I have been hunting since my early teens and have been lucky enough to have great mentors along in the process. I have learned quite a few things about the skills involved, but what has taught me even more about myself and the human species is the philosophy behind hunting.
This article is not advocating buying a rifle and going to shoot the first brown furry animal you see, but rather to give perspective into an activity that has defined masculinity for the first two million years of the Homo genus, up until the agricultural revolution. The name of the game was kill the beast and eat, or fail and go hungry. This is why for most of human evolution, masculinity was defined by the ability to hunt.
History of our species
This is how masculinity was defined for most of our evolution. Take down the beast or starve.
The Homo genus began to greatly diverge from the rest of the primates roughly 2 million years ago. It did so because our ancestors had access to high quality food (calorie dense) such as animal meat, which contained loads of protein and most importantly, fat.
Research has shown that primates follow a certain trend when it comes to body weight and diet. The smaller primates, such as pigmy monkeys, have a high quality diet that is dense in calories, mainly consisting of insects, seeds, and fruit. The larger primates, like the gorilla (the largest of all primates), have a low diet quality and are mainly volume feeders of green leafy plants.
Humans (I am referring to Paleolithic humans) are an outlier in this trend; we are relatively large primates but have a very high diet quality consisting of animal meat, fruits, seeds, and vegetables. This is why we evolved the brain that we did, because we had the bodily surface area to support a large brain as well as the calories from large animals to supplement it.
So what do you take from this? Hunting is in every man’s DNA. While the methods of modern hunting are much different and less strenuous than prehistoric hunting, (for roughly 1.5 million years humans practiced persistence hunting, meaning they literally ran an animal down over a span of 30-50 miles. Read the book Born to Run) it still provides modern men with an outlet to tap into their primal selves and release some of the inner beast that has been suppressed by modern society. Here are my five reasons why you should go hunting at least once in your lifetime:
1. Reconnect with your food
Ask any fifth grader in the United States right now where their meat comes from and I would be willing to bet $100 that the majority of them would say the grocery store. As Americans, we have a deep disconnect with our food. We don’t understand that the pork chop on our dinner plate once was a living, breathing creature that someone had to kill, gut, and process.
Little Tommy thinks food comes from McDonald’s or the grocery store.
When you hunt and kill an animal you experience every part of how food gets from point A to point B. You must kill it, carry its body to clean it (if you can’t deadlift over 250 pounds, good luck), skin and gut it, and then process the carcass before you eat it.
While the thought of that image might turn some people off and some would definitely consider it cruel and unusual, they wouldn’t think twice about the hypocrisy of their thought process while biting into their organic, free-range chicken breast they bought from whole foods. I am a firm believer that if one wants to eat meat, they should have the experience, at least once, of killing that animal for themselves and making all the necessary preparations to put that animal on the dinner table.
2. Develop knowledge and skills
When one thinks of the skills involved in hunting, the first thing that comes to mind is the ability to shoot a high-powered rifle from 40 yards away and kill an animal. This could not be further from the truth. While being able to shoot accurately is an important aspect of hunting (many including myself prefer to bow hunt instead of rifle hunt), other more important skills are needed to be a successful hunter.
Understanding your prey is the most vital part of the hunt. How do they use their senses to interact with their environment? For example, deer can smell and hear extremely well, but their vision is limited. Turkey could pick a needle out of a haystack from 50 yards away but their smell and sight aren’t too great. Knowing these things about your prey causes you move and interact with your surroundings differently based on what you are after. You also get to know the animal you are hunting in an intimate way.
Aside from gaining knowledge about your prey and its environment, you have to be able to move through the woods silently (I promise, it is a lot harder than it sounds). You have to learn how to maintain all of your equipment. This includes taking apart and cleaning a gun, properly sharpening a knife, learning how to set up hunting stands.
You also must learn to process a kill, which experienced hunters will tell you is an art form. All of these are practical skills that most men have no knowledge of because activities such as hunting are now considered unnecessary and barbaric.
3. You can get away from everything
Spend some time away from everything electronic.
One of my favorite things about going hunting is leaving my iPhone in my car, walking into the woods, and getting away from normal life for a day. Most people in today’s world can’t remember the last time they went without their phone, computer, or TV for more than a couple of their waking hours.
When you don’t have an electronic device to constantly stimulate your mind, you will notice that you do a lot of thinking and self-reflection. When I am out in the woods, I usually give myself one self-analysis about what I want out of life, what my goals are, and how I will reach them. You don’t need to go hunting or be deep in the woods to do this, but for me, hunting is an outlet where I can let the modern world go on without me for a day.
4. You work on your patience
Hunting is a waiting game. 99.7% of the time you are sitting in a tree stand, perched up against the base of a tree, or walking slowly and quietly through the woods. But for all that time spent waiting; the rush of encountering your prey is all worth it.
Hunting teaches you to constantly be aware of your surroundings. If you become impatient and decide to move around or fidget with twigs, you might have just alerted an animal to your presence (I learned this the hard way when I was younger). You have to be mentally strong enough to be still and quite for hours at a time. For this reason, hunting also provides a great outlet to meditate and worry about nothing but the woods around you.
