Creating a Hunting Prayer
Since my post Hunting Prayers and Rituals, I have had a few inquiries from hunters wanting to know where to look for information so they could find prayers to say over their kills. I wish I could say I’m going to give a long list of resources on the web for them to look over, but I’m not. Why? Because they tend to be rather hard to find.
Rather, what I’m going to do is talk a little about how to come up with your own prayer. Personally, I think this is a better approach anyway, since the prayer should be something personal and intimate between the hunter and the animal. Though traditional, prayers you simply find, memorize, and recite fall short in that they lack your personal touch.
The single most important thing to remember when creating your own prayer is that Native Peoples held a great respect for the animals they hunted. Many of them believed that the animals gave themselves so that they may have food and nourishment. Some also believed that by giving thanks and honoring the animal for its sacrifice it would cause other animals to give themselves in the future.
So, with those things in mind, you can start looking into your own self and see what would be worthy of including in your own prayers. I have mine, one that only I know and I don’t share with anyone, not even my wife (which I get a hard time given to me over all the time). Below is an example of a simple prayer that you can use to build from.
I thank you for giving your life so that my family and I may have life. Through your sacrifice, we shall have nourishment and will honor you with giving thanks each time we sit down to eat the meat you have provided. May your sacrifice be noted and your memory live on.
hunting, hunting sense, hunting prayers, native peoples, hunting rituals
January 26th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Good post. I always figure you can’t go wrong with the Lord’s Prayer for any occasion!
January 29th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
We try to start each hunt with a prayer. It helps us!
February 18th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
a good post from Camp Chicken said to thank the deer dor it’s sacrifice and I have done that this year. It makes me feel better and puts things in perspective if you kill one of Gods most beautiful creatures.
By the way, where are you?
hope you get back to blogging soon.
September 9th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Fantastic post. I have been mulling this over since I took up hunting last year (well I thought about it before). While I haven’t killed an animal yet, I know that I will have to be at peace with that act. I believe it is integral to a deeper participation in nature.
I don’t know if I call it a prayer, but I do intend to thank the animal and honor it in some way whenever the time comes. This article was most helpful in that. I’ll no doubt be praying too in there somewhere
Thanks,
Michael
January 6th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Excellent post Cliff. I am inspired to see yourself and others who, like myself, see hunting as a sacred experience. May the sacred circle of the hunt forever continue!
Rev. Jeff
June 21st, 2009 at 2:20 am
Me and my team always include a prayer on our hunts.