A hunting party set out before dawn the following morning and after three hours, the hunters were close enough to take a shot. What followed still makes me upset as I write and it's this emotion that makes me think about my own existence in this world. Hungry and on the brink of starvation, one hunter, a writer actually used the atlatl to spear the elk in the neck, rendering it to the ground. The others then approached the majestic animal to quickly put it out of it's misery, the last spear puncturing the lung. Two things that were emotional about this scene: Firstly, watching the animal exhale for the last time, and secondly, the emotions that were displayed by the hunters in the show. Three men and one woman had used a primitive weapon to hunt and kill a huge elk and had learned to do so in less than a week and were very emotional in having to kill such an amazing creature for survival.
This elk was thanked for it's life and then gutted and quartered to be carried back to camp. Upon arrival, the others at camp were excited and eager to cook and eat the meat, all except for one woman who felt like she would vomit from the sight of it. She refused to partake in eating the elk and continued to eat only nettles and dandelions. I was bothered by this blatant refusal to except our true human nature as omnivores and in their case, hunter-gatherers. These people were deeply affected by killing an animal yet they understood that it was for their own survival and therefore worked past it. For me, it was a disservice to the animal not to at least try to eat it. One other who had left the experiement on Day 6 claiming that her body just wasn't "made for this" also refused to eat anything but plant matter and therefore suffered greatly. On Day 7, another left out of frustration of coming up empty-handed on previous hunts.
The show left me with all kinds of questions and thoughts, and because one day we will have chickens for their eggs (and possibly roast them when they stop laying), I began to ask myself if could I kill an animal for my own survival? As modern humans the necessity to kill for survival is pretty much non-existent. Other than roasting one's own hens for the flavor, it's easier to let someone else do the dirty work. However, in our modern world where we can go to the shop and buy whatever we want, and eat non-seasonal vegetables and fruits all year long, are we as humans losing our connection to our environment? I think yes. How many people have I come into contact with who say that they don't like handling raw meat, or don't know that bacon comes from pigs. How many others don't realize vanilla comes from a bush? How many just don't care because they don't have to?
The truth is, most people just want ease of life and technology is there to do just that, to make life easy. The easy life is detaching us from our roots as hunter-gatherers and from our connection to the natural world we live in. Are we losing our primal tenacity and perseverance? I'm not a technology hater in the slightest, but there is a need to respect nature and keep that awe of living things as we did when we were children.
Could I kill to survive? Yes, definitely, but I would be deeply saddened by the experience. And if my reaction was anywhere near that of watching it on TV, I wouldn't kill unless absolutely necessary. In today's modern world I needn't worry about killing anything to eat anytime soon. However, we have to hold on to our connection to nature. We can't forget that we are only here for a time, that we should work in harmony with plants and animals and that we are lucky that supermarkets exist.
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