On Hunting E-Book

Lt. Col. Dave Grossman

• Herausgeber: BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 536

Beschreibung

Hunting is our heritage, our heart, and our future. Where does hunting fit in the modern world? To many, it can seem outdated or even cruel, but as On Hunting affirms, hunting is holistic, honest, and continually relevant. Authors Grossman, Miller, and Cunningham dive deep into the ancient past of hunting and examine its position today, demonstrating that we cannot understand humanity without first understanding hunting. Readers will ·       discover how hunting formed us, ·       examine hunting ethics and their adaptation to modernity, ·       understand the challenges, traditions, and reverence of today's hunter, ·       identify hunting skills and their many applications outside the field, ·       learn why hunting is critical to ecological restoration and preservation, and ·       gain inspiration to share hunting with others. Drawing from ecology, philosophy, and anthropology and sprinkled with campfire stories, this wide-ranging examination has rich depths for both nonhunters and hunters alike. On Hunting shows that we need hunting still—and so does the wild earth we inhabit.

Leseprobe

Endorsements

I believe this is the most important study of hunting since the Meditations on Hunting writings by José Ortega y Gasset.

Robin HurtConservationist, Hunter

All true hunters “feel” the truth, but few are able to “articulate” that truth. Now, thankfully, we have On Hunting to be our champion of the wild!

Jim ShockeyNaturalist, Outfitter, TV Producer and Host

I very much enjoyed this book. It will have a great reception, as it is about all of us (humans), not just hunters.

Ian CrookstonEngineer, Nonhunter

In the end, a man’s worth is not judged by what he knows but by what he has done. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman has done way more for the good of others than he will ever know. His books, all of them, are required reading in my family. His latest book, On Hunting, has now joined that required reading list.

Ernest Emerson“Father of the Modern Fighting Knife,” Author of Bad Guy with a Gun, Lifelong Hunterwww.EmersonKnives.com

I loved this book! A very intellectual and historical study of why we hunt. Understanding the why naturally results in improving skills for tactical situations and survival, not to mention making us better hunters!

Carl ChinnPresident of Faith Based Security Network, Lifelong Hunter

BroadStreet Publishing® Group, LLC

Savage, Minnesota, USA

BroadStreetPublishing.com

On Hunting: A Definitive Study of the Mind, Body, and Ecology of the Hunter in the Modern World

Copyright © 2022 Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, Linda K. Miller, and Capt. Keith A. Cunningham

9781424564927 (softcover)

9781424564934 (ebook)

Scripture quotations marked CEB are taken from the Common English Bible, copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Stock or custom editions of BroadStreet Publishing titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, ministry, fundraising, or sales promotional use. For information, please email [email protected].

With thanks to literary agent Richard Curtis.

Cover image of rifle courtesy of Linda K. Miller.

Cover and interior by Garborg Design Works | garborgdesign.com

Printed in China

23 24 25 26 27 5 4 3 2 1

Dedication

To all hunters, today and past,who have informed our hearts and mindsand to those who follow the hunter’s path after us

A Brief Note on Gender

We often think that hunting narratives lend themselves to male examples and the male gender. There are significant exceptions to this rule. Some magnificent female hunters are presented in this book, but in general, the authors will refer to hunters using the male gender.

This is in no way intended to exclude females from the history or the future of hunting.

Indeed, many mythological deities were “goddesses of the hunt,” and recent research indicates that early big game hunters in the Americas were both male and female. This challenges the long-standing myth of “man the hunter” or “woman the hunter.” It is truly “human the hunter.”

Buffalo Jump

An aboriginal guide was showing a group of tourists around [the exhibit at] Alberta’s Head-Smashed-In Buffalo-Jump…The guide graphically described how in ancient times the buffalo would be driven over the edge of a fifteen meter precipice, to land in a gory heap at the base of the cliff. A diorama showed men and women clambering over the bodies to club and spear those still living.

When one tourist expressed shock at the bloody nature of the enterprise, the guide responded simply but with conviction, “We were hunters!” connecting her own generation with those of the past. She then amended her statement with equal conviction, adding, “Humans were hunters!” thus expanding complicity in the act of carnage to the whole of humanity [including the tourists].

—Richard B. Lee and Richard Daly,The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Hunters and Gatherers

Table of Contents

Foreword by Maggie Mordaunt

Introduction

Section I

Deep Roots

Chapter One

We Were Hunters Once, and Prey

Chapter Two

A Guilty Pleasure

Chapter Three

“I’ll Have What She’s Having”

Chapter Four

What’s That in Your Rearview Mirror?

Section II

The Hunter’s Oath

Chapter Five

Foundations

Chapter Six

Killing and Connecting

Chapter Seven

Universal Morality and All That Jazz

Chapter Eight

The Sacred Game

Section III

Kudu Eyes

Chapter Nine

How Animals Hunt

Chapter Ten

An Ancient Heartbeat

Section IV

It’s What I Do

Chapter Eleven

On Killing

Chapter Twelve

On Combat

Chapter Thirteen

The Hardware and the Software

Section V

It’s Who I Am

Chapter Fourteen

What’s Food Got to Do with It?

Chapter Fifteen

Beware the Righteous Man

Chapter Sixteen

We Are the Champions…of the Wild

Chapter Seventeen

The Hunter’s Peace

Acknowledgments

Endnotes

Suggested Reading

Selected Bibliography

Index

About the Authors

Foreword

Lt. Col. Dave Grossman is a renowned author, and I’m the happy owner of many of his wonderful books. His work focuses on human performance factors under stress. They enlighten us on the human condition before, during, and after a personal defense situation. I’ve always had great respect for his work, especially his audiobooks and live seminars. So I was excited to hear that Dave’s new book, with authors Linda K. Miller and Capt. Keith A. Cunningham, was about hunting. My husband, Ken Ortega, and I have had some of our best times together hunting.

I believe that hunting is a great common ground for all of us. Man, woman, or child, we are equals when using the same caliber! I have had the honor of sharing my defense training and my hunting knowledge with both new and experienced hunters. I have trained men, women, and children from all over the world in the great joy of hunting their own food. Many of these opportunities came through my roles as pro staff (Bass Pro Shops/Cabela’s) and as a hunter education instructor (state of Nevada).

