Friday, September 28, 2007

Explaining hunting to non-hunters

Today I found the following article that I want to share with you all. It is a very well written piece, explaining what hunting means to most of us. Enjoy!

Explaining hunting to non-hunters
By Ball Gary

A man I admire very much, a passionate hunter, wildlife scientist, scholar and teacher perhaps sums it all up best in a line which ends virtually all of his correspondence, e-mail or snail-mail.

He writes: "For those who understand, no explanation is necessary and for those who do not, none is possible."

This is a pretty blunt encapsulation of the thinking hunter's dilemma. How do we explain hunting to non-hunters?

I've spent a lot of time in my life trying to explain the gap which divides those of us who hunt and those who do not hunt. I'm not sure that I have had any success at all, despite all that I have written. Almost invariably, those who don't like hunting focus on killing, on taking the life of a living creature. When I try to explain hunting, I focus on almost everything but the actual killing. To kill or not to kill is the question which divides us, and one which will likely continue to divide us.

I am the descendant of generation upon generation of successful hunters. When I hunt, I connect in a deliberate and conscious way with my ancestors, my heritage and my environment. I am the only creature in the planet's food chain capable of making a reasoned decision to take or to spare the life of another creature. I am the only predator in the ecosystem with a rational understanding of my impact upon that system. I am the only predator capable of deliberately choosing to assist in the survival of another species. I make those choices because I am a hunter, because I am connected with my ecosystem in the most intimate way, through the cycle of life, death and rebirth.

I know first hand where the meat on my table comes from.

I am not isolated from the food chain by an assembly line of hired hands: producers, slaughterhouse workers, butchers, packers, truckers and supermarket owners. I am aware of how and why wild things die.


Read the full article here>

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great article, and a good argument. Thanks for making sure we saw it.

Unknown said...

Othmar...I like that quote a lot. Thanks for sharing this article...

Othmar Vohringer said...

Thanks for the comments. I agree with you all this is just about the best article explaining what hunting is to us I cam across in a very long time. I like the quote; "For those who understand, no explanation is necessary and for those who do not, none is possible.", So much that I saved it to my quotes collection.

-OV-

Anonymous said...

I think it is honestly "thee" best article I have seen on the subject. Very well put.

Anonymous said...

Nice article and great quote....I am the one who always says.... oh poor bambi. :) Thanks for all your comments. I like hearing everyone's stories and how passionate they are about hunting.

Jon said...

Good post! I too come from generations of hunters and have passed on my love of the hunt to my Children and Grand Children. Now the responsibility is on them.

Othmar Vohringer said...

Thanks for stopping by. I am glad you all enjoyed the article. I thought you might when I read the piece and so it ended up here too. :)

-Othmar Vohringer-

Doug Skinner said...

I recently got a copy of The Politically Incorrect Guide to hunting...The first chapter is all about talking to anti-hunters, and while it focuses mainly on those on opposing fences the strategies can easily be applied to most non-hunters.

It's all about getting those on the outside to ask questions about why they believe what they do..

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...