Tracking Techniques for Ethical Hunting

By Miles Olson
Published on September 2, 2020
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Because deer have poor depth perception, the two-dimensional appearance of a hunter can easily blend into the landscape if their form is simply obscured in some way.
Because deer have poor depth perception, the two-dimensional appearance of a hunter can easily blend into the landscape if their form is simply obscured in some way.
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You can improve your hearing significantly by cupping a hand around your ears.
You can improve your hearing significantly by cupping a hand around your ears.
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One extreme camouflage tactic is to dress in deer's fresh skin. Timucua hunting deer in Florida, c. 1562, by Jacques Le Moyne.
One extreme camouflage tactic is to dress in deer's fresh skin. Timucua hunting deer in Florida, c. 1562, by Jacques Le Moyne.
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A unique and comprehensive, fully illustrated guide to the complexity, ethics and spirit of the hunt,
A unique and comprehensive, fully illustrated guide to the complexity, ethics and spirit of the hunt, "The Compassionate Hunter" by Miles Olson is a must-read for beginning and experienced hunters alike. It will appeal to anyone who wishes to delve more deeply into the complex, humbling and ultimately profound reality of our relationship with the food that nourishes us.

Wild meat, hunted in a responsible way, is one of the most healthful, sustainable foods possible. Depending on how it is done, hunting can be as local, intimate and humane as it gets. And aside from this, it demands the hunter enter a world of awareness, wildness, life and death that we have lost connection to as a culture.

The Compassionate Hunter’s Guidebook (New Society Publishers, 2014) by Miles Olson is a guide for those that come to the act of hunting with pure intentions, motivated by a desire for healthy food that comes directly from the land where they live. This practical manual suggests that hunting is not a “sport” and the animals whose lives are taken are not “game.” It combines a deep, philosophical exploration of the ethics of killing with detailed instructions on every step of the process. The following excerpt is from Chapter 5, “Techniques.”

You can purchase this book from the MOTHER EARTH NEWS store: The Compassionate Hunter’s Guidebook.

Several years ago, I was invited by an acquaintance to go deer hunting. Although I had some reservations about the man who was inviting me, I decided to go. He was much older than me, a seasoned hunter with a long lifetime of experience, so I figured he probably had a lot of knowledge and wisdom I could learn from. The idea was that by coming along I could shoot a deer myself or, if he got one, I would give him a hand with any heavy work and could take the hide, fat and organs and any other parts that he didn’t intend to use home with me.

On the day of our hunt, he picked me up at the road near my home early in the morning. We drove in his pickup truck a couple hours, first along the highway and then veering off into a network of logging roads.

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