All that to say, my ability to provide for my family through hunting is a joy. It allows me to bring organic meat to the table. And I love to help others discover and experience hunting as well.

Thus, this book resonates with me. It helps people understand why we need wildlife conservation. It helps even nonhunters understand the virtues of the hunt. It helps the timid souls who buy their meat in neat little packages at the grocery store understand the field-to-table process in the most fundamental way.

I look at hunting as a rite of passage. Some important parts of the process are training to use the tools and understanding that an ethical, humane harvest helps us to participate in wildlife management for a healthier future. In some cases, a managed harvest can even save animals from extinction.

This book has a very easy way of putting those things into perspective and presenting the truth about hunting. When we hunt, we have a moral and ethical responsibility to do our best. We must select the right animal. We must be able to place the shot to ensure a quick, humane death. And we must honor them without haste or waste while thanking God for providing us this bounty.

The truth of why we hunt is also described in this book. Ultimately, On Hunting provides the foundation for an honest conversation about hunting in the modern world.

I hope that you will enjoy On Hunting as much as I did and apply its principles to your own life and worldview. Surely, all hunters and conservationists will appreciate and enjoy it. On Hunting will impact us for generations to come.

Maggie Mordaunt

“CCW Maggie”

Female Hunter

Pro Staff for Bass Pro Shops/Cabela’s

Nevada Hunter Education Instructor

Co-Owner of Homeland Personal Protection, LLC

Introduction

Bruce Siddle’s research on predation shows that, according to British records, in India from 1900 to 1910, over one hundred thousand people were killed by tigers.1 Those are just the ones that were recorded in a single decade. Imagine what it must have been like a century before that. Or a thousand years or even ten thousand years before that, when our species must have lived a life of constant predation.

To understand mankind, we must understand that throughout our history we have been in the middle of the food chain. We have the gripping fangs and the forward-set eyes of a predator, and in our brain, we have the neural pathways of a team of cooperative, goal-oriented, and (even, perhaps) self-sacrificing predators. We also have the chisel teeth of a rabbit, and we have the neural pathway of a “blow the ballast” (mess yourself) and run like hell rodent. Finally, we have the grinding molars of a grass eater and the neural pathway that says, “I don’t have to outrun the predator; I just have to outrun the slowest one in the herd.”

You’re the predator right up until you’re prey.

—James S. A. Corey, Abaddon’s Gate

We have these various survival responses built into our bodies, our minds, and our genetics. But which is the most fun? It is no fun to be prey! We are never genuinely happy when we are prey. It can be argued that we are at our happiest and healthiest when we are the hunter, not the hunted.

Even when we made the switch from hunter-gatherers to agriculture, we continued to be hunters. To this very day we see this in rural parts of our society, where modern farmers and ranchers also, and almost universally, consider hunting as an important part of their lives and their livelihood.

The history of humanity is a long struggle to survive and to claw our way to the top of the food chain. We have within ourselves the capacity to be prey or predator. Thus, you can make a good argument that one of the great pathologies of modern times is an abandonment of our predator roots. A healthy mankind embraces all aspects of our heritage and our genetics.

The basic premise of this book is that we are what we were when we were formed.2 And we (Homo sapiens) emerged when we were all hunters. No matter how we socialize ourselves, “under the covers,” we are all wired the same way. We were all hunters then, and we are still.

In this book, we explore

• the “Deep Roots” of hunting, how it is woven into our very core; the “Deep Roots” of hunting, how it is woven into our very core;

• “The Hunter’s Oath” and the ethics of hunting;

• “Kudu Eyes,” the underlying skills of the hunter;

• “It’s What I Do,” hunting skills applied to police, military, and self-defense; and

• “It’s Who I Am,” the challenges, traditions, and reverence of the modern hunter.

Overall, this book is a celebration of life, of the hunter’s life. It is an acknowledgment of our place in the middle of the food chain as both predator and prey. And especially, it sheds light on how these two roles (striving to get food and striving not to become food) are inextricably linked to procreation. Many people feel guilty that they have a sense of euphoria when they are successful in the hunt, but the authors of this book believe this is normal and natural. It is our brain’s way of responding when we are confirming our life force and improving the odds that our species will live and multiply.

All animal brains are designed to create flashes of pleasure when the animal does something important for its survival.

—Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind

Artemis

A bridge from our earliest hunting roots to our modern souls is the transfer of ancient hunting stories to the mythologies of our early tribes and civilizations. In Roman mythology, it’s Diana. In Greek mythology, it’s Artemis, a profoundly important member of the Ancient Greek pantheon. She was a very popular goddess in her day, widely admired and worshiped.

She is probably best known now as the goddess of the hunt. What more important concern can there be for primitive humans than the hunt, wild animals, and the wilderness? This was the realm of Artemis. Not only was her domain the wilderness, but she was also considered to be wild, particularly in the sense that she was fiercely independent and comfortable with being alone. She refused to conform to convention or tradition. She was the personification of the wilderness: self-sufficient, living by her own terms, both goddess and woman.

Her portfolio also included the protection of young girls, virginity, and childbirth. Perhaps, in the transition from innocent virginity to childbirth, ancient humans saw the essential life that flowed from that natural process. She was a goddess of great compassion, but she punished mercilessly those who needlessly harmed creatures under her protection.

Like the hunt leader that would evolve into the war chief and the civic leader, she was comfortable both in solitude and in leadership. She rejoiced in the hunt while simultaneously being the guardian of nature and wild animals. (Another powerful parallel to modern hunters!)

Artemis was the embodiment of the skillful, proficient, free-spirited, self-reliant woman.

She was then—and is today—a role model for the capable, strong-willed, and independent female.

It is no accident that Diana/Artemis ruled the wild animals, the hunt, and procreation. These are the basis of life: birth, predator, and prey.

The circle of life…that’s what hunting’s all about.

