Comments on: Snake food: Humans as prey

By: Doug Thorburn

Doug Thorburn — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 03:36:05 +0000

Hi Jennifer, I would be happy to attempt an answer to your questions;
1 – It may be purely anecdotal, but the majority of people I know who are hunting have only started in the last year or two, and are motivated by the combination of healthy food, gathered locally from a wilderness setting. Most of these peole are already active in a number of backcountry recreation activities, and so are confortable in a wilderness setting. I would be curious if this local interest in hunting is also refected in the province/country at large.
2 – My own reasons for hunting…I enjoy the challenge of gathering food from the local wilderness. I like the idea that no land has been cultivated, no input from human endeavor has gone in to producing the animals and berries that we collect from the local mountain sides. As a new hunter, I am enjoying the learning curve involved in “thinking like an animal”, learning their habits, their movement corridors, where they will typically bed down during the day.
3 – in my years working in the bush I have encountered surprisingly few hunters. The few I have met are generally quite guarded about what they are doing, I’m guessing because they are secretive about their favourite hunting spots. The exception would be the old guys who have been hunting all their lives, and seem to go hunting as an excuse to get out of the house, and love to stand around chatting about what animals they have seen!

I look forward to hearing what you come up with. I always enjoy the documentary programs presented on CBC.

By: jennifer moss

jennifer moss — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:34:21 +0000

Hello Doug – I recently read your comments about hunting on Tovar’s site. I’m researching a doc on hunting for CBC radio – and would be interested to hear your thoughts, as a fellow Canadian, on a couple of things: 1 – Do you think there are more people out there turning to hunting as adults for reasons to do with ethical eating concerns, wanting to eat a local diet, fair treatment of animals etc? 2 – What are your own reasons for hunting? 3 – In your years as a forrester wandering in the backcountry – have you observed any changes in WHO is out there hunting?

By: Tovar

Tovar — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 14:49:19 +0000

Nicely put, Doug. Though I came to hunting mainly for more food-and-ethics oriented reasons, I can see why people get hooked by the sheer intensity of the activity.

And, statistically, your analogy to rock-climbing helps explain the overall decline in the number of hunters here in North America: people are still compelled by intense outdoor activities, but many have turned away from hunting, toward climbing, windsurfing, etc.

By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:40:27 +0000

Hi Tovar, interesting thoughts. I know what you mean by the deep focus of the final moments of the hunt, as the twigs snap, an animal steps through the trees towards you. I presume it is these few moments of heightened awareness that keeps us “modern” people hooked on the craft of hunting. I would liken it to rock climbing in the combination of intense body awareness, a quiet meditative quality, and the lurking potential for calamity.

By: Tovar

Tovar — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 13:10:04 +0000

Thanks for your comment, Doug.

I’m intrigued by your description of how, in perceiving yourself as prey, you went to that place of deep focus and hyper-awareness where everything slows down. It reminds me not only, as you say, of emergency situations, but also of the experience of hunting — the intense focus I feel when a deer comes within yards.

I wonder about predatory encounters between animals. Rather than predators experiencing a state of aggression and prey experiencing a state of terror, do both experience a somehow-similar state of heightened intensity and focus as they play out one dramatic life-and-death moment in an ancient relationship?

By: doug thorburn

doug thorburn — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 14:39:01 +0000

Hello Tovar et al., I have been reading with interest the various comments on the topic “humans as prey”, and thought I might have something worthwhile to add.

I live and work in south-eastern British Columbia. The majority of my work (Forester) finds me wandering the woods on my own, relying on my five senses to keep me out of trouble. My primary concern with my animal neighbors (grizzly bears, black bears, cougars, moose etc..) is not predation, but rather initiating a defensive response in the animal by inadvertently blundering too close to its bedding site, offspring, or food source.

Considering the amount of time I spend in the woods, it is remarkable how seldom these negative encounters occur. Over the years (approx 30 working and playing in the bush), I have been charged by black bears three times, by a cow moose twice, and once by a wolverine! On two occasions I have been stalked by animals, once by a black bear and once by a cougar. I have no way of knowing the “true intentions” of these animals, but I can say that on both occasions I definitely felt like prey.

My response to “being prey”, was interesting, and not what I would have expected. Rather than blind terror setting in I went into a place of incredible deep focus, or hyper-awareness. The awareness not only centered on the potential predator, but on the entire environment around me. Swaying grass, distant bird calls, everything was being processed in that “slow motion” realm people often describe during emergencies.

I managed to extricate myself from both of these situations, thanks in part to the nuanced assessment of my environment. On both occasions I used “bluff and blustering” to convince the bear and cougar that I was more trouble than I was worth! It still amazes me that the animals still fall for this trick of ours. You would think that in all the millenium of contact, word might have gotten out that we are easy pickings.

By: Tovar

Tovar — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 00:02:30 +0000

Gotcha. Yes, I think we may be on much the same page.

By: Ingrid

Ingrid — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:29:07 +0000

Jean, I know what you mean. I spend a lot of time with pelicans, brown and white. And still, I never fail to get a lump in my throat when I see a huge band of those pterodactyl shadows drifting the uplift around the turn of Lands End. My heart is irrevocably entwined with the birds who grace our shores.

By: Jean

Jean — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 15:32:20 +0000

The book, The Maneater of Tsavo, is by Lt. Col. J.H. Patterson. It is much more frightening and humbling than the movie (The Ghost and The Darkness) they made after it.

I do miss my solitary mornings on the ocean. This time of year the pelicans start flying together. Watch the motion of the group as a whole. As they come toward you or fly away from you, it is possible to see where Chinese Dragons come from.

By: Ingrid

Ingrid — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 23:23:17 +0000

“It’s interesting that you say ‘we humans like to think we’re as vulnerable to top-level predators.’ I’ve never noticed that tendency. It seems to me that most people do not even want to think of themselves as mortal and biodegradable, let alone as potential food for a large carnivore.”

Yes, you’re right. That comment needs clarification. And I’m also guilty of employing the dreaded “we.” I try not to, but in haste, sometimes I resort.

What I meant by that was that when it comes to explaining or rationalizing human predation, I often hear that argument — that we’re just as much a part of the food chain, susceptible to the same vagaries as are other animals. I just don’t see it that way, given the massive amounts of insulation and armor we bear to separate ourselves from that very fate.

So, I actually agree with you, in spite of what seems like an opposing viewpoint. I don’t think humans, in general, want to see themselves as mortal and subject to predation. But I think there’s some doubleplusgood doublespeak when it comes to articulating the opposite.