The hunt is almost the perfect antithesis of the ‘online community.’ In the hunting community, we know little of each other’s opinions. Our bond is not established by views or factions, but by our experience of belonging.
Restoring our proper relationship with the natural world, it must be asserted, does not entail a retreat from nature, but a renewed immersion in its mystery and a humble submission to its laws.
From a possible massively expanded sterilisation rate, to new limitations on training and employing animals in rural areas, including hunting dogs, many fear that the new legislation seeks to maximise animal emotional or sensory pleasure, ignoring the fulfilment of their instincts (often the result of centuries of breeding).
As the Season has drawn to a close, I have been reflecting on the meaning of hunting. Some hunts this Season have transported me into a timeless experience into which, no doubt, many hunting people have been taken.
It seems that both the architects of the Brave New World and the serfs who live in it actually fear the state of nature found in the Rousseauian paradise. In fact, we have a profound aversion to nature. Rather than acting like animals, we feel a kind of queasiness not only when we witness the more animal-side of human life, but even when we witness animals acting like animals.
Although I myself have not hunted for any game in decades save what can be found in restaurants, I do not approve of these limitations; in fact I cannot really trust any leader who does not hunt. It would be much better if they all did.