—Jim Shockey (writer, photographer, guide, and outfitter)

Campfire Story: Her First Deer

Another of the bridges from our ancient hunting roots to our modern souls is in the telling and retelling of hunting stories around the campfire. To genuinely enjoy these stories, the reader needs to slow down, sit back, and relax.

It was movement that caught her eye. Her grandfather had told her it would most likely be movement that she would see first—at least that was the way it worked when the second doe came into the clearing. It had stood on the edge of the tree line while lowering and lifting its head, flicking its ears, and twitching its tail. At this time of late autumn, there was very little feed that could be described as lush, so this grassy little clearing was attractive to the deer.

Earlier, the first doe had just appeared. The girl had scanned the clearing, as was becoming her routine, and she had seen nothing. She had glanced out another window in her blind to locate the red squirrel that was scolding her for being in its territory. Its bushy tail vibrated in the cool morning air as it chattered its disapproval. She smiled at its antics, and when she turned back to do another scan, the doe was just standing there in the middle of the clearing. How was it possible for it to get that far without being seen?

She had gasped softly as the small shot of adrenaline hit her bloodstream but calmed quickly, realizing that this deer was not what she was after. Her grandfather had told her this would happen, and she took several deep breaths to settle down. He had called it “combat breathing.” It had worked for him when he was in combat, and it worked for her now.

Suddenly, there he was! This deer had antlers, big antlers, and could be the one. Breathe…breathe, she told herself. The buck hadn’t seen her and was far more interested in the doe.

Now the buck moved out into the clearing. He was magnificent. The girl now experienced a shot of adrenaline like never before. This was it! This was the buck! She had prepared herself for just this moment, and now she was shaking with excitement. Breathe…Breathe! she screamed in her mind. She could feel herself calming as she put her sight reticle on the point of aim.

She could see the sight reticle was steadier now. When the big deer stopped to test the wind, she was ready to fire her shot.

It was a good shot—right on the point of aim. She and her grandfather had practiced making shots just like this. She had fired many such shots on paper and steel targets before this one all-important shot.

The buck immediately did a mule kick and ran toward the nearest tree line. Then the deer slowed, became unsteady, and finally collapsed. She could see him thrashing, but she could tell it was over. She waited a bit longer before going over to him.

As she approached, she kept her eyes on the one antler she could see, with her rifle in a “ready for anything” position. She circled slightly to approach the deer from its back and could smell the odor of a buck deer in full rut. She nudged him with her foot, and there were no signs of life. She then moved around to look into his eyes and saw the stare of death.

She knelt by his head, patted him lightly and said, barely more than a whisper, “Thank you…thank you.”

She sat quietly thinking about her first deer until she felt her cell phone vibrating. It was a text from her grandfather; he had heard the shot and was wondering if it was time for him to come and help.

“Yes, Grandpa,” she replied. “And Grandpa…I love you.”

Hunting is what we were designed to do. I am not saying it is a good thing or a bad thing; it is just the way we developed or were created (depending upon your perspective). We can no more deny it than a bird can deny its wings. We can no more ignore it than we can ignore our canine teeth or our flesh-ripping incisors. It is who we are. It is what we are, and it is foolish to try to pretend otherwise.

— Lt. Col. Dave Grossman

Introduction—Summary

So, are you predator or prey? The truth is that we have within us aspects of both. But we have clawed our way to the top of the food chain because we do not like being prey! We are wired to be happy and healthy when we hunt. As we will see in the next section, the hunter is who we have been and who we desire to be.

Section I

Deep Roots

If we go back far enough in time, to our roots, we see that hunting is what allowed us to survive and become who we are biologically, neurologically, and physiologically. We were hunters from the beginning. Our ancestors fed themselves by hunting. And it was the successful hunter who got to procreate. While we may not consciously remember being hunters, our genes, our bones, and our brains are a record of our past. Even today, we see our ancient form reflected in our mythologies, our rituals, and our traditions. Our past built us. We have deep-seated yearnings to connect with our ancient selves. Most of us strive for that connection, generally without knowing what we are really yearning for.

Chapter One

We Were Hunters Once, and Prey

When we first started to research the history of hunting for this book, we were thinking about the history of civilization. We were thinking about a history that stretched back to the emergence of populations in Mesopotamia about five thousand years before the current era. We soon realized that this was the history of modern, literate civilization. It was a history that didn’t address the many years our ancestors lived and explored and hunted before they ever gathered in settlements and started writing things down.

So, in this first chapter of the book, we explore our ancient history. It is the history of humanity from before we began our modern lives.

We were all hunters then. We needed to be predators to feed ourselves. Our ancestors, bless them, found ways to dominate the food chain. They could then eat the quantities of protein that fed our magnificent brains.

A Short History of Man

We are not embracing an evolutionary standpoint. The authors deeply respect all perspectives on this subject. But a brief look at hunting from an anthropological outlook can give us an astounding insight for those who would consider the matter from an evolutionary perspective:

Anthropologists date the first appearance of early humans at about 2.5 million years ago.

They date the emergence of modern man at about two hundred thousand years ago.

They say that twelve thousand years ago, every human was still a hunter-gatherer.

Gradually, hunter-gatherers turned to agriculture, and by 3500 BC (early Bronze Age), most humans were farmers. (Many still relied, at least partially, on hunting.) Only in very recent times has farming declined, with more people now living a commercial-industrial urban life. Another way of looking at this enormous time span is to think in terms of a single day. If early hominids appeared twenty-four hours ago, modern man appeared less than two hours ago. Less than six minutes ago, we were all still hunter-gatherers. About three minutes ago, most of us were farmers, and less than thirty seconds ago, most humans became commercial-industrial urban dwellers. So, we are relatively new at being urbanites, and our past as hunters is what truly grounds us.

Thus, whether we evolved that way or were created that way (or any of the worthy perspectives in between), we can recognize that our brains are still dialed in to the hunt. None of the diverse standpoints on this subject can deny that we are, in many ways, a product of the “survival of the fittest.” Nature’s merciless realm of the “law of the jungle” has had an enormous impact on who we are and who we must be in order to survive. We are designed to hunt, and our mind is wired for the hunt. Our vision is tuned for being both predators and prey. Our hormones are geared to finding food and not being food. And while they may seem out of place in our current lifestyle, many of our strengths are designed for our success as hunter-gatherers.