5. You learn more about yourself
When you take any living creature’s life, you learn more about yourself. When I killed my first deer I was excited, but when I saw the carcass the realization hit me that five minutes before, it was a living creature and now it is dead because of me. For this reason, I am a firm believer in not letting anything you hunt go to waste. If you don’t eat your kill, give it to hunters for the hungry or give to someone who will eat it.
People who kill animal just for the sake of killing them have no business calling themselves hunters. If our hunter-gather ancestors saw someone kill an animal, take a picture with it while high fiving their friends, and then leave it to rot they would think we are crazy. Because of hunting, I developed a strong conviction of not letting anything go to waste.
Conclusion
Even if you are 30 years old and have never hunted a day in your life, it is not too late to give it a try. It is so engrained in a man’s DNA that not trying it would almost be to ignore one’s true nature. Hunters are a friendly bunch and will often be more than happy to take someone under their wing who wants to learn or just try it once.
Hunting is not for everyone, and I get that, but I guarantee you will gain a whole new respect for where your meat comes from after you have gotten your hands a little bloody. And I promise your fresh, wild game will taste a helluvah lot better than a Tyson chicken breast.
Read More: 5 Reasons Why You Need To Grow A Beard
Great article. I go hunting with my father and brothers and we have own little hunting lodge. Ladies forbidden.
The hunter gatherer communities were peaceful and not marred by the squabble over resources and women that we see amongst “civilised” peoples. The wars started with the invention of agriculture and private property.
Genesis 27:3 – Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me [some] venison;
Genesis 10:9 – He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.
Genesis 21:20 – And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.
Gen 10:9 was slightly out of context. “Mighty hunter BEFORE the LORD” is more to the effect of ‘adversary or aggressor’ . I however totally agree with the rest. We have been ordained to take life as we need it, for sustenance and health of the family that you raise.
Genesis 1:26
Acts 10:13
9About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. 13Then a voice told him,“Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
Nimrod (God confuses the speech of mankind so as to prevent his building of the tower of Babylon), Esau (married pagan women, sold his inheritance for bowl of stew), and Ishmael (ancestor of the Arab tribes and thus Islam).
Genesis 16:11-12:
The angel of the LORD said to her further, “Behold, you are with child,
And you will bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael, Because
the LORD has given heed to your affliction. “He will be a wild donkey [“wild-ass” or “wild jackass”] of a man, His hand will be against everyone, And everyone’s hand will be against him.”
God’s favorites tended to be semi-nomadic herdsmen because they couldn’t acquire a bunch of “stuff” that ends up owning them that farmers (Cain)/hunters could.
>quoting a bullshit book with bullshit
hope you get cancer soon
I endorse and cosign this.
Seconded.
Hunting is without a doubt, a masculine sport which has for a long time, helped to create strong bonds between father and son, and illustrates the fact that it connects with the time when man would leave the cave to bring home the meat.
Unfortunately, as with any masculine trait, this is slowly being taken away from young boys as the feminists now have a hard core agenda to push into society by decimating and wiping out men from society. I am very, very angry, especially after watching all the anti men propoganda which was broadcast during the superbowl, which goes to show you that feminists, really do mean trouble.
The Super Bowl commercials were horrible propaganda.
Totally agree. I can’t believe how the masses continue to buy into the homosexual and gay propoganda that was shown, not to mention the anti men ads which were shown.
Which is why I believe it is now more important than ever, to embrace our masculinity and to teach males how to become real men. The feminists cannot tolerate this, and as long as feminism continues to exist in society, more men will become emasculated and effiminate over time.
The Reebok commercial with the woman carrying the Man is to get the masses to except women in the military.
It is known and scientifically proven, that women do not have the same physical strength as men. Unbelievable. How much more political correctness propoganda is going to be shoved into our faces? People are really turning stupid.
I always refer to WNPF it shows the Powerlifting records of Men and women..Numbers don’t lie.
How about the feminist “throw like a girl” commercial…..or “public service annnouncement.” I posed the question to the women in the room who were cheering for it; if girls can throw like men how come we don’t see any of them playing in the superbowl….or the world series? It must be because they throw like girls. And if men threw like girls they certainly wouldn’t be playing in major league sports. I was told I was missing the point. I think this was the last season I follow football. Let the girls have it.
Even after they told the girls to actually throw like a girl, they still looked uncoordinated and elastic.
God created woman to be Man’s companion they can not surpass Man or be His equal. It’s amazing the differences of Men and women in Reality, but the feminists SJWs have gotten many people to accept their Fantasy. I always recommend WNPF, it shows records of Men and women powerlifters.There is no Equality in the Scores.
Hunting is growing in my neck of the woods amongst the youth. The state has even cranked up funding of the Youth programs/training to accommodate the load.
Fuck the NFL, man. And fuck the Super Bowl and the mass hysteria it incites and the poser interest women have in it (amazing how they invent a “favorite team” out of thin air based on one of the two teams playing!).
