Editing Hunting (section)

==History==
{{anchor|Paleolithic}}

===Lower to Middle Paleolithic===
{{Further|Hunting hypothesis|Endurance running hypothesis}}
Hunting has a long history. It predates the emergence of  ''[[Homo sapiens]]'' ([[anatomically modern humans]]) and may even predate the [[genus]] ''[[Homo]]''.

The oldest undisputed evidence for hunting dates to the [[Early Pleistocene]], consistent with the emergence and early dispersal of ''[[Homo erectus]]'' about 1.7 million years ago ([[Acheulean]]).<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Gaudzinski | first1 = S | year = 2004 | title = Subsistence patterns of Early Pleistocene hominids in the Levant&nbsp;– Taphonomic evidence from the 'Ubeidiya Formation (Israel) | journal = Journal of Archaeological Science | volume = 31 | issue = 1 | pages = 65–75 | doi=10.1016/s0305-4403(03)00100-6| bibcode = 2004JArSc..31...65G  | issn=0305-4403 }}.
{{cite journal | last1 = Rabinovich | first1 = R. | last2 = Gaudzinski-Windheuser | first2 = S. | last3 = Goren-Inbar | first3 = N. | year = 2008 | title = Systematic butchering of fallow deer (Dama) at the early Middle Pleistocene Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov (Israel) | journal = Journal of Human Evolution | volume = 54 | issue = 1| pages = 134–49 | doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2007.07.007 | pmid=17868780| bibcode = 2008JHumE..54..134R }}</ref>
While it is undisputed that ''Homo erectus''  were hunters, the importance of this for the emergence of ''Homo erectus'' from its australopithecine ancestors, including the production of [[stone tool]]s and eventually the [[control of fire]], is emphasised in the so-called "[[hunting hypothesis]]" and de-emphasised in scenarios that stress omnivory and [[social interaction]].

There is no direct evidence for hunting predating ''Homo erectus'', in either ''[[Homo habilis]]'' or in ''[[Australopithecus]]''.
The early [[hominidae|hominid]] ancestors of humans were probably [[frugivore]]s or [[omnivore]]s, with a partially carnivorous diet from [[scavenging]] rather than hunting.
Evidence for australopithecine meat consumption was presented in the 1990s.<ref>1992 [[trace element]] studies of the strontium/calcium ratios in [[Paranthropus|robust australopithecine]] fossils suggested the possibility of animal consumption, as did a 1994 using stable carbon isotopic analysis. {{cite web | author = Billings, Tom | access-date = 6 January 2007 | title = Comparative Anatomy and Physiology Brought Up to Date—continued, Part 3B | url = http://www.beyondveg.com/billings-t/comp-anat/comp-anat-3b.shtml | archive-date = 15 December 2006 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061215105652/http://beyondveg.com/billings-t/comp-anat/comp-anat-3b.shtml | url-status = live }}</ref>
It has nevertheless often been assumed that at least occasional hunting behaviour may have been present well before the emergence of ''Homo''.This can be argued on the basis of comparison with [[Common chimpanzee|chimpanzee]]s, the closest extant relatives of humans, who also engage in hunting, indicating that the behavioural trait may have been present in the [[Chimpanzee–human last common ancestor]] as early as 5 million years ago. The common chimpanzee (''[[Pan troglodytes]]'') regularly engages in troop predation behaviour, where bands of beta males are led by an [[alpha male]]. [[Bonobo]]s (''[[Pan paniscus]]'') have also been observed to occasionally engage in group hunting,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livescience.com/9601-bonobos-hunt-primates.html |title=Bonobos Hunt Other Primates |work=livescience.com |year=2008 |access-date=5 August 2012 |archive-date=15 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211115002501/https://www.livescience.com/9601-bonobos-hunt-primates.html |url-status=live }}</ref> although more rarely than ''Pan troglodytes'', mainly subsisting on a [[frugivorous]] diet.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/vecase/Behavior/Spring2004/laird/Social%20Organization.htm |title=Bonobo social spacing |author=Courtney Laird |access-date=10 March 2008 |work=Davidson College |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080123151613/http://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/vecase/Behavior/Spring2004/laird/Social%20Organization.htm |archive-date=23 January 2008 }}</ref>
Indirect evidence for [[Oldowan]] era hunting, by early ''Homo'' or late ''[[Australopithecus]]'', has been presented in a 2009 study based on
an Oldowan site in southwestern Kenya.<ref>Plummer, T.W., Bishop, L., Ditchfield, P., Kingston, J., Ferraro, J., Hertel, F. & D. Braun (2009).  "The environmental context of Oldowan hominin activities at Kanjera South, Kenya".  In: Hovers, E. & D. Braun (eds.), '' Interdisciplinary Approaches to Understanding the Oldowan'', Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 149–60.
Tom Plummer, [https://popular-archaeology.com/article/the-hard-stuff-of-culture-oldowan-archaeology-at-kanjera-south-kenya/ "The Hard Stuff of Culture: Oldowan Archaeology at Kanjera South, Kenya"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211114233205/https://popular-archaeology.com/article/the-hard-stuff-of-culture-oldowan-archaeology-at-kanjera-south-kenya/ |date=14 November 2021 }}, ''Popular Archaeology'', June 2012.</ref>

