--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It was an old hunter in camp and the…" description: "\"“It was an old hunter in camp and the hunter shared tobacco with him and told him of the buffalo and the stands he'd made against them, laid up in a sa..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c3/cormac-mccarthy-181_animals_it-was-an-old-hunter-in-camp-and-the-hun_2316648.jpg" --- # It was an old hunter in camp and the hunter shared tobacco… ![“It was an old hunter in camp and the hunter shared tobacco with him and told him of the buffalo and the stands he'd made against them, laid up in a sag on some rise with the dead animals scattered over the grounds and the herd beginning to mill and the riflebarrel so hot the wiping patches sizzled…” quote by Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c3/cormac-mccarthy-181_animals_it-was-an-old-hunter-in-camp-and-the-hun_2316648.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c3/cormac-mccarthy-181_animals_it-was-an-old-hunter-in-camp-and-the-hun_2316648.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7c3/cormac-mccarthy-181_animals_it-was-an-old-hunter-in-camp-and-the-hun_2316648.jpg) > ““It was an old hunter in camp and the hunter shared tobacco with him and told him of the buffalo and the stands he'd made against them, laid up in a sag on some rise with the dead animals scattered over the grounds and the herd beginning to mill and the riflebarrel so hot the wiping patches sizzled in the bore and the animals by the thousands and the tens of thousands and the hides pegged out over actual square miles of ground the teams of skinners spelling one another around the clock and the shooting and shooting weeks and months till the bore shot slick and the stock shot loose at the tang and their shoulders were yellow and blue to the elbow and the tandem wagons groaned away over the prairie twenty and twenty-two ox teams and the flint hides by the hundred ton and the meat rotting on the ground and the air whining with flies and the buzzards and ravens and the night a horror of snarling and feeding with the wolves half-crazed and wallowing in the carrion. I seen Studebaker wagons with six and eight ox teams headed out for the grounds not hauling a thing but lead. Just pure galena. Tons of it. On this ground alone between the Arkansas River and the Concho there were eight million carcasses for that's how many hides reached the railhead. Two years ago we pulled out from Griffin for a last hunt. We ransacked the country. Six weeks. Finally found a herd of eight animals and we killed them and come in. They're gone. Ever one of them that God ever made is gone as if they'd never been at all. The ragged sparks blew down the wind. The prairie about them lay silent. Beyond the fire it was cold and the night was clear and the stars were falling. The old hunter pulled his blanket about him. I wonder if there's other worlds like this, he said. Or if this is the only one.”” [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The passage depicts relentless violence and desolation of the frontier, questioning humanity’s capacity for cruelty. **In simple terms:** Violence consumes everything. Key Takeaway Reflect on the cost of unchecked aggression. Themes war human nature environmental decay Mood somber intense Type literary reflective When to use this quote - historical study - ethical debates - creative writing - environmental activism Key Concepts nihilism existentialism Questions to Reflect On - What does this brutality reveal about society? - Can empathy survive amid such horror? A Different Perspective The graphic detail may overwhelm or desensitize readers. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Animals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animals/) [Civilization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilization/) [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Holocaust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/holocaust/) [Human nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-nature/) [Humanity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanity/) [Investing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/investing/) ## Related quotes > [“It was an old hunter in camp and the hunter shared tobacco with him and told him of the buffalo and the stands he’d…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/it-was-an-old-hunter-in-camp-and-the-hunter-shared-tobacco-with-him/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [In most of the world, it is accepted that if animals are to be killed for food, they should be killed without suffering.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-singer/in-most-of-the-world-it-is-accepted-that-if-animals-are-to-be-killed/) [Peter Singer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-singer/) > [“What if there were labeling on our food letting us know how many animals were killed to bring our desired animal to our plate?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johnathan-safran-foer/what-if-there-were-labeling-on-our-food-letting-us-know-how-many/) [Johnathan Safran Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johnathan-safran-foer/) > [“In another place, their sons were killed between the barbs of their own guard wire, killed with misfired bombs while squirming in the mire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-safran-foer/in-another-place-their-sons-were-killed-between-the-barbs-of-their/) [Jonathan Safran Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-safran-foer/) > [...In little more than a single century from 1820 to 19450, no less than fifty-nine million human animals were killed in inter-group clashes of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/desmond-morris/in-little-more-than-a-single-century-from-1820-to-19450-no-less-than/) [Desmond Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/desmond-morris/) > [. . . it is difficult for Europeans to appreciate the sentiment. Other nations kill animals by wholesale and kill one another; they exist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/it-is-difficult-for-europeans-to-appreciate-the-sentiment-other/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [Of course, animals have to be killed for food or to prevent their doing injury to others or to property. But such killing is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-baden-powell/of-course-animals-have-to-be-killed-for-food-or-to-prevent-their/) [Robert Baden-Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-baden-powell/) > [The consumption of animals - whether you're wearing them or eating them - is extraordinarily damaging to the planet. There are over a