I posted this on the “Football Is No Longer a Masculine Pastime” article the day after that four-hour commercial for Katy Perry’s new album:
So after reading this article and then watching the Super Bowl at a friend’s house last night (I was hesitant, but hey, food and drinks) many things were elucidated:
1) Something is criminally wrong, if not insane, about a group of men making millions of dollars to get an object from one area past another group of men to another area, whether it’s on grass, ice, or a wooden court. Just. Fucking. Insane. And also kind of weird…
2) People who like these games enough to yell, swear, call names, and even threaten people ON A SCREEN where they have no control over the outcome are also really weird and probably some form of sociopathic.
3) Any form of mass hysteria in general is weird, and even kind of scary. Just ask Leni Riefenstahl.
4) Amazing how impromptu people can make one of two teams playing in the championship game their “favorite” team all of a sudden and be adorned in that team’s gear.
5) Women do indeed only show up for the free food and drink and also attention-whoring opportunities. Any chance to make constant references to their body parts (And it’s just sad when moms do it when their kids are around. Holy fuck, have some goddamn respect, lady!) or that classless, unattractive thing where they announce “I have to pee!” instead of just handling their business silently can and will manifest non-stop. And you know they truly don’t give a fuck about sports deep down, as much as men don’t give a fuck about Fifty Shades of Grey. It’s just all about the party vibe and how much they can get pedestalized by schmucks and suckers for many hours.
6) The NFL is politically ungodly feminized and Beta. The vibes, the emotions and the commentary are all just cringe-worthy. As is the photo at the headline of this article.
Being athletic and competitive is always good, but fuck pro sports, man. What a shitcrock that they make as much as they do and bang Victoria’s Secret models regularly and get away with crimes people like you and I would rot for just to get an object past another group of people on a random type of surface.
Learn Chinese, Arabic, and Russian fast is all I have to say, people!
I also find it strange that many of these people who don’t really give a shit about the teams will nonetheless participate on the rationalization that they don’t want to miss all the commercials.
Think for a moment how retarded it is that we have created a cultural event largely dedicated to being willingly brainwashed by commercialism.
But…if you are there for the commercials you’re kind of already aware of the cynical aspect of it, n’est-ce pas?
I am aware. I doubt very seriously that most of the women are.
And the halftime show… The latest fun pop music sensation nobody will talk about in twenty years gyrating half-naked. Fuck that trendy bullshit.
I like watching Muay Thai or UFC fights (only some fights, often it is too much grappling and ground fighting for my taste) because it is entertaining and because I find their endurance (energy and ability to take pain), fighting technique and mental strength admirable. Where I come from, Soccer is really popular. I’ve always hated it. People running after a ball, what the fuck is so interesting about that? If you want competetion, seek it out in real life, not through some fantasy shit on TV. I guess the people in power haven’t really changed their concepts at all: divide and conquer, panem et circenses, truth through repetition. All very ancient, yet all as effecient as ever. Keeps the BP on “the way”.
Easily one of the best comments I have read on this site (and I have read some good ones). I agree 100%. We have the same problem here in Europe with soccer. It’s just sad, and pretty much for the reasons you say. And soccer is usually even more boring that rugby or American football, with 0-0 matches being normal!
More specifically, being Spanish I had to deal with the unrelenting stupidity that followed our World Championship and two Eurocups these last years… people felt really proud, you could tell… the country mired in depression, far away from the top European countries… but hey don’t worry we won!
I recommend you and everybody to read a brilliant essay by the late Christopher Hitchens on the scourge of professional sports:
http://www.newsweek.com/why-olympics-and-other-sports-cause-conflict-75043?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=ping.fm
Hunting is a SPORT that merely distracts men with guns away from the real reason to have a gun.
You want to do something “manly” with a gun, get a combat capable platform and spend your weekend at any tactical school you can find (shop wisely thought, some of them suck balls).
Start small first, the basic courses. Some of them have “101” courses mainly centered on safety (how not to accidentally shoot yourself) and then advanced courses.
Imagine how the perpetraitors in “the system” would feel if all men started becoming “hard targets” and had the same kind of training their police and military minions had.
There’s being a man, and there’s being a man that matters. Tell me which one that matters more: the Elmer Fud with the bolt action who goes chasing after some animal a few times a year or the guy who has the ability to go up against a mob of people.
Here’s a hint: what to the leftists LOVE the most (further Hint: George Soros funds it) and what do they hate the most? (hint: they hold bullets for the rifle they hate the most, in large quantities that enable an individual to deal with “their” mob).
EDIT: I used to be a hunder ed and archery instructor. You want to exercise big manly bawls, try bowhunting where you have to stalk your prey to get within range. Guided hunts for the rich guys where they don’t have to lift a finger are for rich fags.
Now that I think about it, it’s rather beta to sit in a tree stand all day WAITING for the prey to come to you. Stalk your prey and you exercise the neural pathways in your mind to “stalk your prey”. 😀
Agree, but there’s still nothing wrong with hunting.
