Bow hunting wisdom from a Greek perspective

Ok so bow hunting has been around since like 25,000 BC. We all know to scout our hunting areas to know the game and the terrain. To cover our scent. To have a bow with a smooth draw, and to have a steady hand.

I am just an average – maybe even under average bow hunter, so what bow hunting wisdom can I offer. Well…I took Greek Mythology my friend…at least one year of it anyway. So, read on, devote it to memory and know the wisdom I hold and share with you.

I took a little Greek mythology back in my school days, and I never dreamed I would ever use it. But with another trip to do a little bow hunting and knowing we have a place to bow hunt every year – something clicked today.

I was thinking – was there not a Greek god or whatever that was a bow hunter. So, Google answered my question.

Artemis – a female, making her a god-ess, to the Greeks anyway. Here is just a bit about her.

Artemis was very protective of her purity, and gave grave punishment to any man who attempted to dishonor her in any form. Actaeon, while out hunting, accidentally came upon Artemis and her nymphs, who bathing naked in a secluded pool. Seeing them in all their naked beauty, the stunned Actaeon stopped and gazed at them, but when Artemis saw him ogling them, she transformed him into a stag. Then, incensed with disgust, she set his own hounds upon him. They chased and killed what they thought was another stag, but it was their master. As with Orion, a giant and a great hunter, there are several legends which tell of his death, one involving Artemis. It is said that he tried to rape the virgin goddess, so killed him with her bow and arrows. Another says she conjured up a scorpion which killed Orion and his dog. Orion became a constellation in the night sky, and his dog became Sirius, the dog star. Yet another version says it was the scorpion which stung him and was transformed into the constellation with Orion, the later being Scorpio. Artemis was enraged when one of her nymphs, Callisto, allowed Zeus to seduce her, but the great god approached her in one of his guises; he came in the form of Artemis. The young nymph was unwittingly tricked, and she gave birth to Arcas, the ancestor of the Arcadians, but Artemis showed no mercy and changed her into a bear. She then shot and killed her. As Orion, she was sent up to the heavens, and became the constellation of the Great Bear (which is also known as the Plough).

Artemis was very possessive. She would show her wrath on anyone who disobeyed her wishes, especially against her sacred animals. Even the great hero Agamemnon came upon the wrath of Artemis, when he killed a stag in her sacred grove.

Artemis may be thought of as the “silver goddess.” She wore silver sandals, rode a silver chariot in the silver moonlight, and kills with silver arrows shot from a silver bow. In fact, many dying women, as well as women in childbirth, went to Artemis to ask for a quick, painless death from Her silver arrows.

It was believed by many hunters if you did not respect the game you were hunting that you would pay the consequences that Artemis put on you.

Animals sacred to Artemis are:

* deer/stags
* geese
* wild dogs
* fish
* goats
* bees
* bears
* laurel trees
* fir trees

So the moral of the story should be something like this – and this shows that I know my Greek mythology – If you are out hunting for deer, geese, wild hogs, goats, bears…or you’re fishing, swatting bees, or chopping down a laurel or fir tree and a women shows up with a silver bow and arrows, naked, then you are in some trouble. If you do get away – I would not brag, because when the wife hears your story…and you know she will…you’re in trouble all over again. Wives do not like naked women in the woods with you while you’re hunting…and I bet adding some poor line about a women giving birth won’t help you out any.

Good luck my fellow bow hunters.