billion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stella-mccartney/the-consumption-of-animals-whether-you-re-wearing-them-or-eating-them/) [Stella McCartney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stella-mccartney/) > [People may hope that the meat they buy came from an animal who died without pain, but they do not really want to know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-singer/people-may-hope-that-the-meat-they-buy-came-from-an-animal-who-died/) [Peter Singer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-singer/) > [“The earth. Smog, murder, the poisoned air, the poisoned water, the poisoned food, the hatred, the hopelessness, everything. The only beautiful thing about the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-bukowski/the-earth-smog-murder-the-poisoned-air-the-poisoned-water-the/) [Charles Bukowski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-bukowski/) > [In Africa, we have the bush meat trade, which means that, on a very large scale, animals are being killed in the forests and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frans-de-waal/in-africa-we-have-the-bush-meat-trade-which-means-that-on-a-very/) [Frans de Waal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frans-de-waal/) > [I hate the thought of animals being killed just for our pleasure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leona-lewis/i-hate-the-thought-of-animals-being-killed-just-for-our-pleasure/) [Leona Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leona-lewis/) > [I'd go to work early, before anyone got there, and I would just kill the animals myself...I must have killed a thousand of them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ingrid-newkirk/i-d-go-to-work-early-before-anyone-got-there-and-i-would-just-kill/) [Ingrid Newkirk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ingrid-newkirk/) > [“Half the people I know have dead animals in their freezers: reptiles, birds, mammals. Is that normal?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-sedaris/half-the-people-i-know-have-dead-animals-in-their-freezers-reptiles/) [David Sedaris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-sedaris/) > [“I thought I could wait to tell you until everything was figured out,” she says. “I didn’t think you’d have any contact with actual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-a-cole/i-thought-i-could-wait-to-tell-you-until-everything-was-figured-out/) [Olivia A. Cole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-a-cole/) ## More by Cormac McCarthy > [The cooler days have brought a wistful mood upon him. The smell of coalsmoke in the air at night. Old times, dead years. For…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/the-cooler-days-have-brought-a-wistful-mood-upon-him-the-smell-of/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“The events of the world can have no separate life from the world. And yet the world itself can have no temporal view of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/the-events-of-the-world-can-have-no-separate-life-from-the-world-and/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“I had two dreams about him after he died. I dont remember the first one all that well but it was about meetin him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/i-had-two-dreams-about-him-after-he-died-i-dont-remember-the-first/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“You think people was meaner then than they are now? the deputy said. The old man was looking out at the flooded town. No,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/you-think-people-was-meaner-then-than-they-are-now-the-deputy-said/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“They set forth in a crimson dawn where sky and earth closed in a razorous plane. Out there dark little archipelagos of cloud and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/they-set-forth-in-a-crimson-dawn-where-sky-and-earth-closed-in-a/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“Nothing. Where all was burnt to ash before them no fires were to be had and the nights were long and dark and cold…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/nothing-where-all-was-burnt-to-ash-before-them-no-fires-were-to-be/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [He said that whether a man's life was writ in a book someplace or whether it took its form day by day was one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/he-said-that-whether-a-man-s-life-was-writ-in-a-book-someplace-or/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“He lives in a room above a courtyard behind a tavern and he comes down at night like some fairybook beast to fight with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/he-lives-in-a-room-above-a-courtyard-behind-a-tavern-and-he-comes/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“Ultimo hombre. Last man standing, must've been one. Where'd he go?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/ultimo-hombre-last-man-standing-must-ve-been-one-where-d-he-go/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“To seek out the upright. No fall but preceded by a declination. He took great marching steps into the nothingness, counting them against his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/to-seek-out-the-upright-no-fall-but-preceded-by-a-declination-he-took/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“They went through the last of the cars and then walked up the track to the locomotive and climbed up to the catwalk. Rust…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/they-went-through-the-last-of-the-cars-and-then-walked-up-the-track/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“Night fell upon them dark and starblown and the wagon grew swollen near mute with dew. On their chairs in such black immobility these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/night-fell-upon-them-dark-and-starblown-and-the-wagon-grew-swollen/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“When I was in school I studied biology. I learned that in making their experiments scientists will take some group - bacteria, mice, people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/when-i-was-in-school-i-studied-biology-i-learned-that-in-making-their/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [ “We none of us knew him to speak \[Dutch\]. Asked him where he'd learned it you know what he said? What did he say.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/we-none-of-us-knew-him-to-speak-dutch-asked-him-where-he-d-learned-it/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“You know that the things you put it your head stay there, right?' 