There’s being a man, and there’s being a man that matters. Tell me which one that matters more: the Elmer Fud with the bolt action who goes chasing after some animal a few times a year or the guy who has the ability to go up against a mob of people.
In all of the major wars up to Vietnam, they were one in the same person. In Vietnam men used to have their hunting bolt actions, usually Remington 700’s or variants (or Springfields during WW1), mainly in .308 or 30-06, sent over so that they could have the best sniping rifle possible, given as they customized them to their liking and grew up shooting them.
For a time I was an “area coordinator” for hunter ed.
The person in charge of all of the hunter ed areas was a woman, and a state employee. Her ineptitude and playing politics with the state first was epic.
The storage unit we put the local stuff in was on the other side of town at a great inconvenience for those who had to be in charge of it because that storage place was “minority owned”.
Students will get a dry rule-filled “state owned this you’ll be busted for that” course from female instructors.
I got tired of it.
Carlos Hathcock was a prime example, although he used 30-06.
Yeah, meant to include 30-06, remedied in the original post. Thanks!
Stalking prey is exciting but not difficult or dangerous. Come down to Chesterfield County, SC and fight 400lb boars with a knife and a dog.
up until fairly recently in our past hunting was preparation for war. A solid argument could be made for it still being so in some ways.
Well said. Give the liberals the middle finger buy purchasing a fully configured gun…optics, mags, and ammo…then learn to use it in a tactical class. Throw in a plate carrier too cause betas dont want us alphas to have body armor either.
I’ll defer to Hemingway’s opinion in that I don’t have any interest in hunting animals anymore after hunting humans.
Sure, but most young men have zero experience with any kind of real life and death scenarios, outside of playing video games, so a good hunt or even round of fishing can help make men out of them and get some of that repressed hair on their chest sprouting.
If theres not some serious changes in our society, this is how men will be acting in the future. Try not to throw up…
http://www.everydaynodaysoff.com/2015/01/19/some-buzzfeed-bitches-shoot-guns-for-the-first-time/
I don’t have anything against hunting. I used to go waterfowling as a kid. I just prefer target shooting far more. And in my experiences, that translates better to firearms safety and weapon proficiency than hunting does. It is also reinforced when I see quotes like this, “the ability to shoot a high-powered rifle from 40 yards away and kill an animal.”
Agree. 40 yards is not much. Proficiency is much higher when you shoot from 300 yards to a 1000 yards every weekend. Whereas the average hunter will not shoot many rounds a year, I end up going through approx. 1,400 rounds per year.
You can still hunt humans – no one needs to know about it.
It might be the humane thing to do with the obese.
1. Cardio
Poor fatty.
Loves me the Zombieland.
Well, at least all the running around while being chased might shed a few pounds. Not to mention the weight loss benefits of sheer, utter fear.
I agree but go hunting elephants or rhinos or tigers or lions using the spears and techniques displayed in your picture of the mammoth.
I’m serious.
In some southern states you can hunt boar with spears.
I want to try that.
Come down to Chesterfield County, SC – my club hunts boar everyday but Sundays from the end of deer Season in JAN to when it gets too dang hot in June. We hunt with knives and dogs.
God bless the South, I’m from the North East, Communist here…
My high school chemistry teacher used to hunt wild pigs with a knife. Even had photos. Some kind of he-man thing he had annually with his buddies from the Army (he was a WW2 vet). Fuck if I’d try that, and I have no problem with hunting or even using spears. But a buck knife? Screw me running, thanks but no thanks.
The knives we use are 10 – 12.” Buck knives need not apply. Anyway, the blade must be long enough to pierce the pig’s heart.
I meant Bowie, sorry, my bad. The guy was crazy, in a good way, and many a fire were started in his chemistry class with his rather tacit approval. heh
Yeah, whatever has happened to the good old “throw solid sodium into a bowl of water” explosion “experiment” in chem classes, anyway?
That shit was the coolest. And it seemed like all of our experiments, or most of them, involved an open flame of some type on the Bunsen burner.
Was your chem teacher jim bowie? my chem teacher was prone to crying in class(yes, a woman). I dunno man, you are older than me, but its not like you are 150 yrs older…sometimes I gotta ask if youre pulling our legs 🙂
this kind of thing is only uncommon outside the South. Down here hunting boar with a knife or catching them live is a run of the mill everyday thing that most everyone does or has done.
One of my father’s best friends wounded a deer with an arrow and had to swim after it into a lake. He harvested it by cutting its throat with a knife. It’s not an every day occurrence but it can and has been done.
I’m only going by what he claimed and his pictures. For all I know he was pulling our collective legs. He was from West Virginia and quite prone to back woods hominess though. Who knows. It was entertaining to think about at the time nevertheless.
I believe you. In Australia there’s lots of guys that hunt pigs with knives and dogs. They use a big dagger called a ‘pig sticker’.
Pig sticker means something else in american slang.
Not hard to guess what that would be. Ha Ha.