[[Louis Binford]] (1986) criticised the idea that early hominids and early humans were hunters. On the basis of the analysis of the skeletal remains of the consumed animals, he concluded that hominids and early humans were mostly [[scavengers]], not hunters,<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Binford | first1 = Louis | year = 1986 | title = Human ancestors: Changing views of their behavior | journal = Journal of Anthropological Archaeology | volume = 4 | issue = 4| pages = 292–327 | doi = 10.1016/0278-4165(85)90009-1 }}</ref>
Blumenschine (1986) proposed the idea of ''confrontational scavenging'', which involves challenging and scaring off other [[predator]]s {{em|after}} they have made a kill, which he suggests could have been the leading method of obtaining [[protein]]-rich meat by early humans.<ref>Blumenschine, Robert J. (1986) ''Early hominid scavenging opportunities: Implications of carcass availability in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro ecosystems''. Oxford, England: B.A.R.</ref>

Stone spearheads dated as early as 500,000 years ago were found in South Africa.<ref>Monte Morin, [https://web.archive.org/web/20121118111851/http://articles.latimes.com/2012/nov/16/science/la-sci-hafting-spears-20121116 "Stone-tipped spear may have much earlier origin"], ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', 16 November 2012</ref> Wood does not preserve well, however, and Craig Stanford, a primatologist and professor of anthropology at the [[University of Southern California]], has suggested that the discovery of spear use by chimpanzees probably means that early humans used wooden spears as well, perhaps, five million years ago.<ref>Rick Weiss, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/22/AR2007022201007.html "Chimps Observed Making Their Own Weapons"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211115000701/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/22/AR2007022201007.html |date=15 November 2021 }}, ''[[The Washington Post]]'', 22 February 2007</ref>
The earliest dated find of surviving wooden hunting [[spear]]s dates to the very end of the [[Lower Paleolithic]], about 300,000 years ago. The [[Schöningen spears]], found in 1976 in [[Germany]], are associated with ''[[Homo heidelbergensis]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Thieme |first1=Hartmut |year=1997 |title=Lower Palaeolithic hunting spears from Germany |journal=Nature |volume=385 |issue=6619 |pages=807–810 |bibcode=1997Natur.385..807T |doi=10.1038/385807a0 |pmid=9039910 |s2cid=4283393}} [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v385/n6619/abs/385807a0.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170721162135/http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v385/n6619/abs/385807a0.html|date=21 July 2017}}.</ref>

