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Retrieving the Arrow
Published: 2012-08-05 07:56:47 +0000 UTC; Views: 20516; Favourites: 1116; Downloads: 0
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Description
This was project intended to exemplify humanity's modern disconnection from Nature. The hunter is wearing modern clothes and exists in a modern setting, yet is using primitive weapons and techniques to 'survive' in a world which has been all but destroyed by Man's inability to live in harmony with the planet.The wolf in the image is called Teva. She's my personal headdress. She and her sister were both removed from a population in Southeast Alaska by a friend of mine who works with the State Fish and Wildlife Department in population control.
Once Teva was tanned so that she could not rejoin the Earth, I purchased her to make her into the headdress above. Due to some damage to the leather and a missing rear foot, her hide was not deemed suitable for traditional taxidermy and would be otherwise bound for the fur market to be made into clothing instead.
She is the first wolf I ever mounted, and Iβm very pleased with the way she turned out considering. From start to finish, it seemed that Tevaβs creation from tanned pelt to finished headdress came together like a dream.
Photography by Teddy Anderson. Editing and taxidermy by me.
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Comments: 412
I love how you worded your comment. It's perfect.
Yes, I am someone who becomes very sad over a wolf that is killed, but I understand that sometimes the population gets a little too big. A wolf population that is too big isn't good the the system around it. Also, it breeds mange, a very infectious canine infection. There's that part of me that understands it's for the better part of everyone too.
I'm happiest when the animal that was killed is treated with respect, and this wolf was obviously treated with a lot of respect.
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might as well disable comments lmal alll the butthurt is flowing in and these tweens cant grasp logical thoughts and will continue to squabble between the profur folk.
lol gotta love DA. we are all artists yet everyone cant accept this as an artform but some girl spreading her ass in the fetish or nude category ks art and nobody cares.
lolok gais.
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All of the ignorant comments are really sad.. Not used to it in this amount..
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nowhere near as bad as the snowglow pelt uproar adarkernemisis had for being on the front page of DA
500+ comments of stupidity and death threats and peta. i am sure itll blow up after a while here but yeah.
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I actually find it rather amusing, to be honest. Let the haters hate; it simply exemplifies the kind of stupidity that these people spew. One person was talking about limiting families to having only one child, and said something about aborting children with physical and mental conditions. Another person is going on about how taxidermy is "animal abuse" and all I can think of is a mental image of someone kicking a dead horse.Β
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I don't doubt it.. you can't have a real conversation with them about it either unfortunately
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Sorry, but no, I wholly object to the abuse of animals and the wearing or glorifying of their pelt is a horrifying thing. You should be ashamed. And you, wasting your talents on such is not good.
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wolfaboo-ism at its finest. if this was any other animal, i bet you wouldn't give a flying frick /n\
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Can't abuse an animal that's already dead, sweet cheeks.
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People wearing pelts anger me too, Β but especially where pretty much everyone has enough money to buy clothes made form cotton and have no real need for fur. The same thing goes for taxidermy, have you seen the horrifying things they make from animal pelts?
*ahem* Anyway, I don't think telling an artist to stop making art(or whatever they consider art, really) is going to deter them in any way; so it's useless.Β
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Do you use a car?Β A phone?Β Do you shop in a grocery store?Β Do you buy regular clothes?Β Do you use electricity?Β A computer (obviously)?Β Then you're in no position to say anything about this art form (which dates back to prehistoric times and was prevalent among many cultures, like Native Americans, that were defined by a great respect for nature).Β Cars kill about a million animals in the U.S. every single day (and that's just hitting animals with cars; I haven't even brought up toxic emissions, litter, or animal deaths as a result of improper disposal of tires).Β Cell phones are one of the suspected causes of colony collapse disorder in bees - a major, major environmental problem.Β The food you got in your grocery store was probably genetically modified, as was the cotton used to make your clothes (and before you say "I buy organic" - if you've eaten or drank anything sweet, it most likely contained high fructose corn syrup that was made from GM corn).Β The electricity you're using probably comes from highly pollutant coal or natural gas (unless you're in the minority of population that is powered by more environmentally-friendly alternatives, like nuclear or hydroelectric power).Β The computer you're using almost certainly contains chemicals like lead, cadmium, lithium, and mercury.