Inside each of us are the ancient brain and the hormones of the hunter. Inside each of us is our heritage. And to feel whole, we need to see the hunter within, to acknowledge him, and to celebrate him.

In order to subsist, this early man had to dedicate himself wholly to hunting. Hunting was, then, the first occupation, man’s first work and craft.

—José Ortega y Gasset, Meditations on Hunting

From Hunter to Human

So, who were we for all those years? Anthropologists frequently make new discoveries about our ancient roots and our hunting methods. First, we were nomadic hunter-gatherers. We moved around to follow game animals and to take advantage of wild food harvests. It appears that we started with some bare-hands hunting (using ambush and persistence tactics).3 Later, we progressed with tools (clubs and spears). Like modern-day hunter-gatherers, we likely ate a lot of small game, but when we had a large kill, our entire village-family would move to the kill site (at least for a time). The present-day !Kung Bushmen still do this.

It is more than clear that these men…the most ancient that we have glimpsed, did not invent hunting but rather received it from their…past.

—José Ortega y Gasset, Meditations on Hunting

Archeological evidence shows that we’ve been hunting for meat for a very long time. In fact, most of the history of man is a story of honing our hunting skills. As Robin McKie, science editor at The Guardian, wrote:

Evidence from ancient butchery sites in Tanzania shows early man was capable of ambushing herds… [and using] complex hunting techniques to ambush and kill antelope, gazelle, wildebeest and other large animals at least two million years ago. This discovery—made by anthropologist Professor Henry Bunn of Wisconsin University—pushes back the definitive date for the beginning of systematic human hunting by hundreds of thousands of years.

McKie continued:

Bunn believes these early humans probably sat in trees and waited until herds of antelopes or gazelles passed below, then speared them at point-blank range. This skill, developed far earlier than suspected, was to have profound implications.4

And as The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Hunters and Gatherers says: “Hunting and gathering was humanity’s first and most successful adaptation, occupying at least 90 percent of human history. Until 12,000 years ago, all humans lived this way.”5

Man the predator has a long and proud history. Plentiful game made us who we are today: large-brained hunters with a taste for meat.

Neanderthals had many healed injuries to their skeletons resembling those seen in rodeo cowboys, suggesting some very rough activities, perhaps killing large animals with hand-held weapons instead of projectiles like hurled spears or arrows.

—Peter J. Richerson, University of California, Environmental Science and Policy

The Hunting Hypothesis

As far back as we can imagine, our ancient ancestors must have eaten everything. They ate nuts and seeds, grubs and locusts, sprouts and tubers, as well as mice and antelope. Hunting increased the proportion of meat in their diets. And meat, especially cooked meat, powered the brains that make us “sapiens,” or wise.

The ancient barbecue could well have played a role in developing our social interactions. Fire kept us warm and held predators at bay. And, while it’s easy to cook chunks of a large animal on a campfire, cooking smaller critters and vegetables may have made pots necessary. Although our ancient ancestors were no doubt nomadic, both fire and pots would tend to keep them in one place a little longer. Relocation would now involve moving “stuff,” or at the very least, protecting the coals they would carry to the next campsite.

The campfire could have shaped social behaviors such as tribal bonding, family structures, and mating. Along with the emergence of language, these would have accelerated our ancestors’ development. Importantly, these social behaviors would also have improved our hunting success.

So, did hunting improve our social behaviors? Or did social behaviors improve our hunting? It is not either-or…it is “yes” to both. Hunting reinforced our skills in social behavior, and social behavior reinforced our skills in hunting. Family structure and tribal bonding developed in support of our hunter-gatherer activities. There is certainly strong evidence that our ancestors mated successfully. This likely involved extended family groups. Extended families would help tend the babies and allow for successful hunts.

Language, or voiced communication, is not the exclusive domain of modern man. While we know that many animals voice “words” that they use systematically, much of their (and our) communication would likely have been non-verbal, as is common in the animal kingdom. Early words were probably not much more than monosyllabic sounds. Mime may have been an important part of communications. Picture a scout-hunter describing the size, direction, distance, and location of a herd of antelope. Perhaps “written language” started with drawing a map in the sand, with symbols for the type of animal and the size of the herd. The cave paintings that have survived the ravages of weather and time tell us that stone-age man’s primary interest was animals. But many of these paintings also include drawings of symbols, such as waves, squares, open angles, crosses, hashes, and similar signs. What do they mean?

Anthropologist Genevieve von Petzinger is renowned for her work in recording and interpreting cave art. An article on cave paintings in The Guardian reported on the significance of her analysis:

“What we found was quite remarkable,” says von Petzinger. “There is definite patterning in the way these signs were used.” In other words, she and [her colleague] Nowell have shown that these markings are no mere abstract scribbles but appear to be a code that was painted on to rock.6

And if that weren’t amazing enough, “Many of the swirls, crosses, circles, open angles and crosshatches seen in France are also found in…earlier works from Africa.”7

There’s also likely a link between the development of religion and hunting. The notion of “religion” is probably a very modern concept. Our hunting ancestors might well have called it “science” or a “description of how the world works.” As David Petersen says, “For pre-agricultural foraging peoples—our ‘savage’ human fore-bears—sacred and secular were inseparable.”8

There is no specific evidence about what our pre-literate ancestors thought. We can only speculate. But it’s quite possible they believed that animals possessed a spiritual essence. Anyone who has hunted knows that there is a qualitative difference between the live animal and the carcass. It’s not just that the animal stops moving; it’s also that the animal’s eyes look different. And then, when the animal is being field dressed, there is a palpable change…the sound of escaping air and fluid, the heat and sometimes steam that rises from the guts, the somewhat sweet smell of the blood. Certainly, it’s easy to understand why our ancestors might have believed that a life-spirit was leaving the animal. And it is easy to understand that modern hunter-gathers often practice what we call “animism,” the belief that nonhuman entities (animals, plants, and natural phenomena) possess a spirit or a spiritual essence.

There is a passion for hunting, something deeply implanted in the human breast.

—Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist

It’s easy to see that the cave paintings were, in part, an expression of that belief. Animals were a central feature of their lives, and the drawings could have been used as a “storyboard” describing past hunts and teaching new hunters. The cave art might have been a “vision board” that focused their efforts for future hunts. Those of us who have spent time hunting know that it’s easy to start dreaming about the animals long before we go out. The modern hunter usually pores over pictures from trail cameras. Tales of great hunting moments of the past fill the hunt camp. It is very much like an echo of the cave drawings of our ancestors.

By the time there were written records (about five thousand years ago), the great ancient civilizations (Egyptian, Indian, Chinese, and many more) had started to arise. Each of these cultures formalized their pantheon of deities. Most included a god or goddess of the hunt, and these were often identified with a specific animal. Diana the Huntress usually stands with a deer or hunting dogs. Artemis favors a stag. Cernunnos (Celtic god of the hunt) rules with a ram-headed serpent and a stag.

Many of the hunting deities of mythology were female. Their companion animal was often a stag. Ironically, paleoanthropologists propose that the role of women during our hunter-gatherer days was primarily as a gatherer. Modern scientists suggest that pregnancy and child-rearing were the women’s dominant roles. They suggest women would have hunted small animals (insects, grubs, snakes, small mammals) that they could catch easily and close to home (with children in tow). Researchers caution us that what we see in some modern hunter-gatherer cultures (where the women typically hunt small animals) may not reflect what our ancestors did.

In fact, more recent research (looking at burial records throughout North and South America) has shown that ancient big-game hunters were of both genders. They estimate that 30–50 percent were female.9 Prior to this finding, scientists thought that the women typically hunted low-risk, high-average-yield small animals (usually used to feed the immediate family), and the men hunted high-risk, high-single-yield big game (usually shared among a larger community). Further, the scientists suggested that the largess of the successful hunter (returning to the community with enough meat for everyone) would be socially important. It would earn him reciprocity from the other hunters (and give him insurance against less successful hunts). And it would give him status (yielding more access to female favors).

The “boom and bust” cycle of big game hunting may also have necessitated the preservation of meat by drying or smoking (or in cool climates by fermenting and in colder climates by freezing). And again, modern paleoanthropologists suggest that any care of meat products was the domain of the female, but this is largely conjecture.

And no matter how modern eyes interpret the past, humans were hunters, and both genders were hunters at least to some degree.

How, given the canine teeth and close-set eyes that declare the human animal to be a predator, had we come up with the notion that oat bran is more natural to eat than chicken?

—Valerie Martin, The Great Divorce

And Prey?

Humans were (and are) in the middle of the food chain or, as some scholars put it, the “food web.” We are predators, yes…and we are also prey. As prey, we were then (and we are still) highly vulnerable. We can’t run as fast as other prey animals. We don’t have fearsome fangs and claws. We don’t have thick hides. We die easily and quickly. Altogether, we are vulnerable prey that’s easy to eat. With no thick fur, the first bite is all food. Humans are really “soft targets.”

We often forget that we were once prey and still are prey. Every year there are many stories about animals attacking humans. In many areas of Africa, this is vividly true. Lions, leopards, hippopotamuses, and elephants (and less often, chimpanzees) regularly attack people. Crocodiles also regard us as prey, no matter where they find us. From south to north, bears (especially polar bears and grizzlies) and all the big cats think of us as prey.

One paper presented at the Gordon Research Conferences (an international forum for frontier research) summed it up:

Predator-prey interactions have shaped all life on earth, and it is this underlying commonality that helps explain the development of so many parallel, but as yet, independent research paths…Though we tend to think of predator-prey interactions as pertaining to other species more than humans, there is increasing recognition that many aspects of the human condition have been shaped by our…history as both predators and prey.10

We are wholly dependent on the organisms who pass life along to us…We are animals participating fully in the ecological network…We hold membership in the environment no less than any other species.

—Richard K. Nelson, “Finding Common Ground” in A Hunter’s Heart

Everyone who has hunted has also interacted with their prey. Every creature has its “comfort zone.” The partridge flushes at about ten yards of our approach. The black bear avoids us at about fifty yards. The white-tailed doe puts her tail up at about one hundred yards. If you get too close, you will evoke their “prey response.”

We humans have this “prey response” too. One of the basic reactions that we have (and have had throughout time) is the “fight or flight” stress response. Our brain chemistry helps us respond to stress by mobilizing all the forces we might need either to fight or flee from a predator. In the moment of aggression, chemicals like adrenaline flood into our bloodstream. Our breathing increases. Our blood goes to our large muscles. Our attention intensifies. Our reaction time quickens. Our pain perception decreases. We are ready for the fight! Or we are ready to run away from the threat! What’s interesting is that when we hunters are stalking in the field, we are demonstrating classical “predator response.” This is one of the most enjoyable aspects of hunting.

As researchers said in an article published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information:

Thus, the confrontation between predator and prey is an antagonistic dance, involving common actions and competing motives that may be part of humans’ mixed emotional inheritance.11

The lion and the lamb may indeed lie together in our brains.

The essence of wildlife is wildness.And the heartbeat of wildness is predation.

—David Petersen, “Hunting as Philosophy Professor” in Hunting—Philosophy for Everyone

We come by our predator-prey blend honestly. These traits come from our deep past. They are badges of our ancestors’ survival in a predator-prey world.

It is easiest to see the physical characteristics that we inherited and sometimes a little harder to identify the mental and emotional ones. Some are still assets, and some may seem outdated. They are all important in understanding our current selves and the journey that got us here.

• Our teeth still include the signs of meat-tearing fangs.

• Pre-verbal alarm calls (screams) stay with us from infancy through our adult lives.

• “Hair standing on end” or “goose bumps” are muscle reactions that make all primates’ fur stand up and make them appear larger and more threatening to a potential predator.

• Our eyesight is highly tuned. Notably, it provides the binocular vision that gives us depth perception and the accurate distance assessment we need as predators. Even with our forward-pointing eyes, we also have good peripheral vision, which is the hallmark of the prey animal.