Come down to the Deep South (Florida) Here kids grow up chasing big boar with knives and rope. Sadly we don’t have lions, rhinos or elephants to hunt here anymore, but if we did, rest assured we’d be out there knife and spear in hand behind a pack of dogs going after them.
I think I know what you mean about Florida. I’ve spent some time in the everglades and come across wild boars–they bolted as soon as we spotted them and judging from their size and speed, I wouldn’t want to tangle with them unless I had some hunting and knife-fighting experience.
Anyways, I’m from parts around here where they say, “you gotta go North to get to the South.”
I’m sure that your Florida is very different from mine. At most I’ve heard of kids playing baseball with armadillos and catching gators with some high test fishing line (high school buddies used to do these things, but I never did).
Anyways, this article tapped into something that I have yet to pursue and it’s something that I am interested in pursuing. Yet, I know no hunters (I’ve talked to some up in Halifax, but that’s about it).
If you’re in Florida, I would be very interested in learning a thing or two from you about hunting (if you have the time, are willing and able, etc.)
It’s a shame that there isn’t a “networking” section here at ROK–one that could allow for private conversations where email addresses could be exchanged without compromising our identities for anyone who cares to note a particular conversation.
Hunting wild boar with a spear is actually making a come back.. they even have ones made out of graphene and fiberglass… I’d be up for that.
Just make sure, like Robert Baratheon, you spear hunt while half-pissed. Because it worked out so well for him. 😀
Even with guns, the game animals you list are extremely dangerous. The only people who say a gun gives you an unfair advantage are the ones who have never tried hunting…
let the animal have a gun then
Great article. I grew up very lucky in that my family has a ranch and I was taught to hunt when I was a teenager. When deer season ended, shooting season began. From a young age I was train to shoot properly and had access to shoot just about any gun I wanted to shoot. Handguns, rifles, machine guns…anything. I never went to a boring gun range and just fired guns at paper targets right in front of me. I would shoot balloons, steel targets, run and shoot clays. Today, im considered lucky to do this. The sad reality is that everything I was doing was everyday activities for teenagers of the past generations.
Today as an adult I may take coworkers and friends to my ranch to hunt and shoot and I notice that they may know how to use a gun, but they have no real world experience with guns. Walking in the wild and shooting with pure 360 degree freedom isnt the same as a gun range that has been designed for safety. People are negligent with their use of safeties, they alway point guns at people, they always walk with their finger on the trigger like an idiot. You replace that safe table at the gun range with a holster and sling and tell a man to carry his shit and things can get dangerous quick. They are stepping on snakes, falling in the mud, bitching about being cold, juggling their iphone and their gun, worrying about their wives, and walking around like idiots. Its a struggle babysitting these men.
If you have a son it is in your best interest to get him out in the wild at a young age and teach him proper gun safety. Make friends with people that have a ranch and take advantage of it. Hunting and shooting is important to the growth of a man.
Great article. I grew up hunting and then had a rebellious phase in my 20’s when I stopped. Started up again and in the past eight years I have become an avid upland bird hunter. This summer I bought and started training my first gun dog. Working with a dog bred to be smart and capable has been an amazing experience. He’s actually learning too (as am I)! I can’t wait to get him in the field next year and actually get a bird. Also, using one animal to kill another animal is a total bucket list item. I highly suggest getting one.
I used to have a female golden who would get pissed off if 2 birds were not taken down. She’d stop kicking them up after two misses and bring the birds back after sneaking up on em, snap their necks and throw em at our feet. Feisty bitch made our group very accurate.
Don’t go kill animals, you cisgendered white racist bigot !
Meat is murder !
But abortion is cool.
So is Frankensteining yourself into looking like Billy Idol with with tits as a “political statement”.
Meat is murder !
Only to The Smiths, bro, only to The Smiths.
Hasn’t stopped Morrisey from eating Tube Steak though.
Fair point.
The sad thing is the liberal monkeys do believe that.. I had a professor who was so far left she was border line crazy.. Anti-male, Anti-white, and she was one those people who only eat grass but to her abortion is cool. Of course I had to put the cunt in her place.. The look on her was epic when I made her feel stupid twice a week.. She also hated the fact that that I was one of her best students.. I have to say tho, that cunt got the last laugh.. She fucking gave me a b-.. Feminist are so butt hurt..
If god didn’t want us to eat animals, he wouldn’t have made them out of meat.
I recently encountered that word “cisgendered” for the first time, confused I had to research it. Now I personally condemn faggotery in all of its forms and its perpetrators as mental defectives, but if I step back and play neutral I say fine let them make up labels for themselves to identify their disorders to each other, that’s cool. LGBTARD, whatever, its a club. We had our own nicknames too growing up. But where the fuck does *anyone* get off in now labeling the correct dominant heterogeneous population as anything other than maybe “not X like us”. What the fuck kind of newspeak bullshit is this?
Orwell would be proud.
Indeed. “Cisgender” is the ultimate red flag for bullshit these days.
The slut neighbor’s previous beta bought her a bow. He payed for her hunter safety course. Then he paid for her deer tags.
