Hunting is Training

Hunting is a great way to practice your Fieldcraft skills. You are attempting to outwit a living, thinking organism that doesn’t want to be killed, just like in an actual combative situation. It’s also a huge part of your heritage, regardless of your ethnic or national origin – all humans have hunted for food at some point.

But first, some Tactical Wisdom about hunting:

The lazy do not roast any game,
    but the diligent feed on the riches of the hunt.

Proverbs 12:27

Even Major Rogers and Rangers know the value of hunting as training, and they incorporated it into their Standing Orders:

When you’re on the march, act the way you would if you was sneaking up on a deer. See the enemy first.

Standing Orders, Rogers Rangers

When I speak of hunting, I don’t mean climbing into that heated shed you put up on a platform over a bait pile. I mean old fashion HUNTING. Getting out, tracking animals or just walking the woods looking for animals.

Hunting can be done year round. Hunting doesn’t actually require you to kill game, just to find it and be able to get close to it. I suggest tracking or stalking until you get a good 3 second sight picture. You don’t have to shoot anything. You’ve accomplished your training goal if you get within range and obtain a sight picture without spooking the target.

Before someone screeches, let me just say that you need to know the game laws in your area. Some times of the year it is unlawful to be in the field with a rifle and ammunition without a hunting license. Others have open seasons on things like racoons or coyotes year round, giving you a reason to be hunting. We should give fish and game regulations that exact same level of respect we give the FCC regulations and NEVER violate them.

Still Hunting is walking quietly through the woods, looking for game or signs of game, and then tracking and stalking it. This gives you a chance to develop and test out your fieldcraft skills and individual movement. Once you locate game, try to get as close as you can without being detected. Then, obtain a 3 second sight picture.

Just today, I came across a young buck and surprised him at less than 10 yards. Even then, he couldn’t see me and just stood there, trying to see where I was. I obtained the sight picture, then waited for him to walk off. Then, I tracked him and obtained another sight picture, and he never knew I was there. Great training value.

Stand hunting involves setting up a “blind”. I’m not talking about a pop-up camouflage tent-style blind you bought at Cabela’s, I’m talking about building a concealed ground blind using all natural materials. It’s an art form. I learned it from my Dad and my uncles over years of hunting together. Those same skills will enable you to set up an Observation Post or an ambush position. The art of picking where to put your ground blind is great practice for setting up ambushes, since you are literally trying to set an ambush for deer (or elk).

Stand hunting also gives you training in an overlooked topic – remaining still yet 100% observant in an ambush position. When we do the Scout and Recce classes, we end up laying prone in a hide site for hours waiting for the students to pass our ambush. It’s hard to do without practice.

Another benefit hunting gives you is the ability to practice using your optics in real world settings. I used my Vortext Recon R/T spotting scope and my Khyber Optics 3-18×50 MPVO extensively for scanning. Sure you can use your scope on the range, but that’s only for shooting. When was the last time you practiced using your weapon mounted optic to scan a sector or estimate range? Make out fine details? I was searching a 6 power, then when I saw a deer I ratcheted it up to 18 power to check the antler size (only a small 4 point, so I let him go to grow up).

I also some of my other gear in the field today, like my Helikon Tex Swagman Roll. It’s a wearable poncho liner/sleeping bag. You can get them in solid colors or reversible camouflage – mine is Pencott Wildwoods on one side and Pencott Arctic Zone on the other. Great piece of gear.

Tonight, I brought out a radio and a jungle antenna, and tossed it into a tree for training. Setting up comms at an ambush site or hide site near an OP is a good skill to get a free rep in on. Don’t just let your gear sit. Putting up comms like this is better than a classroom or backyard training environment because you are trying to not be detected, just like you will in a real world scenario. Taking it down quickly and silently is important training as well. The more you do it, the better you’ll get at it.

Don’t just stomp your way into your blind and stomp your way out, practice real life movement. I stalk my way in, set up a quick ground blind, and then hunt. Just before leaving, I take everything down, dismantle the blind and scatter the material, and then erase any trace that I was there. These are good habits to get into and will really prep you for the real world.

Saturday morning, I placed a couple of people into a position and my plan was to still-hunt in a cirle around them, hoping to drive deer or elk past their position. Good plan, but about 15 minutes in, I detected another hunter moving along the same ridgeline. It was clear to me that he had no idea I was behind him. Me being me, I decided that I’d stalk him (no, I never pointed an optic or weapon at him). In addition to him being loud and unobservant (he missed a trio of deer that watched him and slinked away), I watched him cut across our land (I’ll be dealing with that later) in a way that suggested that he did this often. Neat – intelligence gathered by me for future security planning.

Of note, during the First Civil War (see what I did there), a regiment was formed entirely of hunters from Michigan and Wisconsin, called the First Michigan Sharpshooters. They were recognized throughout the Union Army for their outstanding fieldcraft. K Company was made up entirely of Native American/First Nations people was noted for “skirmishing ability, infiltration ability, and marksmanship”. Hunting builds warriors. One thing K comapny did was whenever they moved into a new area, the coapny commander ordered the men to roll around on the ground and in the dirt to get the local coloration on their uniforms. This is something both NC Scout and I still teach – take your Cobra/Viper hood or ghillie blanket and rub it in the local dirt and debris to better camouflage yourself.

Use hunting as a waay to train and to stay in touch with our heritage. However, I urge you to shun the modern way of hunting (heated & elevated blinds/pre-made pop-up blinds) and focus on true hunting heritage, which is fieldcraft skills. Learning tracking is a plus as well.

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