• Animals capture our attention. In tests, researchers found that we are significantly better at noticing changes in pictures of people and animals than we are at noticing changes in inanimate objects, even though inanimate objects are the primary hazards in modern life.12

• Aggression is a modern trait that would have been an important aspect of survival for our ancestors, not only to capture their prey but also to threaten those who preyed on them.

• Humans maintain a general level of anxiety that aids our situational awareness, useful for both predators and prey. But in modern life, it often has no outlet and may contribute to many of the modern stress-related diseases.

• Intelligence is a particularly human trait that was probably our best offense and our best defense in the wilderness.

• Human social behavior and cooperation likely helped us achieve mutual protection and security and very likely helped in the hunt.

Meat supplied a more concentrated package of calories and nutrients than weeds and berries. Not being the biggest and strongest members of the food chain, however, Homo carnivorous also required more cunning and wile to bring down that mastodon. One theory holds that a bigger brain and a longer period of nurturing and apprenticeship had to evolve to master the hunt.

—Gary Stix, “Homo Carnivorous” in Scientific American

Tool development was a major factor in giving early humans a predatory advantage and may also have helped in driving away animals that threatened their security. As a predator, the human without tools is very much at a disadvantage. He has thin skin, no claws or fangs, weak bite strength, weak gripping strength, relatively light bones, and relatively poor overall physical strength compared to other apex predators.

However, our social skills, intelligence, and tools eventually gave us the advantage.

Hunter and hunted are partners, the presence of each honing the instincts and senses of the other. The hunter possesses the skills to chase; the hunted the skills to evade. Each provides the other with an energy carefully balanced. Life, through death, provides life. The predator is integral to the prey.

—Ruth Rudner, “The Call of the Climb” in A Hunter’s Heart

Presumably through selection of the fittest (and de-selection of those who could not defend or flee), we humans developed a superb set of responses to fear (or stress or excitement). Since most of us no longer must outrun a lion, sometimes these reactions may seem to be a little strong for the situation. (You receive a late-night email from your boss, and your heart rate jumps. You don’t really need more blood pumping through your veins to read an email, but there it is.)

Without technology, we have little advantage in a fight against animals with fangs and claws. Ancient man lacked much in the way of technology. A club is not much of a defense against a charging predator. Ancient man had only one real advantage: his wits. And, by eating a protein-rich, mostly meat diet, he fueled the highest-functioning brain in all the animal kingdom.

Amnesia

Over time, with the advent of agriculture and then modern urban life, most people forgot their hunting roots. Within a few hundred years, we lost our conscious memory of the previous thousands.

Ironically, modern people often dislike the very things that made them who they are. The diet that fueled our magnificent brains has become unfashionable. Modern people often fear the technology of hunting. They sometimes see the “fight or flight” stress reaction as a liability. Natural aggression seeks a socially acceptable outlet. Many of the skills and traits that stimulated our rapid rise in the animal world, when misdirected or exaggerated by modern life, can lead to human reactions, such as anxiety attacks, hyper-vigilance, and misplaced aggression. Is it possible that not having a productive outlet for these skills can cause pathologies?

The predator-prey world designed our brain chemistry. While we’ve become more cerebral, our bodies are responding as though we still live in a world that’s populated with persistent predatory threats and irresistible prey opportunities. For many people, this feels like having a hammer but no nails. This sense of being the right person at the wrong time produces an unfulfilled yearning…but a yearning for what?

Indeed, humans must have influenced the very evolution of large mammals like deer, elk, moose, buffalo, antelope, and caribou; and so, we ourselves helped to create the qualities we love so deeply in these creatures: speed, grace, agility, elusiveness, strength, and wildness itself.

—Richard K. Nelson, “Finding Common Ground” in A Hunter’s Heart

Chapter One—Summary

A brief review of human history demonstrates that modern humanity is just a thin veneer over our vast history as hunter-gatherers. Until very recently, hunting has been to us what it is to the lion pride or the wolf pack.

Hunting is who we were and who we are, and it is deeply embedded in our brains and our culture. Hunting formed us. It is tightly woven into every aspect of that which defines us. Hunting is inextricably embedded in our eating, our thinking, our toolmaking, our speech, our social structures, our art, and our beliefs. Hunting defines what it is to be human, and we cannot understand humanity without understanding hunting.

Chapter Two

A Guilty Pleasure

In this chapter, we look for connections between our ancient past and our modern life. We are looking for connections that may help to restore our collective “amnesia.” We are hoping to unite present-day humanity with our hunting past. We want to remember how we found a way to kill and eat meat. We need to understand why we wanted to do it over and over again.

Going “back to your roots” is a popular saying. It usually means going back to your place of origin, going back to where you grew up. But it also means going back to where you felt connected, connected to the things that are important to life itself. Going back to your roots also means returning to who you really are, returning to your life source.

Today, there’s a wave of interest in “heritage travel.” This brings travelers to geographic locations that are closer to their origins. In a Forbes article, Tom Marchant writes that heritage travel “can be one of the most re-affirming experiences in life and give travellers a greater sense of history and identity.”13 The idea of an “eco-vacation” is often similar. This is where the traveler spends a week in the jungle or another remote spot. You’re away from the digital world without electricity or running water. You’re connecting to an earlier time in human history.

And hunting is something that’s even closer to our origins than heritage travel or a week without modern luxuries. However, it is increasingly challenging to find a place to hunt. Cities, suburbs, farms, and summer cottages cover much of our land. Often, private owners control most of the bush land. The government manages much of the forest. Even with the difficulty of finding a place to hunt, there’s a genuine revival in hunting of all types.

Women are driving this revival. Many people speculate why this is so, and there are likely a variety of reasons. Women may perceive hunting as a “man’s world” and as another frontier to explore. But women who try it and like it say there’s more to it. As Alanna Mitchell reports in a Toronto Globe and Mail article, one young huntress says, “It’s uplifting to be part of it, to be self-sufficient.”14 The feeling of self-sufficiency is empowering. With empowerment comes confidence. For some women, hunting generates a primal response. They are electrified by the experience of being one with the “circle of life.”

