Introduction
Hunting has existed since the very first days of men. Driven by natural demand for food, humans have managed to come up with various methods of hunting their prey. The history of hunting is not as easy as it may look. As hunting has been an integral part of our lives throughout millennia, to fully understand its history a breakdown of each era of hunting is required. Furthermore, different countries have their methods of hunting, as well as their weapons, types of traps, equipment, etc., which only proves yet again that the history of hunting is one of the most complicated.
History and traditions
Contrary to the modern trend of hunting being more of a sport, during the pre-civilization era hunting was one of the main means of survival (Blain, n.d.). Men were hunters while their women stayed at home waiting for them to return. Their prey served not only as food but also as a material for a craft of the weapons needed for the hunt. Hunters used various weapons for their preys: slings, spears, arrows, nets, clubs and other things they could come up with. When hunting for bigger animals, hunters usually attacked in groups. The creation of traps was also one of the most useful additions to the hunting arsenal, as it does not even require hunters to physically engage with their preys. Sure at first all those weapons and traps were rather primitive, but they still served their purpose well, and as the time progressed, so did the quality of weapons and hunting equipment.
However, back in the day, in order to be a successful hunter, just having a weapon or placing a trap was not enough. It required special skills, knowledge of the surroundings, animals, their habits and behavior, and, of course, creativity. For instance, hunters have also resorted to the usage of camouflage, so they would become harder to see. People during the prehistoric era also used poison to strengthen their weapons, as more often than not their weapons were not powerful enough to kill a larger animal.
When people finally began to live together and the first civilizations appeared, hunting transformed from a means of survival into a game. Babylonians, Egyptians, and Romans – all are known for treating hunt as a sport, especially Romans, who even used captured animals for gladiator competitions. Egyptians, however, honored the animals they hunted, and similar to Native Americans prayed to gods images of animals to obtain the blessing of a successful hunt. They used such weapons as throw-sticks, arrows, throwing spears and some sort of a boomerang weapon to hit birds sitting on trees.
Hunting was a vital part of life for many people during medieval days. It provided food and materials for poor people and served as a sport and entertainment for the higher class. The main weapons for hunting were bows, swords, and spears. Swords were used for finishing off an already wounded animal while spears were mostly used by poor people because of how easy they were to fix. In the early medieval days, hunting was needed was survival, so hunters were taught by a tutor upon reaching seven (Medieval hunting – weapons, uses and hunters, n.d.). The importance of hunting during the Dark Age is depicted in numerous paintings. People saw hunting as training and means of getting food then. Richer people saw it more as sport, though. They also brought horses with them to the hunt, as they could carry the dead animals much faster.
Fishing and hunting were among the most prominent activities of Native Americans. For fish, they used net-like constructions called weirs, which they placed across streams and channels. They also wielded a large number of various weapons to assist them in slaying wild animals. The bow is probably the first thing to pop up in mind because nearly every Native American tribe has used bows in hunting. They made their bows from wood and backed them with sinew to make them springier. Some preferred longbows, other – short bows. Native Americans also used spears with an attached wooden spear-thrower that helped to launch them far away (Native American Indian weapons, n.d.). Spears served more as a projectile weapon, however, some tribes used them in a close-range combat. Another weapon for hunting that was used by Native Americans is bolas. It consisted of a rope with multiple ends that had weights attached to them. Bolas is a ranged weapon that is tossed at animals, and when it connects, it entangles the prey. It was primarily used for hunting birds or roping a cattle. Indians also used blowguns for killing birds. As for uncommon weapons, Native Americans often resorted to the usage of poison, namely curare and dart-frog poison. They smeared arrowheads and blowgun darts with it.
Hunting was also one of the key aspects of communities in Southern Africa, as its area was inhabited by a large range of wild animals. It was made for both consumption and commercial purposes, as well as for certain rituals. Byproducts of animals such as bone and feathers were used for decorations. Later hunting would also be made for international trade because of the increasing influx of Asian and European traders (The antiquity of hunting in southern Africa: the past to the present, n.d.). Before guns and various weapons, African people used their bodies to hunt their preys. The act of exhausting animals is one of the oldest forms of hunting known as persistence hunting. Hunters in the Kalahari Desert of Africa used to chase their prey for 2-5 hours under the unforgiving hot African sun. It was successful for the sheer fact that men do not exhaust so much while running. Also, our sweat cools our body whereas animals do not have such features, thus, they need to find water to cool themselves, and by doing so, they provide the perfect moment for hunters to strike. Persistence hunting was vastly overshadowed later by the introduction of knives, bows, spears and guns.
