Hunting - Past and Present - Outdoors

The story of hunting begins not with sport or recreation at all, but rather with the basic quest for food and survival.

Earliest man was considered a hunter-gatherer. This meant, simply, that when there was not enough food just lying around to be gathered, he must hunt for it. It is thought that during the colder times of the ice age, food was less available for gathering and during this time man began to organize group hunts that ranged far from the huts and caves in search of game. The story of hunting begins in the very dawn of time itself.

Early man made complete use of the game that he hunted. The meat provided food, but the remainder of the body was used as well. The hides provided clothing; the bones were used to fashion tools; the tendons were used as binding material, almost nothing was wasted. This communal hunting tradition can still be observed among primitive and isolated tribes in remote areas of the World even today. Hunting knowledge and skill was a basic requirement of manhood and often the leaders of the community were those with the most hunting skills.

It was in the early civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt that hunting for sport first emerged. Even then, this sport hunting was a way for warriors to practice skills or test themselves against wild animals. Early carvings from this period show hunters slaying exotic game in what appear to be recreational hunts. This was a sport that was reserved for the wealthy. The common man continued to hunt for basic survival. In the middle ages, the practice of reserved land for hunting was developed. This took the form of special hunting preserves, like the King's Forest.

The first settlers of America were forced to hunt until agriculture could be established. This continued as people expanded westward across the country. At first, hunting was done to provide food while land was being cleared for crops. Even afterwards, hunting supplemented the food supply. It was not until recent years and the development of refrigeration and grocery stores that hunting began to be a recreational activity rather than a way to put meat on the table.

In modern civilization, the need to hunt for food no longer exists, but millions of people keep the traditions alive and continue to learn and pass on the basic hunting skills that fed and sustained human beings since time began. It is thought that this love of hunting is something that is felt at a genetic level and that the satisfaction felt by the successful hunter touches something inside that harkens back to a time when failure at the hunt meant starvation and not merely disappointment.

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