For both men and women, hunting is not just about food. It reinforces their connection to nature. The act of hunting, and especially the kill, is one of the most intimate, primal, respectful acts in which a human can take part. Hunting vividly reinforces the importance of being able to take care of oneself and, even more, being able to provide for the family. As the old saying goes, there’s nothing like being able to “bring home the bacon.”

For women who hunt, and especially if they hunt big game, it’s difficult to articulate their reasons and motivations. They often call the experience indescribable. This speaks to the mystic quality of both the hunt and the kill. It is deeply and mysteriously spiritual. Some call it intimacy. Some say it is the closest they’ve ever felt to nature (or God) and to what it means to be human. Others say that the world stands still for a time.

It’s the same for men as for women. Men usually can’t (and often won’t) articulate the feelings they have when hunting. It’s not machismo; quite the opposite. It’s the excitement you feel while fully engaged in hunting. It’s a vibrant connection with reality that’s almost super-real. Some describe it as a mystical experience. They call it a feeling of unity with the absolute (whether God, nature, or the universe). They say they achieve a spiritual understanding of truth that’s beyond the intellect.

And when the game approaches, the excitement can feel almost unbearable. You try to stay calm. You focus on the job at hand. Yet your leg muscles tremble. Your heart pounds in your ears. You have to command yourself to breathe!

When hunters talk to hunters, they know. Each knows whether the other has felt that primal response, one that taps into the core of what it means to be human. The surge of adrenaline provides a thrill that goes from your hat to your boots. It makes the hunter feel fully alive and connected to a primitive reality, a connection that spans all time.

That thrill can be addictive. If the hunter’s usual game doesn’t provide that adrenaline hit, he may decide to change the game and choose a more dangerous type of animal. He may change the location to an exotic place such as the jungles of Africa. He may change the technology from rifle to bow to spear. Many people lack the budget for dangerous game hunts. So, they watch the TV shows and read the books about exotic hunts. And they have regular fantasies about delivering the final shot to the charging Cape buffalo. Or they imagine themselves saving the day as the roaring lion makes his final leap toward the hunting party, the human prey.

On Killing

New hunters especially must come to terms with the fact that they intend to kill an animal. If they are tightly tied to the idea of the “circle of life,” they quickly accept that a successful outcome for them means an unsuccessful one for their prey. Otherwise, they may have to work through feelings of anxiety or guilt until they come to appreciate that some things die for others to live. Eventually they are ready to take full responsibility for sourcing their own nutrition. They see hunting as an alternative to outsourcing their shopping for meat to a food chain. They see that their meat doesn’t need to come in plastic wrap from the grocery store. And they will find hunting moves them a step closer to their roots. It moves them a step closer to fulfillment as a human animal.

But it’s killing, isn’t it?

Then why does it thrill you?

Many people have heard the expression “the thrill of the hunt.” They think it means that the process of seeking the game is thrilling…and it is. But the big rush occurs at the moment of climax. As the game animal draws near and enters within range, “buck fever” can overcome the hunter. The brain dumps chemicals into the blood and produces the fight-flight response. The hunter struggles for self-control. Breathe, he says to himself, in an effort to calm his body and his mind. Then he shoots a shot or looses an arrow. And a huge rush, a euphoria floods over him.

Why do hunters kill?

José Ortega y Gasset, author of the much-quoted Meditations on Hunting, is often recognized as the father of modern hunting ethics. In his Meditations he says, “One does not hunt in order to kill; on the contrary, one kills in order to have hunted.”15 We hunt for the thrill of the chase and the ecstatic peace that comes with being out there trying to beat a wild animal at his own game. When the chance finally comes, there is no doubt; we will kill. But it’s not about being a killer.

Asking a hunter why he kills is like asking a fish why it swims or a bird why it flies. It is defining. It is ancestral. It’s “in our blood.”

“Hoo, boy!”

The chemical cocktail that the brain dumps into our bloodstream during the hunt, and especially during those moments leading up to and following the kill, is the definition of what it means to be Homo sapiens. This process of dumping chemicals has reinforced our response to fear, stealth, and excitement, all of which are part and parcel of the hunt…and of being human.

Most of us are familiar with adrenaline. It and related neurochemicals work together to give us an instantaneous response to a stressor. It increases our blood pressure, pushes blood and oxygen to the big muscles, increases our energy, and focuses our attention.

Cortisol is another stress hormone but one that takes a little longer to act (minutes, rather than seconds). It helps regulate body fluids and channels energy away from nonessential body systems (nonessential to the stress response, that is). Like most aspects of the stress response, it’s very good when you’re in a predator-prey situation and very bad when it becomes a chronic reaction to daily living. In an article at HuffPost, Sarah Klein explains:

When you stew on a problem, the body continuously releases cortisol, and chronic elevated levels can lead to serious issues. Too much cortisol can suppress the immune system, increase blood pressure and sugar, decrease libido, produce acne, contribute to obesity and more.16

Is the stress reaction different for men and women? Well, sort of. Testosterone (the principal male sex hormone) and estrogen (the principal female sex hormone) play a role in how we react to stress, as do the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin.17 For our ancient ancestors, dopamine may well have played an important role in reinforcing survival behaviors. And this mechanism may be part of our feeding (and, perhaps, over-feeding) behaviors today. This is explained well in a Forbes article:

The smell of food stimulates the amygdala…a center of emotion, and causes further dopamine release… Sight, smell and taste of food stimulates release of endorphins (opioids) and dopamine…further stimulating the conscious part of the brain to eat... The human brain has a multitude of ways to stimulate appetite and only a few to turn it off. That makes sense…because until recently mankind existed in a state of constant food scarcity. “Think about it: Your brain is walking through these megastores and saying, ‘Aren’t I a great hunter? I can catch king salmon or Kobe beef without any chance of being attacked by a sabre-toothed tiger,’” says Mark Gold, distinguished professor of neuroscience at the McKnight Brain Institute at the University of Florida.18

Other scientists propose that dopamine is key to human intelligence, including language and thought, memory and reasoning.

