Random Thoughts on Plato, Madonna, and the Great Outdoors

dove hunt hunting texas jwt
Dan Z. for SNW

By Craig Springer

September 28 marks the 52nd National Hunting and Fishing Day, an annual event first proclaimed by President Nixon in 1972. Hunting and fishing and target shooting were then, and remain, lifestyle choices enjoyed by millions of Americans from all walks of life on every rung of the economic ladder.

The reasons for fishing and hunting and target shooting vary, but irreducibly, a spiritual matter lies at the kernel.

And all things spiritual have an upward movement: squirrel hunters scan the autumn hardwoods for bushytails deftly leaping branch to branch; a cutthroat trout darts off a cobbled high-country creek bottom to take an Elk Hair Caddis off the silvery surface; a pair of ruffed grouse gain airspace through a leafy lane in front of a rock-stiff German Shorthaired Pointer; florescent-orange black-rimmed clays lift out of the trap house on “pull,” arcing away from of the shooter who shoulders a 12-gauge; waterfowl hunters endure cold wet mornings in the blind, eyes turned upward perusing early winter’s sooty gray skies.

 

There is no dichotomy between people and nature. It’s nature that makes us human and our immersions as participants rather than mere observers prove this out. These outdoor pursuits draw us nearer to nature and get us in touch with our own selves—a primal connection that brings us as close to Eden as possible.

Thinkers and creative types have speculated on the matter since time immemorial. Bet you have too.

Plato in 345 BC contemplated nature and ethics through dialogs in The Laws. “The fisherman shall be allowed to hunt in all waters except havens and sacred rivers and pools and lakes, but only on condition that he makes no use of muddying juices,” referring to rendered mullein seeds that stupefy fish.

Madonna, the material girl herself, explicated to the BBC her views on food procurement.

When you’re shooting, you are standing in the forest for really long periods of time, so you end up looking at the leaves and the sky and the trees and you have a lot of time to meditate. You have more of a respect for the things you eat when you go through, or see, the process of killing them. I wear leather shoes, I eat fish, I eat chicken and I eat game. I like knowing what I’m eating and knowing the process.

 

Writer-philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset posited on the excellent, the elegant, and the elixir to be found in outdoor pursuits.

Life is a terrible conflict, a grandiose and atrocious confluence. Hunting submerges man deliberately in that formidable mystery and therefore contains something of religious rite and emotion in which homage is paid to what is divine, transcendent, and in the laws of Nature.

Two conservation laws reside on the same contour: Pittman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson, also known as Wildlife Restoration and Sport Fish Restoration. Federal excises taxes paid by the manufacturers of firearms, ammunition, archery gear, fishing tackle and motorboat fuel ensure that reliable and consistent funding exists for state fish and wildlife agencies to properly manage fish and wildlife resources and ensure public access to fish and hunt and safely target shoot on modern ranges.

As an economist might say, the demand exists. The 2022 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation shepherded by two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service economists, Richard Aiken and Jerry Leonard, reveals that 47 million people target shoot and 19 million enjoy archery. As for fishing and hunting, 39.9 million anglers made 463 million trips, fishing 785 million days. Similarly, 14.4 million hunters made 165 million trips, hunting 241 million days. They spent a combined $144.6 billion to fish and hunt.

Economists Aiken and Leonard waded chest-deep further into the economic and demographic data to ferret out more useful information. They have recently published addendum reports (with more to come) on wildlife watching; participation by minorities; and retention, recruitment and reactivation of anglers and hunters, the latter of which reveals that unrealized opportunities exist to welcome adults into hunting and fishing.

 

Author Walt Harrington was one such adult-onset hunter. He was introduced to rabbit hunting, marrying into an African American family who ritually sought Kentucky cottontails each autumn. Harrington wrote in The Everlasting Stream . . .

Only after I began hunting was I hit with the shock that something deep inside me gets excited when the prey appears, when the dogs howl, and that maybe I’m not that different from those dogs, that I must work at being human.

Learn more about conservation and its funding at Partner with a Payer.

 

Craig Springer is a biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service. 

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

7 thoughts on “Random Thoughts on Plato, Madonna, and the Great Outdoors”

  1. Way, way, way back in the way back, there was just a bunch of primitive plankton floating in the sea, basking in and feeding on the sunlight. Then, one day. some rogue organism thought “Hey, instead of waiting to absorb sunlight and only eating in the daytime, why don’t I just eat the things that absorb sunlight? That should work!”. And that’s how grazing were invented. Eventually, some new organism came up with a new idea: “Hey, why don’t I just eat the things that eat the things that absorb sunlight? That should work!”. And that is how hunting was invented.

    No one came up with any new ideas after that, so hunting and grazing remain popular to this day.

    1. Geoff "I'm getting too old for this shit" PR

      “Then, one day. some rogue organism thought “Hey, instead of waiting to absorb sunlight and only eating in the daytime, why don’t I just eat the things that absorb sunlight? That should work!”.”

      LifeSavor, there’s a really good book out showing how we got here from where you described, about a fish discovered that may be a common ancestor, called ‘Your Inner Fish’, by Neil Shubin
      :

      https://www.amazon.com/Your-Inner-Fish-Journey-3-5-Billion-Year/dp/0307277453

      It really opened my eyes to the power of creation, by the Creator… 🙂

  2. Geoff "I'm getting too old for this shit" PR

    Hey, Dan –

    The ‘Armed Attorneys’ YouTube channel has a VERY INTERESTING video out, that you may decide is worth an article all on it’s own, about what type of gun to carry when driving :

    ‘The Best Car Gun To Not Get Arrested’

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cCH2Fo0qlE

    They make some very good points, and I’m very seriously considering spending some money here, because those nut-jobs are out there… 🙂

    1. Stumbled across that video this morning. Thought provoking. The wife said, “See boy? I told you so!” even though I had to explain the underlying theory. She’ll want to go shopping soon.💡👍

      1. The flip side is, if you happen to do something stupid with that pink glitter pistol, there’ll be no hiding it. Keep it by the book, which we should do anyhow.

Scroll to Top