Voices

'Fair Chase' redefines fair chase as fit hunters go primal

Thousands of men and women are retro hunters. They hunt all over the United States, forsaking Winchester, Remington and other firearm manufacturers for weaponry older than the pyramids -- the bow and arrow, the sling shot, the spear.

But nobody has taken taken retro as far as the so-called "persistence hunters" depicted by Alex Cullen and Emma Tammi in their 53-minute documentary "Fair Chase," which débuted at the Santa Barbara film Festival Jan. 29.

These nine men are distance runners who attempt to track down on foot and kill the second-fastest land animal in the world -- the pronghorn antelope -- on the high plains of New Mexico. They undertake the hunt believing that when the antelope, only surpassed in speed by the cheetah, succumbs to exhaustion, one of the hunters can dispatch him with a bow and arrow.

This is hunting rolled into a marathon that will leave experienced Alaska outdoorsmen amazed by the men's stamina while muttering to themselves "Are these guys serious?"

They are serious. They are not just runners and hunters. They are, in effect, experimental anthropologists exploring a form of persistence hunting apparently known to ancient peoples.

The men are asking what would a persistence hunt be like, could it succeed, in the American southwest?

Three runners are Kenyans who serve as guides, mentors, and philosophers of the hunt to their American colleagues. The Kenyans participated in similar hunts (although for different species) in their home country before coming to the United States to compete successfully as marathoners.

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A word about the hunters' prey and the hunting conditions. The pronghorn are known for their horns, their white rump, and their explosive sprinter start. A male can weight more than 140 pounds: a female more than 100 pounds. They are a herd or group animal.

The high plains of New Mexico are dry, featuring what looks to an Alaskan like scrub brush. The private land the runners traversed was fenced by ranchers and on a couple of occasions, the hunters were forced to climb fences. This is harsh country but not wilderness.

Cullen and Tammi break the film into days approaching the hunt as all those involved gather and prepare. On the morning of the hunt, the hunters' final preparation of their clothing and shoes are detailed, as is serious calorie-loading at a breakfast before sunrise.

The filmmakers use a drone, a cameraman embedded among the hunters, a biking cameraman, cameras on runners and motorized camera personnel -- a huge effort chronicling a highly imaginative endeavor.

If you are wondering how far well-conditioned, well-prepared, well-trained distance runner/hunters will chase pronghorn antelope before conceding they will never make a kill, here's the answer: 18 miles.

The men kept their original prey in sight most of the time but never exhausted the animal and lost him after 15 miles. They regrouped and chased a second animal 3 miles. The hunters later concluded that during the opening chase the antelope herd had been smart enough to trade out the first animal singled out by the hunter for a pronghorn ringer.

I met Alex Cullen by chance on a train traveling through California. He told me he developed the idea for the film from a piece in Outside Magazine. ("Fair Chase" by Charles Bethea April 19, 2011).

I attended his film because I thought, "You're never going to see anything like this again." At the showing, I got an answer to one of the questions that hit me after meeting Cullen. Did the armed hunter, the Kenyan designated to dispatch the pronghorn with a bow and arrow, buy a hunting license? Yes he did -- and while he came home without dinner, he walked in the door with a great story.

Michael Carey is an Alaska Dispatch News columnist. Alex Cullen says, "The film is currently looking for distribution and should be out later this year. Until then, readers can follow the film here: www.facebook.com/fairchasemovie."

The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.

Michael Carey

Michael Carey is an occasional columnist and the former editorial page editor of the Anchorage Daily News.

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