Whenever I find myself collecting wild berries in the mountains of southwest Montana, I think about how much of a necessity hunting must have been for anyone surviving in such a region in ancient times past, with this mountainous terrain seemingly being compatible only with a hunter/gatherer lifestyle, offering little opportunity for gardening while hosting a wide variety of wild fish and game.
But those times when much of humanity relied upon hunting for survival are long gone, those days have disappeared far into the past, and yet so many of us continue the practice of hunting - no longer for our survival, but for sport.
Where I am currently camping in the mountains of rural central Utah, hunting season has just begun (or at least buck season), and as I learned when traveling through different parts of Utah a bit later in October last year, people flood to the public lands in droves like no other time of year during hunting season. Of course this phenomenon is not unique to Utah, for having lived in Montana for a solid decade, I’ve met more hunting enthusiasts than I can count, and I can remember from childhood that it was just as popular in South Carolina as it is out west.
I do find it interesting that practically the only time such a large number of people spend recreating in the great outdoors - for many people, the only time they go camping all year long - is when they head into nature for the yearly hunt. It’s interesting that for so many in America, being an ‘outdoorsmen’ is synonymous with hunting and fishing, as opposed to hiking, camping, kayaking, climbing, and so forth. Strange that the only allure nature in all her beauty holds for such a large number of people is the opportunity to hunt down and kill an innocent creature; not because without it, the family would starve, but because this is their chosen sport.
It amazes me just how many people suddenly appear in the most remote parts of the state at the opening of hunting season (a phenomenon I’ve observed not only here, but also in Arizona and New Mexico), quickly filling up every available campsite in the most remote terrain and areas that remain practically empty the remaining entirety of the year, and all similarly disappear the day hunting season ends. There are truly a large number of regions of public land which only see such heavy traffic during hunting season, a testament to just how popular this sport is in this country. They come in with their nice expensive campers and RVs, many used only once a year for this sole purpose, accompanied by expensive 4-wheelers and all the other hunting gear one brings along, and this is the time so many set aside each year to enjoy the great outdoors. Not by enjoying the peace and quiet which nature offers, but by disturbing it; not by tuning into the perfect harmony of nature, but by disrupting it; not by enjoying the awe and beauty of the wild animals, but by hunting them down for sport.
There was a time not that long ago in the American past when the natives who hunted these lands did so for survival, and did so with great respect for the lives they took, holding the earth and all life on it as sacred. Some native tribes hunted, and some farmed; but all respected the the plant and animal life on earth far more than the average ‘civilized’ American ever will. When animals were killed in the hunt, a prayer of thanksgiving was said to the soul of the animal who had given its life to feed their family. Not one single part of the animal was wasted; all of it was used - for meat, for clothing, for shelter, and so on. Even the deer brain was boiled to soften the hides.
But over time, something happened, and now, although hunting is no longer a necessary means of survival, the practice continues. As I watch vehicle after vehicle filled with men in orange vests and camouflage drive by, I can only wonder why this is, and what it is that drives a man to hunt down and take the life of another creature as a sport, a hobby, outside the scope of necessity and survival? Why is hunting such a popular sport? What is it about killing an innocent creature for sport so fun?
Sure, many people still eat the meat, which helps to offset the cost of store bought meat, but at the same time many don’t. At least most of those who don’t eat the meat still don’t let it go to waste, donating it to local food banks, whose freezers all across the country are filled with wild game. But even this does not always happen.
The boss of an acquaintance of mine in Montana recently spent a large sum to go on a big game hunt in Africa, on a private ranch no less where there was really no challenge, and he neither kept the meat nor had it processed and donated - in a country fraught with hunger and starvation no less. For him, as with many hunters here in America, it was all about getting the trophy, and nothing else.
From my own experience with a variety of hunters and personal observations, the vast majority of hunters in America appear to be trophy hunters doing it for sport, and any meat they get is but a nice small benefit. This is why most hunters are looking for bucks, not does, because they are after a trophy rack, not food to get their family through the winter. This is why all of the numerous hunting magazines and TV shows focus on trophy hunts, not survival hunting. Because that is what hunting has primarily become in this country: not an affordable means of providing food for poor and struggling families, but a sport with the end goal being procurement of a trophy.