I like wolves, and it annoys me when people rant about them and seem to have a bloodlust for hunting them, but that's not what's going on here.Β This person has made a conscious statement about respect for nature and regret over man's inability to harmonize with it.Β Most of her critics, however, are perpetually harming the environment in ways they don't even realize (or even care about if they do).Β You've been on this DeviantART long enough that you should know it's a long fall from that high horse.
Also, as you are a student of art, you still have an important lesson to learn: the attitude of "I am offended by/don't like this; therefore it isn't art" is not going to earn you very much respect as an artist.Β Art isn't about whether you like something or not.Β Art is communication.
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Very good point. 
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"where pretty much everyone has enough money to buy clothes made form cotton and have no real need for fur" Β (My emphasis)
No need for fur? How about the fact that it's much, much warmer than cotton and doesn't retain water like cotton/wool fabrics?
"have you seen the horrifying things they make from animal pelts?"
Do you disapprove of museum taxidermy mounts?
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I dare you to say something like that to this guy. --> www.native-languages.org/imageβ¦
Or this guy. -->Β www.corbisimages.com/images/Coβ¦
Or this guy. --> Β www.probertencyclopaedia.com/pβ¦
Or this guy -->Β graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2β¦
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Well, you know, unless somebody is of Native American or African decent they must be the true and genuine evil of the world if they keep beautiful the remains of an already-dead animal ( ESPECIALLY the ones that hunt and kill other animals without much mind to them ) who's still therefore taking an active rolse in the circle of life. Otherwise it's obviously okay, though //sarcasm
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I just looked at their profile...and I honestly wish I hadn't.
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Absolutely beautiful. Wonderful. Well-deserved DD.
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By the way, I saw you comment on another picture from this same shoot about your arrows. I was just curious about the type of bow you shoot with. I use both a compound and long bow, and my arrows are river cane with goose feathers (I also have the carbon fiber with plastic fletching). Do you just compete in archery or do you actually hunt?
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I hunt with a take-down recurve bow. I have 40# and 50# limbs for it. My arrows are heartwood with turkey feather fletching.
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Oh, nice.
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You deserved this DD. The people who are stomping their feet about the pelt are just proving they know absolutely nothing on the subject of wolves or wolf control.
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That is a simply beautiful headdress. Lovely photo and I love the philosophy behind this post!
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Can we just enjoy the beautiful photo and amazing work she's done?
She is giving the wolf another life to be loved, appreciated and respected. That should be enough.
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Also to those of you down there....It's all going to burn anyway. Everything dies, everything is punished. It is only of the way it is done. At least this woman is taking time to at least be meaningful about it.
To be honest...None of us deserve to live. We are a fractured, and undependable creation. We kill, we are killed, and like animals have our own circles of life. We are all wicked.
Opinions will continue to clash no matter how much you argue about it. So don't even bother. As for me. I am only here to enlighten you on a third party opinion. I won't bother taking place in right and wrong. You are both right...And both wrong.
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Its amazing, majestic, and you should be very proud the shot and makings of.
But I still envy this.
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Every single thing about this picture is beautiful. I love the wolf and the model has an incredible presence.
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I think this is a cool image, it immediately made me think of princess mononoke.
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Beautiful pelt, and beautiful shot. Overall, a good piece that's pleasing to the eye in my opinion.
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Congratulations on the Daily Deviation
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Shes beautiful, you are as well, I love the design of this.
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First I wanted to say : Great Image!! But then I realised that you're wearing a dead wolf. Well, that makes me wanna puke. I'd rather do a 'population control' on humans than animals. Mainly those that claim to protect animals by killing them. I do not want any response from any of you wildlife killers. So don't even bother raging on here.
Β
Sorry to say, but no matter how good the -image- is. It's ruined for me. I'd prefer not to see those things as DD.