On the day they were going hunting she forgot her tags and was bored after she finished the short book she brought along. She whined about it non-stop while I was grilling some steaks and veggies. I told her that if she didn’t like it not to go again.
Then I nuked her hamster a little by telling her that men can hunt because they have inordinate patience for it developed over millennia of evolution, and that she shouldn’t be surprised that she couldn’t stand it. She stormed off.
Additional benefits of hunting:
1. the rack of an animal hanging on your wall – instant moist panties
2. feeding a date an animal that you killed and prepared – instant moist panties
3. Hoppes No. 9 is a powerful aphrodisiac
Wow! Where do you meet women like that, Alaska?
Dakotas, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Alaska, Nebraska, etc.
In my family everybody is turning vegetarian or vegan, especially the younger ones. One of my female cousins even left the room the other day because I was eating a beef sandwich. Sooo barbaric!
You need to get out of where ever you are, man. Rural chicks are the best. The last couple of Christmases my girlfriend has received a thermocell bug repellent unit (work amazing BTW), pressure canner (to can my smoked salmon and make me jam and pickles), Bogs waterproof boots and a double person sleeping bag.
Tell me!
Alaska is a really awesome place. Been there in 2009 and 2011 with a buddy. You can´t leave this state without somebody pressing a gun or rifle in your hands offering to shoot something.
In my case it was target practicing only (empty cans and stuff) but still it was big fun. I felt my beard and balls growing…hehe.
Alaska has the best culture of any state I’ve ever been in. Masculinity is embraced and appreciated. Up until 30 years ago the only women were nurses and whores. Women here didn’t achieve equality through legislatively mandated feminism but by actually earning it. That said, they ain’t all butch “tough Alaskan chicks.” There is a generation of girls who grew watching their slope working dad’s hunt and provide for the family and want to be good traditional wives.
Even race relations aren’t as bad as other places. There’s a strange native/white vibe, but it ain’t even close to the lower 48 animosity.
Oh and the hunting, fishing and outdoor life is of course amazing.
Damn straight Alaska. This place rules. Met them all the time in the non-city parts of Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine as well.
Couldn’t agree more. Many of the women that you run into in my neck of the woods are upper middle class girls from NJ/NY/CT who have personally eschewed the suburban life and love living in the mtns and being around real men. Many are very health conscious ,very hot and love eating meat
Nothing brings me back to my childhood more quickly than than a whiff of Hoppe’s No,9. It reminds me of thanksgiving day pheasant and deer hunts with my grandfather and my father. Coming in from a crisp fall day and cleaning your guns and any game you killed, before sitting down to a hearty meal with the whole family. There are better gun cleaning solvents nowadays, but I still use Hoppe’s
I can’t really hunt here, but I can buy rabbits or whatever dirt cheap. Has somebody here tried fattening up some rabbit or whatever for the purpose of later eating it? If so, what was your experience like: 1. How long did it take to fatten up the animal 2. what kind of food did you feed the animal 3. what kill method did you use? 4. anything else to take notice of?
I’ve never done it myself, but I’ve looked into it as a farm with rabbits and goats is a life goal. I have no idea on the time to raise one. Can’t imagine more than a year from birth. Small animal feed is available at any farm/mill/feed store. Breaking the rabbit’s neck is a quick, easy and humane way. Do a quick google search.
Also, birds are quite easy to take care of and fatten up. Chukar, quail, etc. can all be farm raised pretty easily. Urban chickens are super popular right now. I have multiple friends raising them and hauling in eggs.
Unless you’re hunting with a bow and actually stalking your prey instead of using some high powered rifle and some deer piss you bought at walmart i wouldn’t call hunting very manly. Replace it with boxing or just go out and get in a street fight.
Oh come on. You sound like Grungh the caveman who decries the use of bow and arrow as “unmanly”.
“Ugh, you not use flint napped spear…you woman”
I get not going tactical nuclear weapons on something, but a rifle or shotgun is not “new tech” and it takes as much work to stalk and “pattern” a deer with a shotgun or rifle as it does with a bow. The fantasy of taking a buck on the horizon at 1200 yards is something conjured from God knows where, in reality you’re probably 100 yards or less, most likely 25 yards or less if you’re in a stand, and at that point it doesn’t matter what you use, whether bow, shotgun, rifle or you drop out of the trees with a pilum and a dream.
Takes no Skill but to sit and wait.
Read closer. You don’t “stand and wait”. Have you ever *actually* been deer hunting in your life? Seriously question.
If you think it is only “stand and wait” then you have to realize that this is just as true if you’re using a bow and arrow, crossbow, spear or knife. Or do you have some fantasy of wearing ninja clothes and sneaking up on the secret-cave-o-deer where they huddle in their deer-village away from the world?
End of the day, spare me the “buh buh buh guns aren’t real hunting!” spiel. We’ve had and used firearms for hunting since at least the 1500’s, it’s nothing new and it’s not somehow less challenging than using a bow/crossbow if you actually know what hunting entails.
