Last January, Maggie Mordaunt found me on the floor of the world’s largest outdoor trade show, “SHOT Show,” and thrust a book into my hands. Titled “On Hunting: A Definitive Study of the Mind, Body, and Ecology of the Hunter in the Modern World,” Maggie wrote the foreword. She then asked me if I’d review the book.
Maggie is well known in the world of firearms trainers, but I didn’t realize she also hunted. It’s not an automatic “I shoot, therefore I hunt” relationship. Maggie writes, “This book resonates with me. It helps people understand why we need wildlife conservation. It help even nonhunters understand the virtues of the hunt. It helps the timid souls who buy their meat in a neat little packages at the grocery store understand the field-to-table process in the most fundamental way.”
Maggie and I may part ways with the “timid souls” comment, because I believe that most people who don’t hunt have either chosen not to hunt (maybe not genetically wired, but that’s a whole ‘nother topic) or haven’t had an opportunity. Studies and surveys continue to show decreasing accessibility to good hunting lands, and if you do get an opportunity to hunt, how are you going to learn? Mentorship for wannabe hunters is often tough to find. In fact, this fact is mentioned in the book, regarding lack of accessible hunting land and mentorship.
I agree with Maggie, though, that this book does all the other things she purports it to do.
Authored by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, Linda K. Miller and Capt. Keith A. Cunningham, the 413-page resource is filled with principles, ethics, hunting foundations, conservation information and even stories about hunts.
Grossman comes to the authorship of this books with more than a dozen other titles under his belt. His book, “ On Killings,” has sold more than a half million copies world-wide, has been translated into five languages, and is on the US Marine Corps Commandant’s Required Reading List, and also is required reading at the FBI academy and numerous other academies and colleges. A former Army Ranger and West Point professor, Grossman travels the country conducting training for military, law enforcement, mental health providers and school safety organizations. He offers courses online at Grossman Academy that focus on mindset of killing.
Linda K. Miller brings shooting experience as a member of an international small-bore target shooter on Canada’s Shooting Team, and has the medals to prove her stock. She is the first and only woman to hold the championship title of “National Sniper Rifle Champion” in 2008. She is a shooting coach with several accreditations. Since 1995, she has hunted in Canada, the US and Africa. She also has authored two books on shooting with her husband, Capt. Keith A. Cunningham.
Cunningham was a career military officer in the Canadian Armed Forces and the US Army. He also teaches marksmanship courses and is a qualified gunsmith. At the time of the book’s publishing (March 1993), he was Chief Instructor at the MilCun Training Center, a place that he built with Linda in Ontario that offers courses for law enforcement and civilian training. Cunningham has hunted since childhood.
I’m not sure who wrote which of the 17 chapters, and there is a discernable voice switch at times, making me wish I knew who had authored that section – but overall, the book brings us from cavemen to modern hunters. We may have different tools, but we have similar reasons for hunting.
In Chapter Two, “A Guilty Pleasure,” the authors delve into the world of women hunters. They write, “Even with the difficulty of finding a place to hunt, there’s a genuine revival in hunting of all types. Women are driving this revival … The feeling of self-sufficiency is empowering. With empowerment comes confidence. For some women, hunting generates a primal response. They are electrified by the experience of being one with the ‘circle of life.’” I can certainly attest to becoming “electrified” after tagging a doe for the first time, and then, doing the field dressing and ultimately the processing of it. I’ll never forget that experience, of the deep breath before the trigger pull and then, the pride in serving delicious venison – the food of European kings – for our family’s meal later.
The book also comes with several pages of Endnotes that serve as a wonderful resource for anyone seeking more in-depth knowledge regarding the world of hunting. The bibliography is a “Rolodex” of who’s who in the hunting and world.
This book should be incorporated into hunting education, at the high school and collegiate levels. It would serve to sharpen young minds at pivotal times and overall, be a wonderful tool to improve this country’s understanding of why we hunt. Indeed, it would easily fall into a textbook-type category, a tome, and the reading is for people who genuinely want to know more about hunting. It would be an amazing book for an outdoor book club to tackle, as well.
“On Hunting” is available in paperback and Kindle versions at Amazon.
Publisher/Editor Barbara Baird is a freelance writer in hunting, shooting and outdoor markets. Her bylines are found at several top hunting and shooting publications. She also is a travel writer, and you can follow her at https://www.ozarkian.com. View all posts by Barbara Baird
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