James leads our team here at MyHunt and has been hunting for many years across the globe. We speak to him and find out what drives him to do what he does…
I grew up in the countryside with a Father who comes from a farming background. Whilst he didn’t farm himself, I was lucky to grow up on a small holding with copious animals around the place from gundogs to geese, chickens to ducks.
I have always been inquisitive about where my food came from, as I grew up collecting eggs from my chickens or visiting the butcher to select meat for our Sunday lunch, it was always at the forefront of my mind. Eventually, in conjunction with my Father’s decision that it was a suitable age to start learning to shoot, I was entrusted to our local gamekeeper, a local legend called Big John (imagine an older version of Hagrid from Harry Potter!). It was through him and his encyclopaedic knowledge of flora and fauna that my interest in hunting blossomed.
Front and centre of any hunting for me is the desire for some food at the end of it. Other than shooting for pest control (such as foxes), I only hunt what I eat. Wild meat is both healthier, free of chemicals and artificial hormones, whilst the animal has not had the stress of being sent to an abattoir or being kept in inhumane conditions. If I do my job correctly, the animal will not even have been aware of me before it dies cleanly. I also feel that as a meat eater, it is more ethical to take responsibility for where it comes from and the implications of my decision to eat meat and therefore go from field to fork.
In addition, I thoroughly enjoy the challenge and the adventure that hunting brings. Hunting requires patience, skill and knowledge of your quarry and the natural world. It is never just about pulling the trigger, indeed some of my most memorable experiences have been when I have come away without taking a shot, whether it was calling in an owl to less than 5m from my high stand, to watching a hedgehog grubbing about for worms as the morning broke. Hunting takes you to places you would never otherwise have access to and experience things that most people will never see, not only do you learn more about nature, you also learn more about yourself.
Hunting is also a way of giving back to nature, hunters around the world play one of the largest parts in conservation and preserving the natural world for generations to come, something that should be communicated better to non-hunters who often see us as all take and no give, something that could not be further from the truth. By carefully managing animal populations, hunters can help maintain a healthy balance between species and prevent overpopulation. By hunting responsibly and ethically, we are contributing to the overall health of the environment, not damaging it. Alongside this, the money we spend on shooting, hunting and fishing across the globe pays for those guardians of nature, the gamekeepers, the rangers, the ghillies and anti-poaching patrols to continue what they do in ensuring that nature is managed in a way that would be simply impossible now without human intervention. Without them, our moorlands in the UK would turn to scrub, the game in Africa would be poached and the Snow Leopards in the mountains of Asia would have nothing to eat as just a few examples.
Finally, hunting is also a way to connect with family and friends. Whether it is decoying pigeons over stubble with my Dad in years gone by, stalking deer with friends or high pheasants in Devon, some of my favourite memories are those where hunting plays a part. I look forward to the day when I can teach my own children about the responsibility we have as caretakers of the land around us, the need to keep nature in balance and the respect that we must all have for the world around us, something that hunters know better than most.
That is why I hunt.
