The primary reason that I hunt is to supply my friends and family with meat that was raised in the wild and slaughtered and butchered with reverence and respect. Beyond that, there are many secondary motivations that bring me into the wild.
I do it for reasons of cultural continuity and to understand human history; I do it to carry on an intimate, visceral relationship with the out-of-doors; and I do it for the pure excitement of doing dangerous things in beautiful places.
These secondary reasons tend to be much more subtle and nuanced than the simple idea of food, though I recently had an experience while hunting wild boar in Hawaii that forced me to find a way to articulate the realities of what it means to be a human hunter.
It is gritty footage, though I think it will be illuminating for anyone who's ever wondered about their own relationship to the animals they eat. Or, perhaps more importantly, about their own relationship to the bygone human generations that had to literally wrestle their sustenance from the wild.
Steven Rinella is the host of the new Travel Channel series, "The Wild Within"
Steven Rinella: European vs. American Game Management
I just heard about the show and I love it. I've got venison in my freezer right now and I'm always looking for a source of meat outside of the factory farming system. I was recently given fresh trout from a guy in my building. I met him at a bridge at night carrying a bag and a flashlight! good times :) Keep up the good work and the great message.
I don't understand your post at all.
I guarantee you, the staunchest vegan, given enough time separated from carrots, tofu and other vegetable delights, will eventually strangle a baby pig and eat it whole given the opportunity.
The will to survive will eventually overcome the most radical ideology.
Just wonderin'.
They are tearing up Texas and Oklahoma. There is a wildlife refuge in Oklahoma that is 60,000 acres and there are so many wild hogs there that they have made a huge impact on the land. Hopefully they will allow hunters to thin the herds.
But to see this guy come over to hunt and kill just for the thrill, then make a video of it to entertain us, it is sort of like snuff films for the bourgeoisie. It reminded me of my hunting experience back in the day, which always haunted me.
The fact is, that if faced with starvation, we would all be hunters, or die trying. I keep that in mind while I choose a vegetarian menu.
Hunting was something he did a couple times every week. They made pateles out of some of the meat and put them in the freezer, or smoked meat. I have no problem with substinence hunting.
my family hunted and they were very good shots. one clean shot and the animal was dead. we ate what they killed.
Most of the talk was about going in alone to kill the boar with their hands. (and a knife.)
I KNOW nature is cruel and those wild pigs probably kill weaker animals. I just don't get why the need to get back to natural man..hooorahhh.. Far better than factory farming to be sure.
But this is why I can't eat meat. To each their own, my own can't do it.
Do it and be done with it. Wax philosophical when getting down to field dressing the creature.