The [[hunting hypothesis]] sees the emergence of [[behavioral modernity]] in the [[Middle Paleolithic]] as directly related to hunting, including [[Mating|mating behaviour]], the establishment of [[language]], culture, and [[origin of religion|religion]], [[mythology]] and [[animal sacrifice]]. Sociologist [[David Nibert]] of [[Wittenberg University]] argues that the emergence of the organized hunting of animals undermined the communal, egalitarian nature of early human societies, with the status of women and less powerful males declining as the status of men quickly became associated with their success at hunting, which also increased human violence within these societies.<ref>{{cite book |last=Nibert |first=David |date=2013 |title=Animal Oppression and Human Violence: Domesecration, Capitalism, and Global Conflict |location= |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |page=10 |url=https://cup.columbia.edu/book/animal-oppression-and-human-violence/9780231151894 |isbn=978-0231151894 |access-date=18 April 2023 |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326110123/https://cup.columbia.edu/book/animal-oppression-and-human-violence/9780231151894 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, 9000-year-old remains of a female hunter along with a toolkit of [[projectile points]] and animal processing implements were discovered at the [[Andes|Andean]] site of Wilamaya Patjxa, [[Puno District]] in [[Peru]].<ref>{{cite news <!--|authors=Randall Haas, James Watson, Tammy Buonasera, John Southon, Jennifer C. Chen, Sarah Noe, Kevin Smith, Carlos Viviano Llave, Jelmer Eerkens and Glendon Parker -->|author=Randall Haas |display-authors=etal |title=Female hunters of the early Americas |publisher=Science Advances |volume=6 |issue=45 |year=2020 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.abd0310 }}</ref>

===Upper Paleolithic to Mesolithic===
{{main|Hunter-gatherers}}
[[File:Algerien Desert.jpg|thumb|[[Saharan rock art]] with prehistoric archers]]
[[File:21 Walrus Hunt 1999.jpg|thumb|[[Inuit]] hunting [[walrus]], 1999]]
Evidence exists that hunting may have been one of the multiple, or possibly main, [[environmental factor]]s leading to the [[Holocene extinction]] of [[megafauna]] and their replacement by smaller [[herbivores]].<ref>{{cite journal | last = Surovell | first = Todd |author2=Nicole Waguespack |author3=P. Jeffrey Brantingham | title = Global archaeological evidence for proboscidean overkill | journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume = 102 | issue = 17 | pages = 6231–36 | date = 13 April 2005 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0501947102| pmid = 15829581 | pmc = 1087946 | bibcode = 2005PNAS..102.6231S | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dembitzer |first1=Jacob |last2=Barkai |first2=Ran |last3=Ben-Dor |first3=Miki |last4=Meiri |first4=Shai |date=2022 |title=Levantine overkill: 1.5 million years of hunting down the body size distribution |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379121005230 |journal=[[Quaternary Science Reviews]] |volume=276 |issue= |page=107316 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107316 |bibcode=2022QSRv..27607316D |s2cid=245236379 |access-date=December 22, 2021 |archive-date=22 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211222145949/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379121005230 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Humans are thought to have played a very significant role in the extinction of the [[Australian megafauna]] that was widespread prior to human occupation.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Miller | first1 = G.H. | year = 2005 | title = Ecosystem Collapse in Pleistocene Australia and a Human Role in Megafaunal Extinction | journal = [[Science (journal)|Science]] | volume = 309 | issue = 5732 | pages = 287–90 | doi = 10.1126/science.1111288 | pmid = 16002615 | bibcode = 2005Sci...309..287M | s2cid = 22761857 | url = http://doc.rero.ch/record/14709/files/PAL_E1537.pdf | access-date = 3 January 2023 | archive-date = 7 January 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230107032837/https://doc.rero.ch/record/14709/files/PAL_E1537.pdf | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Prideaux | first1 = G.J. | display-authors = etal   | year = 2007 | title = An arid-adapted middle Pleistocene vertebrate fauna from south-central Australia | journal = Nature | volume = 445 | issue = 7126| pages = 422–25 | doi=10.1038/nature05471 | pmid=17251978| bibcode = 2007Natur.445..422P | s2cid = 4429899 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Saltré|first1=F.|last2=Chadoeuf|first2=J.|last3=Peters|first3=K.J.|last4=McDowell|first4=M.C.|last5=Friedrich|first5=T.| last6=Timmermann|first6=A.|last7=Ulm|first7=S.|last8=Bradshaw|first8=C.J.|year=2019|title=Climate-human interaction associated with southeast Australian megafauna extinction patterns|journal=Nature Communications|volume=10|issue=1|pages=5311|doi=10.1038/s41467-019-13277-0|pmid=31757942 |pmc=6876570 |bibcode=2019NatCo..10.5311S }}</ref>

