Hunting

HUNTING is usually referred to as the pursuit and killing (or “bagging,” in hunter speech) of animals, especially birds and animals in the wild, known as “game.” Legal statutes in the separate states vary regarding the definition of huntable game but usually include deer, bear, fox, rabbit, raccoon, boar, and bobcat for mammals, and wild turkey, duck, goose, dove, pheasant, grouse, and quail for birds. Hunting by definition involves the use of a weapon such as a rifle or bow; trapping, a related practice, involves the use of a mechanical device such as spring-snapped, steel-jawed traps to capture or kill the animal. In American folklife, skills for tracking animals in the wild and

customs of the hunt shared by hunters are traditions that have been passed down, mostly from father to son, for many generations. Before the widespread commercial availability of meat, clothing, and other commodities derived from animals in the twentieth century, hunting was significant economically in providing essential food and pelts. In contemporary usage, hunting is usually thought of as a sport or recreational activity, often with associations of a masculine activity harking back to a pioneer era and premodern communion with nature.