But the big discovery in the research community lately is oxytocin.19 Oxytocin is a hormone that decreases the stress responses, reduces fearfulness, and enhances relaxation. It is present in both males and females, though usually at larger concentrations in females. It’s an ancient and powerful hormone present in all mammals. It originates in the deepest part of our brain.20

Essentially, then, women’s counterbalance to the fight-or-flight response, to the stress of the hunt, is oxytocin…a feel-good hormone that can produce euphoria. Men, on the other hand, regulate through testosterone. Many people in the past have associated testosterone with aggressive behaviors. But newer research indicates that testosterone is associated with status-enhancing behavior, both aggressive and nonaggressive.21 Testosterone is an important factor in hunter-gatherer survival.

For both men and women, oxytocin is released under stress and during sex. At the same time, while stress is relieved, the body gets a shot of endorphins.22 The main purpose of endorphins is to reduce pain, but they may also produce euphoria. Many things can cause their release, including eating chocolate, exercise, sex, and any situation that initiates the fight-or-flight response.

I think the core of my love of, my need for, hunting is found in the primitive, by which I mean ancestral, ecstasy felt at two moments…that moment of decision, that I am going to kill [at which time] I am as pure a creature as I’ll ever be, involved in an act of monumental seriousness…And then I also hunt for the moment after the shot…a primitive sort of triumph in having killed…celebration and regret that leaves me awash with emotion, hyperaware of colors and scents and feeling physically lighter, as after extraordinary sex.

—Bruce Woods, “The Hunting Problem” in A Hunter’s Heart

Are You Feeling like Prey?

The term “fight-or-flight response” was first coined by Walter Cannon and popularized in his book, The Wisdom of the Body, published in 1932. Since then, stress researchers have added “freeze” to the possible responses. Some social scientists believe the “freeze” response is a stress reaction precipitated by a hopeless situation. Others believe that it is a moment of concealment (with no movement, it is hard for predators to see you) so you can consider your options and make a decision.

Dr. Peter Levine (medical biophysicist and psychologist) has a wonderful illustration of the freeze response and how very useful it can be. When Dr. Levine gives lectures on surviving trauma, he shows a video of a cheetah chasing a baby gazelle. He is trying to show the audience exactly how the freeze response works. He explains that the video is short because the average time for a cheetah attack from start to finish is about forty-five seconds. So, he makes this additional (and especially important) point about our stress response: it is designed to function for less than a minute. It’s not designed to respond for weeks on end, as it is in chronically stressed humans who don’t know how to turn it off.

In the video, the cheetah catches up to the gazelle. You watch as the cheetah ruthlessly sinks its teeth into the baby animal’s neck. The cheetah throws it down on the ground several times, making sure it’s completely immobilized. It’s a game-over moment if there ever was one. Then something miraculous happens. When the cheetah gets distracted defending its “kill,” the gazelle seemingly comes back to life. It’s as if it is waking from a deep freeze. You see it shiver all over, and then it stands up and runs away, making a clean break.23

Chapter Two—Summary

Our ancient past and our modern life are inextricably intertwined. As the roots are to the tree (vast, interwoven, nourishing, uplifting, and usually unseen), so is hunting to humanity. We think of “going back to our roots” as seeking out our place of origin, revisiting the land where we grew up. But at a deeper, more profound, and more important level, it is a journey back to where we feel connected to the things that are important to life itself. It means returning to who we are. It is a pilgrimage to seek out our life source. And for humankind, that can only be found in hunting.

Chapter Three

“I’ll Have What She’s Having”

We tend to analyze our history from the perspective of present-day social conventions. In this chapter, we fight that trend. We will dig below the surface that our modern, urban way of thinking has constructed. We will look at why people hunt, even though most could easily feed themselves without hunting.

Many hunters have a difficult time expressing their motivation for hunting, so they use justification instead. When the media surveys hunters and asks, “Why do you hunt?” the hunter is likely to say, “Because it puts good, quality meat on my family’s table.” This is certainly a truly splendid outcome of the hunt, but is it really the reason we go out and endure the long hours, often in challenging conditions, in order to perhaps have a single opportunity to put meat on the table?

Is there a better answer? A more honest answer? A more complete answer? Yes. An anonymous user on an online forum could be the spokesperson for us all when he provides this honest and wide-ranging answer:

We hunt to be alone, to observe wildlife without being observed ourselves, to face one of the greatest challenges in this world: to take a wild animal on his own turf, using our brain and little else. We don’t swagger into the woods and slay Bambi when he meekly peeks from behind a tree. We have to use every sense, every bit of experience we have, and when we accomplish our goal, it’s a milestone. The adrenaline rush I get from it is like nothing else in this world. The fulfillment of long hard hours of hunting is definitely worth it!24

It’s in our blood, and it’s in our bones. We hunt because that is what formed us.

The only adequate response to a being that lives obsessed with avoiding capture is to try to catch it…the sudden flurry of a partridge behind a thicket generates that strange contraction of our nervous and circulatory systems, whose symptoms seem extraordinarily like fright, although they represent the opposite of fear, since they end in an automatic movement of pursuit.

—José Ortega y Gasset, Meditations on Hunting

The “Predator Instinct”—Then and Now

Whether we are predator or prey, our bodies prepare us in much the same way. While researching the details of how our bodies respond in a predator-prey situation, the authors were struck by how similar the hunting brain-body reactions are to the sex brain-body reactions. As coauthor Dave said when we first discussed writing this book:

Man has three drives: to get food, to not be food, and to procreate. These drives are closely interwoven, and talking about things like this will help us to understand how much hunting is woven into our being.

The predator response derives from our ancient worldview. We categorize other living creatures as threats (predators), food (prey), or mates. If the brain shouts, “It’s prey!” the cascade of chemicals invokes the appropriate actions to pursue, to capture, and to kill. And the consummation of this response is a strong euphoria and a healthy feeling of satisfaction. The hunter then brings meat back to the tribe, and his place in his social group is reinforced.

Dr. Paul Shepard, widely considered to be the father of modern deep ecology, advocated for a genuine understanding of man the hunter and a return to our hunter-gatherer roots. David Petersen supports Paul Shepard’s point of view: