Aboriginal people like to tell of their close affinity to the land and its creatures, but there was a time when all our ancestors depended on hunting and gathering for food or they starved. The invention of agriculture is what permits the cushy lifestyle many now enjoy. There is still satisfaction to be found by getting on the land and taking care of business. Hunting is an opportunity to escape factory life where one is a small cog in a wheel to where one can function (nearly) alone.

Hunting provides food for the spirit as well as the body. The hunter must be disciplined, determined, quiet and patient or the hunted may escape. Nothing fosters respect for and harmony with Nature better than a close encounter. The elements, the prey, and other living things are all part of a system in which the hunter must function well to succeed. Much knowledge of all of these must be accumulated over time. That is why each hunter must take the time to show youngsters how to hunt even though the presence of a beginner is almost sure to reduce the chances of success. Once trained, however, a young hunter may enthusiastically assist an older hunter and both can do well. The spiritual benefits of hunting are something that can give one lifelong satisfaction, and strengthen family and group ties.

There are many that do not partake of hunting and they are to be pitied. Not only do they miss out on the benefits of hunting; some come to feel that hunting is anachronistic and worse, evil. Some feel that we must live and let live to the extent that no meat should be eaten. This idea is wrong for several reasons. Nature is a system of checks and balances. Agriculture, which is so strongly encouraged by some, upsets that balance. For example, we grow enough cereal to feed thousands of millions of people. At the same time, this abundance of food can cause many species to grow explosively in number. Deer, geese and bear would all increase exponentially if their numbers were not limited by hunting either by predatory animals or human hunters. We cannot allow non-human predators to take care of this or they will eventually come after our young and us. There are few predators that will bother bear. Motor vehicle collisions are one of the few ways we limit numbers without hunting, but they are expensive, damaging and can be fatal for humans as well as animals. In fact, natural resource managers use collision statistics as a sampling method to estimate animal populations and to issue licenses. Instead of operating a costly birth control program, managers can actually raise revenues paying for management programs by charging fees for hunting licenses. By discouraging firearm ownership, lead shot and promoting high fees, managers have made a mistake with geese. The geese have increased to the point where they are overpopulating the summer breeding grounds in the arctic. Since the arctic is a more fragile ecosystem than the Corn Belt, the damage was seen there first. This could force geese to compete with caribou in the tundra and make life difficult for aboriginal hunters in the arctic and boreal regions. Recently, snow geese quotas have been relaxed to help restore some balance. Humans must be considered a natural phenomenon taking part in the balance of Nature, and this means hunting.

Fewer of us are hunting these days, so those who continue must take a more active role in recruitment. Reach out to youngsters outside the family circle. Invite folks along, "just to see". Invite folks for dinner. Loan firearms so that the draconian gun controls are not such a barrier. Tell lots of hunting stories. Put up a webpage...

No article on hunting would be worth much without a couple of anecdotes:

Being anxious to have my son, David, involved in hunting deer, I took him along as observer when he was about nine years of age. The trip involved a visit to Grandma's house and a hunt with my brother. We had permission to hunt a prairie pothole in November when deer were leaving the grain fields and taking cover in the heavy woods in a nearby valley. The place was the best cover for miles around and we expected traffic.

We started with a standard strategy: arrive before sunrise and stake out some approaches. After some hours it was obvious that any deer must have arrived before we did and we would have to flush them out. As David was going to stick close to me and it is hard for youngsters to sit still, we decided that he and I would move through the bush while my brother waited in ambush. We walked steadily, but with a lot of crunching of snow and ice underfoot. We were about half done when I realized David was not keeping up. I asked him what was the matter, and he said, "My feet are cold!". In a flash, I realized that he had gone out with thin cotton socks.

There was nothing to do but abort the hunt, so we put mitts over his feet and I carried him piggyback to the truck. The whole process was over by brunch and I had cleverly shown my son how not to go dressed for hunting. Really, this example is a reflection of how sheltered a life we lead these days. I had grown up in the bush and was used to dressing in bullet proof everything to keep the heat in, but my son lives in an electrically heated house, is driven everywhere and is always close to a warm place. It did not occur to him that he should have thick socks. His mother, a city woman, picks out his clothes for school and being seen in public. I was so intent on preparing equipment that I did not take care of what was most important. David has hunted with me several times since without further disaster.

I have a favorite piece of bush that I hunt. I know it inside and out. I have hunted it so many times I can figure out where to sit so a deer walks by within a day. On one of the rare occasions when I did not get a deer in one day, I had gone out on a Friday, before all the silly city folk overran the place on the weekend. There was no snow so tracking was pretty difficult, and I did not see much fresh sign. After waiting in ambush and moving around carefully all day, I did not see my first deer until just after sundown when it was too dark to shoot. All I saw was a set of legs sticking out from under a bush. I went back to the truck and camped to try again tomorrow.

In the morning there was a thin covering of new snow and more was drifting down with the slightest of breezes. It was now possible to walk quickly and watch for sign. I figured the place where I had seen the deer was the place to be as it is a crossroad for deer in the midst of thick bush. I was in position before sunrise and sat at the edge of a pioneer trail with the breeze carrying my scent away from me to my left. I could see thirty yards ahead of me and fifty yards to my right. After fifteen minutes I heard the unmistakable crack of a branch breaking behind me. It was not the crunch of an old branch giving out under its own weight. This was the bang of a branch bent too far. It must have been close or I would not have heard it with all the fluffy snow in the air. I dared not turn around because that would be conspicuous to the deer's motion detectors. I waited forever. There was another crackle and rustle, this time to the right. After a few minutes I saw motion out of the corner of my eye. It was a young buck only fifteen feet away.

The anti-hunters would say I had an unfair advantage hunting deer with a rifle. Their ignorance is immense, because this is what was going through my mind:

1)I being right handed had the rifle laying across my lap with the muzzle pointing away from the deer,

2)the deer was looking right at me,

3)if I blinked or my tummy rumbled, this deer would be out of sight in two seconds,

4)I would not shoot at this kind of range as the 170 gr RN .323 Hornady at 2600 ft/s might disintegrate on impact and damage meat and hide unnecessarily,

5)if the wind shifted or stopped the deer would smell me and bolt,

6)I cannot sit still long, and

7)my heart was racing because the time was near to do something.

After what seemed an hour but was likely ten seconds, I swallowed. It was just a nervous little swallow but the deer did a quick reverse. I stood on my cramped legs and traversed the rifle half a circle. The buck paused to look back to see what had startled him and I fired. I was so pumped and anxious that I forgot to squeeze the trigger. After all, the deer was only thirty yards away. How careful does a rifleman have to be? The anti-hunters and anti-firearm folks would say that one just has to fire a rifle in the general direction of a deer and it is as good as dead. I was shooting an old Mauser 98 and the firing pin travels forever before firing. If the rifle is not steady, the point of impact can be a long way from the point of aim. The deer died in its tracks. The bullet had hit a vital spot but was far from the point of aim. That extra energy damaged some meat but the deer was still worth eating.

It took perhaps half an hour to get the cleaned carcass out of the bush and on the truck. Only when I was on the road did I reflect on the utter absence of the Saturday morning city hunters. I saw not a single hunter and there was very little traffic on the road. It turned out that I missed a weather warning of a sudden heavy snowstorm. I learned quite a bit on that day.

I am ending with some advice for beginners on hunting deer. The deer is a very worthy prey. He is alert, nervous, careful, skillful and has wonderful motion detection, hearing and smell. When he wants to escape his powerful legs can carry him over most obstacles in a single bound. You have no advantage over him whatsoever except your ability to solve problems and to learn from your mistakes. The most common mistake for a young hunter is to assume he can just travel around until he sees a deer and shoots it. All the odds are against you. You could hunt for days and not see a deer. It takes a long time to learn to move quietly and carefully enough to sneak up on a deer. You are young. Maybe you'll live long enough. In the meantime, if you want to eat, sit down. Sitting with your butt on a log or stump and your back up against a tree is about the only way you'll be still enough for a deer to approach. Find a high traffic area, pay attention to wind and light and you will be rewarded. Do not hurry your shot. Do not fire at a running deer. You have to lead and you are going to be a little excited your first few times. Many deer will run to cover and look back. Be patient.

In terms of equipment, I would recommend to beginners a heavy blunt bullet of large diameter. Most encounters are within 100 yards, so ballistics are not a problem. I would recommend a single shot. Knowing one has only one shot means one has motivation to wait for the right moment. There is almost no disadvantage to this because of the great speed of deer. It would be rare to get a second shot. A muzzle-loader .50 or larger shooting round ball or a 12 gauge shotgun with slugs is great in the bush. On the prairie, one may be tempted to use a rifle capable of long shots, but that is getting away from hunting. More learning happens when the hunting is up close and personal. If a beginner must have a modern centre-fire, get a .257 Roberts or something a bit heavier for bush. 6.5X55 or 7X57 are excellent for deer and an old military rifle is very reliable. The point-blank range of a small magnum is only 50 yards or so greater than these old standards and it is crazy to use that much energy inside of 100 yards. .243/.6mm is a bit light for deer. This a compromise calibre for varmint/game hunting. Practice target shooting at the maximum range you are likely to see deer on the hunt as long as the height of trajectory will keep the bullet in the vital zone and the bullet has enough energy to expand.