Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
We hunt.
As a smal l boy I grew up on a dairy farmin a tiny hamlet.
We owned cattle, more as a hobby.
When I was about 16 years old I was allowed to join a hunt under supervision.
It was amazing to be part of the grownups.
This is where I shot my first hare and it was part of a whole ritual of course.
Firm handshakes and singing, very special to be honest.
The dog is my true hunting buddy. I have quite a few hunting buddies, but those dogs are my best friends.
I will not go hunting without a dog.
Besides being a very amicable animal, the dog has a definite purpose in tracking game.
The dog its character is very compatible with me.
In my field I am the hunt leader, I decide what goes on that day.
To have your own field is something rather special nowadays.
It is just a great feeling that you have been given the responsibility for a field...
where people have placed trust in you, to ensure proper guardianship with regard to game population levels.
During a hunt there is just this great diversity of people, from the doctor to the dairy farmer.
But during a hunt everyone has the same goal and is considered equal.
There are no social differences, which is what I enjoy so much about hunting.
It is not just about firing rounds.
To get a piece of game you will eventually have to let off a shot...
you have to let the rifle speak so to say.
I think rural people, living off the land...
they have a different understanding of hunting and conservation, than urban people.
Something you encounter as a hunter is the misunderstandings...
because people who are against hunting often do not see its purpose or necessity.
The hunting season runs from halfway through December until the end of January on average.
The total amount of game shot by hunters in Holland is only a mere fraction of the total consumption of game here.
That is just a awkward paradox with intensive farming methods like megabarns.
It is the little things that I enjoy.
When we see a dog trying to pin down a pheasant for instance, but the pheasant is having none of it.
Everyone is watching with great concentration as the dogs tries harder.
And then we hear the pheasant take to the skies behind the hunting party.
I think it is a beautiful thing to get outsmarted by game.
It has used it's knowledge and abilities.
It is just something I really enjoy.
Usually it is, hen or pheasant or hare!
Or somebody raises their arm to point out to a fellow hunter that the dog has picked up a trail.
When the pheasant takes to the skies, it is followed by the shot.
When I see a pheasant fall from the sky, at that moment in time it does give you a thrill.
Your heart skips a beat and it feels like we did a good job.
However the emotion of having taken a living animal from its natural surroundings, gets to me at the same time.
Being human, it's hard not to feel that.
I do not think there is a more honest piece of meat than game.
It's one on one and, as a hunter, you know what is living in your fields and what can and cannot be taken.
And when you can harvest from nature, is when you get a beautiful piece of meat.
The whole social element of being together, telling stories...
and all trying to achieve the same goal together, really brings out the passion amongst us.