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When co-workers or people at parties fi nd outthat I hunt, I am often met by a certain look orresponses such as “Eew,” “Isn’t that cruel?” or,

better still, “OMG you’re joking, right?” I fi nd such views interesting and they always prompt further discussion.

Such responses may come from the unhelpful public-ity created by poachers and trespassers. But it does not stop there. Consider also the negative exposure created by the discovery by a member of the public of a still living,gut-shot kangaroo.

We are all tarred by the same brush in the eyes of soci-ety. This is compounded when a child with no disciplineor respect takes his latest K-Mart suction cup bow set, removes the harmless ends, sharpens them and shoots Mrs Smith’s beloved Burmese cat next door. Why should

my reputation be sullied because the child’s parents did not do their job?

Further, the attitude refl ects an entirely inconsistentapproach towards hunting. Whilst I will be quizzed by my colleagues on my motivations as a hunter, if I were dis-cussing recreational fi shing instead, this would be entirely acceptable. Indeed, any Sunday afternoon we can watch a TV personality wrenching a writhing fi sh from the water with a hook skewered through its lip. But fi shing, whetherit involves a rod, trap, hand spear or spear gun, is just another form of hunting.

So, why is fi shing a socially acceptable and well tele-vised past-time, whereas hunting for land-based wild ani-mals raises negative reactions and mistrust? I think it is in part because people generally associate more closely

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h k l t ti fi d t t ttii b lli d b th hild’ t d

by by SCOTT HEIMANSCOTT HEIMAN

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with warm-blooded than cold-blooded animals. But, fun-damentally, I think that these inconsistent attitudes arebased in social conditioning.

From an early age, the urban population allows itself to become largely separated from the practical realities of life. The butchery and preparation of meat once occurred within the family unit, and later the local butcher was an essential part of the community and was considered a ‘mate to have’. By contrast, for most urban dwellers, meat is now clinically presented in styrofoam and cling-wrap. In those few circumstances in which our children come face-to-face with a lifeless animal in the form of road-kill,the creature is more likely to be described as ‘sleeping’ rather than ‘dead’, as this explanation eases both our off-spring’s and our own sensibilities.

Industrialisation within modern society detaches peo-ple from their natural environment and allows judgmen-tal attitudes towards hunting to fl ourish unchecked. For example, the Oxford English Reference Dictionary refers to hunting as: “the practice of pursuing and killing wild

animals.” In my view, this defi nition, which focusses onlyon the chase and death of the quarry, presents merely afraction of the elements constituted by ‘hunting.’

The defi nition fails to suffi ciently identify the factors that distinguish ‘hunting’ from ‘shooting’. The dictionary defi nes a ‘shooter’ as ‘a person or thing that shoots’. Butany marksman can dispatch an animal at 600m. To me, being a hunter involves more than this.

I think that a far more descriptive and complete appre-ciation of the nature of hunting is found in the Game Coun-cil’s defi nition of Conservation Hunting as: “the ethicaland humane harvesting of animal species in their natural environment by individual hunters for the utilisation of their meat, skins, or for environmental purposes”. But even this account leaves many essential elements of hunting unsaid. There are several other factors to consider …

So, what exactly do I mean by this?As a youngster, it seemed that hunting centred on the

experience of being torn away from my coastal home and friends during school holidays. Forced to endure any-thing up to an eight-hour drive to a hunting property, Iwas transported inescapably away from the attractions of the beach, surfi ng and bonfi res. During such marathondrives, we played A-Z car games incorporating the alpha-betical identifi cation of animals’ names, sexes and thelike. For example, “V is for vixen”, “K is for kitten” (babyrabbit that is, not baby cat).

Whilst this experience seemed tedious at the time, Inow recognise that it marked the start of a lifetime of inter-est in species identifi cation and I appreciate that this is anaptitude that must be at the foundation of any hunter’s skill set. That is, you don’t fi re at something until you canpositively identify it.

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But what other skills and interests do hunters need? The following headings outline some of the additional

subject skills that I believe are important for a hunter—orbetter still, comprise the ‘science of hunting’. Whilst these skills may not be based in formal training, certainly they exist to some degree as an element of a hunter’s sub-conscious knowledge.

Biological Sciences

Anatomy: Knowing your prey is key to conducting a successful hunt. This includes appreciating an animal’s strengths and limitations of eyesight and sense of smell so as to be able to position yourself within range. And, of course, knowing the position of the animal’s heart and lungs, and its skeletal structure are essential for achieving a clean kill.

Zoology: Understanding your quarry’s tracks and the sign it leaves, its habitat, habits and food sources will also inform your choice of hunting location and what course of action you may take on the day’s hunt. Is it a pig or sam-bar wallow? What is the difference between species’ rubs and scratchings? What is the difference between the scat of a dog, fox or cat and what has it been eating?

Ornithology: Show me a hunter who doesn’t also do alittle bird watching! And in a survival situation, observing the habits of birds as they travel, in the early morning and late afternoon, to and from water sources, can assist the hunter in maintaining travel direction and in fi nding water.

Physical Sciences

Physics/Mechanics: This skill relates to understand-ing the individual components of your bow (limbs, cams,

LEFT: Knowing your tracks, scats and sign is important.FAR LEFT: A keen eye will see a white-eared honeyeater

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cables, et cetera), how it all works, and how to fi x it (some-times!). Judgement is also necessary in selecting the rightspine arrow for the weight of the bow, the arrow length andin determining their combined effect on arrow fl ight.

Geography: Hunters are map readers and navigators.They are also analysts of the landscape, habitat, climate,soil and water. Interestingly, most of the animals hunted inAustralia are feral introduced species. An interest in huntingcan therefore also lead to an understanding as to why andwhere they were brought to Australia in the fi rst instance.

Astronomy: Navigation will require an understanding of astral movements. For example, understanding the courseof the sun and the moon across the sky informs our uncon-scious memory of the compass points. In an emergency,hunters will fi nd direction using constellations such as theSouthern Cross. At the end of the day, simply stargazingcan lead to campfi re debate about the signifi cance of thestars and the historic importance of their names … and themeaning of life.

Meteorology: The effects of wind and rain, and the sig-nifi cance of cloud type and structure, will affect the hunt-er’s day-to-day decisions. “Red sky at night – shepherd’sdelight; Red sky in the morning – shepherd’s warning”. Andwhere would we be without the Weather Report on ABCRadio every evening as we plan the next day’s hunt? Howwill a target species react to weather conditions?

Environmental Science

Hunting can give you an insight into invasive, pest, feral,and introduced species. Hunters are at the frontline of pestmanagement and see fi rst-hand the liability that such pestsimpose upon the economy, native species and their habitat.Those who look more closely at this aspect will understandthe hunter’s role in mitigating the economic damage to agri-culture, which amounts to some combined $620 million perannum, caused by foxes, rabbits, wild dogs and feral pigsalone (Invasive Animals CRC, 2009). Hunters are also wellaware of the insidious impact of feral cats on native species.The list goes on …

Animal Behaviour

Stalking requires a well developed understanding of ani-mal psychology. What are the game’s behavioural tenden-cies, how will it react, and how does it perceive the worldaround it? Will the animal follow a game trail or not andwhy? How will it react if it is spooked? With this understand-ing, the hunter can make decisions about such issues aswhat clothing to wear; how to approach game; and where togo to fi nd an animal’s nest, warren, lair or den.

Tradecraft

Outside of professional butchery, hunters are amongst the few remaining people who know how to handle a car-cass. They can identify the origin of different cuts, divide themeat, and in many cases, have the capacity to tan a hide.Others take a special interest in other animal products, forexample, antler and bone to make knife handles, horns fordrinking vessels, spoons and buttons. Further, a hunter maybe able to tell you the nutritional benefi ts of wild game.

Self Improvement

Hunting offers the opportunity to become a better you. Why go to the gym to do your requisite ‘30 minutes a day’exercise as recommended by health practitioners? Developstrength through target practice, build stamina throughbushwalking, and lower your heart rate through the sheerenjoyment of being outdoors engaged in the disciplinedactivity of hunting.

Aside from the physical benefi ts, hunting improves organisational abilities. Hunters need to be effective tripplanners with the capacity to consider factors such as theacquisition of supplies, storage conditions, as well as fuelstops and route planning to a hunting location. Trip plan-ning is about making sure you have the right kit (expensive or cheap—as long as it’s functional), at the right time, for the task at hand. It’s about making sure you take what’s important versus what is simply nice to have.

In this context, the hunter needs to understand fi rst aid and assess what should be in their belt-kit versus what needs

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to be in the car. Considerations of emergency procedures,including communication options, are also paramount.

Social

Ethics: The capacity to consistently apply the principlesrelating to humane destruction of animals are emphatically linked to a successful hunt. This relates both to achieving aclean kill and maintaining public support for hunting.

Specifi cally, hunters formulate for themselves an ethi-cal code with respect to their approach to hunting. They understand that the indiscriminate killing of animals in the past has led to bad press for hunters and, in extreme cases, extinctions of species.

Interpersonal Interaction: Hunters learn to balancehuman sensitivities and to read people. Whether it is in judging how best to keep a property owner ‘on side’, orto manage the diversity of personalities within a club set-ting, developing interpersonal skills is important. Consider the alternative and the effects on hunters by the conduct of trespassers and poachers.

Indeed, the social aspect is a core element of manypeople’s hunting experience. For some it is the camara-derie and mateship attached to hunting: sitting around a campfi re, telling ‘tall tales and true’. For others it is escap-ing the ‘rat race’ and getting back to basics. Alternatively it is the keeping of traditions and being in touch with your cultural ancestry.

So what conclusion are we to draw from all this? How should we defi ne hunting? Indeed, what is hunting to

you? To me, a hunter has a basic interest or understand-ing of all of the above topics, not to mention others suchas photography, geology, history, wild foods, archaeol-ogy, anthropology, heritage, or the hunter’s actual full-time profession. In my mind, hunters draw these linksinstinctively, whereas a shooter may only be interestedin fi nding and killing animals, which can make life dif-fi cult for the rest of us.

Therefore the next time that someone at a party or in a tea room challenges you on your choice to hunt, I thinkthere are two key points to keep in mind:

• It’s not necessarily their fault that they don’t under-stand the variety of skills and interests among the hunting fraternity. When people respond negatively to you, theymay simply be refl ecting the views of a society that haslargely lost touch with its natural environment. We don’t need to be defensive about hunting, but rather take on the role as educator.

• The majority of times that a hunter goes hunting, and returns empty handed, society does not notice. What sticks in people’s minds are those stories that make the press when something goes wrong. It is therefore up to every individual to hunt in a manner that does not nega-tively affect the rest of us.

We all have the potential to either perpetuate, orremove, the negative preconceptions that people may have toward hunting and hunters. We can bring societyalong with us and build positive views of what we do. The secure future of hunting is in our own hands.

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Right: The courtesy of asking permission is seldom wasted.

Far right: You’re never too young to get out and about.