Bloodties: Nature, Culture, and the Hunt by Ted Kerasote

This title is part of BHA's Jim Posewitz Digital Library: Required Reading for Conservationists 

In Bloodties, Kerasote brings the reader along with him on three journeys, and each involves hunting but from vastly different viewpoints, motivations and outcomes. His time is spent with natives on the ice edge in Greenland, Westerners in pursuit of rams in Siberia and on a journey home to hunt elk in Wyoming. Each is a story about people and how they interact with one another, the critters they chase and the environment around them. The context and substance of these hunts raises more questions than it answers and allows the reader to explore personal feelings about the issues presented.

Kerasote later spends some time with the leader of an animal rights organization and engages in fruitful conversations with people that we don't deeply engage with very often. This sheds some light into the dark spaces between two groups that care very much about animals.

Bloodties doesn’t paint hunting in simplistic black and white terms, but instead explores the nuanced colors of gray that each hunter brings to this pursuit we care so deeply about. You won’t find unequivocal support for hunting in Bloodties, but instead, Kerasote offers many pathways for a hunter to explore. Reading this helped my own understanding of hunting’s place in the world, both amongst the natural places I seek, as well as within the modern society I inhabit. 

-MATT BRETON, BHA New England chapter board member

Purchase Bloodties: Nature, Culture, and the Hunt, and register Backcountry Hunters & Anglers as your preferred non-profit to give back to your wild public lands, waters and wildlife.