Hunting was a crucial component of hunter-gatherer societies before the [[domestication]] of [[livestock]] and the [[Neolithic Revolution|dawn of agriculture]], beginning about 11,000 years ago in some parts of the world. In addition to the [[spear]], [[hunting weapon]]s developed during the Upper Paleolithic include the [[atlatl]] (a spear-thrower; before 30,000 years ago) and the [[Bow (weapon)|bow]] (18,000 years ago). By the [[Mesolithic]], [[Hunting strategy|hunting strategies]] had diversified with the development of these more far-reaching weapons and the [[domestication of the dog]] about 15,000 years ago. Evidence puts the earliest known [[mammoth]] hunting in Asia with [[spears]] to approximately 16,200 years ago.<ref>{{cite conference |first=Vasiliy N. |last=Zenin |author2=Evgeny N. Mashenko |author3=Sergey V. Leshchinskiy |author4=Aleksandr F. Pavlov |author5=Pieter M. Grootes |author6=Marie-Josée Nadeau |title=The First Direct Evidence of Mammoth Hunting in Asia (Lugovskoye Site, Western Siberia) (L) |book-title=3rd International Mammoth Conference |publisher=Government of Yukon |date=24–29 May 2003 |location=Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada |url=http://www.yukonmuseums.ca/mammoth/abstrt-z.htm |access-date=1 January 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061117111346/http://www.yukonmuseums.ca/mammoth/abstrt-z.htm |archive-date=17 November 2006}}</ref>

[[File:Kærvspids, Bjerlev Hede.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Sharp [[flint]] piece from [[Bjerlev Hede]] in central Jutland. Dated around 12,500 BC and considered the oldest hunting tool from Denmark.]]

Many species of animals have been hunted throughout history. One theory is that in North America and [[Eurasia]], [[reindeer|caribou and wild reindeer]] "may well be the species of single greatest importance in the entire anthropological literature on hunting"<ref name=Burch>"In North America and Eurasia the species has long been an important resource—in many areas ''the'' most important resource—for peoples inhabiting the northern [[Taiga|boreal forest]] and tundra regions. Known human dependence on caribou/wild reindeer has a long history, beginning in the Middle Pleistocene (Banfield 1961:170; Kurtén 1968:170) and continuing to the present. […] The caribou/wild reindeer is thus an animal that has been a major resource for humans throughout a tremendous geographic area and across a time span of tens of thousands of years." {{cite journal | last1 = Burch | first1 = Ernest S. Jr. | year = 1972 | title = The Caribou/Wild Reindeer as a Human Resource | journal = American Antiquity | volume = 37 | issue = 3| pages = 339–68 | doi=10.2307/278435 | jstor=278435| s2cid = 161921691 }}</ref> (see also [[Reindeer Age]]), although the varying importance of different species depended on the geographic location.

[[File:Black Figured Olpe depicting the return of a hunter and his dog.jpg|thumb|Ancient Greek [[black-figure pottery]] depicting the return of a hunter and his dog; made in [[Athens]] c. 540 BC, found in [[Rhodes]]]]

