It Really is a Privelege

When Mr. Joseph Haydon looks back on his introduction to hunting, one memory sticks out: sitting in the deer blind with his dad, thumbing through a book he had brought with him, and trying to stay warm by fidgeting in the tranquil quiet of the woods. Mr. Haydon explains that his introduction to hunting came from his family, but he never felt pressured into enjoying the activity—it was the time he spent alone in the woods that kept him to it. 

Mr. Haydon remarked that most assume that hunting is about action or the act itself, but in reality, deer hunting is—put simply—a bit boring. “It's very hard for someone to just sit and deer [hunt]. You usually only get one or two really, really big moments—as in taking an animal—a season,” Mr. Haydon said.

“I have buddies that want to go hunting with me. I'm like, ‘I'm not taking you deer hunting…It’s a solo experience.’” Mr. Haydon said. “The experience is the biggest reward for me. The deer comes after that.” 

A day of hunting is one of the rare times he has a few hours to just sit down and think. “I do a lot of introspection and praying [during that] time,” he said. Mr. Haydon describes the first part of his hunting routine in an almost ethereal way: being in a position overlooking the woods transform from night to day, observing life ripple and flow in a state of complete solitude. 

Hunting has been a part of Mr. Haydon’s entire life, but he’s not oblivious to those who can’t get behind it. Many people are opposed to hunting because they find it cruel to take the life of an animal, but Mr. Haydon added his own perspective to that argument. 

“I've never met a hunter that I've talked to that hasn't had a deep love for the animals that they hunt,” he said. Most non-hunters might not know that most of the money that goes into paying for hunting licenses actually goes into funding research on deer populations. 

“DNR, which is the organization in [Michigan] that oversees [deer hunting], does population studies. They say ‘This many licenses can be sold in this area’ or ‘Hey, you can shoot 2,000 deer in this county, and the numbers will still be good.’” Mr. Haydon said. He also suggested that hunters should be viewed as the people who aid in keeping the deer population at a “safe” level. 

“As hunters, we pay for the privilege of being a part of the way nature plays out—and it really is a privilege,” he said. “We're the only country in the world that has hunting privileges like we do. Isn’t that amazing?”

Mr. Haydon wanted to explain the more practical nature behind deer hunting, too: “I enjoy knowing that when I put food on the table, I know exactly how it was handled–I know exactly where it came from,” he said. There’s been a push in recent years to pay attention to where our food comes from—part of what hunting your own meat ensures is that it’s free of chemicals or growth hormones, and the knowledge that the meat was “harvested’ ethically.

Learning how to hunt isn't easy—Mr. Haydon described the feeling of taking a life “very real.”

“I think the final thing I’d say to a new hunter is that if you don’t feel any remorse after [hunting an animal], you shouldn’t be doing it.” he said. Hunters don’t hunt just for the sake of hunting. The intention and preparation is every bit as important as the act itself, and a slip-up in any part of that might be enough to ruin the experience.