This is why taxidermists are so numerous, and why I could walk into the local Sportsman’s Warehouse in Bozeman, Montana, and the entryway would be filled with pictures of hunting trophies - the biggest animals, the biggest antlers, and all the most prized trophies. When did the art of hunting, once a survival mechanism, morph into a sport, and when did its focus shift from providing much needed winter food supply to obtaining a choice trophy?
Of all the hunters I have met over the years, there is only one of which who seems to have a similar respect for the animals he hunts that the natives who once hunted on these lands had. Unlike most hunters, he largely survived off of the proceeds of his summer garden, the eggs his hens provided him, the fish he caught in the creek flowing through his property, and the one deer he would kill each fall. He was relatively self-sufficient and was technically a ‘poacher’, never purchasing a license, and always taking the deer from his own property. Nor is he a ‘hunter’ as such; he doesn’t wait all year in eager anticipation like most hunters do, nor does he spend insane amounts of money on hunting and camping gear for a once-a-year excursion. For him, it isn’t a sport; it is a means of survival, just as it used to be for many of those who lived on these lands in centuries past. Some years, however, he wouldn’t even take his shot, and would thus go without the meat, for he always looked the deer in the eyes first, and if it wasn’t their time to go, he told me, he couldn’t pull the trigger. Despite a willingness to take their life, he nonetheless still had great respect for that life, seeing it as another life rather than a mere trophy to be obtained.
Such were the ways of the natives who once hunted these lands out of necessity, who respected the animals they killed as fellow sacred beings, who never killed for sport, but out of necessity.
What is it that has infected humanity, to the point where so many millions of us actually enjoy killing innocent creatures, and do not do so out of necessity, but as a sport, not for the meat they provide but for the trophies that can be obtained and the thrill it brings?
Humanity is the only species on this planet which kills for sport, hunting for trophies and not food alone. From lions to wolves, and every other wild predator sharing this planet, each one only hunts to feed itself, and only kills what it needs to survive. These predators will most often target the weakest of the herd - the sick, the injured, and the weak, often the genetically inferior - ensuring the perpetuation of a strong herd. Those who hunt for sport among humanity do the opposite - seeking out the largest and strongest of the herd to make their trophy.
Humanity is also the only species on this planet which will raise entire herds and flocks, most often imprisoned in cruel conditions, for the sole purpose of being slaughtered for food and then sold for a monetary profit to a society accustomed to eating an unnatural amount of meat - bacon and eggs for breakfast, burgers for lunch, and steak for dinner is not uncommon for some.
Of course hunting appears humane and even honorable when compared to factory farming, but how many hunters are taking wild game in order to avoid purchase of factory-farmed meat? Yes, there are a few, maybe even more than a few; but so many more continue to support the cruel factory farms throughout the year while at the same time hunting wild game they do not rely upon as their sole source of meat. Are those hundreds of thousands of American hunters each year really contributing to the shrinking of cruel factory farming in America, as so many hunters I’ve talked to seem to want to argue? Possibly, and I am not one to judge, although I’m certain vegetarians and those who stand equally against all acts of senseless violence to all creatures on earth contribute much more to the shrinking of factory farming than hunters do.
What I can say with certainty is that modern day hunting is a sport which is centered around obtaining trophies. It is no longer what it once was to those who lived in much closer harmony with the earth, nor does it come close to resembling the natural instinct of a natural-born predator. Society must begin to ask itself why, if it is indeed advancing and not devolving into something more vile and unnatural than our primitive ancestors, why has hunting - the killing of innocent creatures of all types - become a sport that millions of Americans engage in for fun as a hobby, no longer out of necessity or for survival, but more than anything with the purpose of obtaining a trophy to hang on the wall?
Hunting season has arrived, and regardless of your thoughts on what this means, it cannot be denied that it is season to kill. We have turned death and slaughter into a sport, long after its necessity has waned, and there looks to be no end to this unnatural form of hunting in sight.
Many may disagree, but it appears self evident to me that animals naturally wish to be humanity’s friends. Lions, tigers, cheetahs, wolves and bears have all at times throughout history and even in recent times acted as friends and protectors of man, sometimes even serving as companions in the role of a pet.
