Remember this: The difference between Point A and
Point B is the distance.
People love, need, and bond over food. Hunting
should be no different. Thumbing through an assortment of cookbooks I thought
about a remark I read on social media. The remark was about one woman seeing
derogatory comments made against American female hunters by female hunters from
the United Kingdom. It didn’t really matter what the content was because that
is irrelevant when it was the fact that the altercation happened at all. This
made me wonder why, when considering international sisterhood in the way of the
hunt, women were acting petty, shallow, and catty. I myself have experienced a
sort of prejudice from foreign fields but I based that on the individual but
not in the sense of all foreigners disliking me for any reason. My mind still
drifting off into the cookbook and the thought of how food was important to hunting
yelled out spice trade. After most hunts
there is a meal.
Spices to make the dishes mostly are the same with
variations to local availability or recipe. Depending on what culture I cook
from at times I play matching music to get me in the mood. Cooking and sharing
a meal brings a certain positive aspect to the endeavor with as much love as
you can put into the dish. This care in swinging a pot and watching the faces
of people eating the food brings me a sense of gratitude and appreciation for
its source; drenching my domestic moment with an aura of positivity. This
experience of feeding the people caters to the relevance of inclusion through
fellowship. When you put those first few warm bits into your mouth your physical
being is inspired to share and take into your mental nirvana of deliciousness.
As I was thinking of these problems in the world of the female hunt it was
funny when I read this passage from Elisabeth Rozin’s book, “Blue Corn and Chocolate”.
“But that was only the beginning of the story, for
these new foods, venturing forth to unknown lands, were transformed and
refashioned along the way. Then they came back to their native shores, brought
by the many immigrants who settled America, dressed up in new seasonings,
prepared with a variety of new techniques, remodeled and reworked through the
traditions of their adopted cuisine.
Each of these foods has its own unique and
particular history, for each traveled in a different direction and was changed
in different ways, reflected through a multitude of ethnic prisms. But all
those separate histories, like the people who generated them, came together on
these shores, creating the multifaceted and ever-changing whole that is our
palate and our cuisine. For what we eat is who we are—and we are Asia, we are
Africa, we are Europe and the Mediterranean and the Middle East; indeed, our
food, like us, is the world." (Rozin xii)
Hunting, much like these ethnic foods and their magical spices, based on our interactions with local people and abroad are literally the world.
Hunting, much like these ethnic foods and their magical spices, based on our interactions with local people and abroad are literally the world.
After reading this I can say I have known people
that do not want their culture polluted nor do they want to share their culture
either. On the other hand you have people that are proud of their culture,
share the culture, and it flourishes without any compromise while taking back
into their own. Why can two women on different sides of the international pond
not follow suit in the sharing and fellowship of hunting? I ponder this because
hunting was a sport publicized as male when women walked along the metaphorical
shadows. I was very taken aback but not surprised when on social media someone
saw comments where it was submitted sisters of the hunt were pulling out each
other’s hair. Competition will do that to you. We should always think about the way we act.
Hunting as an activity is known for camaraderie,
individualism, and friendship. As an outlet into friendship you first have an
introduction which leads into likes and dislikes for commonalities. From this
point trust is slowly built based on each person’s part in lieu of how one
carries themselves morally or by one’s treatment of another. If you see a ‘friend’
mistreating another person one day you may be the recipient of this same
behavior. The same goes for watching female hunters online saying terrible things
to other females; do you want that negativity in your life or on your retinas?
Females in the past were hunting but not
publicized as much as men. Since previous years hunting has been under attack
for mostly killing animals. It has been interesting for me to watch the male
dominated sport being shifted through media to a family affair and the
inclusion of women as a buffer to fight the onslaught of anti-hunting sentiment
but one does wonder if that anti-sentiment goes away will women once more be
pressed out so the sport can become male dominated? I asked this because it is
not far-fetched for a person to conceive of this idea if you have had
relationships before. You can think of it as someone being picked on so they go
find re-enforcements to either scare the bully only to turn on the person that
helped you in the first place. I think I read a comment somewhere about taking
a bullet for someone only to learn later they were the ones pulling the
trigger? Or a false friend that stabs you in the back instead of the chest? If
you look at the past efforts of anti-hunting sentiment it was mostly viewed as
female tree hugging animal lovers excluding men where now the female element
has been added to counter this imbalance. Men love to watch women fight one
another just take a look at the history of women’s mud wrestling. If men could
stand on the side lines and watch the bikini tops go a-flying they would be there
right on top of it like a fly on crap. Women are being used to buffer hunting opposition
so I asked myself do they not know when they smite one another what it really
means or can do in the way of measured harm. Why would one participate in such
behavior in the first place if it is counter-productive to one’s efforts? If the
tide of the war slowly evaporated would women slowly be pushed back to a more
domesticated role as time has so eloquently established in her histories? With this let me be clear I don’t think all
men are nefarious beings bent on wrecking the lives of women. People in general do a bang up job all on their own.
