"now it's all about pushing myself"

March 15, 2017 10:28 PM

In 2012, Mark Seacat went Searching for West

Hunting's Big Comeback

The New Predators - Look Who's Turning Hunting Into An Action Sport

This New Mexico hunt is a far cry from those expeditions, but it's a better bet for scoring an old bighorn. As we crawl to the edge of the knoll for a closer look at the group of five rams that moved off downhill, it becomes clear the oldest one is perfect. He has a massive body, probably 300 pounds, with thick horns that end in flat stubs, the product of years of bashing heads with rivals during the rut. He's nine, maybe 10 years old based on his growth rings. Hairston drops his backpack and lies flat on his belly, propping the rifle up on his bag to take aim.

"The one on the left," Burns says. "He's the one." The rams are grouped together tightly, and they clearly sense that something is amiss. At first they dart one way, then another. Finally, they disappear into the trees. Hairston never pulls the trigger.

"Fuck," says Burns. "Fuck."

Hairston slowly gets up and looks back with a pained smile. "I never had a shot," he says as way of explanation. Now the animals are gone, maybe for good. "Come on," Burns says. "Let's get ahead of them." So we take off side-hilling it across the mountain, doing our best to catch up to an animal that can run uphill faster than most NFL cornerbacks can on AstroTurf.

Rise of the Hunter Athlete

But is this really a new concept? In a remarkably surprising (for being in Outside) and well written article in the March 2013 issue of Outside Magazine the author Grayson Schaffer wrote, “Hunting is making a comeback by tapping into a new crowd of athletic locavores…” highlighting as many do (and should) the organic, truly free-range meat one procures when hunting for your own meat. Yes, in this way hunting is making a comeback but mainly to the leather wearing, packaged meat buying urbanites that were too busy protesting trophy hunting to think critically about the food on their plates and how in the hell it got there. No, the “athletic hunter” is not a new phenomenon, but I welcome the polished and now well marketed image of the athletic, hunter-conservationist that hunts for his or her food in a manner respectful to both the animals and the environment while pushing the limits of physical endurance, strength and mental fortitude.

I would argue we have always been here.

posted by the man of twists and turns (1 comment total)

I dunno whether "athlete hunter" is new or not, but I can absolutely tell you that the folks I grew up with who hunted did so in a universally sedentary manner -- and it showed.

To shoot at ducks and doves, you sit in a marsh or a field and be still until they get close. To shoot at deer or wild boar, you perch in a tree stand for hours on end, hoping to see something.

Of course, a good chunk of this is just the terrain. I grew up in the southeast (MS), so scrub and forest are very thick, and the only sizable huntable land mammal is the notoriously skittish and fleet-of-foot whitetail. They're plenty of them, but stalking them is ridiculous. The deer stand doesn't exist because of laziness; it exists because it's the only good way to take an animal in that environment.

Out west, pursuing moose or elk or bighorn, I expect you need to be a bit more fit to come home with meat, because sit-and-wait isn't a viable plan.
posted by uberchet at 8:05 AM on March 16, 2017