Yes I’ve been hunting, i’ve sat in a stand, ran doggs, hid in shoulder high grass to hunt ducks. When i moved in with my father he was an avid hunter and took me out on weekend trips for about a year straight. I never said guns arent real hunting but a combination of a high powered rifle and pheromones to lure something to you then kill it at close range does not require skill. Just patience and money. If you go boar hunting with a spear or stalk deer with a bow or a rifle that takes a fair amount of skill and wit. If 7 year old can kill a buck i wouldn’t say the current incarnation of what most people call “hunting” takes skill
Yeah right, and you go hillbilly hand fishing too.
A fishing pole and a worm Is vastly different from a .308 anD pheromones
Says the man who’s never done it….
Odd you can tell me what I do and dont do yet you’ve never met me nor read any other things i’ve posted in this conversation.
If you want to confront life and death in a very intimate and powerful way, barring active military service or the emergency medical field, hunting is where it’s at. You value the food you harvest from the animal you just killed in a way you never could buying it shrink wrapped from the super market. You can’t help but contemplate life and death while being an active participant in the cycle.
Reaching up inside the body of a deer that is still warm to sever the main arteries and windpipe so that you can properly field dress it is an experience that is at the same time primordial – a pattern that has been repeated for hundreds of thousands of years probably by 99% of your ancestors – and all together alien to the uninitiated.
“You can’t help but contemplate life and death while being an active participant in the cycle.”
Especially if you hunt stuff that can hunt you.
Funny how all of a sudden a fish needs a bicycle when it wakes up in the morning and finds a bear in the yard.
Never occurs to them that the only reason that isn’t a daily occurrence is because there are men who remain awake and vigilant while they sleep.
“Men can only be highly civilized when other men, inevitably less civilized, are there to protect and feed them” — George Orwell
This article is much more like it – bring on the more masculine pursuits.
Its fun to shoot stuff that moves.
Indeed. Shooting stuff that doesn’t move is called holding stuff.
I meant paper targets are boring.
I like reactive targets:
“Ow! Quit it.”
Killing an animal will give you a greater, deeper understanding and respect for life on Earth… it’s hard to explain, but true.
Now if one is very hardcore you could hunt animals with just a spear or bows and arrows.
Hi Carolus,
I agree wholeheartedly that hunting teaches many masculine virtues. I prefer deer, mostly doe, hunting, but also have two(2) black Labradors that have elementary birddog skills, so I pheasant hunt as well. The dogs will scare the birds out of the tall brush and I can get them out of the air thanks to the wide pattern of birdshot.
I do have to dissagree that if you kill a deer you need to be able to deadlift 250pounds. Most of us avid hunters gut, skin and quarter our deer kills. Tie the quarters in the pelt, after removing as much bone as possible, with rope and make a rope sling so you can carry the bundle across your shoulders. Its more like squatting or performing a firemans carry than a deadlift. If you have access to a 4-wheeler, bring it up to help as well.
Getting your killed deer to the butcher or your house from the killing/gutting area can be a serious pain. So Can getting every last bb of birdshot out of the pheasant meat before chewing it. These tasks teach even more masculine virtues.
I only hunt every other year, but I always come away with a twinge of disappointment for not being able to do it mote often.
Thanks, Carolus Linnaeus. This was a wonderful article. A great, simplistic idea on how to improve yourself and educate others.
Best,
CapitalXD
And the number one reason you should go hunting once in your life:
You only expect to eat once.
The last time I hunted, I drew and put my bow pins on a nice eater doe. For some reason, I never released my shot. I guess that I knew my hunt had been successful regardless if I took that animals life or not. For some reason, it seemed to me that killing the doe was unjustifiable. I was hunting for sport and not for survival. Hunting has shown me the true beauty of nature. It has shown me how harsh it can be also. I’ve developed a much deeper respect for nature and wild creatures as I’ve grown older. I still believe in hunting as a means of survival and for sport if undertaken with respect and gratitude. For now, I am happy to leave the critters be. But if the SHTF, I’ll be ready to hunt and defend my shit.
Looking at next year. Have rifle picked out an everything.
Following year, if lucky will be a elk/moose. We’ll see?
You can probably find wild hogs needing killing within 50 miles of you. No permit or license required in most reasonable states.
*********
They’re damned tasty too! The littler ones are easier to clean and are a lot less likely to have non-grocery store flavors.
Great article. As an avid life long hunter these points are a great summary of some of the great life skills hunting can instill in any man. Some of my most cherished memories are of being on a hillside just before dawn, in spring,calling a tom turkey off his roost. Or of hunting grouse on a crisp sunny,October day, looking out over a mosaic of brilliant fall foliage, with snow covered mountains as your background. When I am old and feeble these memories will always be with me
Is this site turning into another Art of Manliness (aka the Art of Being a Pseudo-Masculine Pussy)?
What the hell are you talking about?
