The Hunting Lesson

Some would argue that with our food mass produced and butchered for us, we no longer have a need to hunt and kill our food. But not everything that is done for us serves to benefit us. Have we lost a vital survival trait in our society as a result mass produced food? Some have called the act of hunting cruel and inhumane to the prey animals, even when they are hunted for food.

To be objective, we should address the reason why we hunted before the age of mass produced food animals. First and foremost, we hunted for survival and to sustain our families. This need is met when we buy food from the grocery store. But like so many conveniences we enjoy in society, we pay for that which is readily provided in nature. Then there is the matter in which our food animals are kept and slaughtered.

Few of us could say we have witnessed first hand the poultry farms of the Deep South or the confining pens of the cattle and pig farms. But perhaps a tour of the slaughter houses would be a persuasive argument for hunting. One only needs to see the environment in which a wild deer or boar exists to know that they live much better lives than our livestock. But then there is the cold and brutal act to consider.

When your survival depends upon your food source, you cannot help but have respect for it. You are careful to not waste any part of it. And regardless of your religious convictions, when you give thanks, you are thankful first to the animal that is feeding you and your family. We cannot readily say we gave respect to the animal from which our meat came when we purchased it in the grocery store. Some manner of respect for the beast you killed yourself is unavoidable. We have to learn to not appreciate our prey.

We regain our lost sense of self reliance in hunting our own prey animals. There are many reasons why a nation would ration food to its people, drought, economic depression, a significant natural disaster to name only a few. Can you honestly say what recourse you would have if you were required to provide food for yourself and your family? If this scenario is somewhat removed from you, then simply consider the real fact that you and your family are at the mercy of others for their very sustenance. There was a time when this vital rite of life was in your hands. Regardless what our views may be about hunting, we cannot deny we have lost this independence in our society.

Image Credit : Wikimedia Commons,  This work is in the public domain in Russia according to article 1256 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.