The bow hunter represents what an authentic hunter is in today's day and age. The bow hunter can drive to the store and buy the food he needs to provide for his family. He will spend hundreds of dollars a year for his hunting trip and equipment. Why must he hunt? When he
blends in with the environment using full camouflage and scent control. When he becomes one with nature using stealth, agility and his heightened senses. When he brings down his prey using the most basic of methods. Authentic hunters do not hunt to kill for killing's sake or to acquire a trophy. The authentic hunter is a person who wants to be a part of nature as humans have been for up until the last 100 yrs of our existence by supplying food for his family using his skills. Hunting with a rifle is another popular form of hunting, but it does not require as much skill and knowledge of the environment and the animals to bring down your prey. Just about anybody can shoot a deer from 200 yards away and not have to worry about scent, stealth and camouflage. It's not so easy to get 20 yards away and shoot it with a bow and arrow. Rifle hunting doesn’t require you to become part of the environment the way bow hunting does, which is why I consider bow hunting more authentic. Although the bows use much more technology than they used to, it still represents a very basic form of weaponry compared to a rifle. In today's digital age hunting is not necessary to provide food for our families, but it is necessary to fulfill a desire to be intimate with nature in a way that taking pictures or hiking through the woods cannot. The authentic hunter becomes part of nature’s circle of life, through this he gains respect and honor for the animals that cannot be acquired by simply taking pictures. Authentic hunters are connected to the animals in the most natural of ways, life and death.
There are hunters that I do not consider authentic hunters. Trophy hunters are a good example. Trophy hunters are out to get the largest animal they can, usually on guided hunts that require little to no effort except to pull the trigger. This form of hunting is not authentic in any way. Gunn puts it best when he says “Trophy hunters, however, who kill purely for the sake of acquiring prestigious evidence that they have killed an animal, surely act immorally, because they achieve a trivial benefit for themselves at the expense of the life of an animal” (Gunn 75). He points out that the satisfaction of killing an animal in that form of hunting is trivial compared to having to use the skills required by the authentic hunter. Nils points out that “The ethical power of hunting as sport, according to the competition and winning connotations, is minimal. In fact, if the ultimate goal is a trophy, the paradigm has negative ethical connotations for the general public” (Nils 315).
The general public is against trophy hunting and indeed so are authentic hunters. Often times though, the general public places all hunters in the same category. It is easy to put a bad light on all hunters when forming an opinion of them from the smaller population of non-authentic hunters. We must understand that not all hunters are the same. Kellert states “To sort out the truth, we must begin by recognizing that hunters are not a species apart. Hunters are people-fathers and mothers, daughters and sons, saints and sinners alike. If a person is a slob hunter, he’s predictably a slob in every regard: work, family, community, traffic, even what passes in his life for spirituality. There’s nothing in the act of hunting that promotes moral erosion or incites blood lust, as hunting’s harshest critics, wishing to believe the worst, choose to believe. Rather than creating personalities and worldviews, hunting merely reflects them, good and bad, as shaped by the overarching human environment. In the end, everything turns on attitude and expectation: What you bring to the hunt shapes not only how you hunt but also what you take away (Kellert 183).
This describes how an authentic hunter is authentic in all aspects of life, not just hunting. It is unfortunate that all hunters do not have the same moral ethics, but in the real world it is a fact that there will always be those hunters that are not authentic. Bruckner brings up a good example: “Not only do real-world hunters sometimes cause this gratuitous pain for animals, but some also negatively impact the welfare of other humans. The so-called “slob” hunters hunt drunk, trespass, litter, cut fence, act belligerently, and violate game laws by hunting out of season or exceeding harvest limits. Such hunters prompt other outdoor enthusiasts to curtail their outdoor recreational activities (e.g., hiking, horseback riding, cross-country skiing) during hunting seasons out of fear of confrontations with hunters or, worse, being hit by a bullet intended for a game animal. Indeed, annually hunters shoot and injure or kill hundreds of their own ranks as well as innocent non-hunting bystanders, often as a result of violating basic firearm safety rules or by shooting at human movement mistaken for the movement of a game animal” (Bruckner 322).
The type of hunter Bruckner describes is just as irresponsible in all aspects of life and his morals do not reflect that of an authentic hunter. Kellert writes about the moral attitude of an authentic hunter towards nature and the environment. “What I bring to the hunt is a visceral desire to play my naturally evolved, ecologically sound, and (therefore) naturally moral role as an active participant in the most intimate workings of wild nature. I want to live, so far as possible, the way humans are meant to live. I want to nourish my body with clean, lean, wild meat, the food that made us human (Kellert 183-84). I am opposed to slob hunting and hunting simply to attain a trophy, it is morally wrong to hunt irresponsibly or to kill for no other reason than to have a large set of antlers on the wall. This shows the difference in the attitudes and morals of authentic hunters compared to non-authentic.
Now I will discuss why I consider bow hunting more authentic than rifle hunting. The connection with nature that is made while bow hunting is completely different than that of rifle hunting. Rifle hunters are not allowed to where camouflage while hunting (they must wear orange) and it is not necessary to use the highly developed skills required for bow hunting simply because you do not need to get as close to the animal. Scent control, camouflage, and stealth while rifle hunting are just not used because you are too far away to care. Rifle hunting is typically what one does when just starting out and learning to hunt, but when that is no longer a challenge they move on to something that requires more skill. Bruckner states “As one example, one does find that some hunters, once content to harvest big game within the range of a modern rifle (200–300 yards), grow tired of what they perceive as an exercise of mere shooting skill. They turn instead to mastering a different hunting instrument with a shorter lethal range, for example, a primitive flintlock muzzleloading rifle (125 yards), a hunting pistol (75 yards), or a bow and arrow (40 yards). New challenges are then provided. First, one must gain knowledge of the new instrument and develop skill in its use. Second, one must learn new hunting techniques, or master familiar techniques at a new level, in order to stalk or attract the quarry within shooting range. The demand for knowledge of the game animal increases as the demand to get closer to it increases” (Bruckner 318).