'Yeah. But you remember some things, don't you?' 'Yeah. You remember…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/you-know-that-the-things-you-put-it-your-head-stay-there-right-yeah/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) [Explore all 927 Cormac McCarthy quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) ## More Animals quotes > [I was 3-years-old - to this day it is a vivid memory. My family and I were on a boat, catching fish. As one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joaquin-phoenix/i-was-3-years-old-to-this-day-it-is-a-vivid-memory-my-family-and-i/) [Joaquin Phoenix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joaquin-phoenix/) > [Animals know nothing of themselves, and they also know nothing of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/animals-know-nothing-of-themselves-and-they-also-know-nothing-of-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Humans are animals too, but some do not like to work from expectations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/humans-are-animals-too-but-some-do-not-like-to-work-from-expectations/) Mak\_786 > [Practically all animals which move fast in a homogeneous medium have found means of giving their body a streamlined shape, thereby reducing friction to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/konrad-lorenz/practically-all-animals-which-move-fast-in-a-homogeneous-medium-have/) [Konrad Lorenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/konrad-lorenz/) > [“What does it mean to be a self-conscious animal? The idea is ludicrous, if it is not monstrous. It means to know that one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-becker/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-self-conscious-animal-the-idea-is-ludicrous/) [Ernest Becker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-becker/) > [We must love animals in such a powerful way that we should reject to eat them!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/we-must-love-animals-in-such-a-powerful-way-that-we-should-reject-to/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [I bet plants go like 'Weeeeeeeee!' whenever they're swallowed by a giraffe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-bet-plants-go-like-weeeeeeeee-whenever-they-re-swallowed-by-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [It’s a small thing to help one animal, but to that one animal it’s a big thing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-baur/it-s-a-small-thing-to-help-one-animal-but-to-that-one-animal-it-s-a/) [Gene Baur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-baur/) > [We animals are the most complicated things in the known universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/we-animals-are-the-most-complicated-things-in-the-known-universe/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“All these creatures spend their time explaining, realizing happily that they agree with each other.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/all-these-creatures-spend-their-time-explaining-realizing-happily/) [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/) > [We're not very dangerous animals; we don't have a horn like a rhino or quills like a porcupine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-fisher/we-re-not-very-dangerous-animals-we-don-t-have-a-horn-like-a-rhino-or/) [Helen Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-fisher/) > [We need, in a special way, to work twice as hard to help people understand that animals are fellow creatures, that we must protect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesar-chavez/we-need-in-a-special-way-to-work-twice-as-hard-to-help-people/) [Cesar Chavez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesar-chavez/) > [“Plenty of animals had pets, but few were more devoted than the mouse, who owned a baby corn snake—“A rescue snake, she’d be quick…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-sedaris/plenty-of-animals-had-pets-but-few-were-more-devoted-than-the-mouse/) [David Sedaris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-sedaris/) > [No creature can attain a higher grade of nature without ceasing to exist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ananda-coomaraswamy/no-creature-can-attain-a-higher-grade-of-nature-without-ceasing-to/) [Ananda Coomaraswamy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ananda-coomaraswamy/) > [Most people are sensitized to animals through their cats and dogs, but for me it was a flounder. I used to go fishing with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-mathews/most-people-are-sensitized-to-animals-through-their-cats-and-dogs-but/) [Dan Mathews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-mathews/) [Browse all 6,813 Animals quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/animals/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It was an old hunter in camp and the hunter shared tobacco with him and told him of the buffalo and the stands he'd made against them, laid up in a sag on some rise with the dead animals scattered over the grounds and the herd beginning to mill and the riflebarrel so hot the wiping patches sizzled in the bore and the animals by the thousands and the tens of thousands and the hides pegged out over actual square miles of ground the teams of skinners spelling one another around the clock and the shooting and shooting weeks and months till the bore shot slick and the stock shot loose at the tang and their shoulders were yellow and blue to the elbow and the tandem wagons groaned away over the prairie twenty and twenty-two ox teams and the flint hides by the hundred ton and the meat rotting on the ground and the air whining with flies and the buzzards and ravens and the night a horror of snarling and feeding with the wolves half-crazed and wallowing in the carrion. I seen Studebaker wagons with six and eight ox teams headed out for the grounds not hauling a thing but lead. Just pure galena. Tons of it. On this ground alone between the Arkansas River and the Concho there were eight million carcasses for that's how many hides reached the railhead. Two years ago we pulled out from Griffin for a last hunt. We ransacked the country. Six weeks. Finally found a herd of eight animals and we killed them and come in. They're gone. Ever one of them that God ever made is gone as if they'd never been at all. The ragged sparks blew down the wind. The prairie about them lay silent. Beyond the fire it was cold and the night was clear and the stars were falling. The old hunter pulled his blanket about him. I wonder if there's other worlds like this, he said. 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