Outstanding column Mr. Linnaeus. You said a couple things I’ve been saying my whole life. One about eating and using what you take, and secondly that everyone who eats meat should at least once in their lives kill and dress their own. I’ve gotten some interesting reactions with that last one over the years. Never could stand the clown who bad mouths hunting while he’s munching down a steak.
I’ve always had the urge to go hunting but when anyone has offered to take me, I make up an excuse. I know some people will think that I have a weak mentality but I don’t know if I could bring myself to kill an animal. I think the points made in the article are entirely valid but shooting a beautiful deer would give me nightmares. I’d sooner shoot a human (preferably someone I knew and didn’t like) than shoot a hopping unsuspecting rabbit.
I welcome the abuse that is sure to follow this post.
When I was a kid I learned from men who grew up during the depression that if you can hunt food, grow food, and build a cabin without a blueprint you will always be able to provide for yourself and family no matter what the rest of the world does to itself.
The last piece of venison I ate came from a deer that lived a much better life than the cow that provided the steak I had in the restaurant last night. I don’t like killing the animal but I do like the sense of accomplishment at the end of the hunt.
I live in New England. Every day on my way to work I see decaying deer carcasses lying on the highway. The deer population has exploded up here because there are less hunters. The reason? Single mothers and beta fathers who can’t teach their kids how to handle firearms and hunt. It has gotten to the point where the state is hiring hunters to come into certain regions and thin out the deer populations. Every time this happens those mommies and betas are there in force at city council meetings to protest the barbarity of it all. They should all be put to work picking up the rotting deer from the roadsides that might have served the population much better as meat on the table.
No abuse, just a little “food for thought.”
Brother, I hate to break it to you, but if you can’t kill an animal, there is no way in hell you will ever be able to pull the trigger on a human.
I would love to do this, learning how to use the enviroment to secure and survive yourself with a knife and bow like my ancestors did, mind is already prepared for such adventure. I can wait.
The grand majority of men under 30 most decidedly do NOT have hunting in their DNA. WHITE Tail Deer used to be scarce in the mountains of Virginia outside DC in the 70s because thy were all hunted out, you were allowed one a year and doe-shots were banned. I got two my whole life from 4th to 12 grade, but someone got one EVERY year, so everyone was included in the work of it. Dad was ok with it, he hunted as a kid in Tennessee, but he let us go with the neighbors. Nowadays, you risk a deer strike on your car driving the Shenandoah Parkway and even the back roads in close to DC and George Washington Parkway. There aren’t any predators because no one hunts anymore.
So, you take one down, NOW you have to deal with it. It was a pain in the ass, you had to gut him, drag his ass out, get him tagged at a deer station, take him home, hang him by the hind legs to drain, then it was off to the Tyson’s Meat Locker Service to butcher him. It was manly enough, I guess, but it was a general exercise of friends of fathers and their uncles exhorting us not to be pussies, “quittcher complaining” and of course, the requisite head slap for saying or doing something stupid, ALWAYS welcome lessons.
But those days are gone, although I know the out of work coal miners surely hunt to put meat on the table, everyone rural still does. But the grand majority of kids within 100 miles of any big city with parents under the age of 50 are so pussified against firearms, “killing a poor animal” and the sight of blood not in a video game anyway, the deer, squirrels and rabbits, hell, even the Stripers in the Chesapeake Bay and large mouth Bass in the creeks and Potomac have NOTHING to worry about. Hey, this is another portion of the decline brought to YOU, by FEMINISM.
My takes, your mileage MAY vary.
Shit, another article! Roooosh! Hahaha!
“People who kill animal just for the sake of killing them have no
business calling themselves hunters. If our hunter-gather ancestors saw
someone kill an animal, take a picture with it while high fiving their
friends, and then leave it to rot they would think we are crazy. Because
of hunting, I developed a strong conviction of not letting anything go
to waste.”
Disagree on this point. We were greedy, we’d never leave kill on the ground, we never, EVER cheated (part of the honor), but we always wanted the Venison. But nothing left behind, even a whole animal, from the guts to the parts you butchered in-place is EVER wasted. The land, the other beasts and birds of prey, the soil and the sun take care of everything and quickly. We could come along two weekends later to the same place and see NO signs of what we left behind when we butchered in place, a necessity when you take down a big buck in a bad area far from camp or your vehicle. Not bustin’ balls, Carolus, just sayin’.
Don’t forget you can also hunt in suburbia. Grow you a garden. Plant a small orchard. Rabbits and squirrels will come. Will royally piss you off. Especially when they strip your favorite pear tree and eat your collard greens. Buy you a vermin trap on amazon.com or local hardware store. Trap the critters. Pellet to the head. Watch youtube. Skin them, marinate them, grill them. Wash down with beer. Works for me. And my dog just loves sniffing around where I was skiining game. He also wants to hunt some of that bush meat. I think that my hunting has even helped my suburban Jack Russel Terrier to re-connect with his inner wolf.
I’ve been up early in the morning for deer hunting lately; I’m hunting for the first time, and I plan on doing it for life. Great article!
I would really like to go hunting for humans especially males who hunt and say hunting is manly.