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Hi, I don't kill wildlife.Β
I am Β curious, though, do you hate your ancestors? They were wildlife killers. They thrived on the animals they killed, and because of them, there has always been an imbalance in nature. That is of course, that for some reason you don't consider humans part of nature? Which is odd because I don't really see how our technology really changes how we still rely on the resources of the world?Β
Now, would you want to remove wolves completely from the balance of nature? No? So why do you want to remove humans? If it makes you feel any better - we are the only species that show concern for other species we interact with. What other species has started conservation of both predator and prey? If given the chance I can assure you that wolves would be over abundant and kill all the elk that they could possibly want to. And that just might happen if humans step back and let nature 'take back' what little it would be able to.Β
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Yeah, if not for overpopulated humans wildlife wouldn't need management.
So, what are you going to do about it? Make a law saying you can only have so many children? What happens to the kids when someone goes over their limit? Do you kill them? Or will there be no law, just killing off people you think are "less equal" than others?
Or, I suppose, you could always rave about morality while your precious wolves suffer and starve because nobody is doing what needs to be done to help them in the long run.
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also, sorry if i come across as rude, but that was just a very mean thing to say on someone else's very beautiful art piece! /n\ i think you don't get the fact that this is their special way to honer the animal, you shouldn't shoot them down for that! /n\
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wolfaboo-ism at is finest, once again. i bet if this was any other animal you wouldn't give a flying frick. /n\
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So you expect people to listen to your spew but "don't want any responses"? That's likely because you are afraid to face the facts: Wolf population control in Alaska actually results in greater population density of both wolves and their prey, and does far more good for the enviornment as a whole than it does harm:Β www.outdoorsdirectory.com/magaβ¦
You're just upset because it's a cute animal. Well, your ancestors killed and ate millions of cute animals, and you wouldn't be here today if they hadn't.Β
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I agree that humans need population control more than any animal... But why does one single animal in a picture killed in order to attempt to help its whole population make you want to puke? It's so they don't suffer slow deaths to starvation. It's not like it was roadkill or poached or anything.
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Isn't population control with larger predators more to protect livestock and people than to keep them from starving? If there are too many wolves, deer populations go down and then the animals have to find food from farms and rural communities. I don't think it's out of pity that people kill wolves when their numbers go up.
I think there should be a limit on how many kids a family can have. I don't think human population control means we should kill each other, like a lot of people are sarcastically suggesting, but the human population is definitely out of control.Β
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Meaning, if it weren't because of us, they wouldn't be starving.
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Repost of my own to answer your question and make my opinion clear : Yes, that wolf is already dead and it's too late. Can't do anything about it. Though by this kind of 'art' (well I have a different definition of art) it makes it look "okay" to kill animals instead of pointing at the cause of those so called "overpopulation". Us, humans. We are the reason this world is going to hell.Β (- for example, we are driving wild animals to smaller and smaller territories. Result: those animals either attack us/live in the cities OR end up like that dead wolf. People hunt deer and wolves for fun. In reality, nature is meant to keep itself in balance, we shouldn't interface with it in any way. In fact, we are the cause of al the shit happening, so why not do something about 'us' and the way we live? That's how I see it.Β Β
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yeah I know it's because of us anyway, but at least some people are trying to fix it. 
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Sadly, no. As long as we, humans, consider ourselves as the "upper/better species" we'll continue this rampage.
Β
Birth control doesn't end for me with 1child only. For me it means automatic abortus to the unborn when they're unable to take care of themselves when adult. To those that have physical/mental disabilities that would make them totally dependant of another person. Hard-drug users, rapists, murderest etc should be castrated/Sterylised. etc etc.Β
Sounds harsh, I know. But if you look at humans like you'd look at an animal, it's actually the same what humans do to wild/pet animals.Β
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If you really think people should die because of their mental limitations, why don't you advocate the extinction of simple animals? Arthropods, microorganisms, fish even? They're more limited than even the most troubled of humans.
Feeling that other animals' lives have worth is one thing, thinking them more important than members of your own species is another. It's both unnatural and nauseating.
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I completely agree.. I know most people wouldn't
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