I tend to think of hunting as two acts, hunting and killing. I eat a primarily raw foods diet these days, but would be excited for some wild game in moderate quantities, as my system doesn’t handle meat the way that it used to. I never have done any of the naked killing except some drunkin’ toad stabbing one night as a teenager. We were drunk, not the toads.
I live in an area where large game is more sparse. The resources are limited and seasonal. The cattle decimate large swaths of habitat. We had many herds of deer and elk before the cattle industry. I’d love to see hunting of a robust population on public lands rather than the destructive inefficiency of greed.
With game so sparse, it seems wrong to destroy more, when I don’t need the meat. It isn’t like back east. However, these grasslands would be a place for a more traditional naked hunting, the running down of prey. Animals run on fright and flight and we can run distance in a regulated fashion, as I gather from Christopher McDougal’s book “Born to Run.” These burn out like the hare and we run along pacing ourselves as a fast turtle. A net, spear, anything can be used by a group of naked hunters on an exhausted animal.
The hunting is something that I do all of the time when hiking. We cover less distance than those that march, or exercise. I love to observe nature and interact, nude. Armed with a camera, or my memory, I can hunt anytime. I’ve been told that the hunters that bag the most hunt like this. Through the year, they are learning the habits of animals and then when season comes they are ready to just go out and nab a buck that they are intimate with. This makes for hunting naked. I observe tracks, frequent areas getting to know them, what they eat, where, and their nests and potentials for water sources. In this area, I’m on the lookout for ancient Native American artifacts. I try to project, what they might have done years ago. I look for rock blinds on hills, which observe riparian courses, and anything meadow like. I find these spots, are good for stealth naturism. Around these, I often find associated chards of pottery and petroglyphs. Wind directions, their flow are observed much better when naked. Personally, I want to see and observe, become a part of their lives, instead of disrupting them and I like doing this naked and natural. I minimize the use of soaps. I know the habits of the deer and javalina populations around my house. Some people go as far as to feed animals and when the season comes, they harvest their pets.
Around here, during hunting season, certain areas are clogged with guys who run out with high-powered telescopes, six-packs, motor homes, ATVs, etc. These guys make so much clutter and noise, it is funny to watch many of them, and then find the deer a few miles away, casually browsing on the side of the road. I could never know who is sitting behind a bush, blind, or wherever, watching and waiting in stealth, as I come through naked. These so called hunters miss out on the natural experience that I assume you are curious about. They are experiencing, living a haphazard game of chance encounters. If you do find yourself getting out naked, raw and intimate with the elements of a hunt, I’d love to hear about it.
I have heard many reports from secret/stealth naturist activities, of animals treating naked people differently. They move quieter, cautiously, smell different and don’t look like typical hunters or humans. My sampling is skewed, because I rarely go places with animals wearing clothing to compare anymore. I can attest that I move completely differently, my head in a different place, than in days past. I do notice that my barefeet sound different and quieter along with more fluid mindful body movement.
I have been focusing on projecting transpersonal, chi energies for a dozen years or so. The experiments are not numerous enough, yet, but so far, it is uncanny how javalina, and deer will just stop running and begin to minding their own business when I project. It gives me observation, but is anathema to harming them. The native cultures often refer to energy, also, animals and plants as brothers and sisters of life. They talk, ask for forgiveness, they understand gifts, ecological hierarchy and order, drink the blood, etc. My findings, more and more, show me that there is a spiritual relationship, including the hunt. It is probably not about trophy and being a manly man, but a humble oneness. Living only part time in nature and spending even less in the more pristine of the remote regions nude and natural, I have been gathering lots of evidence of this relationship. Living there, I suspect would be a special knowledge. Desperation, family needs, and lack of intimate knowledge of the area gained through generations would interfere with the experience, if I wanted to “live more deliberately.”
Jbee