People. Animals. Nature. Why Hunt?

An excellent discussion going on over at Animals, People and Nature on The Why of the Hunt.


People. Animals. Nature.

The why of the hunt
Mar 18th, 2010
by Tovar.

When I was a vegetarian, I had no clue why modern people hunted.

Now that I hunt, I still puzzle over it. Every hunter has his or her own reasons, of course. I wonder mostly about my own, and even there it’s often hard to lay claim to certainty.

Photo credit: Robert Bryan

Of two things, though, I feel sure.

First, the labels we ascribe to ourselves say very little about why we hunt.

When, a few years ago, a local hunter told me he was a “meat” hunter, he wasn’t saying that “meat” explained his hunting; he only gets a deer once every few years, and enjoys his time in the woods for its own sake. He was saying that he was perfectly willing to shoot a doe if he got the chance. In other words, he was telling me what kind of hunter he isn’t. He’s not a trophy hunter. He doesn’t hunt for antlers.

This way of defining ourselves—by marking the boundary between “us” and “them”—is a human habit long studied by anthropologists. “Identity,” after all, comes from the Latin idem, meaning “the same.” We say who we are by saying who’s different: who we are not.

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Why Do Hunters Hunt - Why Do You Hunt?

From Outdoor Idaho

HI, I'M BRUCE REICHERT, AND WELCOME TO OUTDOOR IDAHO.

YOU KNOW, MOST HUNTERS NEVER THINK ABOUT WHY THEY HUNT. THEY
JUST DO IT. THEY'VE BEEN DOING IT FOR YEARS AND THEY FRANKLY
CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHY ANYONE WOULD OBJECT. BUT WHEN YOU PUT THEM
ALL TOGETHER, ALL THE ELK HUNTERS AND DEER HUNTERS AND BIRD
HUNTERS, THE SIMPLE FACT REMAINS THAT HUNTERS ARE A DISTINCT
MINORITY IN AN ACTIVITY THAT HAS BECOME INCREASINGLY
CONTROVERSIAL.

IT'S SEPTEMBER IN GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK AND TED KERASOTE IS
IN HIS ELEMENT. AN ENVIRONMENTAL WRITER FOR "SPORTS AFIELD" AND
AN AUTHOR OF A BOOK ON HUNTING, KERASOTE HAS SPOTTED A BULL ELK
WITH ITS HAREM OF COWS.

TED KERASOTE, HUNTER AND AUTHOR:
WE'RE WATCHING THIS SIX POINT BULL ELK HERD HIS HAREM OF COWS.
HIS AIM OF COURSE IS TO PASS ALONG HIS OWN GENES AND SO HE WANTS
TO PROTECT HIS COWS FROM BEING STOLEN BY SOME OTHER BULL.

WHEN YOU HEAR THE BULL ELK BUGLE AS WE HAVE THIS MORNING, IT'S A
WAY OF DISPLAYING HIS POWER AND SIZE TO OTHER BULL ELK. ALSO YOU
WILL NOTICE BULL ELK OFTEN NOD THEIR HEAD BACK AND FORTH AND IT'S
A WAY THAT OTHER ELK AT A DISTANCE CAN TELL HOW BIG THEIR ANTLERS
ARE BY THE ARC THAT THE TIP OF THE ANTLER DESCRIBES IN THE SKY.
IN THIS WAY, ELK AVOID CONFRONTATION.

WHAT IS INTERESTING IS SOMETIMES TO WATCH TWO SIX POINT BULL ELK
JUST LOCK ANTLERS AND PUSH AND SHOVE AND SQUEAL, SUDDENLY BREAK
APART AND ONE WILL LOOK AT THE OTHER ONE AND WHEEL AROUND AND RUN
AWAY, AS IF HE HAS DECIDED, "WELL, THAT IS ENOUGH FOR TODAY. I
DON'T WANT TO RISK ANYMORE."

REICHERT:
IN A FEW WEEKS, WHEN HUNTING SEASON OPENS, KERASOTE WILL TAKE HIS
RIFLE INTO NEARBY NATIONAL FOREST LAND AND WILL ATTEMPT TO END
THE LIFE OF ONE OF THESE 800 POUND ANIMALS.

KERASOTE:
THE ELK THAT WE'VE BEEN WATCHING, LIVE IN A SEAMLESS WORLD. THEY
LIVE TOTALLY WITHIN THE CYCLES THAT SUPPORT THEM AND MOVE THEM
FROM BIRTH TO DEATH.

HUNTING BRINGS YOU FACE TO FACE WITH THE CYCLES THAT SUPPORT YOU.
WHEN YOU GO OUT AND YOU TAKE THE LIVE OF A BIG BEAUTIFUL ANIMAL,
AS WE'VE SEEN, YOU CAN'T DENY ANY LONGER THAT LIFE, SOME LIFE HAS
TO DIE TO FEED OTHER LIFE. AND YOU BECOME MUCH MORE PERSONALLY
RESPONSIBLE FOR IT.

I THINK ALSO, YOU BECOME HUMBLE ABOUT YOUR PLACE IN THESE CYCLES.
AND YOU ALSO DEVELOP A MORE HEIGHTENED SENSE OF COMPASSION FOR
ALL THE CREATURES THAT SHARE THE EARTH. YOU CAN'T LIGHTLY CAUSE
HARM ANYMORE.

REICHERT:
WHY DO HUNTERS HUNT? WHAT SATISFACTION COMES FROM TAKING THE
LIFE OF ANOTHER SENTIENT CREATURE?

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