A Definitive Study of the Mind, Body, and Ecology of the Hunter in the Modern World
E-Book, Englisch, 400 Seiten
ISBN: 978-1-4245-6493-4
Verlag: BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman Dave is an award-winning author and nationally recognized as a powerful, dynamic speaker. He has authored over a dozen books, including his perennial bestsellers On Killing, On Combat, and On Spiritual Combat, a New York Times best-selling book co-authored with Glenn Beck, and many other successful books and scholarly papers. His books are required or recommended reading in all four branches of the US Armed Forces and in federal and local law enforcement academies nationwide. He is a US Army Ranger, a paratrooper, a prior service sergeant, and a former West Point psychology professor. He has five patents to his name, has earned a black belt in Hojutsu (the martial art of the firearm), and has been inducted into the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame. Dave's research was cited by the President of the United States in a national address, he has testified before the US Senate, the US Congress, and numerous state legislatures, and he has been invited to the White House on two occasions to brief the president and the vice president in his areas of expertise. Since his retirement from the US Army in 1998, Dave has been on the road over two hundred days a year for over twenty-four years as one of the world's leading trainers for military, law enforcement, mental health providers, and school safety organizations. He has been inducted as a Life Diplomate by the American Board for Certification in Homeland Security and a Life Member of the American College of Forensic Examiners Institute. Linda K. Miller Linda has over twenty-five years of business experience, including management consulting, business planning, business management, marketing, and information systems. She has considerable experience in international small-bore target shooting as a member of Canada's Shooting Team. She has won medals in the Commonwealth Games 1994, Cuba World Cup 1995, and Mexico World Cup 1993. In 1999, Linda became the first woman to win the Ontario Lieutenant Governor's Medal for shooting (full-bore rifle); these competitions have a proud and honored history of over 140 years. Linda is also the first and only woman to be the National Sniper Rifle Champion (2008). She holds many provincial and national titles and records, and she has been a member of several Canadian teams to international championships throughout the world. Linda is an accomplished and internationally certified shooting coach. She has coached provincial and national teams (small-bore and full-bore) as well as the Canadian CISM (Conseil International du Sport Militaire) team. With Keith, she has coached the Canadian Forces Combat Shooting Team to many honors in England and Australia. They have coached thirteen members of the military to a Queen's Medal, the top award for marksmanship within the Canadian Forces. Linda has also volunteered as a director, manager, administrator, and consultant in Club, Provincial, and National shooting sports organizations. Linda started hunting in 1995 and has since hunted small and big game in Canada (Ontario), the USA (Georgia, South Dakota), and Africa (Namibia). Capt. Keith A. Cunningham Keith is a career military officer with a combined experience of over twenty-five years with the Canadian Armed Forces and the US Army. He has considerable practical experience, including a combat tour in Vietnam, where he was a US Army Ranger specializing as a sniper and in long-range reconnaissance. In the Canadian Army, he was a part of the Special Service Force. He did peacekeeping and counter-sniper operations in Cyprus and annual unit and command-level military exercises in North America and Europe. Keith has taught marksmanship courses at the Canadian Forces Infantry School and at many police forces in Ontario. He was a certified instructor/examiner for the Firearms Safety Education Service of Ontario, and he was a Hunter Safety Instructor/Examiner.
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Weitere Infos & Material
Introduction
Bruce Siddle’s research on predation shows that, according to British records, in India from 1900 to 1910, over one hundred thousand people were killed by tigers.1 Those are just the ones that were recorded in a single decade. Imagine what it must have been like a century before that. Or a thousand years or even ten thousand years before that, when our species must have lived a life of constant predation. To understand mankind, we must understand that throughout our history we have been in the middle of the food chain. We have the gripping fangs and the forward-set eyes of a predator, and in our brain, we have the neural pathways of a team of cooperative, goal-oriented, and (even, perhaps) self-sacrificing predators. We also have the chisel teeth of a rabbit, and we have the neural pathway of a “blow the ballast” (mess yourself) and run like hell rodent. Finally, we have the grinding molars of a grass eater and the neural pathway that says, “I don’t have to outrun the predator; I just have to outrun the slowest one in the herd.” You’re the predator right up until you’re prey. —James S. A. Corey, Abaddon’s Gate We have these various survival responses built into our bodies, our minds, and our genetics. But which is the most fun? It is no fun to be prey! We are never genuinely happy when we are prey. It can be argued that we are at our happiest and healthiest when we are the hunter, not the hunted. Even when we made the switch from hunter-gatherers to agriculture, we continued to be hunters. To this very day we see this in rural parts of our society, where modern farmers and ranchers also, and almost universally, consider hunting as an important part of their lives and their livelihood. The history of humanity is a long struggle to survive and to claw our way to the top of the food chain. We have within ourselves the capacity to be prey or predator. Thus, you can make a good argument that one of the great pathologies of modern times is an abandonment of our predator roots. A healthy mankind embraces all aspects of our heritage and our genetics. The basic premise of this book is that we are what we were when we were formed.2 And we (Homo sapiens) emerged when we were all hunters. No matter how we socialize ourselves, “under the covers,” we are all wired the same way. We were all hunters then, and we are still. In this book, we explore • the “Deep Roots” of hunting, how it is woven into our very core; the “Deep Roots” of