The inherent potential of hunting

From a historical perspective, the hunting of wild animals by man has never been depicted as a subject just for its own sake, neither in prose and art nor in myths and reality. These depictions however, must have had an influence on actual hunting practice. The purpose of this paper is to locate the effects of these depictions and to interpret the era specific correlation between art and hunting practice. The era overlapping inherent potential of hunting, which is possible to translate into practice, is the key element in the history of hunting and its future. Also, the reduction of hunting to its basic function, leads this paper to become a plea for the hunting of wild animals in the advanced modern society of the 21st century. The relationship between hunting and its role in each societal model in the past and present is what is actually interesting in history of the hunt. As this study reveals the potential which lies in hunting. Each era and each societal model realises new possibilities for hunting and it s potential. This scrutiny reveals certain societal structures as being particularly advantageous for hunting. In ancient times and in the early middle ages, hunting was functionalised and used symbolically to demonstrate different views of rank and order and worldly hierarchies. Whereas, during the renaissance, hunting served as an attainable special construct for securing and defending landownership. In the middle of the 19th century, against the background of industrialisation and as a result of the revolution of 1848, hunting was for a short time, a substantial means for the safeguarding of agricultural production, in that the damagingly high density populations of hoofed game in many places were reduced. The change in direction for this rational functionalisation of hunting under the premises of agriculture and forestry were set during these times, but hunting s function was soon to change. The new class of bourgeois game tenants took over many values and intentions of the aristocracy, a class which slowly lost it s dominance in society. The gains in power by the bourgeoisie continued into the 20th century and quelled the irrational functionalisation of hunting further. For the first time in centuries, during the last third of the 19th century and particularly since the 1930 s, hunting was able to shake off its rational ties to the specific societal models. These circumstances still prevail today, even though they have been interrupted periodically. The actual established attempts of the renewed rational functional ties between hunting and society during the century of the environment , the interrelated recollections of earlier practices of hunting with the aim of increased efficacy of hoofed game hunting and the labelling of hunters as those responsible in the present conflict between economy and ecology show that hunting, depending on its application, can be either very damaging or beneficial and therefore may still be able to exist in the future