THE HUNT
What it Means to Hunt: A Connection with Nature and Beyond
“Maybe stalking the woods is as vital to the human condition as playing music or putting words to paper. Maybe hunting has as much of a claim on our civilized selves as anything else. After all, the earliest forms of representational art reflect hunters and prey. While the arts were making us spiritually viable, hunting did the heavy lifting of not only keeping us alive, but inspiring us. To abhor hunting is to hate the place from which you came, which is akin to hating yourself in some distant, abstract way.”
— Steven Rinella
Last year’s Thanksgiving was a special one. I had just acquired a piece of private land.
While I’ve always hunted deer, turkey and ducks with firearms, this was my first season with a compound bow.
It was a cool, crisp morning with freezing rain. I had been sitting up in a tree for 2 hours just waiting, before coming to the conclusion that the deer were all bedded down. So, I decided to venture out and push towards where I had seen them on my scouting trips. Masked by the rain, I covered ground quickly and quietly.
As I walked, the constant white noise of rainfall and birds chirping was suddenly interrupted by a snap of a twig. For a second I thought it was me, but all at once all the noise around me was muffled by the sound of my own heartbeat ringing in my ears. I looked up and there he was, an 8-point buck, glaring in my direction.
As the buck gradually approached, I stood there, frozen in awe. It felt like an eternity. From 50 yards away, he moved another 10 closer, until an oak tree obscured his line of sight. I remember it all vividly. Everything almost happened simultaneously. I could see the steam coming off of him as his head peeked beyond the tree. The musty smell of wet deer fur. My heartbeat pounding in my ears... It felt like a scene out of Jeremiah Johnson.
This was my chance, or so I thought. I lifted my bow, feeling adrenaline in my veins. I wasn’t alone. I felt no weight behind my cam-less draw, as if my all of my ancestors were helping me pull. Reassuring and steadying my aim, I could feel their presence. Especially my grandfather. I knew it was him. It felt as if I had gone back in time, and in that moment, there a calmness washed over me. I felt strength. I felt love.
Within milliseconds, the rush of emotions overtook me. I found myself smiling and crying at the same time. For those few fleeting seconds I was one with life and all of God’s creation. Past, Present, and Future generations were all there with me, guiding my shot. Before I knew it, a feeling I wish I could bottle up and share with the world, was over in a flash. My mind had snapped back to reality, I was so caught up in what had just happened that I lost my sense of time.
Not knowing how long I had been standing there, both of our eyes locked on to each other. My conscious screamed “Shoot!” — so I let loose an arrow that had this broadsided buck dead to rights. Halfway to the buck, the arrow struck a branch whistled in the other direction. The majestic buck fled, disappearing into the thicket.
If you saw my face you would have assumed I had just bagged a Bull Elk in Montana. I didn’t care about the outcome. I felt like I had just reconnected with long lost relatives and I’d give anything to relive that feeling again. I returned home as a grateful and content hunter, still smiling as I relived the experience.
What transpired in those woods that morning was extremely rare. But it doesn’t take something extraordinary for you to appreciate the wonders of nature. Hunting is more than just bagging game. It’s an opportunity to connect with nature and experience its greatness. We are a part of nature, and no matter how hard we try to suppress our primal instincts, they remain.
As a reader of WarKitchen, you likely have a deeper understanding of nutrition and the complexity of the human body. That it’s an intricate machine that can perform great things when fueled properly. One of the main pillars of nutrition is meat, and plenty of it. So why not cut out the middle man and go straight to the source for pennies on the dollar?
Hunting provides numerous benefits. A walk in the woods can be cathartic, allowing for quiet reflection and contemplation. Some of the greatest ideas in human history have been born in similar settings. Hunting also provides not just a vital survival skill but the ability to provide your family with the most natural, nutritious food you can possibly get.
As you harvest your game, you come to appreciate and respect life. Preparing the next meal helps you understand how the animal provides nutrition for your family. You learn about the body structure, muscle, bone, and sinew, and the different cuts of meat and organs, including nature’s very original multivitamin — the organs.
Confidence and pride grow with every successful hunt, spilling over into everyday life. There’s nothing like knowing exactly where your food comes from and everything involved in obtaining it. When you hunt, you learn the habits of the deer you’re tracking, such as their age and behavior. Do they act like a young buck, or are they a seasoned vet that doesn’t chase the first sign of a doe during rut season? What do they like to munch on at different times of the year? And, in case of inclement weather, do you see them bedding under a cluster of pine trees? By tracking pathways, deer pellets, and rubs, you accumulate knowledge and deepen your appreciation and respect for the animal you’re hunting. This understanding leads to a less wasteful approach to meat utilization, as you understand the effort it took to get it on your table. The more you put into the experience, the more you get out of it. A sense of inclusion and symbiosis with nature is one of the greatest accomplishments man can reap.
Hunting is all of these things and more. It’s the wonderful memories made with you and your loved ones. The stories to tell, and the passing of this vital skill to future generations.
The hunter’s horn sounds early for some, later for others. For some unfortunates, poisoned by city sidewalks and sentenced to a cement
jungle more horrifying than anything to be found in Tanganyika, the horn of the hunter never winds at all.
But deep in the guts of most men is buried the involuntary response to the hunter’s horn, a prickle of the nape hairs, an acceleration of the pulse, an atavistic memory of his fathers, who killed first with stone, and then with club, and then with spear, and then with bow, and then with gun, and finally with formulae.”
— Robert Ruark
Recommended Resources:
GrowingDeer.tv (YouTube)
Dr. Grant Woods expert in deer biology. He dives into habitat management, herd management and predator management.Whitetail Habitat Solutions (Website, YouTube)
Jeff Sturgis. An avid conservationist who specializes in deer habits and agriculture. Jeff has been recording every hunt he’s been on since his 20’s!Meateater.com (Website, YouTube)
Steven Rinella, more well known for his show on netflix. He provides entertainment and a more general introduction to hunting, cooking, and conservation. Personally I highly recommend his literature, which is available on Amazon. Steven is also one of the most highly respected conservationists in the hunting community.
This article was written by Joe, and originally published in Issue 10 of the WarKitchen magazine. To read the article in its original form, you can do so here. If you’re on the newsletter, you’ll be the first to know when the next issue drops.