“How better to address the question ‘Does hunting make us human?’ than to live the hunting life fully, unconscientiously, ethically and unapologetically? To teach by lived example, with humility and without regret, that all life feeds on death, including, eventually, our own.” – Mary Zeiss Stange
How well do you understand hunters? Consider your best hunting partner. You might spend days on end with this person every year in meandering conversations about life’s important questions. You have likely spent hours listening to them describe what is important to them and what motivates them to hunt. Maybe you don’t hunt but you have seen photos, social media captions, heard and read stories from hunters, including friends who hunt. You… Read More
Category: Ethics & Culture Tags: Communication, Discourse, Featured, Motivations, Perspectives, Psychology, Social cognition, stories
The environmental author Edward Abbey once said, “Hunting is one of the hardest things even to think about. Such a storm of conflicting emotions!” As we move our way through the hunting season, we will be acquiring new stories to tell about this year’s successes and adventures. We will take and post photos on social media as a way to tell those stories. Many of us will grapple with the images and… Read More
Category: Ethics & Culture Tags: Communication, Conservation, Discourse, Featured, stories
I used to go into the woods and imagine that I was the first to walk on a piece of ground and my footprints were the first to leave their mark. I was drawn to the idea of pristine wilderness. My imagination was romanced by the possibility that I was the first human to walk or paddle a place. I would see footprints from a past hiker and feel somehow disappointed or… Read More
Category: Personal Reflections Tags: Backcountry, Darwin, Hiking, Hunter recruitment, hunting stories, Nature, Nature-culture, Steven Rinella, stories
The first knife I ever received as a gift has a broken tip, is completely dull, slightly rusted, and opens and closes with a distinct little grind that I imagine is from sand grains having worked their way into the locking mechanism over the years. I haven’t even tried to cut anything with it in probably 10 years. But I still have it.
Category: Practical Matters Tags: Hunting, hunting knife, knives, stories, tools