In the natural world, many species are predators. They attack from the sky above. The long, curved talons of a hawk lock onto the spine of a jumping mouse and carry it off. The mouse is also a predator. He preys on crickets and other insects.

They also attack in the waters below. We think of killer whales in salt water and muskellunge in fresh water, but many other aquatic species devour prey species. You might be bass fishing and use an imitation of a frog to lure a predatory bass to your hook, but the living frog is a predator too, using his sticky tongue to catch flies for his dinner.

Predators also rule the land. Dorothy’s exclamation, “Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!” is a short list of mammalian predators that stirred fear in the scarecrow, the tin man, and the lion ironically troubled by cowardice. The longer list includes wolves, raccoons, and many more.

In higher animals, one way to identify a predator is by the location of the creature’s eyes. Eyes on the front of the head give a predator better depth perception for a more accurate attack. Eyes on the sides of the head endow a prey animal with a wide field of vision which enables him to see in a range of about 280 degrees and react defensively to attacks. The coyote is visually equipped to attack, and the rabbit is visually equipped to escape.

Where are your eyes? Your eyes are on the front of your head, so you’re a predator. You’re at the top of the food chain. You are designed to capture and kill your food, but in today’s world not many of us use our predatory design. Instead, we’ve domesticated and scaled prey by cultivating it and calling it livestock. The human predator has the skills and the technology to specialize to the point where predation doesn’t look like predation, but we still kill and eat.

Almost all of us now purchase meat ready to cook. A few of us still produce meat the old-fashioned way. We don’t delegate meat production to a supply chain. We hunt for it.

The human hunter is a predator, unique in at least two ways. One predatory uniqueness is that we have industrialized our predation. We have created a system where a few people produce meat for everyone. That means most humans can now eat meat without ever seeing the living animal or its blood.

Our other predatory uniqueness is that man is the only scientific predator.

Only man can restrict his hunting to the time of the year when the prey population is the highest, and reduce that prey population to a level where most can survive the winter. Only man can limit his take so that he doesn’t overwhelm the prey. Only man can avoid preying on wildlife at a time when its young is dependent, and only man can avoid preying on that young. Only man can study wildlife diseases, assess their impact, and mitigate that impact. Only man can understand habitat needs and take steps to create or restore adequate habitat that benefits both prey and non-prey species. Only man can insure that his prey is plentiful but not too abundant for its habitat. The human predator is the only predator that can use science to make sure its prey is healthy and sustainable. Man is the only scientific predator.

In today’s world, with subsistence hunting largely obsolete, market hunting no longer threatening species, and wildlife habitat constantly shrinking (it’s the biggest modern threat to wildlife), we use science to manage wildlife. Universities, state wildlife agencies, and conservation organizations all employ many scientists who provide actionable information to state and federal wildlife decision makers.

Neither subsistence hunters nor market hunters were scientific hunters. Only modern hunters are scientific predators. Human hunters are actors within nature. Human hunters are the only predators whose pursuit of prey is a scientific pursuit. Human hunters fund the system that conserves wildlife for future generations. And human hunters are one of the most valuable tools in the science of wildlife management.

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When “The Everyday Hunter” isn’t hunting, he’s thinking about hunting, talking about hunting, dreaming about hunting, writing about hunting, or wishing he were hunting. If you want to tell Steve exactly where your favorite hunting spot is, contact him through his website, www.EverydayHunter.com. He writes for top outdoor magazines, and won the 2015, 2018 and 2023 national “Pinnacle Award” for outdoor writing.