And yet, this isn’t the first time hunting has changed. One hundred years ago, hunting licenses were once written out on small paper cards by your local game warden. He got to pocket the fees and fines because the state didn’t pay him a salary. Naturally, this system created an ethical quagmire for hunter and officer alike.
One thousand years ago, hunters worked in teams using hand weapons. They didn’t even have doughnuts waiting for them in the shack. Ten thousand years ago, a hunter might pursue large game on foot for days, waiting for it to drop from exhaustion. Today’s hunter could totally do that if they felt like it. They just don’t feel like it.
Hunting and fishing are still an important part of people’s lives, but we run the risk of losing all tactile feeling as they, too, go digital. No, the licenses aren’t what binds us together. It’s just one less reason to gather in public. And, in this lonely world, we need more reasons to connect with each other, now more than ever.
Progress may render the things we carry into electronic ones and zeros. But we are flesh and blood, bone and sinew. We are happier when we remember this, and cleave closely to our fellows. We did not get this far by hunting alone.
