“Why did you shoot that deer?”
“What did it ever do to you?”
“How could you go and kill an innocent deer?”
“You don’t need to hunt and kill animals — you can buy meat from the store!”
And so on, and so forth. Such are the comments from parts of our culture who are so far removed from reality.
Conscientious hunters, of course, are not. I’ve used this space many times to explain how I have yet to meet a hunter who only hunted for “trophies.” And I’ve been doing this a long time — nearly 30 years, to be exact — and across North America. Yet, we hear such nonsense out of the mouths of so-called educated individuals. Well, those individuals need to go back to school and learn more about those who came before us.
Hunting Traditions of American Indians
If you (or someone you know) is one of them, start with the history of any of North America’s indigenous populations. I’d suggest diving deep into the traditions of the Cree and/or Ojibwe. I’ve written about Cree hunting traditioins before, so this blog post will focus on the Ojibwe (who, coincidentally, occupied much of the ground where I’ve lived all of my life (Wisconsin).
According to TribalTradeCo.com, there are many teachings that were spread amongst different tribes and clans about the significance of hunting and gathering.
“An old teaching that came from the Ojibwe tribe was that everything was created for a purpose, and each living thing on the earth has its place in the circle of life. They believed that the animals were created to feed the people, to give us strength, and we should be thankful for that gift.
“It was very important for the hunter to pray and give thanks when taking the life of an animal, as taking that life meant that he could feed his own family. It was also said that if we stopped hunting and fishing, that we were no longer grateful for the gifts that the creator had given us – therefore it is an act of cultural tradition to not only hunt and fish, but to give thanks by placing sacred medicines when an animal life has been taken for the survival of the tribe.”
Ojibwe Tribe History and Hunting
The ancestors of the Ojibwe lived throughout the northeastern part of North America and along the Atlantic Coast.
According to Susan Manitowabi, due to a combination of prophecies and tribal warfare, around 1,500 years ago the Ojibwe people left their homes along the ocean and began a slow migration westward that lasted for many centuries.
In her book, Historical and Contemporary Realities: Movement Towards Reconciliation, Manitowabi notes that recorded history estimates that the Ojibwe occupied the territories around the Great Lakes as early as 1400, expanding westward until the 1600s (Sultzman, 2000). The Ojibwe people were the largest and most powerful of all the tribes inhabiting the Great Lakes region of North America.
So, back to the original questions: Why shoot deer? We shoot deer for the pure, natural protein. We kill deer so we can be healthier and stronger for our families. We celebrate the hunt as our way of saying thank you for the gift of life. We honor the animals we kill because we are grounded in the fact that the circle of life is as real as it gets.
If you still have questions, you might want to keep studying the human experience.
A Time to Give Thanks
For those of you who have written to me asking for the prayer I use as my way of saying thanks for a venison bounty, it is below:
“Dear Lord,
Thank you for this wonderful day.
Thank you for this wonderful gift.
May this deer’s body nourish our bodies.
And may its memory nourish our souls.
In this we pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen.”
More hunting prayers:
Prayer to St. Hubert:
By the intercession of St. Hubert, patron saint of hunters, may you always honor God the Creator, who set man in dominion over all the animals.
May the Lord God make you an honorable hunter who respects fellow hunters, the animals, and all creation;
May He keep safe you and all who share the field or the forest;
May He make all hunters proud of their kill, generous with their meat, and thankful in all circumstances.
The following hunting prayers are courtesy of Catholic Vote:
Prayer to be an honorable hunter
By the grace of God may I always honor, thank and adore the Lord God who created the animals and saw that each species was good. Let me love the God who made humans in His own image and likeness and set them over the whole world, to have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth (Gen 1:26). By my honorable conduct as a hunter let me give a good example and teach new hunters principles of honor, so that each new generation can show respect for God, other hunters and the animals, and enjoy the dignity of the hunt.
Prayer for honest hunt
Lord, may I make an honest count of game, respecting the legal limits of game in order to preserve the balance of life and death among the animals. May I so love the truth that I always give an honest recounting of the hunting stories while keeping them interesting to my friends. May I also listen to my friends’ stories with enjoyment and without envy.
Prayer against selfishness
Lord, I do not need to take every animal in the forest, nor must I take the best or nothing. Guide me to seek the best and to accept what I get. May I never take more than my limit and let me always help maintain the balance of nature in relationship to the environment and the numbers of animals there. Keep me aware of the needs and desires of other hunters while I always try to hunt at my own best skill.
Prayer for conservation of natural resources
Lord God, You have put all things under man’s dominion. Guide us to take the animals that need to be culled for the preservation of their species and the rest of the ecosystem. Let me always respect the animals I have hunted. Never let me torment them, mock them, or made them objects of ridicule. When I take an animal’s life let me always maintain respect for the wonder of its existence and the importance of its meat to those who need it for sustenance.
Prayer for safety
Pray for the good sense to care for my weapon and to carry it and fire it responsibly. Pray for the animals, that the shots are clean and do not cause unnecessary suffering to the animal.
Prayer for successful hunt
Lord, I pray that I may take down the game in as painless a way as possible. May I recognize my limits and take the shots I know I can make, not taking a shot that risks maiming or wounding an animal unnecessarily.
Prayer of thanksgiving for the hunt
Lord, I thank You for the opportunity to go out on the hunt. I thank You for the time alone to think and reflect on life. I thank You for the time with hunting friends, enjoying good fellowship, good stories, meals and drinks. Thank You for the beauty seen during the hunt and for the game taken and shared. I thank You especially for a safe hunt for myself and for all the hunters who share the field.
Prayer to share the fruit of the hunt
Lord, I am so blessed to be able to hunt and I appreciate the blessings You have bestowed upon me. Yet I know that so many others are in great need. Give me the grace to share the food of the hunt not only with my family and friends but also with those who have greater need: the hungry and the poor. May my sharing with them be one small part of my continuing care for your poor. As they ask You, Father, for their daily bread, use me as one small instrument to help provide it to them.
Prayer to hunt for souls, like St. Hubert
Lord, you spoke to St. Hubert and converted him to You during a stag hunt. You changed him into a hunter of souls, yet you continued to use his skills as a hunter to open minds to your Gospel. I ask that you make me into a hunter of souls above all other hunting activities. May I look for the opportunities to speak of You and Your salvation. Let the hunting camp itself be a place that uplifts the soul. May my time alone be an opportunity to pray and listen to You. May all the actions of the rest of my life be a constant hunt for You, for the opportunities you give me to evangelize, and to target the souls most in need of Your love.