[[Mesolithic]] hunter-gathering lifestyles remained prevalent in some parts of the [[Americas]], [[Sub-Saharan Africa]], and [[Siberia]], as well as all of Australia, until the European [[Age of Discovery]]. They still persist in some [[tribal societies]], albeit in rapid decline. Peoples that preserved Paleolithic hunting-gathering until the recent past include some [[List of indigenous peoples in Brazil|indigenous peoples of the Amazonas]] ([[Aché]]), some Central and Southern African ([[San people]]), some peoples of [[New Guinea]] ([[Fayu people|Fayu]]), the [[Mlabri people|Mlabri]] of [[Thailand]] and [[Laos]], the [[Vedda people]] of [[Sri Lanka]], and a handful of [[uncontacted peoples]]. In Africa, one of the last remaining hunter-gatherer tribes are the [[Hadza people|Hadza]] of Tanzania.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/africa/wherewework/the-hadza-helping-hunter-gatherers-protect-their-homeland.xml|title=The Nature Conservancy|website=The Nature Conservancy|access-date=2016-09-15|archive-date=3 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703050952/https://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/africa/wherewework/the-hadza-helping-hunter-gatherers-protect-their-homeland.xml|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Neolithic and Antiquity===
[[File:Diana of Versailles.jpg|thumb|''[[Artemis]] with a Hind'', a [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] copy of an [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greek]] sculpture, c. 325 BC, by [[Leochares]].]]
[[File:Goguryeo tomb mural.jpg|thumb|An example of a [[Goguryeo tombs|Goguryeo tomb mural]] of hunting, middle of the first millennium.]]
[[File:0025 - 0220 Brick Relief with Harvesting, Fishing and Hunting Scene Eastern Han Dynasty National Museum of China anagoria.jpg|thumb|[[Han dynasty]] tomb brick depicting a fishing and hunting scene.]]

Even as [[domestication#Animals|animal domestication]] became relatively widespread and after the development of agriculture, hunting usually remained a significant contributor to the human food-supply. 
The supplementary meat and materials from hunting included [[protein]], [[bone]] for implements, [[sinew]] for [[rope|cordage]], [[fur]], [[feathers]], [[Rawhide (textile)|rawhide]] and leather used in clothing.

Hunting is still vital in marginal climates, especially those unsuited for [[pastoral]] uses or for agriculture.<ref>{{Cite book|title= Mystique Melodies|last= Porter|first= V.I.|publisher= Dorrance Publishing|year= 2018|isbn= 978-1-4809-5591-2|location= Pittsburgh, PA|pages= 48}}</ref> For example, [[Inuit]] in the [[Arctic]] trap and hunt animals for clothing and use the skins of [[Marine mammal|sea mammals]] to make [[kayak]]s, clothing, and footwear.

On ancient [[reliefs]], especially from [[Mesopotamia]], kings are often depicted by sculptors as hunters of [[Big game hunting|big game]] such as lions and are often portrayed hunting from a [[war chariot]] - early examples of royalty symbolically and militaristically engaging in hunting<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Allsen
 |first1               = Thomas T.
 |author-link1         = Thomas T. Allsen
 |year                 = 2011
 |orig-date            = 2006
 |title                = The Royal Hunt in Eurasian History
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=WFls6zdc40QC
 |series               = Encounters with Asia
 |location             = Philadelphia
 |publisher            = University of Pennsylvania Press
 |isbn                 = 9780812201079
 |access-date          = 27 March 2023
}} 
</ref>
as "the sport of kings".<ref>{{cite book
 |last1        = Connor
 |first1       = Steven
 |author-link1 = Steven Connor
 |date         = 15 November 2011
 |chapter      = Winning
 |title        = A Philosophy of Sport
 |url          = https://books.google.com/books?id=3jWZ-3pkILMC
 |location     = London
 |publisher    = Reaktion Books
 |isbn         = 9781861899736
 |access-date  = 27 March 2023
 |quote        = From classical times onwards, games and sports were thought of as training for actual combat. The most important and sustained mediator between battle and sport was hunting, one of several sports regularly designated the 'Sport of Kings'.
 |archive-date = 27 March 2023
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20230327050352/https://books.google.com/books?id=3jWZ-3pkILMC
 |url-status   = live
}}</ref>
The cultural and [[psychological]] importance of hunting in ancient societies is represented by deities such as [[Horned God|the horned god]] [[Cernunnos]] and [[Lunar deity|lunar goddesses]] of [[classical antiquity]], the Greek [[Artemis]] or Roman [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]]. [[Taboo]]s are often related{{citation needed|date=March 2023}} to hunting, and mythological association of prey species with a [[divinity]] could be reflected in hunting restrictions such as a [[Nature reserve|reserve]] surrounding a temple. [[Euripides]]' tale of Artemis and [[Actaeon]], for example, may be seen as a caution against disrespect of prey or against impudent boasting.
[[File:Taq-e Bostan - Low-relief the boar hunt.jpg|thumb|Low-relief the boar hunt, [[Taq-e Bostan]]]]
With the domestication of the dog, [[Bird of prey|birds of prey]], and the [[ferret]], various forms of animal-aided hunting developed, including [[Medieval hunting|venery]] ([[scent hound|scent-hound]] hunting, such as [[fox hunting]]), [[coursing]] ([[sight hound|sight-hound]] hunting), [[falconry]], and [[ferreting]]. While these are all associated{{citation needed|date=March 2023}} with [[medieval hunting]], over time, various [[dog breed]]s were selected by humans for very precise tasks during the hunt, reflected in such names as [[Pointing breed|"pointer"]] and "[[setter]]".

