As predator hunters, we hunt the natural hunters — the natural predators. Think about it. Predators are our prey in the same way that prey animals are their prey. Our presence can and often does determine the “balance” of things in the wilds.
But before going any further down this rabbit hole, it is important to define the term “natural balance.” There is no such thing. Nature is a study in imbalance. This basic understanding allows us to appreciate how and where we fit into the natural order. We are part of a tapestry of influences that result in the state of wildlife at any given time and in any given place.
By definition, all hunters are predators — alpha predators to be more precise. But not all human hunters focus on hunting predators. In fact, most don’t. So, why is it that we, as predator hunters, put predator hunting at the top of the list? Because predator hunting is the purist form of hunting.
Why do I say that? Because nature says so. Natural predators hunt because it’s the way they exist and survive. From the time a natural predator is able to walk until the day it dies, it hunts.
In other words, natural predators are hunting machines. It literally is in their DNA. They have all the physical and mental abilities it takes to hunt successfully. For them, it is a simple proposition: Hunt successfully or die. Humans are different in that we can survive by hunting, or we can survive as farmers or fishermen and the like. It could be, and sometimes is, argued that we don’t need to hunt — especially in the 21st century when the majority of humans rarely, if ever, venture into the true wilds.
Even when some do get outdoors, it is as voyeurs who merely look at nature rather than being a part of it. When we hunt, we are an active part of nature. Hence, when it is suggested that we don’t have to hunt, nothing could be more off target. We have to hunt to be true to ourselves and what we are. Yet there is a big difference between us and many other hunters as well as non-hunters. We have more of the hunt imperative within us.
This doesn’t necessarily mean we are better or worse than other hunters, or even that we are better or worse than non-hunters. We are just different, and that difference has more to do with degree than anything else. Bear in mind that I am using the term non-hunter and not anti-hunter when I refer to those humans who don’t hunt. That’s because there is a continuum between non-hunters and predator hunters, each on the opposite extreme, with most hunters falling somewhere between.
What this means is that other hunters range from the once-a-year on opening day recreational hunters to those who are frequently engaged but still consider hunting to be a form of recreation rather than a biological imperative. Predator hunters are always in one of two modes: either actively hunting predators or thinking about hunting predators. I have heard people say that we predator hunters need to get a life. Little do they realize that we already have very full lives.
Lest there be any misunderstanding, there is no effort here to suggest that hunters who are not predator hunters are in any way the less for it. To the contrary. There are extremely serious, hardcore, dedicated hunters who never squeeze the trigger on a predator. They simply are not interested in hunting predators. But they are different, and I suggest that the difference comes from within them where the hunting gene resides. That gene is more prevalent in some hunters than others, and the prevalence can manifest itself in various ways.
When I use the term “hunting gene,” I am not being facetious or frivolous. There is every reason to suggest that hunters are hard-wired to hunt. We don’t do it simply because we like to do it. We must hunt because that’s who we are. If I were a softhead, I probably would suggest that hunters deserve to be considered a protected minority because we can’t help it that we hunt because it’s in our makeup. That would suggest a victim mentality, and predator hunters certainly don’t self-identify as victims. To the contrary, we’re individualists in the purest sense of the term.
Yet, we are not anti-social or even asocial. Rather, we just don’t consider being away from other humans in the wilds as being negative. For us, it’s a positive because in the wilds, we are not alone. We’re there with all of nature and we are an active part of it.
However, our tendency not to “herd-up” does work against us when it comes to politics. Anti-hunters are herders who naturally gather, which means that on the political front, they often can generate the social support it takes to win. In other words, while they are schmoozing, we’re probably out there somewhere, hunting predators. It wouldn’t hurt for us to spend at least a little more time being politically active, if for no other reason than social self-survival.
Anti-hunters are another matter, and they have no relevance to our reality other than the fact that they are anti-human and, frankly, anti-wildlife because they don’t do squat to help the animals they claim to worship.
Most hunters focus on classic prey species. We’re talking hay burners in the main – deer, elk, rabbits, etc. For many of those hunters, acquiring meat for food is their primary motivator. Yes, all hunters are predators. Most hunters will pop a predator if it happens to be a target of opportunity while they are hunting some other species. So will we, as predator hunters. It’s just that for us, it often is reversed in that we’ll take advantage of a hay burner target of opportunity when we’re pursuing predators. When we fully understand who we are and what we are, we predator hunters can stand tall, be proud of ourselves and never apologize for anything.
