** By Conrad Evartz
We humans have always hunted. Historically, all humans relied on hunting for their physical survival. Today a much smaller portion of humanity relies on hunting for their mental and spiritual survival with some healthy lean meat as an added bonus.
Typically, a pound of venison costs exponentially more than a pound of beef, especially when we calculate in our time. So why do we do it? While the noisy rush of modern media has infected the hunting culture to a small degree, most of us sill hunt to slow down. We hunt to interact, study and meditate on God’s creation. We hunt to move slowly and with focus in nature.
Hunting implements are dangerous. Broadheads and bullets are designed to kill effectively. Our mothers warned us about running with knives. As we move slowly and
cautiously through the woods we slow down even more when it is time to climb into a stand or cross a fence, a downed tree or a creek.
When all the effort and preparation come together we slow down even more. We slow down to avoid alerting the animal to our movement and to ensure we know our shot is safe. We do this, just as we would slow down on an icy highway for safety. As we prepare for the shot our movements are disciplined. Our focus is acute and our muscle memory moves our eyes and our arms with safety as the primary goal and the harvest the secondary goal. As the synchronicity of all these movements culminates in a safe harvest, having a secondary level of safety is ideal.
We’re all safe drivers. We all carry insurance. We slow down on icy roads. Yet most of us have traction control and ABS on our trucks. Why not, right? The technology exists and is readily available and easy to use. As we consider the next chapter of modern hunting, let’s consider the next chapter of hunting safety. What can we do as individuals to take our safety game up a level?