{{See also|Lion hunting}}

===Pastoral and agricultural societies===
[[File:Nobleman in Hunting Costume preceded by his Servant trying to find the Scent of a Stag.png|thumb|right|[[Nobleman]] in hunting costume with his servant following the scent of a [[stag]], 14th century]]

Even as agriculture and [[animal husbandry]] became more prevalent, hunting often remained as a part of human culture where the environment and social conditions allowed. Hunter-gatherer societies persisted, even when increasingly confined to marginal areas. And within agricultural systems, hunting served to kill animals that prey upon [[List of domesticated animals|domestic and wild animals]] or to attempt to [[Local extinction|extirpate]] animals seen by humans as competition for resources such as water or forage.

When hunting moved from a subsistence activity to a selective one, two trends emerged:

# the development of the role of the specialist hunter, with special training and equipment
# the option of hunting as a "sport" for members of an upper social class

The meaning of the word ''game'' in [[Middle English]] evolved to include an animal which is hunted. As the domestication of animals for meat grew, subsistence hunting remained among the lowest classes; however, the stylised pursuit of game in European societies became a luxury. Dangerous hunting, such as for lions or [[wild boar]]s, often done on [[horseback]] or from a [[chariot]], had a function similar to [[Tournament (medieval)|tournaments]] and manly sports. Hunting ranked as an honourable, somewhat competitive pastime to help the [[aristocracy]] practice skills of war in times of peace.<ref>
Machiavelli provides a rationale, if not the origin, of noble hunting:
{{cite book
| last1                 = Machiavelli
| first1                = Niccolò
| author1-link          = Niccolò Machiavelli
| year              = 1531
| chapter               = Discourses on the first decade of Titus Livius, Book 3
| editor1-last          = Gilbert
| editor1-first         = Allan
| title                 = Machiavelli: The Chief Works and Others
| chapter-url                   = https://books.google.com/books?id=r6lROQffJ7cC
| volume                = 1
| publisher             = Duke University Press
| publication-date      = 1989
| page                  = 516
| isbn                  = 978-0-8223-8157-0
| access-date            = 27 December 2013
| quote                 = [...] hunting expeditions, as Xenophon makes plain, are images of war; therefore to men of rank such activity is honorable and necessary.
}}
</ref>