In societies, we are use to categorizing different
groups to make life more secure for us. We know where it belongs even if we
know nothing about it. It’s the lie we live. Prejudices range from fashion
choices, ethnic background, culture, weight, historical wrongdoing, status, wealth or poverty, and the list goes on. You could categorize people by the way
they trim their toenails; bitten or snipped. Why as women who hunt do some of
us stoop to mistreating each other in a tacky and shallow fashion?
I saw a comment made by a person from
the United Kingdom that stated people from there could not understand United States hunting culture. I wondered why you have to understand anything. Just enjoy it
if you travel abroad. People don’t enjoy much anymore because everything is
excised down to its anatomical remnants. I think of field dressing here because
by the time you hack a deer carcass up to its smallest parts there is nothing
to understand but putting it in a freezer bag to forget until you decide you
want to make a meal of it. Thought process gone because you know the process
and it’s all utility from there.
If an outsider is unable to understand a hunting
culture there are ways to explore and find it out. Always keep an open mind but
beware of insulting people because since the invention of social media everyone
has brittle feelings. What would be funny to you will be a horrible insult to
someone else and they will not ask you to clarify.
Quite frankly it is more beneficial to make a
friend than an enemy. The only time you need an enemy is to combat an enemy.
This wastes a lot of time and energy so don’t make enemies. If you think
someone is your enemy ask them straight out. Most of the time it is a stupid misunderstanding where both parties are to blame for lack of communication. I am sure if they hate you enough
they will answer back for yeah or nay. Each person has a different perspective
on the ethos of the hunting aspect.
Building relationships has become harder and harder. Social media is
rift with cliques, clubs, or gangs where if you don’t smell like a hunter, look
like a hunter, or kiss ass to another hunter you are not included. Clearly, I do
not plan on keeping the chapstick companies in business either.
I wondered why women would act like that. I had a
conversation with someone it was purposed a sort of envy. If female hunters in
the states have more freedoms to hunt in a time when the United Kingdom is
crunching down on hunting I can see where this is happening. It’s like passive aggressive
actions through displacement but instead of kicking the dog at home (UK) you
are going over to someone else’s house and kicking theirs (USA). I will say this since the introduction of social media there is a gross saturation of 'attention whores' via for the numbers. Businesses are also in stiff competition for commodity sales and 'the next best thing'. If you don't have a niche you are in the rat race and even then someone is spying over your shoulder. (Using the UK
only through example which could be anywhere really.)
I was also told recently from a source that there are male hunters that get online making female profiles to target and attack female hunters as a way to keep manliness in the hunt. This information came from a male source that had information on his brethren's misdeeds.
I was also told recently from a source that there are male hunters that get online making female profiles to target and attack female hunters as a way to keep manliness in the hunt. This information came from a male source that had information on his brethren's misdeeds.
If you are being negative towards your hunting
sisters the only thing you will acquire is alienation, forming toxic
relationships with other negative people, cheating yourself out of a potential
good friend, resentment, exclusion, and anger. The big thing is isolation and
making your world smaller than what it should be and less rich. I would rather
have chocolate than rotten fish but some people munch the rotten fish like it
is good and cry out for more.
If you are good to your sisters and they show love
back you are in for support, camaraderie, stable relationships that help you
flourish and bring new opportunities, variety, positive experiences, and yes…..love.
I would put my money on the positive side than the negative side because even
if it makes great strides will only fall back into darkness and despair. Time
is all that it requires.
This makes me go back to the idea of a sweat lodge
where everyone goes in on equal footing to find out that down to your bare
bones your suffering is the same in quality but not in quantity. In a world
that is so self-centered and narcissistic people cannot see there is importance
in some things and other things are just down right ridiculous to hold onto
such as petty squabbles.
It would be a rational idea to spend time on
someone and get to know them or their culture in a non-judgmental fashion. Why
exclude friendship when the person is a perfectly good human being. (I should
say here that there are socially challenged people that are perfectly good
human beings but stumble and fall causing themselves some misinterpretation. If
this is the case, make your peace and start again. There is nothing wrong with
a do-over).
In a call for solidarity amongst female hunters, when you are having conversations on the internet or in person, think in terms
of what you have in common. Do not think of the difference, unless you can find a positive
in it. You want your life to be beautiful
and full of memorable experiences through family, friends, or your own personal
time. Another way female hunters can hurt each other is to spread gossip or
clutching. Clutching is when more than one female spites another just for shits
and giggles. Men do this too. If someone tells you gossip on another person without
proof, find out if it is true. They may have no idea someone is trying to
blackball them. Again, they may not care because people that participate in
that sort of thing shouldn’t be in your path or life anyway. We all go into the
hunting sweat lodge together and suffer the same kinds of problems. Be good to
one another and hunting will be good to you. You have more to lose than gain. These facets should be recognized regardless of your biological sex at birth.
I always think in terms of making a friend but
sometimes even in my experience you might have to kiss a barrel of ugly un-princely
toads to find one worth keeping. That one can love you a life time. You’ll be
richly rewarded. Besides, why participate in a sport when you have no class or sportsmanship?
Written by: W Harley Bloodworth
~Courtesy of the AOFH~
~Courtesy of the AOFH~