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If even the most violent predators among the animal kingdom can live at peace with mankind, even in his midst as a pet, then how much more so must it be in the nature of the nonviolent animal species to wish to live peacefully among us as our companions. And, if you ask just about any young child, I think you will find it is in the natural human nature to wish to live peacefully amongst the animals, a reason such films as “Bambi” are so popular among children...
It remains obvious to all who are open to the truth just what exactly is preventing this, and it is not for the most part the ‘wild’ nature of the animals, but rather the violence, cruelty, hatred and fear prevalent among so many humans.
Despite talking to and interacting with a number of hunters from all walks of life, I am still uncertain what exactly it is that drives some men (and women) to kill for sport, and what these people find so fun and pleasurable about the taking of innocent life, while many others abhor even the thought of harming another creature even out of necessity for survival.
Is it the thrill of the hunt, the feeling of power derived from personally taking a life, or maybe a matter of habit, simply a part of the culture handed down generation to generation, held onto as a cherished tradition? Maybe an excuse to get away from the family, or get away from work with the family combined with one of the above motivations? For some, hunting simply is all about getting cheap and better meat than can be found in the stores, in the form of wild game. Regardless of the individual reasons driving hunters to go hunting year after year, what seems to be largely lacking is the respect for those creatures continually giving their lives for us, and this is probably in large part because hunting is no longer about survival, but about sport, and we no longer see this loss of life as a sacred trade made to sustain our life.
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In the turning of hunting into a sport and a hobby, the sacredness of life has been lost, with animals treated not with respect as fellow creatures but as mere commodities which are here only to serve our pleasures and desires. There can be no doubt that one large contributing factor to this is the religious ideology which states that humans have souls, while animals do not. The natives on the other hand, who had much more respect for the creatures they hunted, universally acknowledged that the Great Spirit was within all living things, and never killed merely for sport (that I’m aware of).
Hunters have much in common with serial killers: they keep trophies of their kill, they do it for the sport of it, they do it year after year like an addiction or compulsion that must be satisfied, and they both spend a large amount of their free time thinking and planning and fantasizing about the next hunt, the next kill.
‘Civilized man’ nearly wiped out the millions of natives who for millennium lived in harmony with nature like all the other species, deeming them savages and their ways as savage ways. Almost instantaneously ‘civilized man’ then began to institute far greater savagery that the native ‘savages’ could never have imagined, with Mountain Men heading west to hunt and trap thousands upon thousands of creatures for their pelts and furs, to sell for a goodly profit. Over time, hunting turned from a profitable business into a prominent sport enjoyed by millions, and now cruel factory farms and slaughterhouses cover this once sacred land, while factories in every city belch out their filth into the air, while corporations pollute and poison the water, the food, and the entire surface of the earth at astounding and unprecedented rates.
Anytime the killing of the innocent becomes a sport, people must begin to ask themselves why it is that people enjoy killing and what has led to such disrespect for life. Just as many humans deem the wild animals as mere beasts to be used and dominated and killed at will, so are there humans among us who view the majority of humanity as mere slaves - useless eaters - to be used and dominated and killed at their will. A society which has lost its respect for any life, is not far from losing respect for all life. Hopefully we learn this lesson before it is too late, and we are forced to learn it the hard way. For the ancient law of karma does not discriminate, and if it is truth that “whoever lives by the sword will die by the sword,” the following saying is likely equally true: “Woe to the hunters, for they shall be hunted.”
Maybe some day humanity will learn to rise above both the ‘primitive’ savagery of the past, and the ‘civilized’ savagery of modern society; fully embracing peace, harmony and the inherent sacredness of all life as opposed to just ours and ours alone.
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That parallel drawn to serial killing stopped my heart there for a bit! So true, and is creating a cognitive dissonance around killing.
But before that, this made my heart glad:
Absolutely excellent and compelling and as @owasco said, that final parallel was brilliant. If ever the perfect argument needed to be made against game hunting, you just made it.
It's funny really that almost everything you write I vehemently disagree with but here we are, just for a precious moment in time, perfectly aligned!
Best wishes :-)
Wow
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