According to history.com, nearly two million years ago the first humans began to emerge. As the human species evolved, the diet began to change drastically. By switching from a low-quality plant diet to a calorie dense meat diet, humans were able to take in more energy to fuel their bigger brains.  

To acquire the energy needed to fuel the body, humans had to start hunting other animals. Ever since, humans have passed this tradition down for generations.  In most cases, hunting is not required for survival, but rather is used as a form of entertainment and a pass time. While hunters still have an appreciation for stocking their freezers with their prizes, hunting has now been transformed into a sport that involves patience and marksmanship with firearms or bow and arrow. 

Avid hunter Garrett Fulmer (10) was introduced to hunting at a young age by his grandfather and loves everything about it, from sitting in the stand to scouting for ducks.  

“My grandfather has always been a hunter of deer, turkey, ducks, you name it!” Fulmer said. 

Over the years, various dog breeds have been bred to assist in the pursuit of the hunt such as pointers and retrievers. Hunting has been popular in southeastern states for years and that has brought families to purchase theses gun dogs to aid in the sport.  

Mills Bullington (9) has owned multiple hunting dogs in his life and has had good experiences with them.  

“Having a hunting dog makes it easier on the human, and the dog enjoys what it does,” Bullington said.  

Humans have also tamed birds of prey to also aid them in hunting small rodents for sport.  Falconry has been around for over 1000 years and is distinctive because of the strong bond formed between the falcon and falconer. Author Emma Ford is a co-founder of the British School of Falconry and has spent her whole life around birds of prey. 

“The skill of the falconer is to harness their natural hunting ability by training a hawk to hunt in partnership,” Ford said according to britannica.com.   

Even though humans have evolved to where there is no need to hunt for survival, the tradition has stuck around for centuries and will be around for more to come.