This need for more skills gradually puts you more and more in tune with nature as the bow hunting skills develop. Kellert vividly describes the connection with nature when he states “When I get out there and get slowed down and tuned in enough to perceive and appreciate even the subtlest elements of natural creation-a warm mosaic of lichen on cold granite, a velvety fuzz of moss on a rotting log, the symphonic purling of a mountain stream, the sight and sound of one leaf falling-when I’ve got that good old “savage” connection going, I’m absolutely aglow with the joy of life, and unafraid of death. Without the intercession of clergy, shaman, or psychotropic drug, I have stepped through the cultural wall and into a primordially sacred realm. I have entered heaven on earth” (Kellert 184). To blend in with the environment so seamlessly is very exhilarating. My senses while bow hunting are more alive than at any other time and every little nuance of nature is revealed. It is truly amazing. That type of closeness with nature isn’t possible with rifle hunting.
I would now like to explore authentic hunting compared to hiking and photography. The question, as Kellert describes is “Yet why – I’m sometimes asked, and fairly so – why can’t thoughtful, nature-loving people attain this level of neo-animistic spirituality just by watching, or perhaps photographing, wildlife, without looking to kill? It’s a good, hard question” (Kellert 184). It is true that hiking and photography put you close to nature physically, but it does not put you close to nature spiritually the way authentic hunting does. It is the life and death aspect that binds the authentic hunter to nature and the animals he hunts. The IWMC website says “In the same way that young children spontaneously imitate the gestures, postures and sounds of animals, the young hunter identifies with the animals he hunts. He studies them, tracks them, listens for them, anticipates them, calls them, even dreams them. When the moment of truth arrives the young man is caught off guard at the sight of the beautiful beast, bloodied, soiled and lifeless. In an eternal moment he realizes that he, too, is mortal and impermanent. At the deepest level he is stunned by the awareness that despite all appearances to the contrary he and the animal are essentially one, part of something far greater than themselves. It is a supreme moment of humility that launches a boy’s spiritual life and connects him to nature”.
My own experience as a young boy was very similar. As a child growing up, I spent every summer and weekends on my grandpa’s farm in northern Michigan. I learned at an early age where the food on the table was coming from. My grandma killed and dressed the chickens and geese. My grandpa slaughtered and butchered the hogs. The entire family hunted for deer, rabbits and pheasant to feed the family. My grandparents were far from wealthy and buying meat simply was not in the budget. My first kill was a rabbit with my BB gun. I was 10 years old and had been sitting in the blind for a few hours before the rabbit came into view. I took careful aim and shot the rabbit, it was a perfect shot. I was very excited when I went to pick up my kill. I ran over to the rabbit, but when I got there, I just stood there and stared at it. A second ago it was eating and hopping around, now it was dead, and I had killed it. I cried. When I got back to the house however, I had a feeling of pride and fulfillment. I never cried again, but now when I make a kill I always pay my respects to the animal and thank it for providing for my family. I am one with nature.
The CIC Wildlife website describes it as “Hunters have a psychological propensity for activities that provide a close tie with the life and death process of nature. It allows some humans to be more than mere observers. Hunting allows entrance into nature again as participants, which is man's true and most natural relationship.” So why can’t photography take place of authentic hunting? Simple, the connection with nature is not as intimate, not as spiritual. As the Conservation Force website puts it “Essentially, hunting is a spiritual experience precisely because it submerges us in nature, and that experience teaches us that we are participants in something far greater than ourselves. When we hunt we experience extreme alertness to the point of an altered state of consciousness. For the hunter everything is alive, and he is one with the animal and its environment.”
Bow hunting for an authentic hunter like myself is a part of my life that brings me close to nature in a way that nothing else can. It is a part of me. Authentic hunting is a way of life. An authentic hunter is an authentic person. I’ve shown that the morals and attitude of an authentic hunter differ from the “slob hunter” and the trophy hunter. I’ve described why the bow hunter represents the authentic hunter in ways that a rifle hunter does not and I have given the reasons why hiking and photography cannot take the place of hunting for the authentic hunter. It is not easy for everyone to understand, especially non-hunters, but perhaps Evans sums it up best when he writes “Not everyone needs to hunt as a matter of personal authenticity, but in our cultural values we need to acknowledge and affirm the place of respectful hunting as one aspect, but a crucial and essential one, of the way we take our place in the broader world of which we are a part. Just as it is important to many people to know that wolves once again roam the Yellowstone system, even if they know that they will never see one, I think that it is important that we be a culture in which respectful hunting is practiced and taught – important even to those of us who do not hunt” (Evans 163).
CIC Wildlife.org. 2007. CIC-International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation. 10 July 2007 Conservation Force.org. 2007. Conservation Force. 10 July 2007 Evans, J. Claude. With Respect for Nature. Stare University of New York Press. Gunn, Alastair S. "Environmental Ethics and Trophy Hunting." Ethics & the Environment 6.1 (Spring 2001): 68. IWMC.org. 2007. IWMC World Conservation Trust. 10 July 2007 Kellert, Stephen R., and Timothy J. Farnham. The Good in Nature and Humanity. Washington: Island Press. Peterson, M. Nils. "An Approach for Demonstrating the Social Legitimacy of Hunting." Wildlife Society Bulletin 32.2 (Summer 2004): 310-321.
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