Just when Thoreau was winning me over...
A few pages after that great bit, I hit a section that puts so many of my Thoreau issues in a nutshell:
Thoreau: I don't like hunting, yadda yadda, everything is better when it's alive—although, mind you, I'm not at all averse to eating meat—so I'm not a hunter and have no interest in doing so, BUT I LOOOOOVE CRITICIZING THE TECHNIQUE OF THE HUNTER I'M TRAVELING WITH.
Hunter: *tracks wounded moose, is stymied when moose's path crosses Major Moose Throughfare*
Thoreau: Ugh, a better hunter totally would have kept looking around here.
Hunter: *eventually finds wounded moose in river*
Thoreau: Ugh, a better hunter totally would have looked in this spot first.
AUUUUUUUUUUGH, THOREAU. YOU JUDGEY BACKSEAT HUNTER, YOU.