hunting, how it is woven into our very core; • “The Hunter’s Oath” and the ethics of hunting; • “Kudu Eyes,” the underlying skills of the hunter; • “It’s What I Do,” hunting skills applied to police, military, and self-defense; and • “It’s Who I Am,” the challenges, traditions, and reverence of the modern hunter. Overall, this book is a celebration of life, of the hunter’s life. It is an acknowledgment of our place in the middle of the food chain as both predator and prey. And especially, it sheds light on how these two roles (striving to get food and striving not to become food) are inextricably linked to procreation. Many people feel guilty that they have a sense of euphoria when they are successful in the hunt, but the authors of this book believe this is normal and natural. It is our brain’s way of responding when we are confirming our life force and improving the odds that our species will live and multiply. All animal brains are designed to create flashes of pleasure when the animal does something important for its survival. —Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind Artemis A bridge from our earliest hunting roots to our modern souls is the transfer of ancient hunting stories to the mythologies of our early tribes and civilizations. In Roman mythology, it’s Diana. In Greek mythology, it’s Artemis, a profoundly important member of the Ancient Greek pantheon. She was a very popular goddess in her day, widely admired and worshiped. She is probably best known now as the goddess of the hunt. What more important concern can there be for primitive humans than the hunt, wild animals, and the wilderness? This was the realm of Artemis. Not only was her domain the wilderness, but she was also considered to be wild, particularly in the sense that she was fiercely independent and comfortable with being alone. She refused to conform to convention or tradition. She was the personification of the wilderness: self-sufficient, living by her own terms, both goddess and woman. Her portfolio also included the protection of young girls, virginity, and childbirth. Perhaps, in the transition from innocent virginity to childbirth, ancient humans saw the essential life that flowed from that natural process. She was a goddess of great compassion, but she punished mercilessly those who needlessly harmed creatures under her protection. Like the hunt leader that would evolve into the war chief and the civic leader, she was comfortable both in solitude and in leadership. She rejoiced in the hunt while simultaneously being the guardian of nature and wild animals. (Another powerful parallel to modern hunters!) Artemis was the embodiment of the skillful, proficient, free-spirited, self-reliant woman. She was then—and is today—a role model for the capable, strong-willed, and independent female. It is no accident that Diana/Artemis ruled the wild animals, the hunt, and procreation. These are the basis of life: birth, predator, and prey. The circle of life…that’s what hunting’s all about. —Jim Shockey (writer, photographer, guide, and outfitter) Campfire Story: Her First Deer Another of the bridges from our ancient hunting roots to our modern souls is in the telling and retelling of hunting stories around the campfire. To genuinely enjoy these stories, the reader needs to slow down, sit back, and relax. It was movement that caught her eye. Her grandfather had told her it would most likely be movement that she would see first—at least that was the way it worked when the second doe came into the clearing. It had stood on the edge of the tree line while lowering and lifting its head, flicking its ears, and twitching its tail. At this time of late autumn, there was very little feed that could be described as lush, so this grassy little clearing was attractive to the deer. Earlier, the first doe had just appeared. The girl had scanned the clearing, as was becoming her routine, and she had seen nothing. She had glanced out another window in her blind to locate the red squirrel that was scolding her for being in its territory. Its bushy tail vibrated in the cool morning air as it chattered its disapproval. She smiled at its antics, and when she turned back to do another scan, the doe was just standing there in the middle of the clearing. How was it possible for it to get that far without being seen? She had gasped softly as the small shot of adrenaline hit her bloodstream but calmed quickly, realizing that this deer was not what she was after. Her grandfather had told her this would happen, and she took several deep breaths to settle down. He had called it “combat breathing.” It had worked for him when he was in combat, and it worked for her now. Suddenly, there he was! This deer had antlers, big antlers, and could be the one. Breathe…breathe, she told herself. The buck hadn’t seen her and was far more interested in the doe. Now the buck moved out into the clearing. He was magnificent. The girl now experienced a shot of adrenaline like never before. This was it! This was the buck! She had prepared herself for just this moment, and now she was shaking with excitement. Breathe…Breathe! she screamed in her mind. She could feel herself calming as she put her sight reticle on the point of aim. She could see the sight reticle was steadier now. When the big deer stopped to test the wind, she was ready to fire her shot. It was a good shot—right on the point of aim. She and her grandfather had practiced making shots just like this. She had fired many such shots on paper and steel targets before this one all-important shot. The buck immediately did a mule kick and ran toward the nearest tree line. Then the deer slowed, became unsteady, and finally collapsed. She could see him thrashing, but she could tell it was over. She waited a bit longer before going over to him. As she approached, she kept her eyes on the one antler she could see, with her rifle in a “ready for anything” position. She circled slightly to approach the deer from its back and could smell the odor of a buck deer in full rut. She nudged him with her foot, and there were no signs of life. She then moved around to look into his eyes and saw the stare of death. She knelt by his head, patted him lightly and said, barely more than a whisper, “Thank you…thank you.” She sat quietly thinking about her first deer until she felt her cell phone vibrating. It was a text from her grandfather; he had heard the shot and was wondering if it was time for him to come and help. “Yes, Grandpa,” she replied. “And Grandpa…I love you.” Hunting is what we were designed to do. I am not saying it is a good thing or a bad...