In most parts of [[medieval]] Europe, the upper class obtained the sole rights to hunt in certain areas of a feudal territory. Game in these areas was used as a source of food and furs, often provided via professional huntsmen, but it was also expected to provide a form of recreation for the aristocracy. The importance of this proprietary view of game can be seen in the [[Robin Hood]] legends, in which one of the primary charges against the outlaws is that they "hunt the King's deer". In contrast, settlers in Anglophone colonies gloried democratically in hunting for all.<ref>
{{cite book |last1       = Dunlap
 |first1      = Thomas R.
 |chapter     = Remaking Worlds: European models in New Lands
 |title       = Nature and the English Diaspora: Environment and History in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand
 |chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=UDaEZnZ093EC
 |series      = Studies in Environment and History
 |issue       = 17
 |publisher   = Cambridge University Press
 |date        = 1999
 |page        = [https://archive.org/details/natureenglishdia0000dunl/page/61 61]
 |isbn        = 978-0-521-65700-6
 |access-date  = 24 December 2013
 |quote       = The settlers adopted sport hunting, as they did other elements of British culture, but they had to adapt it. Social circumstances and biological realities reshaped it and gave it new meaning. There was no elite monopolizing access to land. Indeed, the great attraction and boast of these nations were of land for all.
 |url         = https://archive.org/details/natureenglishdia0000dunl/page/61
}}
</ref>

In medieval Europe, hunting was considered by [[Johannes Scotus Eriugena]] to be part of the set of ''[[mechanic arts|seven mechanical arts]]''.<ref>In his commentary on Martianus Capella's early 5th-century work, ''The Marriage of Philology and Mercury'', one of the main sources for medieval reflection on the liberal arts.</ref>

===Use of dog===
[[File:'Jachtgezellen' Rijksmuseum SK-A-1023.jpeg|thumb|''Hunting Companions'', [[Dutch people|Dutch]] 19th-century painting featuring two dogs, a [[shotgun]] and a game bag]]

Although various other animals have been used to aid the hunter, such as [[ferrets]], the dog has assumed many very important uses to the hunter. 
The domestication of the dog has led to a [[Symbiosis|symbiotic relationship]] in which the dog's independence from humans is deferred. Though dogs can survive independently of humans, and in many cases do ferally, when raised or adopted by humans the species tends to defer to its control in exchange for habitation, food and support.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://huntingguide.info/|title=The Hunting Guide >> Read Before Hunt|website=Hunting Guide|language=en-US|access-date=2017-12-15|archive-date=14 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211114234714/https://huntingguide.info/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Dogs today are used to find, chase, retrieve, and sometimes kill game. Dogs allow humans to pursue and kill prey that would otherwise be very difficult or dangerous to hunt. Different breeds of specifically bred [[hunting dog]] are used for different types of hunting. Waterfowl are commonly hunted using retrieving dogs such as the [[Labrador Retriever]], the [[Golden Retriever]], the [[Chesapeake Bay Retriever]], the [[Brittany Spaniel]], and other similar breeds. [[Upland game bird|Game birds]] are flushed out using flushing [[spaniel]]s such as the [[English Springer Spaniel]], the various [[Cocker Spaniel]]s and similar breeds.

The hunting of wild mammals in England and Wales with dogs was banned under the [[Hunting Act 2004]]. The wild mammals include fox, hare, deer and mink. There are, however, exceptions in the Act.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.defra.gov.uk/rural/countryside/hunting/ |title=Hunting with dogs « Defra |publisher=Defra.gov.uk |date=18 February 2005 |access-date=20 April 2012 |archive-date=22 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130222025403/http://www.defra.gov.uk/rural/countryside/hunting/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Nevertheless, there have been numerous attempts on behalf of activists, pressure groups, etc. to revoke the act over the last two decades.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Why we must continue to campaign for repeal of the Hunting Act 2004 |url=https://www.vote-ok.co.uk/hunting |access-date=2024-08-12 |website=www.vote-ok.co.uk |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Misguided and futile: time to repeal the Hunting Act |url=https://www.oxfordstudent.com/2018/05/09/misguided-and-futile-time-to-repeal-the-hunting-act/ |access-date=2024-08-12 |website=www.oxfordstudent.com |date=9 May 2018 |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=English votes for English laws could end hunting ban |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/11323563/English-votes-for-English-laws-plan-could-end-hunting-ban.html |access-date=2024-08-12 |website=The Telegraph |date=4 January 2015 |language=en-GB}}</ref>