunted. But in a sense that acceptance is an abstraction, the pre-human hunter does not have the idea of commonality between itself and the prey. Or maybe it should be said that it does not have the idea of <i>categorical</i> rather than <i>particular</i> distinction, right now I am hunting, but at any time I could be hunted, so too the prey. Without the human categorical outlook, the condescension is meaningless.<br /><br />But I still find it charming.Chiu ChunLinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03519192610708043962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-28271964090529148752018-11-25T03:51:04.183+00:002018-11-25T03:51:04.183+00:00@Matthew T - Much easier to hunt without dogs when...@Matthew T - Much easier to hunt without dogs when you are in possession of modern weaponry which can be used to reliably take prey down from a great distance and minimizes the risk of wounded prey (especially larger animals) escaping. The other main alternatives which would have been available at the time are hunting on horseback which allows larger prey to be chased down; ambush hunting, which makes skillful use of the terrain and knowledge of the animal's habits; traps (so far as trap use counts as hunting); and poisons. In all these cases the use of dogs still makes it much easier to locate and flush the prey, however, and makes the hunt far more likely to succeed.<br /><br />I have to wonder what you were hunting and how you were going about it, if you really think that the use of dogs in hunting has ever been as superflous as you seem to be implying, or for that matter has ever been any kind of specifically "English" trait. (This is a scene from an apparently not-so-low region of the Low Countries, by the way, and has nothing to do with England, past or present!)Hrothgarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03568010718085328982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-59737760450670069022018-11-21T15:25:17.459+00:002018-11-21T15:25:17.459+00:00The "Hunters" is a wondrous painting. I...The "Hunters" is a wondrous painting. It's news from the real world.<br /><br />Wurmbrandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17345523517796356674noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-34760604500254027282018-11-20T17:48:16.677+00:002018-11-20T17:48:16.677+00:00"Hunters in the snow" - ha, speaking as ..."Hunters in the snow" - ha, speaking as someone who actually did go hunting in the snow recently, I always get a kick out of you Englishmen and the way your "hunting" portrayals always involve dogs. Nowadays definitely not allowed to hunt in a semi-urban scene like that!Matthew Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10705518098650594541noreply@blogger.com