I love animals
but I kill them too
Hunting Alaskan-style
I鈥檝e been called a psychopath or murderer for being a hunter.
These words often come from a distance, and I understand the point of view.鈥�
Christine Cunningham lives where the summer days - but also the winter nights - are long.
Looking at Alaska on the map, the Kenai Peninsula is just next to state's biggest city, Anchorage. But in reality, it鈥檚 a few hours鈥� drive.
Christine and her partner, Steve Meyer, are game hunters.
鈥淚t鈥檚 difficult for people to reconcile the fact that, in order to live, other creatures must die.
A hunter, especially in Alaska where subsistence hunting has fed families for generations, takes an animal for food.鈥�
But this is not what I am doing.鈥�
Personally, I prefer the term harvest to 鈥榯ake鈥� or 鈥榢ill鈥�.
Although admittedly, 鈥榢ill鈥� has a certain unapologetic honesty to it.鈥�
鈥淢ost people live in urban areas and don鈥檛 have a first-hand relationship with nature, much less the ability to obtain food from sustainable sources.鈥�
Like most people, I went to a grocery store for food.
By subconscious omission, I thought I wasn鈥檛 eating an animal that had once been alive.鈥�
鈥淚 joined a duck hunt to learn what it really meant to eat meat - to see if I was capable of killing and cleaning an animal.
I felt that if I didn鈥檛 know what was involved, I would be a hypocrite - avoiding responsibility and turning a blind eye to the realities of life.鈥�
On their treks in the Kenai Mountains, Christine and Steve have encountered moose, lynx, brown and black bears, wolves, wolverine, mountain goats and Dall sheep.
But it was on a 2016 trip to the Brooks Range in Alaska鈥檚 far north, that Christine shot her first big-game animal.
A bull caribou.
鈥淚 was so lucky to find Steve as a partner. He has hunted since his childhood in North Dakota.
And when we began hunting birds with dogs, it introduced another dimension.
A dog acts as a medium between the domestic setting and the wild.鈥�
Christine and Steve have nine 鈥渂ird dogs鈥�.
Two chocolate labradors retrieve waterfowl while seven English setters make light work of steep terrain, finding and pointing birds - ptarmigan in particular.
But we mainly hunt white-tailed ones.鈥�
鈥淚n the August to March hunting season, bag limits can be around five to 10 birds per day but we rarely take home that many.
Game bags may be checked by an officer on a random basis but it鈥檚 not a legal requirement to present them.鈥�
Some hunts are open to the general public, but others are permit-only.
Also, the number of 鈥榟arvests鈥� allowed can vary.鈥�
Christine works with hunting-affiliated conservation groups.
She also takes part in a state-wide volunteer programme where hunters provide one wing and the tail from each harvested ptarmigan.
Biologists use the samples to determine the age and sex of each bird.
A hunter is said to 鈥榟usband鈥� his or her prey, and so it鈥檚 about striking a balance between animals and the environment.鈥�
It鈥檚 my hope that will help the change conversation about hunting.鈥�
鈥淭he hunting literature has portrayed a largely 鈥榤ale hero鈥� story.
But based on my experience, I think the narrative should become more focused on 鈥榠ndividual responsibility鈥�.鈥�
But it鈥檚 necessary.
And I want to face that reality with kindness - not violence.鈥�
