"Thinking Like A Moutain" Aldo Leopold

I recently read the story "Thinking Like A Mountain", out of "A Sand County Almanac" by Aldo Leopold. For those of you who haven't read it I strongly suggest reading not only that story but the whole book. I have and I really enjoyed it. The story starts out with a great description of a mountain, but from the perspective of everything on the mountain seeing the effects off the wolves and what they do on the mountain. From there Leopold goes on to tell about the day he watched a wolf die. This part of the story starts out by explaining one day him and a friend were eating lunch together on the mountain and they looked down to the river and thought the saw a doe, but to their error  when they saw this "doe" climbing the bank toward them they realized it was actually a wolf. As the wolf started toward them, half a dozen grown pups jumped out of the trees and joined the original wolf. Back in Leopold's time if you saw wolves, you killed them. So that's what they did, they started shooting at these wolves aimlessly. They had managed to kill the initial wolf they saw and when they went down to check it out, Leopold says they had reached it in time "..to watch a fierce green fire, dying in her eyes." This was the point at which Leopold realized there was something new he had never felt before when looking at a dead wolf. Something known only by the wolf and the mountain. Now this is a very famous part of the story. Many people may not know Leopold, but they probably have heard this part of the story. The story goes on to talk about how this happening was sort of a turn in Leopold life. It changed his life in a way that actually came to educate him and make him realize that less wolves does not in fact mean less deer. The story resumes from here talking about from that day on Leopold noticed a wolf-less mountain and new deer trails along the mountains side. This is because without the wolves there to hunt the deer the deer population rises. He also talks about how he has seen every last bushes being eaten, this is because there are more deer than food so everything is being eaten away down to nothing. The story continues to talk about bones (the deer dying off because there is not enough food) and how he now understands that just as the deer fear wolves, the mountain fears deer. He says this because with that many deer, they are eating away the beauties and lush greens of the mountain. The rest of the story talks about Leopold's realization such as these that he has learned due to the killing of that one wolf.

 The beginning of the story holds a lot of weight. It is really descriptive in an unique way and makes you really think. It is very deep, but also very creative in the way he introduces the mountain and how he goes about it in a way that plays part to every member that comes in contact with it. The first part made me feel sort of confused at first. I wasn't really understanding what I was reading. Once I dug into it a little more I felt very, holistic, in my thinking. It is hard for me to say if the beginning of this story is one that goes along with my feeling because I don't agree nor disagree. I feel like I am more of a holistic thinker than most people in our society today, but all in all I know I don't think the same way as Leopold. This to me is because I didn't grow up like he did. I have always grown up away from mountains and wolves. Yes I have always been a hunter, but I have never hunted wolves like Leopold. We lead very different lives and have experience different encounters with the things we have seen so it is hard to have a similar opinion which in turn makes it hard for me to have an opposing opinion as well. No part of this story made me feel uncomfortable. I think that hunting is a part of life and it will always be a part of life. I think people who don't educate their kids about hunting are foolish. No, Aldo's hunting techniques back then were not ethical, but they didn't know any better. They learned from their mistakes and worked to fix the damage they caused, and to me that's what counts.  Like I said before, I really like the story "Thinking Like A Mountain", I think it is really inspirational and an interesting read. I think anyone could think this way. Anyone that has read Leopold's work should know that he is a holistic thinker. I think the way he thinks is benificial to not only the environment, but to us too. It wouldn't be hard for me to think that way about where I come from. We don't have wolves but we do have deer. Funny yet sad enough it seems one of the biggest predators to the deer in my area is cars. Deer are getting hit by cars every night where I am from. Does it have the same effect on them in the area as the wolves did there? No, but it is still a factor to be taken into consideration. I don't think we should be hunting wolves in the U.P. just yet. I think they need a little more time (especially in certain areas) to continue to grow. If they aren't a problem, let them be. Once they start to show over population and begin causing problems, then I think it is time to do a little regulating.