|
Front Loading the Ethnography
|
|||||
|
The following portfolio documents four mule deer hunts, three elk hunts,and two pronghorn hunts conducted over a four year period. The hunts were in the the fall, of course, in the states of Arizona and Montana. Some of the hunts were on the Chippewa Cree Reservation in north central Montana. I am grateful to each hunter who allowed me on their hunt, as well as, the willingness of the Native guides to invite me to photograph guided hunts with trophy hunters from Georgia. A guided hunt predicates an expectation of success between the hunter- client and the guide; to be trusted to not interfere with that laison was greatly appreciated. The ethnography involved the usual preparation, either knowing the culture enough to get access or knowing the right person to negotiate access. It's a rather tall order to ask to go hunting with someone. Will you stomp loudly through the woods and ruin their stalk? If you're armed, are you a safe with a firearm? How are you going to react if an animal is killed? Are you pro hunting or against it? Do they want to be public in any way down the road? Additionally, some hunters revere their annual hunt as private time in the woods. The bumper sticker " A bad day hunting is better than a good day working." rather sums it up. The study was enjoyable and useful for me. I'm outdoorsy and own handguns, so I knew enough of the vernacular to get approved to photograph a hunt, as well as, people who hunt. if I was meeting a group i made sure to be on time at whatever 0-dark-thirty hour we were meeting to go into the hills or high country. I learned how to hunt from this study and I learned to hunt from some very ethical and successful hunters. Except for the guided hunts, the hunters I photographed were subsistence hunters, wanting meat not antlers. There is a difference. Hunting requires mimicing the
rhythm of the animal you are stalking. So in the case of western game
(deer, elk, and pronghorn) one is up and positioned by dawn, rests when
the animals bed down in the afternoon, and stalking again late afternoon
before the animals move to water and night grazing. After a few days of
this cycle, one begins to hear more acutely, move quieter, synch with
the woods. On one occasion we waited motionless in a stand of trees for
elk to return to a waterhole. We were postioned on the edge of the timber
and had a good view of the tank. Numerous fresh track indicated substantial
use. I dont know how long we waited, but it was dark when we finally moved
on. During that time it was so still I heard a pine needle drop twenty
feet away. I loose that acuity in town: there's too many layers of distracting
and competing sensory information. Hunting is a mediation in its own right.
Whether hiking or hunting, I am continually grateful for the foresight of Theodore Roosevelt, Guillford Pinchot, and Aldo Leopold in the early 1900's. Without their conservationist efforts, our national forests, monuments, parks, wilderness areas, and wildlife preserves would be developed land under the control of private and corporate owners by now. Scotland was once forested, as was Greece and much of Europe. Remember that in fairly recent American history, vast herds of American bison once fed on prairie with grasses taller than a horse. If you consider that only 5% of Europeans hunt, we are incredibly lucky to be able to hunt on federal land, the 'last commons'. The sport of hunting continues a kind of intuitive self-sufficiency and connection to nature that is rapidly dissipating in our culture. I consider these images a homage to ethical hunting values, the desire to subsistence hunt, and the self responsibility to kill your own food. Since politics are not only local, but the political becomes the personal, avoiding feed lot animal products and the corporations that go with them is a strong statement about integrity. Besides, coming home dirty and peaceful is simply a good way to Be. Alxs West, August 2007 |
|||||