“There’s nothing like hunting with other men,” says Daniel Vitalis, host of WildFed on Outdoor Channel.
“The problem is that we've seen the androgenizing of the human species in recent decades. There were once very clearly defined gender roles. Women brought in and nurtured life, and men were the stewards of the art of killing.”
He feels something important has been lost for men. Killing, as he sees it, is an art.
Watch Daniel Vitalis at METAL
“Today, most men are not schooled in that art. You don't want to hear a deer screaming in the woods because you hit it badly. If you shoot a bear and it takes off into the woods, and you don't know what's become of it, you know what it means to get skilled in the art of killing cleanly.”
Though he is what he calls a “late onset hunter,” Vitalis reflects that before he began hunting, “there was an aspect of masculinity for me personally that was missing.”
“I've spent a lot of time in spiritual circles. I've drunk ayahuasca in the jungle and been in the peyote teepee in the desert. I've been around a lot of the New Age community. And I have learned that a man needs to learn at some level how to harden his heart in the moment of crisis to take a life.”
Vitalis cautions that this ability, or skill, is not something that isolates a man. Just as he advocates the bonding that happens among men who hunt together, he reflects on how it also connects him to the animals he hunts.
“The more anthropomorphic the animal is, the more you feel it. I'm in relationship with these animals. Folks who've never hunted think ‘You must hate these animals.’ But the truth is, I love them. I ask people, ‘Have you ever really met a bear face to face?’ They ask, ‘Why don't you love bears?’ And I tell them the truth: ‘Bro. I am bears.’”
To get a deeper feel for and to learn more about Daniel…
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The history of food processing and preparation.
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Daniel’s harsh upbringing.
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Hollywood’s strange aversion to hunting vs. its love for murder.
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The difference between being in the wilderness and being concerned about “the environment.”
Take aways:
- Hunting is an art that can deepen one’s appreciation of life.
- Hunting can supply an important missing element of the masculine journey.
- Bears are surprisingly nutritious.
- Daniel Vitalis is a bear.
Written by Adam Gilad
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