I recently told a new acquaintance that I spent so much time in the woods because I was out there hunting and then found myself in an all too familiar discussion explaining why I do it. In the modern world people are perplexed as to why someone would want to hunt for meat. Why someone would want to go out and kill wild animals when they could just buy some steaks at the butcher.
Whenever I tell people I hunt I am met with either confusion as to why or their eyes light up and they reveal that they too are hunters. Unlike any other hobby, we hide what we do, just say we were out hiking or camping, not wanting to have to spend the next hour justifying it to someone who does not understand.
Most that don’t understand are just genuinely curious, there is no malice or anti-hunter attitude. Most are like this, some people are vehemently opposed to the thought of it, yet they still enjoy burgers and steaks. Unless you are a vegan, if you oppose hunting you are a hypocrite, plain and simple. I am not talking trophy hunting, there is plenty to argue there and I don’t support that. But opposing the harvesting of wild game for human consumption while you snarf down a big mac is ignorance.
I think part of the confusion for people with me is that I don’t come across as a hunter, and honestly I am fairly new to the hobby. This season will be my second that I take up my rifle, my shotgun, and chase after deer, ducks and bears. So in fairness maybe I really don’t look the part because I have only recently fallen in love with it.
There is also the fact that on the surface I don’t check many of the hunter boxes. I live in the largest city in Canada pretty much in the core (20 minute subway ride away). I work in the technology field, I write novels and play video games. I love to read and my apartment is stuffed with books. The only hint that maybe I would be into hunting is my love of hiking and camping, but there is not a lot of crossover there, at least in Canada.
I have never met anyone openly hostile to what I do, but I know they are out there. Most just have a whole lot of questions. Initially they often ask if I eat what I kill and when I say I do they look relieved, say something like “Oh that’s fine then”, no one likes trophy hunters (myself included). That’s not to say I wont take a trophy, a bear skin or deer rack would be neat, fun reminders of good times. The meat is not the main reason I am out there either though.
Sure it’s delicious, hormone free, healthy meat. But if I add up the cost in gear, effort and time to get it there are far better ways to get some healthy red meat. This is not an efficient use of calories. Nothing goes to waste by any means but the meat is like a reward, a banner on a successful hunt. If I was hunting just because of the meat I would starve, it is a difficult hobby.
No, the reason I am out there is something else. Not the meat, not the trophy, not because I like to kill stuff (because I don’t). It is a completely unique mix of factors for me. It is the challenge, having to track and predict the movement of big game. Go take a walk in a patch of random forest and tell me how many deer you come across. How many bears? Finding these animals and getting them into a position where they can be humanely shot is a massive challenge.
Then there is the joy, the way it combines so many other interests I had beforehand. Back woods camping was something I was doing for years and years before I started hunting. Taking a pack and heading off into the forest for a week was something I just did for fun. Enjoying the peace and challenge of a good trek.
I also enjoy guns and target sports. I train on my firearms as much as ammo costs permit, trying to get good enough to compete in shooting comps. Before the bans came in up here I had been training to start running three gun challenges in the competitive sport shooting scene.
Then there is the more nebulous ‘X’ factor to it. The joy of heading off into the forest with a group of friends for a week. The joy of shared effort in scouting, setting up tree stands, planning hunts and building camps. The male urge to go off into the forest with your buddies and survive. Something that tickles at a more primal part of my brain. Humans have always been hunters, it was part of how we survived for tens of thousands of years before the advent of agriculture. Something about hunting just feels right. My brain dumps dopamine when I am out there, a feedback loop, like this is what we are supposed to be doing to support our tribe.
There are highs and lows, swings of emotion and massive bursts of effort and struggle. Like anything worth doing it is hard, but it is special. Finding something from the deep past that we have lost over the eons of slow domestication.
It is also something that supports the environment. Hunters fight to preserve land and wildlife. We want there to be vast forests teeming with life. We only harvest what we need, no one is out there looking to massacre wildlife. Many a conservation area, national park or preserve started out as a private hunting spot. Donated back to the people, saved from development by a land owner or king or group of people who wanted to keep it preserved to enjoy it. Hunting has saved more forest than protesting could hope to imagine.
So why kill the animal? Why not just take a picture as a trophy? Why does it have to end in death? To that I have to say that I don’t have a good answer other than my point above. It’s different, I have done wildlife photography, and this is different. It activates the brain in a totally unique way. I could say because I enjoy the meat, which I do, but not enough to justify the effort. I could just go buy some farmed venison or duck. Bear is harder to come by but the point stands.
Maybe its because it is a clear goal. Because of the direct reward of food, it hits such a basic primal feedback loop. Put in effort → reward with food. Like chasing any other base human need. Why is sex so great? Because it is your brain’s natural reward for breeding, for putting in the work to continue the species and survive. Hunting follows the same loop, your brain rewards you for putting in the work to survive. It doesn’t know that you could have just tapped on your phone and had Uber bring you a platter of meat from the local barbecue joint in forty minutes or less. This deep primal part of the brain is more caveman than astronaut.
It is not cruel to the animals, does more for the preservation of the environment than driving an electric car could ever do, it feels right and it hopefully ends with a feast. I really think it is a magical pursuit, something that fulfills me in the same way writing does. Something that brings pure joy. Meet your meat, rethink what hunting is.
Also I have fun making silly videos of my experiences out there. Got a little YouTube channel, check it out if you want to follow along me and the City Boys struggle to succeed at this most difficult hobby.