Modern hunting
Modern hunting is different from ancient hunting not only because of better weapons, equipment, and technology but also because their purposes differ from each other. Our ancestors hunted animals for survival while modern hunting is more similar to sport and entertainment. Nowadays, hunting is referred as a game, and hunted animals are called game animals, therefore even the names themselves indicate the initial purpose of modern hunting. Hunting is currently a controversial topic because of a possible imbalance it can bring to natural ecosystems and wildlife in general. However, hunting is also considered as the way of managing wildlife population within an environment’s ecological carrying capacity.
Another thing that differs modern hunting from its predecessor is the number of restrictions developed in order to prevent the extinction of certain species. Previously, hunters were free to hunt whatever they liked because it was needed for survival. At present, there is no such need and, thus, various regulations on guns and hunting, in general, have been made. For instance, such regulations may relate to a weapon’s caliber, usage of poisons, tranquilizing drugs, chemicals, and explosives (Hunting regulations, n.d.). Certain regulations may prohibit the usage of vehicles or dogs against certain species, include instructions for trap placements and list animals that are forbidden to be hunted by federal law.
Restrictions on hunting lead to the introduction of the trophy hunting. Trophy hunters usually seek old animals that are no longer important to the wildlife, as they have already contributed to the gene pool. Such hunting is also a form of managing the population of animals. The name of the hunt hints at its initial purpose – trophy collecting. A trophy is a certain part of an animal that is kept by a hunter as a souvenir and the reminder of a successful hunt, like teeth, horns or tusks. However, hunters have also used entire bodies of dead animals as trophies.
It is obvious that modern hunting is nowhere near as complicated as it was back in the day. As the time progressed, traditional weapons like bows, spears, or blowguns have been replaced by guns like automatic rifles, shotguns or sniper rifles, because of much greater efficiency. Hunting equipment has also developed beyond imagination: nowadays, you can buy things like remote control animal decoys, devices that can imitate animal sounds, advanced trapping snares, and so on. Just by looking at these innovations, we can see that despite hunting no longer being done for survival needs, the passion and desire for it have never faded away. Although hunting is mostly done with guns now, there are still hunters who prefer to use bows instead. Of course, these bows are not exactly the same bows our ancestors used to wield, but the principle of operation is still the same. Hunters also use modern crossbows with various optic devices for hunting certain animals. Some would say that because of such advanced technology modern hunters are likely to be less skilled than their ancestors. While this could be true, still, modern hunters have to be educated and skilled enough if they want to succeed in hunting. Hunters should know a lot of information about animals they are going to hunt, area and its surroundings, and, obviously, the game laws and various regulations related to specific species. Modern-day hunting still requires you to be physically agile and enduring, to have a strong mentality and great patience. There is a plethora of things that ancient hunters did not have to go through. For instance, no restrictions were introduced on weapons or certain species hunting. The land itself has changed in a way that lots of areas are suffering today from overhunting or species extinction; the number of hunters is decreasing with each subsequent year. So, even if the actual process of hunting was harder back then, you cannot argue that modern hunting is as easy as many would like to think.
Conclusion
Hunting has gone through a lot of changes since ancient times. Weapons got better; people became more creative with traps, hunting techniques, and also became more knowledgeable about animals and surroundings. Modern-day hunting, despite having advanced technology and weapons at its disposal, still requires the same things from hunters: great physique, agility and endurance, perseverance and strong mentality, and also a vast knowledge of animals, their habits, areas where they reside, and a large number of rules and regulations related to specifics of today’s hunt.
References
Blain, R. (n.d.). The evolution of man – the history of hunting. Web.
Hunting regulations. (n.d.). Web.
Medieval hunting – weapons, uses and hunters. (n.d.). Web.
Native American Indian weapons. (n.d.). Web.
The antiquity of hunting in southern Africa: the past to the present. (n.d.). Web.